Newbie here so be gentle haha, I have only been driving Class 1 for a few months and got to say i love my job, it helps that the company I work for are easy going and that i know the Transport Manager and I have two mates who work there too, anyway I have been told I may be sent into London soon as we do that twice a week which involves nights out, to be honest i am quite nervous about it as I have been told it is a different world down there, never even been around there in a car so you can imagine why I am concerned, any advice would be greatly appreciated?
Newbie here so be gentle haha, I have only been driving Class 1 for a few months and got to say i love my job, it helps that the company I work for are easy going and that i know the Transport Manager and I have two mates who work there too, anyway I have been told I may be sent into London soon as we do that twice a week which involves nights out, to be honest i am quite nervous about it as I have been told it is a different world down there, never even been around there in a car so you can imagine why I am concerned, any advice would be greatly appreciated?
Cheers
I just treat London as a load of small villages linked by road numbers,works for me ,piece of ■■■■,don’t know why drivers sweat on it to be honest.
Try to find as much out about the deliveries as you can before leaving - actual address of good in and one-way streets for example. Get someone who knows, to plan the drops and get a good satnav that will tell you bridge heights and weight limits.
My London technique was to turn off any distractions - music etc and take no interest in anything behind me; beside, (bloody bikes) and in front, but once they are behind they have no effect.
Having said that about stuff behind, be prepared to allow motorbikes through.
‘London’ is a collection of towns and villages that are really close together and can be a bit busy at times, don’t sweat it, know your route and follow it, however long it takes.
Thank you, that is actually a great way to look at it being a collection of towns and villages, my sat nav is a lorry one so no issues with that and we have at my company the two drivers that do North and South London every week so i have them to ask but apparently we deliver to some awkward places, one driver said he blocks the road off as he has no choice and one time he done that he had some car driver behind him put through his windscreen, been told nowhere to stop for break etc so I do need to look properly into it. I do get my run sheet 48 hours beforehand and any new routes I do I get on google maps etc and have a look around and make notes no matter where I am going, being a new driver the last thing I want is to take a wrong turn etc, I do however always ask for someone to watch me whether it is me being over cautious as a new driver or what but rather that than having a bump
kcrussell25 I have already made my mind up that I will take a break before getting into London as I set off from near Ledbury so most of driving time will be used before I get near there so makes sense for me to have a break beforehand.
tachograph we have split areas North London and South London but both are multiple deliveries, most are regular drops once I have done them over a period of time with the odd new one coming now and then
Take the 45 minutes tacho break before going in to London.
If you are delivering to building sites, they tip you fast and kick.you off site .
Ready for the next trucks waiting to get in after you .
Site contact numbers on delivery notes, they never answer , if you need to let them know of running late.
Yellow box junctions are monitored by somebody watching on cctv, fine if you enter and stop .
If it is sliding roof trailer, the crane will be booked in ,on arrival, the supervisor will cone off your parking area, so no parking ticket, as they have a permit.
Unloading with a crane, from a sliding roof can take five hours.
If its too windy, the crane stops.
Lewy:
I have been told I may be sent into London soon as we do that twice a week which involves nights out, to be honest i am quite nervous about it as I have been told it is a different world down there, never even been around there in a car so you can imagine why I am concerned, any advice would be greatly appreciated?
I work for one of the big supermarkets so have done a lot of London deliveries.
You should be given a route in and out of where you are delivering to by your company.
I always had a satnav on but didn’t strictly follow it, I followed the paper route instructions given by my boss but kept one eye on the satnav looking to be 100% of road name of next turn I had to make.
Stay calm, try not to race with the traffic, you’ll probably make a few mistakes but its amazing how quickly you learn to get yourself back out of them!
Like others have said, plan your routes in advance so you roughly know where your going.
Met police are always helpful to truck drivers, I’ve stopped and got out at Marble Arch to ask for advice when the police have closed my route, always found them to be great.
Good luck, once you’ve done it a few times you’ll be flying
Thanks onyerbike, we do not get given a route by our company just a drop order but I will ask the London drivers plus have sat nav, I know mistakes will happen and as you said once I have done it a few times then it will get easier, just those first couple of times great advice though thank you
Lewy:
Haha very good, I am sure you were in my position at one time when you first started driving though
Yea, I’m only joshing. If you want me to be serious then I’d say there are places far more daunting than London. Birmingham and Bristol, especially the eastern side of both are two that spring to mind.
Vid:
‘London’ is a collection of towns and villages that are really close together and can be a bit busy at times, don’t sweat it, know your route and follow it, however long it takes.
That might be correct to an extent in the case of ‘outer London’ ( actually just the urbanised parts of the surrounding counties which were then taken over as so called ‘Greater London’.Ironically also with some parts of ‘Greater London’ actually still being more rural than some other more urbanised areas outside of London’s borders such as comparing parts of Chessington/Malden Rushett and parts of the old Middx around Harefield and Ruislip v the urban sprawl of Molesey,Walton and Thames Ditton for example.
But ‘inner London’ ( mostly anywhere within the old LCC borders let alone anywhere within the ‘proper City’ itself) really is as bad as its reputation suggests.It’s a traffic clogged,over regulated,space limited bleedin nightmare just to drive a car in.Let alone a truck and it’s been that way for decades let alone the present day.To the point where I can understand anyone refusing to go there.
All the advice you’ve had is sound, particularly to take a full break at the last services before you hit the Smoke. Otherwise, just treat London as another challenge to be met and overcome. I’ve never understood those lads who say “I don’t do London” but will happily drive to inner city Manchester, Sheffield or Derby which can be just as problematic. And if you do have to block off the road for a couple of minutes, and ■■■■ off a couple of car drivers, who cares? You’re never going to see them again.
Good luck.
Lewy:
Thanks onyerbike, we do not get given a route by our company just a drop order but I will ask the London drivers plus have sat nav, I know mistakes will happen and as you said once I have done it a few times then it will get easier, just those first couple of times great advice though thank you
No worries, ask the guys who do London for landmarks along the route, may be a shop, pub, tube station, supermarket etc, gives you an idea of where you are on your route.
You’re working days I take it
Cheers Harry Monk, you really think Birmingham and Bristol more daunting then? I am fine round those areas probably because I know the areas ok ish due to driving 7.5t round there for 7 years.
chinese6 alreadt done Manchester and had no issues whether that was because luck was on my side or what, Liverpool drove me insane though haha, as for Derby that is just weight limits everywhere from what I have been told, as for blocking roads off unfortunately it would not be for a few minutes more like 10-15 with what we deliver and handball too, I will approach it like you said though a challenge to overcome and after a few times I will be thinking what was I worried about
onyerbike yes mate working days with a night out, not sure when I am doing the run but will definitely get as much info as possible, we had an agency driver though do London a few times and he had 3 fines over those few times, I guess that was because he did not pay enough attention and stopping in boxes etc, I know there is CCTV galore so it is just common sense to make sure you can get across the box. Been told though that a wheel on the kerb if parking up making a delivery will get a fine too but I will listen to the London drivers and make notes
great advice though thank you