How much experience should a driver have , before driving
extendable trailers.
That’s a '‘How long is a piece of string question’ innit. 
I’m assuming they are asking you to take one out and you ain’t sure or confident?
Ok,.you obviously would’nt go out with one as soon as you passed your test, gone are the days when we were chucked in at the deep end, and told to …‘‘Just get on with it’’ (at the very same time that you think a trombone is a musical instrument …)
Surely they wouldn’t expect you to, and you will get proper prior training on this, and when you’ve mastered the differences,.crack on. 
There is no actual specific time factor, it all depends on how good (or bad) you are.
It’s like everything else mate, it’s a piece of ■■■■ AFTER you’ve mastered it.
Good luck anyway.
crush99:
How much experience should a driver have , before driving
extendable trailers.
I’ve used them loads of times in / out to building sites in central London , so if dozy can do it I’m sure you can , and as rob says , we had no training . Just fetch this tri / load or fetch tri , go & load & deliver .
Where are you going with it ?
Not me , but a new driver keeps getting them, and refusing to take them ,I think hes right to refuse them
Only got 2month under his belt. Think it was about 6months before i drove one.
Never had a problem with an extendable as long as you allow for the extra length on corners etc, but a 20ft urban trailer…
crush99:
Not me , but a new driver keeps getting them, and refusing to take them ,I think hes right to refuse them
Only got 2month under his belt. Think it was about 6months before i drove one.
Would he not be better asking if someone could go with him his first time instead of refusing.
Was about week 3 for me…though admittedly that was over 20 years ago now… 
I was put through C+E in the Miltary for the purpose of transporting tracked vehicles via extendable load loader trailers with STGO Cat 1, with a DAF CF 6x4 Tractor unit, so for me, I was doing this from Day 1. You just need to plan routes more carefully far in advance to ensure you have the space you require to manover the trailer. Most extendables have rear steer as well. A challenge in built up areas mind, lots of straddling lanes. Any roads with parked cars could be a no-go, where a normal length trailer would be fine. Of course, before I went solo, I received and passed familisiation (assesment) drives.
Can’t see anyting wrong with asking for a familisation drive with the trailer before going solo.
Trombone trailers have been a round for years and are perfectly safe.
Remember the longer they are the easier it is to move, compare a 20ft skelly to a 40ft its harder to reverse a 20ft.
All you have to do is be more alert and use your mirrors and vision to its max. Admittedly there may be times you have to go on the other side of the road to manouver but not being in a rush will win every time. I used to use them to pick up 20 ft containers with a Kamatsu dozers on one and the blade on the other from in Southampton Docks. and ran them up to Birmingham area for future distribution. Roundabouts are probably the most frequent testing time, because you always get the idiot jam jar trying to cut you off. but again, take your time and you’ll be ok. Oh and if you run back empty shorten the trailer… Happy Trumpeting…
PS, There is no need to fear a Trombone or reject pulling one, if you do I’d question why you went in to the trucking industry, Challenges should always be accepted and treated with respect or you never learn !!!
I was about 3 months in when I got my first one.
Done a few since.
Hell of a learning curve.
Sabretooth:
There is no need to fear a Trombone or reject pulling one, if you do I’d question why you went in to the trucking industry, Challenges should always be accepted and treated with respect or you never learn !!!
That’s all well.and good, it’s ■■■■ easy for you it’s ■■■■ easy for me, this lad is new, he’s cautious, he ain’t getting it chucked at him like we did, times have changed and moved on, in this case for the better (for a change)
He’'s getting a choice, let him wait to he gains more confidence.
Would you rather he just went out and tried to reluctantly blag it,.and took somebody’s house out…or worse. 
He’s sensible enough to know his own limitations, and he’s cautious.
He’ll more than likely go on to be a good driver because of it.
Cut him some slack ffs.
robroy:
Sabretooth:
There is no need to fear a Trombone or reject pulling one, if you do I’d question why you went in to the trucking industry, Challenges should always be accepted and treated with respect or you never learn !!!That’s all well.and good, it’s ■■■■ easy for you it’s ■■■■ easy for me, this lad is new, he’s cautious, he ain’t getting it chucked at him like we did, times have changed and moved on, in this case for the better (for a change)
He’'s getting a choice, let him wait to he gains more confidence.
Would you rather he just went out and tried to reluctantly blag it,.and took somebody’s house out…or worse.
He’s sensible enough to know his own limitations, and he’s cautious.
He’ll more than likely go on to be a good driver because of it.
Cut him some slack ffs.
Well said robroy, it’s oh so easy to be cavalier when a bloke’s got a few miles under his belt.
^^^^^
Yep, On here if you ain’t prepared to do something…''You shouldn’t be in the job
How far do they go with that exactly??
If you are lacking confidence as a new driver ‘‘You shouldn’t be in the job’’?
Or on a different point…
If you ain’t prepared to metaphorically bend over and part your cheeks for your firm (or literally for that matter 
) ‘‘You shouldn’t be in the job’’.?
It’s a bit like these f/tards who come on here and say you shouldn’t be a driver, or '‘in the job’ if you ain’t prepared to do stupidly long hours, stupid o clock ■■■■ morning start times every day and fully max out your hours as a matter of course every week, because they are thick and stupid enough tgemsrlves to run their miserable lives and job as an endurance test,.so they think everybody else should . …
If that IS the case,btw they’re dead right, I shouldn’t (and wouldn’t) be in the job/industry.
^^^ Those same knockers would be falling over themselves to denigrate a newby if he took it out and came to grief.
Progress slowly but surely, small steps.
I will accept any and all criticism,
However back in the day if you were given a task you did it or you walked.
I realize and accept time have changed but i don’t see why or for any reason someone should not bite the bullet and accept the challenge to gain experience. Reading through this forum, there seems to be a lot of poor me, and I need mommy to hug me better. As I have already said and I stand by my statement, if your not up to the job given to you then its time to move on.
Again back in the day, you accepted every task and gained experience from it, And in those days there was no forum or data base you could cry on, you had a map and an address to go to and you got there with your load regardless and you always got there on time. Oh and in those days (from 1980ish ) we also had Tachos and were restricted to an 8 hour driving day with 2 x 12 1/2 splits per week. You had to carry the previous 7 days Tacho’s and when stopped produce them and be fined for any infringement, regardless of country you broke the law. The Germans loved pulling Foreign trucks for a Tacho check and they fined you on the spot for a none German offence.
I wish I was back in the saddle, Trucking was the best but will never be the same…
As an old ■■■■ confess i’ve gorn the other way 
, don’t want to tow anything other than the tankers i now pull.
Not interested in extended trailers, car transporters (used to drive artic with peak deck, er intersting) and don’t even want to try an extra long jobbie with rear steering axle, just don’t want the hassle any more.
As for starting to use longer vehicles, it’s like anything else you have to learn there is no set timescale a such, some take to such things like a duck to water, some take longer, some it never works out for, each one of us should progress at our own pace.
Its all very well saying how things were in the past, everything about the job was different then and the chances are some old lads in the yard would take new drivers under their wing, it happened to me and like others here i’ve passed what little knowledge gained on in due course.
These days some so called senior drivers would enjoy seeing the new lad make a ■■■■ up and film it and put the video online.
Stretch trailer right out, get loaded & crack on to Devon they said [emoji1783][emoji1783]
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crush99:
How much experience should a driver have , before driving
extendable trailers.
Do you mean LST’s ?
Sabretooth:
I will accept any and all criticism,
However back in the day if you were given a task you did it or you walked.
I realize and accept time have changed but i don’t see why or for any reason someone should not bite the bullet and accept the challenge to gain experience. Reading through this forum, there seems to be a lot of poor me, and I need mommy to hug me better. As I have already said and I stand by my statement, if your not up to the job given to you then its time to move on.
Again back in the day, you accepted every task and gained experience from it, And in those days there was no forum or data base you could cry on, you had a map and an address to go to and you got there with your load regardless and you always got there on time. Oh and in those days (from 1980ish ) we also had Tachos and were restricted to an 8 hour driving day with 2 x 12 1/2 splits per week. You had to carry the previous 7 days Tacho’s and when stopped produce them and be fined for any infringement, regardless of country you broke the law. The Germans loved pulling Foreign trucks for a Tacho check and they fined you on the spot for a none German offence.
I wish I was back in the saddle, Trucking was the best but will never be the same…
Them days are long gone. And in my opinion for the better as well. As has been mentioned in another post, we "cracked on " knowing that what we were doing was downright dangerous and many of us carry the scars of operating in a dangerous way.
The modern way with a positive regard to our health and welfare Is the way forward.
The corporate manslaughter law that was brought in a few years ago is what made company directors and managers sit up and listen once they realise that they will be going to jail if found guilty.