Hi Folks,
This is my first post and any advice would be much appreciated, I have been logging on to Trucknet for a few months now and have found the advice really helpful so thanks for that.
Last Friday I sat my class c at Bredbury Manchester and failed with 3 serious (driving over 20 in a 20 limit, i thought it had endeded but it was a very long road, getting the wrong gear at traffic lights when they changed and holding someone up at a junction) and 10 minors.
I had a weeks holiday so did my training 4 hours a day Monday to Friday with the test Friday morning. I have another test booked for a week tomorrow I havn’t booked anymore training other than the four hours on the day which will include my test.
What I was wondering was, will I be a bit rusty by then considering I havn’t driven a truck for 2 weeks, especially as I failed right after having an intensive course? Do most people that need a resit book more training or is a lot of it down to luck on the day? It’s £273 for the 4 hours plus the resit would I best spending more money on lessons or tests?
If you fail your car driving test the advice usually is you need more lessons to get you up to standard but is it different for trucks? Although I failed I thought I had had a resonable drive on the day lol and I’m sure I won’t be making the same 3 mistakes next time. ( probably a different 3 ). In the meantime should I just practice driving my car in test mode?
Thanks for any advice.
by the sounds of it you need more lessons, 10 minors and 3 majors,
mind you saying that i failed my c+e twice, first time only 2 minors but forgot to put the trailer legs back up, 2nd time i just had a neo ■■■■ of an examiner, 11 minors twit,
3rd time i got the same examiner as the first test and he remembered me, (who could forget anyone who doesnt put the legs back up lol) passed with 3 minors
you just need to stay extra vigilant, stay under or on the speed limit until you see a sign which tells you otherwise, dont cross any yellow boxes, make sure your in the right gear.
i passed my class c first time ina rickity old 18 ton erf with the worst clutch ever lol.
Sounds to me that you will be fine just doing the 4 hours including re-test. Of course practice makes perfect, but you have to take into consideration the cost.
The 3 serious faults you incurred could easily not have happened - unless you regularly get the wrong gear, in which case more training would possibly be beneficial.
If you get chance you could always have a drive around the test routes in your car (they are published on the DSA website if you don’t know the area by now). As regards being rusty, don’t worry about that, you will find that within about half an hour you will be back to driving as you were at the end of your course.
yeah go for the straight re test seems holding someone up and selecting wrong gear (unless it was really bad) should have gone down as a minor anyway, probably just your nerves pal. after half hour driving you will pick up where you left off i think !
Thanks for all the advice lads it’s reasured me 100%. I’ll do the 4 hours plus retest and see how I get on. At least now having sat the test once I know what I’m up against. I felt on the day I done alright but obviously not.
My gear chance on the test, apart from that one time, was smooth, The speed in 20 mile zone I should have known better. I’ve downloaded the test routes for Bredbury and will practice them this weekend. I went round the first test route the other night, which was the one I had in my test but found the direction on their site a bit hard to follow,especially as my other half is as good at navigation as I am at driving trucks lol.
One other thing I’m a bit confused about my instructor said when doing my hill start,to wait until there is no cars behind in my mirrors that way I won’t need to indicate and won’t be marked down for slowing anyone down but during the test, after he told me to ‘pull out when it was safe to do so’ it was ages before I had a clear view in my mirrors and the examiner was starting to get really agitated and he eventially told me ‘I should just indicate and pull out because we had been waiting long enough’ so I did but he didn’t mark me down for holding up the traffic or hesitancy.
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allanwhyte77:
Thanks for all the advice lads it’s reasured me 100%. I’ll do the 4 hours plus retest and see how I get on. At least now having sat the test once I know what I’m up against. I felt on the day I done alright but obviously not.
Seems like test nerves were part of the problem - now you have done it once, the second time will not be so daunting
allanwhyte77:
My gear chance on the test, apart from that one time, was smooth, The speed in 20 mile zone I should have known better. I’ve downloaded the test routes for Bredbury and will practice them this weekend. I went round the first test route the other night, which was the one I had in my test but found the direction on their site a bit hard to follow,especially as my other half is as good at navigation as I am at driving trucks lol.
Excellent idea to check out the area in your car - just remember to use the brakes less - makes you think ahead more
allanwhyte77:
One other thing I’m a bit confused about my instructor said when doing my hill start,to wait until there is no cars behind in my mirrors that way I won’t need to indicate and won’t be marked down for slowing anyone down but during the test, after he told me to ‘pull out when it was safe to do so’ it was ages before I had a clear view in my mirrors and the examiner was starting to get really agitated and he eventially told me ‘I should just indicate and pull out because we had been waiting long enough’ so I did but he didn’t mark me down for holding up the traffic or hesitancy.
A lot will depend on the cirumstances at the time.
Would you sit for 10, 15 or 20 mins if there was a constant stream of traffic going by - of course not - apply footbrake then signal to ‘ask’ to be let out - why apply the footbrake in this circumstance? - so the drivers behind know that you are not going to move now but want to pull out - the lights give the info to others.
It is recommended that you signal to pull out even if you are sure that nothing is going to benefit - why? - because there is always that small possibility that something is hiding in a blind spot that may have been missed.
You instructor is correct in one aspect - you must NOT deliberately MAKE another driver change speed or direction.
Think about the info you are giving to others and how they will perceive it.
