Well its been nearly 10 months since passing my class 1 and ive finally been given the chance to drive.The first 6 months i was still working at an airport ferrying passengers to and fro and pushing aircraft around ,so the need to find driving work asap wasnt a priority,but after being made redundant in oct 09 things suddenley became urgent.I guess many of us newbies have been in the same situation applying for any job we see and getting knocked back because of lack of experience.
Well this week has been different,ive managed to get work though an agency ,pretty much full time hours,nights and class 1 doing supermarket deliverys,and sods law as soon as i got offered this,4 other agencies rang me offering work which i had to turn down (nothing for months then offers all at the same time).So been out budding a couple of times this week just to learn paperwork and tracking systems etc.and my first solo run starts tomorrow night…to be honest the nerves are starting to kick in,but keep telling myself just get though the first shift and take 1 day at a time.Tomorrow is hopefully the start of a long driving career.I will let you know if all went well or if i litraley crashed and burned.
P.S to all the newbies keep applying you never know things might be starting to look up.cheers Daz
Good luck matey,not done supermarket work for a long time,Sainsburys Islington still gives me nightmares,a blind sider,took me about 6 shunts before I got it on the bay,first time I went there.
Just take your time and you’ll be fine.
Know how you feel, will have my first start next week, been to the assessment with NFT was good. Think I will have no problem with the driving navigating etc. The systems, checks and paper trail might be another thing. I guess the answer is if in doubt ask
Good luck
Mike
I hope your first shift went well. Which supermarket are you working for? Which driving school did you go to for your class 1? I hope you don’t mind me asking, I’m looking around in Bristol at the mo, cheers bud.
HI Mike
I booked my class 2 and 1 and ADR though a big company as a job lot before i found this site,and i think i was very lucky to get away with it as i understand they have gone bust owing lots of people lots of money.My training however was though a company called avon drivers (i think) based in avonmouth.They were very good and i passed my class 2 with 2 minors and class 1 with 3 minors.
Sainsbury’s are the place i did my first shift and it went…
I did a completetly stupid newbie thing and to cut a long storie short…I was given my paperwork so i went and found my unit(that went ok) did my checks and paperwork(that went ok) paperwork said trailer was on bay 67 so went to 67 and hooked up trailer(that went ok)they give you 45 mins to leave yard from when you get your paperwork,checked my watch plenty of time left, so as it was my first ever solo drive and first ever trip with a loaded trailer, i rechecked everthing 3 times .i pulled forward a few feet so i could check brake lights and put number plate on every thing looked good.i opened the back door on trailer just to check my load inside was going to the same place i was…and that was the problem.THE TRAILER WAS EMPTY.I had failed to check the trailer number .so the trailer i wanted had been moved by a shunter and an empty one had been put on the bay instead.Realising my mistake i started to panic and franticley dropped the empty trailer and drove round the yard trying to find the corect trailer.The end result was i left the depot late.
The drive and delivery went fine and i completed my first ever solo trip without any other problems but i was so annoyed with myself making such a stupid newbie cockup that i was stressed out the whole trip and did not enjoy it,but on the other hand i wont make that mistake again.
