Just back from my first day of class 2 training after waiting what seems an eternity from when I booked my medical.
It all went pretty well, it was split training and my partner was first to drive which gave me a while to experience being in a cab at least before it was my turn to take the wheel!
He was doing OK but struggling a bit finding the gears and coming upto junctions too fast, when I took over I discovered that this the first thing to get under control as it is hard to steer into roundabouts and look in mirrors when struggling with the above.
I was slightly flustered after my first drive but not too much, in fact I really did enjoy it. My second drive was much better and controlled with only a couple of errors - the fact that these were finding reverse instead of second gear is beside the point, luckily my instructor was on the ball.
After lunch we each took four goes at the reversing exercise which happily I nailed every time whilst my training partner took out the middle cone twice. and then it was back out for some more town centre driving which really concentrates the mind.
I should have mentioned that I’m training in Livingstone which must have as many rounabouts as Milton Keynes and that as I’m from London I do struggle a bit with understanding the strong local accents - but heh - if I’m doing badly he’ll just have to shout at me - that way I’ll know then.
My only worry is that I’m learning in a 6 speed vehicle and if I fail on Saturday (heaven forbid) then I’m going to have to re-train on a splitter/range trainer which is going to be costly…I might need to discuss this with them as they do have a 9 speed vehicle which another trainee is using??
Anyway, thats enough for day one…just hope I continue to improve tomorrow.
I had a 50% + first time pass rate on C with 6 geared box but it has dropped dramatically with the 4 over 4 range change box. If you read some of my other posts you will see that it is causing problems for many trainees.
It might be worth a read of PRE TRAINING TIPS THAT MAY BE USEFUL for an insight just in case you need it
Training with CTTS. Decided to go with them after speaking to a few people and signing up with NAS in Livingston.
What with all the roadworks and roundabouts in the area though I should maybe have taken that into account as well - I’ll make my final judgement after Saturday.
look at it this way mate. the harder the training is, the more satisfying it will be when you pass and the better prepared you will be when you are out on your own
dont forget, if you need any help when you are out on the road, i am only a phone call away. we all started somewhere and i am always happy to offer assistance. for the first few months, you will be driving all sorts of different trucks and finding something like the exhaust brake or steering wheel release is not always simple
Cheers Richie, all offers of help are much appreciated.
After day two my respect for all you qualified truckers has grown considerably.
My first drive in the morning was pretty good and I felt confident that I was continuing to improve. The second was a bit of a disaster, after reading on here how how you can be good one day and bad the next I got well and truley bit on the backside!! Driving around the town centre I was getting my angles, gears and speed into junctions all wrong which led to hitting the kerb twice and me getting a rather flustered with the whole exercise.
The reversing was fine again but my gear change exercise wasn’t too impressive. I perked up at the end as my last drive of the day was a lot better but I did take the wrong exit at a roundabout when I thought the instructor said right when he wanted me to go straight on.
Apart from spending an hour in the tyre centre when we discovered a bolt through the front tyre it was a day of gradual improvement if not quite as much as I would have hoped.
Saturday is a good day for doing driving tests, especially if you get the 0800 or 0845 test slot!
When I did my Category C training I was being taught in a 55-Reg MAN Truck with a 6-speed gearbox. Turned up on the friday to be turned away as our truck had to have 8 gears as it was registered after October 1st 2003…luckily there was a test available the very next day being a Saturday and it was at 0845, phew!
Thank God, because I then went from driving the luxorious 6-speed MAN truck to driving a J-Reg Scania with a 5-speed gearbox that needed the power of Titan to use!
Test day I made 9 driving faults and Passed…but Thank **** it’d been a Saturday morning with roads that were empty only on weekends but busy as hell during Mon-Fri!
Couldn’t believe it though, they’d trained me up in the wrong vehicle for 5 whole days - I even mentioned it to my instructor on day 1 about the vehicle only having 6 Ratios and being a 55-Reg; the MAN truck was on temporary hire to cover a vehicle shortage, so in the end it cost the training company more than what profit they got out of it!!
Not pleasant when you’re shifted to a different truck for test day!
Well I had another good day and so hopefully will not have to contemplate relearning in the 8 speed truck but who knows. I feel I’m as prepared as possible at this time and so now it is all down to whatever circumstances I have to deal with tomorrow morning…1030 am!!!
NUMPTY!!! That’s all I can say. Had a really good drive according to the examiner but with about 3 miles of driving to go I dropped a clanger. The roads I had been driving on all week had part-time bus lanes, and though my instructor had told me there were a couple of full-time bus lanes the other side of town, I was thinking it was one of the p/t lanes…whoops!!
By that stage all the roundabouts and roads where looking the same but I was well into the lane before I realised my mistake. Upto that point I only had one minor so I’m gutted.
gsm - I’m not really sure, at that point I was concentrating so hard on doing everything else right that I didn’t really take in the route. I know that I hadn’t travelled along it during training - I’ll remember it next time though.
and then it was back out for some more town centre driving which really concentrates the mind.
Driving around the town centre I was getting my angles, gears and speed into junctions all wrong which led to hitting the kerb twice and me getting a rather flustered with the whole exercise.
