First days on the job!

NEW AND WANNABE DRIVERS (INTERACTIVE)
1

Well Im not sure how many people would be intrested in this, but im going to rabbit on anyway about the first 3 days in my new job.

MONDAY

I arrived at the depot bright and early, about 30 minutes before my book on time to allow for any problems and getting into the depot without my security pass etc etc to be greeted by a resplended line of Scanias all with marker lights on in the darkness a very nice sight to see.

Picked up my keys, did my vehicle checks, fueled up and set off on the open road in an 18t Scania curtain sider. As I am a newbie im being puppy walked for the first two weeks which I have no problem with as I welcome the “on the job” advice and knowledge from another driver.

It was the first time I had driven a 4 over 4 gear box and after a few crunched gears and sweary words I settled into the swing of things and set off down the M40.

On arrival at our destination I was asked to open the side curtians and promptly realised that i had absoloutly no idea how! Ok, I could work out the basic principal, but just not quite enough to master it, and to be fair, id still be nervous about doing on my own now, perhaps it just that its not been looked after very well he says trying to cover his embarrassment. It made me realise pretty starkly that despite a test pass, the learning has only just begun, tail lifts, cruise control, buttons on buttons all has to be learned. The day went fairly well without any real incident. Made a few extra shunts in reversing that perhaps with experience I wouldnt have.

Late that night I had a phone call asking me to come in early the next morning - a ball hair over my 9hs rest. I hadnt been to bed yet i duly went and willed myself to sleep

TUESDAY

0430hrs and barely awake. Off to London in a tri axle, 26t Scanny delivering paper. heavy heavy heavy, fun fun fun. It was trundling down the M40 that it hit me… I sat with the radio on just beaminmg like a cheshire cat, I had gotten over the initial nerves and worrys and settled in to enjoy doing what ive wanted to do for so long.

Untill my arrival in London… In order not to contravine a no right turn order I turned left to go round the block and approach from another angle. However I didnt see a 7.5t weight restriction untill I was committed to the turn and into the road… All the roads off that appeard open on my map had been closed off and directly ahead of me was a width restriction… i was effectivly TRAPPED!!! If I flapped any more I was going to take off. Which wouldnt have been a bad thing, I was barely passing between rows of parked cars, had to complete about an 8 point turn and fight my way back out. NOT fun!!!

It has made me seriously think about buying a truckers map/sat nav incase i get into a situation like that again. If any one has any thougts on this I would be intrested to hear them. I recovered eventually and put it down to experience, tried to calm down, remain professional and deal with the ■■■■ up safely.

Then we had incredible trouble trying to find one of our drops. up and down the same roads, asking directions, backwards and forwards, narrow little roads, narrow lanes, CYCLISTS!!!, stupid car drivers, stress stress stress.

On the way back, I was begining to run out of hours, and had to take a second 45min to give the extra hour to make it back to the depot and realised then that i had no idea how drivers keep track of this on a daily/weekly basis. Reduced rest, increased driving time. Its a mine field!!! Ive decided to buy a little diary and jot little notes down, anyone think this is a good idea?

That night I got home and collapsed on the sofa, totally and utterly exhausted

The problem is… i love it and dont wanna do anything else!

2

Well done you! The first few days are always hard as you have no idea what to expect. Couldn’t work out from your post if your agency or not. If you are it won’t take long to get used to all the different gearboxes you’ll come across I.e. splitters, autos, knock etc.

I personally use a truckers sat-nav, plenty of common sense and a map. Before now ive pulled up and walked down a road that looked a bit iffy my sat-nav said was ok (they don’t tell you about parked cars, vans etc).

My rule is if it looks like a road that I won’t be able to turn round in then use double caution and if you can check first, google maps streetview is great. Better to be a little late than write something off backing half mile back up a road after a wrong turn. (Managable in a rigid, but best avoided in a artic believe me!)

Anyway good luck and welcome to the diesel junky club.

3

Great post.
I’m still trying to pass my class 2. Posts like this are really helpful. The best part of your post is the last line. Sums it all up really.
Hopefully someone with a more experience will post some pearls of wisdom to smooth your way.
Thanks again, and keep it going.

4

I was lucky enough to be taken on by a company direct. Hence the puppy walking for a bit. Most of the time ill be driving an 11t Isuzu (■■■■■■■■ gear box i have ever seen or used!!!) but one or two days a week ill be out in a 26t scanny.

I think I might make a separate post about truck navs.

5

Download TruckerTimer if you have a smart phone,it’s gota be the easiest way to keep track of your hours. Congrats on the job btw enjoy yourself.:sunglasses:

6

ebay.co.uk/itm/7-inch-Truck- … 3cbf876554

Could try something like the above not sure what its like but its cheap enough and you can try it out, if it ■■■■■ return it in 14 days :slight_smile:

7

Both the above should get you straight to start.

I spent out for a decent Snooper S7000 but they aren’t cheap. Something to treat yourself to for Christmas maybe :wink:

Well done on getting the job and handling the first couple of days well.

8

Actually went ahead and bought one of those myself, worth a shot for the money, going by reviews on ebay it seems like a bargain.

9

We have all been there believe me , my first job in an 18t fridge , I ended up with no diesel , close to over hours and having to borrow fuel from lanterns at south mimms as had no cards and about £20 in cash , and the truck didnt have a fuel card as they fuel up at depot, was a shock when I got a call from them asking me to go back I thought that after that they wouldnt touch me with a barge pole ended up working there for about 2 years lol

The drivers hours you will get your head round in time , its just practice you will get to the stage of knowing what times you have done , multidrop can be a nightmare as can do a full day and sometimes not even pick up 4 1/2 hrs driving lol , I have a cooking timer , bought it from aldi or lidls was only a few pence just used to stop it when unloading and start again when driving , always got a 15 mins in a couple of hours into the day so didnt have to worry about wtd then just concentrated on driving , with a digi easier as can flick a look at driving time on tacho

It will all get easier the more you do it dont worry , and as for London well dont get me started :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

10

Nice little diary, I don’t think I would like to write one about my first couple of days on the road.

A road atlas with bridge heights is invaluable especially when used in conjunction with a SatNav (specialised or not).

If the trucks you drive have a Digital Tachograph it’s really easy to keep track of your driving time but it’s still worth keeping a diary of what you’ve been up to.

The situation with the weight limit, personally if there was a lot of road works in the area I would of just cuffed it (that’s opinion, not advice…).

What is advice is, if ever you are not sure pull to one side put the hazards on and take a minute to work out what to do. You might irritate a few folk but nowhere near as many if you hit a bridge or get stuck on some width limit bollards.

Keep up the good work,

W

11

fantastic news on the job!!! congratulations!!!

the notebook is a good idea, all you need to note is your basic hours and rests to keep track, it will come to you quickly :slight_smile:

the law has changed, so ignore this: when I started if I reduced my daily rest, I had to compensate by tagging it to another rest period before the end of the next week. weekly rest was 45 hours, reducible to 36 hours if the driver was at base, or 24 hours if away from base… can you imagine the mess we got into if we regularly reduced daily and weekly rests? keeping track of it all and what compensation was for what and when was a NIGHTMARE!!! added to which juggling all the notes on paper tachos!! I used a notepad and found it worked fine. its amazing how fast you find your own system :slight_smile:

but the rules have changed, and for the better imo. I think that it should have been made 11hr rest. period. no reductions. but the changes are a step in the right direction.

glad you are enjoying it :slight_smile: don’t worry about London, everyone hates it, when you have to go there, nothing ever goes right!!! :slight_smile:

12

Glad your first few days seem to being well, pleased for you. I start my first class 2 job in just over a wk so will also post an update. I know my first day is on a 26t curtainside & like you haven’t used them before!! Should be an interesting day me thinks !!