So get call from agency got a class 1 job if interested …shunting for DPD at Newbury , now Ive seen the yard and u cant swing a cat in it , but dont want to pass up my first offer of class 1 work so say yes , it was for Sun night 23.00 to 0700 so over yest morning thinking what have I done , as everyone knows on here im not confident with reverse and now havent reversed since my test in Dec start overthinking and then panic set in so decided to go down to DPD done work for them before so called in office to see GM and just ask if they could show me exactly what i was going to be doing , took me into yard and explained that would be putting them on the two bays and was nearly always blind side rev , 
he said to me to be honest if you havent had any experience I think you may struggle with it on sun and noone here to help hang on and to my surprise picked up a set of keys to a merc actros hooked up to trailer and took me up to greenham park to have a look at my reverse , now managed a reverse off main artery into side road but I did struggle and took many shunts , he said if I had time I would spend a day with you here and you would be reversing no problem by the end of it into tight turns , but if Im honest I think you need a bit more practice as our yard is small and at that time will be loads of 71/2 tonners in and the vans etc so I agreed and said sorry to have let you down , no problem im glad you had the inititive to come in and check , told him id been to the dpd hub in birmingham and he said that they have a central booking place for all the agency drivers and he wouldnt mind me taking it up there on a trunk but I think DPD need the 2 year experience clause before a driver is used but he would see what he could do , so walk out and call agency to tell them they had better find another shunter for sunday and they were great about it and said Id done the right thing checking , so now go home with tail between my legs feeling ■■■■ blown it big time eh , the thing is if you google hambridge lane Newbury and look at the DPD yard I think you will agree I would not have coped and probably ■■■■■■ up my chances of ever driving a lorry again so although Im kicking my self I do think I did the right thing many of you may disagree que cera cera 
Anyhow feeling crap now I rang the guy that said I could drive his lorry for him any night thinking if get into trouble whilst out at least have a competent driver to help me out 
No probs he says how about tonight Ill pick u up from layby nr chieveley svcs on way up , so fast forward a couple of hours and im driving this :::::
up the a34 to M40 , Dave just sat in pass seat and said right Im not judging you tonight im just here for the ride (no comments there dar please !!! he is old enough to be my dad nearly !) your in charge of this and you are the one driving , well took the turn onto M40 no curb hit clear the left turn perfect and merge onto m40 and hit 56 cruise button on and start to really relax and enjoy myself even overtook a few lorries on way up , hit m42 n and up against some traffic off junc five over the bridge and back onto m42 nice easy diversion 
head up twds m6 toll and come off just before cant remember rd now but its the one onto a38 and head twds Derby few rbts and then just as coming up near Fradley Park Dave says right lets see how you handle the shercain in I go bit of a twist in and out not even near the curbs 
pull into into hub and park up book in and head round to shed Y , the guy that I covered for on tues was already there and dave said to park up next to him and so with plenty of room to get my position right reversed right up next to him and the unit and trailer in perfect straight line off with engine hard hat on and pull back curtains tie them up back into cab and onto break and then sit and wait to be called for loading . so after coffee and then the three of us chatting for afew hours finally get called to go into load right dave says remember procedure so on with hazzards pull into shed with a beep in case of pedestrians pull into center loading space off with engine out of drivers seat and sit on the bunk until forkie gives thumbs up out of shed pull curtains across then que up for tunnel to have load scanned and can check that happy with saftey of load out of shed strap the load on and then pull curtains and then secure all all curtain straps go back to booking office to collect load sheet and off away home , quick stop at warwick on m40 for loo break (too much coffee) but buy another there anyhow for last bit home and Dave said he had not had a more easy and relaxed night , my oberservation was his words these not mine : second to none was in his eyes a professional driver and would be going back to TM graham to tell him how good I was 
so my confidence has been restored this company will ask for me next time they need an artic driver as far as hes concerned they like me and he is very impressed with my driving and will tell the tm so and i realised that if I have enough room to get my position i can reverse coz I did it last night so am now on cloud nine I have done my first artic job and with a 16ft double decker too !! ok didnt get payed for it but dave never once said last night go take it wide there or cut that in he let me drive myself and I did and he said was a pleasure to drive with me , one happy bunny now
(trunker ! jen x)
with DD trailer you feel the wind a bit more and need to take slower round bends especially when loaded but to be honest the only problem I had was reaching the pole at front of trailer to pull curtains back when stood against lorry the bottom of pole was at my shoulder height so had to climb between trailer and unit to get the leverage to pull up and out