I decided to go for my class 1 back in December and yey I passed.
I then managed to score a job as a shunter. Ideal for me as I wanted a job that had fixed start and finish times.
What I didnt realise though as most other noobs I expect, was going backwards in an artic, is far harder than going forwards. During my training I didnt find driving a class 1 on the road a great deal harder than a rigid. Going backwards though…
To cut a long story short I ended up doing a weeks training just to get to a point where I could reverse on to bays etc as a shunter.
It made me wonder though what happens to all the new qualified drivers who at some point will get to a RDC or a service station etc and have to reverse on to some sort of bay, only to find they cant do it.
As if to further my question, a driver showed into our yard in a 71 plate DAF pull a faily new look trailer with a co driver in the passenger seat. To sum up He had a go at reversing on a bay and nearly took another trailer, before ending up stretching his suzzie lines to twice their length as he jacknifed the truck trying to park up. His co-driver just sat there and watched.
We had to go over and direct him how to do it. Turned out this fella had entered a “warehouse to road” scheme, and this was his 2nd day on the road. The co-driver was supposedly his mentor 
.
It seems insane to me that the industry make no real effort to prepare new drivers for the job ahead. In the case of the driver above. Why spend time and money to get him through his test, only to put him a very expensive truck with no further training to allow him to back it into a bay at the RDCs he is going to.
I would advise any new qualified driver to spend a bit more £ to get some reversing training. It could save you a lot of grief.
His “mentor” is nothing but an oxygen thief! ,when it was obvious that things were going wrong why didnt he intervene. ? Out side people had to help while this advert for contraception sat on his useless a$$se.
I personally did not learn to reverse until after I passed my test,.I even ballsed up.the reversing actually on my test.
As for going backwards in a straight line, you just take off what you’ve put on in terms of steering,.that and reversing into tight and awkward spots just comes with practice and experience,.don’t worry,.you’ll get there.
The companies just don’t care is the short answer.
The way they all think is as soon as you have your licence you are a ‘professional driver’ & automatically know everything.
Yeah there’s a difference between passing a test on a reversing pad versus a whole myriad of real world differing situations that we contend with daily.
Having said that we all also still have an off day no matter hiw long we’ve been doing it (20 years plus for me). Just yesterday my ability to get on a bay deserted me and it took a silly amount of shunts for no real reason other than a brain ■■■■ 
Next bay was fine again though so no drama and you just laugh it off. But you can also bet the time you fluff a reverse is the time that there’s people around to witness it
You can’t really teach reversing it can only be mastered by practice so I don’t see what can be done about it? Toss him the keys and let him try over nd over in a busy yard holding up everyone, taht would go well
The most important part of any reverse manoeuvre is bizarrely the going forwards part! By that I mean that it’s important to forward plan your reverse and make it as easy as possible by positioning your vehicle in such a way as to make the reverse as simple and straightforward as possible. We’ve all witnessed drivers who’ve started their reverse manoeuvre from a ridiculous position and you just know that it’s not going to go well.
As for the actual going backwards part that is just muscle memory and can only be obtained by practice. What separates drivers is how quickly they develop that muscle memory. The major problem most people have (and I include myself in this) is oversteering wherein you end up going backwards like a snake charmer. 40 odd years of reversing artics and I still sometimes forget that input wise less is best.
I passed in January and have since managed to get a supermarket job on agency for 1 Sunday each fortnight whilst still working Monday-Friday not driving. I think it would help to be doing it every day for practice instead of once a fortnight.
I’ve done 7 shifts now (4 in an artic and 3 in a rigid), and whilst my reversing is still a long way from where I’d like it to be, I can now get the trailer on the supermarket docks in a reasonable time, and put the empty trailers back in place at the RDC on my return. I think I have been quite lucky to land the agency role I have from a learning point of view, with risk assessments for each store and no pressure to rush to meet deadlines. It has allowed to me to practice my reversing calmly, whilst getting paid for it 
Secretelephant:
I decided to go for my class 1 back in December and yey I passed.
I then managed to score a job as a shunter. Ideal for me as I wanted a job that had fixed start and finish times.
What I didnt realise though as most other noobs I expect, was going backwards in an artic, is far harder than going forwards. During my training I didnt find driving a class 1 on the road a great deal harder than a rigid. Going backwards though…
To cut a long story short I ended up doing a weeks training just to get to a point where I could reverse on to bays etc as a shunter.
It made me wonder though what happens to all the new qualified drivers who at some point will get to a RDC or a service station etc and have to reverse on to some sort of bay, only to find they cant do it.
As if to further my question, a driver showed into our yard in a 71 plate DAF pull a faily new look trailer with a co driver in the passenger seat. To sum up He had a go at reversing on a bay and nearly took another trailer, before ending up stretching his suzzie lines to twice their length as he jacknifed the truck trying to park up. His co-driver just sat there and watched.
We had to go over and direct him how to do it. Turned out this fella had entered a “warehouse to road” scheme, and this was his 2nd day on the road. The co-driver was supposedly his mentor
It seems insane to me that the industry make no real effort to prepare new drivers for the job ahead. In the case of the driver above. Why spend time and money to get him through his test, only to put him a very expensive truck with no further training to allow him to back it into a bay at the RDCs he is going to.
I would advise any new qualified driver to spend a bit more £ to get some reversing training. It could save you a lot of grief.
As you get older you get less tolerant of the kid / new driver making a right mess of a reverse , yrs ago I’d of got out & offered some help , now as long as there not revering near my lorry it’s a shake of the head & a few words under my breath & carry on reading the sun
Maybe that chap with him had got to that stage .
Secretelephant:
I decided to go for my class 1 back in December and yey I passed.
I then managed to score a job as a shunter. Ideal for me as I wanted a job that had fixed start and finish times.
What I didnt realise though as most other noobs I expect, was going backwards in an artic, is far harder than going forwards. During my training I didnt find driving a class 1 on the road a great deal harder than a rigid. Going backwards though…
To cut a long story short I ended up doing a weeks training just to get to a point where I could reverse on to bays etc as a shunter.
It made me wonder though what happens to all the new qualified drivers who at some point will get to a RDC or a service station etc and have to reverse on to some sort of bay, only to find they cant do it.
As if to further my question, a driver showed into our yard in a 71 plate DAF pull a faily new look trailer with a co driver in the passenger seat. To sum up He had a go at reversing on a bay and nearly took another trailer, before ending up stretching his suzzie lines to twice their length as he jacknifed the truck trying to park up. His co-driver just sat there and watched.
We had to go over and direct him how to do it. Turned out this fella had entered a “warehouse to road” scheme, and this was his 2nd day on the road. The co-driver was supposedly his mentor
It seems insane to me that the industry make no real effort to prepare new drivers for the job ahead. In the case of the driver above. Why spend time and money to get him through his test, only to put him a very expensive truck with no further training to allow him to back it into a bay at the RDCs he is going to.
I would advise any new qualified driver to spend a bit more £ to get some reversing training. It could save you a lot of grief.
Why pay for something that is possible to learn as you are being paid? Who in their right mind as a rookie, cares about the impatient people waiting around while you learn? Nobody gets their first job in Britain nowadays knowing how to dock or even reverse an artic properly.
Saying that tho, I know of a country where to pass C+E you’d need to parallel park on both sides, dock a trailer and when on the road the examiner would ask you to do all sorts of illegal stuff. In order to pass, you’d not only refuse to do it, but explain to the examiner why it cant be done, while you continuing a safe drive. Only manual transmission allowed for the driving test, by the way. But thats a 3rd world back water country.
I passed my C&E test about 20 years ago. I did the reverse by numbers for the test with no problem. Then I started driving for a living. There is no preparation or training for reversing or many other aspects of the job; you do a set route on test, and provided you do it to an expected standard you are let loose on the world (and roads). Nobody teaches you how to ACTUALLY reverse in a real situation. Many people on here will tell you that the important part of the reverse is setting it up before you start. What a lovely dream. I go to the Palletline hub every night and load on one of two bays every time. Unfortunately, the chances of setting up the same reverse twice are impossible. You have to do it from wherever you can start, trying to avoid idiots who want to overtake on your blind side while you reverse. I’m sure this is not confined to Palletline! I’m no expert (in fact I used to tell observers that I was the cabaret!) but you need to aim as close as you can to the bay, make a note of all obstacles around you, particularly on your blind side, watch the trailer wheels and think in terms of pushing it back from the unit. Small turns of the wheel and take your time. If you are taking too long, back in out of the way, let the impatient ones go past, then have a shunt to put it between the lines. Don’t get wound up (easy to say - we’ve all been there and lots of other drivers forget their own pathetic attempts) and try to remember what went wrong so you don’t do it again! Watch other drivers and see what they do - some of them are quite good! You will get better, but even God has bad days!
Secretelephant:
I decided to go for my class 1 back in December and yey I passed.
I then managed to score a job as a shunter. Ideal for me as I wanted a job that had fixed start and finish times.
What I didnt realise though as most other noobs I expect, was going backwards in an artic, is far harder than going forwards. During my training I didnt find driving a class 1 on the road a great deal harder than a rigid. Going backwards though…
To cut a long story short I ended up doing a weeks training just to get to a point where I could reverse on to bays etc as a shunter.
It made me wonder though what happens to all the new qualified drivers who at some point will get to a RDC or a service station etc and have to reverse on to some sort of bay, only to find they cant do it.
As if to further my question, a driver showed into our yard in a 71 plate DAF pull a faily new look trailer with a co driver in the passenger seat. To sum up He had a go at reversing on a bay and nearly took another trailer, before ending up stretching his suzzie lines to twice their length as he jacknifed the truck trying to park up. His co-driver just sat there and watched.
We had to go over and direct him how to do it. Turned out this fella had entered a “warehouse to road” scheme, and this was his 2nd day on the road. The co-driver was supposedly his mentor
It seems insane to me that the industry make no real effort to prepare new drivers for the job ahead. In the case of the driver above. Why spend time and money to get him through his test, only to put him a very expensive truck with no further training to allow him to back it into a bay at the RDCs he is going to.
I would advise any new qualified driver to spend a bit more £ to get some reversing training. It could save you a lot of grief.
Thats nothin m8 the truth is we are let loose knowing alot less then how to reverse the training is a joke!