Hi all been driving the bins for a local council for 2 weeks now, already hit a car whilst moving forwards from a reverse and now hit a wall and scraped right down the side of the wagon, finding it so hard to manoeuvre tight areas with all the parked cars etc, also really slow compared to others and feel under pressure to speed up. Confidence is now rock bottom and feel like packing the whole thing in before I’m sacked. Think id be better suited to distance etc
chin up…your working for the council so you will never be sacked otherwise all the rest of the bone idle lazy gits will have an excuse to come out on strike.
you need 9 eyes to drive a bin lorry between watching for loaders and everything else.
look on the bright side,it could always be worse,at least you didnt try to turn right at a roundabout and t bone a car before shoving it down the road in front of you…theres always someone worse than you so dont sweat it… 
Distance work is mostly class one, and I dread to think what you would do with an artic!
Learn from it and move on. Sounds to me like your special awareness needs work, and ironically you are in the perfect job for that. Take your time, take a mental picture of where you’re manoeuvreing. Get out and look if necessary (or better still, get the lazy gits with you to help) you have to know when you’re getting close to something and be more aware.
johnteller:
Distance work is mostly class one, and I dread to think what you would do with an artic!Learn from it and move on. Sounds to me like your special awareness needs work, and ironically you are in the perfect job for that. Take your time, take a mental picture of where you’re manoeuvreing. Get out and look if necessary (or better still, get the lazy gits with you to help) you have to know when you’re getting close to something and be more aware.
Just as Johnteller says, take your time!! That truck moves where & when you’re happy & not before. No one tells you otherwise. Use you colleagues as banks men (if you trust them) or get out & check yourself. Judgement will come with time, don’t rush it. Better take half hour longer & come back in one piece. Have faith in yourself & your training. Good luck!
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matto75:
johnteller:
Distance work is mostly class one, and I dread to think what you would do with an artic!Learn from it and move on. Sounds to me like your special awareness needs work, and ironically you are in the perfect job for that. Take your time, take a mental picture of where you’re manoeuvreing. Get out and look if necessary (or better still, get the lazy gits with you to help) you have to know when you’re getting close to something and be more aware.
Just as Johnteller says, take your time!! That truck moves where & when you’re happy & not before. No one tells you otherwise. Use you colleagues as banks men (if you trust them) or get out & check yourself. Judgement will come with time, don’t rush it. Better take half hour longer & come back in one piece. Have faith in yourself & your training. Good luck!
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Cheers pal. I go again 2morrow, thank god its bloody friday lol
Have you cleaned the windows and mirrors properly? Have you set the mirrors properly for you?
And no i’m not taking the ■■■■ here, you need to be able to see clearly and to clearly see the right things, it never ceases to amaze me how many lorries are running around with windows and mirrors so filthy its impossible to tell if there’s anyone in the cab, with mirrors set up by Stevie Wonder.
I’ve done plenty of bin wagon driving over the past ten years, far too much for my liking. Don’t be too hard on yourself, it’s a lot more challenging than most people imagine. I don’t mind admitting I’ve had a few scrapes in my time and a few incredibly near misses that even I and my crew-mates couldn’t believe. One of the guys I use to work with managed to rack up £20k worth of damage when he hit a new VW and wrecked some of the electrics at the back of the truck (£1000 for one electrical switch/button !) - he didn’t get sacked or have his wages docked, but like you he felt pretty down about it.
Yes there is constant pressure to get a big vehicle into small spaces - I couldn’t believe it the first time I had to drive around the back lanes of terraced houses! I didn’t believe the lads when they said this was what they did every week. After a while though it seemed like no big deal. Chin up lad, stick with it, it’ll come right eventually, and you’ll be a far more confident and competent driver because of it.
Juddian:
Have you cleaned the windows and mirrors properly? Have you set the mirrors properly for you?And no i’m not taking the ■■■■ here, you need to be able to see clearly and to clearly see the right things, it never ceases to amaze me how many lorries are running around with windows and mirrors so filthy its impossible to tell if there’s anyone in the cab, with mirrors set up by Stevie Wonder.
That is a top tip, especially if you’re starting in the dark like all good bin men do. Makes a massive difference.
Remember, it takes longer to deal with an accident than if you did it a bit slower in the first place. When it’s not tight, you can put your foot down a bit. My guess is that that’s how the others are doing it. You can’t substitute having a good mental map of where you’re manoeuvring, have a really good look around before you start.
I’m guessing you have reverse cameras? It sounds like it’s the front end giving you your issues? Don’t worry, comes with practice.
Also, are you a new driver? ■■■■ em, don’t try and keep up with those who have been doing it for years, take your time
ManUtd1983:
Hi all been driving the bins for a local council for 2 weeks now
You’ve only just started and It will only get easier from here. Try and learn from it, take your time and look everywhere. Ask the loaders to get out and have a look for you if it helps.
I’ve been driving for just over a year and had four minor scrapes (two wing mirrors, one tight gate, and corner of a badly parked van) in my first six months of pallet work. I’ve amazingly not hit anything in six months of commercial waste collection around the city centre.
I think driving the dustcarts has defo helped my manouvering, but a large part of it is also using my loader as a banksman and not going down dead ends etc due to him knowing the routes (this was how most of my previous scrapes happened - trying to get out of tight spots and panicking).
Drive really slowly if you’re squeezing through a tight spot and make good use of your kerbside mirrors and the corner one if you have one. And don’t be afraid to ask your loaders to spot you. The regular drivers probably know the routes and have done the manoeuvres dozens of times. If you managed to scrape right down the side of the truck you were almost certainly rushing as one would normally know straight away they were snagging.
And if it makes you feel better, our regular drivers are hitting things fairly often. New rental truck has had the rear end clatter something four times in the past 4-6 weeks.
I agree with all of the above. Kerbside mirrors tell lies though, I hardly ever use it, I know if I’m coming close and get out and look.
Everyone gets it wrong though, today I mowed down 3 road cones in cold blood and had to pluck them from under the unit. Bloody stupid to put them round a bend with a van parked opposite, when the road is a dead end and wagons have to reverse out.
I must admit I see traffic cones as fair game if they’re taking the ■■■■.
Hi there,
I starting driving for my local council through an agency driving a bin lorry and it can be challenging with the rear steer and the rear swing.
You have to constantly be aware of everything from cars around you to the loaders at the back.
I’ve had some difficult housing estates to drive through due to how people park the cars.
The thing with driving bin lorries and having loaders is not to rush and you can’t really go that fast anyway.
I started doing the bin lorry work because I was fed up with driving a class 1 and being stuck in traffic all the time, but now I cause the traffic so I’m happier.
Just take your time and if you don’t think you can get through a space on a road don’t do it.
Good luck with the council work.
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johnteller:
Distance work is mostly class one, and I dread to think what you would do with an artic!Learn from it and move on. Sounds to me like your special awareness needs work, and ironically you are in the perfect job for that. Take your time, take a mental picture of where you’re manoeuvreing. Get out and look if necessary (or better still, get the lazy gits with you to help) you have to know when you’re getting close to something and be more aware.
Dustcart… best driving job you can have. I did commercial work for a while covering for someone off sick and loved it. You have an easier job than I had for reversing as in commercial work the 1100L bins are always in the most awkward places.
“get out and look” (never a truer word spoken) every time! only costs 30 secs. In tight spaces get your window open, get out and go to rear, then (say you have a foot spare), then watch and measure the distance from the centre of the wheel or the step to a point back on the ground (a certain stone or something). I still use that method in a recovery truck to avoid missing gates etc at folks homes. When you get tried is when you make mistakes. I get out and look all the time especially when it’s half light or dark.
I understand your anxiety - my first couple of days I wondered how I would cope. But never touched anything… always get out and look. I don’t like other folk giving directions either… the driver is responsible.
Think of it this way - you’ll have the best reversing skills in a short while.