sammym:
Labdrover in Solihull is fascinating. Buy it’s very hard for someone like me. I have to drive in Tom get my pallets off and there’s nearly no room! And everyone isn’t DHL rather than land rover!
Being super carefully today and haven’t crashed! Working til 6am and then straight to uni. Suppose that’s what they invented monster for.
Uni on Saturday ?Which one?
He posted that early this morning. So working till 6 then straight to uni. Which would still be Friday (today).
More chance of uni being open on Sat morning than after six on a Friday though
He did say 6am, so he finished at 6am this morning and went to uni after that
I went home and had a shower before uni. And got in at about 8.30am. Tbh I won’t do it again - I was so tired that I couldn’t really focus.
I finished late as I had a run to another landrover plant in Brum called Castle Bromwich. By the time I got there it was 5.30ish and the forklift drivers told me I was in the wrong place and I needed to go around to the other side. I asked other people who told me that they were lying as they are lazy It turns out they just didn’t want to unload me close to a shift change. So I then had to wait til the new shift, and then the forklift driver made me wait a long time. So I didn’t get back until 7.30 - so another 14.5 hour shift.
I can go into uni 24/7 any day of the year. I don’t have lectures - I work in a lab and have an access card. To get into my office I have keys. I’m really not sure why anyone would lie about that.
Positives are that I now have been to a ‘big’ site and I didn’t crash. I think the entrance doors to get into the warehouses are very tight for a truck. But the artic boys do it - so it’s clearly me just being a bit rubbish. I am a bit more comfortable now. However, I had to change truck at 4am with another driver - and the DAF was horrible. The brakes didn’t work well and I struggled to stop it. Had to push them really hard and they didn’t feel like air brakes. I’m not sure if it was faulty of if DAF brakes are like that. But it didn’t feel safe.
So I do have two newbie questions:
Are DAF brakes like that? The peddle felt like a brick and you couldn’t compress it easily. If it’s faulty I’ll no in future to refuse to drive something like that.
They didn’t use any straps on the steel pallets of metal car parts. Is that okay? I was very concerned they could fall through the curtains or turn me over, so I drove like miss daisy around corners. And the metal pallets were too high for me to get a strap over and do it myself. Any advice on this one?
Brakes on the DAF motors I’ve driven have been perfectly adequate. You sure it’s not just you inexperience and the fact you’ve went from one truck to another which will undoubtedly have different characteristics?
No it’s not okay. You drove with an insecure load. If caught you pay the fine as it’s your responsibility. Advice: find away to secure them or don’t leave the yard.
sammym:
2. They didn’t use any straps on the steel pallets of metal car parts. Is that okay? I was very concerned they could fall through the curtains or turn me over, so I drove like miss daisy around corners. And the metal pallets were too high for me to get a strap over and do it myself. Any advice on this one?
Use internal straps if they’re on the trailer. You may need to use “airport steps” to allow you to move the straps over the stacks to where you need them to be or feed normal ratchet straps over the load. Airport steps are a tall set of stairs on a tubular metal frame with wheels on so you can move them around by hand to where you need them. Where you’re collecting the load from should have some. Had to use a set myself on Wednesday night to get the internal straps onto a few particularly high stacks.
Are DAF brakes like that? The peddle felt like a brick and you couldn’t compress it easily. If it’s faulty I’ll no in future to refuse to drive something like that.
How heavy was your load? Your paperwork should tell you and checking the plate on the passenger door will tell you the weight of the lorry. Running at max weight can really affect how a lorry drives. Personally, if I ever swap trucks with another driver, I always spend a couple of minutes checking with them if there’s anything I need to be aware of. This is in addition to your regular vehicle checks.
They didn’t use any straps on the steel pallets of metal car parts. Is that okay? I was very concerned they could fall through the curtains or turn me over, so I drove like miss daisy around corners. And the metal pallets were too high for me to get a strap over and do it myself. Any advice on this one?
If the pallets are 400kg or less you can use internal straps. These are the ones strung from the roof of the lorry. Anything over 400kg NEEDS to be lashed to the deck. There are tricks to strapping awkward loads but they’re not easy to describe. If you’re picking up off another driver, ask them to help.
You may notice a recurring theme here. Ask, ask and ask again. You’ll be surprised how much drivers like to pass on their encyclopedic knowledge to newbies.
I’m not sure how heavy the load was. But the pallets were deffo more than 400kg.
I’ll make sure it’s strapped in future. The problem with asking is… None of the other drivers used straps. I was watching the older more experienced guys hoping to copy. And they didn’t use anything. Worryingly one of the metal pallets did move a bit on one of my trips - but it didn’t fall off.
Also the forklift drivers didn’t tell me I was doing it wrong either at collection or delivery. So I assumed i was worrying about nothing. It seems like I was right to be concerned.
Does anyone know of a CPC day that teaches this stuff hands on? I don’t mind paying a reasonable sum to learn it properly. As it really did worry me.
Oh and the brakes of the DAF were crap both loaded and unloaded. It really required my strength to stop it. I’m 17st a bit fat but swim and walk up mountains a lot. So I’m not a total weakling. They just didn’t feel like air brakes.
It was a DAF 18T I couldn’t tell you which model. I was an 11 plate I think. And was a rental truck so I presume it would be in good order.
It was meant to have airbrakes. I remember as when I stopped I turned the engine off and tried pushing the brakes to work them a bit. And when I turned it back on an alarm went off for about 5 minutes until the compressor did it’s job.
truckman020:
is sammym on a wind up,sounds like it to me
No I’m not.
Imagine this. I did the same test you all did. And I have learnt nothing about the things I have asked about. I have never worked as a driver before. Why would I know about curtains? When was I shown how to use a tacho?
It’s easy to take the ■■■■. And I probably deserve a lot of it. But I’m trying to not mess up tomorrow and make a ■■■ of myself. I’m sure it would be far more amusing for everyone on here (and my friends) if I did. But for me I’d actually like to learn some stuff.
Obviously, this is all ridiculously easy and obvious to you guys. But would it be to your wife/son/daughter who had never driven a truck professionally?
I’m taking the ribbing with a smile - but I’d love for someone to tell me where I’m meant to learn this stuff as an agency driver… You are all complaining that there are too many foreign drivers. But how does a UK based driver learn about curtains and this stuff? I suppose I could pay for CPC days… But I don’t want to spend more money on this before I’ve even done a days work.
Anyone who really think I’m taking the ■■■■ can PM me and I’ll send my number. I just want some ‘silly’ questions answering so I have a clue about this stuff.
Oh… and [zb] ups or not I’ll post my honest review of myself tomorrow. It will either cause extreme hilarity for most, or give a bit of confidence to another new pass.
I understand now sammym,but in your post you never said you were a newbie, for the record most of it is common sense,give it a year or so and you will be a seasoned trucker like us old gits[well me anyway,can’t speak for others]
sammym:
I’m not sure how heavy the load was. But the pallets were deffo more than 400kg.
I’ll make sure it’s strapped in future. The problem with asking is… None of the other drivers used straps. I was watching the older more experienced guys hoping to copy. And they didn’t use anything. Worryingly one of the metal pallets did move a bit on one of my trips - but it didn’t fall off.
Also the forklift drivers didn’t tell me I was doing it wrong either at collection or delivery. So I assumed i was worrying about nothing. It seems like I was right to be concerned.
Does anyone know of a CPC day that teaches this stuff hands on? I don’t mind paying a reasonable sum to learn it properly. As it really did worry me.
Oh and the brakes of the DAF were crap both loaded and unloaded. It really required my strength to stop it. I’m 17st a bit fat but swim and walk up mountains a lot. So I’m not a total weakling. They just didn’t feel like air brakes.
Until you gain more knowledge err on the side of caution, if you don’t think it looks right then it probably isn’t, it’s easier to stick a few straps on than it is deal with the consequences of it going ■■■■ up. I started driving less than 3 years ago and can sympathise with your position, I remember how steep the learning curve was for me coming into the industry with absolutely no prior knowledge of how things worked but you will get though it, sure you’ll make mistakes along the way but stick with it and in a few months time you will be looking back and laughing at things that seemed to be the end of the world at the time.
I actually ended up starting at 5.30. Still a very long day.
It all ended when they told me I needed to put the truck on a bay and this was the hardest bay yet with yellow metal things with just fractions of inches between them and the tyre. I had to get out and and check about 10 times. And I took the same number of shunts. But I did it. And in a pathetic way I’m proud of that.
If anyone wants to see the tacho printout let me know. I just fancy a beer now.
Oh and agency want me to work tomorrow at 6.30am! So I am clearly better than I give myself credit for. I just told the truth about it all. I’ve learnt some solid lessons for today. I will do another shift - otherwise my only ‘experience’ will be [zb] everything up.
Had my first shift something similar as your’s, was there at 3.30, they gave me paperwork around 6and I was out around 7, finished at 21.00, generally it was ok, but they gave me broken pumptruck, so had a fair amount of handballing in some places, the stressful moment was when I almost hit Ferrari reversing, just missed by few inches. But generally I liked it.
We all learn, just keep trucking, you will be alright.
By the way, no induction, nothing, just keys and paperwork, at least because I was not leaving yard for too long, guy came to check and showed me how to use tail lift.
Can’t do more than 15 so how did you explain this away to employer?
Even if you put card in at 6-7 you’ve still either not accounted for the hours from 3:30 or done them for sweet FA as can’t legally put them on a time sheet
milesahead:
Had my first shift something similar as your’s, was there at 3.30, they gave me paperwork around 6and I was out around 7, finished at 21.00, generally it was ok, but they gave me broken pumptruck, so had a fair amount of handballing in some places, the stressful moment was when I almost hit Ferrari reversing, just missed by few inches. But generally I liked it.
We all learn, just keep trucking, you will be alright.
I still have not used a tail lift. But I’ll learn at some point I’m sure.
The only thing that still really really worries me is reversing. And I’ve decided to just keep practicing when I don’t need to and can’t damage anything. Got bollocked by an artic driver in truck parking for doing this. But some people are just grumpy sods. There was loads of parking - but apparently, my reversing warning noise was stopping him resting.
I’d happily go out for a shift for nothing with an experienced driver if they would give me some pointers on reversing. But the only drivers I know with experience drive class 1 so that’s no good. One has suggested I do my class 1 as apparently they are easier once you get your head around it. But it doesn’t look easier to me. Going to ask agency if I can do some double manning so I can get advice and ask questions.
milesahead:
Had my first shift something similar as your’s, was there at 3.30, they gave me paperwork around 6and I was out around 7, finished at 21.00, generally it was ok, but they gave me broken pumptruck, so had a fair amount of handballing in some places, the stressful moment was when I almost hit Ferrari reversing, just missed by few inches. But generally I liked it.
We all learn, just keep trucking, you will be alright.
I still have not used a tail lift. But I’ll learn at some point I’m sure.
The only thing that still really really worries me is reversing. And I’ve decided to just keep practicing when I don’t need to and can’t damage anything. Got bollocked by an artic driver in truck parking for doing this. But some people are just grumpy sods. There was loads of parking - but apparently, my reversing warning noise was stopping him resting.
I’d happily go out for a shift for nothing with an experienced driver if they would give me some pointers on reversing. But the only drivers I know with experience drive class 1 so that’s no good. One has suggested I do my class 1 as apparently they are easier once you get your head around it. But it doesn’t look easier to me. Going to ask agency if I can do some double manning so I can get advice and ask questions.
I think I’d be grumpy if someone was reversing and beeping whilst I was trying to get some sleep. If the curtains are closed, then try not to make more noise than you need to. One day you’ll park up for the night and have a fridge pull in next to you, just after you’ve gone to sleep.
albion:
One day you’ll park up for the night and have a fridge pull in next to you, just after you’ve gone to sleep.
Strange how we’re all so different, a fridge at full tilt sends me off to sleep and if theres space ill always park in the vicinity and yet if i hear voices in the night/ changeovers ect im then wide awake… …
albion:
One day you’ll park up for the night and have a fridge pull in next to you, just after you’ve gone to sleep.
Strange how we’re all so different, a fridge at full tilt sends me off to sleep and if theres space ill always park in the vicinity and yet if i hear voices in the night/ changeovers ect im then wide awake… …
To be honest it does me. When I was little, my Dad used to load potatoes out of Lincs at night and he’d make a ‘bed’ with sacks of potatoes in the fottwell to level with the seat and some foam on top, and I’d go to sleep with my head right next to the engine. Albion Clydesdales had a hump for the engine cover in the cab ( none of this flat floor rubbish ) and to this day engine noises I find very relaxing.
However, it seems most people don’t like a fridge next to them.
Franglais:
Many (all ?) trucks have a switch to turn off the reverse bleeper.
If the cab curtains are closed assume they’re sleeping.
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No idea where it is or what it looks like. Remember from theory you have to turn them off within certain hours on 30 limit streets.
In fact there are loads of buttons that I have no idea about. I pressed one that came up with percentages and seemed to adjust the suspension. I will start asking other drivers and learning all these buttons. Because I really don’t have any ideas.
I love agency drivers.
and this was the hardest bay yet with yellow metal things with just fractions of inches between them and the tyre. I had to get out and and check about 10 times. And I took the same number of shunts. But I did it. And in a pathetic way I’m proud of that.
… 
) and to this day engine noises I find very relaxing.