Starting tomorrow!
It’s been a long wait, hoping for a good day.
Best of luck with it! Remember to get your speed down early when approaching junctions/roundabouts, also keep an eye on your rear wheels when turning corners, check your mirrors regularly and when passing junctions/pedestrians/crossings/speed changes. Mirror signal manouver. And always check your mirrors before moving/turning left/right. The reverse is easy so don’t worry about that, just remember to try and get a feel for the truck first (clutch bite point, feel of brakes etc).
1968kg:
Starting tomorrow!
It’s been a long wait, hoping for a good day.
Might be a good day for you but what about all those innocent motorists driving about on their bank holliday !! 
Think of all the caravans!
bank holiday Monday, you did well to get them on the road on a bank hol
hope it goes well for you! keep the nerves in check and you’ll be cruising the motorways before you know it 
look forward to the diary! out of interest, who are you using and where are you testing?
When I booked the earliest date for test was Friday morning, so to get 4 sessions in meant either splitting the course or starting on the BH and that suited us both.
As for caravans, have you seen the weather?
The guy I’m training with only does Cat C at the moment so I’ll have to go elsewhere for CE.
I’ll say who I’m using at the end and hopefully he can be added to the recommended list.
I’ll keep this brief.
After an intro to the truck my instructor drove first explaining what he was doing, where he was looking, etc. Then it was my turn!
It took a little while to get the hang of the gears especially when changing range, it’s quite easy to forget where you are, but not too bad by the end of the session.
We stuck to main roads for the first hour or so then ventured into the town centre.
I pulled out on a couple of cars on roundabouts and I need to refine my mirror checks and to watch my road position, I’m often too close to the left, clipped a few kerbs.
I think overall I made a good start though and my instructor is pleased with how I did.
Tomorrow, less chat and more concentration.
A good start by the sounds of things. Clipping kerbs is nothing major. Just adjust your road position to compensate and check mirrors as you go round the corner to see where the rear wheels are.
sounds like it went well for day 1
I’m guessing you’re mostly kerbing it on left turns? don’t worry, perfectly normal, your instructor will get that sorted for you. when turning left it helps to move over to the centre line, when you sus where your ns rear wheels need to be you’ll crack it every time
Yes, it was mainly turning left or going straight ahead at roundabouts and it wasn’t every time!
I’ve got to get used to the extra width and remember that I’m not on my bike at junctions!
So, the end of day 2.
Gears are better now, I wouldn’t say I’ve mastered them but only the odd baulk and finding a viable gear quick enough, I’m happy that I’ll be fine by Friday.
Less kerbs caught today and we did a lot of tricky junctions. I need to keep on the ball, I know all the roads we’ve been using but what’s no problem in a car is so much harder in a 10.5metre long truck.
Tomorrow we are going to do some reversing, we want to nail that quickly then get back out into town centres.
My goal then is to get the reverse under my belt, then make no ‘serious’ faults for the rest of the drive, then Thursday can just be polishing to reduce the number of minor faults. Got to stay positive, if it was perfect on day 2 we wouldn’t need 3+4!
The only fly in the ointment is that there is talk of a DSA examiners strike on Friday. 
Hmmm … no training dip yet … it usually comes on day 3 of 5 but dont worry, its normal … after a good nights kip all will be well again on day 4 
Progressing at a good pace.
As Rog says… Don’t be too surprised if you reach a point in your training where nothing goes to plan. We’ve all been there.
Keep it up and you’ll be fine for Friday
Thanks guys, and it looks like the strike is in the afternoon and my test is at 10.30 so should be ok.
Dont dwell on the strike put it out of your mind just keep doing what your doing and everything will be fine , as some of said you sometimes get a dip in training where everything goes wrong or well it seems to , your learning and thats what the training is for , to learn from mistakes
good luck and keep it up
all the best for fri
Day 3 comes to an end, I’m pretty tired now, I’ve done a couple of hours at work this morning then its a 50min drive each way to the training school and my instructor gave me an extra hour on the session today, which I deffo needed.
We didn’t do the reverse so we could concentrate on my issues with kerbs, although I did do a 3 point turn to get out of the yard.
Having got home, walked the dog and had a cup of tea things are starting to sink in. I had a couple of real tight turns and on one there was a car stopped at the junction blocking my way, the driver was texting or something and I just needed to stop until he shifted, by trying to get round I clipped the kerb again.
There are always judgement calls when to go when to stop, is it hesitation is it pushing through, am I bullying or being assertive?
It is getting better but I still have a way to go I feel.
I know I might not pass so if I do it’ll be a bonus and a surprise.
1968kg:
Day 3 comes to an end, I’m pretty tired now, I’ve done a couple of hours at work this morning then its a 50min drive each way to the training school and my instructor gave me an extra hour on the session today, which I deffo needed.
We didn’t do the reverse so we could concentrate on my issues with kerbs, although I did do a 3 point turn to get out of the yard.Having got home, walked the dog and had a cup of tea things are starting to sink in. I had a couple of real tight turns and on one there was a car stopped at the junction blocking my way, the driver was texting or something and I just needed to stop until he shifted, by trying to get round I clipped the kerb again.
There are always judgement calls when to go when to stop, is it hesitation is it pushing through, am I bullying or being assertive?
It is getting better but I still have a way to go I feel.
I know I might not pass so if I do it’ll be a bonus and a surprise.
In that situation I would have honked my horn and told him to get off his bloody phone and drive! And then joking said “it’s a good thing i’m off duty” 
It will all come together tomorrow, trust me…
Remember that dip in training we mentioned yesterday? You’ve had it today. Not as bad as some but it sounds like it has knocked the confidence a little. Sleep on it tonight and go refreshed tomorrow to tighten up those niggles ready for a PASS on friday
Day 4 turned out to be the day I wanted yesterday, everything was sooo much better.
No kerbs today, although at one point I had to pass a parked up tipper truck and had no option but to take the pavement, could do without that tomorrow.
The reverse went ok, and I’ll get to have a quick practice at the test centre in the morning.
I’ve got 2 and half hours to fine tune then test.
I think now i have a fighting chance.
Best of luck for tommorow