On Christmas day, it will be a year since I decided that I was going to take my HGV tests in 2012. The original plan was that I would do HGV in 2012, and PCV in 2013, along with motorcycle at some point in that time. Originally I had no intention of doing any driving, it was just that I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it.
So, back to work in the new year, and I contacted John at Flair Training, and got the ‘soft’ side of things underway — medical, theory & HPT tests. HPT caused a bit of a worry to start with, as I was suffering from the common thing that a lot of experienced car drivers have — clicking too early, before that hazard actually develops. In the end though, I scraped through with 1% above the limit — a pass is a pass though!
So off to the training — 3 days with John and a slightly strange Czech, followed by the test on day 4. Enjoyed the training immensely, despite the young girl who decided to step out straight in front of us whilst we were still moving at about 15mph — don’t air brakes stop an unloaded lorry quickly?
Passed C with 4 minors, and got the licence off as soon as possible, to get the CE training underway a month later. No great dramas with this one, and passed with 5 minors this time. So this is it — I’m an HGV driver (just with no experience, or real talent for it….)
After a while, I wanted to get back behind the wheel again, so tried contacting some of the local companies, to see if they needed any part-time / casual workers. One of them came good, and I started doing the occasional day for them. The second day I was there, they sent me out in an artic for a 2-day run up to Lancashire. This was the first time I had driven an artic as opposed to a W&D, and my mouth was as dry as the Sahara for the first 50 miles or so, whilst my bowels weren’t… Eventually I settled in and started enjoying myself a bit more, until I got to the second drop, which had a git of a reverse in — I cocked up by trying to do it blindside, then a friendly driver had a quiet word and pointed out the easier way. So eventually I was in and unloaded, and off to Birkenhead for the reload, and an overnight stop.
This occasional work developed into a regular 2 days every week, with my own regular lorry — it was the yard spare, but I took it home and scrubbed every part of it, and got it habitable again, and spent many a happy hour yomping over the country, and learning more every day.
Whilst this was going on, the company I was running with a business partner was getting quieter workwise, and I was trying to cut costs to keep it viable. We were increasingly at loggerheads over what direction we should be going in — I felt that we should take the brunt of any cuts, he felt that we should keep our money the same and cut the engineers’ wages instead. Eventually, it became clear that we couldn’t keep going together, so I handed in my notice and started negotiating a settlement for me to come out totally. Before I did this, I made sure that I would have a fulltime job instead of a part-time one, which they were happy to do.
So on November 5th 2012, I became a full-time HGV driver. This time I had my little TGA, which would be mine exclusively, and not shared with anybody else, so I started making it my home from home. However, after a couple of weeks I was asked if I wanted to take on the new contract that they had just got, which would mean a new unit, and my own regular trailer. I was happy to go for this, not because of the new lorry, but because I was looking forward to helping to develop a new contract. Even so, the shiny new Actros turned up one day, along with equally shiny and co-ordinated curtains for the trailer, and despite a few grumbles from a couple of the drivers about the new boy getting the new toys, it’s all gone well, and I’ve now got over 5000 miles on the clock, and finally starting to feel like a driver.
The biggest problem which gets raised on this forum is to do with reversing — I can state with confidence that it really does get better with time. I’ve been to several places this week where I would have had kittens getting into when I first started, but now I’m a lot happier with it. It’s true what they say about the setting up being 90% of the battle — get it in the right position before you select reverse and you’ll be fine. The other tip I will say is get your visual cues sorted out — if I’ve got painted lines marking the bay, then I’ll have no problems (unless somebody’s watching, then it all goes wrong!). If there are no cues, then I can be guaranteed to need several shunts to get properly centred and straight on the bay. It doesn’t take much — the herringbone pattern on the block paving will often do, but as some shopkeeper keeps saying, every little helps.
This missive isn’t meant to be talking down to anybody, or bigging myself up, it’s just to hopefully encourage anybody at the start of the training that no matter what you get told about 2 years experience, or what a crap job it is etc, if you want to do it, go for it. It’s much better to look back in years to come and think ‘wish I hadn’t bothered’, rather than get to your deathbed and think ‘wish I’d had a go’.
As for me, I’ve gone from being an electrician running a company employing 5 people, to an HGV driver running myself. Am I enjoying myself? Hell Yes!!! Do I regret what I’ve done? Hell No!!!
Gary
