Evening all, I passed my class 1 test in may this year and yet to
Work a shift. Actually been offered so many assessments and even got a partime weekend role with Amazon freight.
The issue is I have lost my bottle. I passed everything 1st time got zero faults on test. But I now have massive anxiety about going out on my own.
Any advise? Should I pay for a refresher course or just bite the bulit and use the Amazon as practice. If I’m honest I think I’m worried about the reversing and people watching while I do it.
I know it sounds crazy. But I’m struggling.
Any advice greatly received.
Thanks in advance
Amazon is really easy for reversing. Quite often now there could be no one watching you. I would recommend it for learning (the basics , you don’t get enough practice to perfect it)
6 months though without turning a wheel, I would definitely pay for a refresher.
Half a day will be enough to get back in the saddle
I did these many times when I was instructing
I found some empty industrial units/loading docks etc to some real life artic reversing
Martinb78:
Evening all, I passed my class 1 test in may this year and yet to
Work a shift. Actually been offered so many assessments and even got a partime weekend role with Amazon freight.
The issue is I have lost my bottle. I passed everything 1st time got zero faults on test. But I now have massive anxiety about going out on my own.
Any advise? Should I pay for a refresher course or just bite the bulit and use the Amazon as practice. If I’m honest I think I’m worried about the reversing and people watching while I do it.
I know it sounds crazy. But I’m struggling.
Any advice greatly received.
Thanks in advance
I can’t offer any advice, only to say that I feel your pain. I passed in September. I’m an agency driver and while I really want to get started on Class 1, I know that if it is with the agency I will get thrown in at the deep end and I think it will be hell. I suppose the pain has just got to be gone through.
I imagine reversing an artic in some of the industrial estates I deliver to and around where I live, with parked cars galore and I think I just won’t be able to do it. I think this maybe because when you learn to reverse in training, you have a football field to do it in. There’s a small industrial estate in my town where the only way in is to reverse into an lorry-wide driveway while blocking both carriageways of a busy sub-urban road. It’s the stuff of nightmares. What if that was your first ever drop in the morning rush hour and you needed 10 shunts to do it?
One day, an artic delivered to where I was working and I got chatting to the driver. I would have been worried about reversing out as soon as I drove in. I got in the cab with him to observe how he completed his reverse and as soon as I got in the cab I understood that it wasn’t a difficult reverse at all, it just wasn’t a football field. All he had to do was reverse around a corner and not hit any parked cars
Amazon sounds as good a bet as any to get started. Good luck.
Well done on the pass! You have proved your competence and safety, now it’s just a case of building experience and confidence.
Personally I’d try a few shifts with Amazon to build experience that way. Get paid for practicing, instead of paying to practice. As long as the employer knows that you are a new pass, they’ll not be expecting miracles. Just take your time, be safe and after a few shifts you’ll be raring to go.
You’ve passed your tests 1st time. You can drive this thing forward that’s for sure.
Don’t think too much about lack of experience. You’ll do just fine. There’s plenty of tutorials on YT how to back up onto a bay, so have a look on that as well if you’re not sure about the reversing skills.
Everybody started somewhere, even those truckers driving 30 years.
Don’t be stressed about people watching, they will forget about you in 3 minutes afterwards or will be on their phones anyway.
ROG:
Half a day will be enough to get back in the saddle
I did these many times when I was instructing
I found some empty industrial units/loading docks etc to some real life artic reversing
I was going to do this, however I managed to get a position on a small firm, the gaffa let me play in the yard with an old wagon used for shunting to practice reversing.
I was still ■■■■■■■■ it on my own though, even at big depots / RDC’s reversing can be difficult, learning to get set up correctly and not over hacking away on the wheel are key.
If your going to pay for a refresher i’d get the trainer to sort some units / docks out for practice.
Sooner or later though you kinda have to think ‘■■■■ it’ and go and manage.
I’ve only been working for a month or so at weekends, yesterday I real struggled at LHR on a very tight bay to load. But I managed, took ages, but I didn’t hit anything, took me about 10 shunts. But I got the job done and learnt from the experience.Then I went back to depot where room is plentiful and cruised onto the bay, best one yet. Went home happy :O)
Unlike all the drivers I held up whilst I was too-ing and fro-ing
Good luck - you got this!
Also check out you tube - I think the channel is called ‘advanced truck backing’
I have tried to ‘unteach myself’ the lousy way I was ‘taught’ (a very loose term!) and have enbraced this guys logic and technique.
I won’t go into details here, the vids will explain far better then me!
Enjoy the freedom of being new and having opportunity to make mistakes without worrying.
Amazon is 100% lots of space, loads of time, and big gaps between each bay, you’ll be fine we all go through it bud.
I made a play list of all the tunes that helped me relax, played it for the first few drives… music tends to influance our moods, so create a good playlist to listen to.
ROG:
Half a day will be enough to get back in the saddle
I did these many times when I was instructing
I found some empty industrial units/loading docks etc to some real life artic reversing
I was going to do this, however I managed to get a position on a small firm, the gaffa let me play in the yard with an old wagon used for shunting to practice reversing.
I was still [zb] it on my own though, even at big depots / RDC’s reversing can be difficult, learning to get set up correctly and not over hacking away on the wheel are key.
If your going to pay for a refresher i’d get the trainer to sort some units / docks out for practice.
Sooner or later though you kinda have to think ‘[zb] it’ and go and manage.
I’ve only been working for a month or so at weekends, yesterday I real struggled at LHR on a very tight bay to load. But I managed, took ages, but I didn’t hit anything, took me about 10 shunts. But I got the job done and learnt from the experience.Then I went back to depot where room is plentiful and cruised onto the bay, best one yet. Went home happy :O)
Unlike all the drivers I held up whilst I was too-ing and fro-ing
Good luck - you got this!
Small haulier is i think the better way to start out rather than just go agency.
You generally get an older lorry to start with like this, probably already got a few battle scars so won’t be the end of the world if you put another scrape on it, but most importantly likely to be one tractor unit to get used to which makes learning the job a hell of a lot simpler than swapping nearly brand new vehicles every day.
Chances are there’ll be some old hand there that will take you under their wing too, i still have fond memories of Dennis who sort of became my surrogate uncle when i started on artics back in the day.
Going agency can be bad enough when you’re an old hand, total stranger everywhere you go, miserable know nothing clerks, full timer alleged drivers at some of the usual suspect places that use lots of agency drivers either ignore you or try to lord it over you, different vehicle and tackle to learn every day, no idea where the fuel or oil are kept, not easy.
Martinb78:
. I have been told that Amazon has yard Marshall’s that can be pretty judgmental
I wouldn’t say that. Usually they are silent, as in they cannot give directions. If they were sarky I would just throw the keys at them and tell them to do it.
It’s only about 200 quid for about 4 hours in a refresher.
I would ask in interviews if they could sit you with a trainer for a bit. Save a few quid plus it shows that you will do any training to get the job.
Don’t let it get inside your head and remember you passed the tests cleanly, you can do it without ruminating that you cannot. Think positive like you did in the tests!
Hi all thank you for all your comments all re assuring I will
Check the YouTube link out. Actually agreed shifts at Amazon this weekend however just caught covid…
I will update everyone on my first shift cheers again. Drive safe
