LTS Training Diary

NEW AND WANNABE DRIVERS (INTERACTIVE)
1

Didn’t sleep too well the night before the big day, but hey ho. Arriveved at their place down at Heysham Port nice and early, think positive and all that even if it was Friday the 13th.

Met Paul who is my instructor and he took a copy of my doc’s. Then out to the truck (DAF 94) for the daily checks and a good look at the thing. Bigest I’ve driven in the past is a 7.5t a number of years ago.

Paul took the wheel for the first 20 mins to show me the ropes and that sort of thing.

Now it was my turn. we were still around the port doing left and right hand turns to get an idea of how the DAF handled. It seemed to go OK, no kerbs, well not yet.

Out on to the open road and the M6 heading South. The motorway part went well (big wide road I guess) :smiley:

Went in to Preston and things went a little pear shaped in that i kissed 3 kerbs, stalled it once and had a stupid woman pull out on a roundabout as I had got my wheels over the line entering the rounderbout. Paul told me I should of stopped so she had to instead (FAIL on the test :frowning: ) Try, try again.

We headed down to the HGV Test Centre at Kirkham to get the lie of the land plus have a pee stop, too much excitement I think. Had to do my first reverse on the Queens Highway outside the test centre, NO Prob’s with it, missed the kerbs as well.

Off again towards Blackpool. Kissed another 2 kerbs and stalled once more, not good. Paul explained that I need to get out of car mode and give myself MORE room for the truck.

Back to the yard to finish off the day with some reversing practice. Nailed it first time and also the other 3 times that I did it. I just need to tidy up my clutch work.

Using the gear box in the DAF caused me a few issues during the day in that I got mixed up and forgot to flip the switch to change it in to high/ low, so ended up in wrong gear.

The day over and no new dents or missing paint from the truck so I think I can gather my thoughts over the weekend ready for Monday morning and day 2 of my training. Will try to get photo for next week (sad or wot). :grimacing: :grimacing: :grimacing: :grimacing:

2

Have you done the left hand filter lane on Watery Lane yet? (opposite McDonalds) or the end of the Frecklton By pass where you have to slow to 40 although the limit is 50?
I did my test in Preston 18 years ago and I remember it like yesterday. Take care.

Al

3

AlexWignall:
Have you done the left hand filter lane on Watery Lane yet? (opposite McDonalds) or the end of the Frecklton By pass where you have to slow to 40 although the limit is 50?
I did my test in Preston 18 years ago and I remember it like yesterday. Take care.

Al

Yeah took mine at Kirkham , did “McDonalds corner” a few times and when it came to the test we drove passed it Phew :slight_smile: that was 2002 in a C and 2006 with a C+E , lucky on both days :slight_smile: .

if you are tested at Kirkham don’t forget the blind corner as you enter / exit the site apart from that the test should go well for you

good luck with your test , show them control and safety and you are 80% of the way to passing

4

The exact roads we travelled on are a bit of a blur as I was concertrating on everything else. Lame excuse but there we have it. Paul has said he intends to up the anti starting on Monday so I need to be on the ball for it. :stuck_out_tongue: :stuck_out_tongue:

I do recall Paul telling me that some of the roads we were on were part of the test routes that are used.

I see what you mean about the exit to the test site.

we will be going down that way again next week to get me acustomed to the area etc.

5

It will all start to click together over the next few days, when i did my training in April it took me about 3 days to get out of car mode but once i did and slowed EVERYTHING right down it became a lot easier to approach r/b’s and junctions, getting time to get the right positioning, time to plan ahead etc, try and slow everything ( even gear changes ), turn corners slowly and it will give you tons of confidence, remember there is no rush and don’t worry about holding up vehicles who are behind you, slow and steady is the name of the game :sunglasses:

Good luck.

John.

6

DAY 2

Did the normal daily walk round then did a few reverse manovers, no probs there.

Out of the yard and on to the M6 South then off at Garstang heading South, stopped off at a lay by for a brew. Paul said that I was more together than on Friday, just had to keep it up. :blush:

In to Preston and around the town centre, again and again. Then off for lunch at Kirkham (Test Centre). The rest of the day went OK until just down the road from the Test Centre. Bloody hill start, or lack of it. :blush: :blush: :blush: :blush: Could not get the hand brake/ clutch/ throttle to work together. 5 goes later we were on the move, not a happy chap. From their things took a downward turn for a while, kissed two kerbs and stalled it once.

In Lancaster we did a few hill starts, four straight after each other, no probs.

Things got better after that and heading back to the yard through Lancaster I stalled in the middle of town :blush: :blush: :cry:

Back at the yard Paul informed me that things had inproved since friday but a few things need a little polish. Fingers crossed till tomorrow.

7

Good read mate, keep it up :slight_smile:

8

DAY 3

Just to put things straight I got the type of truck wrong. It is a Scania 220 (94D) :blush: :blush: :blush:
The day set of OK as things go, the day seemed to be split in to 3 sections. OK, not very good and OK. What is a guy supposed to do.

The reversing exercise I can do, no probs with it at all.

The using the throttle, clutch and that b…dy service brake, what a nightmare :exclamation: :exclamation:

I seem to have a bad spell that gets better then I stall it, no once but twice every day :cry:

Back to the yard and some more reversing.

9

DAY 4

Again start in the yard reversing, job done.

Now the tricky bit, a mock test. All was fine for the first 20 mins then mount the kerb on White Lund industrial estate… :blush: :blush: FAILED

Carried on with the mock and stalled the thing a couple of minutes later, dam and blast.

We ended up at the test centre at Kirkham for a de-brief and lunch, knew what Paul was going to say, silly sod.

The rest of the day seemed to go better as we headed back towards the yard. Fingers crossed for test day.

10

D-DAY or should I say Test Day.

Had a good drive down to Kirkham this morning with no stalls or kissing the kerbs.

Started the test and nailed the reverse exercise :sunglasses:

Out on to the road and things seemed to click in to place the more the test progressed. Even a Police car with blues and two’s going didn’t put me off my stride. The good thing about the test is that Paul had done a number of the same roads this morning getting to the test centre so Preston was no real supprise at all.

Back to the test centre and I was informed that I had PASSED :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: with only 3 minors.
OH HAPPY DAYS, OH HAPPY DAYS. :grimacing: :grimacing: :grimacing: :grimacing: :grimacing:

FANTASTIC

If anyone is looking at taking any training then look no further than Lancaster Training Services Ltd. Excelent.
Cheers Paul for putting up with me, great job.

11

Fantastic News.

Well Done.

Dean

12

Good effort well done!

Al

13

Well done indeed, no stalls and no kerbs, bet your glad you got them out of your system on the days before. :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

14

BEGGING BOWL OUT NOW.

If anyone knows of a company who would take on a rather GREEN Class 2 driver in either ■■■■■■■ or Lancashire then look no further than ME :grimacing: :grimacing: :grimacing:

15

This may be of interest to you

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=70726

Well done on the pass soz but not in your area but good luck