I thought I would start a diary as I enjoy reading about the experiences of others whilst training.
My first lesson is booked for midday today with Dave from Peter Smythes down in Peterborough, It’s been a long time planning as my work are difficult when it comes to me taking time off.
I set off from home in North Yorkshire at 7.30am to allow plenty of time and have just got here 11am i didn’t get much sleep as nerves are getting the better off me already I took a kalms last night and it didn’t seem to do much I also have a spray called rescue which has been recommended so will see how that goes, I will be training for cat C in a manual truck I would prefer the auto but schedules etc didn’t match.
I am doing a 4 day course with test on Friday 8pm.
So I will do my best today and let you all know how I get on. 
Are you on Peters residential course?
Paul 
Are you on Peters residential course?
Beats 7 hours a day travelling!
Pete 
Peter Smythe:
Are you on Peters residential course?
Beats 7 hours a day travelling!
Pete
So I will take it as yes then.
All the best in your training Ady.
Paul
Best of luck Ady!
Wishing to be facetious, do you get a discount for advertising Peter’s course?
I’m not knocking it, as I think it’s a good thing that trainers get feedback via this forum. Just be careful that Peter doesn’t get his pocket watch out in front of your face and start telling you that you feel sleepy! 
LOL
Keep us posted…
Today went better than I had hoped for, I met up with Dave at noon and went through the vehicle and checks etc, I do this on a regular basis with works vehicles but still managed to learn a few things, Dave drove first down to a training area on the way showing me the gear changes which is something I was still worried about.
We arrived at the training area where the Cones were laid out ready for the reverse exercise which initially looked impossible one Dave had shown me it was possible it was my turn, I got it bang on every time I think it gave me a confidence boost to be honest.
We went on to the road drive and initially I was trying to mould the steering wheel with a tight grip and locked arms but 10 mins later I’m beginning to settle in and even getting used to that gearbox; )
We managed to do motorway and city centre roads with plenty of roundabouts traffic lights and clueless pedestrians. I did find other drivers are patient and gave plenty of room it may be the big L’s all round the truck but it wasn’t half as daunting as I was expecting.
So in general I am pleased with progress today and I am looking forward to tomorrow the nerves have settled now but will probably be back Thursday/Friday.
There is a few points that Dave has noticed and I need to work on.
Mirrors
Even though my neck is stiff now I still need to do more checks and proper checks rather than the half arsed attempts many of them were lol.
Speed
I keep forgetting the 40mph limit on single roads, even coming out of a 40 into the national limit I speed up! Also I could do with going a bit steadier on roundabouts as I think I am rushing with the steering/gears/indicators and half arsed mirror checks lol.
As I said I’m very happy overall, admittedly onceback at the hotel i layed on the bedwith a coffee on the bedside table and promptly feel asleep for 2 hours lol, tomorrow’s lesson is afternoon again so will update when I get back.
Good luck with your week Ady I did my c+e on a residential with Dave last month and everything went well. I think if you can control your nerves it helps greatly on test day I know easier said than done I was nervous on test morning as I think 99% of people who take there tests are. My tip is to have something sugary just before your test so that it gives you an energy boost I had a bottle of lucozade and worked for me.
Keep us posted with it all
You’ve made a good start with surprisingly few items to worry about. Keep it up and you’ll have no bother come test day.
All the best, Pete
Thank you for the replies so far
I had another good day today, the reversing was spot on again and once on the road I settled in nicely, Mirror checks I am told were a lot better than yesterday I tried to take things a bit slower today which gave me more time to think about what I needed to do which I would say worked, I did quite a bit of driving in Peterborough itself along the various test routes and we had a quick look at the test centre reverse area, I did do a couple of signal errors coming off roundabouts which I realised straight away and also messed up worth the gears, I had clicked into low at the same time as going from 6th to 4th on approach to a roundabout and ended up trying to set off (rolling start) in what should have been 4th but was in fact 8th. The truck didn’t like it for some reason and stalled :/thankfully whilst I am panicking about wondering what’s going on and trying to re start as well as working out which gear I was actually in oh and forgetting to put the hand brake on, the traffic showed a lot of patients and waited! As did my instructor Dave.
All in all things are going great but mentally I am exhausted today so I’m off for some tea then having an early night.
A good 2nd day. Nothing out of the ordinary there so keep trying to relax and give yourself time and that will make it easier.
Good luck for day 3.
Pete
Day 3 and apart from an hour in the morning that’s training done with
Today went very well the reverse was spot on and I was shown different ways of doing it but I’m sticking to what works best for me, my instructor is happy with it also.
The drive itself went well fairly uneventful really maybe a little hiccup again going from high box to low but ir realised and sorted it before it got interesting lol.
We did have to pull up safely but quickly at one point as there was a loud bang or more a boom really I though a tyre had blown but the truck felt ok, Dave though something had hit us. … As it turns out we couldn’t find anything wrong so carried on, we learnt later on whilst having a break that there had been an explosion on an industrial estate close to where we heard the boom! !
Anyway test day tomorrow at 8pm so I’m gonna relax and grab another early night.
test day tomorrow at 8pm
Think it’ll possibly be 12 hours before that!
All sounds on target. Well done.
All the very best for tomorrow.
Pete
Good luck tomorrow Ady hope it goes well for you
Sadly is not good news, overall I was told it was a great drive with only 1 minor which was undue hesitation which I expected but I got a serious for entering a roundabout just as the lights that were actually on the roundabout turned red, which left the back of the truck hanging over the lane to my left (I was turning right 4 lane roundabout) I’m kicking myself as I could have taken another look as I was about to set off and seen them change.
Easy done and I will learn from it but I’m just annoyed with myself. Gonna give the office a ring to rebook. … but maybe next time ill go for a time that doesn’t involve Peterborough rush hour lol
Also found out today what we thought was an explosion yesterday was according to the news a sonic boom from a typhoon jet m.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/p … -1-6101729
Sorry to hear that things didn’t go to plan. Better luck next time and stay positive!
Peter Smythe:
test day tomorrow at 8pm
Think it’ll possibly be 12 hours before that!
All sounds on target. Well done.
All the very best for tomorrow.
Pete
It was 8 am lol thanks for all the advice and help so far Pete hopefully I can pass next time and get cracking with C+E
jusholmes:
Good luck with your week Ady I did my c+e on a residential with Dave last month and everything went well. I think if you can control your nerves it helps greatly on test day I know easier said than done I was nervous on test morning as I think 99% of people who take there tests are. My tip is to have something sugary just before your test so that it gives you an energy boost I had a bottle of lucozade and worked for me.Keep us posted with it all
Just seen these replies good old tapatalk lol
Thanks for the well wishes mate Dave is very good at what he does and is a credit to the school how did you find Peterborough with the trailer on the back?
What a pity! Obviously a really good drive with just 1 minor but those lights did you. I’m sure you’ll be fine next time.
Pete
Ady Williams:
jusholmes:
Good luck with your week Ady I did my c+e on a residential with Dave last month and everything went well. I think if you can control your nerves it helps greatly on test day I know easier said than done I was nervous on test morning as I think 99% of people who take there tests are. My tip is to have something sugary just before your test so that it gives you an energy boost I had a bottle of lucozade and worked for me.Keep us posted with it all
Just seen these replies good old tapatalk lol
Thanks for the well wishes mate Dave is very good at what he does and is a credit to the school how did you find Peterborough with the trailer on the back?
I felt I took to the trailer quite well, never clipped a kerb all week, the couple/uncouple was straight foreword, the reversing was the hardest part but got there in the end (just about). I found with my training was judging the roundabouts (and there’s a lot of them in Peterborough) I can totally understand how easy it is to misjudge one of them.
It goes to show the fine margins between a pass and a fail and I bet you must be gutted, but you only had 1 minor so your driving must be pretty good so take heart in that.
Good luck for next time
Justin