Hello
I have just fluffed a reversing exercise on a driving assessment at Tescos and feel a bit glum about it all. Didn’t hit anything but it just took me ages to snake the trailer in the bay as well as being the scruffiest manouvre I’ve ever done.
It just looks like the step up from Class 2 to Class 1 is like a greasy brick wall with barbwire across the top. I have only had my CE licence for a couple of months but there seems to be incentive from the industry to take newbies under their wings and show them the ropes. It only costs a fortune to get the licence and now before they employ you every agy wants 2 years experience, your car keys and your first born child. I am aware it is a big responsability sending a novice out in an artic but there should be a modicum of underpaid labour to grant further training and work experience. Surely the captains of the industry would have something to gain in the long run.
Anyway I’ll soldier on with the SW London job hunt as well as mixing my tears with blind optimism. Any advice, pep talk, cuddles or spare valium would be gratefully accepted.
Isnt it bloody marvellous how we should know how to do things and use tackle that we have never seen before?I have worked mainly in bakeries and factories in all cases there was someone else within shouting distance who would be able to tell me where the oven gloves were or how to do jobs that I had not done before.Not in haulage ,you are the driver ,you should be able to work our tacho,tipper, tail-lift ,cages, tanker ,curtains ,4 over 4 slap-over, splitter and everything else.Where are the H.and S wallahs when you need them.
I had a similar experience over 5 years ago now with an assessment for sainsburys totally messed up the reverse and as such failed the assessment. The assessor was fair also when he said youre a new driver and it shows. Its not just reversing in RDC’s its driving a very heavy and large vehicle around little towns, narrow roads etc etc. You only gain confidence from being in one for at least 3 to 6mth I’d say and the rest in some instances depending on the job your doing. But like you say, how do you get that experience without the job.
IMHO I’ve always thought that a new qualified driver should go out for at least the first week or two with a more experienced driver, say 2 years under their belt. That way they can build up confidence and know they have someone at hand to advise them on diffent points. But this is all extra cost and unlikely to ever happen. Instead your thrown the keys and its get on with it. Frightening experience for any new driver knowing you’ve got complete control of a 44 tonner, find your way there, paperwork, tiredness if your on nights other car drivers thinking you can stop as they do, roundabouts, diversions, low bridges to name just a few.
If I were you and this is what I did and again it depends on getting a start is look for a night trunk somewhere, even if its the odd day here and there. Thats if you can hack nights that is. The roads are quite, people tend to be more laid back and many places are just on a go slow.Also if its just a trunk your not having to worry about messing up with directions etc, it all takes the pressure off you a bit until your more confident.
Hope you get the start you want and it workouts for you. Keep pluggin away
thanks chaps. Mattcollin, I shan’t give up.Thats also what the assessor chap said to me. Paying for more training would be pointless. I suppose you just have to do alot of Class 2 and move around different companies and agencies, until you get your break. I will rely on the words of honesty from my CV and quell any impulse of blagging it. Companies might need fresh blood to train up once the Xmas season kicks off. Who knows.
Are you a Class 2 driver at the moment? Does your company run artics? maybe a chance there if they do. The ink was still drying on my certificate (3 days old) for CE when my company offered to send me out in the artic, had to decline due to time but have had 2 more offers since. I’d only been driving the rigids for them for about 5 weeks so hardly a long serving staff member. Don’t give up though, there are companies out there who will give you a break and trust you with their wagon. It’s a case of being in the right place at the right time I think.
I agree with you on that score. I was just making a general comment and letting Sir B know I had the same experience as him and NOT to give up. He’s got his Class One and thats a fair achievement just in itself in my book.
After I failed the assessment S B I got my ■■■ around as many agencies as I could and got a job running a night trunk from Milnthrope upto Cambaslang up the road. One drop a relaod and back. Great set of blokes drivers up there and Keith who used to run the day shift with was golden with me helped me no end.A truckers trucker and a top bloke. If your reading this Keith Ive lost your number when I broke my back in a house fire last year, get intouch mate.
You are a Class One Driver Sir B, use it mate its cost you plenty to get. Dont let anything or ANYBODY knock your confidence. I find there are some blokes who would rather chew their right arm off than drive a Class one even though they have the licence to do so. I’m not saying this is you mate and I’m NOT knocking Class Two drivers either,if thats what other blokes are happy with so be it but why tip up another £1500-2g. I was just trying to point you right and give you a truthful account of what happened to me.
If it dont bend, I dont wanna drive it. You will soon get that attitude Sir B once you get some experience and the right job for you.
My company does use artics but they do their trunking from Leeds or Nuneaton and bring it over here to Surrey, therefore they are all based in the North. I think I’m going to shop around different agencies as I my current agy politics are getting worse by the minute. You probably know the score, less hours, no overtime(weekend rate) until you complete the forty hour weekday quota, rota shifts the rest. You are right in saying that I need to join a company that handles all categories and then I’ll definitely get my break. Like you mentioned, I’m very proud of my licence and even though I passed my CE test third time I did enjoy it more than anything. I’m sure many of you agree theres no match by any stretch of imagination to the amount of sheer unadulterated joy immediately after passing the HGV1 test.
alamcculloch:
Isnt it bloody marvellous how we should know how to do things and use tackle that we have never seen before?I have worked mainly in bakeries and factories in all cases there was someone else within shouting distance who would be able to tell me where the oven gloves were or how to do jobs that I had not done before.Not in haulage ,you are the driver ,you should be able to work our tacho,tipper, tail-lift ,cages, tanker ,curtains ,4 over 4 slap-over, splitter and everything else.Where are the H.and S wallahs when you need them.
Spot on
OP, join the ‘club’, I’m with an Agency and I get some real crap jobs with horrendous reversing needed. One reverse into a real tight spot took me 45 minutes. If anyone says anything I just say “if I could reverse I wouldn’t be working for a poxy Agency”.
The A406 in London is very daunting to me as a newbie, especially with all the road works, buses and mad drivers. Done it twice and it’s easier than some of the reversing I’ve had to do
we have all been there so dont let it get to you. take your time and dont be afraid to get out and look or ask someone to watch you back. passing the test is just the start and only covers the basics. there is no substitute for experience but asking for advice does help so open your mouth. i did it today. i had to deliver to morrisons in inverness so i asked a driver how to get into the service yard from the main road. no big deal. sometimes i go to a shop i have never been to before, stop short and get out to assess the available space. if it looks tricky i will ask how the other drivers normally do it. it doesnt matter if you ask questions or advice. better to ask than to damage something
Scanny’s right zb the lot of em, if you need to get and look, look. I use to carry steel and concrete, sent anywhere in the UK or abroad. The issue here is pride, it comes before a fall as well all know. This is big boy stuff and big bills and accidents occur. I’m past caring now if I have to ask after been driving artics for six year, I will still ask if its tight, Bay 23 Bellshill Morrisons anybody, that gets ya sweating, lol
i had bay 50 yesterday Matt
last sunday i had tesco in dukes street, edinburgh. the construction stuff was still in the yard so i had to blindside in front of all the traffic and pedestrians that had been stopped by the shop staff. thats 40 or 50 people waiting for me to screw it up
i took 1 small shunt to straighten the unit up but that was it. i was chuffed with that
there is plenty of time for pride later when you have more experience. just now it will take a few shunts sometimes, even on an easy reverse. you WILL overcook it and have to take the kink out of your truck sometimes. other times you will get lucky and get it first time. dont worry about it. just be careful and learn how to handle artics. everyone has an off day so dont let it knock your confidence when a bay you have done 100 times perfectly suddenly becomes ■■■■ near impossible, especially at the end of a shift after doing several tricky ones. give yourself a pat on the back when you do well and put it down to experience when you make a mistake. both will happen but as long as you arent racking up insurance claims, it doesnt matter
Aye, youre right there Scanny, we dont do that enough in this job, pat yourself on the back because no other person will. Its just taken for granted we can put a huge lump of machinery in very tight spot. You know the score, when I was on the steel my G they’d send me to some proper dogholes, still brings me out in a cold sweat thinking about it, lol , do and dont miss it RDC work is nice and clean etc etc, but lets have it right, boring Still, I’m in my scanny, put the TV on and kick back eh.
Who do you pull for Scanny? Next time I’m in Bellshill, Livingston, or Falkirk I will buy you a brew, Not Mc Burney eh, volvo stuff, lol. I pull for the NR Evans. Check out my funnies in Bullys Bar.
tesco if i cant find anything else
JBT have given me 2 shifts this week including tonights even though its subbing out of tesco
i did a tradimar shift on friday
co op in harthill usually provide some trunks
this week has been really quiet so i have been on days but i usually do nights. if you happen to find yourself in the falkirk area during the day give me a shout. i can see the asda depot on bankside ind est from my back window
back to the topic:
the one thing that i kept thinking when i was new to artics was this:
others can do it so there is no reason that i cant. i dont know if that is much help but it did work for me. it just made me determined to get the trailer where it needed to be and i havent failed to do so. just take your time and in a couple of years you will be looking back and wondering what all the fuss was about. the main thing to do is watch the trailer wheels and draw and imaginary line if there isnt one there. thats where you need to be so get it there
I think you covered it all chaps. Cheers. Now it’s just a matter of getting behind the wheel. Agencies are pretty fair and they do bend the rules if you’re honest with them. Thanks for the support.
im assuming you have experience on class 2 and have merely upgraded so there is no need to go into the other aspects of the job ie finding destinations etc
sirgarlicbreath:
Hello
I have just fluffed a reversing exercise on a driving assessment at Tescos and feel a bit glum about it all. Didn’t hit anything but it just took me ages to snake the trailer in the bay as well as being the scruffiest manouvre I’ve ever done.
It just looks like the step up from Class 2 to Class 1 is like a greasy brick wall with barbwire across the top. I have only had my CE licence for a couple of months
I’ve singled this part of your post out to make my point, would you let somebody like yourself out on the road in one of your lorries? Let’s be honest, you wouldn’t would you, no disrespect to you, we were all the same when we first started, I remember my first time out in an artic, I had an easy reverse onto a grid in Tilbury Docks, if the bloke I was working for had seen me I would’ve been sacked on the spot, I made a complete balls up of it, it took a while until I ‘got’ it and was comfortable with putting a lorry anywhere, forwards or backwards.
Things were a bit different in those days, assessments were unheard of, so I was able to get my experience without every move I made being scrutinised, as I said it took me a while to get good at it, but every day from day one made me a little bit better, so you need to get a bit of practice, the only thing I can think of is to find someone to go out with (a mate) and do all the reversing, this’ll get you up to a standard where you can pass an assessment and then away you go
I know exactly what you mean newmercman
I’m curious wether there are any trunking jobs out there that do not need reversing into tight bays. I’ve never driven an artic without someone scrutinising and patronising me from the passengers seat. Its a whole different thing being out on your own, making your own decisions without the sweat and pressure awarded by some smartypants instructor/assessor.
IF you go down the agency route, explain your lack of confidence and any half decent ones will start you on trunking first. you wont be the first to walk in with the ink still wet on your class 1 so dont be scared to ask for trunking work
Looks like I have been okayed to drive Class 1s for Royal Mail. I am still a bit apprehensive about my reversing and I’m sure there will be sweat, loads of laughs and ‘c’ words hurled through gritted teeth when it comes to my going backwards. I will hand in my notice to my Class 2 work tomorrow and keep fingers and toes crossed. Anyone can dispense some experiences from your working for RM?
If anyone says anything I just say “if I could reverse I wouldn’t be working for a poxy Agency”. 
Still, I’m in my scanny, put the TV on and kick back eh.