For any newbie who is worried about their reversing skills, go and park up at most services (Doncaster M18 is particularly good) and watch other drivers. You will learn some good tips and also see some bad ones.
Chances are you’re probably better at it than you think.
I’ve certainly made some monumental hashes of parking in my time but Donny services is something else. You could sell tickets to watch all the Stobart drivers taking numerous shunts and ending up worse off than the first attempt.
Now, I’m certainly not having a dig at folks who take several shunts. It’s always better than swapping paint. However, I’ve just watched an Eddie take at least 15 shunts to park in one of three vacant bays. After the 15th go he shook his head and drove off, giving it up as a bad job!!! Priceless
goshow:
Now, I’m certainly not having a dig at folks who take several shunts.
Erm - I think you are, you know!
Roymondo:
goshow:
Now, I’m certainly not having a dig at folks who take several shunts.
Erm - I think you are, you know!
Erm, no I’m not having a go at folks who take SEVERAL shunts. I’m having a go at folks who take considerably more than several, i.e.; 15!!
goshow:
Roymondo:
goshow:
Now, I’m certainly not having a dig at folks who take several shunts.
Erm - I think you are, you know!
Erm, no I’m not having a go at folks who take SEVERAL shunts. I’m having a go at folks who take considerably more than several, i.e.; 15!!
How do you know it wasn’t his first time alone in a truck? This kind of stuff doesn’t help newbies.
Man alive! What is it with this site?
On numerous other threads I constantly read about folks having a go at drivers for poor reversing. The posters are usually folks with several thousand posts and old time forum members. Everyone agrees and comes out with comments like “if it’s taking that many attempts then you shouldn’t be driving” & “these new drivers are poorly trained” Etc. But when someone posts, like myself, with a low post count, every jumps on the bandwagon.
I’m not saying I’m the worlds best driver, but I do remember being a newly passed driver. I recall the fear of trying to find a ■■■■■■■■■■■■ and worrying like hell that other drivers were watching me as I made several attempts to try and get it right. I also recall, on numerous occasions, asking a fellow driver so “see me right” so I could get the bloody thing parked.
The main point I was trying to make on the original post was; “NEWBIE DRIVERS, YOU ARE NOT AS BAD AS YOU THINK YOU ARE”
You are surely not going to justify this driver taking 15 shunts to try and get into a space three clear spaces wide, with a straight run into it, as “possibly his first time out”? The driving he displayed was shocking and if that is what the DVSA are passing as competent and careful drivers then god help us. I very much doubt it was his first time out solo in a truck. He was just a crap driver, as where the other 4 or 5 other people is saw demonstrate very poor driving skills. One parked at an angle over two spaces. Another left the rear of the trailer overhanging the road by a good 10ft, thus making it impossible for anyone to get past.
I sympathise with new drivers and try to help them out wherever possible, hence the purpose of my OP.
goshow:
Man alive! What is it with this site?
On numerous other threads I constantly read about folks having a go at drivers for poor reversing. The posters are usually folks with several thousand posts and old time forum members. Everyone agrees and comes out with comments like “if it’s taking that many attempts then you shouldn’t be driving” & “these new drivers are poorly trained” Etc. But when someone posts, like myself, with a low post count, every jumps on the bandwagon.
I’m not saying I’m the worlds best driver, but I do remember being a newly passed driver. I recall the fear of trying to find a ■■■■■■■■■■■■ and worrying like hell that other drivers were watching me as I made several attempts to try and get it right. I also recall, on numerous occasions, asking a fellow driver so “see me right” so I could get the bloody thing parked.
The main point I was trying to make on the original post was; “NEWBIE DRIVERS, YOU ARE NOT AS BAD AS YOU THINK YOU ARE”
You are surely not going to justify this driver taking 15 shunts to try and get into a space three clear spaces wide, with a straight run into it, as “possibly his first time out”? The driving he displayed was shocking and if that is what the DVSA are passing as competent and careful drivers then god help us. I very much doubt it was his first time out solo in a truck. He was just a crap driver, as where the other 4 or 5 other people is saw demonstrate very poor driving skills. One parked at an angle over two spaces. Another left the rear of the trailer overhanging the road by a good 10ft, thus making it impossible for anyone to get past.
I sympathise with new drivers and try to help them out wherever possible, hence the purpose of my OP.
I get the point your making, I just dont think you made it very well. Mocking a driver (that’s how I read it) for taking too many shunts will put the fear of God into anyone who doesn’t have the confidence of you or I. As a new driver I was terrified that people were mocking my awful attempts to reverse. I got it into my head (quite rightly) that most people don’t care, as long as I don’t damage anything.
I agree completely there are some drivers out there who are either incompetent or just don’t care. Highlighting that in a mocking sense on a forum for new and wannabe drivers is the wrong way to go about it IMO.
Captain Caveman 76:
I get the point your making, I just dont think you made it very well. Mocking a driver (that’s how I read it) for taking too many shunts will put the fear of God into anyone who doesn’t have the confidence of you or I. As a new driver I was terrified that people were mocking my awful attempts to reverse. I got it into my head (quite rightly) that most people don’t care, as long as I don’t damage anything.
I agree completely there are some drivers out there who are either incompetent or just don’t care. Highlighting that in a mocking sense on a forum for new and wannabe drivers is the wrong way to go about it IMO.
No, you’re right. My original post didn’t explain things too well.
I should have kept it a bit more basic and just said; park up and watch others and you’ll soon see you’re not as bad as you think you are. Even seasoned drivers don’t get parking right 1st time every time.
I apologise to anyone else who took my point the wrong way.
Thank you Goshawk for this post… I am newbie Class 2 practicing her Class 1 reverse for the first time the other day with my partner and completely fluffed it up… countless times… I
The penny has not quite dropped yet on how the trailer moves in accordance to your hands… I’m sure it will with a bit more practice and then my instructors will show me how on my course…
This does help to alleviate the fear I have at the moment of “how the hell will I do this my first time alone on a bay with 2 tricks either side”… holy crap feeling…
So thanks
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
Mistiek:
Thank you Goshawk for this post… I am newbie Class 2 practicing her Class 1 reverse for the first time the other day with my partner and completely fluffed it up… countless times… I
The penny has not quite dropped yet on how the trailer moves in accordance to your hands… I’m sure it will with a bit more practice and then my instructors will show me how on my course…
This does help to alleviate the fear I have at the moment of “how the hell will I do this my first time alone on a bay with 2 tricks either side”… holy crap feeling…
So thanks
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
No worries.
It does take practice and eventually it’ll become an instinct. It’s a bit like how you catch a ball. If someone throws a ball towards you you just do it instinctively. You don’t think, right I’ll put my hand up, now i’ll close my fingers…
After 15 years I still make mistakes. I’m fine reversing on my mirrors, but 50% of the time, as soon as I put my head out the window to look down the trailer, I turn the wheel the wrong way. Just one of those things.
There’s quite a few tips and pointers on different threads on here. For me, a few of the most useful are:
1 - Take things slow.
2 - Driver’s side reversing is always easier than blindside.
3 - On a triple axle trailer, use the middle axle as your pivot point. 99% of the time the trailer will turn off the middle axle.
4 - Don’t be afraid of making mistake, but don’t make the same mistakes twice.
The only reversing I did was to “pass the reversing test” and nothing more… not looking forward to a bay park.
Mistiek:
Thank you Goshawk for this post… I am newbie Class 2 practicing her Class 1 reverse for the first time the other day with my partner and completely fluffed it up… countless times… I
The penny has not quite dropped yet on how the trailer moves in accordance to your hands… I’m sure it will with a bit more practice and then my instructors will show me how on my course…
This does help to alleviate the fear I have at the moment of “how the hell will I do this my first time alone on a bay with 2 tricks either side”… holy crap feeling…
So thanks
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
Take time if shunter about or another driver ( when passed & on own ) ask tell them you a new driver ( for the next year or so 
they don’t know any different ) remember left to bend right to mend when reversing
Don’t be afraid to get out & look
You know what I struggled slot with maneuvering in a tight area when I started and still occasionally will be a complete biff 4 years down the line. This driver you watched was probably in his first few days driving. Rather than make a mockery of him, do what I did with a driver that was struggling, get out of the cab and offer to help. It’s better to help than watch a guy struggle and prang something, which could cost the guy his job.
I think the essence of this thread is that there are drivers, and there are screwdrivers!
As a recently passed Newbie I can freshly remember the first few weeks, as that is when you REALLY learn how to reverse an Artic… The test and training is meaningless and sadly deficient for the real world. Newbies are not properly educated about getting a bit of kink on and letting the run up multiple it without any steering input. My own initial reversing experiences were basically pivoting the unit around the trailer, and quickly running out of room! 
6 months in and I’m nailing a lot of my maneuvers, and probably leaving the scene a little embarrassed with the rest! 
As for the 15 shunts, and the general consensus that you should take as many as you need. I think that sentiment is more about the psychology of the situation, and NOT to impose any real limits on the best way to solve the problem. Why add pressure? 
I don’t care if it takes you one or one hundred shunts to get it in, just don’t hit my truck!
Radar19:
I don’t care if it takes you one or one hundred shunts to get it in, just don’t hit my truck!
Three golden rules to trucking
- don’t bang the truck
- don’t lose your load
- get the job done
Jobs a doddle really.
Silence! I’m a Stobart driver in that area, but I’ve never been into Doncaster North! 
Jokes aside, in defence of the Stobart drivers, if you’re in the Doncaster area, it’s highly likely they were agency. If they were pulling Tesco trailers, then it’s almost certain, green-shirt Stobart drivers are a minority there. Yes, there are some poor Stobart drivers, but the agency lot they get it to make ends meet tend to be a lot worse. I’m not generalising, but a lot of them just don’t give a toss; smoking in cabs, not coupling-up properly, speeding down one-way systems at DCs without hazards, and it just comes back to bite us. I don’t want to start an agency-bashing thread, but some of them are atrocious!
I saw a Stobart Tesco doing a delivery in a city centre yesterday, with a scruffy-looking agency bloke in the back; Tapout t-shirt, jogging bottoms, and dirty yellow hi-vis, and he’d missed the loading area, and mounted the kerb on the left side. His offside wheels were on a lower pedestrian walkway bit, resulting in the left side of his trailer being about 2ft higher than the right, a big left to right slope. He was also parked downhill. It wasn’t half unnerving watching him struggle handling the cages of stuff, bad driving and practice to say the least.
In terms of reversing, I’m pretty new to the game, so it can be a bit ropey at times, but I will ALWAYS get in in the bay in the end, and I always err on the side of caution. I get the job done, and I’m safe, so what more can you ask for. A fellow I went with for a couple of days used to say; “Who cares if you can do a one-piece reverse onto a bay, it’s not like a fit young bird is watching! Nobody cares! Get it in, get it out! Don’t be a c***, take a shunt!” He has a point!
Rottweiler22:
In terms of reversing, I’m pretty new to the game, so it can be a bit ropey at times, but I will ALWAYS get in in the bay in the end, and I always err on the side of caution. I get the job done, and I’m safe, so what more can you ask for. A fellow I went with for a couple of days used to say; “Who cares if you can do a one-piece reverse onto a bay, it’s not like a fit young bird is watching! Nobody cares! Get it in, get it out! Don’t be a c***, take a shunt!” He has a point!
I’m agreeing with a ES driver!
I’ve not hit anything yet, but the tread on my steps is looking a bit worn! 