Newbie....well sort of!

NEW AND WANNABE DRIVERS (INTERACTIVE)
1

Hi guys, ive had my class 1 licence since 1995 as in those days you could go straight for it without having a class 2, anyway i had the same problem as newbies have these days as no one wanted me without 2 years experience blah blah, but i finally found an agency that took me on driving class 2’s and i did that for 2 years.

I got a full time job through the agency driving class 2’s and i did that for another 7 years until my neighbour got me a class 1 job and as i hadnt driven one in nearly 10 years i did take a few weeks to get used to them but i was fine

i spent the next 5 years trunking and then multi drops inc delivering to all the major supermarkets etc…and the experience to got was great as i could put an artic anywhere i was asked to put it, even in places that were not designed for them.

But in 2009 i had to pack it all in to look after my 3 kids as my wife had a better paid job and now after 4 years away ive decided to renew my digi card and do a few shifts a week for an agency

so i found a local agency who is advertising in a few places saying they are desperate for class 1 drivers for urgent contracts etc, so i applied online and the next morning they phoned me up and the guy was very happy about all my past 14 years experience etc but as soon as i said i hadnt driven since 2009 he said that he would have to phone his insurance company to see if that would be a problem and he would phone me straight back !!..that was yesterday morning and ive still not heard a thing !! :frowning:

i think this is really bad as i woudnt of minded if he had the courtesy of phoning me back saying that they coudnt take me on but to just not bother isnt giving your agency a good name infact i do know other drivers and i wont be referring them to that agency !!

im not going to chase it up as i dont have my digi card yet but once it comes in i will be applying to every agency i know and hopefully someone will take me on as i even though its been nearly 4 years since i drove a class 1, it only seems like yesterday as i can remember nearly every detail of driving them.

2

the EU driver regs are still the same as they were in 2009 but the driver cpc has started so how are you doing with that?

3

i have been brushing up on driver regulations etc but most of them i remember and as for the cpc i read that because i have had my licence for so long i qualify for grandfather rights so i dont need to sit any tests but i do need to complete 35 hours of training before next september, so i have been looking into prices etc around my area but ive recently found out that a guy i used to work with has a friend who does the training so im waiting to here back about that.

4

Tooz:
… as for the cpc i read that because i have had my licence for so long i qualify for grandfather rights so i dont need to sit any tests but i do need to complete 35 hours of training before next september, …

Spot on - 35 hours by 09/09/2014

5

I did hear about cpc before i stopped driving and i did think it was another money making scam as we always had driver assessors come up to our depot to make sure we knew what we were doing anyway !! :confused:

but hey ho, whats another few hundred quid out of my pocket !! :cry:

6

Reading some of the newbie stories on here has taken me back to when i got my licence in 1995, like alot of you i wanted to start driving hgv’s. So i booked an introduction session so that they could assess me and tell me how many lessons i might need etc…

i went along and i was taken out in an urban artic flatbed and the instructor told me that the clutch was a bit dodgy on it so be carefull, everytime i just touched the brakes they seemed to slam on, so the instructor kept getting thrown about the cab and the whole truck was kangerooing all over the place even though i was being as carefull as i could…

then back at the centre he told me to reverse it between some cones even though i had never reversed a trailer in my life and of course i totally messed it up and after all that he looked at me and said that i would need too many lessons to pass and he told me to think about doing something else !!..to say i was gutted was an understatement !!

after that i took a couple of weeks to reflect on what happened and i eventually decided to try again with a different company, so i went along and yet again they gave me an urban artic the exact same model as i had tried with the other company but this time it drove like a dream ( that first one must of been totally knackered ). The instructor was really helpfull and talked me through everything and even told me not to bother reversing as i would be taught how to do it in my lessons…

so i booked my lessons and on the day my name was called, myself and another guy were taken to our truck, we walked passed all the flatbed urban artics and at the end was a proper sized artic with a box trailer on it and thats the one we got !!

and to make matters worse it was an older truck which had a 10 speed non synchromesh gearbox so we had to double clutch up and down the gears !!..what a baptism of fire that truck was…but i did get used to it and it ended up being fun to drive…

so on my test day i breezed the reversing with no shunts, had a great drive until half way around a corner, the gearstick came off in my hand !!..so he got me to reverse it into a housing scheme and nurse it back to the depot, where i had to sit in the cab until it was fixed…

and even though i hadnt done all my discaplines like hill start etc…he told me to go straight back to the test centre, when we got back he asked me a few questions then thankfully he said i had passed and when i asked why i didnt get to do all my discaplines he looked at me and said that he didnt have to do them as after the truck broke i had shown him that i could handle the pressure of the situation and he was happy with that !!

so one not so helpfull instructor in a broken truck nearly put me off driving hgv’s but thankfully i picked myself up and went on to have 14 great years of driving them and hopefully i will be back on the road again soon !! :slight_smile:

7

The agency that ignored me last week got back to me again to go through everything again and even though i have 14 years experience driving HGV’s including 5 years class 1 trunking and multi drop including delivering to all the major supermarkets, i even managed to find my old depot manager to give them a reference and all i am looking for is a couple of nights a week trunking…

they said NO ( due to insurance ) as i havnt driven in 4 years :frowning:

and they are advertising everywhere saying they are desperate for class 1 drivers !! :open_mouth:

now i feel like im 22 again and just passed my test !! :unamused:

8

Tooz:
The agency that ignored me last week got back to me again to go through everything again and even though i have 14 years experience driving HGV’s including 5 years class 1 trunking and multi drop including delivering to all the major supermarkets, i even managed to find my old depot manager to give them a reference and all i am looking for is a couple of nights a week trunking…

they said NO ( due to insurance ) as i havnt driven in 4 years :frowning:

and they are advertising everywhere saying they are desperate for class 1 drivers !! :open_mouth:

now i feel like im 22 again and just passed my test !! :unamused:

It’s a mad mad world!!

9

Tell me about it, i though the first agency i applied to would of jumped at the chance to have me !!

it was a bit of a downer as the work they had was exactly what i was looking for,

but i have just applied to a couple of other agencies so i will wait with bated breath !! :wink:

10

Well thats another no and no due to insurance :cry:

ah well i will keep on truc… i mean looking !! :unamused:

11

I got a bit of a shock yesterday morning, an agency phoned me and asked if i wanted to do a shift last night !! :smiley:

of course i said yes and even though ive not driven a class 1 for over 4 and a half years, as soon as i sat in the drivers seat…it all came flooding back, i put my tacho card in, found and hooked up to my trailer, did all my checks and off i went as if i had never been away from driving !!

first 12 hour shift done and im back out on monday night to do the same trunk run again :smiley: