NorvernSpur:
Hello and good morning to you all.
I have been employed as a delivery driver for the last three weeks, driving nothing bigger than a long wheel base van. This means I have to to a few journeys to collect stock on a Monday. My employer is possibly getting a 7.5 ton wagon which I will need to drive one day a week. I have never driven one before, though it is on my licences (I passed my test in the 80’s).
Do I need specific training prior to driving one or would you recommend it ant way? I will mainly be driving up and down the motorway.
I’d been driving 7.5-tonne trucks for 12 years before taking my class 2 last November. When I first started driving them, I was told that the vehicle operated like “a big diesel car” and it only had four gears (though most had five) and there was nothing much different apart from the driving position. The truck is wider than a van and most will not get through any 7ft width limit, let alone anything smaller. These days many are automatics, but they don’t function like car automatics; in particular, putting it in drive won’t make it go, and won’t stop it rolling the wrong way. They can be hit-and-miss when putting them in gear as well.
If it’s a fairly new truck (pretty much any since about 2006), you’ll need a digital tachograph card, which you or your employer need to get from the DVLA - look here: Apply for a driver digital tachograph card - GOV.UK
Nearly all 7.5-tonners nowadays have speed limiters, which means you can’t do more than 56mph. Otherwise, speed limits are the same as for vans (i.e. max 50mph on single carriageways, 60mph on dual carriageways). You can’t use the outside lane of a motorway if there are three or more lanes, except on rare occasions where there is a slip road going off to the right.
You are subject to European HGV driving hours rules, which means you have to take a 45-minute break after a total of 4.5 hours driving. (You can take an earlier 15min break and then cut the main break to 30mins, but you can’t break it up any other way, e.g. take 20 then 25 later or 30 then 15 later.) In addition, you have to take a 30min break after 6hrs work, including driving. As you will be driving the truck only one day a week, you cannot drive for a total of more than 10 hours in that day. (If you’re driving it all week, it’s 9 hours normally, extending to 10 twice a week.)
Your boss will need an operator’s licence.