Hi
Just wanted to say hello, passed my Class 2 on the 7/10/2011 and finding it a bit of a B getting work, I’m 38 had to fold my business due to contact dermatitis, and had to find a new career, as I’ve always been a bit of a petrol head and not really a people person i thought what the heck, lets go for it, HGV CLASS 2 here i come, i always thought the way in would be agencies but they don’t even want to touch me without the Special 2 Year experience 
■■■■. Ive been driving cars since '96 got a clean license never had a point or an accident TOUCH WOOD and still can’t get touched due to the 2 year insurance clause 
Anyways managed to get a call from 1 agency yesterday for 7.5 tonne work and realised there still so much i don’t know anyway i managed and loved it, but sadly it was only for 1 day, then today got a call last minute from another agency to work today, went out to drive a 7.5 tonne again only for it to turn into a bit of a nightmare, when doing my walk round i noticed the driver side wiper was not working, flagged this up to transport manager and mechanic, who promptly told me the part was ordered and showed me how to pop it back onto the ball joint 
well long story short the wiper must have popped out about 7 times when i was driving in torrential rain conditions, i had said i would pop it back in only expecting it to pop out once or twice, once it got to popping out after the forth time i phoned to say i was only willing to do local runs as there was NO WAY i was taking it on the motorway to go from glasgow to edinburgh in they conditions, to be honest i didn’t fancy stopping every 5 minutes to reattach the windscreen wiper to the ball joint on the HARD SHOULDER:(. But now i feel as if i let myself down for refusing to take the load in the wagon, as it was my first job with that individual agency. I carried out all the localised drop offs but refused to go far afield as it was getting worse throughout the day. still it doesn’t stop me from feeling let down, tell me what would you have done? LOVED THE DRIVE BY THE WAY apart from all the drama just wished i got a road worthy vehicle.
where are you from ■■ your luck i passed nad cant get an agency to look at me in glasgow area
NoobieTrucker:
But now i feel as if i let myself down for refusing to take the load in the wagon, as it was my first job with that individual agency.
No freaking way, there is no way in the world you should ever drive an unsafe vehicle and you will not find one experienced driver on here who would disagree with that. If the driver’s side windscreen wiper doesn’t wipe the windscreen then THAT VEHICLE IS UNSAFE and it doesn’t matter if the part is “on order”.
The acid test is “Would I drive my car in that condition?”
As much as you may want the work that wagon should not have left the yard with known faulty wipers. The bloke who told you to take it out wants a poke in the eye!
craigiej:
where are you from ■■ your luck i passed nad cant get an agency to look at me in glasgow area
Glasgow mate, I’m still going through it the now, tried to register with them all as soon as they found out i just passed most weren’t interested, and didn’t even take my details, went it too sign up with a couple and took there individual tests only to hear nothing, Then out of the blue got a phone call to drop everything literally and drive a 7.5 tonne, but hey its a start, just hope i didn’t muck it up with telling them i wasn’t taking the wagon to destination due to the wiper.
chunky monkey:
As much as you may want the work that wagon should not have left the yard with known faulty wipers. The bloke who told you to take it out wants a poke in the eye!
I thought that at the time, but my inexperience showed through then, i was on the verge of saying i wasn’t going to take it out but mechanic then said ohh its a simple repair and should only happen rarely, that when i took it out. ill know in the future.
Harry Monk:
The acid test is “Would I drive my car in that condition?”
I actually phoned the agency for advice, only for them to phone company then call me back to say they still wanted me to drive to edinburgh as thats why they called me out, and if i had any problems i was to phone the company, and they would send a mechanic out. i promptly told her their mechanic had already looked at it and had to order a part and basically wouldn’t be much good, i then asked her if she would drive her car to edinburgh with no driver side windscreen wiper only to be answered with a long silence this pretty much answered my question.
I actually phoned the agency for advice, only for them to phone company then call me back to say they still wanted me to drive to edinburgh as thats why they called me out, and if i had any problems i was to phone the company, and they would send a mechanic out. i promptly told her their mechanic had already looked at it and had to order a part and basically wouldn’t be much good, i then asked her if she would drive her car to edinburgh with no driver side windscreen wiper only to be answered with a long silence this pretty much answered my question.
the basics of them wanting you to drive anyway are they all get paid but its only you who ends up with the points on your licence