Hi Guys
Just been given 40 mins notice. Leaving East Kilbride at 19:30 for a Night Trunk down the M6 to just off J29 with a fridge, unload, reload and then back up the road for about 5am tomorrow.
Scania R Series with Semi-Auto box.
Best of luck fella 
As a guide for you, it should take no more than 3 hours either direction.
IIRC this industrial estate is quite tight in places, but when you get to J29 just turn left and then left at the first roundabout and your there.
My guess is you’ll be going to summit if you’ve got a fridge, if so drive to the end of the yard, blind side swing it round and stick your nose out the gate then reverse at an angle, pretty easy.
The scanny is nothing exciting, just remember you’ve got a clutch pedal.
The only way you’ll be back at 5am is if they take forever to reload you, but good luck might pass you just before preston.
Might end up passing you at some point 
i pass hamilton about ten to 5 in the morning if im on time.
po58 fsj.
Best of luck Sam hope you have a fab time ,
take it easy
jenx
Good luck with your run 
Hope you survive it OK
Turned out to be J27 off the M6 so a little further down that I was first told.
Anyway got to the yard, met up with the other drivers who gave me some paperwork, showed me around the truck and how to work the gearbox on it etc. It was a semi-auto with a clutch. Have to admit that it was VERY daunting climbing into it for the first time, even standing beside it I was questioning whether or not I should be doing this or not…
Anyway jumped out to do my walk around check and forgot I wasn’t in no rigid now and forget there’s three steps down and not the usual 1 or 2, so yes I nearly fell 
Got everything all done and set up and ready to go, pulled out the gates in my lorry and moved down the road a bit to let the other guy out while he shut the gates too.
First few miles, was just following the other’s ahead and finding my feet in the lorry - with me not being used to the cab height (with the bin lorries being so low) I always felt that I was wider that I really was (artics are wider than most rigids anyway) so eventually I found my feet and we hit the M6.
Some unbelievable fog that I’ve never experienced before mixed with heavy heavy rain and massive amounts of surface water, really chucked in at the deep end.
Left at J38 M6 Tebay for some fuel, £425’s worth in the tank and I set off again, not stopping until I reach J27 where I come off, and go along some very tight and narrow twisty roads that I was beginning to wonder if I should be on or not, but sure enough the turning for the warehouse appeared and in I went. Met the other guy there who showed me how to fill the tank for fuel for the fridge and then he told me that we use bays 1-4. He said: “I’ll take 1 because that’s quite hard to get on to, especially in the dark, and you take 3” but by the time we had both filled our fridge tanks, bay 3 was vacant first so he jumped onto it leaving me with bay 1 
The place was pitch black, first shift on an artic and I’m having to put it on the hardest bay there… to my amazement I got it in absolutely fine and even heard him say to the other guy “yeah he’s doing very well actually for his first attempt!”. No shunts required at all.
Thankfully this place, you can sit in your cab while they load you. About an hour and a half later we’re done and it’s time to hit the road again and get lit up to ■■■■ back to East Kilbride.
Got back to the yard about 0630 -0700ish so definitely not bad and what an amazing experience. Completely different ball game is the artics to driving rigids but I absolutely loved it and I’ve got the bug, and of course the main thing is that the job was done as it should have been and the lorry was returned in one piece.
Well done Sam great post 
What happened to the bin driving job,
Well done Sam, sounds like you had a good trip
sounds like you had a good shift,
as for the fog it was quite bad but then again its been like that for months lol. doesnt help around cairn lodge though with the roadworks.
still its a good learning curve
Foxstein:
Well done Sam great post
What happened to the bin driving job,
I still have it, but they know that my dream lies within the big guys so they understand that if the call comes then I’ll take it without hesitation.
Thanks all, was a great experience and learned a lot from it.
brill run there sam you have made a good impression with the other driver too so he will pass that on to his tm and hopefully you will get another call in from them , well done u
jen x
Sam Millar:
You show me yours, show you mine.
Thanks guys, a very proud moment to have finally lived the dream, albeit it I won’t know when the next one will be but everything got there on time and no damage done and they seemed pretty happy so… lived in the moment for a long time and the adrenaline kept me going!
Rory, did I see you with a blow out in EK a couple weeks back?
stagedriver:
Rory, did I see you with a blow out in EK a couple weeks back?
Thats pic from last May and was my first agy artic job, the usual driver took ill and I got my first one in It’s the only truck I’ve ever photographed but thought it might be good to have.
Well done Sam. I understand this was you first Artic run. sounds like the “boy done good!”
Im sure they will ask for you again, you made a good impresion.
And a great post. Well done again Sam.
Sam Millar:
Got back to the yard about 0630 -0700ish so definitely not bad and what an amazing experience. Completely different ball game is the artics to driving rigids but I absolutely loved it and I’ve got the bug, and of course the main thing is that the job was done as it should have been and the lorry was returned in one piece.
Hi Sam,
You’ve had a great first run, and it’s nice to get that under your belt.
I reckon they’ll be asking for you again.
Was thinking of a way to share the experience with you guys and give people a bit of inspiration if you’re thinking about going for your Class 1. I forgot my cameras so had no mounts etc but managed to stick my iphone in my chest pocket and set recording Would recommend that you watch it in HD and full screen.
Great post Sam. Lets hope it’s not too long before you are back out there living the dream.