Onto the next stage in my quest... CLASS 1

Well I passed the medical, got the digicard and to my amazement signed up easily enough with 4 agencies and got regular work. Been driving a few different trucks, I like the scania P240/280 best but not so keen on multidrop white goods he he.

Now I have informed the agencies that I am not available for 2 weeks starting 22nd July. Booked a week course to complete my periodic CPC and then the following week to do my Class 1 with Atkins west yorkshire. Three agencies have already said they will give me work and I might apply for a full time job at Yusen Logistics as I have enjoyed doing a bit of work there for an agency and they have a lot of class 1 units. They said they take on newbies and put you out with a driver for 3 days before you get your own unit :smiley:

Onward and upward :smiley:

Don’t tell the agency that you’re applying for a permanent position at Yusen Logistics, they’ll insist on the company paying them a retainer which could stand in the way of you getting a job there.

tachograph:
Don’t tell the agency that you’re applying for a permanent position at Yusen Logistics, they’ll insist on the company paying them a retainer which could stand in the way of you getting a job there.

I knocked that agency on the head last week. It was the one who sent me out for a shift at 05:30 three times in two weeks and there was no shift for me. Got really peed off with them as they would only pay me 2 hours for the inconvenience! Won’t be working for that agency again. Have not worked at Yusens since so by the time I am ready a good bit of time will have elapsed. I also know that the agency lost the contract anyway as the agency who have it now offered me a job working for Yusen. I declined to sign for that agency as I am going to see how the job application goes when I get the class 1 and cpc

Nice one mate! Good Luck with the Class 1 test and the job hunting after it. Shouldn’t be too much of a problem I don’t think. :sunglasses:

Atkins have a very poor pass rate, few people I know went with them and said worse thing they very did! They recommended apex who I did mine with and passed with 4 driver faults

4559danielk:
Atkins have a very poor pass rate, few people I know went with them and said worse thing they very did! They recommended apex who I did mine with and passed with 4 driver faults

Yes I thought that, she said pass rate is 50:50 whereas Tockwith have a 80% or thereabouts. Atkins is far closer for me though. Paid my deposit now so hope I pass. If you get it right, don’t panic and remember the drill it should not be a problem. I am 55 and have done HGV, PSV and a motorbike (that was the hardest test) so I should be cool on the day. I am fine with gears 4over4, rangers and splitters, naturally drive 18" from the curb and used to reversing trailers. If I don’t pass then I shouldn’t be on the road lol

She said the ones that failed drove fine all week then went to pot with nerves on the day :unamused:

alder:

4559danielk:
Atkins have a very poor pass rate, few people I know went with them and said worse thing they very did! They recommended apex who I did mine with and passed with 4 driver faults

Yes I thought that, she said pass rate is 50:50 whereas Tockwith have a 80% or thereabouts. Atkins is far closer for me though. Paid my deposit now so hope I pass. If you get it right, don’t panic and remember the drill it should not be a problem. I am 55 and have done HGV, PSV and a motorbike (that was the hardest test) so I should be cool on the day. I am fine with gears 4over4, rangers and splitters, naturally drive 18" from the curb and used to reversing trailers. If I don’t pass then I shouldn’t be on the road lol

She said the ones that failed drove fine all week then went to pot with nerves on the day :unamused:

Very true I guess you can’t blame it all on Atkins, but they were saying they didn’t teach basic things! All the best anyways :smiley:

As I say, paid my deposit now but will log my experience on here good or bad for others to peruse when they consider Atkins

4559danielk:

alder:

4559danielk:
Atkins have a very poor pass rate, few people I know went with them and said worse thing they very did! They recommended apex who I did mine with and passed with 4 driver faults

Yes I thought that, she said pass rate is 50:50 whereas Tockwith have a 80% or thereabouts. Atkins is far closer for me though. Paid my deposit now so hope I pass. If you get it right, don’t panic and remember the drill it should not be a problem. I am 55 and have done HGV, PSV and a motorbike (that was the hardest test) so I should be cool on the day. I am fine with gears 4over4, rangers and splitters, naturally drive 18" from the curb and used to reversing trailers. If I don’t pass then I shouldn’t be on the road lol

She said the ones that failed drove fine all week then went to pot with nerves on the day :unamused:

Very true I guess you can’t blame it all on Atkins, but they were saying they didn’t teach basic things! All the best anyways :smiley:

Was it not he instructor from Atkins that kept falling asleep?

FFS if Atkins are that bad why are they recommended on here? :imp:

alder:
FFS if Atkins are that bad why are they recommended on here? :imp:

I may have got it wrong. It may not be Atkins. Just seems to ring a bell.

alder:
FFS if Atkins are that bad why are they recommended on here? :imp:

At the time the recommendation by a member was made they might have been very good but that could be from a few years ago

If many have a bad experience with a specific trainer then they deserve to be removed IMO because there will be many more negatives than positives

Well let me be Trucknets secret reporter then and I will give an honest review. Shall I take a hidden camera? :laughing:

I think I got the wrong company.

But search Atkins and see what others have said. It doesn’t look good.

I wish you the best.

ROG:

alder:
FFS if Atkins are that bad why are they recommended on here? :imp:

At the time the recommendation by a member was made they might have been very good but that could be from a few years ago

If many have a bad experience with a specific trainer then they deserve to be removed IMO because there will be many more negatives than positives

ROG if there’s any reason to have doubt about a training company they should be removed from the recommended companies list until the doubt is removed, otherwise the list is pointless.

Waiting until there’s more negatives than positives is the wrong way to go :wink:

Its OK I have only paid a £115 deposit :unamused:

Got my CPC over with, that was one hard week sitting through that :neutral_face: Class 1 next week with tom :smiley:

Good stuff. Well Done

MONDAY

Went straight out, my instructor is Tom and the vehicle is a Volvo FH12 unit pulling a trailer double axle combined length 17.2 metres. Tom commented on my driving, where my faults were and what the examiner will expect. He says we will cover all the routes they take you on around here. Today is the easy route and tomorrow we will do the hardest route but we will cover all of them. Every time I did something wrong he said fail and then he would explain why and tell me the correct way to do it. He directed me on how to corner and where I should be etc. He warned me about being in the wrong gear, wrong lane and speeding on roads where you are invited to put your put down, A58 A64 etc.

My judgement: Good Instruction and easy guy to get on with
TUESDAY
:smiley: Tom took me on the hardest route, Knaresborough. All I heard him say going through Knaresborough was FAIL [pause] FAIL [pause] FAIL [pause] and so on ha ha. What a minefield that was, I have never seen so many hazards! Junctions just before traffic lights, KEEP CLEAR signs painted on the road every 50 yards! tight junctions designed to trap lorries, roundabout after roundabout with half the exits having a 7.5 tonne weight limits and roads with clearway signs. “If he asks you to pull over when it is safe to do so, tell him this is a clearway” argghhhhh nightmare! Got it all wrong then Tom took me straight around again pointing at markers where to turn, stop, slow, speed up etc.
Then back in the yard he told me I have covered all the routes now and said take all the time you want practicing your couple/uncouple and reversing. Then he give me the keys to the truck and took this lad out in a rigid. The other instructors soon went and I had the yard to myself. Did about 8 uncouple/couple routines and lost count how many times I did the reversing. I even tightened all the cones so they snuggled the tyres on each side of the rig. I spent 2.5 hours in the yard and when I kept getting the reversing spot on I called it a day.

My Judgement: Good Instructor
WEDNESDAY OFF NO TRAINING

THURSDAY
4 hours

FRIDAY TEST DAY

Seems like you are doing ok.

It’s good that has left you to get on with the reversing and coupling, although I assume you showed competence initially.

Hope tomorrow goes ok and good luck for Friday. Hopefully a blue certificate in your hand.