merc0447:
You also can’t control a junction the way you can in a artic.
I can in my rigid. “zb you, I’m coming out”.
The idea that an artic ultimately needs less room to turn is often a myth in the real world allowing for the fact that a rigid can change the lock of its steering wheels while stationary while breaking a turn down into shunts.Unlike an artic in which it has to move over a fixed distance to change the lock of its unit drive/rear axle/s which actually steer the trailer.
While a proper drawbar outfit is more stable and has has more axle weight tolerance.
You also don’t have a ‘blind side’ or wipe out the view along the side in the mirrors when turning with a rigid or even as much with a drawbar outfit.
Last but not least rigids or drawbars don’t jacknife if they lose grip at the drive/rear axle/s.
I currently drive an artic but the trucks never bothered me it’s always been the job and pay that has mattered.
Given the choice a 8 wheel tipper is my favourite drive.
It makes no difference to me what I drive, so long as there`s enough wheels in each corner
Darb:
I hate driving rigids simply because it makes me look like I didn’t try hard enough to be a proper driver
LOL 
windrush:
Reading posts on this forum I would say about double the wage on class 1!Pete.
Ha ha…In your dreams!!! I earn more money class 2 ADR Tanks…no nights out,days and time and half after 8 hours!!! 
Me personally, I just find driving artics more interesting than rigids. That challenge & potential job satisfaction of getting your trailer onto that awkward bay or into that tight spot is all we have really got in this game, it’s just not the same in a rigid.
Say goodbye to handballing on class 1.
If even the pay were the same, the job the same and the prospects the same I’d still prefer driving an artic over a rigid. I just like them better as vehicles. I find them more interesting. Rigids didn’t seem quite the whole fun to me when I drove them. Just seemed like a very fat, long van with air brakes.
This will sound quite sad to some but I actually like the ■■■■■■■ around coupling and uncoupling, sussies, playing about with different trailers, running solo etc. They look better to me too. I was interested in lorries as a kid first, then did it as a job when older.
I will probably get absolutely flamed for this. No, i didn’t view the job as as a hobby which is why I said if the money etc were the same that would still be my choice, sorry 
Mrginge hits the proverbial nail on the head. Best answer on this thread IMO.
rob22888:
Me personally, I just find driving artics more interesting than rigids. That challenge & potential job satisfaction of getting your trailer onto that awkward bay or into that tight spot is all we have really got in this game, it’s just not the same in a rigid.
Ironically that’s another of the advantages which I preferred about A frame drawbars over artics.
Generally speaking then most people agree an artic is better to drive. I best get driving one then lol : )
Class 1 drivers,because class 2 drivers need heroes.
Many many moons ago the old man had a contract to move expanded foam.
We had a Bedford Tk 7.5 furniture type bodied rigid with a sodding huge full trailer with a dolly under its front end.
It was like a sailboard to drive, the load weighed under a ton!
It took me a good dozen attempts to reverse the ■■■■ thing onto a bay at the clients, who said" the young kid who normally drives gets it in first time "
I was glad to get back to a proper unit and trailer and wages !
We have three artics and my rigid, our artic drivers will take a sick day rather than have a day in my wagon and for tucking it up to bed at night it needs a very tight reverse into a narrow shed thats gets narrower and then down a slope, they even ask if I would stay behind to put it away
I agree as I am fed up getting rear lights and marker lights fixed. (+overtime)
Funny as I dont complain spinning the artics around and uncoupling and putting them away …tarts
Oh we are on the same money (I winged my way into that rise 
)
Are you sure that’s the reason drift . Just kidding
I never got this rigids are harder than artics. Seems like an overplayed cool thing to say. I tramped out with very long rigids and artics. Yeah rigids have a wider turning circle on first glance, but once you’re down to shuffling about with both you still need a wider circle with an artic when at extremes. Granted you can spin an artic more quickly but you can still shuffle a rigid around in a shorter space when pushed. The maths isn’t there to say otherwise unless a really, really long rigid. I have been stuck in garden centres/ farms in the middle of nowhere in both and a rigid is able to maneouver in shorter spaces, it just takes time.
You can’t phsyically shrink the trailer on an artic, no matter how tight you can turn it. Most trailers on their own are longer than a whole rigid, and need more room unless you’ve a little cove you can stuff the rear into when you gingerly take the unit just past the 90 degree mark 
.
As for reversing, I found rigids the easier by far. If used to driving artics, I don’t get how hard it is to remember to turn the wheel the other way. I get the first turn out of instinct but beyond that? Really■■? I didnt see too many drivers struggling to reverse their car out of the car park.
Artics have more to think about reversing, especially blindside, plus they’re far more fun
You right Freight Dog, I think its just a mental block on the way the wheel is turned that freaks long term artic drivers out
I have had my class 2 for 28 years but move artics around the yard or years ago on a port but our lads hate the rear over hang when my rear lift axle is up
I cant say I have ever been stuck, just plan your shunt, turn your wheels at the right time (and direction) you can shuffle out of anywhere, where and artic can get really stuck
my girl 
And one of our three artic tarts
My overhang is nuts on my 26 tonner.
That is a nice ride you have there! Beavertails, now that’s one to catch the unwary
Going the other end, there’s a tree on the cross roads in Grantham that has many a tale to tell of front end fridge unit headboard overhangs when drivers overcooked the approach. I witnessed one of these strikes myself. The front end overhang/ arc growth on sharp turns seems to get forgotten by some
Freight Dog:
That is a nice ride you have there! Beavertails, now that’s one to catch the unwaryGoing the other end, there’s a tree on the cross roads in Grantham that has many a tale to tell of front end fridge unit headboard overhangs when drivers overcooked the approach. I witnessed one of these strikes myself. The front end overhang/ arc growth on sharp turns seems to get forgotten by some
That the one near the hospital?