I’m trying to build myself a home fitness and physio regime to rebuild strength in my leg and ankle. I need to be able to prepare myself to be capable of emergency stopping a 44 tonner.
I need to convince not only myself and agency boss I’m fit to drive when that time comes, but the consultant and registrar at hospital so they’ll sign me as fit to drive again (it was a complex fracture and sublaxation of the ankle so apparently I’m not permitted until authorised).
So the question about the mechanics of driving - how much pressure am I looking at in ft-lbs or psi exerting onto a pedal to emergency stop a full rig?
And now to those who are employers, human resources, TMs etc.,
I’ve only had my license for bendies for 3yrs. I’d been driving lots of hours for the first 2yrs 8 months and was always told I’m a good driver when on a test drive, and quite capable of passing the test standards of every place my agency sent me to.
Then because of the injury I have lost the last 4 and a half months active driving, and by the time I’m passed fit we’re looking at 5.5 to 6mnths total missing ‘experience’.
Do you reckon this will be much of an issue for the many firms who want 2yrs provable continuous driving experience if I seek fixed permanent employment, or would most overlook an enforced absence and consider the run prior to the injury instead?
el gordo 78:
And now to those who are employers, human resources, TMs etc.,
I’ve only had my license for bendies for 3yrs. I’d been driving lots of hours for the first 2yrs 8 months and was always told I’m a good driver when on a test drive, and quite capable of passing the test standards of every place my agency sent me to.
Then because of the injury I have lost the last 4 and a half months active driving, and by the time I’m passed fit we’re looking at 5.5 to 6mnths total missing ‘experience’.
Do you reckon this will be much of an issue for the many firms who want 2yrs provable continuous driving experience if I seek fixed permanent employment, or would most overlook an enforced absence and consider the run prior to the injury instead?.
If you’ve been signed fit to work, and you can get some refences from some of your previous customers, I cant see why you wouldnt be considered. Just coz you’ve been off the road a few months doesnt change your attitude to the job, so if you proved competent and conciences before why would you be any different now
78 if your foots been in plaster for a few months.there will have been muscle wastage on the leg concerned. take things easy just sitting on a chair an movining the foot up and down .round and round up and down while the legs raised.the benefits are your doing it in your own comfort zone if it hurts stop.plus you arent putting any excess stress on an injury .but any movement between foot and leg when there is no weight on either .is the way to go .
78, i’ve had ankle injuries in the past.
After one of them I was able to drive my manual box 1970 Triumph 2000 with plaster-cast on right leg 1 day after hosp exit.
If you can walk, you can probably drive, esp a truck with power-assisted brakes. You’ll be surprised at the minimal amount of power(or perceived lack of it)
that you need.
206 ive driven with more brocken bits than most .
but i never had to get signed off .
the lads recupperating to pass a medical
you and me are used to brocken fingers/hands
in the last 5 years ive brocken 8 fingers
never missed a shift
I’ve only had my license for bendies for 3yrs. I’d been driving lots of hours for the first 2yrs 8 months
Pick one of those if they ask you how long you have been driving. I wouldnt even mention the fact that you have been off work for 6 months until the interview. It is then you can ask for a bit of sympathy as you cannot carry 56 stone sacks up the granary steps because you have just got back to work after a troublesome broken leg.
As for convincing the doctors, it wont be an issue, however when I was at D h Hell it was the company nurse who prevented me returning to work and eventually being finished. I did get full pay while it was being assessed though which was nice
On a different note, I had a total hip replacement and was back driving within 5 weeks of the operation
On a downer yesterday, I asked if I could at least drive the car about, but told in no uncertain terms ‘no’.
As far as they’re concerned, until I can stamp on the pedal in a panic, I explained it’s hardly stamping in a panic. E-stopping is about being in control but rapidly, while stamping is out of control. They won’t budge
So it’ll be a wee while yet.
Boredom has gone beyond setting in a dozen weeks ago. I think I’ll start counting the bobbles in the artex ceiling at the doctors, just for fun, soon.
I was off artics and on rigids for 3 years at one stage. Went back on artics and after a day or two i was back into the swing of it, like riding a bike…
I would recommend swimming as you can exercise the leg muscles using the water as both a support and a resistance to exercise against.
When I returned to work after 22 months ( I was paralysed from the waist down for a short while) My own GP did the HGV medical, the company doctor recommended that I return and double up for a spell, in my case a month, as he was happy with what I could do in his surgery but that consultation could not reproduce my daily activity. I should add that I’m on the company payroll and not agency so that will make a difference.
Been back nine months now and not needed to ask for anything beyond that initial month.
Good luck mate and don’t forget to ask for assistance if you need it. If I can’t manage a pallet or cage I don’t. Break it down, get some additional help or take it back.
We wouldn’t worry about 6 months off for a broken ankle. So long as the doc says you are fit to drive then we’d view you the same as if you had come straight from another job. If the question arises pre-interview, I’d say what happened. If they don’t ask before an interview, then you don’t need to volunteer the information.
Bored as you may be, take the docs advice and don’t too much now; it’s better to let everything heal the best it can than spend the next 20 years wishing you had taken it a bit easier when you were told to.
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