I’m starting to dread RDC’s, I have tipped at 2 this week Asda and Somerfield, the layouts all seem to be the same with all the loaded trucks parked opposite the bays waiting to be tipped.
This happened to me twice this week, reverse into the waiting area, not to bad as not too many watching me ( 2 shunts)
So now you know the routine wait to be called into the bay, watched all the other drivers reversing smoothly and in one, now it was my turn, heart pounding drove into position with a slight bend in the unit all ok, by now I was aware of the huge line of trucks opposite me with all the drivers sitting waiting for my “performance” I say performance because it’s the nearest thing I have experienced to being on stage.
Put it into reverse and that’s where it all went wrong, I proceeded to zig zag my way into the bay, shunting backwards and forwards until I eventually got it in.
Ever wanted the ground to swallow you up?
If anyone reading this was there and saw a TNT Newsfast artic making a right B****cs of it, I’m new to this
Well it’s been said before but after a few more months experience you won’t really care what other drivers may or may not be thinking.
Oh and you’ll get better. 
i have said it before and i will say it again
who cares how many shunts you take as long as you get it where it needs to be without hitting anything
one of those drivers will have a bad day in front of you and you will get it unusually right that day 
i cant advise you on how you will get of the cab on that day though. when it happens, the head does tend to increase in size dramatically 
Reversing is a funny thing.
All I can add to the earlier (excellent) advice is that one day soon, it will just click into place. You probably won’t realise what you’ve done differently to before. But you’ll just start getting in to tricky posisions without any snaking or over-cooking.
You want a laugh - just watch me reversing my car. 
Big Roy:
Put it into reverse and that’s where it all went wrong, I proceeded to zig zag my way into the bay, shunting backwards and forwards until I eventually got it in.
Don’t worry about it, apparently it comes with time. I hope that’s true because come this August I’ll have had my Class 1/C+E 20 years and I still have days like that.
What you will soon come to realise is non of the other drivers are paying you any notice, or if they are, they are wishing they could do it in as few shunts as you !!!. No matter how bad you think you are, there is someone worse than you. Relax and just enjoy the challange.
Most drivers don’t care how many shunts you take.The reason you think they are taking any interest in you is because ,as you say , they are facing the ramp.Most experienced drivers would help you if needed it but are not sitting there judging you.Its the learners that compare themselves with other learners.In tight spots I would often get out of the cab & walk around the truck just to plot blind spots. I knew a German driver with a wagon & drag that when he got tied in knots would cut the engine get out & light a roll-up.After a five minute smoke he would get back in & the thing would drive itself in.You should try playing,‘My Way’ when you are reversing to take your mind off the the one hit thing & also to make your performance more entertaining to the bored drivers.( Also ,its a really long song )
I recall being one of those ‘sat watching’, opposite the loading bays, in the waiting area. I was watching the driver opposite having a bit of a struggle to get between the trailer wheel guides and on the door centrally. He probably took about 5 or 6 shunts and despite it being quite obvious that most of us who were waiting were watching him, it didn’t seem to put him off - he just carried on with his 5 or 6 shunts!!
I’d say that the only reason I was ‘sat watching’ is because I was trying to find something to concentrate on to prevent me becoming totally ‘RDC-waiting-induced-brain-dead’, certainly not looking through a ‘critical eye’. This particular driver stays in the memory because of how unphased he was by his audience. Just as he bumped up to the loading bay buffers and put on his handbrake, he reached down and then placed an ‘L Plate’ in his windscreen, giving a shrug of his shoulders before getting out of the cab and taking his keys inside!! Looking along the row of waiting drivers, I wasn’t the only one who was having a right ol’ chuckle to myself!!
As for the actual reversing, I have seen drivers who are struggling a wee bit but then go into a panic-mode and start ‘guessing’ as what to do, thereby often making an otherwise ‘nearly there’ manoeuvre become way off. What I have done in times past when a reverse is going a bit wrong is to give thought (usually afterwards) as to why it went wrong. For example, I used to have a habit of always being skewiffed on the bay. A bit of lateral thinking meant that from that point onwards I always aimed to be lined-up for the door as soon as possible (at least half the length of the trailer away) and not needing any real adjustments on the way to the dock.
When I became a driving instructor I always got my students to line up with the ‘garage’ as soon as possible during the manoeuvreing area training, thus allowing time for slight adjustments as they approach the barrier. I have never understood instructors who encourage their students to aim for the front cone & pole of the ‘garage’ and then reverse in around it - there’s not enough time to make any corrections to the vehicle/combination so that it is straight, in the box and suitably close to the barrier. 
True, there is a shunt available but I prefer them to save that for ‘real emergencies’!!
Thanks for your input guys, I was at the Somerfield RDC (St Helens) again this week and struggled again.
The problem there is instead of having the steel guide rails at the entrance they have installed concrete guides which are about 2 foot high and 8 foot long with only inches clearance so if you are not dead straight going in you will hit them with the trailer bumper bars and judging by the state of them I’m not the only one who has struggled…
Unfortunately due to the limited space in the yard, to get the unit straight you have to get the cab right in front of the cab in the waiting area (I hope that makes sense).
As it was a couple of drivers could see i was making a hash of it and jumped out of their cabs and guided me in
I must say that in the short time that I’ve been driving I’ve found the camaraderie between drivers and the willingness to help second to none, thanks again
Big Roy:
The problem there is instead of having the steel guide rails at the entrance they have installed concrete guides which are about 2 foot high and 8 foot long with only inches clearance so if you are not dead straight going in you will hit them with the trailer bumper bars and judging by the state of them I’m not the only one who has struggled…
. . . . . . . and therefore all the more reason to take your time; never mind what other drivers might be thinking. As you’ve experienced already, chances are they are watching to see if you need any help and are probably more worried about being told to “■■■■-off and mind your own business!” than you are about the manoeuvre!!
Big Roy:
Unfortunately due to the limited space in the yard, to get the unit straight you have to get the cab right in front of the cab in the waiting area (I hope that makes sense).
. . . . . which ties-in with what I was trying to explain above i.e. get lined-up as early as possible, even if it seems difficult - it will pay dividends in the end!
Funny old thing is, as previously stated on this and other threads, one day you’ll suddenly realise that you are doing it without really giving much thought and it’s only when you have the inevitable bad day (which we all still have from time to time!) that it becomes apparent how much you have progressed.
Big Roy:
Thanks for your input guys, I was at the Somerfield RDC (St Helens) again this week and struggled again.
The problem there is instead of having the steel guide rails at the entrance they have installed concrete guides which are about 2 foot high and 8 foot long with only inches clearance so if you are not dead straight going in you will hit them with the trailer bumper bars and judging by the state of them I’m not the only one who has struggled…
Unfortunately due to the limited space in the yard, to get the unit straight you have to get the cab right in front of the cab in the waiting area (I hope that makes sense).
As it was a couple of drivers could see i was making a hash of it and jumped out of their cabs and guided me in
I must say that in the short time that I’ve been driving I’ve found the camaraderie between drivers and the willingness to help second to none, thanks again
If I’m sat watching at the hub I just think “been there, done that” -probably ten minutes ago! When reversing between two trucks I usually find that they are still reading the paper after I’ve got there. Not many drivers take the **** and so what if they do? I’m happy!
The only drivers the take the [zb] are those that have so little brains and such a short memory that they forget that they were probally worse when they started.
Although I think I was the worst ever 23 shunts to get on a loading bay at Frans Maas, Chester le Street. 
In my defence there were no markings on the ground, couldn’t see the dock and had no room to manourve. I think the forklift driver had a tea break whilst he waited for me to get onto the bay.
I got better, but I find if I’m in a tight spot down some side street trying to reverse into a factory round badly park cars I can make it look easy, but if I have a nice new RDC with loads of space I seem to get drunk on all the space and want to use every bit of it.
Finally you will get better just stick it out and don’t worry about the other drivers, as long as you get tipped and get the truck back without injuring somebody or damaging anything then you’ve done the job okay as far as I’m and most bosses are concerned.
I was at an RDC the other day and, on leaving, had to go around the building where they put their own trailers on the bays. There was one of their own drivers trying to put the trailer onto the bay, the driver of which seemed to be somewhat ‘age deprived’. There was already one of their own vehicles waiting fot him to finish and not wanting to wait for two of them to ‘dock’ I pukked alongside.
The first driver had about four or five attempts, and was simply ‘getting it wrong’ and it was obvious that the frustration was building.
Myself and the other driver just looked across, smiled and shrugged, 
as we’ve all been there in the past.
In the end he just gave up and drove around the building so that he could start again, which was probably the best thing he could do in the circumstances.
I don’t think it’s the actual reversing that gets easier. What I think gets easier is identifying the optimum position, within the available space, that the vehicle needs to be placed prior to commencing to reverse. Give me a line of empty bays, and I’ll make a hash of it. Give me a ‘target’ with a metre or so either side, and I rarely have a problem.
AND, I’m not too proud to get out and have a look if I’m not sure about clearances in a tight situation.
And whatever you do …
Dont sit there (on the waiting for a bay …errr bay ? ) and watch the yard shunters (in there yellow tugs wiv da flashy orange lite) because it can be so demoralising you see them scream up at top speed brake hard one spin of the wheel into reverse revs through the roof perfectly on the bay straight as a die dropped the trl and off to the canteen all in the blink of an eye and then you get called on …gulp…
Somerfield St. Helens!!
Gives me the collywobbles just thinking about the place. I’d only just started driving Class 1 when I went there for the first time. Just couldn’t get it right and ended up having a driver and a member of the warehouse staff guiding me in. I reckon it took about 10 minutes in all.
Been there a few times since and its obviously had an effect on me 'cos I’ve never been able to get it in one there yet. But as I said in my earlier thread it doesn’t bother me now.
somerfields ross on wye is another tight one . eddie stobart truck pulled out of the bay and decided to park directly opposite the entrance (brain of a field mouse) 
and it was my time to get on the bay (first one nearest the que).
i couldnt get on on my good side(no room to get the angle) so i had to blindside it on. well to say i had a shunt was a understatement i must have took 10 . it doesn’t help when you got those bloody guide rails sticking 10 foot out in to the yard.
but eventually i got on.the elddis driver 2 doors down seen me struggling and came over and said “rather you then me id have gave up and made that [zb] move it” 
jon driving for 8 years and still make a hash of it.
jon
Krankee:
I don’t think it’s the actual reversing that gets easier. What I think gets easier is identifying the optimum position, within the available space, that the vehicle needs to be placed prior to commencing to reverse.
:
and you get to the stage that you don’t worry who’s watching and don’t care if it goes wrong
Denis F:
and you get to the stage that you don’t worry who’s watching and don’t care if it goes wrong
And the stage where you realise no-one actually gives a s**t…
Swinging into our always busy hub the other week to be confronted by a driver doing a blind side into the trailer park, this was right outside the office on a change over so all in sundry where out having a smoke…
So there I am, waiting while he swings around with so much confidence, only to ram into the adjacent trailer with such a force I could feel it. All those around quickly looked up, then carried on as if nothing had happened.
And the driver wasn’t phased one bit
If it’s container drivers that are parked there they won’t be watching you they’ll all be fast asleep!
harry:
I knew a German driver with a wagon & drag that when he got tied in knots would cut the engine get out & light a roll-up.After a five minute smoke he would get back in & the thing would drive itself in.
I might have to borrow his technique!