Hi all, after eight years out of driving trucks I have managed to get an Assessment next week for ES…INT Hawley s Lane. does anyone on here do international for them or can give me the heads up on what to expect. I know in my head what to do, but a bit nervous. I don’t class myself as a know all and never have done and at 57 I never thought id have a chance.
Thanks …
It will be with one of the trainers out of the ‘Academy’ at Widnes all of whom are down to earth sorts, not stuffy DSA types.
It will start with daily checks, just stick to the tried and tested top middle bottom routine on the outside and when your doing the inside checks don’t forget the horn 
Then you will couple up to a trailer you have supposedly never seen before so do a walk round check first and remember CHECK THE TRAILER BRAKE !. They like you to drop the unit suspension, reverse under so the plate is fully covered then to raise the unit suspension so the plate just mates fully with the underside of the trailer, then reverse back fully engaging the pin and not forgetting 2 tug tests. Then use the good old routine ‘BLACK’ or as your coupling up ‘KCALB’.
Then you will go for a short round robin drive with the assessor giving you directions so don’t stress about not knowing the area. This is NOT a speed test, he wants a nice steady smooth and above all safe drive with good positioning, good observations and consideration for other road users. NOTE: If there are any Eddie Spotters outside the main gate, give them a wave, they like to see that
Back at Hawleys Lane he will want you to reverse into an available ■■■■■■■■■■■■ and drop the trailer, again looking for ‘BLACK’ and don’t forget your number plate 
Thanks for that,i will just take my time its the coupling and dropping of trl that scares me,
just need to do it how they expect. And as for the driving iv not driven any I shift or semi auto but should be ok.
stevie p:
Thanks for that,i will just take my time its the coupling and dropping of trl that scares me,
just need to do it how they expect. And as for the driving iv not driven any I shift or semi auto but should be ok.
If any of the controls are unfamiliar to you then just say so and ask for guidance rather than get distracted and make a mistake. I had no issue on the assessment day in a Merc or on my first few shifts in Scania’s both manuals and auto’ but the first shift I had in a Volvo I had to concede defeat and ask how to adjust the height of the steering wheel 
eddie now likes the dog clip fitted BEFORE the tug test.
xamtex:
eddie now likes the dog clip fitted BEFORE the tug test.
There you go, even more up to date advice and if he gets the job it’s reasonable that the one paying him can expect him to do it his way. The fact that this is different to the way DSA wanted it done on my test and from the time he has held his licence the poster too, it would be reasonable to expect the assessor to tell him how they want it done.
If your kingpin is sitting on top of the 5th wheel, what good will putting the dogclip in first do, other than lead you into a false sense of security?
COUPLE it, Tug, then get out and stick in the Dog clip. That way, if the damned thing shears or just falls off you are not going to get any jolts or “uncontrolled trailer movements”…
Short urban style trailers need to be lifted up on the suspension when being coupled. I still see many slamming the tractor back, because they don’t realise how far forward in relative terms the kingpin is. If you tug, and then can’t get the dogclip in, then you’ve got the chance to do it again properly!
This is what can happen if you dog clip it, THEN tug, then do the rest, and drive away, kingpin resting on top of the jaws…
What’s the betting that whoever came up with this fancy new H&S issue hasn’t been driving for decades like the rest of us?
I’d love to speak to the berk who signed off on the risk assessment for this dog clip malarky.
I appreciate that on an assessment you don’t want to make waves and start calling people idiots, but if I were employed full time by ES I’d use H&S as a big stick to beat them with. I’d be asking which besuited moron figures that forcing a driver to do an extra exit and entrance into a cab (which we’ve all had rammed down our throats is intrinsically an unsafe act) was responsible for this latest piece of idiocy.
Winseer:
This is what can happen if you dog clip it, THEN tug, then do the rest, and drive away, kingpin resting on top of the jaws…
But the dog clip wont go on if you’ve missed the pin so in the picture you’ve shown the driver cant have bothered with it full stop.
Not true the pin cud sit on top of the locked jaws, if you dont check the first decent bump you hit and the trailer is off on its own 
I always get under the truck with a torch and look up the 5th wheel.
I wanna see that jaw across the pin.
Dieseldoforme:
I always get under the truck with a torch and look up the 5th wheel.I wanna see that jaw across the pin.
thats exactly what i do
You’ll be fine Stevie P, it’ll come back once you get going, chances are that it’ll be an old school driver assessing, let him know you’re a bit rusty, i expect they’ll be glad to get to their hands on some experience and soon get you up to date.
Got to have a small rant here though, nows as good a time as any…
Who started this bullshine, used to be a time when you asked for a job and you either got it or didn’t, depended if you looked like you could handle the job.
‘You drove for who previously?’, so and so, ‘Thats fine they run Foden 12 speeds and MAN column changes can you manage an Eaton Twin Splutterers driver’, yes, ‘start Monday’.
You had to be a driver to get the bloody thing out the yard in the first place, so they knew if you could manage before you got out of earshot.
Go on who came up with this assessment crap and why?
I’ve seen some (not all obviously, good and bad everywhere) blokes who’ve been assessed (cos they work full time in these places) and i wouldn’t pay 'em in washers they’re bloody useless…similarly but opposite, the big blue fleet assessor prat (who i know from old and he’s bugger all to write home about) failed my old mate cos he missed a minor tick on his pre flights, he’s been driving 40 years and been on car transporters for over 25 years, could do the job asleep…as it is he’s back on the cars and luckily the blue fleet didn’t get their unworthy hands on a proper driver to patronise, good.
Juddian:
You’ll be fine Stevie P, it’ll come back once you get going, chances are that it’ll be an old school driver assessing, let him know you’re a bit rusty, i expect they’ll be glad to get to their hands on some experience and soon get you up to date.Got to have a small rant here though, nows as good a time as any…
Who started this bullshine, used to be a time when you asked for a job and you either got it or didn’t, depended if you looked like you could handle the job.
‘You drove for who previously?’, so and so, ‘Thats fine they run Foden 12 speeds and MAN column changes can you manage an Eaton Twin Splutterers driver’, yes, ‘start Monday’.
You had to be a driver to get the bloody thing out the yard in the first place, so they knew if you could manage before you got out of earshot.
Go on who came up with this assessment crap and why?
I’ve seen some (not all obviously, good and bad everywhere) blokes who’ve been assessed (cos they work full time in these places) and i wouldn’t pay 'em in washers they’re bloody useless…similarly but opposite, the big blue fleet assessor prat (who i know from old and he’s bugger all to write home about) failed my old mate cos he missed a minor tick on his pre flights, he’s been driving 40 years and been on car transporters for over 25 years, could do the job asleep…as it is he’s back on the cars and luckily the blue fleet didn’t get their unworthy hands on a proper driver to patronise, good.
AND BREATHE.
Saaamon:
Winseer:
This is what can happen if you dog clip it, THEN tug, then do the rest, and drive away, kingpin resting on top of the jaws…But the dog clip wont go on if you’ve missed the pin so in the picture you’ve shown the driver cant have bothered with it full stop.
…but it DOES on short trailers! I’ve had the jaws close, and I could get the dogclip in, but I could still see daylight between the 5th wheel plate and underside - so I went around again…
How many check for daylight (!!) - especially at night, when you’ll need that torch it’s a legal requirement for everyone to carry… 
If I’d tugged at it, maybe the trailer would have come off, maybe not there and then. Tug straight forwards and there’s a case for it “apparently tugging solid enough” until you pull around a decent bend later on, and the trailer parts company from it’s position resting on top of the 5th wheel with the dogclip in.
Whatdoya think plod or VOSA is going to say when you try and say “Hey, the dogclip is in, so I’m in the clear - right?”
The only way you’d be “in the clear” if the picture depicted happened to you is if the kingpin had sheered right off, because then it’s a case of “mechanical failure” rather than driver neglect/error.
Assessment was invented for a jobsworth …you will soon be carting around enough ppe and a filing cabinet in the car to satisfy the knob who takes you round the block that you have the rite qualifications to drive the truck …allthough you mite not have seen one before after 30 odd years …it was all a dream…i want to be a lorry driver, i feel sorry for young blokes coming into the job bombarded with so much crap…ffs its a job driving a truck not bleedin brain surgery ! 
Dieseldoforme:
I always get under the truck with a torch and look up the 5th wheel.I wanna see that jaw across the pin.
yep me too. Always worth it even if the regular drivers say its not worth it!
Saratoga:
Dieseldoforme:
I always get under the truck with a torch and look up the 5th wheel.I wanna see that jaw across the pin.
yep me too.
Always worth it even if the regular drivers say its not worth it!
I’ve seen too many dropped trailers, too many snapped suzies and too many
trailers moving when the airline is connected.
I don’t want a piece of their embarrassment !
Juddian:
Got to have a small rant here though, nows as good a time as any…Who started this bullshine, used to be a time when you asked for a job and you either got it or didn’t, depended if you looked like you could handle the job.
‘You drove for who previously?’, so and so, ‘Thats fine they run Foden 12 speeds and MAN column changes can you manage an Eaton Twin Splutterers driver’, yes, ‘start Monday’.
You had to be a driver to get the bloody thing out the yard in the first place, so they knew if you could manage before you got out of earshot.
Go on who came up with this assessment crap and why?
I just wish I could agree with this post but I can’t…
If you saw the appalling standard of the applicants that come into the modern Haulage yard looking for a job you would understand.
We have a driving assessment, it’s not a pass or fail test as such. It’s more of a measure of if the applicant is actually capable of doing the job without laying waste to every piece of kit they come into contact with.
We still have blokes, young and old who pick up and drop a trailer like they are driving a Mk II (even if they don’t know what a Mk II is) and that’s on the assessment…!
Never mind…
‘er um, when should I put the dogclip in…?’
As for the driving, I’m sure the lad who does the assessments wasn’t grey when he started.
I’m sorry your mate got turned away from a job he was more than capable of doing but I’d like you to know all assessments aren’t the same and really, it’s the only practical way of sorting the wheat from the chaff.
W
Thanks again for all the replies, I am of the old school as you can guess and yes like a lot of you on here I know what an Eaton twin spliter and a MK2 is and so on,hope your right about getting a trainer that has done some years all I can do is have trust in myself and if im not good enough for them ill try some one else…