Harry Monk:
It’s one of life’s paradoxes that if nobody is watching you can do it perfectly first time. There seems to be some law of physics which states that the more of an audience you have, the more your cognitive and motor skills go out of the window.
^Oh yes! Painful memories of the week after passing my class 1 of trying to get on the end bay of the Covent Garden soup co in Lincs, with a nice new Stobbies fridge, at night, in the rain, with a group of other drivers standing there. I had to been done just so to avoid hitting the wagon next to it and the fence at the front. I just couldn’t do it, and each attempt got worse and worse because I was aware of the audience. Eventually one of them talked me through it and I got there.
But when that happens you realise that 99% of drivers understand because they’ve been there too. I’ve often seen guys with 30 years experience not get it right first time, sometimes it just doesn’t come to together. Other days you will do a difficult reverse first time and feel really good about yourself. Ignore people like forkies and warehouse guys, they couldn’t get close to being able to do it themselves.
Oh yes, GOAL! And use DAF and MAN auto boxes in crawl mode, coz they’re too jerky otherwise.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I find the more room I have, the more of a tendancy to mess it up, and if there’s no room, I tend to make a good job of it.
I’m also a believer in “bogey reverse” situations… There’s a reverse between trailers I sometimes have to do in our yard and I just can’t do it Can’t seem to get my trailer straight enough for entry into the gap
My mate rang me last night, absolutely gutted because he had cracked a rear light lens on his trailer. He has been driving over 20 years and it was his first mishap since passing his test, we shan’t mention the time when he reversed over an ATS van on Immingham docks
That was on the day he passed the test, so not a bad average
The training I had for class 1 (40 years ago) was nothing short of crap. I nearly didn’t bother with the best as I’d never completed the reverse during practice. I was only a kid and it was really getting to me. But I took a deep breath and managed to get the reverse done for test.
Move on two years … and I’m just about at the point of saying “that trailer is going on that bay” and it might just happen!
The moral of the story is twofold. Firstly the importance of good initial training followed by the realisation that this thing takes a while to master. Never beat yourself up. Take your time. It’s less embarrassing to get and look than it is to have to explain why you’ve taken the side out of a trailer. I have been known to get out maybe 5 or 6 times to get the trailer on a bay.
I’m a lot better now - but still not perfect. (dar1976 is witness to that!!). Just persist and be patient with yourself.
Peter Smythe:
The training I had for class 1 (40 years ago) was nothing short of crap. I nearly didn’t bother with the best as I’d never completed the reverse during practice. I was only a kid and it was really getting to me. But I took a deep breath and managed to get the reverse done for test.
Move on two years … and I’m just about at the point of saying “that trailer is going on that bay” and it might just happen!
The moral of the story is twofold. Firstly the importance of good initial training followed by the realisation that this thing takes a while to master. Never beat yourself up. Take your time. It’s less embarrassing to get and look than it is to have to explain why you’ve taken the side out of a trailer. I have been known to get out maybe 5 or 6 times to get the trailer on a bay.
I’m a lot better now - but still not perfect. (dar1976 is witness to that!!). Just persist and be patient with yourself.
Pete
I don’t recall anything that would lead me to believe you were not perfect
welder:
Somebody throwing a face? Tell them your new and ask them to help guide you back - if nothing else it will make them feel important and stop you having to rush.
this was the best advice I ever got, I haven’t used it for awhile so maybe practise does make perfect
Can’t seem to get my trailer straight enough for entry into the gap
