You ■■■■■■■ useless ■■■■■ call yourself a driver?? Shall I get my 6 year old to show you how to do it?? What’s wrong with you?
Nah I’m only playin’.
Reversing is an art and a tricky one to get right. As others have said, see if you can book some time with a school (with an artic and W&D ideally) then go for that.
Remember you can reverse as you did it on your test, you’ve just got some rust around the steering wheel somewhere as you’ve not been on artics since.
I would also see if you can get a mate who drives class 1 to let you have a crack around their yard or something.
One other thing I was taught is to get the thing pointing where you want it going forward to minimise the corrections you need on the reverse.
Good luck and you’ll get there eventually, no one was born knowing how to reverse an artic.
Work for an agency or several agencies for a while. Everyone expects agency drivers to be crap, so you won’t disappoint.
You will still get paid when you f up and when booted out, just go to another.
That way, you will gain experience.
Best advice I ever got was to imagine that the trailer is a rigid truck, and the rear wheels of the unit are the front steering wheels.
Just a thought - could it be that the trailer you were trying to reverse was fitted with rear steer? I got caught by that once - every time I thought it was lined up, the ■■■■ thing went sideways. It wasn’t until a shunter came over with a pin to lock the mechanism, that I realised.
Get back in the truck and don’t give up I have done a blindside reverse between two trucks first time or blindside through a farm gate with less than two inches either side , but then dropped a right bollock backing up in a straight line or good side into a parking slot on motorway services! nobody’s perfect mate
maestegboy:
Some people find it easier to reverse with the drivers door open!
Give it a try!
Try it with a Renault. It’s like sitting in a bloody fruit machine with all the bleepers going off and lights flashing, and I doubt any other modern trucks are much different. OP needs as little distraction as possible IMO.
With modern truck mirrors it should rarely be necessary to hang out of the doors like we used to. I don’t consider it good practice anyway.
agreed,handbrake not applied warning with the door open,seatbelt warning and door open warning,puts you right off.
Try that in a Tesco truck and you get at about 200 decibels “HANDBRAKE NOT APPLIED”…
seany-225577:
no damage just couldn’t get it onto a dock… went home unpaid as all I did was waited three hours to get onto a dock and in the end didn’t make it on
fair play for having the ■■■■■■■■ to come on here and say it because not everyone is gifted at reversing an artic. all I can can say is keep trying and take the advice that has already been given onboard and you will get it eventually get the hang of it.
the reason I quoted you was because you said there was no damage and you should always remember that is the main priority whatever the outcome may be.(far worse if you go back with the lorry or trailer in ■■■■■ in my opinion)
maestegboy:
Some people find it easier to reverse with the drivers door open!
Give it a try!
Try it with a Renault. It’s like sitting in a bloody fruit machine with all the bleepers going off and lights flashing, and I doubt any other modern trucks are much different. OP needs as little distraction as possible IMO.
With modern truck mirrors it should rarely be necessary to hang out of the doors like we used to. I don’t consider it good practice anyway.
agreed,handbrake not applied warning with the door open,seatbelt warning and door open warning,puts you right off.
Try that in a Tesco truck and you get at about 200 decibels “HANDBRAKE NOT APPLIED”…
It’s the same guys voice at RM even though it’s a DAF instead of a Axor…
if you want proper reversing practice, you wanna to go to GIST ■■■■■■■■■■■ chill about 6pm to 10pm most evenings… tight bays and not a lot of space in front because they park all their artics opposite the loading bays…
Conor:
I’m with Alliance…stuff working for nowt just because you stuffed up reversing.
Believe me after you’ve been driving for a few years you’ll see lots of people who have been driving Class 1 for years who can’t reverse for toffee. In by brief stint as a Stobby shunter I was on a shift with a guy who I know had been driving for over 30 years and he couldn’t put a trailer on a bay with a tug.
Best advice:
When people start they get too eager on the steering wheel. Instead of putting on or removing a bit of lock and going back for a bit and letting the trailer start to turn they see the trailer not turning so put on more lock and then the trailer turns too quickly. Before long the pendulum effect is on the go and they do 3 miles side to side in the cab for every foot the trailer goes backwards. You want to be adding steering lock or removing it no more than an eighth to a quarter of a turn at a time and giving the trailer time to react.
If you completely balls it up just pull forward to get the whole lot straight and start again.
We’ve all been there and even those who are good at reversing will occasionally have a day where the damned trailers just won’t do as they’re told.
Thats ok if there is lots of room connor, some of the places we go there isn’t any margin for error, you have to crack it on full lock and take it off sharpish too.
I haven’t been class one for long, about 4 months, however the best advice I was told is, if you want to stop it coming round, turn the wheel in the direction you can see in the mirror the trailer the most. Always reverse on your good side if possible and never ever ever let other drivers rush you, they can wait!
Trukkertone:
if you want proper reversing practice, you wanna to go to GIST ■■■■■■■■■■■ chill about 6pm to 10pm most evenings… tight bays and not a lot of space in front because they park all their artics opposite the loading bays…
Don’t worry you will get the hang of it. I took three goes at a dead easy reverse the other day, could not understand why but then remembered I was in a different make of truck with twin steer as opposed to fixed middle axle, so the trailer was reacting a lot quicker . Were there any other drivers there? Usually somebody takes pity and offers to help.
commonrail:
never thought of that.
maybe Ill stick to hanging my head out,although I do think it looks a bit novicey...especially when its ■■■■■■■ down
I’ll admit I can’t reverse off the mirrors nearly as well as having my head out of the window, I also like to know I can hear everything around me. If its raining I just do it quicker
OP just take your time and I can assure you it’ll click after a while then you’ll be a driving god like most on here
All good supportive advice, even the shared horror stories are there to help you realise you are not alone.
My first few jobs were taking pre-loaded trailers from a warehouse to the dock side where they were dropped and later put on the ferry by shunters whilst I returned to warehouse with an empty. So the first time I had to do a real reverse was on my first visit to a large RDC. I was so bothered about the reverse it was on my mind all the way there, in the end the reverse went ok all be it with a few shunts but I breather a sigh of relief when it was done. Only at that point did I realise I hadn’t opened the rear doors so I had to drag it off again.
Weeks later I realised the tighter the reverse the easier I found it because it forces to to slow down and your reference points are closer from the start. Just when I thought I had the Artic reverse sorted, I did some Artic work after several months on Wag&Drag and it was like starting over again.
The only person putting pressure on you, is you. So accept you are never going to get it right first time every time and you will soon realise you are getting it right first time more of the time.
iDriver:
Only at that point did I realise I hadn’t opened the rear doors so I had to drag it off again.
This I’ve never done but I have dropped a trailer on a bay then just as I’m leaving remembered the number plate
More than once
So did you pull the trailer off or crawl underneath? Last time I did it (last week) i was crawling as the shunter had already moved the trailer before I remembered. Fortunately the floor was dry.
iDriver:
Only at that point did I realise I hadn’t opened the rear doors so I had to drag it off again.
This I’ve never done but I have dropped a trailer on a bay then just as I’m leaving remembered the number plate
More than once
Ha ha ! I’ve done that !
Crawled under- quicker than hooking up again-pulling it forward-jumping out for the plate-reverse back to ramp-jump out-pull the pin-get back in - la la la !
Who said Lorry driving doesn’t keep you fit !
what agency are you with on which contract? 
anywhere near Manchester? I’ll do it free of charge! 
