chester:
Would Pat sit and watch somebody struggle for an hour to get on a bay?
Yes. I’d lay money on it having read his very enlightening posts
dar1976:
Pat… I’m not going to lower myself to calling you names. Just try to be a bit more constructive in your posts. The guy is a newbie and asking for help, not how much you can show off your talent.
I wasn’t trying to put the lad down, the best way to learn is to get the feel of the vehicle and teach yourself. If he is that nervous he should try and get to a large area where he will be undisturbed and not feel watched, then practice alone. My whole point was that nobody can learn to reverse a truck by reading anyones advice … I wish him all the luck in the world 
chester:
.Would Pat sit and watch somebody struggle for an hour to get on a bay?
I would and often do just that because as I said … ‘It’s hard enough trying to watch what the trailer is doing without having to watch somebody waving their arms about’ It doesn’t matter how long it takes or how many shunts he does so long as he eventually gets where he wants and is satistfied.
One thing I would never do is critisize or mock anyone trying to get it right, I encourage every driver who has problems to keep trying. If you could just see the spots drivers have to get into at Dominos when it’s busy you would understand why what I am saying is right.
Hi mate. I think the key to this is when you said i still tell myself left to right.
It sounds like your over thinking. As someone else said feel is the best option go with what feels right. The tip about the trailer wheels again is spot on but remember when you turn the wheel it may not react immiediatly.
Keep the speed down as well. The faster the truck goes the faster the steering has to be.
And lastly when straightning up look in your mirrors. if you can see more trailer in the right mirror than left turn to the right mirror and she will straighten
if it helps i once took 19 shunts when i first started when i was the only one in the yard
Good luck mate
chester:
lilysgranpa:
We sat and watched a bloke take over an hour to put a trailer on a bay the other weekIt took you all, over an hour to realise between you all, that a fellow driver may be having difficulty backing on a a bay!!!
Which equates to:
We watched a driver struggle for over an hour
Clap clap high five well done you!!!
We tried, told him pull straight up there etc, he either didnt understand us or ignored us completely. And not allowed to drive his wagon, different company, H & S 
Can only help someone if they want to be helped.
Remember. You don’t get a prize for getting it on in one go and you’d look more of a ■■■■ damaging the trailer than taking 100 shunts.
Carry on as you are and you’ll get better over time
Slowly slowly catchy Monkey !
Give yourself as much room as possible.
Small movements on the steering wheel.
Good way of practicing is to try straight reversing for a distance, i.e. 200-300 yards or even half a mile, one hand on the front of the steering wheel & (as the song goes) ‘Wiggle it, just a little bit’ as the trailer starts to go one way, turn the wheel the other way (But only quarter turn or less) Try that a few times without it trying to jacknife & you will get the feel of the trailer & should be able to put it anywhere. We used to reverse for a distance on landfill sites, foot flat on the floor & back as far as you can get, or until you get buried in the rubbish, even when you got back that far, they still used to pull you back further with a machine (you couldn’t spin round near the tip face because you would get buried in the muck as it came round, especially in the winter)
It will take a while to get used to the way the back end reacts. I’ve drove class 2s for years & now class 1s. They put me in the yard shunting a few weeks ago & I was useless trying to reverse the first few rigids, because I was used to starting the reverse on the opposite lock, then when I got back into mine, the first time I reversed it I had my rigid head on 
(wrong way again 
)
I agree with Pat Hasler above, hard though it is you have to learn your own way of doing it, it cannot be taught as such.
As Dar above commented, the usual autos (especially ZF boxed with the on/off switch clutch engagement) don’t help with smooth controlled reversing, you can’t beat a manual or a proper torque converter auto as fitted to Tugs.
I agree with keeping an eye on someones blind spot so they can’t actually do any damage but as for learning their way they have to do that themselves.
There is no right and wrong way, i open the cab door and lean out to reverse in on my own side, i have done this for years, you get a much better view plus if you keep the window closed you benefit from reflected sounds from the rear, that works for me but it might not suit others.
Only one place has ever commented and told me i can’t open the door and lean out and that was at Comet Skelmsersdale where some bod came out and told me it was against there H&S rules seeing as the R Send and sides of their double deckers were nearly all battered to buggery i have a feeling their way wasn’t best but what do i know.
As for advice about reversing…the only advice is practice every day several times, but choose your practice manoeuvers where there is no danger of damage…select a bay or maybe a MSA ■■■■■■■■■■■■ which is marked out but no one else parked beside or behind…then reverse all ways into that bay, including blind siding it.
If you do this every time you stop or park up then it will soon come together for when you need it.
Driving into easy in/out bays as most SWA’s do at MSA’s teaches you nothing.
luv26t:
Hi Guys
Finally I am driving a proper truck - 4 days so far
…. I feel like a proper trucker rather than driving my old 26t
.
Well done… but don’t let it go to your head. A “proper trucker” IMO is one who can jump into anything from a puiddle-jumper to an STGO low-loader and drive it without any fuss.
One of these days you’ll have to go back to a rigid after some years of driving artics… and you’ll STILL need 10 minutes to get on a bay! 
Earning the right to drive an artic is only the first step…
Pat is correct nobody can helo you it just takes practice and then one day it just clicks. The one thing to remember though is when on your own with nobody around you will easily blindside it in to the hardest gap possible, however when you are in a nice big yard with the easiest of reverses to do and lots of people around well forget it, it will take forever. 
chap as others have said it will get better with time, even after years of driving I have to do a blindside shunt everyday into a shed then a 90 degree turn once inside and there are days when it just won’t go right and I have to take 10 shunts and that’s normally when there are 10 kerbside drivers and the loaders watching me. the trouble is the more you panic the worse it gets. try not to worry and relax and things are a lot easier.
one place I hate to go and I have to on monday is idea waste just off of the M20 if anyone has ever been there recently their yard is a real challenge now its completely full with waste bales, its like doing one of those maze puzzles but with and artic backwards
luv26t:
‘…MY REVERSING Needs work…’
Mine too.
I’ll probably duplicate lots of what’s already here, but:
1 Take as much length/distance in front in order to help see your aiming place behind whenever possible
2 If it defo starts to go Pete Tong - go forward again rather than hope for the unlikely
3 Maintain awareness of when your steering wheel is central and return to it often and ASAP during each shunt - rather than furiously billy-whizzing between left and right
4 When going backwards try muttering ‘left to go right’ & ‘right to go left’ & be prepared to hold it - because it’s often staying there which gets you there
5 Watch the ■■■■ end when positioning, spot the ‘goal-posts’ of aim and remember that swan-necking is a Godsend
6 Stay hydrated - but not on caffeine
7 When drawing off a bay, glance back to sense the relative angles/wheel-position in order to replicate them for a similar reverse
8 Be humble enough to tell the clerk about destination places that are absolutely dreaded. You’ll possibly be ridiculed but hey, it’s been shared & it might cover you 
9 Turn the radio off
You’ll be reet
Like others before me have said, there are many things you can learn on TNUK but reversing isn’t one of them.
Definitely take your time though and just concentrate on what you’re doing.
You’re not going to correct a reverse that’s going wrong by reversing even more, just take the shunt you need, not the shunt you think you ought to take.
Put out of your mind what the fat knackers watching from the waiting room think or the shouting dockies on the ferry. The opinion of a cretin who will happily watch you struggle counts for naught.
It’ll all click one day and you’ll wonder why you we’re bothered, till then, good luck
W
Try backing two trailers, that sorts people out
10-08:
Remember. You don’t get a prize for getting it on in one go and you’d look more of a ■■■■ damaging the trailer than taking 100 shunts.
Carry on as you are and you’ll get better over time
Best advice so far. I learn’t trailer craft when I was just a lad working on a farm, it was harvest time so I got to drive tractors pulling 4 wheel draw-bar trailers carrying straw bales, come evening one wag said to me ‘I suppose you must call your self a tractor driver now?’ , ‘Yes’, said I, well reverse that trailer into the barn and we’ll call it a night, ha ha, that took over an hour and much amusement was had by all except of course for me 
Radio off
Windows open (that way if someone shouts whoa - the worst that can happen is a red face)
Take your time
Dont be afraid of jumping out and checking
Ignore watching drivers.
Dont be afraid to go forward and take another bite.
Reward yourself on a good one.
Experience is everything. the more you overthink it the harder it is. I always think in the beginning it was easier to hang head out window and watch what the steering movements did to the trailer. its more obvious than thorough mirrors
Best piece of advise I was given is this , you hav’nt cocked up till you hit something, take your time it will come
optidrive:
Best piece of advise I was given is this , you hav’nt cocked up till you hit something,
Best bit of advice I was given by my dad was ‘If you drive far enough you’ll drive into something’ along with pointing out that there was a big difference between accidents and abuse.
I was told by Lee G of this site to avoid it, steer towards it…
DAF95XF:
I was told by Lee G of this site to avoid it, steer towards it…
If you’d met Lee G, you’d know he uses this philosophy when going forwards too 