i was watching an old boy make a right mess of reversing onto a bay today it made me feel proud of my feeble atempts. the way i see it is it doesn’t mattter how many shunts i take and so long as i don’t hit anything then its a successful maneouvre.
Use all the space available and try to get as straight as you can before you start to go backwards.
Rather than thinking about it as a reversing manoevre, try to think about it as though you are pushing the trailer backwards. Works for me even though it doesn’t make any sense !!!
Alreet fella. As you can see from the majority of posts on this forum we all admit we’ve been there once. One thing that I do is ‘aim for the paint’ whilst backing onto a bay if you know what I mean.
It says ERF not RAF:
‘…Use all the space available and try to get as straight as you can before you start to go backwards…’
I dunno about that one, erfers, but maybe daffers should ask around and get the hang of ‘swan-necking’ from a friendly face - especially since it’s a tuppenny knack to grasp in order to get parallel/straightening-up in a roadside slot, etc (as well as when reversing, where it’s a ‘must-learn’) without taking a 100 yard run-in.
My reversing woes fell into place when an ol’ lad whispered it to me.
Happy Keith:
It says ERF not RAF:
‘…Use all the space available and try to get as straight as you can before you start to go backwards…’I dunno about that one, erfers, but maybe daffers should ask around and get the hang of ‘swan-necking’ from a friendly face - especially since it’s a tuppenny knack to grasp in order to get parallel/straightening-up in a roadside slot, etc (as well as when reversing, where it’s a ‘must-learn’) without taking a 100 yard run-in.
My reversing woes fell into place when an ol’ lad whispered it to me.
EH?
is that where you swing the unit out slightly then bring it back sharpish so it whips the trailer straight again?
Davnic:
I’ll pass on the advice that was given to me when i started,it’s saved my blushes plenty of times.
When you are preparing to reverse into a bay,gateway,sideroad etc.,always make sure that when you bring the vehicle to a stop(going forward),the rear of the trailer is already pointing the way you want it to go when you start your reverse.
Imagine you’re driving along with a row of bays on your right hand side.
Steer the unit toward the space your going to reverse into,then steer back out as you pass the space(using all the room available),then as the rear of the trailer passes the space,steer the unit the other way again so the unit and trailer are at an angle of between 30 and 45 degrees.You should be left with the rear of the trailer facing the gap you want to reverse into.
This saves you a lot of steering wheel turning and reduces the amount of space you need.
Don’t know if i’ve explained myself very well,hope you understand what i mean.
Good luck.
I call that ‘getting my line right’ Sometimes it’s handy, other times on a tighter reverse, it’s essential.
Most of my stupid mistakes (and I have made a few) are when I’ve either
(a) Not got out to have a look, at a hazard I normally kick myself about when I find I was closer than I imagined
(b) not putting that extra shunt in, when I know I should.
Tips would be
Look look and look again, as you’re driving onto the site, and if in doubt get out and have a closer look
On blind side reverses, if you 'lose your trailer and you want to be lazy, ease forward on opposite lock, till you can see it again, if everything’s ok, go back on the same lock, if not correct it.
DAF95XF:
OK so today was only my second run out on my own in an artic but I still cant get my head round the fact that to reverse an artic you have to turn the steering wheel the opposite way to where you want the trailer to go
Well,i had a Dream.
It was a run with a Trainer Driver of an American Company.As we were heavy pulled we to a small Road to go around the Check Point.The Road went after few Miles smalling down to a Way,and a few Miles later were a few Timber over a Creek as,some Kind of bridge,which meaned reversing all the many Miles.
were good for learning how to reverse
When I get the oppurtunity I make things more difficult that they need to be so I get practise, IE - Blind Siding when I could do it easily good side 
Always makes me feel good when I’ve manouvered through some super-tight place with cm’s either side of the truck and I get out and think “how the f did I do that” 
Two best bits of advice i got were
- Say your waiting on going onto a bay to get unloaded, watch the starting position of the other drivers, well the ones that don’t make a mess of it. A large amount of newer drivers get the inital position wrong, guess its the panic sets in and they are concentrating on the reverse so much not that actual starting position. Once i started thinking about my starting position things became a lot easier. Somtimes what you think its the best easiest way isn’t.
Like reversing in between two tightly parked trailers, a lot of the time there isnt a huge amount of room at the front, but a lot of guys try to drive in, near the front of the trailers swing out, and thinking they can get it straightish and can get back easilly but forget, that you can not manuover between the trailers there isnt enough room, so from the start the rear of your trailer is near the front of the trailers and because of the way they have started they have very little room to manouver at the rear, and end up either smashing into a parked trailer or spend hours going back and forth because they have no room. Where in fact its a lot easier to drive up at a T to the trailers furtherest away as possible, then turn it in fast, sounds harder but gives you a lot more room to play with, and suddenly its a lot easier.
My point is look to see what others are doing because they will be doing it the easiest way, even if it looks a harder way. This is not good advice though where shunters are involved, tugs are easier to reverese and these guys do it day in day out same trailers, same bays.
- The best bit of advice i was given was, lots of small movements rather than one large movement. A lot of new drivers, think they are driving cars or class 2’s and make large movements with the steering wheel, and the trailer goes away from them, then they do another large movement to get it back. Practise with it, add a touch to the steering and watch how fast it starts to turn in with just a tony movement, then add another tiny movement to adjust it. Most of the time this is all you need. Practise tiny movements and watch how much more control you suddenly have.
Giblsa:
‘…EH? … is that where you swing the unit out slightly then bring it back sharpish so it whips the trailer straight again?..’
Yep
Happy Keith:
Giblsa:
‘…EH? … is that where you swing the unit out slightly then bring it back sharpish so it whips the trailer straight again?..’Yep
bloody hell i know something woohooo
You need to change your occupation on here me old mucker
If I’m new to a site I go look around first, and as was said; I watch the other drivers if the chance is there. Something will always come up to make you think - I had a single axle trailer the other week, had never pulled one as I’m usually on tri’s. Went to back onto a bay and the bloody thing seemed to have a mind of its own 
Took a few shunts and the guy next to me just said ‘obviously been a while since you did singles’
Semtex:
DAF95XF:
Trouble is though my depot isnt open yet, though its just started to be fitted out today, and the depot Im running out of at the moment Im the nominated driver to drive the hire car back each night with a lot of warehouse staff and 6 drivers and they scream at me if Im 5 minutes late backA lot of warehouse staff and 6 drivers…you still can’t get away from buses can you?..lol
and the “post of the day” award goes to…
Harry Kyng:
If I’m new to a site I go look around first, and as was said; I watch the other drivers if the chance is there. Something will always come up to make you think - I had a single axle trailer the other week, had never pulled one as I’m usually on tri’s. Went to back onto a bay and the bloody thing seemed to have a mind of its own
Yeah them wee urban trailers they use in some supermarkets, single axle 25ft (i think). They are fun to reverse need a really soft touch with them, otherwise they go away from you really quick.
They are good to use though because helps with your reversing and going back onto a normal tri-axle full length trailer seems really easy. Once you get used to them they are great amazing the really tight places you can squeeze one of them urban trailers in.
Just gotta watch dropping them, they like to fall to their knee’s when they have a load on, some places Somerfields wouldnt let you drop them on a bay, had to leave the unit attached.
I think that my reversing improving a little today 
I managed to reverse in a yard today to turn around with a little assistance from my codriver (many shunts as there were stillage cages all around) and 4 shunts to park the trailer when I got back!!!
Im still getting a little confused as to which way to turn the steering wheel sometimes, but definitely using little and often…
DAF95XF:
I think that my reversing improving a little today
I managed to reverse in a yard today to turn around with a little assistance from my codriver (many shunts as there were stillage cages all around) and 4 shunts to park the trailer when I got back!!!
Im still getting a little confused as to which way to turn the steering wheel sometimes, but definitely using little and often…
I know exactly how you feel with the reversing, I have been learning this last week, I was plunged in at the deepend, straight into London work and onto tight bays (Makro) And then into those little ind. estates where everybody parks everywhere and large trucks never venture into…Multi drop in an artic!
Today I had to reverse out into a main road in Crawley…Pressure was on, parked cars etc.
Does anybody else sweat like a pig on his last day when doing this■■? Reversing makes me sweat, not like it is a physical thing to do is it?? Must be a ‘pressure’ thing I suppose. 
Slowly getting used to it though…Another 20 years and I reckon I will have it cracked
i usually keep the same trailer on all the time, so the odd time i have to drop it when i go to get it again, or another one, im sure anyone watching is thinking, what the fudge is this lad trying to do, hes going the wrong bloody way! should be interesting when i go onto B-doubles, its the opposite way again to reverse them!
another thing ive found is that when you turn up at that pig of a delivery and you shoot it in in one hit, do a somersault out of the truck and land on your feet and look around for any spectators, some tumbleweed drifts across the yard.
but when you there at morning tea when all the warehouse staff are out there smoking, good luck mate, guaranteed to make a ■■■■ of it!
thats murphys law
beattun:
i usually keep the same trailer on all the time, so the odd time i have to drop it when i go to get it again, or another one, im sure anyone watching is thinking, what the fudge is this lad trying to do, hes going the wrong bloody way! should be interesting when i go onto B-doubles, its the opposite way again to reverse them!another thing ive found is that when you turn up at that pig of a delivery and you shoot it in in one hit, do a somersault out of the truck and land on your feet and look around for any spectators, some tumbleweed drifts across the yard.
but when you there at morning tea when all the warehouse staff are out there smoking, good luck mate, guaranteed to make a ■■■■ of it!
thats murphys law
Like today - I came back with an empty trailer and took 3 shunts to get into the trailer park (would have been 2 but I was playing safe) and there was nobody around from my depot to see it