Hey Guys,
Been a while since I have been on here posting, but I start my C+E training tomorrow with Stockport LGV.
Anybody got any pointers or advice?
Rob
Hi Rob. I believe you’ve picked a decent trainer so that’s a good start! My advice would be to listen intently to what your instructor says. BUT if anything doesn’t make 100% sense, shout up. All LGV courses are relatively short so you cant afford to waste time on misunderstanding. The silly question is the one you don’t ask.
That forms part of my introduction to anyone I train, and it works.
Training diaries are always welcome on here - if you’ve got the time/inclination.
Hope you enjoy your training and get the pass straight away. Pete 
Hope you enjoyed your first day mate
I only did mine last month. I think as long as you feel happy with the truck and trainer you should do well
Evaluate yourself daily and expect a bad day or even two but don’t worry we seem to pull out the stops on test day
You will get days where it all goes well and days where it goes wrong but do not beat yourself up and get angry.It took me three times to pass class one.Nerves.Boots sell Kalms a natural remedy.Early nights and no tv late at night.A malted drink like Horlicks aids sleep.My driving instructor taught me to pretend i have livestock in the trailer and harsh braking will make them fall over.
Good Luck with the C+E training Rob! Try to enjoy it…it will make things easier.
best of luck with your training mate.
Hey Guys,
Sorry it has taken me so long to post, been a hectic week!
Good news is I passed! With 3 minors, which I was really happy about! Diary below…
First Day, 10AM Start:
Meet my instructor, guy named Graham, really nice guy. Start by him driving for about 10 minutes, just for me to be able to pick up rough positioning and approach techniques then its a stop and me into the drivers seat!
Thankfully the tractor unit was basically the same as the one I used in my Class C so the gears (4 over 4) were exactly the same which meant I didn’t have any problems with the gears which was a worry off my head. Start ok, really hesitant on speed as it was quite busy and a lot of the roads we were going down were double parked (add in some busses to the equation) makes it quite fun! But quickly pick up the road positioning. Then onto some corners…
Quite daunting being told to keep driving forward and then swing left quickly to avoid curbs, surprisingly I didn’t go over any, just rubbed them but still would rather not be near them at all! The instructor picked up that I could be taking the corners a little bit slower, not because it was too fast as in dangerous, but just to give me some more time and not having to chase my tail a little bit and make things a bit easier.
This brought us to lunch and the standard bacon buttie for lunch. Was nice to have 20 mins off and just take a few breaths, can easily get a bit worked up.
The afternoon carries on with similar driving work, just driving round roads and getting used to the test roads again, few tight corners but nothing too bad (Stockport is quite a good area really).
Get back in the yard about 15:00 which gives us an hour to practice some reverses, set up the area and manage to get it in the box first time, although not pretty at all. With a few more practices I managed to get it in the box without any shunts and difficult manoeuvres which was nice. So then went onto a few un-couple/re-couples (the BLACK synonym on here stuck in my mind and really helped me not forget anything!) once that was done it was the end of the day and back at 07:30 the next morning!
Second Day, 7:30AM Start:
We started the day in the reverse area as we wouldn’t be going back to the yard before the 14:00 test, reverses go well, some needed a single shunt but was quite happy generally and felt I would rather get more road experience, so do a few uncouple/re-couples and then onto the road!
Roads were still nice and quiet at this point which made life a bit easier, nothing untoward, a few tight squeezes which the instructor then said you shouldn’t try on your test and one set of traffic lights which I misjudged approach speed at and went red which caused a rather abrupt stop! Oh well life goes on…
Carry on driving for the rest of the morning and stop around 10AM for a brew and a biscuit. Was a welcome break as it had started to drizzle a bit in the morning and then with the sun made it quite greasy and on some of the hills was struggling to keep traction. The instructor recommended the use of the diff lock as if it happened in the test it would probably throw me a little and you want to keep it as calm as possible.
So after brew back onto the road and just driving really, instructor was happy with the way I was driving and I managed to get my approach speeds right, only one little incident with a 20MPH limit sign which was hidden and i went in at 25, he corrected me and pointed it out on another loop and I swear it wouldn’t stand up in court but not something I want to worry about on test so put that into my mind for later in the day!
13:00 comes around and lunch time, go through some of the show me tell me questions which I had already been looking up on here (thank you!) and it was just being told where the dip stick etc was. All sorted, lunch and onto the test centre!
Examiner comes out and introduces himself, nice guy called Dave and did a really good job and calming me down as he could tell I was quite nervous. We first do the reverse exercise after the show me tell me questions, reverse doesn’t quite go to plan and I can’t see the cone with the pole as I straighten up so take a single shunt forward to make my life easier, get it in the bay and notice that the little peg on the mudguard to make sure I’m in the box has gone missing! (I know a bit of a cheat!) so get out to make sure and then move back and I’m in the box, phew…
On to the uncouple and recouple, nothing untoward and it all goes smoothly so onto the road!
Thankfully I had been on all the roads before so was quite a smooth drive, although lots of the ‘Please pull over to the left when safe to do so’ think I counted 5, and got one minor for observation on one of the pull off’s but that was it. Get back to the test centre and get those lovely words to say I have passed! Such a buzz!
Now I wait for my licence to come back to be able to sign back up to my agency that I use!
Can’t thank the guys at Stockport LGV enough, they have got me through my C, C+E and my MOD 4 all first time and without any dramas, can’t recommend them highly enough!
Rob
Congrats on a great result 
Good result matie !!