The Call came in!

[jennie]

Well fri night got the call can I go into nightfreight they need class 1 driver two pick ups then onto hub in Willenhall trailer swap then back ! So off I go nervous , excited and stomach churching like a good un !!
Start checking out my unit and a driver just going home shouts across the yard laughing nice to see someone doing theyre checks , chatting to him and asked could you just stick around until hooked up as first time and down wanna ■■■■ up and im ■■■■■■■■ myself , so after finding trailer was hooked up and ready to go happy days !!

realise that forgotten my charging lead to my phone ring hubby can you meet on main rd and bring said lead and as was pulling away took this video

So Im away first pick up is Cirencester so A34 M4 A419 and find place first time result

Here she is

and look what was right in front of my lorry

loading up

curtain pulled and secured and on my way to next pick up in Fairford , and found the road I needed after going through some tricky village roads with cars parked and only room for one veh along some of the road bearing in mind its dark now so heart in my mouth as negotiating through very pleased with myself and feeling good but cant find said address on road so ring office and after waiting for him to find someone that knew where it was find it , but the place is pitch black and no one around a gate just before is open and turn in but isnt the place I want and have to turn around in the dark and after realising that cant reverse as cant see a dickie bird decide to use c/p to turn around , so I thought susies where gonna pop off as did the turn nut inched back a few yards and made the turn out and back on the road rang office and they said head up to hub dont worry about that one so im off again up to willenhall to the hub .

So get to hub the guy at gate looks at me and says first time here , too which I reply first time out in artic completly please be nice to me and he tells me what to do which bay and if I have any problems reversing on that one of the shunters will probably put it on for me , i decide thats not gonna happen im doing this myself so find said bay and start my reverse with one of the shunters watching my back , took my time about it , and needed about 3 shunts but got there , so raise the suspension so can level up with bay and proceed to uncouple :::
now I dont know wether it beacuse unit raised but i could not reach the pin literally could not reach had to stand on wheel hub and lie across mud guard to unclip it lol , so eventually uncouple and dont know how I managed it but im covered in fifth wheel grease oh joy thats stuff gets everywhere and im filthy ive never known anything so hard to clean off , even now as I sit here typing ive still got what looks like bruising up my arms and believe me ive scrubbed till im red raw

So now to find trailer im taking back , driving round and round cant find the trailer I want and then after another driver takes pity on me realise that im looking for number 36 which is hub no not 344 which is my trailer number so after another round of yard find my trailer , check it over and proceed to hook up , they must leave trailers high on legs as had to raise my susp again to engage as if had of just backed under would have missed it all together so pin in clip on and legs up susies all put on before release the trailer brake get a feeling of dread that havent done everything properly so ask one of the guys can u just check Ive done everything as paranoid somat going to go crash so he ask did you do tug test ? yep did that well just pull forward to check so climb in and pull forward trailer follows me look at him that shouldnt of happened he checks brake and apparantly trailer brake not on , now I didnt actually touch brake when checked trailer just looked at it and in the half light looked on to me so carried on I appologised and said sorry that should of checked it properly very embarrassed too what a rookie mistake he said its okay the guy that dropped it should of applied brake and did not tell me off at all , but a lesson learned there lucky it was flat ground or that trailer could of gone anywhere when i back up to it , but everything okay and left yard kicking myself but vowing never to make that mistake again

So then nice drive back bit of a diversion as M6 juncs closed but got back on then m42 m40 a34 and home pull into yard and back onto bay couple of shunts but im there , then supervisor says you in the middle of two bays you need to be against here ! what I had done is looked at supports for building and thought they where the bays with it being dark could not see faint yellow lines on floor lol so pull back out and then attempt the reverse again trying to line up with yellow lines , well i must of tried umpteen times and the trailer would go all over the place but where I wanted it to be , shunter was trying to help but i croaked and in the end the other guy had to put it on for me and that ruined the whole thing for me im still beating myself up now , I dont know wether they will ask me back after that as it didnt look good I assure you , but got the run done if not longer than normal guys and the lorry was still in one piece and loads delivered and trailer brought back with no other issues as my husband said you did well but I feel Ive let myself down and all to do with that last reverse , beacuse did it in front of all the lads watching me so will probably think not again with her so think im gonna have to practice more or just stick to ridgids if I cant even get on a bay .

Watch this space

jenx

[djw]

Jennie - you completed the duties assigned to you apart from struggling with that last reverse in a completely unfamiliar lorry with minimal artic experience (your initial CE attempt on an artic was something of a miserable experience, and you passed CE on Peter’s wagon and drag). You broke nothing, nobody and nothing was hurt (other than your appearance with the fifth wheel grease), your coupling and uncoupling went well apart from that trailer brake (you won’t the mistake of not checking again, nobody got hurt and the primary fault was with whoever dropped the trailer off).

Most importantly your attitude was to do your best and to seek advice at every opportunity - just what I would have thought an employer would want.

We all want to do our best at everything. I’ve got a law exam tomorrow where my revision has been badly affected by illness - I’ve just got to go ahead where I am (back to revision in a moment). Whilst it may be that I could do better in ideal circumstances, it’s a case of doing the best I can with the situation I am in. That is exactly what you did on your shift.

You did a really good job and I am sure the reversing will come with practice. Maybe you could ask the TM for some chance to practice in the yard at suitable opportunities.

Well done!

[dar1976]

As DJW says you did everything asked of you and did it without damage to person or property.

Don’t worry about making newbie mistakes. Practice will make you perfect

Let’s hope they see through the misjudgements and give you another go at it cos it sounds like you actually enjoyed the experience.

Great news you are getting out there x

[madguy]

Hey Jen.

I used to be on the coaches and the most important thing to remember there is if your not sure ask.

From what you have said you did that, you did a great run, you were on time, you got the job done, there was no damage, and most importantly there were no silly injuries or major ones.

Ive seen and done myself some very stupid mistake on the coaches that you would expect from a 17 year old but you know what, Its all experience.

If the only thing you are worrying about is the last reverse onto a bay you need a good kick up the pants, you did a great job, be proud of your self and stop beating yourself up over nothing, believe me they will have had some complete idiots in there over the past few years, you will be remembered, not for the reversing but for getting the job done on time and getting the truck back with no damage.

Keep it up.

Madguy

[paul_pstt]

Jennie. You made a simple schoolboy (schoolgirl?) error cos you didn’t really know where you were aiming for. That being the case, what’s the chances of it ending up in the right place?

As for not checking the trailer park brake, your pennance is to deliver home-made cookies at your earliest convenience!!

Stop beating yourself up and get on with it!

Pete

[richvanho]

Jennie:
think im gonna have to practice more or just stick to ridgids

why in God’s name would you do that, I really enjoyed reading your entry but no way was that written by a cat C driver. You have obviously forgotten how much you have learned cos it was like a whole other bloody language to me! The whole message scared the life out of me as I realised just how mush I will have to learn to move up to C+E, reversing is just the tip of the iceberg. Anyway you had already done lots of reverses on that job before you got to the end and they went O.K. keep at it Jen, you are an inspiration to us newbies and you wouldn’t be if you got it perfect all the time. Then you would be just a pain in the arse!

Rich

[welder]

I’m with Rich, might as well have written some of that in Greek for me

Brilliant read and well done, when you could you asked, plenty would not.

[sam_millar]

Jen don’t put yourself down, just remember half of the reversing work is done if you can get your trailer point where you want it to go, BEFORE you start your reverse. Use ALL of the room you need and don’t be shy to do so.

Hope you get another shot, good luck!

[kittykat]

Sam Millar:
Jen don’t put yourself down, just remember half of the reversing work is done if you can get your trailer point where you want it to go, BEFORE you start your reverse. Use ALL of the room you need and don’t be shy to do so.

Hope you get another shot, good luck!

+1 to what Sam says. Well done on getting that artic break and hope you get a lot more work from it.

[wdf76]

you did a proper job… it’s early days for us all… out and home safe and no damage. you couldn’t wish for more.

here’s to your next job

[animal]

djw:
Jennie - you completed the duties assigned to you apart from struggling with that last reverse in a completely unfamiliar lorry with minimal artic experience (your initial CE attempt on an artic was something of a miserable experience, and you passed CE on Peter’s wagon and drag). You broke nothing, nobody and nothing was hurt (other than your appearance with the fifth wheel grease), your coupling and uncoupling went well apart from that trailer brake (you won’t the mistake of not checking again, nobody got hurt and the primary fault was with whoever dropped the trailer off).

Most importantly your attitude was to do your best and to seek advice at every opportunity - just what I would have thought an employer would want.

We all want to do our best at everything. I’ve got a law exam tomorrow where my revision has been badly affected by illness - I’ve just got to go ahead where I am (back to revision in a moment). Whilst it may be that I could do better in ideal circumstances, it’s a case of doing the best I can with the situation I am in. That is exactly what you did on your shift.

You did a really good job and I am sure the reversing will come with practice. Maybe you could ask the TM for some chance to practice in the yard at suitable opportunities.

Well done!

This

Stop beating yourself up will you sorry to say but your not perfect but then tell me who is I have seen very experienced guys mess up a reverse it is easy done now get back out there in that artic & stop worrying about everything

[idriver]

Jennie,

The only bad mistakes you made on this run are the ones you didn’t learn from.

No matter what the task, I would sooner work with someone that has the right attitude and makes a few expected errors than some of the arrogant smart asses who of course never make a mistake…

Mark

[mcc46]

wdf76:
you did a proper job… it’s early days for us all… out and home safe and no damage. you couldn’t wish for more.

here’s to your next job

Jen, you go girl…

Its down to practice, is it not.

Keep the faith Jen.

[mullens]

Great post, as said your an inspiration to us newbies. Your beating yourself up a little bit i think, it will all come together in time!

[peak_46]

Jenn

I’m a newbie too and every run I do is another part of the learning curve. When I get bck to the yard and I have not bashed anything, killed anyone or held up an RDC yard because of takng an extra shunt I’m happy. Believe me it will start to fall into place quicker than you think and when it does all the little bits that are easier each time feel great. Do not beat yourself up over anything you did, we are all newbies for a reason and learning is all part of the process. If anything I think you should be happy that your attitude is one to ask for help and not believe you know best!!

[jennie]

Thanks peeps

Knew i could count on you lot to make me see sense , I did love it , just managed to make my mistake in front of people watching and thats what got to me , I do tend to worry too much about making a good impression and beat myself up over things that go wrong , just that I thought that maybe they would not try me again after watching me struggle at the end of the night and it was playing on my mind , you have all said the same as hubby , didnt hurt anyone didnt damage anything and the job was completed

For anyone about to go on theyre first run , dont expect it to be perfect just do your best thats all you can do , if anyone remembers my very first class 2 job diary I ended up out of fuel (with no fuel card , no money!) and what should of been a 6hr job turned out to be nearer 13 hrs lol and that job was for DBC and as you lot know I worked for them most of the time until they went belly up (that wasnt my fault by the way )

Thank q all for making me feel better about this and a little tip ,
fifth wheel grease comes off when you have cleaned the house from top to bottom my hands are now clean again , flash worked wonders

A happier jenx

[saratoga]

Congrats J If you are working nights might be best to get a bashable torch

[bigdave789]

Took me two days to get over my first C+E job, never having driven a rigid other than gaining my class C.
I had to call into the services and be physically sick I was that nervous, talk about a steep learning curve, fortunately I was driving a very tidy Merc Actros with the excellent auto transmission and being a Friday night trunk, the traffic was light.
When I finally finished the job I drove home in the car feeling numb but like yourself, I delivered the goods on time and in good condition, the vehicle still had all it’s paint and nobody was hurt and that’s all that matters.
I have to say gaining the Class C+E Licence was possibly the most difficult thing I have ever done, I was close to walking away from it a couple of times but I’m glad I stuck it out because when you get it right (and you will) it’s a brilliant feeling.

[shropsbri]

Flash!..Good lord girl get some swarfega but dont wet your hands until you’ve rubbed it well in.
A touch of diesel on a rag dipped in the top of your tank will move that grease better than anything although I wouldn’t make a habit of it as it buggers up some peoples skin.

Oh,and well done on a damage free job which is the top priority.

Gonna see if I can find you a song…

[dar1976]

ShropsBri:
Flash!..Good lord girl get some swarfega but dont wet your hands until you’ve rubbed it well in.
A touch of diesel on a rag dipped in the top of your tank will move that grease better than anything although I wouldn’t make a habit of it as it buggers up some peoples skin.

Oh,and well done on a damage free job which is the top priority.

Gonna see if I can find you a song…

I really need to sleep. I read that last word as ‘snog’ lol