I passed four years ago but have only been driving part-time or on and off so probably about two years full-time equivalent. However, I STILL can’t reverse a trailer. I thought it would take me a few months at most. It hasn’t helped that I’ve moved from the UK to a LHD country so that’s thrown me off somewhat but still… Last night I had to park between two trailers coming in at an angle and was totally lost. Another driver came over to help and more than once he was telling me I was turning the wheel the wrong way! I told him I’d only just passed in order to cope with the shame. Are there some people that just never get it? Or can it really take this long? I’m watching endless YouTube videos on backing up with a trailer but I still just can’t get it. I feel like whatever part of your brain helps you reverse a trailer is just missing in my head! I can drive forward absolutely fine. It’s just the reversing… I’m almost 50 with no career and the only other work I could get would be working in a factory which I really don’t want to do so I really want to make this work if I can…
wanderingstar:
Are there some people that just never get it?
I’m afraid so. I know drivers with 30+ years experience and they still can’t reverse to a decent standard. Sure, they can put the trailer where it needs to be, eventually and after some shunting but some people are natural at it and you can spot them a mile off.
Just remember, do as much of the hard work as possible going forward, it’s all about how you set yourself up.
Driving most of the time a lot of people have plenty trouble going forwards so not clicking doing things backwards nothing to be ashamed about.
Not even on my class 2 yet but as with most things where you struggle a lot, id imagine that you are stuck doing the same “wrong” things so maybe going to see a good trainer and get them to watch you and go from there to reboot the way you are doing things, been there for things in the past struggle like hell for ages then somebody points a minor thing out and…SORTED!
This Helped me learning the idea of how to do it all on Euro Truck Simulator (yes i know nothing like a real truck before anybody tries to burn me at the stake 
) all the left hand down, opposite lock this and that i struggled with but watching the wheels and driving the trailer in rather than reversing in made way more sence to me
I don’t suppose any bugger here would be much better suddenly going to LHD, i know from sitting in the passenger seat beside someone competent that everything about even a perfect maneuver just feels wrong.
All you can do is what any of us have to, and that’s to practice every day but preferably where no matter the balls up you make you arn’t going to do any damage.
As said, some take to it like a duck to water, a few are hopeless (generally those have little or no interest in the job), most get there by constant practice, no one was born brilliant at reversing bendy wagons.
I’m reasonable at it, and still practice a blind side by choice everey day at least once (blind siding especially needs constant honing), but if i change tractor unit or trailer type then you could well imagine i passed me test 10 minutes ago the hash i can make of things till i get used to it, and that’s after well over 40 years full time.
This applies whatver vehicle you are driving, spotlessly clean windows and mirrors, and mirrors set up to see what you are doing not set too high or giving you a clear view of the body work, neither of which are of any use, if you can’t see then you’ve already lost.
Listen, you are not the only one but in all honesty this should not happen. The problem is you are obviously not learning from your mistakes which is completely understandable.
There’s really only one way to sort this out and that is being taught properly and then practising over and over what you have been taught. My advice would be to go to a reputable training school and tell them your problem. You many need a few days training or better still one days training then go and practice (in the real world) then come back the next week for another day and so on till you grasp what you are being taught. Probably not practical but the best way.
You could get another driver to try and show you but unless they have the communication skills required to show someone how to reverse you are probably wasting your time. An awful lot of patience is required at times. I have seen drivers who are faultless at reversing but they haven’t a clue how to explain clearly to others the main points required.
Good luck.
jakethesnake:
Listen, you are not the only one but in all honesty this should not happen. The problem is you are obviously not learning from your mistakes which is completely understandable.
There’s really only one way to sort this out and that is being taught properly and then practising over and over what you have been taught. My advice would be to go to a reputable training school and tell them your problem. You many need a few days training or better still one days training then go and practice (in the real world) then come back the next week for another day and so on till you grasp what you are being taught. Probably not practical but the best way.
You could get another driver to try and show you but unless they have the communication skills required to show someone how to reverse you are probably wasting your time. An awful lot of patience is required at times. I have seen drivers who are faultless at reversing but they haven’t a clue how to explain clearly to others the main points required.
A driving god like you snake why don’t you teach him with all of your vast experience
Hmm that would be interesting as I suspect the only thing you can operate is a keyboard
Good luck.
Thanks very much for all the feedback and encouragement and realism. This is the first time I’ve realised I’ve never actually been trained to reverse into a bay. For the training for the test it was the gentle S shape reverse then straight into real world. Juddian you are right about changing from RHD to LHD. That did knock me back severely. In England I was driving the same model truck and trailer each day and my reversing was continually improving bit by bit but I lost it all when I came to France and never got back to where I was before.
While in the UK I found a technique online somewhere that said something like drive parallel to the bays about six foot away, reverse slowly towards the gap, turn the wheel one and a half times once your rear middle axle is opposite the bay two forward from the one you’re aiming from, drive on that until the landing gear appears, take the one and a half off and guide it in. I remember the first time I tried it it was a total revelation - a eureka moment, and I got into using it. But now I’ve forgotten what the technique was and despite spending hours and hours trying to find it online again, I just can’t find it. I know it worked for me and I kind of worked it into my RHD reversing automatically but now I need to remember it consciously for LHD reversing I’m kicking myself for not writing it down or saving the page.
I’ve rung up my agency to ask for some training as they have a guy and they said I’m booked in for when he gets back off holiday. I did have a training session with him before and he got me to do a super tight reverse around a cone next to a barn in a field and I did it spot on each time. But soon as I got back into the real world I went to pot again.
Anyway, you’ve convinced me training is the answer, or at least worth trying before I conclude it’s a hopeless case. I remember when I did my advanced driving course for the car in the UK realising they were teaching me stuff I would never have worked out by myself. I think I should at least give the training a go before I throw the towel in! Thanks again for helping this penny to drop.
I’ve not been driving long… about 8 months on hgv.
Try and get the trailer set up as much as possible on the bay. Use ALL the available space going forward. Figure out which axle the trailer pivots on and watch it. Try to reduce your steering inputs as much as possible, I used to flail like a mad man…little inputs mean you can correct quicker.
It will come. Try and relax about it. If you’re convinced you’re gonna screw it up you will. Treat it as a game, just not one where you score points by bouncing off things…
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The way you leave a bay is exactly the same as you want to enter it, when you pull out of a tight bay loaded the chances are you’ll leave tyre tracks, get out and look at them, give you an idea of how to set yourself up to go back in, also nothing wrong with reversing back in whilst still set up, takes 1 minute and it’s a perfect reverse, do enough of these and you’ll have it cracked in no time.
All self practice is free, you don’t need to pay for training as such in my humble.
Look, I absolutely fluked my test as on practice I think I successfully reversed 2 out of 40 attempts, then in the real world when I needed to park up for 45 I’d try to find the easiest drive in spot at services, the one time at Hartshead I remember vividly as we all know it’s not the handiest of places to reverse , anyway I was out of choice and the confidence I got from doing it with one shunt and I’ve never looked back…
S’pose what I’m saying is stick with it, don’t try and pick the easy option as you aint never learning that way.
Also, as hopeless as I was and many still are, I never hit anything or anyone- bashed my pride about a fair bit, but when home every night in one piece , truck an’all.
That’s all that matters when you eject ya card for the day.
By the sound of what you’re saying maybe reminding you that it’s the unit drive axle that actually steers the trailer not the steer axle might help and the trailer will take an ever tightening line without adding more lock so you have to actually remove lock to maintain a line.Nor add more when it’s started turning to tighten the line of the trailer.
It’s also possible to end up in the situation where the drive axle is never going have the space to change lock from one side to the other and point the right way regardless of what you do with the steer.So you have to drive out and start again.Or uncouple the trailer and re couple it at an angle with the unit facing in the opposite direction. 
Juddian:
The way you leave a bay is exactly the same as you want to enter it, when you pull out of a tight bay loaded the chances are you’ll leave tyre tracks, get out and look at them, give you an idea of how to set yourself up to go back in, also nothing wrong with reversing back in whilst still set up, takes 1 minute and it’s a perfect reverse, do enough of these and you’ll have it cracked in no time.All self practice is free, you don’t need to pay for training as such in my humble.
I don’t know why you say that Juddian. Anyone that is struggling after that length of time clearly needs more than practice. He has been practicing all this time and still not learnt from his mistakes or gained confidence.
You would be surprised how much difference with a decent trainer a couple of hours can make. I also admire the guy for admitting he needs some training. A lot simply refuse to get help and we can see the results in front of our eyes most days.
A lot of smoke being blown up your arris here OP 
As long as you don’t hurt anyone or damage anything, it doesn’t really matter how good you are I suppose, but reversing an artic is really easy. As much as it pains me, Jake has a point.
You really should be better given the experience you have gained at this point. Not something to lose any sleep over though pal, it’s only lorry steering 
If you continue to not improve or do actually damage anything, give me a shout- green shirt city awaits…
jakethesnake:
Juddian:
The way you leave a bay is exactly the same as you want to enter it, when you pull out of a tight bay loaded the chances are you’ll leave tyre tracks, get out and look at them, give you an idea of how to set yourself up to go back in, also nothing wrong with reversing back in whilst still set up, takes 1 minute and it’s a perfect reverse, do enough of these and you’ll have it cracked in no time.All self practice is free, you don’t need to pay for training as such in my humble.
I don’t know why you say that Juddian. Anyone that is struggling after that length of time clearly needs more than practice. He has been practicing all this time and still not learnt from his mistakes or gained confidence.
You would be surprised how much difference with a decent trainer a couple of hours can make. I also admire the guy for admitting he needs some training. A lot simply refuse to get help and we can see the results in front of our eyes most days.
Because the poor sod didn’t get to grips fully (part time maybe didn’t help) with RHD maneuvers, now he’s saddled with a bloody left ■■■■■■, can tell you now it would take me a long time to get to an acceptable standard with one and i’m a long time served jockey, nearly got issued a LHD car transporter a few years back when the company had a batch coming over, bloody glad that never came to pass, phew 
Most people don’t practice properly, you see them every day go for the easy parking drive in out spots at the services, when they could easily park further away and back into a marked space.
Also how many do you see with windows and mirrors caked in bloody muck so bad you can’t tell if there’s anyone behind the wheel…unless he’s sporting a bloody hivis in which case just watch out 
…they’ve already lost the maneuvering battle cos they can’t see clearly but lack the nous to realise.
Juddian ,Now i have a thought on this ,could it be a bit like snooker ,some people through no fault of their own are no good at angles ■■
norb:
Juddian ,Now i have a thought on this ,could it be a bit like snooker ,some people through no fault of their own are no good at angles ■■
That’s a good point Norb. Some folk are just not cut out for certain tasks in life.
I mentioned this to Mrs B once whilst eating the tea she had made. Poor timing to say the least, I got the remainder plopped on my bonce 
Wretched woman, don’t know why I keep her on.
Go on general haulage, you will soon learn 
The best technique i found when i had just passed was the ‘‘drive it in’’ method were you stick your head out of the window and look at the trailer wheel pivot point rather than looking at it in a mirror, and do just that…drive it in. Truck simulator can be handy in helping you to re wire your brain to turn the wheel in the right direction, but the actual reverse is better learned in the real world.
norb:
Juddian ,Now i have a thought on this ,could it be a bit like snooker ,some people through no fault of their own are no good at angles ■■
I had another thought Norb, is the OP finding M on his presumably automatic box, with ZF Arsetronic/Traxon, make sure to push the gearswitch over to the furthest point, with Scanias select the lowest gear then keep pressing the gearlever down un til you find Rm or similar come up on the dash, haven’t a blooody clue what you do with Volvos Ivecos (other than pray) or Mercs.
In M for maneuver mode the way the vehicle moves is restricted to help maneuvering as much as possible.
Also remember what we spoke about earlier re transfering the weight from the mid lift axle (if you have one on a typical left ■■■■■■) to the drive axle when loaded, and if the ground is slippery and/or you are reversing up an incline if the vehicle senses wheelspin it will cut power and apply the clutch, to stop this happening leading to multiple clutch destroying re-starts turn off TC or ASR, this will allow a wheel to spin without the vehicle cutting power or applying the clutch on you…i had exactly this scenario last week at my favourite drop, wet road blind side jack knife uphill into an even steeper gateway, don’t transfer the air or switch off TC/ASR and you ain’t getting in at all when its wet.
Juddian:
jakethesnake:
Juddian:
The way you leave a bay is exactly the same as you want to enter it, when you pull out of a tight bay loaded the chances are you’ll leave tyre tracks, get out and look at them, give you an idea of how to set yourself up to go back in, also nothing wrong with reversing back in whilst still set up, takes 1 minute and it’s a perfect reverse, do enough of these and you’ll have it cracked in no time.All self practice is free, you don’t need to pay for training as such in my humble.
I don’t know why you say that Juddian. Anyone that is struggling after that length of time clearly needs more than practice. He has been practicing all this time and still not learnt from his mistakes or gained confidence.
You would be surprised how much difference with a decent trainer a couple of hours can make. I also admire the guy for admitting he needs some training. A lot simply refuse to get help and we can see the results in front of our eyes most days.Because the poor sod didn’t get to grips fully (part time maybe didn’t help) with RHD maneuvers, now he’s saddled with a bloody left ■■■■■■, can tell you now it would take me a long time to get to an acceptable standard with one and i’m a long time served jockey, nearly got issued a LHD car transporter a few years back when the company had a batch coming over, bloody glad that never came to pass, phew
Most people don’t practice properly, you see them every day go for the easy parking drive in out spots at the services, when they could easily park further away and back into a marked space.
Also how many do you see with windows and mirrors caked in bloody muck so bad you can’t tell if there’s anyone behind the wheel…unless he’s sporting a bloody hivis in which case just watch out
The LHD obviously has not helped matters but the longish period before that should have been enough time to get some kind of confidence. You are quite correct that people do not practice properly probably because nobody has ever shown them the best methods.Unfortunately with drivers who struggle with reversing before test there is little time do any proper practice.
Some go on to fluke their test and we have problems like this. I still say a little training with a decent instructor could work wonders but we all have our own ideas.