Yesterday I managed to pass my Class C with much thanks for all the advice and tips that members put on this forum.
I’m now going to go on training for my C+E but not sure which route to go down. The instructor I’ve had for Class C has said that the easier way to gain C+E is by training on Wagon n Drag because I’ll be using the same vehicle with the same gear system, etc and the drag is easier to handle, and then do an half days refresher training on an arctic once I’ve got my pass.
This seems to me to be a bit of a ‘back door’ way of getting my C+E and I’m very concerned that the vast majority of jobs are for artics which I wont then have the experience of driving, reversing or of the different gear systems.
Yesterday I managed to pass my Class C with much thanks for all the advice and tips that members put on this forum.
I’m now going to go on training for my C+E but not sure which route to go down. The instructor I’ve had for Class C has said that the easier way to gain C+E is by training on Wagon n Drag because I’ll be using the same vehicle with the same gear system, etc and the drag is easier to handle, and then do an half days refresher training on an arctic once I’ve got my pass.
This seems to me to be a bit of a ‘back door’ way of getting my C+E and I’m very concerned that the vast majority of jobs are for artics which I wont then have the experience of driving, reversing or of the different gear systems.
I’d appreciate any opinions and views on this.
cheers
Dave.
Sounds like you’ve answered your own question.
In my opinion never take the easy way out!
Same as me mate, that’s the back door way, get yourself trained on an artic then it’s sorted , same as me I passed cat c yesterday with an older truck with an 8 speed manual box, but the company I passed with also have a opticruise Scania and there’s a guy training today who keeps stalling it? I mean it’s opticruise for gods sake, you just pull away with the clutch and then it takes over lol!
Anyway I’d choose the artic over w+d any day, that’s the route I’m going down anyway.
i just passed mine i a artic coz its more than likely what im gonna be driving when i get a job. in my eyes best to look a ■■■ while learning than on your assessment drive and do yourself out of a job
I passed in a wag n drag I went down this route cos Peter Smythe was doing a good deal at his Mansfield branch so my reasons where purely financial. When it came to the real world I had two assements both with large companies and I explained that I had passed on a wag n drag and they where both very understanding and helpful. As it happens I was offered a job by both of them, the one company I went with sent a driver with me for the first few weeks and I learnt so much in that time. I guess I was lucky to have a foreward thinking company on my doorstep. The point I’m trying to make is I didn’t find it to difficult going from one to the other it’s hard enough to pass your test as it is so why not make it as easy as possible ie auto gearbox wag n drag. I promise when it comes to real world driving you will very quickly have to adapt to whatever your in.
Thanks everyone for your advice, I’ve gone with the majority of your opinions, and what my gut feeling was as well, and booked myself on a C+E course on an artic.
Seems like a wise decision. If you set the bar higher than needed and pass, you should be more comfortable with whatever life then throws at you. If you set it too low then you risk struggling later on, and struggling on the roads with a fully loaded artic is potentially dangerous to both you and others.
I did my C+E in a manual 8 speed artic, though I have always driven automatics since. That gives me the peace of mind of knowing I can handle a manual if required, but the easier life of not having to worry about gears while I gain experience with the rest of it.
I know it’s too late now, but I failed in an artic (a 55-plate 8-speed manual; this was in 2014) and then passed on a drawbar. I’d recommend taking the test in a drawbar vehicle and then take extra lessons in an artic. Make the test as easy as possible; ask for lessons afterwards on things like reversing at right-angles into a bay, which you may have to do a lot and is a lot more difficult than the contrived reversing exercise on the test.
It doesn’t matter which truck n trailer you train in, once you get your first job that’s when you will learn for real. Go with whichever you feel most comfortable with. wagon and drag or artic are both a work of art and anyone who can drive either professionally and safely is a highly skilled man or woman in my opinion. My advice is do your test in a lorry and drawbar, then your fist job will be in an artic and you’ve had the best of both worlds. Whichever you pass your test in does not help you when you start work.
I passed my test in a wag and drag and was on my way home from the test centre when my agency phoned to see how I had got on.
When they found I had passed, they said they had work for me that very night!
Eight hours later I found me self behind the wheel of a fully loaded brand new scania with manual gearbox, driving to brum from Essex. Before this I hadn’t even sat in an artic , let alone driven one!
I made it, but only after learning how to find the upper range on the gear stick by reading the manual. ( sorry about that, hope i don,t get chucked out the bloke club for actually reading instructions! ). 3 miles driving up the A12 in eighth gear ( out of a possible 16) going at 17 miles an hour with the engine at maximum revs does focus the mind a little.
Moral is: get trained in the vehicle you reckon you will drive, it certainly helps…
puggy:
I passed my test in a wag and drag and was on my way home from the test centre when my agency phoned to see how I had got on.
When they found I had passed, they said they had work for me that very night!
Eight hours later I found me self behind the wheel of a fully loaded brand new scania with manual gearbox, driving to brum from Essex. Before this I hadn’t even sat in an artic , let alone driven one!
I made it, but only after learning how to find the upper range on the gear stick by reading the manual. ( sorry about that, hope i don,t get chucked out the bloke club for actually reading instructions! ). 3 miles driving up the A12 in eighth gear ( out of a possible 16) going at 17 miles an hour with the engine at maximum revs does focus the mind a little.
Moral is: get trained in the vehicle you reckon you will drive, it certainly helps…
You are never going to get trained for every type of gearbox but how did you get on with the un/coupling
Very irritated shunter driver did it for me and, luckily for me, also showed me how to reconnect 6 hours later.
However he did forget to remove my number plate from the trailer and there was no sign of it later after I hunted all over the depot. There wasn’t a spare in the unit.
Drove back without one, much to the annoyance of the depot manager when I got back.
Mind you, he could have sold tickets to allow people to watch me trying to reverse onto the drop loading bay on my return.
, same as me I passed cat c yesterday with an older truck with an 8 speed manual box, but the company I passed with also have a opticruise Scania and there’s a guy training today who keeps stalling it? I mean it’s opticruise for gods sake, you just pull away with the clutch and then it takes over lol!
