This is my first post so please be gentle. I’m at the very early stages of applying for my class2 through the jobcentre, however after researching about the training, and what hours you can drive I am still unclear about a few things and hope that you happy band of men and women will know the answers.
-
Adblue? Heard a bit about it but who uses it and when?
-
Hypothetical question. You are driving to France on the M20( other motorways will apply) and you are suddenly hit by traffic, later finding out you are in operation stack, you have passed the services and now do not know when you may be moving again, what do you do about your tacho? What position do you put it on?
-
Changing gears… Even tho you might be in a 12 or 16 speed gearbox is it the norm to change 1-3 normally without using the split gears?
Again silly questions I know, but curious ones to me hope you can help
Firstly, welcome to TNUK. Really glad to see that your’e making the effort to do some research before you start training.
Adblue is a chemical derived from pig pee. It’s purpose in life is to clean up the exhaust emissions. Some trucks have this system, others clean up the emissions within the engine. Adblue is in a tank at the side of the fuel tank and is identified by the blue coloured cap. There is a gauge on the dash of the vehicle to let you know it’s level. If you run out, the vehicle wont stop but it will go into “safe” mode ie it wont go at any great speed. It is also illegal to run without adblue on a vehicle fitted with it. Adblue is held in bulk by most operators who stock fuel. It’s also on sale at truckstops, motorway services and some filling stations.
Your operation stack question; I would use rest/break mode. This assumes that you can freely dispose of your time.
Changing gears; it’s impossible to give a straight answer to your question. The basic rule is that you must be in the correct gear for the speed of the vehicle and the road conditions. Perfectly possible to skip a number of gears but it must suit the road/engine speed, the weight of the vehicle, the power delivery of the vehicle and so it goes on. You will develop a feel for the truck and soon understand what it “likes” and what it “doesn’t like”.
You will probably get alternative suggestions but I’ve tried to keep it simple but informative. Hope this helps, Pete 
Thank you pete, answered all my questions, I’m so looking forward to doing this, I know even if I pass I have a big hill to climb and will proberly have to sell my soul to the agencies to get on, but I don’t care I want to be looking back on this in 5 years parked on a truck stop living out of a cab with the biggest smile on my face loving every minute of being a lgv driver 