Right, for some reason our brilliant planner has decided to send ME the most inexperienced driver to this yard which is infamous among their own drivers, apparently everyone hates it and I couldn’t find anyone today who has been there so no one to ask for advice. I have until Tuesday to figure out a plan to get on one of these bays in this ridiculous yard. In the top left there’s a skip for added fun. Looks to me like a 90 degree reverse? How do I even get out if I go to the bottom bay? I’ll have to reverse with my (fridge) doors open so that’ll cut into my available space on the NS…it’s a nightmare just looking at it.
Any ideas? Stay close to the right and then jack-knife it until I find the perfect angle, resetting each time I fail? Or go right, then left towards the fence to try to create a better angle? Honestly I’ve no idea where to even begin. There likely won’t be any staff outside other than the security guard in his little hut which he will be reluctant to leave to help, with only 2 bays I’ll probably be blocking whoever is on the other bay until I’ve docked myself, plus whoever is waiting outside/behind me…There’s hardly any room to correct forward, the one guy I found who’s done it said ‘Use the whole yard if you make 1 mistake you must start over’ not very helpful more like a warning
i think you’re over-worrying! if there’s another lorry in there ask him to watch you back…most experienced drivers are happy to help.(our yard is notorious,and we often get in the visiting driver’s cab to reverse it on for them…most recently this week,with a female driver who was struggling).if you have to do a few shunts,so what! as long as you don’t cause any damage,you can go back and tell your fellow driver’s it was a piece of p!ss reversing in there
stop worrying…don’t let it ruin your weekend! you’ll be fine
Firstly knowing the exact Customer location might help,as others may have been there and offer advice .
Arrive, get out go and look, then decide how to attack the job,if need ask for help from someone there, They obviously have bigger than that in there most days,
Don’t panic just take your time, it’s all valuable experience in the end.
Overthinking these things. You’ll stress yerself silly, worrying every mile until you get there and that’s pointless.
Drivers like to wind other drivers up and the number of places I’ve been to where the full timers say ‘that second drop is a right tight one, you’ll never get in without three men stopping the traffic on the M25 and a crane to slide you over mate’ and when I get there, it’s really not that difficult.
biggriffin:
Firstly knowing the exact Customer location might help,as others may have been there and offer advice .
Arrive, get out go and look, then decide how to attack the job,if need ask for help from someone there, They obviously have bigger than that in there most days,
Don’t panic just take your time, it’s all valuable experience in the end.
If youre not careful you will get yourself in a mess from panic. I will freely admit I’m ■■■■ at reversing. Had my license for 35 years . All my good reverses are in empty yards. All my worst have had audiences.
Just take your time and if you have to keep getting out and checking. You only fail if you damage something. No shame in shunts!
First of all, unless there’s room out of picture i’d be reversing in all the way from the road.
No on a tight reverse you don’t stay tight to the right, if you pull out of a tight spot you drive the tractor as far as possible forward (if the end bay moving slightly to the right as you go forward to lessen the chances of rear overhang clouting the wall or fence to the nearside) and turn sharply once the trailer is clear, basically you go in exactly the same way getting the trailer as straight as possible lined up with the gap and then worry about the tractor.
So go back with the trailer in the middle of the available space and start to make the turn late rather than early, if you’ve missjudged just take another bite or three, going in too soon or with the trailer too close to the right and you only end up with the trailer wedged at an angle half in the gap before you’ve even got the middle axle anywhere near the gap, even supposedly experienced drivers make this rookie mistake regularly.
Go in with spotlessly clean windows and mirrors, can’t see clearly and you’ve already lost, make sure those two down mirrors are set correctly, don’t underestimate any of this, makes the world of difference.
You need to practice reverses like this, and blind siding, where you can do no damage if you mess up.
To this day i deliberately perform at least one blind side every day by chosing such a ■■■■■■■■■■■■ to keep my hand in, so when it’s needed in a bad spot the skills are not rusted up
Agree with the others, it sounds like your workmates are enjoying winding you up.
Juddian:
First of all, unless there’s room out of picture i’d be reversing in all the way from the road.
No on a tight reverse you don’t stay tight to the right, if you pull out of a tight spot you drive the tractor as far as possible forward (if the end bay moving slightly to the right as you go forward to lessen the chances of rear overhang clouting the wall or fence to the nearside) and turn sharply once the trailer is clear, basically you go in exactly the same way getting the trailer as straight as possible lined up with the gap and then worry about the tractor.
So go back with the trailer in the middle of the available space and start to make the turn late rather than early, if you’ve missjudged just take another bite or three, going in too soon or with the trailer too close to the right and you only end up with the trailer wedged at an angle half in the gap before you’ve even got the middle axle anywhere near the gap, even supposedly experienced drivers make this rookie mistake regularly.
Go in with spotlessly clean windows and mirrors, can’t see clearly and you’ve already lost, make sure those two down mirrors are set correctly, don’t underestimate any of this, makes the world of difference.
You need to practice reverses like this, and blind siding, where you can do no damage if you mess up.
To this day i deliberately perform at least one blind side every day by chosing such a ■■■■■■■■■■■■ to keep my hand in, so when it’s needed in a bad spot the skills are not rusted up
Agree with the others, it sounds like your workmates are enjoying winding you up.
Sorry I should’ve posted a bigger image…the entrance is on the bottom of the pic, so the bays are on your right side as you go in, hence I was wondering how that artic would get out because there are some pallet stacks (near the fence on the bottom of the image) which is my secondary worry. I’m just trying to plan ahead and I’m thankful for your advice as my original idea was to stick as close to the right which would’ve been a mistake as I just found out I’ve only completed a dozen shifts on class 1 with just one, maybe 2 moderately challenging reverses each took me 10-15 minutes to do so I’m still pretty much learning by trial-and-error.
I’ve been observing other drivers at our yard and noticed they’re steering way faster than me, then I realized I never actually steered with my left hand before so I’m very clumsy with that still. Like when they straighten up the unit their steering wheels go from 70 degrees or so to straight in under a second, lol. I can do it with my right hand when going forwards obviously (0 to full lock) but not with my left hand
Lots of other drivers like winding up new drivers in my experience.
I’m yet to go anywhere that really lives up to the hype of being a very difficult reverse to be honest, sure some places can be a challenge but I enjoy those places as it makes the day more interesting.
As others have said stop worrying soo much & just take your time manoeuvring.
If you keep going to similar places as above and previous places stated you will be a reversing master in no time at all [emoji1696][emoji6]
Sorry I should’ve posted a bigger image…the entrance is on the bottom of the pic, so the bays are on your right side as you go in, hence I was wondering how that artic would get out because there are some pallet stacks (near the fence on the bottom of the image) which is my secondary worry. I’m just trying to plan ahead and I’m thankful for your advice as my original idea was to stick as close to the right which would’ve been a mistake as I just found out I’ve only completed a dozen shifts on class 1 with just one, maybe 2 moderately challenging reverses each took me 10-15 minutes to do so I’m still pretty much learning by trial-and-error.
I’ve been observing other drivers at our yard and noticed they’re steering way faster than me, then I realized I never actually steered with my left hand before so I’m very clumsy with that still. Like when they straighten up the unit their steering wheels go from 70 degrees or so to straight in under a second, lol. I can do it with my right hand when going forwards obviously (0 to full lock) but not with my left hand
I have a few delivery points where getting out requires more input than getting in, the wagon at the bottom of the pic would probably pull out and to the right, then reverse in an empty bay two or three along and then drive out normally.
carryfast-yeti:
i think you’re over-worrying! if there’s another lorry in there ask him to watch you back…most experienced drivers are happy to help.(our yard is notorious,and we often get in the visiting driver’s cab to reverse it on for them…most recently this week,with a female driver who was struggling)
I reckon the last thing an inexperienced driver needs is for somebody to say ‘get out the cab and I’ll do it for you’, it solves nothing, makes him even more insecure, and he’ll never learn.
Best to stand beside him at door, advise him and guide him in, and encouraging him.
My upper arm tendons are knackered and painful…years of pulling taut liner curtains, tilt covers and manual changes I reckon.
I know steering wheel knobs are looked upon as the spawn of the devil on here , I’ve always had one, and if I didn’t now with my dodgy arms, I’d be also reversing like an amateur.
It’s at the stage I actually NEED it now.
The best thing to do is try not to worry about it until you get there. Maybe the way off the bay the artic is on is to reverse out onto the road. Someone in the warehouse might be able to point you in the right direction.
So If I’m reading this correctly, you will have to reverse onto the bay that the artic is currently occupying in the picture?
If that’s the case, you want to get your nose all the way to the top left corner where that skip thing is, with the truck angled in a way that the trailer is already facing the general direction of that bay.
Keep yourself a sensible amount of room on the nearside and keep checking n/s mirror to see that you aren’t going to touch that wall / fence with it. A snail’s pace will do, just creep back and watch your trailer. Looks to me like that bay has some faded straight lines coming off of it. Reversing a trailer is exponentially easier when you have a a straight line for a guide. Just slowly but surely guide those wheels inside that line until eventually you’ll be straight with the correct adjustments. If it takes ten goes so what?
Sometimes Google maps can also lull you into a false sense of security too. You have it in your head how the layout is and then there a new stack of pallets in the way. Or there’s a holdup in the yard and lorry’s are parked everywhere ( often without a single thought for anyone else) and the scenerio is totally different. Take your time , keep looking and I was always taught turn your radio off and open your windows. Then if you are about to hit something you’ve missed hopefully someone will shout.
Those who drove them will recall how they used to leap up and down as you let the clutch in, the trick was to turn the wheel on the up rather than on the down.
Looks to me that you have some nice straight lines in the yard to help guide you too, line between the concrete sections where the rigid is, paint where the artic is, also paint up to the fence to line up with. In most yards you can find something to help guide where you need to be, such as concrete lines, paint, drains, etc.
Reversing an artic into any space is all about giving yourself maximum chance by using every inch of available space you have.
A lot make the mistake of not using all space available, and instead cutting in on narrow angles, rather than using wide arc sweeps, which is more effective and far easier to correct.
You can start using the narrow angles when you master reversing, but even now I still find myself reversing into spaces on wide arcs, much easier…and you always look good reversing into a tight space at speed. (only if somebody is watching )
It reminds me of the Bacon factory at Queens road in Ashton-under-lyne, getting on the end bay with a triaxil trailer was a test of nerves, the wall was regularly damaged as it was extremely difficult to get on due to the skips at the top of the yard.
peirre:
It reminds me of the Bacon factory at Queens road in Ashton-under-lyne, getting on the end bay with a triaxil trailer was a test of nerves, the wall was regularly damaged as it was extremely difficult to get on due to the skips at the top of the yard.
Do any older drivers remember Bay 4 at Marchon works Whitehaven?
That sorted the men from the boys…problem was I WAS a boy at the time.
It was a side loading bay, so only 2 inches space either side for error, AND on a blind side…AND on an angle.
You soon learnt how to reverse there, especially when the heap of ■■■■ you were driving had no power steering fitted.
, I’ve always had one, and if I didn’t now with my dodgy arms, I’d be also reversing like an amateur.
(only if somebody is watching 
)
