i passed my class 1 last november and hadnt had any luck in getting to use it, so since the beginning of february i have been doing class 2 agency work for a well known transport company, after much pestering of the transport manager, they finally got round to putting me on a class 1 driving assessment last monday, passed the assessment, and was told they will sort something out in the next few days to get me out for a couple of days with another driver… All last week went by and i didnt hear nothing, i strolled into work this morning, no class 2 run there with my name on it, my 1st question was, “you did book me this week didnt you??”, yeah we booked you, give us a minute was the reply.
so i waited, then got told i am off out with another class 1 driver taking a load to B&Q,s RDC in runcorn. so off i go to find the driver,walk in the canteen and there he is, he starts laughing and says we are in for some fun today, why i ask, he says we are taking a brand new double deck trailer (£54,000 apparently) which the company are trialling and its supposed to be very windy today, great i thought 
after waiting for around 2 hours for the trailer to be loaded, we get sent to the local weigh bridge to check the weight, it came to 44,500 kg , back to the yard we go, 5 min drive and get a couple of pallets removed and off we go to Runcorn. We are in a volvo fh12 unit, we left at 10:15am and the wind was howling like a good’un. We headed west on the M62 past wakefield and leeds, then we get to Saddleworth, OMG, the wind is buffeting the truck, and i gotta say, my backside was twitching, all the way over the pennines we are getting really pushed around by the wind, but in a funny kind of way i enjoyed it, i was nearly going to tell the TM i didnt think it was the best idea to send me out with a double decker with the wind blowing a gale, but i am glad i didnt bottle it and got on with it.
anyway, i made it to Runcorn in one piece, got unloaded and returned to the yard, with a big detour due to a lorry being blown over on the m62 at junc 24, we came off at junc 20, a627 into oldham, then picked up the a62 towards huddersfield and picked the m62 back up at junc 24 or 25, cant remember which 
what surprised me most was how different a double deck trailer is to pull, compared to a normal trailer, i know you have to tip toe around abouts with loaded trailers, but you REALLY do have to with double deckers, the same with bends and things, you really gotta take your time with them.
overall, i had a great day, got some reversing practice in and am looking forward to some more of the same tomorrow. will be out with another driver for the next few days, which i fin quite helpful as it feels like a bit of assurance beside me. got told this afternoon another driver is off next week so i will be covering him if all goes well this week.
fingers crossed 
