Finally took the wheel today for an assessment drive. I’d been looking forward to it, and thought that having driven round France for the last two weeks in a 3.5 ton motorhome might have given me an edge. Not a chance! I was awful - braking, positioning and gear changing, all over the place. Just could not get used to not ‘feathering’ the brakes to slow down, as in the car or the motorhome. Really came as a shock to realise just how poorly I was doing. BUT after all that, I drove back to the depot without any ‘interventions’, negotiating what the trainer called ‘one of the worst junctions in Leicester’ for trucks. And he was brutally honest about everything else, so I tend to believe him. Given me a lot to think about - but when it came right it felt good.
Well done, its not the same as a leisure vehicle… wait until you have passed your C+E and your fully loaded at 44 tonnes , time and patience you will get there, regards, shytalk 
Glad you found it a positive expeience. You have now crossed the line and understand what skill this job needs.
Nice one so million dollar question has the bug bitten ya are you going to book your lessons 
Got to do some thinking. I don’t want a full time job out of this - looking to do it because [a] I want to see if I can, and because I thought there might be a possibility of occasional work [agency, short notice etc] coming off the back of it. Am now thinking that it may well be a case of use it or lose it - assuming I pass test after four days intensive training, I’d need to keep driving pretty regularly if I wanted to maintain standard. So…have still to make final decision. May try another assessment with another local firm to see how it feels a second time before making the commitment. Thanks all for the encouragement BTW - really pleased I found the forum!
If it’s any consolation, I had been an ADI for 10 years and the first time I had a go in a truck I was [zb] myself. Your head being level with the traffic lights is no natural thing. Now it’s the car that seems queer my arse sat on the floor can’t see whats happening miles ahead. 
Fella, If you did a driving test at our place and you both came back alive you’d pass.
There is no shame in starting out in smaller trucks so you get the idea of ‘space’ and where you and your truck fit into it.
I got ‘demoted’ from artics at my first firm because I hit anything stationary while I was driving them. I drove a flatbed Leyland four wheeler for nearly a year and things just ‘clicked’ I had the confidence to move on to a better job and I have never looked back.
Good luck for the future,
W
shytalk:
Well done, its not the same as a leisure vehicle… wait until you have passed your C+E and your fully loaded at 44 tonnes , time and patience you will get there, regards, shytalk
oh yes, no training will prepare you for that !
Why dont training schools use laden trucks ?
Why dont training schools use laden trucks ?
Because we currently have to present the vehicle empty for test. But we are coming up for using loaded trucks in a while - they say.
Pete
Update - after looking back on the assessment experience I started to wonder about it. After all, I’d basically just been given the keys and told to drive it, without a word of instruction or advice. And should I really have felt at the end that I wasn’t fit to drive a car, leave alone a truck? So - I decided to try another local firm. What a difference! I’ve just come back after a 12 mile drive including city street, rural roads and a dual carriageway, and felt really good. The truck was a Scania with a split gearbox [is that the right term?] and I was managing to get my head around that. The trainer was excellent - unlike the previous assessment, when he seemed more interested in burnishing his ego, this guy set out to make me feel comfortable and confident. It made me realise just how corrosive to confidence the previous experience had been! I’m 90% certain that I’ll continue this through to training - and 100% certain that if I do it will be with Data Academy, the second outfit, and not J Coates, the company who did the first assessment.
Having confidence in your trainer makes all the difference in my opinion , if you feel comfortable with them it makes it all the more enjoyable and as you are spending out a lot of money it will make all the difference as to wether you pass or not , just shows it makes sense to have a couple of assesments to see where is best
good luck with it all 
ericonabike:
Update - after looking back on the assessment experience I started to wonder about it. After all, I’d basically just been given the keys and told to drive it, without a word of instruction or advice. And should I really have felt at the end that I wasn’t fit to drive a car, leave alone a truck? So - I decided to try another local firm. What a difference! I’ve just come back after a 12 mile drive including city street, rural roads and a dual carriageway, and felt really good. The truck was a Scania with a split gearbox [is that the right term?] and I was managing to get my head around that. The trainer was excellent - unlike the previous assessment, when he seemed more interested in burnishing his ego, this guy set out to make me feel comfortable and confident. It made me realise just how corrosive to confidence the previous experience had been! I’m 90% certain that I’ll continue this through to training - and 100% certain that if I do it will be with Data Academy, the second outfit, and not J Coates, the company who did the first assessment.
haha, who did your assessment at J Coates?
Peter Smythe:
Why dont training schools use laden trucks ?
Because we currently have to present the vehicle empty for test. But we are coming up for using loaded trucks in a while - they say.
Pete
The trainees also need to know what an empty lorry feels like, pointless exercise in my opinion if they spend there whole time in a loaded one.
I think they should also have to secure the load aswell, using only one rope.
DrewHughes:
aha, who did your assessment at J Coates?
Doesn’t seem fair to name names. But, when I went for my assessment at Data Academy I deliberately didn’t mention the prior assessment so as not to influence anything. When I ‘came clean’ afterwards, the DA trainer laughed and gave me a pretty accurate guess as to what happened. This suggests it’s a cultural thing at Coates, rather than the attitude of one trainer. Maybe that approach suits some, it certainly didn’t work for me.
If you’ve met the trainer I had at Coates, I suspect you may have been asked what I suspect is one of his favourite questions. Went like this:
Trainer: what’s the speed limit on this vehicle in a built-up area?
Me: 30 mph
T: How do you know you’re in a built-up area?
M: Streetlights and no signs indicating a higher limit
T: How far apart are the streetlights?
M: Ermmm, 50 metres?
T: Yeah, well, that’s the same as 300 feet isn’t it? Because it’s 300 feet and that’s how the 30 mph limit came in - 100 feet for every 10 mph.
Hmmm…
Now I normally post on here as a private individual expressing my own points of view.
Now putting my company hat on I work for j Coates and have been following Eric’s experience with interest and feel it is time to put our side of this story forward.
Eric was assessed at needing 10 days training for him to reach a test standard. This was based on his previous experience and the assessment drive. It just so happened that I followed Eric out of the yard and it was obvious that he was struggling. Now this is nothing to be ashamed of because everyone is different and have different training requirements which is why we tailor the training to those needs and are honest with our trainees.
When I saw that he was assessed at needing a five day course by another training company I was amazed and knew that he would struggle. Some cinics out there would say that the training school had a 5 day course available the following week hence that is why the assessment came out as it did!
Looking at the training diary it was obvious that eric struggled and needed more time. I do hope that he is having more training and not just going for a retest as I see it so often when trainees just keep going for tests without getting the core skill level right which in itself brings confidence.
I wish Eric all the best but felt that another side of this story should be published
burnie1:
Now I normally post on here as a private individual expressing my own points of view.Now putting my company hat on I work for j Coates and have been following Eric’s experience with interest and feel it is time to put our side of this story forward.
I did wonder as you have done many posts like this one -
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=28836
burnie1:
Try J Coates jcoates.co.uk 1 day course in Leicester £152 probably worth the little trip
burnie1:
Now I normally post on here as a private individual expressing my own points of view.Now putting my company hat on I work for j Coates and have been following Eric’s experience with interest and feel it is time to put our side of this story forward.
Eric was assessed at needing 10 days training for him to reach a test standard. This was based on his previous experience and the assessment drive. It just so happened that I followed Eric out of the yard and it was obvious that he was struggling. Now this is nothing to be ashamed of because everyone is different and have different training requirements which is why we tailor the training to those needs and are honest with our trainees.
When I saw that he was assessed at needing a five day course by another training company I was amazed and knew that he would struggle. Some cinics out there would say that the training school had a 5 day course available the following week hence that is why the assessment came out as it did!
Looking at the training diary it was obvious that eric struggled and needed more time. I do hope that he is having more training and not just going for a retest as I see it so often when trainees just keep going for tests without getting the core skill level right which in itself brings confidence.
I wish Eric all the best but felt that another side of this story should be published
Sorry, but the bottom line is that he got 5 minors with the only serious being on the reverse and in my, and I suspect everyone elses, opinion 5 days was spot on for the assessment
Normally I wouldn’t bother answering a post like this…but I feel I need to point a couple of things out.
Erics assessment was for Five days total including test day, although Eric failed it was 100% down to test nerves as he came back with only 5 minors and failed because he hit a cone on reverse.
That alone tells me that a ten day assessment is far too excessive and unfair assessment, just for the record we never fit people to available courses we will and do leave blank days in the calender to fit the course to the trainee.
I will not post on this subject again.
All the best Rick
Jennie:
Having confidence in your trainer makes all the difference in my opinion , if you feel comfortable with them it makes it all the more enjoyable and as you are spending out a lot of money it will make all the difference as to wether you pass or not , just shows it makes sense to have a couple of assesments to see where is bestgood luck with it all
+1 defo agree here having confidence in your trainer is the up most
I have been reading all the comments on this subject and wish “ericonabike” all the very best in his new dream… But honestly cannot believe he had been previously assessed for a 10 day course… Blimey, surley that’s not right and the Instructor would have said, “don’t give up your day job” instead of giving him a course that would have cost at least a couple of thousand pounds…