The time has finally come for the big one, the C+E or the Class One! Hopefully, this will be the last step in my driving journey, and my nerves are kicking-in for handling the artic!
DAY ONE
I arrived at the yard at the crack of dawn, where the instructor checked my licence, and gave me a brief safety talk. The we jumped into the big one! The instructor drove for roughly the first 40 minutes, where he explained pretty much everything, such as cornering speeds, and really talked me through everything you need to know. He said that just 40 minutes of watching and listening to him would make a massive difference when it came to taking the wheel for myself. He also mentioned that the 450hp engine wasn’t something to take lightly, so it was important that I listen and react to everything he said.
Eventually, after a quick tea break, I took the wheel of the artic. The first roundabout I did was a bit dodgy, but no curbs were hit, and the instructor said that it was a good attempt after being behind the wheel for less than a minute! My big fear was hitting curb, particularly on left turns and roundabouts, but I soon realised that giving myself plenty of room on the near side, straddling lanes where appropriate, and literally taking difficult corners and roundabouts at walking-pace, hitting curb wasn’t anything to fear! We covered a few of the test routes, including some very busy town centres, which just meant learning how to safely get past parked vehicles, but giving plenty of time to straighten out and dominate the road meant that this was easily done, providing you take it steady. The day was quite standard, we did lots of different roundabouts and junctions, some more difficult than others, as well as the standard moving-off, hill and downhill starts.
I felt a much stronger bonding with the artic than I did with the rigid, and I really enjoyed the day’s driving. At the end of the day, we went back to the yard to practice some uncoupling and re-coupling, as well as some reversing. I had already uncoupled and coupled vehicles at work, so this was nothing new to me, and it was just a case of getting the order bang right, with all the trailer checks and things.
Now for the messy bit, reversing! The instructor did a demonstration, and I was pretty confident I could replicate it, as I nailed it on the assessment drive. On my first attempt, I gave it a full right lock to start-off with, then but I was too late to add the left steer and move back in a straight line, resulting in me being far too close to the right hand line, making the manouvre impossible without a shunt to give me more space. I put in a shunt, as the instructor said it would be good experience, and it ended up in the perfect position, giving it some left wheel to see cone B in the right-hand mirror. Then I just teased it in, hitting the reference point perfectly. If it wasn’t for first part it would have been a perfect reverse! I gave it another crack, ensuring that I straightened the unit out quickly after the right lock, teasing it in for a perfect reverse! I then gave it another go, everything going well, until I realised that I failed to see the reference point in my right mirror, meaning I went too far going back, hitting the barrier. It had been a long day, and the instructor said that I clearly had the skill to reverse the artic, it would just be a case of doing it on the day, and not making any silly mistakes, all being part of the learning process.
To sum-up, I think I performed very well on day one, as I felt that I really got to grips with the handling and cornering of the artic, and keeping to the golden rules of correct speed and room, there wouldn’t be much to go wrong! The only problem, could be reversing, but we could have another crack tomorrow, on test day 
DAY TWO - THE TEST
I arrived at the yard at the same time as yesterday, where I had a quick cup of tea, and then we got down to business. The test was in the afternoon, so that gave us a good few hours for some driving, and covering some test routes that the instructor thought may come up.
The first thing we did was a quick uncouple and re-couple, but I was pretty strong on that anyway, so no problems there. Then for the dreaded reversing! I was very sceptical about the reversing at this point, as I knew that my driving on the road was more than capable of getting through the test, but the reversing could be my downfall. On my first attempt, I moved-off well, giving plenty of room on the right, but I went in a straight line for far too long, resulting in the trailer being way too far away from cone B. This meant a massive amount of compensation to bring it back to the left, and the instructor said that left nearside rear corner went over the left line. This was getting embarrassing. I had another go, and once again, ended up too far away from cone B, although I saw what was happening, and shunted forward, paving the way for a perfect reverse into the bay. Once again, the instructor said that I could clearly do it, it was just getting things right on the day, but this time was coming in only a few hours! As long as I know where it’s going wrong, I can act accordingly, and stick it straight in the middle of the pay. The instructor was confident that I’d get it in the bay somehow, so we stuck a pin in it, and went on the road.
The few hours driving was unremarkable, and I felt that the artic was an extension of my own body, so I was really enjoying it. Obviously, nerves were starting to kick in a bit, and I had that horrible feeling in my stomach. We did a couple of hours on the test routes, stopped for a cup of tea and a bacon sandwich, and then hit the road again for the last leg before the test! Cornering was fine, and I was giving myself plenty of room to avoid curbs, and I knew exactly what roundabouts I’d have to straddle, and certain points to be very careful on, but apart from that, everything was fine, and I was very confident about the driving side, the reversing could just be a problem.
After a light lunch and some caffeine, we trundled-off to the test centre for judgement hour!
THE TEST
It must have been obvious that I was nervous in the waiting room, as the instructor, rather blatantly was trying to make small talk to take my mind off it. After around 15 minutes, the examiner came, and off we went. The first thing we did was the uncoupling and re-coupling. This was routine at this time, and went without problems. The only slight problem was that I may have lined-up with the kingpin a few inches off-centre, so when I reversed back into it, there was a bit of a bang and a scrape as it clicked into place. I did all of my checks, and it must have been OK, as the examiner was keen to get on with it. Next was the reverse, so my stomach was turning. Off I went to the starting point, and after some checks, moved back and gave it some right-lock. When ready, I gave it some left, and I noted that the positioning was perfect. I gave it a bit more left to straighten-up, and cone B was nice and in view, positioning perfect. As I was teasing it in, I noticed a bit of drift to the left, meaning that I couldn’t see the left bay cone in my near-side mirror. If I reversed too far, I could clip it, and it would be game over. Just to make sure, I shunted forward about 10 yards, straightening it up, and then I stuck it smack bang in the middle of the bay. I got out to check, and I was more than happy with the result. Thank god it was OK!
Confidence was high as we went onto the road, as my main worry was behind me, and I knew that all I had to do was drive like I can, and there would be no worries. The examiner was quite talkative, and it was obvious that he believed in more of an assessment-based test, rather than a typical driving test. He took me through the most difficult roundabout, twice, but even that couldn’t phase me. I kept giving it frequent mirror checks and plenty of room on the corners. All was well, and believe it or not, I was really enjoying it. When I noticed we were heading back to the test centre, I could see the finish line! As we rolled into the test centre, it hit home that my coupling was good, my reverse was OK, and my driving was excellent, there could only be one outcome. PASS!
Chuffed wasn’t the word, and it was a massive feeling of relief, adrenaline, and achievement. Now I am officially one of the driving gods, and I will be for the foreseeable future!
It’s been a journey with a lot of waiting, such as for licences to come back, waiting for training, and exams, and I must admit that I thought I would have completed it sooner, but such is life. The important thing is that I did it, I achieved what I wanted to do, and I did it as efficiently as possible, with a 100% pass rate. For anyone considering doing their cat C and C+E licences, I wish them every success, and I hope that you will be as lucky as myself!
The driving gods really were smiling upon me, and I hope they will be for you too!
See you on the other side!
(One of my many minors! 
) However I was happy to take that hit, as I wouldn’t want the alternative of a major. But like you pal, that’s all in the past, as we are now driving gods! 
