What a learning curve! I have learnt so much today that I struggle to remember what I didn't know before (or what I've learnt). Sorry for the odd logic but the brain has totally gone now (6:55pm) and I see a very early night coming on.
But the quick summary is: a fantastic learning day and how much both I and my co-trainee Andy have come on since Friday. I feel at home in the thing now and parts of the driving are becoming sub-conscious, just as we all drive our cars.
A bleak, grey, wet day today, with rain all day and the headlights on the truck from start until finish.
Not wanting to repeat my lack of journey-planning I was away from home at 7:30am and parked up at the depot for 8:25am. Into the drivers' canteen and no sign of any of my group other than a driver on his own looking nervous and glum. We exchanged a quick "How do?" and that was it. I guessed (later confirmed) that he was one of the Class 1 (artic) lads who had his test today and reflected that this will be me next Monday! After about ten minutes he set out to leave and I wished him good luck. I later (sadly) found out that he failed – took three shunts (only 2 allowed) on his reverse.
Finally Andy rolls in and we chat about our thoughts from Friday and our fears for today. Our instructor on Friday had said that Dave (our instructor from now up to the test) was a superb trainer, but to be aware that he suffers from Tourette's syndrome and if he does start on us, we must not take it personally. Oh dear, another Colin?
At about 9:00am a tall, grey-haired man enters wearing a smart hi-viz Motorway jacket and greats us both. This is Dave. He hands us some photo-copies of the Show Me and Tell Me questions that will be asked by the examiner. These are things like: "Show me how you would check the oil level" or coolant, windscreen washer, tyre pressures, how to secure a load, and many other routine vehicle checks.
With that we mooch out into the rain and gloom of a Monday morning in Stoke to our trusty FM7. I've now noticed that it's an 01 plate 250BHP and when empty and you get the turbo wound up, pulls like a train.
Dave shows us how to check the levels: dipstick and oil filler cap, coolant level marks, windscreen washer filler locations and lube fluid for the brake actuators (all behind the hinge-up front grill) apart from the washer fluid which is in the nearside cab door-well.
"Who's first then?" says Dave. Andy and I look at each other and shrug. "OK, who went first on Friday?" So I indicate that I did so Andy gets the short straw. I get the high seat this time (Dave is at least 6' 3") and have a slightly cricked neck from trying to see under the lockers above the windscreen to see what's going on.
Up in the cab, he gives us a lesson on filling out and fitting the paper tachograph chart. We don't need them legally as we are exempt as a training vehicle, but as he says it is good practise. Newer vehicles from 2006 onwards have digital tachographs that require the driver to have a "Smart Card". I applied and have one (£38 – be optimistic and prepared!). Once Andy has filled his in (start location, date, start mileage, vehicle registration etc) we flash up the diesel and off we go.
Andy must have sent his twin brother as he is driving like a regular professional now, though still a bit too fast into hazards and junctions. We go south down the A34 towards Stoke city centre then off left into Hanley and across to the A50.
Dave is a superb instructor and is giving us so much more guidance on gears, speed and positioning. I really think that the huge advance we both made today is down to him, coupled with the advancing familiarity and hence confidence. No kerbs, stalls (well, one of mine but that doesn't count), or kangaroo or roll-back hill starts.
I lost track of where we where but eventually recognised the A500-A50 interchange and we headed east on the A50 to the Longton exit. I knew we were on a test route now (and have been all day thereafter). In the Stoke suburbs we practised lots of hill-starts and "Find a safe place to park and pull in when you can" (Examiner-speak). This means you have to judge a suitable part of the road to pull in and stop. The manoeuvre is easy enough but that hard part is working out all the no-nos: Bus Stops, schools, junctions, parked vehicles etc etc.
On a final, very steep hill-start Dave says "Right, change over" Oh great! My first drive of the day and a hill-start! But it's sorted now thanks to him. I had been trying to let the hand air-brake off progressively while matching the revs and clutch bite, hence how both of us had be either rolling back or kangaroo-starting. "Get your revs right, bring the clutch up till you feel the cab lean a little (I can see the rev-counter dip), then let the handbrake go in one - right off and out of the way - and hold it on the clutch". Ah! Perfection; works like a dream!
So off I roll out of the suburbs, heading southwest towards Stone down the A520. I am enjoying this despite the rain and gloom. I've got my road position right now, don't flinch with oncoming artics and generally feel far more in control now. We enter the infamous river valley where I badly kerbed her on Friday but he is spot on. "Take your space, pinch some white line, off the power (oncoming artic) and take it easy" Wow, through this horrendous valley meeting lots of trucks coming the other way and no kerbs!
And then into Stone one-way system and all very tight, but all in control. Totally sussed the gearbox now and feel relaxed and in control, though the concentration level is still immense. I'm block-changing fourth-to-sixth when conditions suit and how much easier that makes it all. Left off the one-way system on "B" roads heading for
Back on the "A" roads he teaches me to use the Exhaust Brake* on long –runs down banks (hills) to avoid having to brake all the time and encourages me to use the cruise-control on long stretches of 40 or 50mph sections to avoid drifting over the speed limits.
We are in the suburbs of
Dave is superb and has really cracked our problems. Whereas in a car you just charge up to a junction, brake hard, shift a gear or two and keep going, it's very, very different in a truck.
"Get you speed down, gently, gently, down, down, that's it. Now is it a closed or open junction*? Get into sixth if it's open or fourth if it's not. Right, before we get there what can we see? Look over the bridge/hedge/under the traffic signs. What's coming a way off so we have a clue before we get there? One thing at a time: get your positioning right, don't worry about gears. OK. Now get the right gear. Now just think about your steering (through the junction) and we will worry about changing up next". Brilliant tips!
I finally park next to the familiar café at the Raleigh Hall Estate (11:30am) and in we go for a brew. Jackie and her assistant (daughter?) seem old friends already.
Then Andy's back in the hot seat and off we go through the village of Eccleshall and some really narrow country roads to Stafford and what will be the rest of the day: the one-way/ring-road system in Stafford and all it's permutations. Tiredness and the amount of learning and detail here mean that I can't do this section justice as there is so much to recount. Suffice to say that we both got through it well (I stalled her at a set of lights but recovered well. Verdict: he would not fail you for that; you were in control of the vehicle and recovered well).
We both did at least two or three "laps" of Stafford and its ring-road(s) before I took us back to our café at
Oh, and my test is 10:30am Monday and Andy's is 1:30pm (Oh hell!!)
Tomorrow is all reversing and braking exercises (Port Vale football ground car park) and the rest of the week is more of the same and mock tests on Friday. And do you know – I'm not that frightened any more!
Oh and the Tourette's? Over lunch Dave says "I bet your instructor on Friday has been winding you up?" We say "Err – well yes – a bit". And he groans and says "He tells you I have Tourette's"? "Err –umm- yes actually". He honestly looks hurt and says "Look, this is the other part of trucking: there is an awful lot of p*ss-taking"! I can only say I have never met a more calm, clear and hugely helpful bloke for a long time. All my kerb problems, gear crunches and kangaroo starts have disappeared.
More soon,
Neil
*Exhaust Brake – one of a number of retarding systems fitted to trucks and buses that supplement the normal brake systems especially on long down-hill runs. In simple terms: when your foot is not on the accelerator a truck engine acts like a compressor, so if you close off the exhaust system with a valve, you get loads of engine-braking effort to help slow the vehicle.
*Closed and Open junctions – Closed: buildings either side so can't see f**k-all until you stick your nose out. Open – loads of visibility long before you get to the line.
