ORC:
If you’re partially in the bay but at an angle, have a look in front of you and imagine where the straight line of the bay comes out. Manoeuvre the front end onto that imaginary line as you pull forward for the shunt and if you have enough room to pull forward sufficiently you should get a good alignment to shuffle your way back in a straight(ish) wobbly line.
This certainly works! What you describe is exactly what I do if I can see it’s going to go wrong, or if I don’t have enough space to straighten up the unit and keep the trailer on track (e.g. I overcooked the angle)
Ady Williams:
I’m about to start my 2nd week and I’m getting there with the reverse. I found the problem when I started was not using the space going forward to line up as I said in another post my 1st dock g with a bay was a disaster. They ended up opening the shutters on a bay 3 down from where they wanted me lol my fear isn’t the bays anymore but going into services or truck stops and having to reverse into a spot in front of anyone. I had a break in Ferrybridge the other day and after 3 circuits I went in forward lol
Apart from the training to get the licence I have not had any guidance I was given en the keys and told crack on. Probably not the best way but it works for me.
Welcome to the life of an agency driver. My first time backing it onto a bay I had to get another to do it as I couldn’t hold the unit, I kept bumping into the bumpers then rolling forward.
More good advice & tips from you lot - cheers! (Managed to do a couple of not-half-bad reverses the other night, plus one pretty dismal 5-shunter into an easy space when I got back to the yard, hehe!
Another thing I have found at the end of the 2 weeks is my left arm is aching…Due to gearchanges. I have been running full weight most of this week and a lot of it has been over the 66. Then into either hull or Leeds or Glasgow or East kilbride. I have a 16sp slap over gearbox and 420hp that’s lost a lot of grunt over the 990 thousand miles since new. I know back in the day etc etc but it can ache so much it keeps me awake, as for everything else reversing is coming along well, I did a reverse into a car park off a narrow road and it went in fine nobody watching and no traffic so took my time. Then tipped at sainsbury in Sherburn which has a huge door to reverse through and approx a million acres to line up with said door…3 shunts!!! Other drivers sat in cabs and loaders watching me what a ■■■■ lol then they rejected some of the load as the bottles were stickered up with M&S lol.
I find that it’s only certain makes of trucks cause my left arm, or more usually my shoulder, to ache from changing gear. The worst are on Mercedes Ategos and it’s putting it in reverse which takes most effort - I sometimes have to brace myself against the door to shove the stick over far enough to put it in reverse rather than 2nd. With some Ivecos, 2nd gear has the same effect.
(Managed to do a couple of not-half-bad reverses the other night, plus one pretty dismal 5-shunter into an easy space when I got back to the yard, hehe!