Dipper_Dave:
Well I drive artics to compensate for my small todger…
I drive them to compensate for not having a todger 
weeto:
I think there are some delusional people on here who think they are Class 1 drivers, you can only call yourself an HGV Class 1 driver if you passed a Class 1 test, the rest of you are the low life EU victims of the C and C&E tests, stop trying to big your selves up.
Or there are those who’ve passed a class 1 test in the days when it was ( rightly ) only needed to drive smaller easier to reverse artics,which are only different not because they articulate but ‘where’ and ‘how’ they articulate v the drawbar type of truck and trailer.As opposed to a rigid licence which ( rightly ) allowed the use of a larger,more difficult to reverse, ( A frame ) drawbar outfit.Being that the two different types had/have as much in common with each other in terms of handling as chalk and cheese.Getting most class 1 ( C + E ) drivers and most/all employers in the day or since to admit that was/is another matter.
As for a ‘class 1’ obtained by taking a test on the close coupled trailer type that is obviously neither an artic or a drawbar outfit in the sense of having any connection with either.So by that standard you’d be right. 
Some of you lot sure as hell bite 
…he’s on a wind up 
Anyway I don’t know about rigids being easier to drive, last time I drove one was in 1980, I’m that brainwashed into wide sweeps and opposite locks I don’t think I could manage one now.
btw The overhang on that rigid looks evil, fair play to you mate I bet you have fun coming out of farm gates with that thing, even town centres.
Funnily enough, I’ve just reversed/weaved an 18 tonner through a very big warehouse full of clutter and junk and then done the exact same thing immediately after in an artic.
It’s very sweet to think of the feelings of rigid drivers, on the forum, and obviously anyone that gives it the billy big wheels cos they drive an artic is a ■■■■ but, to be totally honest it was a piece of ■■■■ in a rigid by comparison.
An artic in most situations requires more skill to drive and manoeuvre than a rigid.
That is why it requires a further driving test and in most cases pays more money.
Not willy-waving, just fact.
Artic or rigid, what does it matter. At the end of the day lorry drivers are looked upon by the general public as a nuisance. But they can’t get their goods without the lorries, but that’s another matter. What matters to most drivers, is the amount they have in their pay packet 
Class 2 is where the real manly jobs are… and quite often pay more higher than an Class 1 (unless your specalised)
Btw I do have C+E, both are easy to drive and both have advantages , Disavantages.
Nice work with the trolling [emoji38]
However you need to get yourself a proper lorry before you start getting up on your high horse, a silly little artic just doesn’t cut it.
WTF? At least this thread makes us understand the motives of some drivers out there. Never realised that it was so hierarchical with some people.
Everything is relative. Driving a rigid brings its own set of problems, like turning circle, overhang etc. An artic can actually be an advantage in a lot of situations. As for some rigid drivers apologetically saying that their normal truck is an artic…why?? I have had that said to me a few times. Most rigid work is far tougher than artic work. I respect all drivers, but if you don’t get flashed in by me, it is because you are driving like a git, not because of the truck you are in.
i reckon anyone in an artic should be able to wear a badge saying…i used to be on rigids,but im all right now. 
midlifetrucker:
Just at a delivery and in a 7.5t. My normal trusty steed is an artic. Two artic drivers waiting also and giving it big beans.Just chuckling to myself
This is like one of them reverse phsycology scenarios’s. You’ve noticed this when you’re in a 7.5T, but never mentioned it before when you drive your artic ? Whats actually happening is they’re not giving it big beans, you just feel inferior driving a 7.5T so you chuckle to yourself that you can drive an artic too. Its all in your own head. They probably couldn’t care if you drove a Porsche Carrera !!!
I don’t think it, I know it.
Haha, sometimes I get that in a wagon and drag, and Im mostly a few feet longer…
I remember being told a very long time ago by an old timer " the trick is son is to drive as small as vehicle possible for as much money as possible"
Of course I laughed at him but looking back it’s probably the truest statement I’ve ever heard. Wish I had have taken his advice.
Before I passed my class 1 I thought I was a truck driver.
Now I realise I wasn’t.
Mike-C:
midlifetrucker:
Just at a delivery and in a 7.5t. My normal trusty steed is an artic. Two artic drivers waiting also and giving it big beans.Just chuckling to myself
This is like one of them reverse phsycology scenarios’s. You’ve noticed this when you’re in a 7.5T, but never mentioned it before when you drive your artic ? Whats actually happening is they’re not giving it big beans, you just feel inferior driving a 7.5T so you chuckle to yourself that you can drive an artic too. Its all in your own head. They probably couldn’t care if you drove a Porsche Carrera !!!
Not at all. When class 1’s are in a collective its then a battle as to who’s ex SF , who just missed the Herald of free enterprise, who earns the most, driven the furthest, got the best rig.
Scraggy88:
Well I had my arctic ticket for 3 years now but never done a days work in one. Not that I don’t want to or anything but I started doing agency work in a puddle jumper then moved up to a class 2, driving an 18 tonne skip lorry and now I’m driving an 8 - legger with the opportunity to move up to arctic work eventually.
my point being I have found it great, easing into it all so when I jump into an arctic, I’ll have a few years class 2 behind me so I will have kind of a head start so to speak. A few of the old boys once said to me that young guns like myself jump straight into an arctic with no idea what they are doing and end up killing themselves or someone else.
I do agree because I have learned a lot over the last year and a half that I couldn’t have learned in a car and I still have a lot to learn now!
Not saying I am incompetent or anything, I’m just saying that every day is a learning curve and you never know what can happen and you will always ■■■■ things up before you know what you are doing as I found out yesterday after a head on with a car.
I do look up to arctic drivers because you gotta have eyes coming out of your arse in this game but I will never look down on rigid drivers, white van man perhaps because the majority drive like [zb] but not actual lorry drivers. It’s a big responsibility to drive a big chunk of metal all day every day and if we ■■■■ it up then there can be massive repercussions as the poor lad driving the 8 legger in Bath a few weeks ago found out the hard way.(I may have gone a little off topic)
I’m the opposite, jumped right into the deep end driving class 1. TBH I’d much rather be pooddling around in a rigid because there’s not much stress about reversing/turning them round, but it all boiled down to the money and all the Class 2 work (I say all, there isn’t that much demand for class 2 drivers I found) paid crap money. It’s been really tough, but I’ve never felt unsafe going forwards after about a week & reversing is getting better but that’s not an issue that’s going to cause a massive RTA. I think the biggest issue is people driving too close. I give myself plenty of breaking space, and go steady around corners. It’s shocking to see how close some truck drivers drive to the vehicle in front. They must be absolutely knackered at the end of a shift the concentration that requires. I just think what idiots, it ain’t clever. Bet they get home after work and are in bed by 9 cos of a mentally exhausting day tailgating.
midlifetrucker:
Mike-C:
midlifetrucker:
Just at a delivery and in a 7.5t. My normal trusty steed is an artic. Two artic drivers waiting also and giving it big beans.Just chuckling to myself
This is like one of them reverse phsycology scenarios’s. You’ve noticed this when you’re in a 7.5T, but never mentioned it before when you drive your artic ? Whats actually happening is they’re not giving it big beans, you just feel inferior driving a 7.5T so you chuckle to yourself that you can drive an artic too. Its all in your own head. They probably couldn’t care if you drove a Porsche Carrera !!!
Not at all. When class 1’s are in a collective its then a battle as to who’s ex SF , who just missed the Herald of free enterprise, who earns the most, driven the furthest, got the best rig.
I’ve said it here before and i’ll say it again…its a curious fact that i’ve never had an artic driver mention in passing that he usually drives a rigid. But i’ve heard plenty of rigid drivers tell me they don’t usually drive this, they usually drive an artic. And thats just after i’ve said, good morning, busy in here today isn’t it ? !! 
Not sure what 7.5T drivers speak about as i won’t speak to them !!!
Mike-c. You have just made a mockery of 7.5T drivers.
I like it. Please continue and while you are at it,turn on rigid drivers too.
juice09:
Dipper_Dave:
Well I drive artics to compensate for my small todger…I drive them to compensate for not having a todger
OMG you poor thing, if it helps I barely have a button mushroom meself, I have to tell everyone I’m a grower not a shower.
Hang on your a lady, in which case I have nightmares (well and the odd fantasy TBH) about being in a 7.5tonner when an artic driven by a member of the fairer ■■■ pulls alongside at a services.