Class 2 training booked any tips? Test result now included!

[ash_001]

nomininolife:
It’s good to read your blog, I have my first lesson on July 6th and my test on the morning of the 9th.

Good luck mate hope the rest of my blog will help you with your training

ROG:

ash 001:
Day 1
Right so here goes nothing; it feels like I’ve been waiting months for this day to come even though it’s only been about 4 weeks!
My alarm goes off at 5.15am as I have to be at training centre for 7am and it’s an hour drive from my house. I have to leave be 5.45am I tell myself, it hits 5.45am crap I need the toilet so rush in quickly ‘drop the kids off’ as they say. Get out the toilet crap it’s 6am already! I’m going to have to put my foot down to get there on time.
I arrive at training centre with 5 minutes to spare go in do all the boring stuff of handing over licences for them to check ect then out to the truck we go! I meet my trainer Ollie for the day, which I am quite glad about as he is the same guy that took me for an assessment drive, I also think he was quite glad to have me also as he knew it was going to be an easy three and a half hours for him (I would like to think).
So first of all quick chat about walk around checks ect (when I say quick a good 15 minutes where I am just egger to just get in and drive) he then explains he is going to do a demo drive so I hop in to the passenger seat to observe.
He pulls off and drives for around 15 minutes this whole time I’m sat there watching him and trying to take everything in at the same time thinking just hurry up because I want to drive but the demo drive did help a lot as it showed me the standard I was expected to be driving at. So eventually (it felt like ages) he pulls over and says we will swap now, so I hop in to the driver’s seat with a big smile on my face.
First of all we do a few hill starts where he stopped the truck so I get used to pulling off ect I smashed all three so he is quickly bored of this and we move on. We do some general driving for a little bit I start to gain confidence and have a good feel for the size of the vehicle by now, I also have good road positioning and approaching roundabouts correctly and in the right position and lane ect.
I start thinking to myself this is all going too smoothly what is happening! Ollie isn’t talking much or correcting me much so I gather this is a good thing which I find out later on it was. He tells me a couple of times about my road position when approaching roundabouts ect but I quickly listen to what he says and make it right and before long he is no longer telling me to check my road position ect .

Then I do a little bit of independent driving first of all the road is two lanes and splits to one so I am in the left lane and the right lane will merge in to this lane all is good nothing is up the side of me, then the two lanes begin to close down in to one then a car comes flying past as it has already turned in to one lane I look at Ollie and say “there’s always one nob isn’t there”. “Well done for noticing obviously you wouldn’t use the term nob on your test with the examiner present” he says laughing.
So moving on I’m reading road signs and trying to look where to go and do everything else and all is going well until I get to a large roundabout (6 exits traffic light controlled), I approach the roundabout in the correct lane lights are green ect as I’m going around the roundabout I have to stamp the brakes on across the junction as a car is coming the wrong way around the roundabout! Yes you read correctly he is coming the wrong away around the roundabout me and Ollie are dazzled by such stupidity we can only presume they were foreign, they apologised by putting their hand up and then carried on going the wrong way around the roundabout! By this time I had now pulled off and got away quickly before I found any more idiots!
We then pulled over so Ollie could have a quick smoke and before I knew it we were back out on the road again I’m approaching a bridge and Ollie says “What sign did we just pass” I very smugly say a sign stating the height of the bridge which is 15.5ft he smiles and says “well done but what is the height of this vehicle” I say 13.6ft Ollie to my amazement smiled and laughed he said most students at that moment stamp there brakes on because they think they are not going to fit. So it looks like I can do little wrong to not impress Ollie surely this is all going to smoothly I ask myself.
Next I do some more independent driving this is where Ollie gets his own back for me being so smug earlier. So he says “follow the road until directed otherwise” so I’m just casually driving along passing parked cars, buses ect all is going well until I get to a pedestrian crossing I let someone cross then pull off and go to proceed straight ahead Ollie says “stop “ so I do so and am startled as to why he has stopped me then I see a little sign saying 7.5t MGW only so I have to turn right. Yes Ollie has got one back on me at last! As much to my disappointment
We then carry on driving through Fareham these roads are very tight so I’m cautious of my back wheels hitting the kerb, we then hit a real tight left hander and I have to go in to the oncoming traffics lane to prevent me from mounting the kerb I do so correctly but then a car comes around the corner as I am doing about to come out on to their side of the road and they don’t stop I keep going( yes I know now that I should have stopped and waited lol) this results in me taking the corner too tight and mounting the kerb But practice makes perfect right?
After this I explain what I did wrong and Ollie agrees and says we will cover it again another day. So I drive back to the training centre unaided Ollie not saying a word which made me happy . So day one all in all a good day I didn’t kill anyone or write any cars off so I call that a good day lmao. Can’t wait for my next training session which is Wednesday which I hope will be as successful as today Hopefully do some reversing on the next session.
Long read but hope you enjoyed check my log Wednesday for another update

Nice write up

Thanks ROG ile pm you a preview for day 2 tomorrow and you can add some paragraphs for me lmao!

[evil8beezle]

ash 001:

Evil8Beezle:
Sounds perfect, glad it went so well for you!

Thank you like I said he only caught me out once which is not too bad but shouldn’t have given him a chance to catch me out

If you hadn’t included at least one instance of your instructor catching you out, we wouldn’t have believed you! LOL

It sounds like you have a great relationship with the instructor, and feel comfortable with the vehicle. So i’m not sure you could ask for better…

Looking forward to your next post, although you might want to miss out your bathroom activities!

[ash_001]

Evil8Beezle:

ash 001:

Evil8Beezle:
Sounds perfect, glad it went so well for you!

Thank you like I said he only caught me out once which is not too bad but shouldn’t have given him a chance to catch me out

If you hadn’t included at least one instance of your instructor catching you out, we wouldn’t have believed you! LOL

It sounds like you have a great relationship with the instructor, and feel comfortable with the vehicle. So i’m not sure you could ask for better…

Looking forward to your next post, although you might want to miss out your bathroom activities!

Haha yes can’t have a completely perfect drive for your first drive can you now Yeh he seems like a really good guy but because they are really busy I think I have a different guy tomorrow yes cant ask for much more I got used to the vehicle very quickly and find it easy to drive so just need to focus now relax and take it easy lets hope tomorrow is just as successful! Only time will tell lmao

[nomininolife]

Is your vehicle manual or auto?

[ash_001]

nomininolife:
Is your vehicle manual or auto?

Its an auto mate as you can now learn and pass in an auto and gain both entitlements for manual and auto so why make life hard for yourself

[evil8beezle]

ash 001:

nomininolife:
Is your vehicle manual or auto?

Its an auto mate as you can now learn and pass in an auto and gain both entitlements for manual and auto so why make life hard for yourself

Crazy isn’t it! But I think the above ONLY applies if you have a manual car licence as well (Not an Auto!)

If I’m wrong, I’m sure I’ll soon be told!

[ash_001]

Evil8Beezle:

ash 001:

nomininolife:
Is your vehicle manual or auto?

Its an auto mate as you can now learn and pass in an auto and gain both entitlements for manual and auto so why make life hard for yourself

Crazy isn’t it! But I think the above ONLY applies if you have a manual car licence as well (Not an Auto!)

If I’m wrong, I’m sure I’ll soon be told!

Lol yes that is correct if you didn’t get a manual car licence you are a dip ■■■■ but you can obviously take your test in a manual truck then you gain your manual car licence entitlement this can be used correct your poor mistakes early on in life lmao

[ash_001]

Day 2 has finally arrived; it feels like it’s been a week’s wait not one day!

So it’s that time again 5.15am, that time when I really don’t want to get up from my pit. I’m a little more organised this morning and get to training with 20 minutes to spare. I sit in the car for ten minutes patiently before making my way over to the training centre where I’m greeted by my instructor for the day, today I’m with Reg he chucks the keys at me at says to me “go do your walk around checks” so off I trot to find my vehicle and do my checks. My checks are complete within 5 minutes and before I know it I’m just sat in the cab egger to drive it feel like I’ve waited an hour for Reg to come over finally he arrives 7.10am off I go!

I start off by telling Reg about my previous session and getting to know him a little better he seems like a great guy as well!(■■■■ I’ve got lucky with these instructors are they all this nice?! ) We head towards Fareham town centre as I explain to Reg this was a difficult spot on day one. No real problems getting to Fareham just general driving roundabouts and junctions ect. Reg teaches me a great technique for my road position on corners to avoid clipping kerbs ever again! He puts a pen in the middle of the dashboard and tells me to always point the pen towards an object on the corner For example I’m going around a tight right hander I position myself over to the left and I point my nose towards the road sign on the corner and then follow it through with a lamp post which Is the next object in my vision I check my right hand mirror, wow I have loads of room I’m miles away from the kerb! I now use this routine for every corner small or big and even roundabouts it works every time!

So driving through Fareham town centre Reg promptly calls out “The back of her looks lovely check if the front matches for me” I smile and of course check but unfortunately on this occasion it was a no no . This is Reg’s way of getting pupils to look in there mirrors all the time so when I’m driving along now all I hear is Reg’s voice telling me what to do with his little quotes here’s a few of them to amuse you “Make sure that fat bird hasn’t rolled in to the road” “check out that dodgy cyclist hasn’t got a death wish like the rest of them” “look at that bus wan**r make sure he hasn’t fallen in the road under your wheels”. You get the idea, its Reg’s dry sense of humour and I love it! It puts you at ease makes you relax and just have a laugh as well.

So I am now approaching the dreaded corner that I kerbed on my first day few I sail around that one no problem at all. Now for some more tight ones we go around the block a couple of times where there are three tight corners this is where Reg was showing me his technique for the corners. I drove around the first time Reg telling me where to put the nose ect and then he says “right now do it on your own when you get it perfect we move on” I’m thinking to myself crap we could be here a while if I don’t smash this lol. So off I go putting Reg’s cornering technique into place first time around I smash it we do one more for luck and I clip a kerb “sh*t”. “Right around we go again” Reg goes so off I go I get to the third corner come on I’m going to smash this and to my amazement I did, result we can move on .

Next off a bit of independent driving where Reg takes me to a few of the examiners favourite spots, a couple of mini roundabouts where I turn right and obviously have to swing out to avoid the kerb and at the same time not side swipe any cars. Yes I nailed these and didn’t take any cars out either what a bonus! Today is going too smoothly! Reg then takes me to a roundabout that has two restrictions on it and tells me about how the examiner will tell me to take my next available exit, there are only 3 exits available the first two are blocked due to width restrictions and height restrictions so I have to approach in the right hand lane and take my third exit. You do not get much time to do this as the sign is very close to the roundabout and hidden by tree branches!

Right we now head towards the reverse I was a little apprehensive about this. Reg hopped in the driver’s seat and explained exactly what to do he then completed a demonstration, once the demonstration was complete Reg asked if I was ready “hell yes I am” I replied. So off I go, he guides me in on my first attempt to try and get the lorry as close the cones on my left as possible I then get out and check so I can see exactly where I should be. (You need to be as close as you can to the left cone and be able to look down the line and see the cone you’re going to reverse around). So I start revising back putting full left lock on he guides me back explaining I can ride the line all day long but must not cross it, once I can see I have past the cone I can start taking the lock off slowly. Once I have seen the far left cone of the bay I need to reverse in to I need to start bringing the lorry around and in to the bay to straighten up. Reg showed me a piece of tape on the mud guard so I know where I need to put the back of the lorry in the box without hitting the barrier. Hooray I’ve made it well it’s not that hard when someone’s guiding you is it, now to do it with no aid!

Right first attempt here goes nothing I pull up at the far left cone get out to look how close I am and then look down the line to see the other cone sht I’ve come too far over and can’t see the other cone (this would be a fail). So I reverse back and adjust so I am in a straight line and as close to the cone as possible, I then start reversing back around the cone and in to the bay I actually over shoot it slightly as I was concentrating on my reverse so much I lost the mark of where I should stop but I didn’t hit the barrier but it was a little close for comfort. Reg wasn’t comfortable how close I was so more practice, the next 3 to 4 attempts I nail it every time. Once I’ve done the reverse every time I have to drive around the block to get back to the starting position. I start thinking to myself crap this is getting harder and harder, then I realise Reg the sneaky little sht is moving the cone so I have less and less room to reverse around the cone! But I’m still nailing them reverses, so once I have played about for around ten to fifteen minutes I pull over and question if Reg is moving the cone, he smirks and starts laughing “No pupil will ever struggle with the reverse come test day if I have taught you to do it”. I smile and we check how close he has put the cone, it has to be two times the length of your vehicle on test day I was doing it at just under one and a half times the length of my vehicle. But I was still smashing it so come test day I should have no troubles at all! (Fingers crossed)

Right time is cracking on now, so we head back to the training centre we shoot down the m27 as this is the quickest route. It was nice driving the motorway as we could talk about today’s drive and just general chit chat of what I’m going to do once I’ve obtained my licence ect. Reg then pipes up “I would happily send you for your test today and I guarantee you would pass it”. I started smiling like a Cheshire cat you’ve never seen such a big smile appear on my face! “Really” I reply, he explains how happy he is with my driving and can’t believe that I haven’t driven a HGV before it’s like I have failed my test and come back for a recap before test day! “Some people are just born drivers and your just one of them” Reg also drops in; wow my head is getting bigger and bigger by now lol. We arrive back at the centre ten minutes late there is another pupil waiting for the lorry (oops). Reg looks at me and says “we will blame the traffic don’t worry” I smile and agree . When I get out Ollie from day one is there and asks how I got on Reg comes over “He hit two cars kerbed it 7 times and nearly ran someone over” Ollie laughs and says “Good day then”. They then both argue between themselves why I’m so good and try and gain credit for me, Ollie try’s to win this one as he pipes up “I took him for a driving assessment and his first day so it’s clearly all my hard work”. Let’s just leave it at that there probably still arguing between themselves now, who knows! I still have two more full days of training before test, I wish I could take my test earlier but there is no chance of that unfortunately. Next training day is tomorrow but I’m not sure what I will be covering as I only need to polish up on a couple of bits. I guess I will just be driving test routes for the majority of the time. So tomorrows training log might be a little brief but you never know what might happen let’s wait and see!

Thanks for reading come back tomorrow for day 3

[evil8beezle]

Thanks for posting again, great read, and glad it’s going so well. just make sure your head doesn’t explode!

ROG may even add some punctuation for you… LOL

[crusher75]

Very nice read
And thanks for the extra spacing this time

Sounds like you’re having a great time - love the enthusiasm.
And I may sound a bit like ‘dad’ here, but definitely keep that confidence, just don’t let it spill over into ‘cockiness’.
Remember, come test day you will naturally have that shot of adrenilin from the butterfiles and you don’t want to overcook say the reverse, or try jumping into a gap that isn’t really on at a roundabout.

GL,
Jon

PS Your trainer stole ‘my Terry’s’ line about checking the girl out on the way past. Or maybe it’s just something they learn at ‘trainer school’

[ash_001]

Evil8Beezle:
Thanks for posting again, great read, and glad it’s going so well. just make sure your head doesn’t explode!

ROG may even add some punctuation for you… LOL

I added paragraphs for ROG what more does he want lmao yes going really well so far hope it runs this smoothly test day

Crusher75:
Very nice read
And thanks for the extra spacing this time

Sounds like you’re having a great time - love the enthusiasm.
And I may sound a bit like ‘dad’ here, but definitely keep that confidence, just don’t let it spill over into ‘cockiness’.
Remember, come test day you will naturally have that shot of adrenilin from the butterfiles and you don’t want to overcook say the reverse, or try jumping into a gap that isn’t really on at a roundabout.

GL,
Jon

PS Your trainer stole ‘my Terry’s’ line about checking the girl out on the way past. Or maybe it’s just something they learn at ‘trainer school’

Yes enjoying it thoroughly at the moment how has it been going for you since you have past did you manage to pass class one in then end or still to come? Ile try not to im not really like that you can never learn enough you can never know everything. I know it all comes down to test day hopefully the gods are with me on Tuesday!

[rog]

Be prepared for the day 3 training dip where it seems you have forgotten how to drive anything !!

If it happens do not fret as it will right itself after a good nights kip

It may not happen to you from what I have read so far

[ash_001]

ROG:
Be prepared for the day 3 training dip where it seems you have forgotten how to drive anything !!

If it happens do not fret as it will right itself after a good nights kip

It may not happen to you from what I have read so far

Ohh no ROG don’t say that and I cant sleep at the moment up at 5.15am yawn

[ash_001]

Day 3

The alarm goes off at the usual time of 5.15am again, this morning I am especially tired only had 5 hours sleep so I’m thinking some things might go wrong today . I arrive at the training centre a little early as usual (Better to be early and sitting around then late is my philosophy) once it hits 6.50am I stroll in to be greeted by Ollie again. He chucks the keys at me and says “go do your walk around checks you know where the lorry is”. So off I trot and complete my vehicle checks everything seems fine as per usual.

Ollie comes over finally and hops in I start her up and off we go! Ollie starts with general chit chat about the previous days training trying to find out where I went if I had any problems ect. I explain I had no real problems but would like to find all the restriction signs today so I am aware of their whereabouts.

As I thought today is mainly polishing up on little things, driving test routes and Ollie trying to catch me out on tight corners and restrictions ect. First of all I get to a smallish mini roundabout covered in roadworks Ollie tells me to take the third exit so I do so correctly not hitting the kerb or cutting anyone up, result! (I can tell by Ollie’s face he is impressed )

The next roundabout I can remember Ollie tells me a little last minute to take the third exit which is actually just past 12 o clock so have to approach in the right hand lane or straddle lanes. Ollie told me I can straddle lanes if I wish or take it in the right hand lane but he told me slightly late so by this time I obviously have cars coming up on my inside so I have to take the right hand lane. I approach and don’t actually come close enough to the kerb and have now caused the car behind me in the left hand lane to move over a little bit (This would be a minor or most probably a fail). I then pull off and actually do a U turn so I can attempt this again! Second time I approach straddling both lanes an ■■■■■■■■ comes up on the right hand side of me on to the other side of the road to overtake me (I’m not sure if this is a fail as I could not do anything and was holding a dominant position in the road). On to the roundabout I take that fine until I approach my leaving exit I take my exit but it is tight and the car on the opposite side of the road sh*ts himself and moves over although I was nowhere near him this may be deemed as a minor or failure I presume?

Next off lots of independent driving Ollie only gives directions of where to go nothing else. He does not correct me at any stage and is not saying much at all I can only presume this is a good thing . I drive for around an hour by this time its hitting half 8 9 o clock we stop and stretch our legs for five minutes. Ollie then asks me to pull over a couple of times when it is safe to do so, he tries to catch me out between two junctions and a bus stop but I do not bite and drive on until I can actually stop. But I could have stopped just after the bus stop it would have been ok as I was far enough past the junction and away from the other junction but not blocking the bus stop. (Nice try Ollie I think we both win here lol).

I then drive on to a place they call mirror alley this is a long windy stretch of which is very thin road with lots of trees overhanging waiting to catch your nearside mirror! There is a solid white line down the middle, you can pass cars on this road no problem but anything bigger it is advised to stop or you will smash your mirrors on the overhanging trees. I have to ride the white line at a sensible speed to prevent myself from smashing my mirror on the trees I complete this successfully. Ollie is very impressed as I pulled over for a large vehicle coming the other way without his say so . Further along this road I reach a 40 sign with luminous green behind it Ollie explains this is a massive tell tell sign of danger ahead. Of course he is correct there is a narrow piece of road with a blind corner with cars hurtling down the hill the other way, you must crawl across this or fail, I do so correctly and move on.

More independent driving next Ollie shows me where the test centre is on route and we carry on in to Botley, avoiding two walls that stick out in the road you have to ride the white line to pass one of them and on the other one actually cross the white line uphill with lots of traffic coming towards you. (You can be sat here for quite some time I was just patient until someone flashed me). I am driving along a road with a solid white line with hatchings in between them I knew you could cross a solid white line but only if the vehicle or object was traveling 10 mph or less, I didn’t know it was different for hatchings! There was cars blocking my way waiting to turn left in to a minor side road which led to a few houses there was a dustcart blocking them so they are waiting patiently to turn in to the junction so I had no choice but to overtake. Ollie said if this situation arises make sure you hold back for a minute or so before going out over the line and talk the examiner through what you are doing so he is aware you know not to cross the line unless exceptional circumstances. I’m glad I came across this as this could be a potential failure again.

Again I carry on heading back towards the training centre now with independent driving following road signs and avoiding restrictions. Ollie says how it’s a shame I don’t live nearer to Porchester as he has some contacts that are looking out for good drivers and he would happily recommend me! (Wow I can’t believe my ears!) We finally make it back to the training centre no harm done today, Ollie says to me “The last couple of hours driving were faultless nearly a perfect drive keep it up”.

So again no real problems again today I am glad to say just tiny little things to brush up on, making sure I’m not hesitant at roundabouts making sure I wait until there are lane markings visible or lane boards and making sure I’m picking the right times to enter the roundabout ect. Yes Rog I had no midweek dip in training so all good especially how tired I was!

Next day of training is Monday so because I wouldn’t have posted a log for three days don’t think I have died or anything . Be sure to look back on Monday for the last training log before test!

[evil8beezle]

Almost sounds too easy for you! Keep it up and best of luck Monday!

[rog]

No more blog til Monday

[ash_001]

Evil8Beezle:
Almost sounds too easy for you! Keep it up and best of luck Monday!

Thank you very much test Tuesday at 8.45am fingers crossed there’s no morons on the road

ROG:
No more blog til Monday

I know ROG sorry work tomorrow and then no training over weekend Monday could be interesting as driving my work van over the weekend :S and was I correct in the bits which I questioned like the white lines with chevrons and the moron that over took me when straddling?

[paul_pstt]

A bit of clarification on the “crossing solid lines” rules:

Double white lines where the line nearest you is solid. This means you MUST NOT cross or straddle it unless it is safe and you need to enter adjoining premises or a side road. You may cross the line if necessary, provided the road is clear, to pass a stationary vehicle, or overtake a pedal cycle, horse or road maintenance vehicle, if they are travelling at 10 mph (16 km/h) or less.
Laws RTA 1988 sect 36 & TSRGD regs 10 & 26
130
Areas of white diagonal stripes or chevrons painted on the road. These are to separate traffic lanes or to protect traffic turning right.
If the area is bordered by a broken white line, you should not enter the area unless it is necessary and you can see that it is safe to do so.
If the area is marked with chevrons and bordered by solid white lines you MUST NOT enter it except in an emergency.
Laws MT(E&W)R regs 5, 9, 10 & 16, MT(S)R regs 4, 8, 9 & 14, RTA sect 36 & TSRGD 10(1)
Sounds like you’re doing fine. I would prefer you not to keep thinking about what is a minor fault/major fault/fail. This, in itself, sometimes leads to a failure. The person with the clipboard will decide bearing in mind all the circumstances.

Look forward to the positive outcome, Pete

[ash_001]

Peter Smythe:
A bit of clarification on the “crossing solid lines” rules:

Double white lines where the line nearest you is solid. This means you MUST NOT cross or straddle it unless it is safe and you need to enter adjoining premises or a side road. You may cross the line if necessary, provided the road is clear, to pass a stationary vehicle, or overtake a pedal cycle, horse or road maintenance vehicle, if they are travelling at 10 mph (16 km/h) or less.
Laws RTA 1988 sect 36 & TSRGD regs 10 & 26
130
Areas of white diagonal stripes or chevrons painted on the road. These are to separate traffic lanes or to protect traffic turning right.
If the area is bordered by a broken white line, you should not enter the area unless it is necessary and you can see that it is safe to do so.
If the area is marked with chevrons and bordered by solid white lines you MUST NOT enter it except in an emergency.
Laws MT(E&W)R regs 5, 9, 10 & 16, MT(S)R regs 4, 8, 9 & 14, RTA sect 36 & TSRGD 10(1)
Sounds like you’re doing fine. I would prefer you not to keep thinking about what is a minor fault/major fault/fail. This, in itself, sometimes leads to a failure. The person with the clipboard will decide bearing in mind all the circumstances.

Look forward to the positive outcome, Pete

Thank you, its not that I’m thinking its a fail I just want clarification so that I understand what is a fail and what isn’t if I did something wrong I would not automatically assume that it was a fail as like you said it may not be and I’m just chucking the test away. so when I crossed the box with hatchings and a solid line I should not have done so I should have waited until the dustcart had finished and cars have turned in?

[paul_pstt]

As it wasn’t an emergency you should have waited:

[/If the area is marked with chevrons and bordered by solid white lines you MUST NOT enter it except in an emergency.
quote]

Hope this helps, Pete