Feel so deflated after today’s class 2 fail!

NEW AND WANNABE DRIVERS (INTERACTIVE)
1

I’m not all that sure I’m cut out for this anymore!
After such a aweful day I’m really not to sure I should be throwing good money after bad.

My head was blown as soon as I got into the truck and I had airbag malfunction warning flashing up and screaming sirens into the truck! Was panicked I was gonna get moved truck at the last moment and it didn’t get much better from there.
On top of that I hadn’t been in the truck since Friday and took me 5 mins to get used to the breaks on it again.
Anyway it only took another 5 mins to be returning to the yard after a group of kids crossed the road 15ft from a crossing and continued to walk down the side of the truck in the road, while looking in my mirrors to see where they were another one who was previously chatting on the curb decided to turn abruptly and cross at the crossing, needless to say as I was practically in the crossing before they turned I had to slam on!
Serious error and back to the yard!

Honestly feel at £300 a go this is gonna be unsustainable

2

Did you have a warm up practice hour before test :question:

Did you go with PSTT :question:

3

No I didn’t ROG, it wasn’t suggested. I was even quite apprehensive that the training ran until Friday with test on the Monday but I pretty much told it won’t have any impact. I can pretty much guarantee it did.

And like I say I wasn’t told about the fault, it was something I discovered by myself while adjusting the seat and doing my basic checks. When I went to the office it was known about so it wasn’t deemed a issue.

Anyway i rebooked but it’s a month away and I can just see myself being in the same or worse situation again.
To be fair I travelled a decent way to get to the training center but with hindsight maybe I should have stayed local where I at least knew the roads well.

4

And yes rog I went with PSTT

5

No warm up drive prior to test with PSTT :exclamation: - is that normal practice I wonder :question:

6

Ah, I have no idea. Anyway I’m not here to ruffle feathers just a bit disappointed and feel pretty much everything went against me today… at least what could go wrong In ten mins seemed too! I’ve arranged a warm up hour for the day of the resit but come to think of it I better make sure it’s in the same vehicle as I’m “used to” as otherwise that will be me up [zb] creak without a paddle

7

Stick with it.
You went for your licence with good reason.

You’ve had a crap day; put it down to experience and go one better next time [emoji6]

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8

IMHO I’d stop where I was and wait, and explain to the examiner that I’m not moving an inch until they’re out of the way. If I’m creating an obstruction - so be it. At the end of the day THEY are the people causing the problem, and I’ll be damned if I’m ever going to hit/run over a pedestrian in any vehicle.

It sounds like they were walking on the road down the side of the vehicle when there was a footpath to use? Which side?

I’m sorry to hear you had that situation. :frowning:

9

Hi Jimbob, (sorry long post incoming lol)

Sorry to hear that it didn’t go to plan bud, It took me 4 goes to pass mine, I sat there many times thinking this isn’t for me, I can’t pass why bother trying again hell the first time I failed I sat feeling sorry for myself and drive off round the corner to have a cry, I had built a lot up in my head to pass and the fail really made me doubt everything.

But it’s not your driving, you can drive the thing, you did well in your training, just your head got to you, the nerves got a bit to much stopped you from being able to think clearly, it is a lot more stressful having the examiner sat there than your instructor and it takes a split second and boom failed. Booked in again, the practice before will get you right back into it.

So what advice can I give? I did my training with PSTT, and came down from Aberdeen so the drive down gave me lots of time to think what if I pass I can do, fail means bsck to the job that is driving me nuts and generally worked myself up to much. So last time I went down and passed I had test first thing on Monday with an hr before, so to try and be as relaxed as I could I drove down on Saturday got a hotel to give myself a day before to relax and it made me feel a lot better, nice and quiet, and apart from going for a few snacks, and a little drive around the area i sat in bed watched TV and YouTube got a takeaway and did sod all else, if you do have to travel to get there and can afford it/time off work I would certainly recommend it.

So test day, so many times I heard to just enjoy the drive, and though what the heck are you talking about, but it does make sence to me now, I tried to keep as much thoughts of what I’m going todo if I pass, what can I do if I fail out of my head, I just concentrated on everything I was doing, deep breaths, talked to myself about what I needed todo, avoided looking at the clock, the examiner as much as I could and keep the window down so lots of fresh air in the cab, and well it worked.

I nearly failed a couple times for hesitation and knew I was doing it with one luck shined on me and the other where I wasn’t sure what todo but as the examiner said pulled my self together and got on with it. You have the skills, you just need to keep the nerves under control and a pinch of luck! If it takes a few goes to pass who cares, trust me it is worth the feeling like crap, I dont think I stopped grinning like a Cheshire cat on the drive home and with traffic and couple stops for food and to use the look was nearly 9 hours.

All the best for the next time bud!

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10

Dont give up, you can and will do it :slight_smile: You have got some really good advice and nice responses here…I have also gone with PSTT but am a bit further behind you in the training. Remember its just a little hiccup along the way

11

Hi jimbob, first of all apologies for the issue with the truck, when the light came on, we had the garage look at it, this problem had been sorted. When the truck was set up for test the light was not on. These things are out of our control, with the number of sensors on modern trucks this can happen from time to time. We are also a good position, should the worst have happened we have another truck to that is almost identical that we could have put you in.
In regard to putting you straight in for test without a warmup drive, we have been training like this for over 20 years with great results. If anyone wants a warmup drive, we have no problem with the candidate asking for this when booking the course.
Please don’t be put off, you will do it next time. You just had bad luck on the day, this could have happened to anyone.
If we didn’t think you could pass, we would have had a chat with you and arranged some more training.
Thanks, Paul

12

Interesting to read the response from PSTT. I am personally responsible, as the former owner of PSTT, for the “no warm up” policy. I have been a driver trainer close to 50 years so I know a little bit about it. In my experience, the hour warm up that is traditionally given before a test serves no real purpose apart from getting the truck and candidate to the test centre. The drive on the way to the centre regularly has no correlation with the drive on the test. In fact, I have had candidates really worry me on the way to test - and they come back with a comfortable pass. Sadly, I’ve also seen it where the drive pre-test has been superb but the test has fallen apart. This, to me, shows that the drive, of itself, is of little or no value.

Now move on a few years. PSTT had the very first private driving test centre in the UK. It was the pilot for the scheme which has now expanded considerably. But, being based at the test centre also means there is no requirement to travel before the test. At this point, I decided the scrub the traditional warm up drive. Result - no difference. Still, most folks passed and a small number didn’t do it that day. But, anyone wanting a warm up can have it provided it’s mentioned at the time of booking.

I am known in the industry for being a bit of a Maverick. It was I who, nearly 40 years ago, introduced the concept of 1:1 training. This broke every rule in the book at the time! Since then I’ve also conducted training in 7 and 8 hour sessions where this has been helpful to the candidate. Everyone will say this doesn’t work. But, in my experience, it makes zero difference to the outcome. It takes a skilled instructor to manage the time correctly so that everything is done and practiced but without brain - fry.

The matter of the warning buzzer on the truck: I was concerned about this so I had a word. (The company is now nothing to do with me but I’m still interested). The normal practice is for the vehicle to be positioned ready for the start of test so that all is ready for the candidate. This is often done by the yard man but may equally be done by an instructor if there’s one handy. In this particular instance, the yard man positioned it. The buzzer came on and was quickly diagnosed as a switch fault on the air bag system. This is in no way dangerous or indicative of poor maintenance. It’s really just one of those things. A word was had with the examiner on site who agreed that there was no problem so no need to swap vehicles. An identical vehicle was available as spare; not many trainers can offer this. The effort was made to catch the candidate but, for whatever reason, this didn’t succeed so he didn’t know beforehand. This is a pity but no-one’s perfect.

As for the reason for the test outcome, I’m not going to comment. Experience has taught me that, without being there, it’s very difficult to offer sound advice.

Since I parted with PSTT, nothing has changed operationally so I have every confidence in continuing my support of their efforts in providing the best quality training for many miles around. And the fact that some folks have travelled from the Western Isles to take training probably says something of the hard earned reputation.

Take care all, Pete S :laughing: :laughing:

13

I’d just like to say I’m certainly not here like I have said previously to russle any feathers.

Tbf what was said to me on the day regarding the truck was that the malfunction had become apparent during the mornings test and it was “believed “ to be a sensor fault and in fact the company that came to fix it arrived just as I left for test (luckily for him he didn’t have long too wait for my return) maybe just maybe they had hoped this would be rectified by test as the guy was clearly called out at short notice.

To be honest looking back I am quite disappointed I was left to find this out for myself as literally 5 mins before my test as I was adjusting the seat and checking over the vehicle I found this out for myself which had me running round like a blue bottomed fly back to the office worrying if I were to Be moved vehicle. I had of course already been and reported my attendance so a mention of the issue wouldn’t have gone a miss.

Unfortunately I wasn’t aware that another vehicle was effectively the same but irrespective of this it wasn’t conducive to a calm relaxed attempt that I was hoping for.

In terms of a warm up drive, personally I feel it would have made a massive difference as I’d not been in the vehicle for 72 hours since I last drove it and in the meantime had driven a couple of other vehicles and drove from Manchester in the morning. To be honest I would have preferred test on the last day of my training perhaps rather than a weekend off but beggers can’t Be choosers.

There was also some downtime during my training that I would have preferred not to miss out on really as it appears I could have done with every minute I could have had.
Overall I enjoyed training and given PSTT reputation I obviously could have done a lot worse going elsewhere.

I did arrange a retest in the office afterwards but unfortunately it isn’t for getting close to a month so any issues I developed over a weekend are likely to have magnified by then. Maybe I’m just being pessimistic but I suppose I will have to roll the dice one last time. I will have to ring the office soon as I am expecting confirmation of test by email which I am waiting for at the moment.

14

If you did a weekend course Sat/Sun then test Monday do you think that would’ve been better.

I did class 2 over a solid 2 days and my cat D the same way and both passed 1st time …did my class 1 1st time over 4 days n failed.HTH.

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15

I’m not sure mate to be honest. I don’t really know what happened on the day. It was a bit of a odd feeling really! I came in and felt a little lost… id had 72 hours away, it was my instructors day off so I didn’t really get chance to talk throughout the process with anyone and then with the truck playin up my confidence was shot.

I can make all the excuses under the sun I guess but it was my mistake on the road so I can’t really say no more on whether I’d have been better off under different circumstances or not.

I guess if I get the retest I booked in for it’s going to be under even more trying conditions after almost a month away. I do feel the weekend off set me back. I think what seems to be paramount Is having continuity rather than a break… for a newbie it was like setting foot in a truck for the first time again but with all the nerves of a examiner over me.
I was desperate to get booked in which in itself took 10+ weeks so I took what was offered. On reflection maybe my eagerness came back to haunt me a little bit and I should have held out for a session that ended in a test straight after training. Tbh I don’t know if how it was set out with training tue,wed,thurs ,fri and test Monday is common practice or not… it wasn’t ideal that’s for sure from a personal perspective but for many others I’m sure they would just roll with it.

16

As a follow on from my previous posts I just wanted to ask you guys your opinions on whether with the new guidance you would bother to go ahead and retest for class C?
I’m having to borrow the money from family to retest and it’s working on the basis that if I fail again that’s pretty much it from there and I’m on my own which would of course mean my CE would have to be delayed considerably until I could save up for it.
If I pass on the other hand family would help me move up.
The dilemma is if I blow another £300 on a restest that doesn’t go to plan I’m further behind being able to move forward.
Feels like catch 22 really… anyway opinions?

17

Might as well wait and train on C&E, will cost a bit more, but if you were doing C to go on C&E anyway why would you put ya self to worry about taking two test.

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18

Just because without “proving” I’m cut out for it family won’t throw another 1.5k at it just in case I fluff it again :frowning: basically I have to pay it back either way but they won’t enable me to indebt myself too far.

19

And then of course would trainers expect me to do the whole lot again without the pass @ C

20

Trucker Jimbob:
And then of course would trainers expect me to do the whole lot again without the pass @ C

You should have paid £300 for pass protection, if this is still available? This gets you up to 3 retests at no extra cost.

I expect your instructor thought you were up to test standard while training? If so, I would go for CE training with pass protection.