Hi all, still in two minds as what to do training wise. I’ve been told about passing in a drawbar, and then doing a few hours in a artic.
But what if you swap it around and pass in an artic, and then do a few hours in a drawbar, just to get to grips with the different coupling up procedure, etc.
Because backing up to a drawbar is obviously gonna be a bit different to hooking up to a proper trailer?
Any comments guys/gals
Cheers
Depends if you go to a firm that run both i suppose.In the 24yrs i’ve been driving i’ve never driven a drawbar.I think the drawbar is easier to pass in.So might be easier to do it in that.And then get few hours doing the Artic coupling.
Most CE work is artic. So it makes sense to either train in w+d and follow that up with around 3 hours in an artic or just train in artic from square one. Artic is a little more difficult than w+d. Cant really see the point in training on artic then doing w+d unless you have the prospect of w+d work…in which case you may just as well train on w+d and have done.
Hope that helps, Pete 
You’re very unlikely to need training in a drawbar after passing in an artic, because the vast majority of class 1 work is in artics. Most drawbars operated by British companies are either brick delivery vehicles (you’ll need a HIAB certificate to get that work), demountables (mostly in retail and parcel logistics) and a few skip and rubbish carriers. If you do get offered drawbar work and you’ve trained and passed on an artic, I’d recommend getting drawbar training because most other class 1 drivers will have it already. That said, it’s much easier to pass in a drawbar truck. You’ve got your whole career to learn how to drive artics afterwards but I’d recommend paying for an extra lesson.