First day done with no drama, two roundabouts where I took the wrong exit but all easily fixed. Round trip with a 40ft container to Nottingham (empty back). As they have put me with one of their very experienced guys it still doesn’t quite feel like I am doing it as a job. He’s really good though, not trying to tell me how to drive but happy to advise when I ask and a god send when it comes to what happens once we got to the drop off.
I’ll report back at the end of the week!
tippers_kiwi:
First day done with no drama, two roundabouts where I took the wrong exit but all easily fixed. Round trip with a 40ft container to Nottingham (empty back). As they have put me with one of their very experienced guys it still doesn’t quite feel like I am doing it as a job. He’s really good though, not trying to tell me how to drive but happy to advise when I ask and a god send when it comes to what happens once we got to the drop off.I’ll report back at the end of the week!
[emoji108]
As per pm, I’m going to give em a shout, never know you could be mentoring me one day…[emoji38]
Looking forward to the weeks final analysis[emoji106]
Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk
So, my first week completed without incident or drama. I hauled Containers, Steel on a Flatbed, Steel Coils in a Curtain Side coil carrier, Steel on a Flatbed and Plywood in a curtain side with day trips from Harwich in Essex to Nottingham, Chichester, Birmingham, Rugby, and Leicester.
It’s hugely helpful having the experienced driver with me and i am learning as much as possible from him. A bit of me is looking forward to being on my own so I can make the mistakes and learn from them as I do tend to try and second guess things with someone watching me. I had the same leading up to my test where I was trying to second guess the instructor and kept getting myself in a pickle but was then much more relaxed on the test when all the decisions were my own and not influenced.
Reversing needs some work but I’m more than happy to take the shunts as needed and I have to say I was much happier about it by the end of the week so while I’m a long way from considering myself proficient I am already feeling much better about it. I believe I might be going to some slightly tighter delivery spots this week so that should up the ante on that.
The 0245 am and 0400 starts have been a shock to the system after 11 months out of work but I know I will calibrate more to that over time and I’ve just got my sleeping stuff sorted so can sleep in the cab the odd night even at base to get an extra bit of time in bed and at the same time get myself comfortable in there before I do it ‘for real’.
I know it is early days but I think I’ve actually started a job I am going to enjoy doing. Hopefully, this Corona Virus panic doesn’t come and screw things up!
Quick update at the end of week 2 and heading into my first week out Solo.
Another good week and I feel ready to get out on my own. It will be good to be able to get into my own routines and to make mistakes and learn things for myself. As helpful as it was having someone showing me the ropes he was almost to keen to help out and speed up the process towards the end, I’ll probably regret saying that by the end of next week 
More midlands and Oxfordshire based loads this last week with Tipper Bodies, Chipboard, Steel Coils, Paper Rolls and a container that was filled with goods and taken back to base for shipping. It rounds out a good 2 weeks of various jobs with various types of access in places. It will take a while before I don’t need a few shunts to get into bays I suspect but I am both comfortable with that and willing to accept it will take a bit of time for it to improve.
I’ve managed to secure the use of a TomTom 6250 so will hopefully be able to find my way without bumping into too many issues with Vehicle Size!
You’ve had more variety in 2 weeks than some drivers get in a lifetime! So valuable and it will train you to be flexible and think for yourself.
I think you’ve made a fantastic start. All the very best for the future, Pete 
Thanks Pete, I’ll post another couple of updates to let you all know how I go over the coming couple of weeks. I agree the variety has indeed already been pretty good.
Week 3 update…I still have a job, for now!
First week out on my own and loved every minute of it. Some tight spaces, some reversing onto bays and it all went reasonably well, I just made sure I was taking my time with EVERYTHING which meant I stayed relaxed. I did manage to back onto a bay perfectly the first time, unfortunately it was bay 17 and not bay 18 
but I managed to fix it nicely!
This week also saw my first night out with a delivery up to Newcastle from Essex. Stayed at Newton Aycliffe lorry park and got to the drop at 0745 the next morning before driving back to Essex.
As far as loads go, I did 2 lots of Tissue Roll on Monday, 45 Ft container to a warehouse on Tuesday, Returned a trailer to the leasing company before heading to Newcastle with a steel coil on Wednesday and 24 tons of paper reels to Leicester on Friday. Another varied week which was great.
It sounds like the work is drying up a little with a lot of places running lean. Usually, I would have been backloaded from Newcastle apparently but there was nothing about to fill an order.
I’ll probably make this the last post on this thread and save you all having to read my weekly synopsis! All I will say is I am still loving it as much as I thought I would, I’ll let you know how it look in a few months 
Well, that went by quickly!!!
Work and home lock down have kept me busy and I have not even checked in here so I thought I’d post a quick update.
As far as I am concerned I have finally found a job that I actually really like doing and I can honestly say I’ve never finished work on a Friday and looked forward to Monday. I might still be in the honeymoon period but for now that is a ■■■■ good sign.
As far as the work goes it continues to be varied, I am getting some nights out but with the roads as they are I’m often able to complete the out and back in a day. I’m getting my head around the driving hours and coming from my previous work I actually quite enjoy having to make some calculations. I’m using some of the skills I picked up in my previous ‘career’ to build an online tool that will take care of a lot of my paperwork and driving hour calculations for me. I’ve also managed to get it to create ov2, txt and gpx files for any drop points I visit so I can add them to my Nav unit easily.
Tippers _kiwi .yes i have been following your own progress reports, i expect it is a different life for you from an office environment you seem to be doing ok ,dont forget us old boys who were driving for years were always making ■■■■-ups , having dings, getting deliveries wrong going to the wrong places, the whole lot ,you will get MR FLASH know it all,OR WOBBLE GOBwhere ever you work.just you worry about your self [zb]every one else because mates are hard to find…
And we never had any help in remembering places it will come “naturally,” i could still take you to most places all over EUROPE where i tipped or loaded and 99% of drivers will be the same.
SO crack on and enjoy it ,how do you think men like me did the job nearly all our working lives, because we enjoyed it,the hassle, the agro, especially the lies,transport was run on lies, both ways…They are waiting for you,is a classic,your loads ready,[not today] once you get your feet under the table, move on no two firms are the same…, remember this, [Familarity builds contempt]dbp.
peggydeckboy:
Tippers _kiwi .yes i have been following your own progress reports, i expect it is a different life for you from an office environment you seem to be doing ok ,dont forget us old boys who were driving for years were always making ■■■■-ups , having dings, getting deliveries wrong going to the wrong places, the whole lot ,you will get MR FLASH know it all,OR WOBBLE GOBwhere ever you work.just you worry about your self [zb]every one else because mates are hard to find…
And we never had any help in remembering places it will come “naturally,” i could still take you to most places all over EUROPE where i tipped or loaded and 99% of drivers will be the same.SO crack on and enjoy it ,how do you think men like me did the job nearly all our working lives, because we enjoyed it,the hassle, the agro, especially the lies,transport was run on lies, both ways…They are waiting for you,is a classic,your loads ready,[not today] once you get your feet under the table, move on no two firms are the same…, remember this, [Familarity builds contempt]dbp.
That sounds like amazing advice and I’ll remember this in years to come. It’s interesting because I hate getting things wrong but over the last few years I have accepted that it will happen and the best thing to do is learn from it and try and avoid it in the future. That seems to carry across everything. I have also noticed most things can be done in many ways and it’s worth just keeping an open mind at all times as you might well find a more efficient and/or better way than you first thought was the best.
Thanks for the above, it’s all been taken onboard