Hi all,
I have almost completed 25yrs in the Military in my earlier career I was a regular, PCV, HGV 1 and 2 driver due to circumstances I have been desk bound for the latter years. I’m looking at returning to Driving as a career would this count as experience. I have used tachographs in the past and drove various trailers, tankers, explosives, buses and will complete ADR/CPC shortly.
Will I just have to complete a medical as I’m over 45 to get back on the road. I will be in South Wales so have had a look and would be willing to pick up any HGV 1 or 2 work.
Would it be beneficial to go out with a HGV training provider to go through the basics like reversing, coupling and uncoupling. How much do these companies charge and when I drove Artics they were 18 gear manual box are they now automatic. Thanks.
What year did you pass your original tests?
I ask that as it seems DVLA do not hold records of past passes before 1984 - I THINK 
- so getting categories re-instated with just a D4 medical and without passing them all again depends on that date
PS - thank you for helping to keep us all safe for 25 years 
Half a day with a decent trainer on an artic will get you back in the swing again
I remember getting told when about to drive my first auto truck - LET THE AUTO DO ITS JOB - so dont mess with it unless it is an extreme situation that the auto cannot have been programmed to handle
Passed HGV 2 in 1997, HGV 1 in 1999 so not that far back. I just remember having dramas coming down the gears in a late 80s Sneddon Atkinson trying to double de-clutch and get the correct revs to get the gear. Hopefully things have got easier and a drive around for half a day will get me sorted.
NgRich:
Passed HGV 2 in 1997, HGV 1 in 1999 so not that far back. I just remember having dramas coming down the gears in a late 80s Sneddon Atkinson trying to double de-clutch and get the correct revs to get the gear. Hopefully things have got easier and a drive around for half a day will get me sorted.
D4 medical and half a day refresher + driver cpc 35 hours + digicard = sorted
Trucks are ridiculously easy to drive now almost all automatics (they’re not really automatics as such they’re automated manual gearboxes that don’t drive especially well but save the drivetrain from non driver’s damage), what you will miss are rear windows in the cab so its all mirror work (increasingly cameras replacing mirrors) when blind siding and no peeking through the back window when turning left into somewhere tight and no back window to look through when picking up and dropping trailers.
The cabs are bigger, the roads incredibly busy, delivery points manned in too many cases by the ignorant and ill mannered.
The biggest change you’ll notice is the sheer incomptence of so many behind the wheels of trucks, also gone to a large extent is the friendliness once normal among lorry drivers, drivers on nights out no longer go for a pint together, they self isolate locked inside the cab in too many cases.
Lots more electrical suzies than before, but one less air line, the blue line is long gone, brakes are all spring brakes now, little or no danger of finding no air in a trailer with it running away from you when you try to pick it up, trucks now on air suspension which doesn’t mean you get a better ride in the cab.
Where trucks used to have switches, many now have menus to select from for various functions, all makes are different.
You’ll pick it up again in no time but you might not enjoy much of what you find.
Ok then good and bad points then same as everything else. Technology seems to help and hinder a lot do most Cabs have Sat Nav or Computers built in with hands free systems.
Whats the best HGV 1 option my background is mainly Tanker work and will have ADR but would be open to anything.
Multidrop HGV 2 could be an option as well or I have a HIAB qualification so even building merchants I would be happy to do. It will depend of whats on offer in South Wales.
I passed my HGV 2 in 1988 mate, in a 4.5 ton Bedford.
Got auto upgraded to class 2 in cluding trailer when the classes all changed late 90’s.
Went for an assessment with driving school in the Rigid with 4 over 4 gearbox.
Piece of cake compared to what I learnt in, haven’t driven a truck for 30 years nearly, soon got back into it.
Class 1 booked for Sept, hoping for weekend work to start with along side my other work to get some experience in, quite fancying a crack at container work.
Your right drving hundreds of miles in MK’s with A frame trailers full of equipment. Trying to find farms in Sennybridge or other places like Otterburn in the dark with a map. Driving a modern truck with power steering and a radio will be easier I hope.
I will just be after something that is a reasonable wage and a break from management. May go into another line of work in the future but with de-mob approaching I just want something less consuming so I can get a good work-life balance.