When I rang the TM yesterday he said I would have somebody with me to advise when needed, that sounded fine to me.
So 2am this morning rolls up & the nightshift said we have some goodnews & some bad news for you. The bad news he’s phoned in sick, The goodnews your going out by yourself!!!. If I could swear I would tell you what I said.
After a few crunchies on the gears I soon got used too it. Had a delivery & a collection got on those bays in about 3 shunts come back too the yard about 12 shunts, just lost it. Apart from that a goodday was had by all.
thrown in at the deep end hey mate 
you haven’t told us what kind of work your on(unless i missed it DOH!!)
what kind of unit are you driving.
as for the reversing just take your time mate no bonus points for rushing it.the further you turn the wheel the harder it is to correct it
bet you loved every minute of it 
well done mate
jon
12 shunts if anyone was watching sounds about right to me. Its called sods law, (I think.)
As to 3 shunts to get onto a bay I’v seen & on a bad day exsperienced worse, much worse. I once took half a dozen shunts in a rigid, to be fair it was raining very heavily & I had no manouvering room or heated mirrors, but it still took a lot more than 3 shunts.
Don’t knock yourself it sounds like a good nights work to me, you got the load there & the truck back, what more could they ask?.
Been at it for a good number of years now, and i still get days like that. and i spend more time going backwards than most
i shunt in our yard and i see allsorts of driving and believe me when i tell you it isnt unusual to see at least 20 drivers a day struggling to get on the bays, so everyone has a mare of a day when nothing goes right.
Like posted above you dont get extra points for getting it on in 1, main thing is not to hit anything.
We have a good laugh about that stuff in our yard, many a time ive heard drivers saying " you had 14 MM on them tyres when you started, best call ATS and get erm changed now" and " you on a sponsored shunt there driver" all light hearted id like to add.
Welldone anyway
bet you loved it too
regards manny
Jonboy, sorry mate I never said what type of motor or type of work I do.
Its RDC Distribution work & we have mainly a Scania fleet with a few Volvo’s. Better not name the company {I still would like to work for them for a bit longer 
}
Alan yep people were watching also we have CCTV camera’s & what anoyed me was that they found it on video or so they, so watch out for me on Youve Been Framed.
Well, thats my first week over now looking back I’m not sure yet if I like the big stuff or my old faithful rigid. My main problem being the reverse. On my training we had a 40ft tandem axle trailer which I could manage now we have a tri-axle which I seem to be over steering with & I cant seem to understand why.
I start back to work at 00.30 Saturday on my own run Didcot & a collection from 1 of 4 different places.
Thanks everybody for your comments & if anybody can help with this over steer thing I’m doing I would be grateful, thanks Colin
m8, I’m newish 2 artics too - the steering in reverse comes easier over the weeks; the best advice I can give you is to
a) don’t rush - its better to have a nice slow reverse letting the trailer do the work and get in in a few shunts (slow reverse gives time to correct without over correcting i find), than rush and have to do more shunts and hold others up longer - it also gives u more thinking time
b) use all available space - so what if Fred who’s been there for 90 years can do it blindfold? If you pull that bit further away you have a bit more manouvering space. Link to a) dont rush, and appraise your move - if in doubt ask someone, 99% of drivers will help you
c) use low split on the reverse, makes the truck go steadier
d) look out the window backwards, mush easier than looking in window
e) avoid trying to go straight back, as its much easier to see the bay, swing the nose towards it, whip the wheel round so that your at a kind of angle, look out the window and slide it in than mess round for 5 mins trying to get straight then look for where you want to be.
these tips have taken about 2 months to accrue, and some days its sweet as, other days a pain in the bum - usually when the manager is watching lol - other days you pop it onto the bay without breaking a brain cell never mind sweat, and it feels great!
good luck
Si
Colin:
…
Thanks everybody for your comments & if anybody can help with this over steer thing I’m doing I would be grateful, thanks Colin
Colin. If you can identify the pivot point of the trailer then it helps. With a tri-axle the pivot will be around the middle axle, I think, and a twin is around the back axle. That said a good approach, small adjustments, a slow speed and plenty of practice is the time honoured advise. One day it just seems to fall into place then another day it goes belly up. The thing is you know that you can do it.
I forgot to say too, if its starting to go Pete Tong, then just pull right out and start again, far better than getting all in a fluster 