Rob K:
LGVTrainer:
PPS: This site has a thread where people recommend trainers.Despite members having passed with us and telling the board, we don’t yet make the list. Perhaps I should have asked these people to join the board. www.flairtraining.co.uk/studentgallery
How stupid do you think we are?
That’s exactly what I was thinking.
This has to be a wind-up surely
LGVTrainer:
To those mentioned below and anyone else that cares enoughAs The course is finally about to get underway :-
Coffeeholic:
I understand LGVTrainer’s location is in Essex but the more of his posts that I read the more I am convinced he is actually in Lightwater.Where is Lightwater and why do you think I’m there. Trust me Chelmsford is my place
To Animal: For the sake of clarity please ask the specific question again and I will reply. Sorry I didn’t reply to your satisfaction previously.
To Wheelnut: I’m sure if we had met you would mention it, unless of course you actually liked me at the time
To Almose-truckin: Millions? LOL I run one truck and teach on it myself. Please don’t believe everything because it’s in print. PS. Thanks for noticing the help I try to provide to all board members. You are one of the first to mention that.
To 44 Tonne Ton: Please be specific about my track record. Don’t quote the Daily Mirror. Quote your in depth personal knowledge. If you want I will yet again describe my track record.
Finally: To everyone that wishes Rubberducky good luck I will not let you or him down. I can’t guarantee a pass but I can guarantee he will be ready for it.
PPS: This site has a thread where people recommend trainers.Despite members having passed with us and telling the board, we don’t yet make the list. Perhaps I should have asked these people to join the board. flairtraining.co.uk/studentgallery.htm
Regards
John
Flair Training
I presume libel proceedings against the Mirror are under way then?
Users browsing this forum: 44 Tonne Ton, Saaamon, shorts, Stefluc, Wheel Nut, Yahoo [Bot] and 4 guests
To all.
I am always intrigued as to who the guests are on this forum 
im often one of the guests (on entire forum not just this thread) as i forget to log in 
Well the journey down wasn’t to painful it only took 2hrs 40 mins and I don’t think I got any speeding tickets! I have only just got on the Internet, the wifi here wasn’t working so I fixed that and retuned the tv so I had more than 2 channels to watch, theres 5 now lol!
So day 1,
I hardly had any sleep, not sure why! it was like the night before my last test where I just couldn’t sleep, so the alarms gone off at 6.30am and i really feel tired and not really in the mood for driving, 2 cans of red bull and a couple of smokes later and im feeling much better. 
7.15am I see John pull up on the other side of the road, this is it I thought c+e training about to begin, we head to the local test centre for a look around then it was my turn to drive, john showed me all the controls of the lorry and explained the gearbox to me which is a 4 over 4 or slapover, he said when you are ready hit the road. It is all going through my head now what I already know about driving a LGV, check mirrors, blind spot, mirrors again, it was a bit strange for the first couple of minutes seeing a huge trailer following what seems like a huge truck but after a couple of corners and turns I felt at ease with the way the trailer behaved and my confidence just grew and I thought well this isn’t too bad. I picked up the way the gearbox worked straight away and was straight into block changing up and down and doing a really smooth drive, we drove around Chelmsford for about an hour or so then went back to the test centre to meet another student who was sitting a retest, I watched the reverse procedure and the couple and uncouple part of the test to see how it was done, and good news he passed.
Once that was done we picked up another student who was doing the c+e course with me, it was me back in the seat again, im still feeling quite awake thanks to the 2 cans of red bull and I put in another smooth drive, I positioned the truck well most of the time and I was starting to feel like I was at one with the truck and the roads. I think John was quite pleased with my driving, BUT there’s always a BUT its my making progress fault again, he pulled me up on it a couple of times today and its quite frustrating but I think we may have fixed that now as it wasn’t mentioned again.
John asked me how I thought it was going and I said no worries its all going well I think, so he said he would take me round one of most difficult test routes to see how I got on, I didn’t find it too difficult really, I thought this is much easier than driving round spaghetti junction in Birmingham where it can be a nightmare even with local knowledge. So we have both done a few drives each now so we go off to do some uncouple and recouple, We both have a go at this, it went quite well, bit of a shock taking the airlines out but I knew it was coming, I will go into this in more detail on my next post and that will be a good time to take some pictures and put them up here for you.
To summarise the day it went really well, I did make a car slow down on a roundabout that wasn’t good, but it reminded me not to get over confident and not to take any 50/50 chances, It wasn’t a blatant cut up but he did have to slow down a bit for me, All in all a great day, im looking forward to some sleep now and start again tomorrow.
Seems like the first day went very well then which is good. touch or hop any kerbs? How do you find driving C+E compaired to Cat C? i found artic to be much more pleasent to drive. Ah yeah gotta love the 4 over 4 slapover box, learnt with that box on my Cat C.
Goodluck tomorrow mate, keep drinking them redbulls
Sounds like your having fun mate, good luck with it all, hope it goes well for you!
brawngp:
Seems like the first day went very well then which is good. touch or hop any kerbs? How do you find driving C+E compaired to Cat C? i found artic to be much more pleasent to drive. Ah yeah gotta love the 4 over 4 slapover box, learnt with that box on my Cat C.Goodluck tomorrow mate, keep drinking them redbulls
Nope didnt touch any kerbs, came pretty close once or twice 
To be honest im not finding much difference between a rigid or wag and drag, the principles are the same when it comes to road positioning and cornering, im looking forward to the reverse practising that should be fun 
LGVTrainer:
To those mentioned below and anyone else that cares enoughTo Animal: For the sake of clarity please ask the specific question again and I will reply. Sorry I didn’t reply to your satisfaction previously.
Finally: To everyone that wishes Rubberducky good luck I will not let you or him down. I can’t guarantee a pass but I can guarantee he will be ready for it.
PPS: This site has a thread where people recommend trainers.Despite members having passed with us and telling the board, we don’t yet make the list. Perhaps I should have asked these people to join the board. flairtraining.co.uk/studentgallery.htm
Regards
John
Flair Training
Sorry but I dindt realise that you had answered my question that i have asked in not only this thread but the original
( sorry but too tired with the lack of interest atm to look at that 1 have more important things on )
Day 2,
Im feeleing much better today with having 6 hours sleep, we meet up at the truck, did our daily walk around checks and hit the roads. To start off we go around the country side roads with narrow lanes and tight corners so we could make a few people late for work lol i was more consiouss of making progress today as i didnt want to be told about it again and it must have worked as it wasnt mentioned
On my next to drive we go into chelmsford town center again! I dont know what it is about car drivers that dont bloody indicate on the roundabouts,i think maybe they are having revenge for being late for work As like yesterday im still feeling confident, my driving is still at a highish standard, my gear changes are still smooth, road awareness and planning are still good and im making loads of mirror checks. I still havent hit a kerb or done anything really silly as yet!
I did mess up on the coupling up bit tho, to be fair we did it in a tight space and i didnt line the truck and trailer up properly, i missed the pin by half an inch but this caused the kingpin to drop, so i tried again without checking the pin and of course it was shut, big mistake but a good one to learn from as i wont do that again.
I still havent taken any pictures yet but we are doing the reverse practice tomorrow and that will be a good time to take some. Thanks to everyone whos following my progress and supporting me, i will do a longer diary tomorrow as time is against me now! im going out for a beer or 2 with John tonight.
So you havent done any reverse practice yet then? on my training we done it from the very 1st day, though i needed all the reversing practice i could get to be honest!! Your training in a wag and drag then? heard they are abit easier/different to reverse than a proper artic? Anyway glads all going good on your training, if it was me i would of hold off on that beer until i had passed. Glad it’s all going well and goodluck tomorrow dont get to drunk tonight
Glad all going well. As has been mentioned, it may not be so advisable to go pub crawling with a week of intensive training. And John should know better than to encourage it.
Good luck for the rest of the week
Dean
Good luck with the reversing - you must be fairly confident as you have not left a lot of time to practice with a test on Friday
dar1976:
Glad all going well. As has been mentioned, it may not be so advisable to go pub crawling with a week of intensive training. And John should know better than to encourage it.Good luck for the rest of the week
Dean
We didnt really go to the pub! It turns out John and i both like to play poker so we went to a poker tournament, I finished 5th and bagged a cool 100quid i didnt even drink it was diet coke all night for me!
As for the reversing, i feel quite confident as i grew up on a farm, i was reversing tractors and trailers since i was about 8 so it should be a breeze
Bed for me now 
rubberduckY1234:
As for the reversing, i feel quite confident as i grew up on a farm, i was reversing tractors and trailers since i was about 8 so it should be a breeze
Just as well you were at the beginning of your learning journey then eh?
Lucky strike for Flair or what?
Oh, and good luck
Good luck Rubberduck…got everything crossed for ya!!! 
pete-b:
rubberduckY1234:
As for the reversing, i feel quite confident as i grew up on a farm, i was reversing tractors and trailers since i was about 8 so it should be a breezeJust as well you were at the beginning of your learning journey then eh?
Lucky strike for Flair or what?
Oh, and good luck
It gets funnier this thread, the lad has an inky C licence and experience of driving tractors and trailers for over 10 years. I do hope he passes on Friday.
Any sign of a charitable donation yet for the initial training and cat C part?
How did the reversing and today’s training go after? any pics of today? Anyway goodluck for test day tomorrow, seems like you should have no problems.
Here is a video of me doing the reverse, it wasnt perfect but good enough
youtube.com/watch?v=Rd3LafMDiSA
Day 3 of my free Flair training course.
We meet up at the truck for 8am, its reverse practice today so we have an hour drive to the practice area, it’s a great spot with loads of room and no one else around, John sets up the cones so its exactly like the actual test. John gives us a demonstration and points out the markers on the lorry that will help us around the course, On the trailer just to the right of the drawbar there is a black marker and also a marker on the mud flap of the trailer, ok so the purpose of the black marker is before you start the reverse turn the steering wheel 1 and a half turns to the right and reverse until you see the black mark in the offside mirror, when you see this its left hand down on full lock until you get around the first cone then straighten it up and keep going in a straight line and head towards the garage bay if you aim for about 8-10 feet in front of the 1st garage cone you can then straighten it up and get a nice parallel reverse into the garage area, then you just look out for the mark on the mud flap on the trailer when you see that mark entering into the black and yellow area its time to stop and job done.
I went into the reversing full of confidence, as it was something I already knew I could do, I did follow Johns advice and instructions completely I did it 8 times in a row, nailed it every time without the need for a shunt. The guy I was training with didn’t have any experience reversing trailers but he also nailed it every time and only needed one shunt, with us feeling happy that we couldn’t improve anymore we did some more uncoupling a few more times until we were happy with the procedure, so all done there and we have a drive back to Chelmsford for some lunch.
In the afternoon we do some mock tests, John took me around another tough route, I felt like i drove really well, but when we got back I was told I was bullying other road users and it may have cost me a test! So ive gone from a timid, slow, careful and cautious driver and not making progress to being a bit of a road pig. It only happened a couple of times, but I did cause a lorry and a car to change direction and speed even though the road was big enough I should of held back, im glad this happened today and not on the test as it is something I’ll be more careful about now. I think today was my worst driving of the week so far; I even hit a kerb just before the test centre, not good, I think im ready for my test now, there isn’t much more I can do to improve so I just hope conditions and luck is on my side on test day.
So far my experience of Flair training and John as the instructor has been top draw, I cannot fault him at all and he knows his stuff.
With my test tomorrow I wont be getting home until late but I should have my conclusion and results up by about 8pm ish. Cross your fingers everyone, and if you are in Chelmsford town around lunch time could you please use your indicators as my mind reading skills are not working properly.
Well done mate, reverse looked more than perfect to me. Looks like you are deffinatley set for your test. But remember dont take any chances there is always that 1 idiot on that road that can cost you your test!! I wish you all the best for your test tomorow 
Oh and as you say it’s better to make these mistakes now before your test then you can sort them and you know you wont do them on test day.
