Backwards and forwards
Wednesday started with a trailer change and it all went to plan, although I’m beginning to ache in places I didn’t know I had.
I then went onto the reversing. And I was still struggling. But Dave was patient and explained that I was putting on too much lock because it only takes a little bit of movement to get the trailer to go in the direction you want, but it doesn’t happen straight away. After a few disastrous attempts something clicked and I managed to get the artic into the bay with one shunt every time. Dave said on some of these attempts I even had it lined up to go in without a shunt, but lost it when I didn’t get the lock on quickly enough. After a tea break and one more go with one shunt Dave said we’d do a last one before trying the controlled stop. Amazingly I managed to get it into the bay in one go with no need for a shunt; both Dave and I were pleased. But the I think the key is not to let it get too out of hand before opting for a shunt.
Two controlled stops later and we hit the road. Tight town centres and twisty lanes were the route. Generally the driving was okay, although I did clip a few curbs as I failed to judge either the width of the tractor or the length of the trailer - so more work for tomorrow. However towards the end of the day I had a moment of madness. I missed a gear and was too busy thinking about that and turned right at a set of lights which caused a bus to brake hard. Oops. That would have been an automatic fail in the test. But it reminded me that paying attention is the key to safely driving a 44 tonner.