After several months without driving an artic it was back to Scania in Purfleet to try an pass my C+E for the third time.
I had a day of training before the test and met up with Dave my instructor at 8am. And the first things I did was a trailer change.
Once again I had hurt my hands. My right thumb is sprained but on the mend and my left thumb has a strained ligament and is not in good shape. So with my left hand strapped up I set about the trailer change. It all came flooding back to me and I made the change without much input from Dave - apart from a bit of help trying to work out how I can reattach the airline without hurting my hand(s) too much.
At 8.30 Alex turned up. I’m sharing a cab with Alex for the next few days. Another interesting fact about Alex is that his Dad runs Maritime - hence the LGV training.
I drove first and we ventured into Romford as we retraced my test route from last time and looked at the offending roundabout that I fell foul of in the test. This time everything went well, apart from a few gear selection problems. I never could resist pressing the ratio change button!
After an hour on the road, Alex and I swapped places and he drove through Grays town centre. It’s a horrible one way system at the best of times, but a van parked by a junction makes it even harder and Alex does well to negotiate the tight space.
After lunch it was off the the Maritime yard to do some reversing - my favourite. Amazingly it all falls into place and I get it in in one attempt every time. A few controlled stops and a trailer change (this one does hurt my hand) and a bit of time watching Alex do the same and it’s back out on the road.
This time it’s my turn to drive through Grays. Roadworks which have appeared since Alex’s drive through earlier actually make it easier because there is less traffic in the one way system. With that safely out of the way it’s back to Scania’s yard to end the day.
I just hope the driving hope as well tomorrow.