Life at 56mph

A truckers story

2009-11-27T23:01:00.005Z

This isn't a story by me, but a fellow user of www.TruckstopUK.co.uk , a forum for Truckers funnily enough.

I became involved with this site to ask advice when I had just passed my test.

The following link will take you to this site, to be specific it will take you to the forum post for the forum user Captain, who has been posting about his recent trip to France, I don't want to give anything away.

I'm sure there are more posts to come so worth keeping a check here or on the the TruckstopUK site for future installments.

Just grab yourself a beverage and have a read,

Captains French Adventure

UPDATE - The story is now complete, If you haven't started reading you can now see the full story in one go.

A SAMPLE off life @ 56mph

2009-10-24T19:06:00.007+01:00

As it says this is a sample off what I do, I'm not going to go over the same things every time I do a journey post, So I thought I would give you a sample day.

4am - Alarm bursts into life, usual get up dressed, LARGE coffee and breakfast, make lunch ETC ETC ETC.

5am - leave for my 45 minute journey to the depot.

6am - Shift starts, collect and check paperwork for the day. (complain amongst the other drivers about mistakes/how busy we are/etc etc)

fill out name, date,starting town and mileage on a Tachograph, which is a chart disc to record working and driving hours, speed, times and durations off breaks taken.

Vehicle and load checks, The lorry has to be checked everyday to make sure that it is road worthy, (lights/tyres/bodywork/etc) also make sure chiller unit is operational.

The vehicles are split into 2 sections frozen/chill or ambient/chill, so we have to check the loads in both sections are secure, and make sure nothing can fall off any open cages that may be used, open cages are used for all chill and frozen stock, ambient stock is pre picked in roll cages.

6:30am - leave depot

from here it is pretty much the same every drop, once I turn up find all required stock, take it into customers, check the order and get signature and head for next drop,

Through out the day I need to make sure stock remains safe and the chill and/or frozen areas off the vehicle remain within safe temperatures, also in this time I am required by law to take a 45 minute drivers break after 4.5 hours driving time or 6 hours working time, which ever comes first.

When all deliveries are done, head back to the depot.

??pm - arrive back at depot

drive through the truck wash, refuel with white and red diesel(for chiller units), drive back round to cage area off load all cages and take note off any damaged and returned stock to put onto paperwork,

park up and final vehicle check, take out tachograph and put closing details on (finish mileage/date/town)

time for paperwork, fill out all returned/damaged stock, any shortages from orders and any other issues with day, fuel used, start finish time, mileage as well as vehicle temperature during the day.

HOME TIME! WOO! - time for another 45 minute journey home

Well there you have it a sample off my day as a multidrop driver.

How I got to live my life at 56mph

2009-10-19T17:37:00.008+01:00

Like most when I was younger I had a plan, but this changed at high school and decided I was going to become a sparky, but due to an unpleasant time in education i didn't like the idea off going to college, So I went out and worked.

I have done to many jobs to mention, everything from working in the hotel industry to ship refitting , sales and photo copier engineer, there are more but I just wanted to give you the kinda range I tried, I was never 100% happy at any off them if I'm honest, I did enjoy the experiences I gained.

I often thought about what I really wanted to do and kept coming back to my childhood dream job, which was to drive a truck, I had looked into it a few times and it was the cost that stopped me doing it, I had looked at funding options and I didn't fit into any categories (that's a rant for another day).

This however all changed when I was a photocopying engineer, now this job I did enjoy, i loved the challenge it gave me, and id fed my interest in engineering and how things work, However through circumstances beyond my control I had to leave the company, which just happened to be on the same day my wife was signing for the keys for our place in Fife.

I decided I was going to try and change my direction in career, and I was going to follow that childhood dream off one day driving a truck, but again it was the cost that stopped me.

So, the move happened and we ended up in Fife, got settled in and then had to look at the job situation, Job centre bound. Trying to find a job when the 'economic downturn' was kicking in, was not the easiest, especially with no formal skills under my belt.

After a wee conversation with the job centre it was found I was eligible to go on a training course and I was shown those available to me, only 1 stood out. Without missing a beat I said LGV course please and thank you, paperwork got done and that was it (well one slight hic-up in the paperwork but that got sorted) then got an Interview to makes sure I was going to meet all the requirements, told I would get on the course, That was in March 2008...

then the wait,

Had to wait till August before things got rolling, first thing first, Training for the theory test and the test itself, done well in my mock tests, I had done the theory for my car test but it has all changed and obviously had questions regarding to tracking, and what was this hazard perception,

Well I passed both parts

Theory = 100%
Hazard Perception = 85%

Then had to wait for the driving part, it was to be 2 weeks training (10 days) with the test on the last day, waited till October, Superb had my dates to start, where to meet up, Was getting excited, something I had wanted to do was a child was getting closer.

OK, so the training wasn't as bad as I thought. The Vehicle was a MAN TGL 12 ton boxed curtain side, with a 12 speed split gear box (6 over 6). The instructor was Arther from LAGTA, based at Euro central.

On the First day we met in Kirkcaldy, there were 2 off us being trained, and as we found out the other guy lived 3 miles down the road from me we arranged to meet in Kelty to make it easy for all, then licences were checked etc, just to make sure all was legal.

A wee drive round to show us what was expected off us, seemed straight forward TBH, but it always does when your just observing, OK so first 2 hours done, easy enough.

"OK who's going first" the fear in the faces 2 full grown men must have been priceless,

so here I was driving a truck, I was really doing it OMG ITS REALLY HAPPENING, so we did the basics that day,

Each day was pretty much the same thing, driving and maneuvers, much like your car driving lessons,

TEST DAY IS UPON US

I couldn't sleep the night before, we were to meet Arther and the truck at the test centre in Livingston, we had driven the routes, I knew what to expect, but I felt sick all the way there, we did a drive around before the test, did OK but the nerves showed, they had to.

In the test centre, had a look at where the exercises would be done, and then sitting in the waiting room, sweat beading down my face, I wasn't even this nervous on my wedding day, Probably the thought that if I didn't do this I had sat for 8 months for nothing.

I'm first, I'm shaking,

Go through all the usual pre-test formalities,

'OK Mr Davies, please proceed with your vehicle checks'
OK done that

Show me tell me section next, I have to either show him what I would do in a certain situation or explain it to him,

EG:- show me how you would check your horn (you press the horn button)

EG:- tell me how you would raise the cab to gain access to the engine (explain in detail what I would do)

Well I stumbled on 1 question, only gave 1/2 an answer

1 minor

Reverse exercise was next, have to reverse within a set space avoiding obstacles and the stop with rear end inside a set out area, if you cross the lines or hit something its a FAIL,you get 1 minor for having to shunt forward, which is when you have to move forward to straighten up.

1 minor

onto the controlled stop, pretty straight forward, up to 20mph and the stop the vehicle within the length off itself,

1 minor

nervous through out so had 3 minors before I left the test centre,

OK so on the road, is is exactly like a car test just in something much bigger, but I kept messing the gears and felt i was having a shocking drive,

He picked up the clip board and did a bit off ticking/crossing,

*AHHHH YOU ARE SHITTING ME* went through my head, i thought that's it i have failed,

I thought he was making me suffer by staying out the whole 40 minutes left (test was an hour including in the test centre)

Got back to the test centre, parked up, and expected the worst,

'Mr Davies, I am happy to tell you .......(hurry up and tell me already) .... You have passed,'

YA BEAUTY and yes i did shout that,

He mentioned he knew i was nervous, and he also said he could tell at what point i thought i failed, cos after that point i had given him one off the best drives in a while.

4 minors in total, so only 1 on the road, fair chuffed with that

OK so now I can drive trucks, but I am hearing there are drivers being paid off all over the place, not good.

Got my Licence and Digital tacho card through, started pounding the streets, door knocking and phoning like mad, then one off the agencies phoned me, a 1 day shift in Perth, 1st day out on the road after my test, nervous as hell, and I got sent to the Scottish Borders, some interesting roads to drive, but got back in 1 piece.

then another call, a job as a night shift shunter in Dundee, basically moving the trucks round the yard and onto bays to be loaded, great experience as i had to be extra aware off size and space etc, I was then asked to be back shift warehouse driver, I would do some work in the warehouse then drive to Glasgow to pick up some stock and back to Dundee with it, all gaining experience.

In January the company took me on permanently, as warehouse driver, but when the chance off day shift multi drop came up i grabbed it, Started off doing a run delivering frozen food to west Fife schools.

Now on a grocery run covering a wider area, but I am sure I will do diary posts for each day at some point.

Howdy, and Welcome along.

2009-10-11T00:20:00.004+01:00

I thought it would only be fair to tell you a bit about myself and what you can expect.

I could tell you that I am married, with 2 beautiful girls, I drive a truck for a living and have a keen interest in engineering, and that I am actively involved with the Waverly Route Heritage Association as Secretary, I could also say I am a season ticket holder for Hibernian, and they form part off my life,

I could go on to say I am learning guitar (well attempting to) etc but i feel i would end up boring you, and I am sure most off these details will come out in future posting,

What can offer you I hear you ask,

Well it's quite simple really, a view into my life and mind,

I will post pictures and stories from my journeys through work and other activities, I will give you my view on anything I have an opinion on,

So sit back grab a cuppa and wait for the postings,

Enjoy

Ray (Madkink)

Welcome note

2009-10-10T23:37:00.003+01:00

Welcome to my blog. I hope you enjoy and follow it 'cause I have lots of stuff to talk about with my Journeys all around the county. Thanks for visiting.