Lorry Lessons for Ladies – Day 2

My instructor, Ray, was waiting when I arrived at 7 a.m. sharp, but no fellow student Ollie.

“There could be traffic, he’s coming from Chobham,” I said.

Fifteen minutes passed with still no sign, so Ray rang the office, who said give him until 07:30.  

By then, all the other students had driven out of the training facility, so I asked if I could use the wait to practise some manoeuvring. Ray set up the reversing course again, and I had a play around with my truck, Grumpy, experimenting with different angles and sharper turns. At half past, there was still no Ollie, so off we went, with me on my lonesome. One-2-one private tuition. I couldn’t complain! 

(Image – looking east along the Hog’s Back towards Guildford, Surrey. davidhc, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons)

In the car park, there was a space I could have driven into, but Ray asked,

“Do you want to do a reverse park?”

“Definitely!” I replied, and he showed me how to keep the rear parallel to the kerb. Then, he made me pull forwards until Grumpy’s nose had all but mounted the bumper of the car in front.

“That’s how close they’d park you on a ferry,” Ray said.

The Eureka! happened when we departed. I was so close to the car in front that, left to my own devices, I would have reversed to give myself more room to pull out.

“No. Go from here,” Ray said. “Full lock.”

“I’ll never get out without touching that car!”

“Use your mirror.”

As I turned sharply, the forward mirror, which is directed towards the front bumper, showed that I had plenty of room.

And that’s what gave me confidence to get very close to obstacles on my right-hand side, knowing that I would not hit them. Which meant I could take left hand corners wide, and thus prevent my rear wheels from mounting the kerb when manoeuvring in tight spots.

After our stop at the Hog’s Back, I didn’t clip any kerbs until we got to a snaky lane in my previous home town of Old Woking, which Ray told me is a test route. There, I needed to use the opposite carriageway to get around a narrow, right-angled corner. I had asked to go that way because I saw it was tricky when Ollie was driving yesterday. I was so disappointed with myself when I clipped the kerb, knowing what I faced, and with Ray shouting in my ear to check my mirrors.

“Even with me TELLING you to do it, you still didn’t!” he said.

“I know,” I said sheepishly. “You’re right. No excuses.”

As a car driver, it just feels so counter intuitive to allow the front of the vehicle to cross the centre line, even though it’s the only way a long vehicle can corner on a tight bend without mounting the kerb.

When I chose the correct speed and position in tight spots, the driving went like a dream. I had plenty of room and like anything done well, it just felt right!

We stopped for a couple of short breaks when I said I needed a coffee, but I was surprised that I didn’t feel tired at the end of a full eight-hour shift of driving a large vehicle. I think I was high on adrenaline. I learned that my ‘mate’, Ollie, was not coming back, so lucky for me, I’ve got private tuition for the rest of the week.

I just hope I can keep up the progress and don’t have a ‘mare tomorrow! 

Follow these links to catch up on Truckin’ for Girls posts:

• Lorry Lessons for Ladies – Day 1
• Lorry Lessons for Ladies – Day 2
• Lorry Lessons for Ladies – Day 3
• Lorry Lessons for Ladies – Day 4
• Lorry Lessons for Ladies – Day 5: TEST!

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Useful Links

• EP Training, Surrey – run LGV and Minibus courses. My husband, Mark, used them to train his drivers when he was logistics manager for a well-known multi-national company. Here’s why. You might also follow the link to discover what you should look for in an LGV training school. Please note that, although EP is genuinely the entity with whom I did my training, I’ve changed names to protect the privacy of individuals. Prior to doing the training, I had to pass a medical and my LGV theory test.
• Caravan & Motorhome Club Caravan Towing Course
• Caravan & Motorhome Club Motorhome Manoeuvring Course
• Camping & Caravan Club Caravan & Motorhome Courses
• How to steer and manoeuvre and LGV from Safe Driving For Life
• Towing Safely & Legally