Week 5 - HiAb & Reach FLT

Well this was just going to be another 5 days work experience at the Blackburn Nightfreight depot but I discovered that HiAb trg was available for Tue/Wed & Reach FLT Thu/Fri so what the hell; I'm here anyway and for a few more quid (Its all relative !) I thought I may as well take the opportunity !

So, Tue/Wed was on the HiAb. Now I have in the past watched HiAb operators with a degree of awe at how smooth and coordinated they were, believing that it was some sort of 'black art' ! I've watched helicopter blades and engines being raised/lowered and thought at the time that these guys must be highly skilled; but hey, its not so hard ! OK lets be realistic here, I'm by no means a proficient operator but have successfully passed a Pre Use Inspection, Theory and Practical tests and can operate the loader safely and competently. I have to say that, other than the Class C trg, the 2 days on the HiAb have been the most enjoyable of all the other activities ! Lets face it guys (and girls !) this is 'big boys toys' !!! Using hydraulics, hooks, slings, chains and lifting loads. What a hoot; really enjoyed it !


Thu/Fri Reach FLT training. Now I was a little unsure about this because I wasnt entirely sure that I would ever have the need to use it, but what the hell I'm here anyway so may as well take advantage ! Really glad I did because I really did enjoy it ! Not as much as the Hi-Ab (proper big boys toy) but it was great all the same. Mmm sitting sideways on to the FLT take a little adjusting to and steering what seems like the wrong way, when going forward. Anyway all good fun, both of us reached test standard easil by Thu pm so after a quick dry run on Fri morning we got into the testing. Pre-Use inspection, Theory, Practical. Same practical course as the Counterbalance FLT, same fault score for failure (40) and same course time (34 minutes). Had 1 faff with the positioning of a pallet. Had to shunt to get it past the upright and still managed to put it down squint (3 points) and because I'd used extra hyd movements to achieve it I got some more for excessive ctr use (1 point). So finished in 31 minutes with a fault score of 4. Well happy with that. So Bank Holiday week-end and start C+E (Artic) trg on Tue with test on Sat back at Steeton. Now if I'm honest; this is THE course I came for !!! Bring it on ;-)

Week 4 - Classroom stuff !

Quite a slow week ! Spent a day on Tachos (Analogue & Digi) and the EU Working Time Directive. Very useful. Wont say it was very interesting but very useful none the less ! What with 'driver' hours restrictions and 'working' time restrictions its all a bit of a minefield, but I think I got my head round it !

Basically ...............

As a driver you can only drive a total of 90 hrs in a 2 week period. Total of 56 in any 1 week which means you can only 'drive' 34 hrs the following week. For the WTD you are supposed to only 'work' an average (based over a period upto 6 months) 48 hrs per week. This can be extended to 60 hrs but if the extra 12 hrs are taken they have to be 'paid back' over the next 2 weeks. Confused ................ ? Just bear in mind that 'working' time is from when you clock on until you clock off and 'driving' time is when you are actually at the wheel ! Time spent on 'rest' or 'POA' are NOT included in your working hours ! POA (Periods Of Availability), well thats a whole seperate explanation !!! Basically a pre-warned waiting period to load/unload.

Other training this week is on First Aid, Manual Handling and a days work experience at the local depot.

Week 3 - Counterbalance Forklift

Well what can I say, there's driving a forklift and driving a forklift precisely. I didnt think this would be a big deal but boy was I wrong ! Ok, its only been a day but it took some getting used to ! Its a Nissan Electric Flt and is VERY responsive. First thing they do is just getting you driving fwds and backwards. Then 2 oil drums are introduced and you do circuits of the drums, fwds, then backwards. OK so that not too bad, then it's figure of eights in and out of the drums ! Fwd, back, easy side, hardside. Just when you think you've aced that a pile of palletts are introduced to confine you even further ! Empty pallet on the forks and a wall of pallets with 2 oil drums in the centre and you do all of the manouvres again. All with approx 4-6" clearance all around .... and thats only if you manage to keep your front wheels (pivot point) approx 3" from the oil drums as you negotiate them. Hardest thing of the day ??? Judging the fork tangs level at the various heights.

So let the lifting commence ! Pallets, IBC's & metal cages. 90 deg turn into the racking is novel. Apparrently there are 2 ways to go about it; dry turn or rolling turn. With such little room to turn I've been going for dry turns (stop at pivot point, full lock, round you go) as opposed to the rolling turns. You can see in the pic above that there are 3 tiers. Surprisingly the centre rack is easiest to stack. On the bootom tier you cant see the rails that you are trying to lower onto. On the top tier you have to deal with the instability of the FLT with an almost fully extended mast and the tilt.


After much practicing, the instructor issued us a challenge ! Flipped a pound coin onto the floor and said pick it up ! So I picked it up and handed it to him ;-) "With the FLT !" he says ! So after a bit of a trial, we both succeeded. I wont list how, just in case you ever get the opportunity. Then it was 2 £1 coins and when I picked up a 5p piece, he says righto thats enough, back to the pallets :-) Anyway more practicing and the second challenge gets issued ! If you see the pic to the left; it has 5 drinks cups on full to within 1/4" of the top with water. Challenge; to pick up the pallet from behind the pallet stood on end, negotiate the vertical pallet and place the pallet with the water cups on the top tier, withdraw, travel out, back in and pick up the pallet and return it to the start point. This exercise certainly makes you do things VERY gently. Particularly after you lift the pallet from the top tier then put on the backward safety tilt ! This is the point the instructor is hoping your going to be heavy on the hyds and give yourself a shower. Unfortunately (for the instructor) we both succeeded in our quest albeit we wouldnt win any points for speed !

So fun over and back to stacking/destacking practice. Had our test on Day 4 (Should have been day 5 but 1 guy didnt turn up) which comprised a pre-use inspection of the FLT, Practical Exercise & Theory paper). The practical test consisted of 6 lifts to be carried out negotiating a restricted area (twice) within 34 mins and a limit of 40 (fault) points. 1 point is awarded for a minor indiscretion, 3 for a more significant one and 5 for more serious still. Any 'unsafe' errors mean an immediate fail. You may have an addittional period after your 34 mins if required but they cost you 1 point per minute over ! Glad to say that I completed my exercise in 32 minutes with 13 points (Phew). CJ, the chap featured in the pics, only lost 6 points and also completed within the 34 mins.

Week 2 - Drivers mate

Mon - Down to depot 42 at J4 on the M65 for 7am (Eeek !!!) and presented myself to the Ops Mgr (as instructed by the trg centre) to which he says, "Who on earth are you ?" "I'm from the Trg Centre, Becky contacted you on fri pm" says I. "First I'd heard of it" says he ! Ah ! Normal service is resumed ;-)

Anyway, teamed up with a chap called Steve and his 04 plate MAN with, straight 6 speed box, a roller tail door and curtain sides and off we rattled towards Leyland & Preston. Saw quite a variety today; deliveries to businesses (large & small), private addresses and even onto a building site with a pallet load of hydraulic hoses. Really impressed with where he took the wagon ! Down narrow streets and even into cul-de-sacs where he managed a 5 point turn in a space I may have struggled to turn my car !
Apparrently Steve has been with Nightfreight for about 4 years and was taught to drive by no less than the same guy as me ! (Gary the fireman !) Anyway had a great day out, although not sure if Multi drop with a Class 2 wagon in and around busy cities is for me. Got my hands dirty, can now open & close a curtain side and had a good rummage round Comet & Currys in Preston during the tacho break. Thanks Steve. The items on the racking (photo left) are axles at the Leyland truck factory ! Tue - Back out with Steve again today. Another really enjoyable day ! On the road by 0730 with region of 20 drops to do around Leyland & Preston. Had everything unloaded and first collection done by midday ! Hours tacho break then out to Clitheroe for the daily UPVC collection (Ultraframe with the lime green wagons) and back to the depot for 1600. Hoping to be going out with an artic driver tomorrow.

Wed/Thu - Out with a Class 1 driver. Had a fantastic time, he gave me a commentary on just about everything he was doing, road position, turning circles, reversing etc. Alll very informative. Now I suspect if you went out with a general haulage driver you may never uncouple the trailer. Well, I lost count of the number of trailers we dragged over the 2 days. Somewhere around 10 to 12 I think. So I got plenty practice with the sequence of coupling/uncoupling. Enjoyed travelling a little further afield rather than zipping around small areas doing multi drop with the Class 2. But either has to be preferrable to the 50-70 item drops that the 7.5 ton guys do !!! Pictures below are the Nightfreight Depot (42), the Artic unit getting a daily inspection, couple views of the rig and a typical artic trailer handle and parking brake !

Class C - Day 5 - Its a Pass !

Great news, passed my Class C today in Steeton. Wasnt entirely happy with my drive but was well impressed when my lady examiner handed over the sheet with only 2 minors !!!

One for having a gear faff on a roundabout and the 2nd for getting 2 ft from an Artic trailer. I was holding back because of a box junction just after a set of lights, where an artic was waiting. Wasnt sure if I would fit in the gap but was also worried that if I held back cars would come out from the junction and use the sapce. So bit the bullet and pulled forward and then crept up to the Artic. Wheels were clear of the box but the rear of the truck wasnt !

No problems with the reverse but had to 'go round again' on the controlled stop because the examiner wanted to see me brake more sharply.

Had a good drive over to Steeton in the morning and then a very nervous wait while Bob (c0-trainee) went off on his test. The other 2 tests going at the same time as him both failed ! One of them crunched the gears all the way up the accelleration lane for the controlled stop before actually managing to get the truck into reverse !!! 10-15mph forward, reversing lights on, warning bleep active and lifted the clutch ! Oh my god !

Second guy also failed but that was cos he clobberred a telegraph pole during his test !

Bob on the other hand; well he passed as well ! Excellent !

At least one of the drivers during my test slot failed (artic) apparrently he couldnt get the trailer anywhere close to the coned loading bay ! Not sure about the other guy.

All in all; a good day !

Class C - Day 4

Another day over ! Oh my god; its test day tomorrow !

Had a pretty good day today, rumbled our way round Steeton, Skipton and Keighly again. Everything was going quite well, in fact very well, until I got into the Keighly town centre. Traffic was flowing, slowly, but flowing ! Probably lost concentration for a sec and followed some vehicles through a set of lights and when the traffic ground to a stop, found myself stranded in a box junction !!! Arrggghhh !!! Managed to get down into low 3rd and crawled until the traffic got going again. Not sure how an examiner would have reacted to that, but I didnt stop ;-)

Got the hesitancy thing sorted and another couple practice reverses and a controlled stop at the end of the day. So now I need to get a good nights sleep and see if i can find a big bag of good luck from somewhere !

Bob, my co-trainee is on test at 1015 and myself at 1215. So if you are around Steeton tomorrow make sure that you grind the traffic to a halt, cos if I'm sat in a traffic jam there's less to go wrong ;-)

Wish me well !

Class C - Day 3

Another good day. Got some good hill starts today (up & down) in and around the Yorkshire twisties ! Coping better with roundabouts today, much less hesitancy ! Really feeling at home with the gearbox now. Changing gear, selecting appropriate gear depending on situation without actually thinking about it. Getting the speed sorted out early on the approach to hazards so that there's always an opportunity for a rolling start if possible.

Getting plenty mirror checks in; just hoping that I'll do it enough on the day. Also got some reversing practice today. Nice and steady, easy does it. No problems ! It was a long time ago but my PCV reverse was exactly the same.

The reality of test day is now starting to become very real ! We have one more full trg day with another reverse and a controlled stop and then it will be test day (Fri) ! Eeekkk !

I believe one of us is on test at 10am on Fri and the other at 1230pm. At this stage neither of us has dared ask who is up first ! Perhaps we'll not bother and just find out on Fri.

Class C - Day 2

Another great day. Sampled the delights of Steeton, Keighly and Skipton. Much narrower roads, streets and far too many mini rounabouts !!! Driving the vehicle has become much more natural today. Not thinking about the gearbox anymore; just doing it ! Now trying to work on the smoothness of the drive and more importantnly get all the mirror checks in. Gary (instructor) tells us you can have 15 minors but only 3 in each area. So 4th mirror check missed and away it goes ! Mirrors before pulling away, mirrors before accellerating, mirrors before decelerating, mirrors before stopping. Its feasible that in stop/start traffic you could throw it all away in the space of about 50 yards ! Eek !

Junctions and roundabouts I'm now much happier with, but mini roundabouts in busy traffic I'm being a little hesitant. Hopefully sort that over the next 2 days.