So, how did my training on C+E go?
Story by Davidge
Day 3 - I arrived at the driving school late and my instructor was waiting outside the office. He genuinely thought I was throwing in the towel as I was always early. No faith in me!
We drive to the yard and I have to wait for the other learners to clear the yard. I have one other learner practicing with me. He has an earlier test than me in a rigid. So we are holding each other up as we alternate having a go at putting our respective vehicles in the box.
But for me - SUCCESS!!! - at the second attempt I put the thing in the box, albeit with 2 shunts but would you believe that was the first time I did it with no external prompting at all? I then spent another hour or so trying to refine my technique. My confidence was a lot better but I still could not do it without two shunts but I accepted that if that was what it took to get me through the test then so be it. We went out on the road for a bit to get some forward looking driving in - ha ha - and I felt ok for the first time in the course, I was still fretting about the reverse exercise but my instructor said if it takes shunts then don't worry.
So to the test.
I do the controlled stop first. My instructor always tries set up the test to do this first as the exit from Bredbury Test Ctr., has a jutting kerb that has caught out a few in the past as they have to turn tight left to go on the road. By doing it first you get more room leaving the centre.
I drive around the centre and park up in the reverse area while my examiner sets up the cones. He beckons me forward and as I have been instructed to do, keep as close to the left cone as possible. Although I think I got too close as he looked long and hard before he gave me the nod to proceed.
This was it, after all the agony and misery of the last 3 days, now I had to do it. So I am off, looking for the yellow dots on the head board. The dry mouth and sweaty palms do not help at all BUT hurrah, I get it in with two shunts, the swine still gives a long lingering look at the back but I know I am in and square. So now I am thinking I am in with a good fighting chance of doing this, I am buzzing but I know I have to be cautious.
He asks me to drive to the other side of the area to do the uncoupling exercise. I park up and go round the back and put the parking brake on. I then pull out the lever to lower the legs and start winding like a maniac. Panic!! the legs don't move. I think nerves have got the better of me and turn around and start winding the other way, still nothing. By now am all cotton mouthed and thinking all my efforts put into the reverse have all been wasted because the *sausages* legs have broke!
The examiner kindly points out that the lever was geared and may have slipped back in. I pulled it out a little more and thankfully it started working. I made a mental note to tear my instructor a new backside at this point. At last, I split the trailer and put it back together without any further hitches.
We leave to go out on the road and as we go out of the centre, he asks me to turn right. So, we are off to Hyde or in to Stockport. He says right at the roundabout ahead and I go cold. It is standing traffic, on the roundabout. I edge forward and somebody on the roundabout lets me in. I proceed with caution but the next thing I can see out of the corner of my eye, he is marking me down for something. I don't know what, as I felt I did nothing wrong as the traffic was stationary and I did not "impose" myself on any other road user.
We then drove in to Stockport town centre and than headed up towards Reddish. It was on Reddish Lane it started to fall apart. He asked me to pull in and then carry on when it was safe to do so. It was 3 o'clock Friday and it was busy nose to tail traffic moving at a good pace. How the flip was I to get back in to that? In the end I had to go for a gap that wasn't really there but I felt I had no choice. Oddly he did not mark anything at that point.
Things settled down for a while, in fact my confidence started to rise a little as we drove through Heaton Moor, etc. He had me pull in again and again it was busy but I got away with the pull out this time. We drove on to the A6 and turned in to Crossley Road. This was the notorious Chocolate Corner, as my instructor called it. A very tight left hander. If the lead car on red was too far forward you cannot get through. I lost count of the number of times I went through this but every time I went through in the rigid, I got a red and had time to compose my self and get the right position. Not in the artic., oh no. I arrived on green and it stayed on. But - ta da - I got it through!!.
Now I was motoring but I knew there was another potential stumbling point at the next junction with a jutting kerb going into Errwood Road. But again I managed to pull it off. This was where the gear change exercise is done and it was easy to pull away here. If there was any oncoming traffic, any behind me had to wait, so I could more or less go when I was ready. I felt good up to this point as apart from the nonsense on Reddish Lane, I felt I had only probably committed a couple or few minors.
Things then fell apart in spectacular fashion.
He asked me to turn right, as I looked forward there was a learner in a Corsa waiting to turn right as well. Off they went and I had to wait for an oncoming car to pass. I then turned right to be presented with the Corsa in the middle of the road, doing a reverse manouvre. Argh!! What to do? I slowed and the Corsa sat there with the reversing lights on not moving. Stand off!! I thought right I will indicate and go round. As I do that the learner decides to start the manouvre. So I cancel the indicator and wait. Next thing 2 or 3 cars go flying past, no patience. But no comment from the examiner. I move off and get to the end of this road ready to turn left on to Kingsway to be presented by a bus and a police car on the corner, stationary. But they pull off just as I stop. As I look right another bus passes the junction slowly, once that passes the road is clear and I am off.
I turn in to Kingsway to be presented by the bus, police car, bus convoy trundling along at about 15 mph. This is a 40 speed limit by the way. As I look ahead from the back of the bus/police vehicles I can see that well ahead, there is standing traffic in the nearside lane queuing for a petrol station. I think right I need to get round this bus chicane, I look in my mirror and see I am clear behind but as I do this the bus/police convoy decides to break up, I see this as I return my gaze forward and immediately decide I am going nowhere. This is done at the same time as the examiner thinks I am going to do something silly and he panics. I tell him I had seen everything in good time as I did not have to make any sudden changes in how I was driving other than cancelling my indicator. He sees it otherwise and makes a theatrical gesture of marking me down. Although I don’t know whether he had marked me as serious or dangerous at this point.
Nevertheless, I get the sinking feeling that my chance has gone. I feel a bit glum and switch off a bit. Nothing stupid but definitely reduced effort. He then asks me to turn into Didsbury Road and it is standing traffic all the way in to Stockport centre. Yet he still asks me to pull in and pull off again, which strikes me as pointless now.
We get in to Stockport centre and join the M60 for the last leg back to the test centre. It goes ok until we get to the roundabout at the end of the junction for Bredbury industrial estate. I am waiting on the roundabout for a chance to go and you wait and you wait and you wait. I finally get my chance and I pull out just as a Mondeo comes barrelling around the corner. Too late, I think sod it and carry on, only to find I had forgot to select the lower gear range. So there I am stuck in the middle of the roundabout going nowhere fast trying to select 3rd gear which was in fact 7th. Did I care? Not really. I was emotionally and physically drained after the last 3 days. I had given up. I got neutral, found 3rd and got moving. The idiot in the Mondeo would have to wait. He shouldn’t have been driving so fast.
Back at the test centre, he tells me I have failed. It was tempting to say "no *sausages*, sherlock!" but I thought keep control, I may get him on a retest.
He tells me 3 serious faults, the pull out on Reddish Lane, the nonsense with the buses " forward planning" he said or lack of and pulling out in front of the Mondeo.
I am shattered. I am severely disappointed but resigned to it. I am a bit put out that all the stress and anxiety caused by the reversing mess may have just drained me to the point that I was overwrought for the test. I go back to the driving centre and tell them that I want a morning test in future, no way am I going in to the Friday rush hour again.
I finish up in my local staring into a pint for what seemed an age. I feel absolutely empty and I am sat there thinking, "I want to do this as a career?" But as ever, too much money invested so I have to dig in and go again......more
