Becoming a HGV driver?

Don’t be shocked. Many of the cheapo medical are the same. Had exactly that when I first decided to do my HGV licences. Used an aftermarket service as the wait for my doctors was 4 weeks plus, and 3 times the price. So that’s what I did. Barely more than an eye test. When my licence was due to be renewed after 5 years, I did opt to use my own doctor. If there was something wrong, I’d want to know.

Good to hear, I wonder who would be happy to know the pilot on their plane as they head up into the blue yonder and a skimpy medical. Not to dwell on it but in my opinion any dodgy doctor should be reported, not that many will.

Anyway lads carry on, interesting thread

Yep, same thing happens to trucks as it does with cars when you're only pootling around locally.

Test started at 0945 and finished at 1048, 2 minors and a pass certificate. The examiner was very kind with the route he took me, from Leighton Buzzard to some near by villages and then on the M1 (hadn't been on the motorway while training) to Luton, at this point I presumed he was going to take me to a tricky right hand turn or a tricky road down the side of the hospital but nope turned off short of both of them, did some more local roads and then back to the test centre.

Minor 1 was for doing 24 in a 20 zone, I honestly didn't see the start of the 20 zone, first thing I knew there was a little 20 sign so I dropped down to about 17-18. At this point I presumed that was a fail but carried on driving as if it wasn't anyway. I'm going to head out there in a minute to see where the 20 zone starts.

Minor 2, on the M1, the next junction along, a car and car transporter trailer got on in front and then immediately dropped down to 50, I wasnt sure if we were getting off at the next junction or not so I hung back behind him, but he slowed more and I closed the 2 second gap, eventually decided to stick a right signal on and 56mph it past him.

I actually thought id picked up some more minors/major, I came up to a 3/4 lane roundabout near the M1 there was a foreign truck coming round it but looked like he was gonna turn off before me so I went for it, but the truck I was in decided it wasnt sure what gear to go into and just basically sat there, the foreign truck at this point was coming round towards me, luckily he decided he didn't want the lane I was in and went buzzing past.

Got my CPC theory on 8th and then CPC practical when ever they book it.

Congratulations Norseman.

Took mine at Leighton Buzzard too, trained with Export and General, Dunstable, few years ago mind.

Our old XF used to have the collision detection go off at certain bridges on the M5, it’s a bit annoying when it slams your brakes on!
We’ve got a new XG 530 now, the warning lights are the least of the problems, it’s the gearbox!
I’ve never driven anything so lethargic in my life.
It takes forever to change, changes up half way up a hill, and just kills itself for some odd reason.
You can’t change down manually unless eco mode is off, so you turn that off. Need to change down now? Well you can’t, because eco mode has turned itself on again! If you know you have some big hills and want to keep it in manual to stop it from changing up, forget that, it’s gone back into auto by itself!
So you have to constantly keep a check on what mode it’s in, at least with the XF you could turn off eco roll and it would stay off.
It’s an utter gutless heap of ste, thank god I rarely have to drive it and have a Scania R500 every day

Stussy, if your boss is amenable that stupid default to eco can be programmed out at the dealer, was hoping the new model might have been improved in that regard, should have known.

I'd give my eye teeth for a manual box again, Eaton Twin Split first choice but Daf's 16 speed manual was a lovely box to use too.

That's interesting.

I put two 2019 XF 530's into our fleet earlier this year (overkill for driver training I know, but image is a big thing for us) and they are great - the difference between the other 460's we have is night and day.

I haven't driven an XG/XG+ but they are natural progression for us when they come down on the used market, I thought they would be a better drive. The interior is certainly a massive step forward.

Sorry but that's total nonsense and far detached from what happens in the reality. As Stussy said, the DAF AEBS has a mind of its own and sees stuff that isn't there. In previous posts I have documented how 2 completely different but identical model DAF XFs would slam on the AEBS on a clear day on the M61 southbound, going under the last overpass bridge before the hill down to Bolton MSA. Every. single. time wihout faul, regardless of the weather. Same on the A1 southbund going under one of the overpasses not far north of Darlington. They are also far too keen passes vehicles that have moved left onto a short sliproad exist off a dual carriageway. They are well clear of you and it's fine for you keep the CC on or resume it, but no, full AEBS because it thinks you're about to crash into the back of them as they are braking for the turn, yet they are well off to your left

DAF dealer of course predictably comes back with "we were unable to replicate the fault" every time.

I’ve been trying to think about what is actually good on the XG, all I can come up with is that it’s huge, so good for a tramper, but they’re too big for some of the places I squeeze into for deliveries in my next gen R500. The drivers seat is pretty good, the speakers are a huge improvement on the XF, the radio/info screen is pretty much the only thing I like as it’s a huge screen and has CarPlay built in, but so does the Scania.
The more I think about it though, the more negatives come to mind!
The bottom step is way too high, it catches out everyone the first time they get out, expecting another one. If you have the passengers seat base down the seatbelt alarm will go off forever, because the occupancy sensor is based on the position of the base, not whether someone is actually sat on it!
Oh, the bed is good, being able to raise either end similar to how a hospital bed works if you don’t want to lay totally flat