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Any lady HGV drivers on here?

6 replies

tallache1 · 21/12/2025 19:26

If so can I pick your brains please? I started last week after passing my class 1 a few months ago. I have a few questions!

1.) does it get any less horrific? I was absolutely shattered after 12 hour shifts of total concentration and having to think every second 😭 I’d never driven a wagon fully loaded until last week and it was a totally different ball game. Plus I found it so intimidating turning up at delivery points with no idea what to expect and what I’d have to reverse into. Hoping that aspect gets easier the more experience/ confidence I get 😭

2.) what are you using to navigate with? There’s a few truck specific apps where you can put your heights in etc and it won’t take you under any bridges but do you recommend one? Don’t really want to buy a full on satnav but will do if they’re better because getting stuck down a country lane will probably send me into a breakdown atm 🤣

3.) any other tips you can think of?

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Pedallleur · 21/12/2025 19:47

Jemma Warren on You Tube might be able to advise if there is no one on here. Her vlogs are good. Not a job for the faint hearted.

julesagain · 21/12/2025 19:51

I am a PCV driver and whenever I am at a new depot or contract, I have a permanent headache for the first few weeks as you are on a very steep learning curve. Keep your cool and it will become second nature quickly enough.

tallache1 · 21/12/2025 19:53

Fuck me it’s really not @Pedallleur! I hate to say it but I can really see why it’s a male dominated industry. Thank you, I’ll check her out!

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tallache1 · 21/12/2025 19:56

Thanks @julesagainthat makes me feel better! Yeah it’s all just very overwhelming and my brain felt fried at the end of every shift. Just the weight of the responsibility of driving a 44 tonne vehicle and having to keep my wits about me constantly.

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Elleherd · 21/12/2025 22:40

Ex HGV1 and O license holder.
I'm assuming you're working trailers, returning to base at night.
I'd say gently not to refer to female drivers as 'Lady drivers.' It won't win you friends.

Somewhat random list:
Fail to prepare equals prepare to fail. Cliche but 100% true.

Never,ever show you can be flustered. Cool, calm, and considered, regardless of if you're going to be late, the loads going to spoil, someone else has picked up your load, or you think you have a stowaway. (you can do the screaming squirrel dance inside)
If you break down, you will get abuse, and stupidity. Slough it of, blokes get it too, but women get an extra dose because it must be your fault. Resign yourself.
Buy your own boots and waterproof gloves. Never use supplied kit. Spare pair if working curtain siders.
Depending who's supplying the unit, a seat matt/ cloth can be a life saver.
Always carry what you need for your own bodily functions. never assume anything will be as it should be. Wet wipes are your friend.(Also plasters, cream, nail file, paracetamol, safety pins.)
Buy a proper old school paper HGV height map. They don't fuck up, have wrong info, or go off line just when you find yourself on diversion. If you must use a satnav or similar. Don't trust it. double check with an actual map.
Carry your own tire gauge and a small powerful torch with you. Don't rely on your phone.
Get some excercise on your breaks. Your hips will tell you if you don't.
Carry a basic small tool kit, especially a couple of mole wrenches. The ability to clamp a strap, and wind it round a wrench to pull on it, can seriously increase your strength, and saves your hands.
Know the tacho laws inside out, don't try fudging
Do your own checks, always.
Fair chance trailers have been shunted in yard, not necessarily by anyone who knows or cares what they're doing.
Always check your trailer brakes before attaching. Refuse the trailer if brakes dodgy.
Never ever connect or disconnect air lines with trailer brakes off. no matter what anyone says.
Never trust or rely on banksmen, or wharehouse staff. If working with bay lights check them yourself.
Open both windows when reversing trailers in tight spaces. Use both ears.
Don't be thrown if some wit shouts "Whoa!" for 'bants,' laugh with the shits until you're competent enough to boil them.
Look stupid as much as you have to. Way better than actually being stupid.
Make sure you know your trailer height including conversions if needed. Few expect to find imperial in use, but it can be.
If in doubt, up your suspension when backing under a trailer, so if it's been dropped high, you don't miss the pin. Level it before leaving the yard.
If you don't already know how to split couple a trailer. Learn now, before you turn up somewhere too tight to use standard coupling procedures and have to figure it all out under pressure.
The transport office, agency, or dispatcher is not your friend. They all lie, especially to save their own backs, and often more so when they know the driver's female. (sadly that can include when they are too)
Carry your own hefty power bank and leads, don't rely on truck sockets to be working.
Do more listening than talking.
Anything you know to be essential, know at least theoretically, what your back up plan is, if it fails.

You are going to be exhausted. It's a massive multi tasking, fuck it up and it can be life or death consequences job, that you have gone straight into post passing your test, without gaining needed experience first,.
That's not your fault, it's how the system works these days. You need to do many months for your brain to adjust, and at least a year to actually learn.

But you will adjust, and once you have, just how good a deal some parts of the trucking industry can be, will be in your grasp.

tallache1 · 27/01/2026 11:25

Hi @Elleherdthank you so much for your reply! I’ve just seen it now. It’s definitely got less overwhelming and the ‘what the fuck’ moments are getting slightly less. Would say they’re more hourly now rather than every minute 😂.

Great advice thank you. I’m working for an old school haulage company so they all say lady drivers but noted. Most people I’ve met have been helpful and welcoming, you get the odd unhelpful person but as a general rule if I ask someone to watch me back they’re more than happy to help. I’ve had some horrific reverses where I’ve literally been screaming inside and had loads of drivers watching but I’m learning to keep my cool, not give a fuck and if it takes a few goes that’s fine, everyone’s been a new driver once. The hours are absolutely brutal though, 4am starts and 7pm finishes, I’m literally knackered after a full day! What made you stop doing it?

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