08/04/2013 - an update

Hi all

Just realised that so many of you are checking this website on a daily basis and I have also been told that trainee at the school are looking at this site as well. This is very flattering. It also means I feel the need to try and keep this updated as well.

Over the last 4 months I have been accumulating time at the controls on my own and just staying out of trouble really. For the first two years after you drive on your own you are what is know as "Post Qualified" it means that you lack experience and it entails that your manager will do more rides and checks on you then a normal driver. None of this bothers me much, as I drive very carefully anyway. At the moment because I am in my first 6 months, I am categorized as a "high risk" driver. Not because I am likely to go wrong and they only just trust me just simply that I have only 4 months (at the moment) experience of driving on my own. In early June once I have done 6 months I will drop (assuming, touch wood, that I have not had an incident!) down to being a medium risk driver. This means that I will still be monitored but not quite as much as I am now, but more than a normal driver. Sounds complicated doesn't it? Just compare it to when you first pass you car test. You can drive but everyone considers you a risk as a new driver and your insurance is sky high. As you drive more you get years no claims bonus and you become less risky. Its the same as train driving except I don't pay an insurance premium.

As I said nothing much has happened recently. This is not helped by the fact that I have had a lot of annual leave to take as well.
As I spent most of last year training I did not want to take any leave so that I could get on. Well this means that since December when I qualified I have had a year and half worth of leave to take which means I have taken it everywhere otherwise you will lose it.

I have just had 11 days off I am back for three including today then I am off again for 6. Back in for three days and then off for 11 again!! It sounds good but frankly as a new driver you want to be out there driving and I get so bored at home!

Anyway this is just an update and I am still alive and going well. No incidents in my driving (touch wood it stays that way!) and no real stories. I imagine there will be some to come and I'll write about them when they do, otherwise thanks for reading!!

Francis