Air carrier flight crew reported being confused by the 'follow me' vehicle procedures at eidw when t...

Attributes
ACN	1463479
Time
Date	201706
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	EIDW.Airport
State Reference	FO
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Widebody Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Total 3337 Flight Crew Type 368
Person 2
Function	Relief Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Total 1957 Flight Crew Type 416
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Clearance Ground Incursion Taxiway

Narrative:

None of the pilots were familiar with eidw. Landed runway 28. Taxiing to gate; told to hold on the foxtrots at link 1 and wait for a follow me truck. There is a small lot just left of the hold position where the trucks sit. We saw one truck start up and head northeast; a few hundred yards ahead of us. The captain started rolling forward to catch the truck. I mentioned to him that link 1 was our clearance limit; but he explained that it looked like we had a truck and he was moving to follow him. It turned out that the truck was planning to come back southwest to get closer; then turn around and have us follow northeast. Ground controller chastised us; and we explained the confusion. After blocking; someone from the airport came up to query us again; and we explained the confusion. There was no other traffic in the area at the time.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier flight crew reported being confused by the 'Follow Me' vehicle procedures at EIDW when the Captain began following a truck without clearance to do so.

Narrative: None of the pilots were familiar with EIDW. Landed runway 28. Taxiing to gate; told to hold on the foxtrots at Link 1 and wait for a Follow Me truck. There is a small lot just left of the hold position where the trucks sit. We saw one truck start up and head northeast; a few hundred yards ahead of us. The Captain started rolling forward to catch the truck. I mentioned to him that Link 1 was our clearance limit; but he explained that it looked like we had a truck and he was moving to follow him. It turned out that the truck was planning to come back southwest to get closer; then turn around and have us follow northeast. Ground controller chastised us; and we explained the confusion. After blocking; someone from the airport came up to query us again; and we explained the confusion. There was no other traffic in the area at the time.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Air carrier flight crew reported being confused by the 'follow me' vehicle procedures at eidw when the captain began following a truck without clearance to do so.