Widebody; Low Wing; 2 Turbojet Eng
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Total 3337; Flight Crew Type 368
Confusion
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Ground Incursion Taxiway
Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Flight Crew Returned To Clearance; Flight Crew Became Reoriented
Procedure; Human Factors
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.
Our taxi clearance was taxi to gate via F3; F2; F1 then Hold short Link 1 and follow the 'follow me' truck to the gate. We complied with the verbal clearance limit of holding short of Link 1 but when it was time to follow the 'follow me' truck there was a discrepancy with what we did and what Ground Control thought we should have done. The problem started as we approached Link 1; there were two exact identical 'follow me' trucks sitting side by side. Both had flashing caution lights on top of the cab. We stopped short of Link 1 then it became ambiguous as to which truck to follow in that they started going different directions. As the relief pilot; it is almost impossible to see objects on the ground close to the nose of the aircraft without unbuckling the safety belt; but I believe one follow me truck left the area and the other started to go toward B1 taxi way. We started to follow the truck that was going toward taxi B1 as that was the taxiway that would logically lead to our gate. As soon as we turned onto taxiway B1; Ground Control told us to hold position and follow the truck. The truck we had started to follow had stopped as well but I could not see where since I was buckled in the back of the cockpit. The truck then proceeded down B1 and ground told us to continue on B1 to the gate. We continued on B1 to the gate without further incident.
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.