Did you work as an HGV driver between 2020 and 2022?

[robroy]

Tude:
Just seen this…I walked away in September 2020 because of all the silly, stupid rules that were brought in by the Govt. and companies.

It was just pathetic in every each way, implemented by those who had no understanding and worse…By those who did not appreciate that we are human beings, it was the worst assault on my person that I could ever imagine.

We were already treated as Lepers and I got that, because I understand others ignorance, despite being University educated and having being a professional ■■■■■■-analyst.

But the measures brought in were beyond inhuman and it was the last straw for me…So much so, that I left the UK in 2021.

The people of the UK are spectacularly spineless in their approach to life and all it has to offer, so very sad to see.

Stalin would have been proud of the majority populace of the UK!

This is one of those many occasions when I find myself regularly saying ''But if we all stuck together.etc etc ‘’…aye right.
But the sad answer to that suggestion is in your last 2 paragraphs.

I’m assuming rightly or wrongly we are of a similar age?
When I started this job drivers had just come off strike nationally for whatever reason.
Ok they achieved nothing as it was around the time Thatcher was trying (and succeesding) to do away with employees supporting Unions,
because she was clever enough to see that was the only way to succeed in abusing working people with unfair one sided terms and conditions , (just look at what WE put up with to witness her and the Tory’s success in all that)
But at least those guys of that generation had fight, and a backbone.
I see one or two of those guys of that age in the pub,.when I tell them about things like 15 hour days, night out money. parking in lay bys, general ■■■■■■■■■ from companies who can see nothing wrong with implementing those ■■■■■■■■■ …(Dont even go there with ■■■■ cameras when I told them ) .they simply can NOT believe what we put up with on a day to day basis in the same job that they used to do.

The old saying of ‘What goes around comes around’ springs to mind, but I can not see anytime soon normal working people all getting together saying ‘‘■■■■ this we’ve had enough’’ and CERTAINLY not the majority of guys who drive trucks, who have swallowed all the anti Union propaganda.
Just put ‘‘unions’’ in TN search to see my point.
.
The only ray of light is the railway workers, that guy takes no crap,.despite the joint campaign of the Government and the media to rubbish him and discredit him…you can sure as hell bet they have been digging into his personal,.and ■■■■■■ history to find a skeleton, obviously to no avail so far.

I just keep my head down these days, look after MYSELF,.saying ■■■■ all the others, they deserve it

I just take cover from all the unnecessary crap that is chucked at me from my firm and from the powers that be,.whilst trying to still give 100%,.because I enjoy the actual job I do.
It’s a pity because this job could still be good without all that stuff.

I ain’t ex Uni like you, but I do consider myself to be ‘reasonably’ educated and astute…But evidently not in your league in either category.
Because you got out of it when you saw the industry as it actually IS where as I am stupid enough to be still in it.

[bbez]

Was a Class One local & tramping driver since early 90s. I stopped being a driver in 2020 due to excessive working hours, poor pay and equally poor work / life balance, which in turn, leads to poor health. Promises of wage rises due to driver shortage didn’t happen in Scotland (not with general haulage anyway). Eveytime I met anyone where I now live they’d say, “oh, lorry driver, you must be loaded”, eh, no, I do 2 weeks work in a week so I’n reality, 650 a week in your hand is only really 325 in real terms. Life’s too short and I’m enjoying being away from the trucks at the minute. I’d maybe go back if wages were to hit £15ph straight through but that will never happen in Scotland unless you tanker driver / supermarket chain, etc

[negan]

robroy:
The only ones daft enough to partake in this cack, will be the same clowns who bent over at the time, and willingly and readily extended their hours.
The rest of us realised it was a ■■■■ take.

Ok lads for x no of weeks you can extend your hours where it will be deemed safe suddenly as if by magic, so crack on with your extra 15 hour days’’ …aye right.
‘‘But if you continue after the extension we will financially ■■■■ you for the privilege,.and it will once again revert back to being unsafe and dangerous…because it suited US at the time’’

My first reaction when I saw the relaxation of hours,.(as with many other drivers who can see throug b/s,. and who do not at the first instance believe anything they are told in this industry.)
Was ‘’[zb] that,.you can shove it right up your collective arse holes’’

Add that to your survey for them to peruse Doc…

^^^^^^^ What he said

[twoninety88]

Well it has been a long while since I last posted on here. I have been retired for three years now from the industry I once loved, and have now reached my threescore years and ten, my particular stint behind the wheel spanned 46 years.

I am not surprised at all that there may be a game afoot to try and pry that bit more out of drivers. We all saw the writing on the wall back in the ninety’s as to where things were heading, but the majority of us still had bills and mortgages to pay and so we went on having large doses of the Michael extracted from us by all and sundry while we convinced ourselves all would be Ok.

When I retired I kept my HGV as I ‘wanted to keep my hand in’ …but retiring during the Covid pandemic saw ridiculous scenarios of hardly any appreciation of our jobs from delivery points, motorway services and truckstops in the way we were treated. I was asked to do a week away in a rented vehicle, on specialised container work for the MOD for my old firm, who I thought mistakenly did ‘care’ about my welfare. The only truck they could rent was a petrol regs unit that I couldnt even plug the electric kettle into, no microwave, no fridge fitted either which didnt help as there was nowhere decent open, apart from the long queues at McD’s or other Burger outlets, no showers open anywhere on my particular route. So, resorted to a using my old gas burner, packaged food and having a wash at the side of the lorry by the diesel tank. And all for what? just to have the Inland Revenue take a nice big slice out of what I did earn through those ‘extra hours’ they had us doing. As a state pensioner it just wasnt in my interests to carry on. A nice letter and form to the DVLA and I got my HGV entitlement removed from my UK driving licence…and that put paid to my idea of keeping my hand in, looking back now, it was the best damned thing I have ever done for myself.

I still have the memories from those rose tinted ‘good ol days’ But I look back now and realise what fools we have been taken for over the years, what sacrifices we have made to our own lives when we have missed our kids birthdays, anniversaries, dentist and doctors appointments, all for the sake of the job, so many of us were far too contentious for our own good.

[juddian]

^^^ nice to hear from you again Twoninety.

Yes many of us have worked too hard and more hours and graft than was good for us, but, and i’m not far off your age here, looking back its been a decent honest working life where the majority of those in the industry have been stand up people, net earners not sponging off the state (other taxpayers), its an industry i’m proud to have worked in, its provided a decent regular living too and not stuck in some office or factory surrounded my miserable buggers.

How many other industries are there where the older you get the more desirable you are to ‘‘switched on’’ employers who value experience competence and the dogged determination to get the job done that has been the backbone of this industry since the horse was pulling the wagon.
I’ve been lucky in that i took a gamble many years ago when an opportunity was offered, which saw me into one of the most lucrative jobs of the 80s, that changed everything because once the better side of the industry was sampled the rest would never do, and with a few hiccups along the way i’ve managed to end up in the right jobs since.

Its finding the right jobs and the right employers that makes all the difference to whether the job is worth doing for life, but especially finding your own niche, i don’t think many do and thats why there are so many disgruntled drivers and ancilliary transport staff out there.
Its still a good industry to be in, nothing will ever be perfect and things will always change, often for the worse, but in all honesty i’m in no rush to retire though that could change for multiple reasons tomorrow.

[twoninety88]

And from you too Juddian, For some reason I always thought you were a little older than me. Probably from your well thought out and eloquent replies to different threads on here. Yourself, along with Harry and Robroy, and one or two others whom my memory forgets, always seem to be the voice or reason and tell it like it is.

We have seen the best days of this job, and admittedly I have worked for some absolute cowboys back in the day. But it was a learning curve for us youngsters, and those Cowboy firms were the ones who gave us our start because the old hands wouldnt put up with their games. As we grew and became more experienced then we found better jobs in respect of decent employers, but I found even then that the actual owners of those firms, the ones who took you on in the first place, didnt keep a tight reign on the transport office staff. Many a time in conversation with particular bosses… when you did see them, ended up annoyed with how the transport staff had ran you ragged and then stepped in to chastise them and work levels tended to drop back to a more acceptable level.

But my last firm, a private family firm, whom I thought were absolute professionals showed their true colours not while I was working for them, although we four drivers were kept really busy when fully employed, but in retirement during Covid when they wanted holiday or sickness relief, or an abnormal workload dictated the rental of another tractor for a few days or weeks. Then you seemed to be treated as just another jockey . I think the old saying that you are only as good as your last load is still rife amongst many hauliers. I cant speak for the big names (what ones are left!) because I only worked for small companies. Take care, thanks for the reply.