Kenny1975:
I thought it was more the point the passenger wasn’t insured so if you have an accident the passenger could sue the company.
correct
I was getting back into my cab after docking at Calais one night in the late 80s when this Hooray Henry type asked me for a lift to Paris, he explained that he was on a military training exercise from Officer Training at Sandhurst, I thought he seemed ok, so told him that I was going to be smoking all the way down there so as long as he didn’t mind he was more than welcome, it turned out he had to get a bottle of the fizzy stuff from the Champagne region & bring it back to school (without a passport or money to make it interesting 
) As I was going to Italy I could go through Paris or Reims, so I said i’d drop him at Reims, which made his day, it was nice to meet someone from a completely different walk of life & I enjoyed his company.
I’ve never done it since, most of the ‘new age traveller’ types I’ve seen holding out their thumbs would need jet washing before they got anywhere near my cab, but I would help another driver out.
I also once broke down in Fleet Services late one evening & my boss said I’d have to wait it out until the morning, as I was in the spare motor I didn’t have any gear with me so I cleared it with the boss & got a lift back to the Dartford Tunnel from another driver & the boss picked me up from there & dropped me back to the yard & my car, I went back with the fitter in the morning to sort out the lorry.
we can’t carry passengers or even WAGS anymore, but around 1987 I am glad it wasnt that bad, when I had to hitchhike back to my lorry from Calais to Auxerre.
I wrote about it on here somewhere when I got a lift from Auxerre to Calais in an ACH truck and back again with Derek Taylor in a Barry Read truck, all in the name of getting some money from P&O against my ferry voucher.
Back in early 90’s I was working for a firm in Stoke-on Trent doing continental work.
Whilst fuelling up in Stoke a well dressed guy asked if there was any chance of a lift south.
He seemed OK so I said Yes
Turns out he was trying to get to his brothers wedding in Rome.
“This is your lucky day” I said showing him my delivery notes for Rome!!!
He paid for all my meals on route and I got an invite to the wedding as well
They come in handy if you need a second man for a wide load.
It’s got to be more convincing than the hi vis jacket and a cushion on the passenger seat.
I picked up a very polite japanese student who was heading to Glasgow, He told me that it could be very difficult in the UK because of the different accents, But he could understand mine.
If you are having difficulty with accents here, Then you’re [zb]ed when you get to Glasgow. I explained.
It was a pleasure to have him along. He was Velly honourable.
not in truck no , but in private car - if they look ok then yes
hitched in oz from sydney all the way to cairns (3.5k miles ) or so .
10 lifts got to stay in the houses overnight of two of my lifts
nice folk the aussies
i would say ■■■■ OFF hitch your own ride ■■■■■ your fault lol
but exceptions apply if shes blonde or brown and has a nice upper and wearin a small skirt then yes i would help you most certainly
oh yeah and if its a prostitute maybe but they usaly end up dead in the ditch on the way back anyway
Very wise for a 15 yr old Josh!! 
never picked up hitch hickers but on my first trip to london in a truck i took one of my mates with me, made the trip better
i also give my friends lifts if im in the area and not in an artic lol
travelli8ng from inverness to wick saw a young lad thumbing
as yet another car went passed he raised his hand in a 'thanks anyway ’
gesture and stuck out his thumb again
after that you cant drive past really can you ,nice to see some manners from"young uns"
No
They might have a knife or worse… 
muckles:
ady1:
if its in a short skirt and low cut top , yea, anything else , no chanceBut you don’t seem bothered whether it’s male or female or even human.
have you seen that borg bird 7 of 9 on star treck voyeger, that brown skin tight suit she wears .
i could easily give up human birds for alien ones if there all like her , just the thought of being assimulated by her gives me a hard on 
ady1:
muckles:
ady1:
if its in a short skirt and low cut top , yea, anything else , no chanceBut you don’t seem bothered whether it’s male or female or even human.
have you seen that borg bird 7 of 9 on star treck voyeger, that brown skin tight suit she wears
i could easily give up human birds for alien ones if there all like her , just the thought of being assimulated by her gives me a hard on
Now you really do need to get out more mate
As a driver: Yes, I do. If it’s not banned by company rules. I am a hitch-hiker myself so I know how the real tourist should look like and I take them. I’m also taking trade plates drivers. I do not taking any strange looking dirty guys.
I met a plenty of nice people, especially in Highlands, where I was giving a lift to tourists, who were heading back to their cars or motorbikes after walking West Higland Way. I met English, Irish, French, Brazilian and Bulgarian tourists.
As a hitch-hiker: I used to do that a lot, I like this way of travel as I like to meet interesting people. I went twice from Poland to Scotland and once from Scotland to Poland and I drove all arround Europe - France, Italy, Luxemburg, Benelux, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany…
And UK off course. And British drivers are relatively happy to give a lift to a hitchhiker, espacially lorry drivers. (Other thing is that there is not too much hitchikers here compared to France for example).
Picked up quite a few trade platers over the years and some of them are some funny guys…
Back in October I gave a lad a lift from near Fribourg to Brugge (in my camper van), a trip he made every weekend to protest about some trees that were to be cut down. When I dropped him off a load of kids from Scotland were just turning up on foot too 
had been hitch-hiker myself - Its great experience in my life! its Worth it!
have a look - my old hitchhiker diary
For some mad reason, ive never noticed any trade platers here in Ireland. I do pick people up all the time, but it is gettin a lot rarer since the new road to Dublin has been opened, I know that its dodgey but at the same time its good to have the company, and if they are ok its great meetin ppl that way, I hitch myself the odd time so if there is somebody needing a lift Ill step up!!
Have met some weirdos though.
ps Dont tell my missus lol
Kev
as a rule,no ,but depends on the situation,boot on the other foot,once thumbing home on leave,in uniform,got a lift to ferrybridge,then a lad in an artic on his way to immingham,detoured to drop me on the doorstep,good lad,
I did pick up hitch hikers until the time I broke down at 2 in the morning, nobody would stop and give me a lift, eventually walked several miles to a phone box (this was before mobile phones). I wouldn’t pick up a hitch hiker anymore but would stop for someone in trouble. Some years before that my dad picked up a female hitch hiker in his lorry, she told him that if he didn’t take to her destination (which wasn’t on his route) she would report him to the police for assault, so dad saved her the trouble and drove to the nearest police station where she was arrested for soliciting
Tiger.
Back in the 80’s I picked up a hitch hiker in Liskeard who wanted to go to Wetherby, as I was going to Stockton I told him it was his lucky day.
15 minutes into the journey I offered him a cigarette only for him to launch into a rant about what a filthy habit it was blah blah blah.
Dunno if he managed to get another lift from the middle of nowhere though.
Having said that, I’m currently delivering Land Rovers all over the UK now to supplement my meagre income, so be nice to us trade platers please.