Driver cpc - what do you want?

[okey-didley-dokely]

@Shep, you mentioned earlier about prices going up to pay for an increase in drivers wages, why not? We have had to put up with price rises because of bankers, politicians, oil companies, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Why should we has drivers have to pay out money and not get any reward for this pseudo qualification. As mentioned earlier gas fitters now have to refresh their qualifications every five years, they get paid a decent rate for the job and only work 48 hours a week if that.
Drivers have to work 60 hours+ a week to make 3/4 if what a registered gas fitter gets.
What I want now from the DCPC is the guarantee of better earning potential, less hours and better working conditions.
I don’t want to get paid just over the NMW, treat like vermin, and have to pay out money to DVLA JAUPT VOSA DSA and trainers for the pleasure

---

I am here: tapatalk.com/map.php?45zqek
It’s not theirs anymore,
This is our England now.
Paaaaarrrrrrttttttttyyyyyyyy

[dafinator]

shep532:

dafinator:
Get someone other than smug ex vosa knobbers to teach them

I’m not ex VOSA

That wasnt aimed at you, i hadnt read all the thread so wasnt responding to post’s, just my experiance

[wheel_nut]

shep532:

Okey-Didley-Dokely:
As long as there is a recognised qualification that would guarantee a rise wages to reflect your qualification.

Ahhh … now you’ve got me.
That’d be up to the employers wouldn’t it? And in most cases they can’t afford it. So they put the prices up so they can pay for a proper qualified drivers. The supplier they carry for puts the price of the goods up to pay for the extra delivery charge. The supermarket (or whoever) does the same then your wife spends your extra wages paying for the stuff that costs more because of the extra haulage costs

I think the only thing the qualification guarantees is that you would be legal to apply for a driving job.

Okey-Didley-Dokely:
The way it stands at the moment we are being taken for a ride by JAUPT and the DSA, the only ones who will actually benefit from this joke are the trainers and the treasury

Yes

And that is the problem for drivers too, they cant afford it on £7 an hour with fuel to get to work knocking on £1.50 a litre.

I have read this thread in its entirety and there have been some valid points made, except one, did you make out that I don’t want to do the training? That is so far from the truth. I have been pushing for proper driver training for many years, in fact one of my fiercest opponents had to leave this site and start up his own

I prefer the structure of the ADR where the trainer knows and the trainees know that on any given day at a certain time they will be up to speed with part 7 A /36 or something.

They know that because the SQA have a plan that must be followed fairly religiously or followed within reason and a proper exam at the end. It is a European edict that we do this Driver Qualification, along with the rest of the EU. However each country has approached it in a different way and to me, the UK have picked out all the worst bits and thrown away the good ideas.

I wrote in the early days of JAUPT about the QUANGO it has become. Jobs for the boys, the board members of the charity Skills for Logistics and the Transport Organisations as well as highly paid company directors.

What with the consortiums, selling courses for less than a grand, RHA £850. There are too many “trainers” jumping on band wagons. There are some great trainers out there, but unfortunately the stories tell the whole truth that not all are up to scratch or even confident in the legal definitions. How many grey areas do you teach Pete?

SQA’s functions are set out in the Education (Scotland) Act 1996 as amended by the Scottish Qualifications Act 2002. The organisation has two main roles: accreditation, and awarding qualifications.

SQA Accreditation: accredits qualifications other than degrees, approves, and quality assures awarding bodies that plan to enter people for these qualifications.

The SQA are a public body who are wholly transparent, with board meetings and public minutes, they oversee and mark many different types of worthwhile qualifications in hundreds of subjects and levels.

JAUPT are a smoke sheild for two other bodies whose specialist subjects are freight and passenger transport, but are JAUPT specialist?

[happydaze]

Can we have the first seven hours to explain all the acronyms we’ll come across in subsequent courses?

[spit_roast]

starfighter:
There should be a requirement for “core” courses, Drivers Hours and a Health and Safety course. These two should be drawn up between the government and the industry and standardised, so no matter where you take the course it is (in theory) identical. These two courses would account for 14 hours, and the remaining 21 would be “free choice” for the driver.

100% agree with this.

starfighter:
You need to allow drivers and firms the flexibility to implement programmes relevant to their operations. For instance, if I was running a company that used Hiabs and Moffets then I would want to send my drivers on their refresher courses for this equipment and have it count for the DCPC.

And again, 100% agree with this.

If we have to have this debacle, then it really needs to be relevant to everyone therefore flexible in its approach.

Like I said, I am all for updates on rules and regs. One of our drivers thought you could still reduce a daily rest to 8 hrs a couple of months ago so there is a definite need for updating.
There also needs to be some sort of proof that you actually took in the info and understood it, nothing too intense or unforgiving. Maybe a multiple choice sheet with a ridiculous pass mark, say 50%. This would show that you did actually get some of it, but wouldn’t penalise a window licker that is actually a very good and safe driver.

[war1974]

shep532:

Tim1962:
The DCPC is a start, I work in the domestic heating industry and hold qualifications for Gas, Electricty, Solid Fuel and Refrigeration. All of which are only valid for 5 years, when I first took my exams for gas it was turn up and pass, now most assessments are 100% pass mark (3 attempts allowed). To me having a high standard makes the qualification more worthwhile, you cannot expect anyone to respect a qualification that you don’t have to work for. As I said at the start it’s a start, once the cut off date has passed and a base level has been set the assessment needs to become progressively harder. This will progressively weed out those who are not up to the standard and improve both the public and self image of Truck Drivers.

To keep my qualifications up to date works out at about a week per year and about £500 in fees every year, and some of you in better paid jobs probably earn more than me, now both Truck Drivers and Gas Fitters do a job that if done badly can result in fatalitys.

I will be doing my DCPC soon as if the right job comes up I will go back to driving as I enjoy the lifestyle. Maybe sniffing the gas has damaged my brain.

Nice post - well put and I think a fair comparison.

There are plenty of other trades where you have to have the right qualifications and you have to pay to get them.

Maybe the current DCPC is just to start of the process. Kind of makes sense.

well what a surprise you agree with this! the difference with a gas engineer and a hgv driver is huge both in what you have to do and how much you earn, alongside the hours you work etc etc. this is why the dcpc is stupid drivers wont get any recognition as a ‘skilled’ worker or that we are trades people and all that will happen is you will have a load of drivers being taught to ■■■■ eggs. if you dont know to how to load a vehicle correctly you shouldnt be doing the job as an example. and with the internet now finding out things such as drivers hours rules and regs is easier than ever, this is the trouble with the industry they want everyone to present a professional image but wont pay (as a rule i know there are some exeptions) for skilled staff. another point is a driver with a dcpc technically is better qualified for a job than someone who has driven years accident and problem free i know who i would rather have driving my vehicles

[juddian]

war1974:

shep532:

Tim1962:

well what a surprise you agree with this! the difference with a gas engineer and a hgv driver is huge both in what you have to do and how much you earn, alongside the hours you work etc etc. this is why the dcpc is stupid drivers wont get any recognition as a ‘skilled’ worker or that we are trades people and all that will happen is you will have a load of drivers being taught to ■■■■ eggs. if you dont know to how to load a vehicle correctly you shouldnt be doing the job as an example. and with the internet now finding out things such as drivers hours rules and regs is easier than ever, this is the trouble with the industry they want everyone to present a professional image but wont pay (as a rule i know there are some exeptions) for skilled staff. another point is a driver with a dcpc technically is better qualified for a job than someone who has driven years accident and problem free i know who i would rather have driving my vehicles

Hopefully in a few years the balance of pay should change, it seems a sizeable minority are not going to take part in the DCPC malarkey, they will therefore be unemployable as drivers and will probably take the opportunty to get out of the game, thats great news for the rest of us.

‘‘if you dont know to how to load a vehicle correctly you shouldnt be doing the job as an example.’’

That might have worked years ago when almost everyone started in general haulage and roped and sheeted their way up, and there were always time served old hands around to keep an eye on them and teach them how to do it.
These days there are licence holders that have been doing the job ten years and never laid eyes on the load, let alone touched it or had to secure it, what are they going to teach a newby, they know bugger all themselves.

Changes to the way the job works have caused this IMO, the job has never been easier in most cases and has attracted those of a different mentality to those who did the job in previous lives, most drivers of old had Diesel in their veins and most already knew how to load (and drive where no spies were found) a proper truck before they left school, having spent school holidays as second man with dads grandads and uncles.

[solly]

Juddian:
That might have worked years ago when almost everyone started in general haulage and roped and sheeted their way up, and there were always time served old hands around to keep an eye on them and teach them how to do it.
These days there are licence holders that have been doing the job ten years and never laid eyes on the load, let alone touched it or had to secure it, what are they going to teach a newby, they know bugger all themselves.

Changes to the way the job works have caused this IMO, the job has never been easier in most cases and has attracted those of a different mentality to those who did the job in previous lives, most drivers of old had Diesel in their veins and most already knew how to load (and drive where no spies were found) a proper truck before they left school, having spent school holidays as second man with dads grandads and uncles.

• 1

I like it!

[immigrant]

Stobard has started somethings Germany and Austria has since Decades
Truck-Driver-Apprenticeship is it called
and other will follow.
What you get of it as an Employer is a highly qualified Driver
What you get of it as a Driver is knowledge of Office Work,Maintenance Work,Warehouse work,Law,H&S and Planing
What you get as Industry is a Qualified Professional Driver

Now What will then happen to the “Now” Qualified Professional Driver?
Well In some Areas in Germany let Companies there Lorry parked up before they would employ a “Not Certified Professional Driver”

I posted that Article with links to such Jobs but it got delated as not Driver Related,but in a few Year you will have the same Problem here in UK.
Because,as its expensive for a Company to do such an Apprenticeship sheeme,it gives them for a Periode of time cheap Helps all around there Business and a cheap second Driver in a Team.

So,well
Where will we go?

[immigrant]

shep532:
Obviously someone far more intelligent than me would have to work out the finer details and criteria but I do think the current 35 hours anytime in a 5 year period is stupid
EXAMPLE. Driver does 35 hours training week beginning 14th September 2009.
He gets his DQC valid until 09th September 2019
He next does 35 hours of training starting 2nd September 2019
He went almost 10 years without attending any training -now that is silly.

Many Driver drove all there Life without CPC and did well.
I even would say that i’d like to employ many of them but maybe not one which did CPC already twice as you cant teach Experience,Common sense,and some more a good Driver needs to have.
Dont mistaken it with driving HGV. That is something anyone with a License can do.
I’m talking about “The Drivers”

[tachograph]

starfighter:
There should be a requirement for “core” courses, Drivers Hours and a Health and Safety course. These two should be drawn up between the government and the industry and standardised, so no matter where you take the course it is (in theory) identical. These two courses would account for 14 hours, and the remaining 21 would be “free choice” for the driver.

Agreed, but why is it necessary to attend a course for these subjects, surely a driver should be able to study either in his/her own time or on their companies course where applicable then take a test.

To improve knowledge it’s study that’s required not course attendance, and study can take place anywhere at any time, it’s only a test of the drivers knowledge that requires attendance.

starfighter:
You need to allow drivers and firms the flexibility to implement programmes relevant to their operations. For instance, if I was running a company that used Hiabs and Moffets then I would want to send my drivers on their refresher courses for this equipment and have it count for the DCPC.

Personally I can see no reason why accredited training such as Hiab, Moffet and ADR are not automatically counted as part of the DCPC training without it having to be approved by JAUPT.

[turbot]

It is pointless box ticking in its current format.

35 hours of “training” which may or may not be any use to you, which you may or may not understand but will pass anyway as long as you turn up for the hours.
It is seen as a waste of time by everyone that I have spoken to that has done any of it.

It would be better if there was a test that you needed to take every five years that you could fail. Then you would need to actually prove your knowledge was adequate or improve it. The test could be done at the current driving theory test centres and the the theory provided online. No need at all for the current system where you can waste time and money and potentially learn nothing.

[war1974]

Solly:

Juddian:
That might have worked years ago when almost everyone started in general haulage and roped and sheeted their way up, and there were always time served old hands around to keep an eye on them and teach them how to do it.
These days there are licence holders that have been doing the job ten years and never laid eyes on the load, let alone touched it or had to secure it, what are they going to teach a newby, they know bugger all themselves.

Changes to the way the job works have caused this IMO, the job has never been easier in most cases and has attracted those of a different mentality to those who did the job in previous lives, most drivers of old had Diesel in their veins and most already knew how to load (and drive where no spies were found) a proper truck before they left school, having spent school holidays as second man with dads grandads and uncles.

• 1
  I like it!

if you look at my previous posts i agree for a new qualified driver the dcpc is a good thing for experienced drivers if you cant secure your load you shouldnt really have a job how is the job easier years ago there was so few cars people had a bit of courtesy on the road nowadays you get cut up by knobs left right and centre. we now carry more weight with more powerful vehicles which are longer we have more rules and regulations than ever before (would have loved to have driven under the log book system) so yes driving has got so much easier from the good ole days.

my point still being if your an experienced driver what does the dcpc give you (rules, drivers day, safe loading etc etc) all of which you should know all i can see being of benefit is adr and 1st aid.

[juddian]

war1974:
if you look at my previous posts i agree for a new qualified driver the dcpc is a good thing for experienced drivers if you cant secure your load you shouldnt really have a job how is the job easier years ago there was so few cars people had a bit of courtesy on the road nowadays you get cut up by knobs left right and centre. we now carry more weight with more powerful vehicles which are longer we have more rules and regulations than ever before (would have loved to have driven under the log book system) so yes driving has got so much easier from the good ole days.

my point still being if your an experienced driver what does the dcpc give you (rules, drivers day, safe loading etc etc) all of which you should know all i can see being of benefit is adr and 1st aid.

The job was far harder years ago, trucks for a kick off…crash boxes, no power steering or clutches, heater by name only, no heated mirrors (flat in most cases), throttle that heavy you needed a block of wood to hold it down to attain the heady heights of 48mph till it looked at a hill, day cabs so either digs or planks across the bonnet and scrape the ice off the inside of the windows when you finally couldn’t stand the futile attempts to not sleep any more.

Still had 40ft trailers, flatbeds so every single load you carried was roped and sheeted, many loads handballed on or off or both…by the driver, still carried 21 tons when running at 32 with a light York or Crane trailer.
Roads, far fewer motorways or dual carriages, London a nightmare as was every city, remember how you traverse the dump from the M1 to get to Croydon or Chatham, have you forgotten the joy of the North Orbital round via Denham and Slough through the centre of Watford or creeping round Cheshunt or Waltham Abbey via Theydon Bois trying to work your way down to Tilbury or Dagenham Dock avoiding at all costs the joys of the North Circular Hell Road.

Still plenty of aerosols in cars just like now, though fortunately the fairer ■■■ dressed to please so gave us plenty to look at…do miss those girls.

Very few RDC’s back then, probably 6 drops on a normal load, very often splitting pallets down as you delivered to 3 Asda stores and 3 cash and carry’s which could be sited anywhere in pokey places…those pallets could be anywhere on the trailer, and you’d need to square up to get the sheets on again and use corner boards so you didn’t crush the goods, somehow unloading them whilst keeping them dry in the pouring rain.
Christ i wish i hadn’t started recalling this lot, bloody awful and i’d manage to shove most of those memories into a dusty archive of what laughingly passes for my mind.

I know what you’re saying, what could someone who’s done half of what we have tell us, well the trouble s that times have moved on, and we tend not to keep up with required changes, especially when it comes to H&S bullshine and the constantly changing rules and regs, yes we could read up but when you look the garbage up its like trying to read The Bible, you need someone who’s familar to put the words into something WE can understand, no we’re not thick but the twerps who make all the laws forget we are not bloody IT graduates…Stonebridge’s effin tacho being a perfect example of a 12 year old boffin designing a piece of equipment to be used in the field by hands on working blokes, bloody useless.

To be fair the OP here has asked us for suggestions for what WE want, seeing as have to do the course anyway it makes sense to try and get it round to something useful for us, i’ve made a few suggestions which i’d like to see.

Personally i reckon the OP’s onto a hiding to nothing trying to talk common sense to the clever highly salaried bods who make the rules but i wish him the best of luck in doing so.

What i would like to know for example when he’s asking is why we did away with the 3 line braking system and for the sake of (presumably all hail or is that heil the EU) harmonisation adapted to the 2 line, the bloody blue line wasn’t there for its pretty colour it was there because engineers with some nous installed a fully independent secondary braking system for the trailer.

Sod me i need a lie down…

[shep532]

tachograph:

starfighter:
There should be a requirement for “core” courses, Drivers Hours and a Health and Safety course. These two should be drawn up between the government and the industry and standardised, so no matter where you take the course it is (in theory) identical. These two courses would account for 14 hours, and the remaining 21 would be “free choice” for the driver.

Agreed, but why is it necessary to attend a course for these subjects, surely a driver should be able to study either in his/her own time or on their companies course where applicable then take a test.

To improve knowledge it’s study that’s required not course attendance, and study can take place anywhere at any time, it’s only a test of the drivers knowledge that requires attendance.

starfighter:
You need to allow drivers and firms the flexibility to implement programmes relevant to their operations. For instance, if I was running a company that used Hiabs and Moffets then I would want to send my drivers on their refresher courses for this equipment and have it count for the DCPC.

Personally I can see no reason why accredited training such as Hiab, Moffet and ADR are not automatically counted as part of the DCPC training without it having to be approved by JAUPT.

All of this makes perfect sense.

An exam held at a DSA test centre much like the theory test. Driver could home study or alternatively go on a course such as an existing DCPC course to study for the exam. I personally have tried home study - doesn’t work for me, I end up messing around on the internet instead. Obviously no good haveing the tests online 'cos most people would cheat

As for the HIAB and MOFFET etc … it doesn’t take much to get existing courses to counts a DCPC but does cost £250 a year. It should be relatively easy to find these courses as DCPC. Unless of course the current course providers don’t get enough customers to justify the JAUPT cost?

I work with a trainer that does all the Fork Lift, Moffet training under ITTSAR acreditation. We have discussed registering these as DCPC under my approved centre but … the cost outweighs the demand unfortunately. This means he may go and instruct Moffet next week - and the driver/s miss out on DCPC. If I was a bigger company I could possibly afford to sort this, but as it is - can’t justify the cost for the return.

But yes - I think you are right courses that already meet some other official bodies criteria (ADR for example) should automatically be counted as DCPC. This is actually an excellent idea.

[shep532]

turbot:
It is pointless box ticking in its current format.

35 hours of “training” which may or may not be any use to you, which you may or may not understand but will pass anyway as long as you turn up for the hours.
It is seen as a waste of time by everyone that I have spoken to that has done any of it.

It would be better if there was a test that you needed to take every five years that you could fail. Then you would need to actually prove your knowledge was adequate or improve it. The test could be done at the current driving theory test centres and the the theory provided online. No need at all for the current system where you can waste time and money and potentially learn nothing.

So you go along to take your test on Saturday (saves a day off work and you had to wait 8 weeks for the booking anyway) - FAIL it by just one point, go back to work Monday to be SACKED as you are no longer qualified to drive.

Sounds like an administrative nightmare for employers (although the current DCPC will already be worse than a nightmare come 2014)

Currently DSA test centres (the ones where theory tests etc are done) are taking bookings way in advance. A lot of them are just sub-contractors to the DSA and are private companies - therefore making money out of it. Either way in some areas they are very busy. Add to this 750,000 + HGV (and 170,000 PSV) drivers now needing to take an extra test … I doubt the current structure could cope and they would need more facilities.

So then - they could recruit all the DCPC training centres (that now have no work) and they could run the tests. They already have facilities etc that are to a ‘certain standard’. Mmm … I quite like the sound of this. I install a bit of IT stuff that connects me to the DSA. I have a nice little room setup. Driver books online - pays me about £50, comes in, does a half hour test and off he goes. I could probably do 60 - 100 people a day @ £50. WOW - much better than the current DCPC - where do I sign up? Oh and there would be te-test fees as well?

Much better scheme for me Those that struggle to pass - I could offer one-to-one training … more money

[shep532]

Juddian:
To be fair the OP here has asked us for suggestions for what WE want, seeing as have to do the course anyway it makes sense to try and get it round to something useful for us, i’ve made a few suggestions which i’d like to see.

Personally i reckon the OP’s onto a hiding to nothing trying to talk common sense to the clever highly salaried bods who make the rules but i wish him the best of luck in doing so.

One can only try The other thing I can do to play my little part is try to offer what some of you have asked for. May be possible, may not.

Juddian:
What i would like to know for example when he’s asking is why we did away with the 3 line braking system and for the sake of (presumably all hail or is that heil the EU) harmonisation adapted to the 2 line, the bloody blue line wasn’t there for its pretty colour it was there because engineers with some nous installed a fully independent secondary braking system for the trailer.

Sod me i need a lie down…

The problem with the old system was that AIR was needed to apply the brakes. No air - no brakes. There are occasions when air does disappear and this means no brakes

The amount of times I saw a trailer wander across the yard because the ratchet park brake wasn’t applied and the air leaked out. or a driver traying to couple and chasing the trailer backwards (idiot)

The modern two line system is about as fail safe as you can get (until they added the shunt valve). No air and a flamin big spring puts the brakes on. The 2 line system is also less complicated and potentially cheaper - although some of the valves are now that complex you need a computer to set them up properly.

[juddian]

shep532:
The problem with the old system was that AIR was needed to apply the brakes. No air - no brakes. There are occasions when air does disappear and this means no brakes

The amount of times I saw a trailer wander across the yard because the ratchet park brake wasn’t applied and the air leaked out. or a driver traying to couple and chasing the trailer backwards (idiot)

The modern two line system is about as fail safe as you can get (until they added the shunt valve). No air and a flamin big spring puts the brakes on. The 2 line system is also less complicated and potentially cheaper - although some of the valves are now that complex you need a computer to set them up properly.

I was more thinking about the possibility of a severe leak or fracture of the single service brake line to the trailer, having that second full back up always there was a sensible use of belt and braces, the later spring brakes would make no difference i’d have thought but then i’m no engineer.

The mention of the shunt valve makes me shudder.

There’s a bloke who works at another depot but we’d meet up quite often, he’s billy whizz and hasn’t got a minute to live but a nice enough bloke and means well i think, when i had a trailer change one night he came over to help me, i wish he wouldn’t he’s a catalyst for disaster but i could hardly tell him to bugger off could i ?
Anyway he pressed the soddin shunt valve unbeknown to me and when i went to leave the bloody ABS lights were going off all over the place and the brakes had no effort, i eventually found what he’d done.
It seems he presses the shunt valve to save the 5 seconds it takes to climb all the way up on the cat walk and put the red line on.

Thinking back i wonder if he did the same on the trailer i left in place…

Yes i should have told him to bugger off, its always fatal when a one man job becomes one man and a hyperactive flyers job.

[shep532]

Juddian:
I was more thinking about the possibility of a severe leak or fracture of the single service brake line to the trailer, having that second full back up always there was a sensible use of belt and braces, the later spring brakes would make no difference i’d have thought but then i’m no engineer.

The mention of the shunt valve makes me shudder.

There’s a bloke who works at another depot but we’d meet up quite often, he’s billy whizz and hasn’t got a minute to live but a nice enough bloke and means well i think, when i had a trailer change one night he came over to help me, i wish he wouldn’t he’s a catalyst for disaster but i could hardly tell him to bugger off could i ?
Anyway he pressed the soddin shunt valve unbeknown to me and when i went to leave the bloody ABS lights were going off all over the place and the brakes had no effort, i eventually found what he’d done.
It seems he presses the shunt valve to save the 5 seconds it takes to climb all the way up on the cat walk and put the red line on.

Thinking back i wonder if he did the same on the trailer i left in place…

Yes i should have told him to bugger off, its always fatal when a one man job becomes one man and a hyperactive flyers job.

You may have a point regarding a fracture in the service line but … with some of these modern trailer brake valves this can be catered for. The trailer still has a supply of air via the tanks and the still connected red line and if I remember rightly (although I would need to study a diagram) the trailer brakes could potentialy still operate - but I’d need to double check. EBS would mean the trailer knows you are braking but also knows there no air coming down the service line - valves may then redirect stored air to apply the brakes. Again I’d need to read back up on it.

If the service line went - you’d lose trailer braking but still have tractor brakes. It is my belief the modern system is effectively safer in the majority of circumstances

EDIT
I think shunt valves should be hidden away somewhere for emergency use and to avoid drivers using them in day to day activities

[solly]

Excuse me people…I digress with lighthearted observations…from this important issue.

@Juddian. Good posts BTW.

Just to add a few tasks to your list that were expected of drivers… back-in-day which thankfully most drivers today don’t have to experience.
What about winter mornings? Those freeze your nuts off mornings when you had to put a burning rag under the engine compartment to help thaw everything out before attempting to start the ■■■■ thing? Same with the fuel filter to get rid of the wax. Also when the passenger side footwell was full of auxilliary equipment to help you out. Bottle jack, wheel brace, and extension bars or tubes so you could change a wheel. If you were lucky enough…oilskins for obvious reasons. Snow chains. Shovel so you could dig yourself out.All of which left little room for a passenger.
Weekends…if you were lucky… were generally reserved for greasing the suspension… steering joints… and any other moving parts fitted with a grease ■■■■■■. Usually done outside or during winter in the garage where you crawled around…in most cases… on the freezing filthy floor with water dripping all over the place usually on you and wishing you were back at home in the warmth.
Those were the days eh?