Conor:
Its done 878,000km and about what I’d expect an 878,000km truck to look like.
That has to be these famous British standards then…
On a more serious note: OP did well to refuse drive this bucket of bog. I had a similar situation once. There were two trucks in my place, one was “mine”, i.e. I was driving it for most of the time, and when I was driving small vans, it was parked up. The other one was driven by the Scottish chap. On one occasion I was asked to drive his truck to Manchester. It was very dirty inside, not as much damage to it as on the OP’s pictures, but for example my respectable collegue thought that it is a good idea to tip the ash from his cigarettes when smoking into the dashboard where clocks are. It was very urgent delivery and my truck was in service so I agreed to drive it, but I clearly stated that there is no chance that I will spend night in it, especially that there were some weird stains on the bed and it was stinking from smoking and some other stuff.
When in Manchester I was asked to do another collection and I run out of driving time about Cairn Lodge services on M74. I called them ahead informing them that I will be unable to complete the run and that they should send another driver to get behind the wheel and drive me back to Glasgow, but they just stopped answering my phone calls. So I just parked up in services, paid for the parking then went to the gas station at the end and hitchiked home.
I liked their face when I turned up to work next day at 8am as usual and they asked me where is the truck
They gave me a driver with the van, who drove me back there to retrieve the lorry and when I came back to the yard the mobile valeter was waiting and I think the other driver was billed for that (I wasn’t really interested).
I have also another story, it was about 2006, my friend was given agency run to Wick. He was given a truck that on the passenger footwell was virtually filled up with rubbish right to the engine cover level. He refused to take it and went home, after some calls between him, agency and the company, he finally came back and did the run… In a truck hired for that occasion
Well I had my first wages paid into the bank on Friday and it was £150 more for the week than the job I left so I’m happy with that. They seem good to work for, planners are decent enough and I’ve not had to drive like a ‘nutjob’ to get the work done. I’ve been out for two weeks on euro/uk work, ferry back tonight and I’ll be home in the morning for 3 days off
markoc:
Soap and water won’t fix the busted drawer on the tacho unit, the air leak, doors which fail to close properly, the broken fridge, cd player, missing trim
A trip to the garage will though. And I’ve never had a fridge in a motor in 20 years of driving.
No offence but to summarise that ever truck with this amount of kms would meet your expectations seems to me quite a ludicrous answer. Your standards are obviously lower or perhaps you don’t take as much pride in the job as I do?
I’m a realist. Its what I would expect a truck with nearly 900,000km to be like. I can only say I must have been driving longer than you.
I’ve been on class one work for 24years now, so maybe you may have been driving longer than me …good for you !!!
You’d obviously be quite happy to trot around Europe (…I don’t if you’ve ever been on a ferry across the water and done regular work there), living in a rust bucket for two weeks at a time in something that resembles the smell of a loaded bin bag … Hey, if you do then that’s fine by me … It just wasn’t for me that’s all !!!
Next time you see a VOSA check, pull in voluntary , I reckon looking at that level of neglect inside the cab, it’s a safe bet that it isn’t just confined to the interior. It’s definitely had a hard life. As for those advocating for you to put up with it and clean it out , that says a lot about how some drivers today are prepared and willing, to put up with any level of sh. that’s handed out to them without any resistance .
eddie snax:
I’d expect it to be at least retreivable,
It is retrievable. Less than a couple of grand would see absolutely everything sorted.
As for my standard of motors? I’ve driven motors for dozens of companies over the years and that is a pretty common state for a 7 year old 900,000km end of life wagon to be in especially for one that’s probably had several different drivers. The ones that age and mileage that are in good condition tend to have only had one or two drivers.
Might be common but doesn’t make it right. Besides I drove a 896, 000km daf cf the other week for a small haulier local to me. It was as you’d have expected a motor a year or two old to be. Not one that was almost ten years old.
You sound to have lower expectations than the majority. I guess if you’re happy driving around in a filthy shed that’s up to you…
markoc:
Well I had my first wages paid into the bank on Friday and it was £150 more for the week than the job I left so I’m happy with that. They seem good to work for, planners are decent enough and I’ve not had to drive like a ‘nutjob’ to get the work done. I’ve been out for two weeks on euro/uk work, ferry back tonight and I’ll be home in the morning for 3 days off
So who did that ■■■■■■ pile of garbage truck belong to ? And how many minutes or hours did you work for them ? Name and Shame please…to save the next poor sod.
markoc:
Well I had my first wages paid into the bank on Friday and it was £150 more for the week than the job I left so I’m happy with that. They seem good to work for, planners are decent enough and I’ve not had to drive like a ‘nutjob’ to get the work done. I’ve been out for two weeks on euro/uk work, ferry back tonight and I’ll be home in the morning for 3 days off
So who did that [zb] pile of garbage truck belong to ? And how many minutes or hours did you work for them ? Name and Shame please…to save the next poor sod.
the OP has already said that he won’t name and shame them, that’s his choice, iirc with out looking through the thread, started on a Monday, waited 5hr for the unit to be fixed, before sending him home, and I think he lasted a day, before quitting…
, I reckon looking at that level of neglect inside the cab, it’s a safe bet that it isn’t just confined to the interior. It’s definitely had a hard life. As for those advocating for you to put up with it and clean it out 
, that says a lot about how some drivers today are prepared and willing, to put up with any level of sh. that’s handed out to them without any resistance