Well after 37 years driving class One, I’ve finally decided to call it a day, so Monday will be my last week on the roads, no more 3.30/4.00am starts, no motorway jams, no suicide car drivers, no Vosa, no ignorant traffic office staff = No stress.
Taking up a nice little 8.00 - 4.30 job as storeman/ Driver for engineering firm, 5 weeks holiday & overtime if you want it, no prob if you don’t! And the money although less than my current job, which is paid on a guarantee 50 hr week still works out at just under £9 p/hr which isn’t bad for a 40 hr week.
Will I miss trucking, maybe the friends I’ve made at the various depots & the driver banter, but not everything else about the job, I’ll keep the dcpc up to date incase I want the odd sat/ sun but that’s all.
Will stay on the forum as it gives me a good laugh every day reading the posts and to all my fellow truckers out there, stay safe & don’t let the Bar stewards grind you down!!
37 years, well that makes me 2yrs behind you, I often feel like jacking it all in for the reasons that you point out among others, and it aint the job that it was, especially on the social side, but I still try and park up somewhere where I can have a meal and a pint refusing to park in lay bys with the cab rats 
.
I kind of feel sorry for the guys that never knew how better the job was… even though we drove around most, but not all times, in piles of ■■■■ compared to a modern truck, at least you were your own boss…“.ring the end of the week when you are empty” 
, and not having some ■■■■ that knows a lot less about the job than you do , tracking you, and (TRYING unsuccessfully to in my case) put pressure on you down the phone.
So good luck in your new job mate, but if it’s in your blood after 37yrs, I reckon you will miss it.
lost my licence for medical reasons 10 years ago , i was devastated at first , then i found out that life goes on outside lorry driving . it’s a big world out there when you have time to look around you .my son is only in his late 40s , but he is packing it in this summer as he reckons the job isn’t worth the hassle any more and he wants a better quality of life . good luck governor , go for it !
Governor…did that 30 years ago, storeman in a plumbers yard and all went merrily until I went out several months later for a drink with my lorry buddies and was back behind the wheel a week later.
Advice…avoid your trucking buddies.
I hope it all goes well for you Governor!
and you cant leave T’net as i like your avatar!
Good luck mate, hope it works out well for you…
kindle530:
as i like your avatar!
Please tell me it’s not just me who finds yours ■■■■■■? 
Well, at least you made it to the end without having a heart attack. Best of luck in your new venture.
There are many hot Eastern Euro babes working at goods in at depots.They smile and you can have a joke with them.
Unlike some grumpy jobsworth who hates drivers.
“You are late,not booked,too early,goods not ordered,broken box;whole load is rejected,not my problem,he says.”
Silver_Surfer:
Well, at least you made it to the end without having a heart attack. Best of luck in your new venture.
Absolutely! Walk away and don’t look back. Enjoy the stressless new beginning I’m looking at it myself! 
Good on you mate, I am into 38 years this year but I am not doing the DCPC, they have screwed me enough so I am finishing in the summer, I have a nice little van driving job lined up too. Good luck to you
I finished december2012 ,ive got ostioathiritis in my back and hips and i just wasn’t capable of doing the job anymore.do i miss it ? Yes and i miss the money because i can’t do any job so no money because I’ve worked all my life so not entitled to the many benefits the unemployed enjoy.
Yep, best of luck, don’t blame you, I’m planning to pack it in next year too.
Hiya good luck mate…i give up distance work 10 years ago, not long after an ex transport manager phoned me he asked if i,d finished, he offered me 6 weeks of 8 til 4 driving
internal at Stanlow… no problem, that lasted 6 years i finished at 58 i just tinker around
with play toys now can’t beat it. i do the odd couple of months in Stanlow when they need
me, i get the state pension in 18 months so that’ll do me. just think on, we always did half a day more than 8 till 5 workers, 37 years is equivalent to 56 years slog, you need a rest plus
all this bull s… they give us nowadays i can’t understand anyone driving for a living.
good luck once again mate …stay on this channel and have the odd chat with us other
owd buggers
John
Governor!:
Well after 37 years driving class One, I’ve finally decided to call it a day, so Monday will be my last week on the roads, no more 3.30/4.00am starts, no motorway jams, no suicide car drivers, no Vosa, no ignorant traffic office staff = No stress.
Taking up a nice little 8.00 - 4.30 job as storeman/ Driver for engineering firm, 5 weeks holiday & overtime if you want it, no prob if you don’t! And the money although less than my current job, which is paid on a guarantee 50 hr week still works out at just under £9 p/hr which isn’t bad for a 40 hr week.
Will I miss trucking, maybe the friends I’ve made at the various depots & the driver banter, but not everything else about the job, I’ll keep the dcpc up to date incase I want the odd sat/ sun but that’s all.
Will stay on the forum as it gives me a good laugh every day reading the posts and to all my fellow truckers out there, stay safe & don’t let the Bar stewards grind you down!!
i envy you chap,well done and good luck
I stopped driving professionally a few years ago, but am now going through the process of getting a medical and my vocational licenses back on there.
If I go driving again, it is going to be upon lessons learnt in the past. No long distance, no shop or home deliveries and no three truck operations operating from a portacabin on a bomb site.
Good luck with your new career. Will be a shock to the system at first, arriving home at the same time very night and the days will seem to go on forever, but the positives are real good, especially in the bad weather.
Good luck fella ! Can’t fault your decision.
I’ve just clocked up 40 years HGV license holder, what with VOSA & many other changes in the HGV workplace I’ve also had enough.
Recently had a heart attack so really my mind has been made up for me !
Went back to work after the Xmas holiday & remember thinking, “I’ve had enough of this”.
I may miss the money, but not the job.
All the best for the future.
All the best mate I come off roaming 11 years ago after about 25 years at it
I’ve been a yard Shunter since I do a 35 hr week only downside is it’s permanent afternoons but I’m home everynight instead sleeping in a tin shed 5 nights a week plus no more 70 plus hr weeks
Road transport is not what it used to be I don’t miss it one bit
I hope you enjoy your new job
The best, and only, good thing about the DCPC is that instead of finishing April next year I can finish in sept instead. Woohoo.
When I left the army I never missed it, just the crack with the lads, same with driving. It’s the people you work with that make, or break, the job.
Slackbladder:
The best, and only, good thing about the DCPC is that instead of finishing April next year I can finish in sept instead. Woohoo.
When I left the army I never missed it, just the crack with the lads, same with driving. It’s the people you work with that make, or break, the job.
Can I ask a question regarding the DCPC I no longer drive HGVs for a living on the road but I’ve got a restored lorry which is taxed and insured as a private HGV
If I don’t do my required DCPC by September will I still be allowed to drive my restored lorry and if I did ever go back to lorry driving would I have to retake my HGV test ?