Coddy:
Air Con is for commoners…Posh people like myself have Climate Control…
Wish our work vehicles had air con on them 
Open all the windows and the old people get on and close them all again wearing their thick winter coats and cardigans
Coddy:
‘…Air Con is for commoners … posh people like myself have Climate Control…’
On that reckoning my Climatronic on a nine year old motor should make it a bit yesterday too - although it keeps me nicely frosty-chilled when I need reminding of how a February morning can bless us.
I’d like my agency to negotiate smart-shorts for us in daft high temp’s: As long as the ol’ plums don’t pop out for a look about, where’s the snag? Maybe too dodgy for dieselling-up?
hptruck:
I have a sugestion that should be put to the guy`s who make all the rules and regulations for the transport industry.Why dont they make it unlawfull to drive a truck without having AIR CON fitted.Regardless of country of origin.
Now that would be something we would agree with. wouldnt it.
I’m sure most of us would agree with the sentiment mentioned above. Fortunately for me my brand new 09 plate wagon has a/c 
I shouldn’t think many of the governor’s would be that happy to be retrofitting a/c, especially in this buisiness climate, although, as mentioned in another answer, the health and safety aspect re-wasp/bee stings does bear consideration. I myself am allergic to wasp stings and if I get one in the cab, I have to pull-up pretty sharpish, even on the hard shoulder, in order to ‘extinguish’ offending insect.
Like some of the others have said tramping around Greece spain and Italy in an old Daf 2800 with no air con is not funny!!
It is very important for you as a driver to get a goods night sleep, if it is too hot at night turn the engine on and crank the aircon up!!
And yes they should be fitted now as standerd item. Most offices / factories / shops have it fitted so why not our working enviroment■■?
ROG:
Air con will not be suitable for all - there are drivers out there who suffer from medical conditions caused by air con - I’m sure there were a few on here…
That’s what the OFF button is for dear Rog.
Ok, Keith happy or not 
As I said in my first post, normally I would be calling you all a bunch of pansies, spent many a day sweating my nuts off abroad blah blah blah, so I agree with you, sort of…
The thing that gets my back up is the fact that by deleting air con when ordering a lorry, the driver’s welfare is not being taken into consideration, I’m a driver & I don’t like that, we already have to put up with lots of things that no other profession would endure, but that’s lorry driving & in my mind the pleasure I get from doing the job compensates for that.
Having said that, most of my driving has been in sunny climates so I guess I’m using my own experiences & the lack of air con assumes more importance when the temperature regularly goes above 25c, for UK only work, especially if you’re in & out of the cab all day, well I suppose that you could manage without it.
The impact on the environment, have to disagree on that, excuse my earlier flippant response, but the effect of modern air con is minimal, a lorry uses the same system as a car, in a car it will have more of an impact because the percentage of power used is far greater than it would be in a larger lorry engine, it’s also really bad on the aerodynamics to drive with the windows open & I was once told off for cracking open a window while testing a Daf XF530SSC, the Daf man, Richard Kingston, told me that it would cost more in fuel to lower the window than to use the air con & believe me, this bloke really knows his stuff.
Anyway, I don’t know what all the fuss is about, it’ll be 15c & persisting down by the weekend, so stop being such a bunch of pansies & work up a sweat FFS!
That any better Keith? 
newmercman:
‘…the driver’s welfare is not being taken into consideration … That any better…’
Hey, respect, but I’ll also give fleet/wagon buyers a bit of credit here by suggesting that we start to use their language on the argument for reasonable working temp’s in the mobile office.
The phrase for us to consider when persuading our bosses of the benefits to be had is to make it aware during the phase known as a Cost/Benefit Analysis (or CBA) when speccing up vehicles: Project managers gag for all that chat.
It could (hopefully?) amount to us eventually getting air-con as an industry standard - albeit by using their (poncy?) language to fight our cause.
However, it might serve to keep wages at the current low since we’d be enjoying new perks that were unknown when the pay was better in 'the good old days’. Or, one could negotiate a higher wage for driving a nail with no aircon: Whatever becomes of the ‘air-con’ norm, I suppose that I’m writing that it’s a reasonable idea to consider one’s potential enemy’s subsequent argument to any perceived ‘improvement’ for drivers, eh?
Currently, I’d advocate for more brass in my pocket & sweat a bit rather than appear like a smug brat behind glass in the back of mum’s X5 on the school run …not least since it isn’t so easy to leer at the legs of lovelies and to try it on with them at the lights & in jams, etc. from within an icy cocoon.
what heatwave 
today my truck said it was a swelteringf 32c on the m6 this afternoon and my cab was comfy 18c, god love air con - the only truck in the fleet to have it, bugger the ozone/greenpeace i’m proping up BP/shell etc etc by burning an extra 420 gallons of diesel every day or what every the amount is to keep me nice and cool
Well Im loading in Lucena just south of Cordoba tomorrow and the temperature there is currently 39 degrees C - last week it was 41 degrees C. Lovely with no air con I can tell you, I got through 4 t shirts and 6 litres of water plus 3 bottles of Aquarius (replaces isotonic salts). Anyone who says open the windows is not living in the real World, a 90Kmh wind blowing throught the cab at these temperatures is not pleasant.
Hombre:
Well Im loading in Lucena just south of Cordoba tomorrow and the temperature there is currently 39 degrees C - last week it was 41 degrees C. Lovely with no air con I can tell you, I got through 4 t shirts and 6 litres of water plus 3 bottles of Aquarius (replaces isotonic salts). Anyone who says open the windows is not living in the real World, a 90Kmh wind blowing throught the cab at these temperatures is not pleasant.
This is my argument, ok, we all know that most of european drivers / firms have A/C, and there could be a case that the weather in the UK, does not give the need for the purchase of A/C, but what about the dangers of not having the A/C when the UK does get these high temps,
I would of thought that having a climatised cab would help make you more aware and help with fatigue, hence the work load would not be such a chore and the drivers attitude would be alot better
It should be made LAW that all commercial vehicles should be fitted with A/C and Reversing camera`s.
If a fleet manager specced aircon on their fleet I’m pretty sure they would make their money back on the residual value at trade in time.
Im sure i read somewhere in a magazine that it was gonna become the ruling that every new commercial vehicle was to have air-con fitted under H&S ruling by 2000 and something i’ll try and dig it out if i can find it.
gazzah:
Im sure i read somewhere in a magazine that it was gonna become the ruling that every new commercial vehicle was to have air-con fitted under H&S ruling by 2000 and something i’ll try and dig it out if i can find it.
I think this site has a MYTHS thread somewhere…
Warren T. Claim:
If a fleet manager specced aircon on their fleet I’m pretty sure they would make their money back on the residual value at trade in time.
Sadly these days I don’t think that Fleet Managers are allowed the scope to look beyond the initial purchasing cost. If they were then we might be lucky, but If you’re spec’ing 15 or so motors, with Air Con at a cost of about £600 on each, its too much to justify in many companies these days. They’d rather take the 7 grand saved or whatever, and worry about the future when/if they actually get there!
Alex
grow up you bunch of faries my aircon packed in on monday and wont be repared untill weekend im not moan hombre i must be on another planet to as a 90 kph wind blowing through the cab is fine jesus youll be wanting a machine to help you breath next
hptruck:
This is my argument, ok, we all know that most of european drivers / firms have A/C, and there could be a case that the weather in the UK, does not give the need for the purchase of A/C, but what about the dangers of not having the A/C when the UK does get these high temps,
I would of thought that having a climatised cab would help make you more aware and help with fatigue, hence the work load would not be such a chore and the drivers attitude would be alot better
It should be made LAW that all commercial vehicles should be fitted with A/C and Reversing camera`s.
Reversing cameras? So how do they keep you cool then? I’ve just googled reversing cameras & checked through the first 1001 pages of hits & not one camera has any form of ventilation system fitted, must be a new one on the market 
hptruck:
‘…This is my argument … what about the dangers of not having the A/C when the UK does get these high temps … I would of thought that having a climatised cab would help make you more aware and help with fatigue, hence the work load would not be such a chore and the drivers attitude would be alot better…’
I understand that any identifiable ‘…danger…’ (now hazard) being actualised into an ‘accident’ is now referred to as an (overall) risk : Meanwhile, other hazards associated with that already identified risk (thus previously a likely or possible 'accident ') should be factored into a Risk Assessment (or RA).
We all share a right to access our employers RA’s in order to appraise ourselves of, er, the risks of working under blah-blah-blah type of conditions. If he doesn’t have RA’s, it effectively means that he is running bent and thus we all share a legal obligation to bring this to his attention (provided that he has more than five blokes working for him IAW the Health & Safety and Welfare at Work etc Act, 1974).
However, if his RA’s do not factor in the aspects that you mention, then the simple task is to suggest that he review them (also a periodic legal requirement) in order that our perceived wisdom gets percolated throughout his business and our workplace.
Dont shoot the messenger …I’m in the real world really, but maybe ask oneself whether the employer is keeping up with what, in essence, should be doing in 2009 and since de-unionisation took our legs away all those years ago. So, we all effectively have a responsibilty to chivvy our employers, which as individuals puts us in a somewhat confrontational (and easily sackable/disposable?) position if we clap our traps too much (that I claim is the result of being divided & through Euro-regs further contributing to diversify our land).
hiya,whats aircon?,getting the shed warm was my problem, thanks harry long retired.