I’m getting dispondent. For ages, years even, I have argued the toss about HGV drivers being a cut above the rest able to work through problems thrown at us and not just sit there wringing our hands wondering what to do. We were special, a clan, a band of brothers if you will. Now I wonder why I even bothered.
My enforced 10 month break last year has allowed me to view those I work with a more critical eye; it depresses me greatly.
And what do I see around me? Stupidity. Absolutely unbelievable things done by people who must be completely devoid of all rational thought. I seriously think many of them should go to their doctor and see if there’s actually a functioning brain in between their ears. These aren’t just things done by people who’ve recently started driving for a living but by people who’ve been doing it for years. I honestly look at many of them and wonder how the hell they ever got a job. And believe me, I thought that would be virtually impossible in a company where all you have to do is drive from A to B, drop a trailer in a trailer park, have a break then pick up another trailer and go back to A but yet they manage to make it 100 times harder than it needs to be not only for themselves but other drivers around them.
This last week I’ve seen:
A driver whose been driving donkeys years, has even been on the company training course in less than a year but is completely incapable of changing gear with any competency.
Another driver with gearchange problems. Couldn’t work it out EVEN THOUGH THERE’S A BIG DIAGRAM RIGHT NEXT TO THE GEARSHIFT IN PLAIN VIEW SHOWING YOU HOW. Give you a clue. Push gearstick forwards, you go up a gear. Pull it backwards, you go down a gear.
A driver waiting in front of the trailer next to me. His trailer isn’t ready but mine is. THe bays are tight and he can see I’m going to pick mine up but rather than stick it in gear and pull to the right a few inches, he sits there watching me struggle. THE BEST BIT? I asked him why he didn’t move and he said “Didn’t think I needed to, you didn’t ask.” WHY SHOULD I NEED TO ASK? THERE’S A 4" GAP BETWEEN THE TRAILERS. OUR MIRRORS OVERLAPPED AND I HAD TO REVERSE AROUND YOUR MIRROR YOU DUMB MUPPET. HAVE YOU NO BRAIN?
A driver completely incapable of getting into a gap inbetween two trailers that was 20ft wide. He’s only been driving the thick end of 20 years.
And the final straw…
Two idiots on the M1 who drive for Bedfords on the Palletline contract in consecutive numbered lorries. One muppet decided to overtake the other. For 9 miles this continued. 2 miles after idiot A overtook idiot B, idiot B decided to try to overtake idiot A. Cue another 9 mile ovetake.
I’ve given up. I’m not going to renew my PDA sub as I don’t feel we’ve a fighting chance of changing anything when more than half of the workforce is incompetent of doing what is in essence a fairly basic job. I don’t think we have the right to even think of calling ourselves professionals when so much of the side let us down by such shining examples of gross stupidity and lack of common sense, all in the public eye.
THe Times (I think) ranked us in with cleaners and van drivers. Now I can honestly say I see why.