Next time you drive past a plater (and its your decision, not co. policy) or play childish games such as slowing down and then accelerating away, just think for a moment, do you enjoy driving that nice shiny new truck your employer bought for you? How do think it got from the docks to the distributor, from the distributor to the dealer and from the dealer to your yard. By bloody magic■■?
Service personnel. A few have mentioned picking up squaddies. How do you know? How long are you going back? They have not been allowed to hitch in uniform for decades.
Agree with bigvern, when I was plating often picked up by females who usually said bf or hubby was a driver and had said ok to pick up platers.
As for travel allowances. Yes its a pittance. You could easily use up your (say) 300 mile allowance by having to get a taxi the 1st or last few miles. Do you like your night out allowance or do you think you should be forced to spend all of it and more on parking every night? Same thing.
When I was plating (a long time ago now) I found that often, on longer lifts, you got in as a stranger and got out as a friend. Often had guys with heavy laden artics go off route to get me into or near places.
Sometimes when you were nearing where you needed to part company, they would shout on the CB for someone going to where you wanted to be. I’ve climbed out of trucks to find the next lift pulled in behind!
Doesn’t always work like that though. Beware car drivers wanting to take you local short cuts on minor roads then kick you out in the middle of nowhere with no passing traffic. Black holes I used to call them). Best to stick to major roads whenever possible.
Chas:
I pulled into Baldock services one night at around 2am. Parked in the furthest corner so’s not to wake anyone up & also so’s I wouldn’t be woken at 6.30am when they all fire up for their next working day. Besides that, I was working on recycling & the load ‘STUNK’ so bad it always made sense to park with the cab upwind.
I saw her as soon as I drove in, slightly on the plump side yet still quite attractive. Sheltering from the drizzle in the bus shelter type thing that housed the parking ticket machines. She left it 5mins before she approached me & I’ll never forget her eastern european accent. She wanted a lift to Liverpool & her body language, combined with my finely honed 6th sense, told me that she knew exactly how to pay for it.
I politely declined. I was as knackered as I am happily married thank you !
At that awkward moment, a driver pulled in & parked for a flying ■■■■ stop. As she wombled over to him I couldn’t help thinking “if only”.
I watched from 100yds as she worked her feminine magic on him, then watched as the driver helped her into his passenger seat.
The way he looked around, as if to see if anyone was watching, worried me, worried me deeply for very many days after.
if he had a company name I would have noted it down as well as the number plate and time of pick up,just in case
I was a plater for a yr (no expenses paid BTW) so got a lot of lifts & spent many a cold hour on roadsides.
So many yrs on I try & give lifts where I can, got some good stories from a few.
Great one before Xmas, I’m on route to Berlin, pull in for fuel in Germany, 2 really nice looking 20 ish yr old girls ask if I could give them a lift if I’m going towards Berlin, hmm I thought yeh yeh great fantasy & all that but I’m gunna just get robbed here & I wasn’t that keen, a Dutch guy sees me chatting to them & comes over & says I’ve just given them a lift from Amsterdam & they are fine mate.
So off we go, are Russian uni girls hitching across to Warsaw, have great banter for a long drive, I drop 'em just short of Berlin as I have to stop for the night, OK no Berlin bound bunk up, but I didn’t get robbed either.
Years ago I was heading back to Cornwall, stopped in Gordano, then on the way out on the s/bound sliproad was a young lady with a cardboard sign saying Birmingham please.
I stopped and told her she was on the wrong sliproad & she said “Yes, I know, I thought if someone was decent enough to stop to tell me, they may give me a ride to Exeter.”
And I did, never any ins probs then.
neilg14:
Years ago I was heading back to Cornwall, stopped in Gordano, then on the way out on the s/bound sliproad was a young lady with a cardboard sign saying Birmingham please.
I stopped and told her she was on the wrong sliproad & she said “Yes, I know, I thought if someone was decent enough to stop to tell me, they may give me a ride to Exeter.”
And I did, never any ins probs then.
I went past one holding tradeplates on the A34 North slip at Pear Tree yesterday, looked right peed off that I drove past him. Why do they expect a lift? Not my fault they do a job that doesn’t get them home. Had one a few years back on the A34/M40 interchange who opened the door whilst at the lights and thought it was acceptable to just attempt to get in.
Then there’s the charidee ones who have to walk somewhere in a certain time…stop cheating and walk then.
They do not expect. They trust in the kindess of good natured helpful people. Some of those people might be driving a brand new truck and do not think it got from the port to the distributor, from the distrubutor to the dealer and from the dealer to the customer’s premises by magic. Its often one way transport. Its a dificult job that requires quite a bit of initiative.
They do not expect. They trust in the kindess of good natured helpful people. Some of those people might be driving a brand new truck and do not think it got from the port to the distributor, from the distrubutor to the dealer and from the dealer to the customer’s premises by magic. Its often one way transport. Its a dificult job that requires quite a bit of initiative.
Then the employer should be kind enough to give them the means to travel. If travel expenses don’t cover the distance then another job might be in order.
I heard a story by a driver a while ago. He was at a services and picked up a fella that was apparently dressed well. Turns out this chap got in the cab, pulled his trousers down and 5hat all over the dashboard. He jumped out and ran off in to the woods.
In my old job I used to pick loads of them up everyday but the company insisted I give them a ticket and take money from them! I felt guilty about that so I switched to HGV
Michael Douglas:
I heard a story by a driver a while ago. He was at a services and picked up a fella that was apparently dressed well. Turns out this chap got in the cab, pulled his trousers down and 5hat all over the dashboard. He jumped out and ran off in to the woods.
Michael Douglas:
I heard a story by a driver a while ago. He was at a services and picked up a fella that was apparently dressed well. Turns out this chap got in the cab, pulled his trousers down and 5hat all over the dashboard. He jumped out and ran off in to the woods.
I’m 24 been hitching since I was 18, loads of fun whether you’re the driver or the hitcher.
I’ve done east lancs to lands end and to the midlands numerous times (And back) I’ve met loads of people and got some amazing stories, Its a shame its not still a going concern.
Best one was steve the pyromaniac gas man and the old guy i gave a lift to (about 70) who was convinced he had a motorbike in his bag. been picked up by gypsies and indians that couldn’t speak english. and got rescued from cornwall (Redruth area) and taken all the way up to charnock richard by a dude that couldn’t work out why people went to the pub and had spent 2 weeks at the bottom of a disused quarry inspecting moss.
my only experience of sharing a junction with another hitch hiker wasn’t a particularly good one. He was a trade plater, i had my sign out (telford southbound m6) and had been there for 2 and a half hours. He comes swanning round the corner with his plate out. We exchange pleasantries (He was about 55 i was about 21 at the time) and agreed to try and talk the other one into getting a lift if someone stops. He went and stood about 25 yards down the slip road, both slung our thumbs out again he somehow rolled a ■■■ one handed and smoked it, a wagon with a flat on the back come round the roundabout pointed at me and shook his head pulled over picked the plater up and rolled away. plater didn’t even glance in my direction. git. I left it another hour and a half then gave up and managed to catch a lift after 5 mins going north. southeners are unfriendly.
I struggle to get lifts as people perceive me to be a weirdo or scruffy due to my appearance (Long hair long beard, work boots sleeveless vests and a fair few piercings on show as well as tattoos) how ever every one i’ve been picked up by has managed to kill the lonliness for a few miles. I reccommend you pick them up because they’ll have a hell of a story to tell you. You’ve gotta be able to chat to people for hours if you’re hitching. If you can spare them the time. Most of us are interesting, you can tell because we’re still hitching long after the scene died.
so give it a chance. Especially if you see someone at telford southbound on the M6. It’s a dire junction for a lift. You’ll make their day taking them just a mile down the road. and you never know you might get a story yourself out of it. I was picked up by an irish dude who’d been hauling around the UK for 3 weeks, Hadn’t been home in all that time, not met his new daughter yet because he was away driving, his new motorbike had arrived and he hadn’t got to play on it. but 20 mins after i got in the cab his boss phoned and told him to head for the boat, was that happy he went out of his way by 30 miles to help me out. told me i was the best good luck charm ever.
Cheers for reading. and on the off chance you see me about at the side of the road, be alright and gimme a lift
Trade plating is no way to earn money unless your retired, single, or living in a bedsit with only £80 quid a week rent and no bills.
It’s great if you have a bit of the wanderlust in you and are taking time out from your life as i did in 1997.
I signed up with Uniloads in Warrington summer of 97 and had a right crack out there.
I got picked up by sensible people weirdos, misfits alcoholics, and a few psychopathic raving loonies.
Everybody you think the hitch hiker, plater to be.
I dropped a wagon off in canning town and made my way up toward the A13 didn’t have my plates out and a guy in an ■■■■■■ stops.
He asked me did I want a lift ? Yep. I was heading for Dartford to pick an Iveco up for Winsford.
Hopped in he then went a very long winded route which ultimately ended with me jumping out at a set of lights after having my knee lovingly carresed and offers of a night at his place
I think looking back if I had been a gullible sort of lad I might have fell for his charms as he was persistent ! Still tickles me now haha.
Dropped a Scania of at Bristol after a having a night out in it.
The bunk wrapped in plastic does not make for a good nights kip.
I got a lift down to the M4 stuck my plates out a guy in a Leyland Freighter picked me up and took me to Reading .
He took me straight to where I was collecting a horrible automatic bus with no fuel gauge that was going north to Newcastle.
He was up for a pizz up so I decided to go on the pizz with him so parked the bus up next to his Freighter and went to the nearest pub got smashed that afternoon smoked some of his weed and proper lost all responsibility.
Ended up fighting with him over some song on the jukebox staggered back to the bus crawled on the back seat and slept it off.
Lost a day there after waking with a pile of sick on the floor and a mouth like ghandi,s flip flop.
Got a lift out of Southampton after dropping a Daf chassis cab of at the docks.
A good woman picked me up and said she would drop me at Sutton Scotney I was going to Oxford to pick a ■■■■■■ Luton up for Glasgow.
We clicked and I went home with her to Whitchurch not the Shropshire Whitchurch.
She dropped me at Sutton Scotney later on.
Lovely bacon and eggs and a lovely woman.
What I loved most about that job was the milk of human kindness.
in a world where everyone who hasn’t got a mortgage or a dripped up car is seen as something less than human there are still people who have inside them that most valuable resource extending a hand when someone needs it.
Everyone has a story, some where the truth is stranger than fiction i heard them all some made laugh like the guy who told me his wife loved Pocahontas so much they named their son Pocahontas McGuire.
Ive rattled on enough but I think if we helped each other out a bit more rather than call each other from our ivory towers the world would be a better place.
My next job would be for Shaumatt out of Thurrock hanging lamb to Spain and France and sometimes groupage to Germany .
Another Wild West time that involved Thurrock Truck Stop, Gray’s police station, strippers and tall stories.
I felt guilty about that so I switched to HGV
