Cheers for that information.
Really?
For a few quid, it is easy to hide the age of a vehicle from a casual observer.
TFL may not be fussed, but private contractors quite likely are concerned about image.
It is all they have in many cases.
How are vehicles registered in NI relavant to your post about vehicles imported from Germany?
i give up if you want to know read the bloody posts
I certainly did.
Unimogs can be specced so you can switch sides like that.
Yep fair enough Lucy for road work and municipal vehicles I get thatā¦but Iāve heard it all now drivers advocating for dual steering wheels or positions to make it easier for them to go over the water.
I bet the old style 70s ME drivers are turning in their graves with laughter.
Now I am imagining a digi tacho headache, how could you manage slot 1 / slot 2 if both of you are āhands onā the controls at the same time.
Yep Iāve often wondered how you manage to lean over as far as to reach the steering wheel in those āleft hand drive thingsā.
i was half flippant but meant all vehicles
Well, you say that, but the difference between driving down that dead straight road across the salt flats between Ankara and Aksaray in Turkey in a RHD wagon rather than LHD was significant to say the least. You can make more progress in long-haul with a left-hooker and safer too. Having said that, as you suggest Rob, weāre all capable of doing it with an ex-supermarket trolley
What makes me laugh is the guys who acknowledge it aint necessarilly the easiest thing to drive a rhd abroad ā¦if you donāt keep yer wits about ya and unless you are a very competent driver, are maybe the ones who are constantly knocking foreign lads in their lhd s driving over here.
Funny you should mention that, Rob. Only on Friday I watched a Romanian artic leave the ring road and drive into the middle of town (probably lost his way twixt London and Dover). When he got to the tight mini-roundabout at the next T-junction, he indicatedd to turn right, then paused. I stopped to watch. If he turned right heād have a do-able struggle through the centre. But no, he was doubling back. I knew that the only way he could clear the roundabout and pedestrian bollards would be to drive into the corners and use every milimeter of road space. Which, to his credit, is exactly what he did, without shunting. Good man.
For me all the foreign miles Iāve driven from Norway to Sicily and Dubrovnik have been with RHD and being left handed I wouldnāt want to trade the left hand gear shift and like those Italian drivers I prefer driving in mountains on the nearside not just for road positioning but also better view of scenery.
While my introduction to the job of driving a truck was in large part LHD and Centre Drive all in UK.
Also the typical old school RHD Italian truck drivers.
In which the borderline of the unguarded sheer drop of the moutainside on the nearside was more important to them than the amount of forward visibility at the speed of a 180 hp FIAT running at 50t.
Yep, well done that lad.
Ok we all know there are a lot of crap foreign drivers, particularly a lot of EE, but your example is one of the (many) exceptions.
In my (not so) humble opinion,.there are FAR more crap UK drivers.
As for the slagging off of foreign drivers, I have never got it tbh.
I used to be on the end of it (ooh Mrs ) when I drove foreign regd trucks.
I used to get all the verbal b/s off a lot of drivers, but when I reared up at them, AND in a Brit accent,.they backed right off with the 'Oh sorry mate,.I thought you were foreignā¦As if that excused theit pi55 poor attitude ffs..
Most of these stars who slag off these guys who have driven through god knows how many countries to get here,.are more than likely 100 mile radius bog rolls to Tescos types.who would crap themselves if they had to go anywhere south of Dover.
As far as I am concerned a trucker is a trucker,.whatever nationality.
Iām with you there, RR. When I was washed up abroard with UK drivers effinā and blindinā about foreigners, I used to say: āDunno about you mate, but in this job I spend a good 75% of my time being an effinā foreigner.ā That normally signalled a rapid change of subject.
Not just the Italians, CF, the Swiss and the Austrians used to make RHD Saurers and OAFs for the mountain passes.
Thanks Ro just more confirmation that Iām more at home in the Alps etc than the Surrey Hills.
Also obviously where my liking for drawbars comes from.