The-Snowman:
LIBERTY_GUY:
Nowadays you have on board telematics, on board satellite tracking, route planning software where you have an inquisition if you miss a turn and come back with an extra mile on your readout. Really doesn’t appeal that much anymore.
Yes but I cant help feeling that at least part of the reason all this big brother technology was brought in is because of the “old school real drivers” hanging the job out,parking up at 1pm and going for a sleep for 3 hours,taking the long route,going to shops etc. Ive heard drivers moaning about satellite tracking mere minutes after boasting about what they got up to in the “good old days”.
Fortunately these days I don’t get north of the Dartford Tunnel, but only three or four years ago I did. Particularly when the M1 was being widened around the J10 area, daytime I used to use the A5 a lot all the way coming back south to J9 from the towns as far up as the Lichfield area or even slightly beyond. Sticking to the then 40 limit I found the journey time similar to the Mway route, but oh so much less stressful. Even when the works had finished I found that empty I preferred to come home this way.
So back then and now is this hanging the job out or simply the right to choose one’s own route within reason?
It’s not the tech that’s the problem. The issues come when it’s use is abused by those on both sides of the equation, the driver who thinks he’s clever and isn’t and the operator who use and abuse it for everything but that for which it was designed.
cav551:
The-Snowman:
LIBERTY_GUY:
Nowadays you have on board telematics, on board satellite tracking, route planning software where you have an inquisition if you miss a turn and come back with an extra mile on your readout. Really doesn’t appeal that much anymore.
Yes but I cant help feeling that at least part of the reason all this big brother technology was brought in is because of the “old school real drivers” hanging the job out,parking up at 1pm and going for a sleep for 3 hours,taking the long route,going to shops etc. Ive heard drivers moaning about satellite tracking mere minutes after boasting about what they got up to in the “good old days”.
Fortunately these days I don’t get north of the Dartford Tunnel, but only three or four years ago I did. Particularly when the M1 was being widened around the J10 area, daytime I used to use the A5 a lot all the way coming back south to J9 from the towns as far up as the Lichfield area or even slightly beyond. Sticking to the then 40 limit I found the journey time similar to the Mway route, but oh so much less stressful. Even when the works had finished I found that empty I preferred to come home this way.
So back then and now is this hanging the job out or simply the right to choose one’s own route within reason?
Well choosing your own route is much better than a poxy time sheet churned out by a computer,dont get me wrong. Real time assesments of routes will always be better. But ive listened to members of the old school go on about taking 20-30 mile detours for various things including going to specific shops,visit family,get more hours etc etc,as well as how they used to park up and go to sleep for a few hours “just because”. This sort of ■■■■ taking is at least part of the reason why companies dont give drivers as much scope anymore. I know some companies have a hard on for technology and watching drivers every move but I dont think the old school helped matters
The-Snowman:
LIBERTY_GUY:
Nowadays you have on board telematics, on board satellite tracking, route planning software where you have an inquisition if you miss a turn and come back with an extra mile on your readout. Really doesn’t appeal that much anymore.
Yes but I cant help feeling that at least part of the reason all this big brother technology was brought in is because of the “old school real drivers” hanging the job out,parking up at 1pm and going for a sleep for 3 hours,taking the long route,going to shops etc. Ive heard drivers moaning about satellite tracking mere minutes after boasting about what they got up to in the “good old days”.
I used to carry steel a lot, if anybody wanted to ‘hang the job out’ all you had to do was let the lorries in the queue behind you go first. Most people just wanted to get back to the yard though, ditch the truck and go home, myself included. 
Before SatNav when we all relied on maps, how many endless hours got wasted just trying to find some places then? Trying to find places in strange towns, even the locals hadn’t heard of. Nowadays if you struggling to find somewhere, every wrong turn you make, every reversing out manouvre, every sweep of industrial areas trying to find your drop is recorded on a computer screen somewhere and depending on the company, subject to part of a ‘debrief’ when you finally get back? Who wants that sort of crud at the end of a busy day? As regards route planning software, many of those fail to take into account the time of day, proximity of schools, or even the fact that you need to come in the other way to some drops, to actually be able to get the truck into the yard on angled entrances etc. Drivers sometimes use plain common sense to avoid areas they know will be congested, only to get a ‘kick in the gonads’ for deviating off route, but actually getting the job done quicker and saving the haulier money… 
Not quite sure what the attraction of that sort of operation is to drivers nowadays?
Speak to any maritime driver from circa 1995. 3 drivers box on at the Isle of grain, 1 for Stoke, 1 for Manchester and 1 for Bristol. All 3 would park in Alconbury, and not a word would be said. Drivers did their own thing back then. Most European drivers spent their running money on themselves, had fiddles going on with diesel etc, we really are our own worst enemy
I can remember when for a short time I was office bound in Paddock Wood, knowing that at 3pm on a Friday we would have had half a dozen lorries parked up at the Oasis at Brands Hatch for the last 45 minutes and that they would be rolling in a few minutes apart very shortly. Sometimes it was a pain, sometimes not.
However in the past few years or even recently I will admit, remaining hours permitting, to stopping at Farthing Corner or Clacket Lane for 20 minutes to about half an hour more or less regardless for a breather and a drink, after what will often have been maybe a three hour drive. I may be only 20 minutes or so from the yard and the vehicle may be required urgently for another to reload, but London traffic, the earlier mentioned Tunnel or the M25 require the batteries to be recharged before tackling the usual chaos in a haulage yard and traffic office.
LIBERTY_GUY:
One reason why some industrial estates have an issue with trucks being parked up, is courtesy of the numpties that park across entrances to business units and are still fast asleep in their cabs next morning when folks are trying to get into work. That can be before 6am in some businesses.
It is usually thoughtless behaviour by drivers themselves, that leads to others being excluded or banned from places.
Maybe I was dragged up properly but are people really this inconsiderate?
No reason people apparently hate drivers. (I don’t have a lot of trouble off people, but then again I grin at them until the smile back)
htmldude:
LIBERTY_GUY:
One reason why some industrial estates have an issue with trucks being parked up, is courtesy of the numpties that park across entrances to business units and are still fast asleep in their cabs next morning when folks are trying to get into work. That can be before 6am in some businesses.
It is usually thoughtless behaviour by drivers themselves, that leads to others being excluded or banned from places.
Maybe I was dragged up properly but are people really this inconsiderate?
No reason people apparently hate drivers. (I don’t have a lot of trouble off people, but then again I grin at them until the smile back)
Sadly they are, as I’ve seen this first hand myself. One guy I know who works on car recovery (accident damaged), came back to his unit one night last December to find some clown had dropped a trailer, partially obstructing the entrance to the point where he couldn’t get access. Fortunately another unit nearby works a nightshift, so they used a big loading shovel to push the trailer back a few feet. Guy came back next morning at 8.30am gobbing off how someone had moved his trailer without permission!!! He wasn’t even delivering anywhere on the estate, but just dumped the trailer.
Had it today explain the health and safety requirements was told said right ill got in the yard told to use toilet and sign taken down
’ Proper drivers back then ‘…’ Good old days ‘…’ We only had maps and no night heater’…’ We used to quadrouple clutch our 100 gears crunchbox no synchro blah blah '…
I have a great deal of respect for my elders. However you gotta move with the times. Im pretty sure most of our older colleagues would have taken advantage of the latest technology at the time.
I had not realised bridge strikes NEVER happened until sat-navs came along.
Don’t worry Beaver. Desypete is Trucknet’s very own equivalent to, that ■■■■■■ up old bloke in the pub, who sits in the corner,occasionally rambling something vaguely unintelligible rather loudly, every now and again.
It’s all just poorly informed hot air really. Good for powering balloons, but bugger all else.
His posts are like groundhog day. “26 years experience… drivers now are soft… having an entitlement but no CPC, makes you a hero…” yahdeeyahdah
To be fair to Desypete I do think he has a point thats not to be thrown away as old ramblings. I agree with the idea that snitching and back biting is undesirable. It’s a crap trait that always existed but rife in todays transport industry. People seem to get a buzz at playing the game of sticking to the neverending rules and get a sicker buzz from shopping other people who fail to achieve the same level. Look at the cyclists with cameras.
I try to be balanced - living in yesteryear is bonkers. When the drivers of yesterday were driving their old ways, it was new hat compared to the blokes in the old 1940s lorries. It’s all relative. That said just because some sentiment is old hat doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Some things are good. Driver comradeship for example, a good thing.
Freight Dog:
Look at the cyclists with cameras.
I try to be balanced -
Balanced enough to see all the dash cam footage from trucks on this forum?
Or balanced enough to see the “what dash cam should I buy threads”?
Although it’s just the cyclists with cameras you mentioned in your balanced post
chester:
Freight Dog:
Look at the cyclists with cameras.
I try to be balanced -
Balanced enough to see all the dash cam footage from trucks on this forum?
Or balanced enough to see the “what dash cam should I buy threads”?
Although it’s just the cyclists with cameras you mentioned in your balanced post
If your post was making some sort of point that was clear I may be able to answer you.
Doing my best to pick apart what you may mean, I didn’t say my posts WERE balanced. I said I try to be balanced. RTFQ. I also didn’t say I achieved that, neither do you. It’s being human.
You seem to have missed my point too quite admirably and are having your own private conversation. I wasn’t picking on cyclists, I cited that as an example. The same indeed could be said of drivers with cameras. It’s what they do with them, my angle being that desypete does have merit in saying a snitch attitude is undesirable.
OVLOV JAY:
But I think it’s harsh to say young drivers aren’t “real” drivers, just because they use sat navs and drive autos. My boss buys I shifts, nothing to do with me. And did you all get grief from your elders because you used a map instead of stopping in the town and asking directions? Time and technology moves on, that’s why you didn’t ride a horse and cart, so don’t judge so easy
I’m a young driver and I’m not a “real driver”. I do use the sat nav, but I’m getting to the point where I can just drive somewhere, then use the sat nav to get to where I need to be. As to the auto thing, I do prefer them sometimes (usually when I range change too fast and I end up with no gear), but blatting down country lanes, manual everyday.
Bungle666:
What are these Telematics, satellite tracking and computer generated sheets you all talk about■■? 
I get a pile of work notes, maybe 1 or 2 booking in times (if im lucky), And told to crack on!! were not tracked, we don’t have telematics, and we have manual gearboxes as the gaffer doesn’t like autos 'cos they can be too much trouble!! I pick the route, I pick where i have a break, I pick where i have a sleep and them in the office (mostly) leave me the hell alone!!
Does this make me a real trucker■■?
B…
It sure does. The driver as an independent operative working on their own initiative.
Two different scenarios here really. In the older days when no one used sat navs or auto box’s there was 25% of the traffic on the road nowadays, The industrial areas were 25% as big as they are now. No pressure at all in them days. Nowadays at nav helps you out loads but you still use your common sense. I bet you any money if the old school driver started fresh today without gathered knowledge of areas etc. they would be the ones we will hear about in fields hitting bridges etc.
i remember once in london…when i was just getting used to it.
there was an old timer on the other side of the road with an a-z in one hand,looking well stressed.as we got level i said to him"■■■■ innit mate"the bloke looked well ■■■■■■ off"■■■■■■ hate the place"
i thought at the time…why the ■■■■ don`t he get a sat nav?
it was always my ambition(sad but true)to do a run to london without any form of navigation equipment at all.the first time i achieved this was a monumental occaision for me.
