SimonRS2K:
I think they call themselves that because they have letters after there name describing there qualifications but “joe bloggs HGV” doesnt quite sound the same really thats why i think its a bit OTT(Although i do agree with you neil they are up themselves)
How about
Joe Bloggs cpc,adr,flt,vmc,r & s,obe,sw pilot,
Remember next time someone questions your driving and comes out with the old “well you’re a professional driver and should know better” routine, point out that there’s no such thing and no you’re not.
Conor:
Remember next time someone questions your driving and comes out with the old “well you’re a professional driver and should know better” routine, point out that there’s no such thing and no you’re not.
I do 
Coffeeholic:
I can’t say it really bothers me one way or the other, but the one that does get me is when people who are Doctors, Lawyers and the like describe themselves as a “professional person,” as if it in some way makes them better than others.
It doesn’t make them better but it does differentiate the type of employment the do. It is more to do with the level of knowledge/thinking required to do a job and in simple terms there are 2 levels, tradesmen and professionals.
To be a tradesman you need to know how to do your job and to use the tools and materials required but the ‘scope’ or focus of your knowledge is fairly narrow.
To be a professional you need to know more than just the details of your job and you encompass more than just the ‘core skills’ when you carry out your work.
When you consider the amount of information/knowledge required to be a commercial driver these days and all the ‘peripheral’ subjects you need to take account of (H&S, WTD, Drivers Hours, RTA, Customer service, safe & fuel efficient driving, route planning, load distribution and security, etc.) then a case can be made to ‘elevate’ the drive to the professional class.
In most sectors of work there are different classes - unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled, professional - so why should driving be any different. Maybe it could be thought of like this:
unskilled - car drivers 
semi-skilled - ‘steering wheel attendants’
skilled (tradesman) - knowledge and experience of driving but no interest in anything else to do with the job
professional - good at the job, knows the rules (most of them anyway), considers all aspects relating to the job, strives to improve and is always willing to learn.
Saying ‘I’m a professional driver’ is meaningless unless you can back it up, otherwise it becomes a joke. So consider what you think you are and how you think of others and use the appropriate terminology.
just a few thoughts
Jules
Jules thats all well and good but what i cant get my head round is why the word professional has to be stuck on the front of our job title when no other profession does the same
when you look in the yellow pages for a joiner do you look under J for joiner or P for professional joiner thats what im getting at
simon
I look under C for carpenter.
Or you could look under T for thieving rip-off merchant (or tradesman) because a joiner is not a proffesional. However you could look under C for Craftsman if you want the arty-■■■■■ type of chippy
Jules
Boots O’Lead:
because a joiner is not a proffesional.
Why not 
SimonRS2K:
Boots O’Lead:
because a joiner is not a proffesional.Why not
To be a tradesman you need to know how to do your job and to use the tools and materials required but the ‘scope’ or focus of your knowledge is fairly narrow.
To be a professional you need to know more than just the details of your job and you encompass more than just the ‘core skills’ when you carry out your work.
Jules
Me personally, I’m a truck driver.
Don’t know if I’m professional. How do you assess professionalism? Is it someone who doesn’t have accidents? Or has a shiny truck? Or has shiny boots? I just do my job to the best of my ability.
I think (as has been said before) ‘professional driver’ just means that somebody whose main job function is to drive.
And it’s the part of the name of this forum - so I suppose with that in mind everybody in here ought to be professional really- whatever that means.
I wonder if it’s to do with the law, if I make a mistake I can find myself answering for it in the courts also I am controlled by a governing body. and I can have my vocational licence taken away from me. same applies to a doctor
only difference is mine is a licence to drive and a Doctors is a licence to practise
I would expect a pro doctor to know what he’s doing and not practice on me
Boots O’Lead:
SimonRS2K:
Boots O’Lead:
because a joiner is not a proffesional.Why not
To be a tradesman you need to know how to do your job and to use the tools and materials required but the ‘scope’ or focus of your knowledge is fairly narrow.
To be a professional you need to know more than just the details of your job and you encompass more than just the ‘core skills’ when you carry out your work.
Jules
So what your saying here is a joiner who has done say a 4 year apprentiship on the job and at a college is not a professional
But
A trucker who has done a 5 day driving course with a short test at the end of it is a Professional
Seems a bit biased towards the trucker to me and i reckon the joiner would disagree
Now im not trying to slag off truckers here before anyone starts to 
i just think its going a bit over the top when people spout professional at every oppertunity
simon
All these mega rich drug crazed blokes who kick bags of wind around call themselves professional, so why can’t I?
I reckon there is a big difference between a carpenter and a joiner, the same as there are big differences between 2 drivers
robinhood_1984:
As soon as I hear people bleating on about being a proper “proffesional” truck driver I just turn off and try and ignore them,
I personally don’t care in the slightest what others think of me, all that matters is that I know I can do my job, what others think is irrelivent, apart from maybe my employers ofcourse.
well said robin thats what i think im a class 1 driver on the agency doing a variety of work ive general haulage ive had a go at flats all be it a very small go and ive done containers with a full adr i dont class my as a professional just someone who goes to work does what they have to do before i can go home again.
how can we be classed as proffesional when we all run 24/7 , fall asleep at the wheel,scruffy smelly [zb] and ride around in these moving enviromental disasters…
or is that how the genral public see us
jon
jonboy:
how can we be classed as proffesional when we all run 24/7 , fall asleep at the wheel,scruffy smelly [zb] and ride around in these moving enviromental disasters…or is that how the genral public see us
jon
Correct
When was the last time you saw a solicitor taking a whizz up the wheel of his BMW outside the local crown court
simon
Solicitors take the whizz in other ways I find.
I think that in this case it’s not that we are “Professional” so much as “professional”…note the small “p”. The word when used in this way is merely the opposite of “amateur”.
In any job where there are people who do the same thing as a hobby or a sideline then the distinction between “professional” and “amateur” is generally made clear…eg. most sportsmen… This is a structurally and grammatically correct use of the word to distinguish between someone who gets paid to perform a task and someone who does not.
The confusion then starts when the whole phrase is used as a proper noun and capitalised - so I would say that professional Driver is correct usage, where Professional Driver (a misuse of the same word, which when given a capital letter has the definition given be Boots O’Lead above) is not.
Me? I just point it and hope.
An interesting topic.
I would class myself as a professional driver for what it’s worth.
From reading the replies so far, the majority seem to be classing themselves in the screw-driver bracket, ie. “do the job as quick as I can then [zb] off home”. Whilst you may argue that you conduct your driving professionally I fail to see how you can when you adopt that attitude.
Perhaps this is why there are so many “idiots” on the roads nowadays? Courtesy and consideration for your fellow road users appears to have gone west judging by the replies and you’ve taken the ‘me me me’ attitiude.
Perhaps if you can’t drive with professionalism[/b] then you should get the [zb] off the road and get a job in another trade, like warehouseman. 