I can’t understand the childish and smarmy attitude of some of the guys on the top forum ? A lot of time when I give a quite logical comment on a topic I am met with insults from those who think I know nothing about the UK side of the industry, I lived and worked there until I reached 45 years old, I started in transport in 1975, I am still in touch with lot’s of mates who still drive over there and even senior transport management including one CEO of a large transport company, all keep me informed of current situations. These same idiots seem to be happy to inform me of their knowledge of the USA even though the only knowledge they have of this country is what they have either read or their experiences on their holiday in Florida … so in fact they know sweet FA about America.
They just annoy me. Rant over. 
To be fair Pat, if you haven’t completed 35 hours of patronising egg sucking, I mean CPC training, you’re nothing but a newt!
robinhood_1984:
To be fair Pat, if you haven’t completed 35 hours of patronising egg sucking, I mean CPC training, you’re nothing but a newt!
I know that mate but I only state what I am told by someone who knows. The whole point of the particular thread concerned a ‘Driver shortage’ and when I made a comment one guy told me in his own words that there is no driver shortage and living here I know nothing LOL. They seem to be a bunch of inexperienced idiots just lately, I know there are some good and knowledgeable guys on there, but I see loads of what I can only describe as bitter people with chips on their shoulders, as for commenting about the driver situation here, if they have never lived and worked here they have no idea.
I know mate. I don’t personally think there’s much of a driver shortage in the UK, any more than there is in Canada. There’s a lack of proper jobs and an abundance in the UK of agencies all advertising the same job, or in many cases making up a fictional job of something that might come up in the future if you register with them. If companies in the UK can’t get drivers at the moment, its because they’re paying minimum wage rates or there abouts and people won’t and can’t afford to live on that, just as locals and even immigrants in Canada can’t and won’t work for cowboy firms here on crap mileage rates with huge amounts of unpaid waiting time.
hey m8 all that sounds very familiar l.o.l my m8 from bristol who i got job with my old boss rang me yday from brampton tells me hes still waiting 4 a load . and my old boss still looking 4 drivers wonder why oh ye crap job no hometime and barely survive on the wages, seems u got one of the best deals round your area ,
I also thought that response to the driver shortage issue was inappropriate, but I thought better of responding as such.
I am a new driver myself, Class 1 only a few months old. I have found a company, via an agency, who have taken me on and are sending me out with experienced drivers to train me and get me up to a standard when I can go solo. They’re paying me too, and I’m not even full-time.
I was expecting to be caught by the 2 year inexperience trap, so explain to me why a company is prepared to do this for me? I can only assume that it is a combination of a pickup in the economy and the CPC issue that has left them short of experienced drivers and desperate enough to take on a rookie. I hear the company is looking for between 10-20 new drivers, and an agency told me recently they could place 50 Class 1 drivers immediately.
I’m not complaining, it is a golden opportunity for me. One day I really really want to emigrate to Canada and take up a driving job there. I’ll get my time in here, build my experience, and hope that the LMIA issues settle down soon. I want PR as soon as I can get it, and hopefully there will be a company who will take me on.
pat , there probably is a shortage of decent drivers in the uk , but there is no shortage of brainwashed steering wheel attendants who are buggered without a satnav and drive , er , proceed like f1 drivers with 44 tonw behind them . cheers , dave
Theres a shortage of decent jobs thats the main problem. To many zero hour contracts and using agencey to cover full time jobs not holiday and busy period cover.
rigsby:
pat , there probably is a shortage of decent drivers in the uk , but there is no shortage of brainwashed steering wheel attendants who are buggered without a satnav and drive , er , proceed like f1 drivers with 44 tonw behind them . cheers , dave
robinhood_1984:
To be fair Pat, if you haven’t completed 35 hours of patronising egg sucking, I mean CPC training, you’re nothing but a newt!
I did my CPC before we moved here iam therefore classifying myself in the smartarse category
reading a lot of posts from new drivers,the job doesn’t seem to be getting any better, only the trucks, there seemed to be a lot more friendship amongst the drivers in my time, looks like i retired just in time retired in 2005 and moved to southern Spain after 43 years UK and Europe still miss the job now and again
doneit:
reading a lot of posts from new drivers,the job doesn’t seem to be getting any better, only the trucks, there seemed to be a lot more friendship amongst the drivers in my time, looks like i retired just in time retired in 2005 and moved to southern Spain after 43 years UK and Europe still miss the job now and again
I miss what the job over there once was, but reading the UK forum makes me realise that those days are well and truly gone. When you have so many jobsworths for example, bickering and acting the road lawyer about what in my opinion are incredibly trivial things such as moving a tractor unit off card in the yard a hundred meters or so, or doing a manual entry on a digital tacho for the 2 minutes it took you to walk from the transport office to the truck and how these sorts of things are portrayed to be of huge importance and anyone not conforming to that type of thing is “running bent” or a “cowboy” etc. Well no thanks, thats not for me, there can be no enjoyment working and living like that. We’re people, not machines.
I think it’s just the attitude of the modern driver over there Pat
taffytrucker:
I think it’s just the attitude of the modern driver over there Pat
That sums it up from what I read on that forum.
right there nmm , they moan about the rules but embrace them with a vengeance . if they are a long way from base why can’t they change a flaming bulb ? but they would rather have a fitter out to do it " because that’s the rules " . the job is micro managed by idiots that don’t know their arse from their elbow and the drivers just bow down and accept it . ooooh my blood pressure just went off the clock . cheers , dave
Seems to me that driving in the UK is like driving with the brakes on, when compared to driving a truck in North America.
ChrisArbon:
Seems to me that driving in the UK is like driving with the brakes on, when compared to driving a truck in North America.
True, but the two jobs are a world apart, the blokes that are out over the water don’t seem half as bad as the agency bods or trolley dollies that do day work.
They’re all about the rules, moaning about them or moaning about others breaking them.
newmercman:
True, but the two jobs are a world apart, the blokes that are out over the water don’t seem half as bad as the agency bods or trolley dollies that do day work.They’re all about the rules, moaning about them or moaning about others breaking them.
My sentiments exactly.
It seems to be a very British trait these days. A common one is when one of them moans about something they’ve seen a “Johnny Foreigner” do such as wear shorts of not wear a hard hat out in an open yard. Rather than question why they, as British drivers are made to bend over to the rules and accept them as gospel and ask “Why do we put up with this crap?” its all “Why isn’t Johnny Foreigner being made to lower himself to our spineless level?”
I’m of the opinion that the heyday of agencies before the last recession advertising huge wages saw a massive influx of totally unsuitable people in to the job for purely financial reasons and we now have so many of them in the industry that it bogs the whole thing down as they tend to hate the job, resent being there and use any jobsworth tactic to avoid doing any actual work. As Chris says, its like driving with the brakes on. It really is no wonder that the eastern Europeans do so well in the UK, they actually want to do the job and in most cases are better than the types described above by a long way.
You should spend time in the office of a UK transport firm, then you’ll see what drivers are all about 
The amount of grassing and brown nosing that goes on is ridiculous, some of the last people you would think would do it are the worst culprits 
The ones that think they’re something special are the best, they do as little as they can get away with, yet want the biggest, newest lorry, if a glory job comes up they expect to be top of the list and do some serious sucking up to try and achieve their goal.
My old boss and mentor had a nice little trick up his sleeve to use their methods against them. Each year he would buy a batch of new motors, but they weren’t delivered until after our really busy period, so he would put notices up that new lorries were coming home and have a list pinned up for drivers to put their name down. This list went up before we got really busy, all of a sudden we had no problems getting overtime or weekends out of drivers that usually never had a day’s work in them
It’s amazing what people will do if he dangle a carrot