hello lucy.
i think the mag article is a load of [zb],but like the tabloids,you take it with a grain of salt.
a lot of us here both english and irish,scotch are old time drivers and have seen the lot,back in the 80s and 90s alot of us were doing all sorts of wires and whatever we thought we would get away with.
both uk and irish and i am sure dutch/german etc.no one was innocent of breaking tacho rules.
now things have changed,i still do occasional trips for an irish company.the rule is.
keep the disc right,
the irish companies are running straight now, the RSA the irish equivelant to vosa are going round all the transport companies and doing the same as vosa would do.
if there not running straight,they are out,olicense gone.
how transport has changed,i am all in favour of having your nights rest,but since the introduction of the digi card,they have made it too complicated and easy for the powers to be to issue fines.
its a money making excecise now,the tired driver syndrome has been taken over by government greed in the whole of the eu.
pity the eu wouldnt take a leaf from the american driving rules.
i will try and find the link to their hours laws.
simple and non complicated.
they are taking care of their drivers,not ripping them off.
I have friends in the US who never stop moaning about their HoS rules and how complicated they are. Makes me chuckle every time. 
The thing is, the only way anyone gets to talk and think about this kind of stuff is for someone to be prepared to open the can of worms in the first place, which is what I do with my pieces. It’s the reality of the industry that we aren’t all whiter than white - and I’m including myself in that statement - but unless people are prepared to stand up and be counted then how are we to know the truth? Just because it isn’t palatable, it isn’t any less factual. What I found particularly interesting was that when I made the original request for help, I was inundated with PMs, but when it came to arranging the interviews only 3 guys actually went for it, ALL of them Brits working for Irish firms. The outcome was precisely as has been said - that just as the Mainland British industry has had to adapt to stricter enforcement, so the Irish are now doing the same. Which blows the current blarney and bull STILL doing the rounds straight out of the water, doesn’t it?
Anyhow, as said above, anyone happy to talk about the sins of the past and what made them change, give me a shout. I’m not about to start judging. In fact ,I used to run bent as bent could be myself once upon a time, but then I had to bury a good friend too young after that game killed him. I learnt my lesson by his mistake, and for that I am truly grateful. The look on his kids’ faces at the funeral was enough, I didn’t want my daughter to have to do the same. But there it is, I didn’t come in on the last banana boat and I’m not some kind of angel in a wagon. Equally I’m not afraid to write about things we’d rather not admit, and have my byline at the top. I am, however, dependant on those with views, experiences and opinions having the guts to share them in the first place.
a great reply lucy.sad to see people dying before their time.
the way the tacho rules are used by the like of vosa are crazy.
if you are a few minutes over,your done.
they are over the top along with their french and other european counterparts.
they have made the rules too strict and left no room for us to use our initiative.
i started in haulage as a kid of 12 with my father.
i am 57 now.
what i see in the haulage industry now,after growing up in the family business.
the police are telling me how to do my job.
how long i can drive for,how to load my trailer,how to secure my load on or in the trailer.
they are an overbearing crowd of pr**ks.
i personally dont need to be shown anything in the line of haulage.
did all the roping sheeting etc
i realise the young have to learn and indeed i could learn from some of them at my age.
i just get incensed at the way the police and vosa and the office boys in government have so much control over us.
some times i wish my father had been a brickie on a building site instead of being a haulier.
if i followed him into his line of work,i could do my job without all these power seekers interfering with me.
trucks.
i love them
i hate them
just reading back in this topic,i wonder where the 1000pd a weeks jobs are,or indeeed the 700pd ones.
i wouldnt mind a go at any of them.
the 1000 one,i wouldnt mind getting dirty,for 700i want clean hands.
how i wish 
scottishcruiser:
busyboy:
Enough of thePaddy whackerylads. If drivers run bent according to this forum, theyre either Polish or Irish. Try looking a bit nearer home instead of taking pot shots at either. Less of the im holier than thou attitude, im sure youve all done something naughty in the past.Exactly lad, its all a bit of a fascination with the Irish. The beanos are the worst id say but seem to get away with it. Why didnt LUCY do a write up on one hit wonder UK hauliers?? Why Irish??
■■■■■■ me off when people keep going on about the Irish, ■■■■■■ me off when I go to RDC’s and you get [zb] from Reed & Boardall coming up to me asking if al be hitting it home in a one’r…
Saying this, in the near 3 years ive been driving. ive been stopped 3 times by VOSA, twice were in a UK reg lorry pulling for Coulthards and once in my Manfreight wagon with Norfolkline trailer at Castle Kennedy. I infact drove by just this week Stafford, with Vosa man running alongside me, for him to drive ahead and pull an ENGLISHMAN instead of me, so surely weaint that bad…
I think people just like to hear tales of what the Irish supopsedly do, makes them moist and wet, gives them a story to tell further down teh line or at there next stop…
Now this is just a guess,… Ireland had until very recently practically nil enforcement. Add to that the fact that Ireland exports a lot of goods to Europe by truck and they all traverse England to get there you could well see how some drivers ‘shenanigans’ did not go unoticed by the natives who where now under a tougher enforcement regime. The fact that a ‘foreign’ driver could elude any potential court appearance whereas a native driver could not may have led to some resentment and complaints.
I’m guessing that Lucy didn’t do a write up on one hit UK wonders because in reality there wouldn’t be to many. England hardly exports by road, nor does Wales. Scotland does, and it exports a lot of fish/seafood/produce in reefers to Europe and those guys have the same rep as the Irish drivers.Just like you do, you don’t expect any of them drivers coming out the Highlands to stick to the 40mph limit for example as they head out for hours to reach a motorway?
Nolans for example has literally hundreds of trucks all doing Euro (or the vast majority of them are), you’d be hard pushed to name many English hauliers who do Euro.
I’m sure it gets on your wick when English drivers moan about Irish drivers speeding and going over hours etc. but i’m sure you’ll agree none of it is without any foundation. Infact, VOSA’s revalation that drivers ‘on International journeys’ seem to have the most unroadworthy vehicles and drivers who flout hours legislation sort of bears that out. Although i do agree largely with greg50, these findings are used as an excuse to extract money from drivers. Its all a fine balance now, weighing up the rewards against the potential penalties. You pays your money and takes your chances. You can’t avoid stereotyping, someone will be telling me soon that scousers nick hubcaps !!!
scousers dont nick anything,
they are all irish and we are all good living catholic people.
i live in liverpool and know plenty of them.
Lucy:
What I found particularly interesting was that when I made the original request for help, I was inundated with PMs, but when it came to arranging the interviews only 3 guys actually went for it, ALL of them Brits working for Irish
Well,i remember your request Lucy,i PM’d you and offered my opinion.I wrote that i run fairly legal and asked would this suit your interview.
You never replied to me or another Irish man who PM’d you either-he also run’s legal. I don’t think a Brit can give a 100% honest interview on the Irish,how many of your interview’es still work for there Irish employer’s?
ellies dad:
I don’t think a Brit can give a 100% honest interview on the Irish,
Well there you go then. We’re all liars or manipulators of the truth !!! Says a lot that small comment of yours too.
Mike-C:
ellies dad:
I don’t think a Brit can give a 100% honest interview on the Irish,Well there you go then. We’re all liars or manipulators of the truth !!! Says a lot that small comment of yours too.
the british media will never be honest about any thing irish.
mike,you live in liverpool as i do myself,i get the local papers[post and echo]
i have had to email and phone them so many times over their wrongful statements about ireland and the irish.
this is not the irish slagging english.this is where the english think they have divine right to critisize us.
not on is the simple answer.
we do as we do and dont need interference from english or anyone else.
the english tabloid rags are usually full of shi*when it comes to irish affairs.
they had 800 years over us and the party is over for the english.
Lucy:
I have friends in the US who never stop moaning about their HoS rules and how complicated they are. Makes me chuckle every time.The thing is, the only way anyone gets to talk and think about this kind of stuff is for someone to be prepared to open the can of worms in the first place, which is what I do with my pieces. It’s the reality of the industry that we aren’t all whiter than white - and I’m including myself in that statement - but unless people are prepared to stand up and be counted then how are we to know the truth? Just because it isn’t palatable, it isn’t any less factual. What I found particularly interesting was that when I made the original request for help, I was inundated with PMs, but when it came to arranging the interviews only 3 guys actually went for it, ALL of them Brits working for Irish firms. The outcome was precisely as has been said - that just as the Mainland British industry has had to adapt to stricter enforcement, so the Irish are now doing the same. Which blows the current blarney and bull STILL doing the rounds straight out of the water, doesn’t it?
Anyhow, as said above, anyone happy to talk about the sins of the past and what made them change, give me a shout. I’m not about to start judging. In fact ,I used to run bent as bent could be myself once upon a time, but then I had to bury a good friend too young after that game killed him. I learnt my lesson by his mistake, and for that I am truly grateful. The look on his kids’ faces at the funeral was enough, I didn’t want my daughter to have to do the same. But there it is, I didn’t come in on the last banana boat and I’m not some kind of angel in a wagon. Equally I’m not afraid to write about things we’d rather not admit, and have my byline at the top. I am, however, dependant on those with views, experiences and opinions having the guts to share them in the first place.
Lucy the main thing which I can remember about more than a few Irish wagons is just the speed they were running at.But if you’ve got American friends and you’ve driven over there regularly those speeds were nothing out of the ordinary to what most yank trucks have been driven at over the years.Maybe it’s the Irish in many yank drivers?.But I’m saying nothing about the speeds which I drove trucks at like those yanks I like the Fifth amendment but there’s a big difference between fast an dangerous and if you remember that you’ll probably be ok like most of those Irish and Yank drivers who I’ve seen and who like me have probably safely reached retirement.
greg50:
Mike-C:
ellies dad:
I don’t think a Brit can give a 100% honest interview on the Irish,Well there you go then. We’re all liars or manipulators of the truth !!! Says a lot that small comment of yours too.
the british media will never be honest about any thing irish.
mike,you live in liverpool as i do myself,i get the local papers[post and echo]
i have had to email and phone them so many times over their wrongful statements about ireland and the irish.
this is not the irish slagging english.this is where the english think they have divine right to critisize us.
not on is the simple answer.
we do as we do and dont need interference from english or anyone else.
the english tabloid rags are usually full of shi*when it comes to irish affairs.
they had 800 years over us and the party is over for the english.
I’m sure you’re exactly right Greg. However we’re not talking polotics here, we’re talking simply about truck drivers. Now i’m not the media and i’m not an English tabloid rag, i’m just a lorry driver. Irish lorrys have a bad reputation, thats a fact. Whether they deserve it or not you can decide yourself. And to clarify what i mean by a bad reputation i mean they are cited as speeding, running on the bang the wire or whatever you wanna call it and throwing away tachos willy nilly. Now, are you saying they never did or they don’t or the English are making it up or what?
Mike-C:
ellies dad:
I don’t think a Brit can give a 100% honest interview on the Irish,Well there you go then. We’re all liars or manipulators of the truth !!! Says a lot that small comment of yours too.
It’s easy to edit my comment Mike,therefore taking it out of context.I could not therefore make a 100% accurate comment on the British for example.Yuo however can.Thank’s,i rest my case 
England hardly exports by road, nor does Wales. Scotland does, and it exports a lot of fish/seafood/produce in reefers to Europe and those guys have the same rep as the Irish drivers.Just like you do, you don’t expect any of them drivers coming out the Highlands to stick to the 40mph limit for example as they head out for hours to reach a motorway?
thats very very true mike, i used to work on fridges and had a job with a haulier from the north of scotland hauling fish to france and holland, the deadlines were tight with huge penaltys if the load wasnt in the market on time so we didnt have time to hang about it was regular to be doing 65 or 70 down the m74/m6 to catch the boat and be in time for the market.
its been mentioned before but there are english/irish/ welsh/scottish all running
bent or have done.many of the irish lorries are being driven by english drivers who paid their bills and maybe raised families
on the money. many english drivers like to regale us on here with stories of one hits/wires etc from the old days.
lucy herself has posted before i believe of her own days running bent but i dont know if she has done a write up
yet in the magazine about it . the story of running bent could have been about any driver/company of any nation.
glenman:
the story of running bent could have been about any driver/company of any nation.
Quite right mate. I’ve heard loads of storys of the English trucks over in Ireland running bent and speeding, they where famous for it. You know the ones i mean?
no,do enlighten me.
glenman:
no,do enlighten me.
…and me…mate 
glenman:
no,do enlighten me.
The name escapes me, but i’m sure you’ll know loads of English companys well known for running bent?
ellies dad:
Lucy:
What I found particularly interesting was that when I made the original request for help, I was inundated with PMs, but when it came to arranging the interviews only 3 guys actually went for it, ALL of them Brits working for IrishWell,i remember your request Lucy,i PM’d you and offered my opinion.I wrote that i run fairly legal and asked would this suit your interview.
You never replied to me or another Irish man who PM’d you either-he also run’s legal. I don’t think a Brit can give a 100% honest interview on the Irish,how many of your interview’es still work for there Irish employer’s?
I replied to both of you and have the pms in my sent box to prove it, but of the 6 people who eventually gave me names and numbers, only 3 actually answered their phones. The fact that they were British is irrelevant, although I actually would have liked to get at least one Irishman, so trust me I was persistant. Eventually I was up against a deadline and had to go with what I’d got. I’m sorry if you got missed, but I have your contacts still for future reference, and remain grateful for your offer of help. 
In the event, two out of the three had good things to say and shattered a lot of the myths. The material was deliberately arranged in the chronological order appropriate for the information given, starting with the lad who had worked for an Irish firm the longest time ago, if that makes sense. The picture I got and the story I tried to tell was exactly as I said above - that the stories used to be true, just as they were for the British, but they aren’t any more, things have changed. The last lad was even happy to have himself and his company named, which was brilliant.
Again, as I’ve just said, I would have dearly loved to get some actual Irish voices in there as well, but in some ways I actually felt that the fact that the three guys were British actually helped REMOVE any slant. After all, neither of the two still working for Irish firms are short of options, they CHOOSE to stay in those jobs.
Quite apart from anything else, the very fact that I am known on here and therefore open to criticism and discussion in a way that few other Freelancers are means that I am even less likely to be anything other than as balanced as is possible. Hell, I even went around banging on the doors of every Irish wagon I tipped next to for a few weeks in a vain attempt to get more Irish voices into the piece. Whilst the stories I was told backed up what my three interviewees eventually committed to print, none of them were happy to be quoted, which was a great shame.
I’m not perfect, and I can’t please all of the people all of the time, but what I can do is stand here in front of you all, put my hand on my heart and promise that this journalist has no agenda other than getting to and/or speaking the truth. It gets me in trouble from time to time, but I don’t see that as a reason not to do it. I enjoy that risk, and I enjoy being able to discuss this stuff after publication, because in the end it can only make me better at what I do, and to that end I appreciate the input of those contributing to this thread.
glenman:
lucy herself has posted before i believe of her own days running bent but i dont know if she has done a write up
yet in the magazine about it . the story of running bent could have been about any driver/company of any nation.
I have indeed written about my own past sins several times in my Commercial Motor column, most notably at the end of February most years when the anniversary of Martin’s death comes around. I don’t write about my own experiences in T&D because my aim there is always to give others a voice, given as I have mine heard every three weeks in the sister publication.