OOooo you could bounce a thrupenny bit of that sheet Sir!
Silver_Surfer:
OOooo you could bounce a thrupenny bit of that sheet Sir!
Aye, it was murder to do as it was done pre my knee replacement and I could hardly walk never mind clamber over trailers m8
As usual, get ten drivers together and you will have twelve opinions. I had never even sat in a truck before I drove one, and that was on a driving assessment (no HGV licence then). All I had driven before was an ice cream van. Oh! It was in London too - I got the job. Why did I want a job driving? Because it looked easier and more interesting than anything else on offer.
I still thought driving was money for old rope when I finally retired, but I do agree that, while we always had rules and regulations, they are more complicated and more enforced these days, both by VOSA and by employers.
Back in the olden days there was some romance attached to the man in charge of such a big vehicle - engine drivers were much further up the scale though. These days - I don’t know. I read that most kids just want to be famous… They will never get famous driving a truck, unless they murder someone or try to flatten a cyclist.
rivits:
That is a shame your 10yrs older than me, you may have rubbished everything I have said but at least I have youth on my side Oh and I think you will find the 76yr old driver mentioned is in fact MY FATHER!!!
Honest Guv, your youth has already left you, and you may call it rubbished. I call it an opinion, this job is so much easier these days, there may be other difficulties in interpreting what a security man really wants you to do, there may be delays in a waiting room, but unless you can chill and relax, you probably wont reach your dads age
I don’t get a lot of this “golden age of trucking” crap; I don’t care if I can’t rope and sheet, I have a curtainsider with straps to protect the load. I have a tail lift and pumptruck which I’d rather use than handballing (but I still do a lot of handball).
I have a sleeper cab so I don’t need to sleep in damp smokey digs “sleepin wi’ boots on to stop 'em getting nicked” listening to drivers war stories and other repetive crap as mentioned ,over and over in Classic and Vintage Commercials.
Sits back and awaits backlash from the Saga-Louts.
Oi! get back on the tippers we need you!
Muckaway:
One reason I’ve packed up drivng tippers (apart from the money ) is that you just can’t think for yourself anymore (although some tipper drivers aren’t capable). Recently was on a muckshift where I had a good clean load of chalk; I called office to ask if any farmers would want it and was pretty much told to do as I was told (ie take a perfectly good load to the tip and dump it, costing our customer £60 in tipping fees).
Got a phone call a short while after, asking if I’d go back on the flour deliveries; More cash, plenty of weightlifting/keep fit, chance to travel the UK and complete freedom to do the drops anyway I like. Never thought I’d go back to handball work again but the tipping game is FUBAR thanks to co-working arse holes, health and safety and tear arses.
Am I reading this right? you have gone back to a job that you moaned about the last time you did it, if you remember the baker always wanted the flour in the wrong place!
I thought the money working for the small family tipper haulage outfit was better, and I am sure you were not to keen on finishing late or even nights out!
lets be honest since getting the push from the cushy number working for smiths it all seems a bit of a mess, in the last 12 months your P45 must have spent most of it’s time in the post!
Moose, I was asked to come back, less hours, regularly driving now as none of the reliefs wanted to be on the rota. Drivers’ mates on most runs now, although I’m on my own with 2 Lancashire drops today.
Oh, more money too which did sweeten the deal.
Muckaway:
I don’t get a lot of this “golden age of trucking” crap; I don’t care if I can’t rope and sheet, I have a curtainsider with straps to protect the load. I have a tail lift and pumptruck which I’d rather use than handballing (but I still do a lot of handball).
I have a sleeper cab so I don’t need to sleep in damp smokey digs “sleepin wi’ boots on to stop 'em getting nicked” listening to drivers war stories and other repetive crap as mentioned ,over and over in Classic and Vintage Commercials.Sits back and awaits backlash from the Saga-Louts.
Or driving Gardner 150’s that I’m told would see you getting an ingrowing toenail trying to get 40mph!!! Believe you me Muckaway if I didn’t have to rope & sheet I wouldn’t! Just comes with the territory of the amount of flats my employer has. Whit you mean youth has past me by wheel nut? Your starting to sound like Mrs Rivits!!! My 76yr old father is doing his cpc by the way, silly old fool that he is, trouble is he does still think he is a young thing!!!
Dude do you even read this forum?
How many posts about new drivers trying to come into the industry does it take before you realise the problem lies with the attitude if the old and bold and NOT just with government
There are at least 2 18 year olds I know personally driving lorries as well as countless people in their twenties and I don’t know many on the industry by any means
There are users in here every day wanting to come on to the lorries.
Whilst you may not hear 7 and 8 year olds telling their teacher they want to drive lorries that’s likely because you don’t spend much time with 7 and 8 year olds.
It’s easy to blame the government and VOSA and the like when actually the blame in my opinion lies firmly at the door the dinosaurs who run smaller haulage firms.
Tipper Tom:
Dude do you even read this forum?How many posts about new drivers trying to come into the industry does it take before you realise the problem lies with the attitude if the old and bold and NOT just with government
There are at least 2 18 year olds I know personally driving lorries as well as countless people in their twenties and I don’t know many on the industry by any means
There are users in here every day wanting to come on to the lorries.
Whilst you may not hear 7 and 8 year olds telling their teacher they want to drive lorries that’s likely because you don’t spend much time with 7 and 8 year olds.
It’s easy to blame the government and VOSA and the like when actually the blame in my opinion lies firmly at the door the dinosaurs who run smaller haulage firms.
and not so small, large company near here where the culture is still very firmly stuck in the 70’s, no money on earth would have me doing a shift there.
Tipper Tom:
Dude do you even read this forum?How many posts about new drivers trying to come into the industry does it take before you realise the problem lies with the attitude if the old and bold and NOT just with government
There are at least 2 18 year olds I know personally driving lorries as well as countless people in their twenties and I don’t know many on the industry by any means
There are users in here every day wanting to come on to the lorries.
Whilst you may not hear 7 and 8 year olds telling their teacher they want to drive lorries that’s likely because you don’t spend much time with 7 and 8 year olds.
It’s easy to blame the government and VOSA and the like when actually the blame in my opinion lies firmly at the door the dinosaurs who run smaller haulage firms.
I am not blaming the government so much as all the red tape involved in the job these days and believe it or not flat trailers or not I am actually employed by a relatively decent company that runs decent kit and pays reasonably good money however things like the driver CPC is making industry veterans re-evaluate as to whether they wish to remain in the job they have done all their lives never mind people thinking of entering the job. Tell you one thing I would hate to see the insurance premiums paid for 18yr old drivers, costs a fortune for a young driver to insure a Mercedes A Class never mind a Mercedes Actros!!!
I think whilst there’s a loading for new drivers it’s not as disgusting as they put on cars
Silver_Surfer:
Your first indicator to answer your own question is that driving a truck has never been a “Career”, it’s a job. It is simply open to market forces of supply & demand as to how much we get paid.
It will be because i know people that have chucked 3,500 and another who paid 4,000 and still ain’t passed the test.The test with the cpc now is very hard not so much the driving but the studying involved for new drivers and for trips to the test centre. I bet at least 40% old school drivers would not pass the new driver test now, not saying they are not very good drivers im sure they are, just saying doing it there way. my point is not many will go for it because of cost and some that do fail. there was a survey recently saying there are normally 40,000 hgv passes per year but now there is only 9,000 so there future looks bright for us.
sweeper1gg:
Silver_Surfer:
Your first indicator to answer your own question is that driving a truck has never been a “Career”, it’s a job. It is simply open to market forces of supply & demand as to how much we get paid.It will be because i know people that have chucked 3,500 and another who paid 4,000 and still ain’t passed the test.The test with the cpc now is very hard not so much the driving but the studying involved for new drivers and for trips to the test centre. I bet at least 40% old school drivers would not pass the new driver test now, not saying they are not very good drivers im sure they are, just saying doing it there way. my point is not many will go for it because of cost and some that do fail. there was a survey recently saying there are normally 40,000 hgv passes per year but now there is only 9,000 so there future looks bright for us.
Would any job you spent your life carrying out not be seen as a career no matter what it was!!!
sweeper1gg:
there was a survey recently saying there are normally 40,000 hgv passes per year but now there is only 9,000 so there future looks bright for us.
That’s quite staggering, so there are 31,000 fewer new C/C+E drivers entering the jobs market and a very large number of drivers planning to hang up the keys in September. Can’t see the EEs making up those kinds of numbers as I reckon any that were going to come over are already here.
jamiep1988:
the maoster:
rivits:
Well I wouldn’t like to see how the country would run without us!!!Or doctors, nurses, policemen, teachers, people who work in power stations, people who maintain electricity lines, people who restock supermarket shelves, people who take your cash at petrol stations, bin men, mechanics, I could go on but I’m sure you get the point I’m trying to make.
people always make this point, the other point you’re missing is that none of these jobs would be there without lorries. how would medical supplies get to hospitals how do you build the hospitals how do police get their vehicles how do teachers get paper amongst other things. it’s all very give and take at the end of the day and no one can truly say this wouldn’t happen without us, but you’ve got to agree that the majority of things would become screwed without lorries
+1
to ROB22888,put that way i cannot disagree with you,a few years ago i went to east midlands airport with 4 aircraft bins, all rollered on and when i set off and got on the motorway i thought this is great, beautiful summers day, windows down, and playing my favourite music while on cruise control at 56mph,what could be better than that,a good day
smalltrucker:
How right you are, when i was in school, five years old , we were all asked what we wanted to be when we grew up. I at that time wanted to be a bus driver, i was completely ignored and teacher went on to next child. When i sort of grew up i decided i did not want a whole load of people behind me i would rather have a load, so became a lorry driver, learning how to rope and sheet at a local transport yard. That was 1969.
i thought teachers were pretty ignorant in the 60s and 70s,they only helped the ones who they knew would go onto better things,but thats just my opinion
although it seems i am putting myself down,when i walked into our office one day one of the girls said HEY HO WHAT DO YOU KNOW my reply was not much thats why i drive lorries,made them laugh