UKtramp:
Been some pretty interesting answers from some good posters to this topic, also a sprinkling of the idiots. If I were to sum it all up with my experience and knowledge I would add this. If you are an experienced driver that conducts his activities within the law and has consideration for other road users and care about the job, get the loads delivered to a given time scale and in good condition (whenever possible) then you may be considered a professional. If you hate your job and are completely disillusioned by it, then your in the wrong job. Myself I personally love my job, I am not interested in chasing money and giving myself stress, I have seen and experienced that side of the coin. I earn a decent enough living and am happy with my lot, I consider myself a professional driver, my wages however do not reflect my current profession and I am not expendable in the very sense of the meaning. Although we are all expendable.
A fair comment, that.
After too many years in haulage I came to hate the whole game from top to bottom. It is utterly overrun with idiots, whether they be driving trucks, receiving goods, tipping trailers or whatever else. The sad thing is that said idiots generally have no idea whatsoever that that is what they are. To the contrary; they often think that they are god’s gift to whatever job it is that they do, and there is a handful of these types on here who don’t take much picking out for those who have been around the block a time or two. Fortunately for me I had created an ‘out’, which I took, and from my perspective it was the best thing that I ever did. It wouldn’t suit everyone and for those that are happy with their lot driving, that’s fair enough. The only thing I kick myself for was not doing it any sooner.
While I sometimes think ‘once a driver, always a driver’, which is why I still look in on here, I have no intention of piloting a truck ever again unless it’s absolutely unavoidable. From what I read on here about cab cameras and all the other ■■■■■■■■ that has appeared in recent years, along with some of the horror stories like ‘I ran out of time and I was left at the side of the road’ and crap like the firm will take damages out of the driver’s wages, things ain’t getting any better.
Then again, on the thankfully now very rare occasion that I have to share a motorway/dual carriageway with lorries, it quickly becomes very clear why many firms opt for the ‘treat them like children’ manner of management. The number of half-witted numbskulls that are behind the wheel of trucks has to be seen to be believed. They are people who wouldn’t know what forward planning was if it kicked them up the arse and who think that a lorry is to be driven as you would a car. The industry has always had its embarrassing bell-ends who think that there is something macho about driving aggressively, but it seems to have got a lot worse. It’s actually pitiful to see grown men acting as they do; one can only assume that their mental development ceased at about 15 years of age.