No spotty pointy-shoed traffic planner phoning to ask why you have gone off route/ are running late (answer, I’m going to/ have been to Madame Trixi’s house of ill repute)
No camera filming you talking to yourself, picking your nose or scratching your ■■■■■■■■.
Load security required decided by person who carries load week in, week out, not by civil servant who has never driven anything larger than a Ford Mondeo.
No spending five days in classroom being terminally bored every five years,
That’ll do for now, I’m sure I will think of more later.
Yes Harry all of the above, think only reason people of our age continue with it is what else is there and also despite the monitoring we still have our own company, for now at least. Couldn’t bear office/warehouse politics and being close to others say in day out. Would love to turn the clock back mind!
No spotty pointy-shoed traffic planner phoning to ask why you have gone off route/ are running late (answer, I’m going to/ have been to Madame Trixi’s house of ill repute)
No camera filming you talking to yourself, picking your nose or scratching your ■■■■■■■■.
Load security required decided by person who carries load week in, week out, not by civil servant who has never driven anything larger than a Ford Mondeo.
No spending five days in classroom being terminally bored every five years,
That’ll do for now, I’m sure I will think of more later.
Based on that I think Albion trucking is still circa 1988, we only do the last one
I was going all misty eyes thinking about how good it felt starting driving trucks in the 80’s, then i remembered many nights out sleeping in a day cab C series ERF. Back has never been the same.
I used to run out of Teesside on a Sunday afternoon with 60 or so drops along the south coast and down into Cornwall, sometime Thursday afternoon I’d find a phone box and for the first time that week speak to the yard and seek instructions as I was now empty. Ah, happy days.
the maoster:
I used to run out of Teesside on a Sunday afternoon with 60 or so drops along the south coast and down into Cornwall, sometime Thursday afternoon I’d find a phone box and for the first time that week speak to the yard and seek instructions as I was now empty. Ah, happy days.
Ditto! Running out of the North West to all points South and South West - run Sunday and back Friday or Run Monday and back Saturday.
Based upon that argument Harry then the 70’s were even better,as it was the time that so many of us first had the chance to really ‘‘go anywhere,do anything’’.
I know the trucks were not as driver friendly as today regarding heaters and air con, Tilt trailers were a nightmare to strip and build in the wet/snow. But the wages seemed better, drivers were a great bunch even the bosses who were a tad on the crooked side often had a heart of gold.
As an old mate of mine said recently, ‘we have had the best years of this game’ and he was right. I started this ‘career’ in 1975 as a fresh faced 21 year old with a newly gained class one. Been to places I would never have seen, eaten some things I would never have done before, and although there were times when I wondered to myself what the (ZB) am I doing this for, found that I laugh about those things now
All the fun has gone along …with the cameraderie… the old firms and most of all… common sense.
All that you say is true Mr Monk but, and i don’t mean to bring ageism into it but back then we were all young, devil-may-care, no mountain too high, indestructible unstoppable young pups. Guess what i’m saying is we had tons of enthusiasm for the job.
I was 21 in 1969 when i started driving heavies and couldn’t have had any more enthusiasm so i expect there are young ‘truckers’ starting out now that have the same love for the job we had. It’s just too bad they missed the Atky’s and LAD cabs and steel suspension and are stuck with them big comfortable sleeper cabs with a night heater and built in fridge.
ah,a nice steady 110kms all night long in the Scania 142 no traffic and any that was was going just as fast , no phones away all week in Europe and only phone when you needed a reload ,nobody in the office that really knew where you were anyway cause they had not got google to see ,
standing drinking coffee telling tales when
a few divers gathered at their favourite eateries then flat out when you hit the road ,240,s 290,s -420,s all could run together the big engines ran steady and the small engines ran flat out to keep up.
bantering away on the cb , no booking in based on time a preferred day was all that was needed.
no getting hammered for a few minutes on tacho , most were happy if you had made an effort to get some sleep .
boss,s didn’t really give a ■■■■ about diesel , more interested in getting the work done .
gone are he good old days I know trucks were harder to drive then but still good old days
I have a theory as to why the perception is that things were better in the 80’s and it is quite simply that nobody was in such a rush! JIT was just a collection of letters with no meaning, the load got there when it got there. Sure, pre limiters we probably travelled faster, but it was usually faster to a cafe where you’d find the busiest table and sit there and join in conversations with people you’d never met before. You got a puncture and lorries from random companies would pull up to offer assistance, you got to a delivery point and other drivers in the queue helped with folding your sheets up and you did the same for them. All in all it built a sense of cameraderie that is sadly lacking nowadays.
