It’s Saturday afternoon, I have just got up and mrs jbaz is having a nap, so me being me, I started to ponder this question.
My dad was a class 2 driver and I have just always wanted to drive an artic. For me, I love manoeuvring large vehicles in tight places. Suits me good as I now work as a shunter
My driving career started in the late 80s (the good old days, lol) I was working in the warehouse at kts as a flt driver. I wanted to drive the 7.5s so I asked, the next day they gave me a run, gulp! I hadn’t expected things to move so quick! It was a hell of a learning curve, but I got there in the end. I was delivering fruit machines all over the country, sleeping across the seats and I loved it! That was a time before the ridiculous amount of enforcement we face now.
I passed class 2 in 1999, and immediately signed up with agencies and I got a wonderful variety of work everything from local library 12t van to general haulage in Scotland.
When I went from 7.5 to c2, there really wasn’t a learning curve as such. It was just like driving a long van. But, when I passed ce, there was a steep learning curve. It is a totally different game and it took a while to learn.
Now, shunting suits me. I want regular hours, I want to know exactly when I start and exactly when I finish. My kids are grown and have left home and I want to spend time with the mrs, I don’t want 15 hr days anymore. Working 40 hrs a week to me is like pre-retirement. Will I ever go back on the road? Who knows what the future holds? I think being on the road for me was an escape. The 4 kids were a handful and I didn’t want to deal with it, so I hid behind the excuse of working and made sure I was away as much as possible, only going home to sleep at the weekend! I loved the freedom. That’s gone these days, we have to contend with constant phone calls, isotrack and driver facing cameras to name but a couple of invasions of privacy we have rammed down our throats.
I have an unusual history - but you’d expect nothing less from an unusual bloke like me!
In 1974 I was a PSV driving instructor, teaching primarily coach drivers with some service bus drivers as well. Been doing that since 1971. The school I was working for summoned me into the office and informed me that I was doing my HGV so that I could teach that as well. I resisted as had no interest in trucks at that time. But when it was pointed out that it would be a way that I could continue paying the mortgage and feeding Mrs S and junior, I accepted their instruction (and it really was an instruction - not a request). Passed my test and immediately went on the instructor’s course at RTITB which I passed comfortably. I’d been teaching PSV for nearly 3 years so a lot of it transferred.
So, with 6 weeks since I’d passed my Class 1, I was teaching others. Now this is very poor and is certainly not recommended as good practice. In fact, it is now a legal requirement to hold the licence for 3 years before instructing. (Sadly it’s still not a requirement to be trained, registered or qualified in any way though there are voluntary schemes available).
I continued teaching for a couple of years with no real problem apart from not being able to answer industry specifics as I just hadn’t been there. So started driving part-time and carried on teaching. It’s been a long time now and I’ve had 4 years of Eastern European driving, a spell of continental and UK coach driving and I’ve had my own small coach fleet and I spend a while as a haulier.
So I’m still at it, 44 years later on goods, 47 years instruction on PSV. Don’t know it all but I think I’ve a fair idea!
Most will know that I don’t teach frequently, though I try and teach around half a dozen folks each year to keep my hand in. It’s sad, but I really love the job. It’s important not to go rusty as I am the back up for any sick leave. Fortunately, my team seem to be pretty healthy!
Thankfully I’m surrounded by one of the finest training teams, all of whom have had substantial and varied experience so we stand a good chance of being able to answer questions fired at us.
25-30 years ago my Uncle used to tramp from his base in Doncaster and used to have night overs in Glasgow in his big John Carr truck lol I always remember going down to meet him when he would come for a bath and then go to he pub for pint before going back to the truck to sleep it off. Climbing up the steps and into that massive unit with loads of lights and a CB radio thinking of smokey and the bandit and what life on the road would be like was when it first got into my head, then in my teens a family friend used to trunk for Arbuckle Smith in Whiteinch and would leave every night for a trailer swap in Warrington and I went on that a couple of times to try and get me out of the routine of being a wee fanny with my mates and show me there was good work outside my scheme lol then fast forward 20 years and most of that time working in the NHS time was moving on, I just can’t keep doing a job I have grown to dislike because it’s secure and has good sick / holiday entitlement,
So with some money that we have saved I decided to do my Class C and try and get a job with full time hours before I hand in my notice.
So as I havnt started my driving yet it is only a matter of time before I do
Cheers Paul
Before actually doing a tramping job, I was always attracted to it. Cabs seemed to be cozy, and little homes away from home. Then there’s the romance of not knowing where you’ll be the next day. There was just something brilliant about driving over the hills and into the sunset. It seemed like proper freedom, without a care in the world.
After taking a few tramping jobs, I realised my little romance was not to be. Possibly 20-30 years ago, but not in this day and age. Most of my day was spent worrying about one thing or another, spurred-on by numerous factors. The planners were unrealistic and set you impossible delivery slots, only to kick-off at you when you’re late. The trucks were micro-managed like mad, with driver-facing cameras, telematics, trackers, and league tables for fuel consumption. Shaming the drivers with the lowest fuel economy. Planners pushing you to the limit, and if you go over that limit, VOSA are there to relieve you of your wages. Then the customers who actually ordered the product act like you are a nail in their boot. All this for 70 hours per week, when my mates were working 35 and in the pub every Friday night. No thank you.
Tramping was just too much stress for me. The cab wasn’t cozy, it just felt like a prison. It wasn’t somewhere I wanted to spend five days and four nights per week, feeling tired, demoralised, dirty and wound-up with the management. Freedom was non-existent. Every aspect of my working life was analysed, tracked, and put on a chart somewhere. I appreciate that I probably worked for some terrible corporate firms (yes, they had “solutions” in the name), so I have no doubt at all there are some decent tramping jobs out there where you are left to just drive into the sunset.
I would never have a tramping job ever again, so I’ll stick do day work. I enjoy local runs, never being far away from home and family, and being in my own bed every night. Much more enjoyment, and much less stress.
What attracted me to the job was freedom, job security (lorry drivers will always be needed) and good money; at the time it was 4 an hour and flt was only 3.
Now? Freedom? Rottweiler has covered that, we all end up micro managed. Job security? We are being systematically replaced with cheap ees and soon to be self driving trucks. Money? Until I took the shunters gig I earned the same as when I worked in the 90’s
If I had my time over, would I have followed the same career path knowing what I know now? Much as I have enjoyed past jobs, I consider myself retired, the license has paid for itself and I don’t intend to return to driving, but if I were to do it all again I would do it the same, but for anyone starting out in 2018, I would recommend having a long hard think about exactly what you will be getting yourself into and have a serious think about alternative careers.
This may be the appropriate time for me to mention, again, the fact that there are many jobs within transport/logistics that a driver can move into if he/she has the gumption and the desire to do so.
These include traffic office, training, fleet management etc etc. Many of these roles are far better paid and may come with regular, predictable hours (not always - it’s still transport!).
There’s plenty of folks out there who are very happy with their driving job - which is one of the reasons they turn up every week to do it. But, sometimes as folks have done 20+ years, other avenues could be explored.
I consider myself to have been more than lucky as I was shoved into training at a very early stage in my driving career. And I’ve loved it, most of the time, ever since.
Maybe some should take a step back and take a wider view on the industry to see what else is out there if they’ve done their share of driving.
Pete, that’s pretty much what I did. When the agency sent me on the shunters gig, I thought “I’m going to hate this, it’s only short term” now I’m permanent staff and I love it. I get to play with all the lorries and no 15hr days, it’s win win.
The reason I started those years ago still hold good for me. Largely Im given a job, and am left to get on with it. Scenery changes every day, good and bad days, but always different. Im given a loaded trailer for Mon morn. I call in when on way to last drop, and call again when loaded to let em know when Ill be back up. Trackers are fitted for insurance, but normally that`s it. Not all jobs are micromanaged to the ninth degree…yet.
Trackers? My last job before the shunter was working for Cobley transport. I was coming back from reditch to Hinckley and I missed my exit. Ok, carry on to the next exit, turn around and bobs your uncle. Oh no, 30 missed calls in 10 minutes because isotrak said I was going the wrong way. Number 1: I don’t touch the phone when I’m driving, no hands free and yelling at the loudspeaker in competition with the engine is not my idea of a good time (can’t hear the caller anyway) number 2: I use copilot… so them calling me repeatedly was like them putting their hands over my eyes while driving. I even pressed the button to reject the call a couple of times, the hint just was not taken.
When I stopped at Hinckley I had more missed calls than I could count. Some were from the agency, so I decided to return that call first. When I spoke to Gerry, I explained the above and he told me to ring Cobley’s as they were all a fluster. So I rang them and they informed me that I wasn’t going to Telford. I informed them that I knew that and that I had merely taken a wrong turn. They got very ■■■■■■
That was the straw that broke the camels back. When I finished the shift, I got my time sheet signed and phoned the agency to tell them to either take me off their books or give me a forklift job, I have 5 licenses so I don’t have a problem finding work in that field. That’s when the shunters job was offered. I was a bit of two minds as to whether to take it, but after some soul searching I decided to give it a go for a few weeks and although I didn’t take to it like a duck to water, after a while I settled into it and the other guy I work with is a good laugh, so now I seem to be settled. I have been taken on perm, I have also decided to take my telehandler licence around March time, some time in the future I will move into that line of work.
jbaz73:
Trackers? My last job before the shunter was working for Cobley transport. I was coming back from reditch to Hinckley and I missed my exit. Ok, carry on to the next exit, turn around and bobs your uncle. Oh no, 30 missed calls in 10 minutes because isotrak said I was going the wrong way. Number 1: I don’t touch the phone when I’m driving, no hands free and yelling at the loudspeaker in competition with the engine is not my idea of a good time (can’t hear the caller anyway) number 2: I use copilot… so them calling me repeatedly was like them putting their hands over my eyes while driving. I even pressed the button to reject the call a couple of times, the hint just was not taken.
When I stopped at Hinckley I had more missed calls than I could count. Some were from the agency, so I decided to return that call first. When I spoke to Gerry, I explained the above and he told me to ring Cobley’s as they were all a fluster. So I rang them and they informed me that I wasn’t going to Telford. I informed them that I knew that and that I had merely taken a wrong turn. They got very ■■■■■■
What cracked me up is how the office would know exactly where you are, where you’re going, and even at what speed. But, they’d still insist on phoning you and asking. Like some sort of loyalty test. “Where are you?” - “You know bloody well where I am!”.
I had been in a waiting bay at Felixtowe, and I called the office to say I’d be a while as there were a few problems at the depot. The manager called me an hour later to ask why I hadn’t made any progress. With the previous information I gave him, combined with that the tracker hadn’t moved for over an hour should have hinted to him that I was still waiting. But no. He accused me of malingering, which caused me to leave that firm.
Planners and managers just being completely disengaged from the reality of the job also makes me giggle. Their logic and maths is often hilarious. Their CPCs and degrees in “Logistics Management” from third-rate Universities clearly don’t teach common-sense. The distance of a run in miles, divided by the maximum speed of the vehicle gives the MINIMUM time required in hours. So a 200-mile run at 56mph would take a minimum of 4 hours. To complete that run in less than four hours is impossible by the laws of physics. It’s very basic maths. It can be done on a calculator in seconds. So why do planners expect you to go from Cardiff to Sheffield in 3 hours, then kick-off when you’re inevitably late?
in the 70s …farm work was coming to an end (farmers sons taking over),then forestry work on tractor,(commission took the work back inhouse ) Maggie started to hit hard so fell into a job on tractor/machines at local highway depot,afer a yr or so was driving snowpough (classed as plant) then took my licence as it seemed like a good idea ,better than ditching by hand ,4 wheeler then a 6 wheeler. then spare lowloader man …then wanderlust hit and in 85 was in a LHD Maggie drawbar sleeping at traffic lights job. then 22yrs later arrived in Canada ,now working for a local highway contractor in Canada ,its weird how the world turn.
What drew me into HGV driving goes way back when i was a lad in the 70’s / 80’s. I always remember going on holidays with my parents truck spotting on the motorways and always wondered where the trucks had come from or were going to. My favorite trucks of the day were the KAMMAC Trucking fleet.
I always remeber saying to the careers officer at school i wanted to be a truck driver.
I was particuarly fascinated by the drivers that used to drive to the Middle East and always thought i would love to do that myself.
After I left school i was not able to afford my license at the time so started work as a HGV mechanic which led to me becoming an expatriate working all over the middle East and Asia.
In the early 2000’s I was in Qatar and remember seeing a British registed Astran Scania on the main road from Saudi to Doha past Al Udeid Airbase which kind of reignited my urge of becoming a HGV Driver.
Fast foward to October 2016 I finally took the plunge and started the process of obtaining my HGV licsences which is a bit tricky when working away from home with minimal driving being done in the UK. Last year (2017) at 47 I passed my Class C In June and C+E in October both first time whcih Iwas well chuffed about.
I handed my notice in yesterday for the company I am currently working for and have worked for the last 18 years to persue my dream of being a HGV driver, even though i most likley will never drive to the Middle East . But I am well excited about fufilling a childhood dream even if it did take nealry 40 yrs to acheive
When the kids lived at home, I loved tramping. Never say never, if they were to move back in the future, I would be off tramping in a heart beat. It’s all down to personal circumstances. When they were all arguing and fighting, I loved 70 hrs per week and only have to go home at the weekends.
For me, I was working office jobs most of my adult life but did a good few years doing delivery driving which, despite the low pay I thoroughly enjoyed even when having 100+ deliveries on the back of the van to do in one day (nope). So, over time I just slowly started to hate sitting next to a bunch of whining gits, me looking out of the same window and just thinking there must be more to enjoying a job. In the end I decided to quit my job and learn to drive HGV’s and set off in that direction. No family or kids, have my own home, a pooch and thats the lot so for me, the hours are irrelevant, the pooch can be looked after by friends if I need to be away. Money wise, long as I have enough to pay the bills and a bit left over to enjoy myself and a holiday away each year if possible then all good.
,4 wheeler then a 6 wheeler. then spare lowloader man …then wanderlust hit and in 85 was in a LHD Maggie drawbar sleeping at traffic lights job. then 22yrs later arrived in Canada ,now working for a local highway contractor in Canada ,its weird how the world turn.