Juddian:
The industry caters for all sorts, some are happy working all hours, some are happy being away from home doing their own thing, some are happy working nights or shifts, some are happy going home after every shift, some don’t care what they drive, some want the biggest lorry going some just want to be left alone to do their own thing, some take pride in their work some don’t, some want an easy life some want specialised interesting or harder work, and some want the mucky end, not cos they’re mucky but they enjoy that side of things for various reasons.
There is a segment of transport to suit everyone.All of us have a choice as to what we want to do, yes you might have to rough it for a while doing what you don’t want to do when you first start, and then branch out once you’ve got some experience and work record to find your own niche.
There are some very good jobs out there, they won’t be advertised so using one’s noddle is the way to find them and get into them.
You have to invest a bit of time searching out your own niche, however, good jobs only stay good jobs because many of the more unreliable or untrustworthy can’t secure jobs there due to poor or lacking history, and the majority of drivers there pull their weight so the job lasts, as in so many things in life you can help to make your own luck in this lark.
This seems to be the most sensible post on this thread, that and adrejs post.Where you live plays its part, always has always will, there are upsides to being where the better work is but there are many downsides too.
oh and calling a national strike is really going to bring the image of lorry driver’s up in the eyes of the general public
DriverNumber1:
Having been in this terrible job for almost 20 years and now working more hours than ever for less pay I reckon it’s time WE did something about it. I cannot believe that any driver is seriously happy with the situation. We are basically on minimum wage and treated like the lowest of the low for doing what is an essential service. The working time directive is seen as a target rather than a safety limit and the working conditions are, quite simply, shocking.
I am constantly infuriated by the lack of passion for this topic by almost all drivers I meet. It seems that everyone is more than happy to moan and whinge about it but no one will actually stand up and try to do something. The worst offenders are the guys who do tramping. You lot should work out your hourly rate, you’re basically unpaid security guards.
Until the drivers actually grow some balls and stand up for themselves this situation is not going to change.
I am willing to give up some of what little free time I get to have a go at organising a national walkout. If ALL OF US get together and agree to strike for a week THEY will have to listen. I cannot do it alone. I will no longer work for any company as the wages and conditions are just not good enough. Everywhere I have worked has been the same, the drivers all moan but when I stick my neck out no one EVER backs me up. Only WE can change the situation. Just how far up your arse does your employers ■■■■ have to be before you realise you’re getting forcked?A petition to the gov won’t work only a walkout will have any effect. I propose setting up a dedicated website to organise this, or maybe doing it on here but I’m not sure of the site rules on that one.
Is anyone with me or are you all happy to be forcked by your employer?
Why are trampers ‘‘the worst offenders’’ exactly??
It’s you that should ‘‘work out’’ stuff mate before you post . Nights away are part and parcel of the job, there are many occupations that include nights away, and I know of not one of them that are paid an hourly rate for time off.
We are paid subsistene which granted is a crap rate, but security guard? wtf are you on about?
I’m not paid as a security guard, I do not sit in my cab all night, and when I am asleep, if awoken there is no way in hell I’m getting out to tackle somebody with criminal intentions. So think things through mate if you are going to target a section of the industry. 
Your other points I do sympathise with, but you are ■■■■■■■ against the wind mate.
I would guess you would get something like 10% of drivers to go with you.
The other 90% are made up of the content and happy with their good job, the apathetic who have no go in them, the walking dead spineless who will do anything and put up with any old crap gladly, and the ones who have set their own parameters working alongside all of the above and have got themselves a good number and look after no1…ie me.
I have tried in vain many times at my place to get guys to stick together on certain issues of unfair treatment, but the degree of patheticness among them knows no bounds. 
So basiclally mate you have no chance.
Good old Maggie saw to all that when she sold all the workers their council houses to ensure they were paying mortgages to deter them from striking.
However I do wish you luck… you will need it, if you get sick of it do something much much easier than uniting UK truckers… like learning how to herd cats.
DriverNumber1:
Having been in this terrible job for almost 20 years and now working more hours than ever for less pay I reckon it’s time WE did something about it. I cannot believe that any driver is seriously happy with the situation. We are basically on minimum wage and treated like the lowest of the low for doing what is an essential service. The working time directive is seen as a target rather than a safety limit and the working conditions are, quite simply, shocking.
I am constantly infuriated by the lack of passion for this topic by almost all drivers I meet. It seems that everyone is more than happy to moan and whinge about it but no one will actually stand up and try to do something. The worst offenders are the guys who do tramping. You lot should work out your hourly rate, you’re basically unpaid security guards.
Until the drivers actually grow some balls and stand up for themselves this situation is not going to change.
I am willing to give up some of what little free time I get to have a go at organising a national walkout. If ALL OF US get together and agree to strike for a week THEY will have to listen. I cannot do it alone. I will no longer work for any company as the wages and conditions are just not good enough. Everywhere I have worked has been the same, the drivers all moan but when I stick my neck out no one EVER backs me up. Only WE can change the situation. Just how far up your arse does your employers ■■■■ have to be before you realise you’re getting forcked?A petition to the gov won’t work only a walkout will have any effect. I propose setting up a dedicated website to organise this, or maybe doing it on here but I’m not sure of the site rules on that one.
Is anyone with me or are you all happy to be forcked by your employer?
Nobody listened and nothing much got done the last time Transport walked out back in the 70s, much before your time,to get the princely sum of £1.00 per hour. To many are prepared to work for a pittance just so they can get a shiney new motor with all the gizmos and a bottle of scotch at Xmas
DriverNumber1:
Having been in this terrible job for almost 20 years and now working more hours than ever for less pay I reckon it’s time WE did something about it. I cannot believe that any driver is seriously happy with the situation. We are basically on minimum wage and treated like the lowest of the low for doing what is an essential service. The working time directive is seen as a target rather than a safety limit and the working conditions are, quite simply, shocking.
I am constantly infuriated by the lack of passion for this topic by almost all drivers I meet. It seems that everyone is more than happy to moan and whinge about it but no one will actually stand up and try to do something. The worst offenders are the guys who do tramping. You lot should work out your hourly rate, you’re basically unpaid security guards.
Until the drivers actually grow some balls and stand up for themselves this situation is not going to change.
I am willing to give up some of what little free time I get to have a go at organising a national walkout. If ALL OF US get together and agree to strike for a week THEY will have to listen. I cannot do it alone. I will no longer work for any company as the wages and conditions are just not good enough. Everywhere I have worked has been the same, the drivers all moan but when I stick my neck out no one EVER backs me up. Only WE can change the situation. Just how far up your arse does your employers ■■■■ have to be before you realise you’re getting forcked?A petition to the gov won’t work only a walkout will have any effect. I propose setting up a dedicated website to organise this, or maybe doing it on here but I’m not sure of the site rules on that one.
Is anyone with me or are you all happy to be forcked by your employer?
So us with good jobs, good pay and good bosses, have to walk out damaging the few good guys in the industry.
A better and more practical solution is you walk out of the bad employers, the low payers and the work every minute possible merchants, that damages their business, not the business of the good ones.
Obviously this isn’t going to happen either, so the best thing you can do is look around for a decent job, they are out there.
Another fake account to scared to post up using your first identity…
This is Never going to happen ,Firstly a LOT of drivers are ex service men who no disrespect are subservients who have been trained to take any orders .Secondly This industry is controlled by the few for the few ,You are devided and conquered .
thirdly Not again.
muckles:
So us with good jobs, good pay and good bosses, have to walk out damaging the few good guys in the industry.A better and more practical solution is you walk out of the bad employers, the low payers and the work every minute possible merchants, that damages their business, not the business of the good ones.
Obviously this isn’t going to happen either, so the best thing you can do is look around for a decent job, they are out there.
Dam straight! 
It’s like the guys that ■■■■■ every morning about what run they have, when they finished the previous evening, how much we are paid and years later they are still at the same firm when you have moved on to better things.
We know how much this industry has changed, we have better vehicles to drive, with all the mod cons we could have only dreamed of, the wages are a great deal better than they have ever been, yes, i know inflation and times have a play to part, but all in all most of us are a lot better off. I have been on a few picket lines, i have parked up and joined the others, but way back when you could unite the workforce. I remember when you had no choice but to join a union, and your card or subscriptions were checked at every important port of call by a shop steward/union rep, at the end of the day, when you were disciplined, they didnt want to know, i tore my card up in front of a steward in his office aftet i was scaked for taking a route they didnt like ( it was to avoid traffic ) and ended up being late for loading…thjey blamed me for doing my best.
Right now the industry does need major changes, Parking is a big issue, if you can find it, being fined for obeying the law, being forced into a hotel with no written onus on the employer in europe, laybys being closed for overnight, so yes we do need action, as our transport minister is oblivious to it…wages need to be improved but across the board, a general wage as it were for a class 1/2/3 as a minimum. Hours need to be reduced as there are more and more tired drivers due in my opinion to working 15 hour days with minimum rest being Forced upon them…All drivers have their own personal views on what needs to be changed, No one sadly wants to fight our corner, and getting drivers to support strike action aint ever gonna happen…not because theyre nimbys, or scared to fight, but afraid of the consequences of losing their jobs, losing the money that feeds the family, threats of losing their homes…what ever would happen, it would put people into more debt than theyre already in, missed mortgage payments and finance payments would still have to be paid at some time, threats of the bailiffs is another, so who wants to take that chance…like i said on another post, if enough supported the cause, i would be up there with them as i have in the past, but its not going to happen is it.
rabb:
Yuil & Dodds broke the picket lines and anyone who worked in the steel plants to this day still point to a Yuil & Dodds truck and say “There goes the scabs!”.My point being, there are loads of Yuil & Dodds out there that will cash in on a general strike and the state machine will support them through the fallout afterwards with contracts to keep them going.
If there’s to be any general striking, it would need to be all out or not out. The whole economy would need to be ground to a halt.
You won’t like me saying this; but the inescapable fact remains that Yuill and Dodds are still trading and Ravenscraig’s long gone. You can call the company what you like but drivers still earn a living there. As to the viability of the steelworks; indigenous British steel manufacture was doomed from the day we stopped mining our own iron ore, which was many years before the pits started shutting wholesale. The closed shop unions which protected the works and the workers for many years eventually became their downfall due to their intransigence, and have to bear a measure of the responsibility.
Sidevalve:
rabb:
Yuil & Dodds broke the picket lines and anyone who worked in the steel plants to this day still point to a Yuil & Dodds truck and say “There goes the scabs!”.My point being, there are loads of Yuil & Dodds out there that will cash in on a general strike and the state machine will support them through the fallout afterwards with contracts to keep them going.
If there’s to be any general striking, it would need to be all out or not out. The whole economy would need to be ground to a halt.You won’t like me saying this; but the inescapable fact remains that Yuill and Dodds are still trading and Ravenscraig’s long gone. You can call the company what you like but drivers still earn a living there. As to the viability of the steelworks; indigenous British steel manufacture was doomed from the day we stopped mining our own iron ore, which was many years before the pits started shutting wholesale. The closed shop unions which protected the works and the workers for many years eventually became their downfall due to their intransigence, and have to bear a measure of the responsibility.
Should those unions have accepted lower wages and worse conditions for their members? (remembering that unions ARE their members).
Ill exaggerate to make a point: Coal and iron would still be mined in the UK if the wages were ten bob a week and a dozen deaths a week were acceptable. Obviously that isnt acceptable. We, as a society who voted for the Thatcher Gov, voted for that. Thats democracy in action. There is a valid argument that asking or demanding too much pay can kill off jobs. But exporting jobs to cheaper countries also will kill an economy. It is a balance between wages taxes and unemployment benefits. This is I think what is worrying those who want Brexit. They dont want us to compete with the cheaper East Euro countries. They see them as being responsible for our falling expectations.
What worries me is that those leaders of industry and politicians in favour want us to find new markets, such as the USA, Australia, etc. (is it a coincidence they prefer English speaking countries?). So we will be in competition with the existing trading partners of those countries. We wont be competing with the Poles and Czechs for jobs, well be in competition with the Mexicans, Brazilians, Chinese etc.
I wonder how our economy will look then?
As for tramping the money is a insult, in other jobs a least you get a hotel and a proper evening meal
Now if you had no home then that’s a big bonus rent free and getting your 25 quid a night it couldn’t get any better
As for part and parcel of the job no chance, its the people who do it and put up with insulting payment for it that thinks that way and has it this way
Most are hard up and need that 25 quid to give them a half decent wage and they deprive themselves of even eating property all week,
Because if you did spend it on food you could put your hourly rate at about 4.50 an hour
And thats a fact
We’re British, we’re conditioned to be subservient and not strike. The seventies were a blip.
Read this: it’s depressing, but a pretty accurate summary of the British worker (and a bloody good read, in my opinion): amazon.co.uk/Ragged-Trouser … 184022682X
(Disclaimer: don’t blame me if it turns you into a red flag-waving dreamer, shouting into the white noise of modern liberal democracy)
DriverNumber1:
Having been in this terrible job for almost 20 years and now working more hours than ever for less pay I reckon it’s time WE did something about it. I cannot believe that any driver is seriously happy with the situation. We are basically on minimum wage and treated like the lowest of the low for doing what is an essential service. The working time directive is seen as a target rather than a safety limit and the working conditions are, quite simply, shocking.
I am constantly infuriated by the lack of passion for this topic by almost all drivers I meet. It seems that everyone is more than happy to moan and whinge about it but no one will actually stand up and try to do something. The worst offenders are the guys who do tramping. You lot should work out your hourly rate, you’re basically unpaid security guards.
Until the drivers actually grow some balls and stand up for themselves this situation is not going to change.
I am willing to give up some of what little free time I get to have a go at organising a national walkout. If ALL OF US get together and agree to strike for a week THEY will have to listen. I cannot do it alone. I will no longer work for any company as the wages and conditions are just not good enough. Everywhere I have worked has been the same, the drivers all moan but when I stick my neck out no one EVER backs me up. Only WE can change the situation. Just how far up your arse does your employers ■■■■ have to be before you realise you’re getting forcked?A petition to the gov won’t work only a walkout will have any effect. I propose setting up a dedicated website to organise this, or maybe doing it on here but I’m not sure of the site rules on that one.
Is anyone with me or are you all happy to be forcked by your employer?
lolipop:
and a bottle of scotch at Xmas
You gotta be jokin, all we got were 12 iced donuts … six of us so two each, but never took mine as they were crap 
Franglais:
Should those unions have accepted lower wages and worse conditions for their members? (remembering that unions ARE their members).
Ill exaggerate to make a point: Coal and iron would still be mined in the UK if the wages were ten bob a week and a dozen deaths a week were acceptable. Obviously that isnt acceptable. We, as a society who voted for the Thatcher Gov, voted for that. Thats democracy in action. There is a valid argument that asking or demanding too much pay can kill off jobs. But exporting jobs to cheaper countries also will kill an economy. It is a balance between wages taxes and unemployment benefits. This is I think what is worrying those who want Brexit. They dont want us to compete with the cheaper East Euro countries. They see them as being responsible for our falling expectations.
What worries me is that those leaders of industry and politicians in favour want us to find new markets, such as the USA, Australia, etc. (is it a coincidence they prefer English speaking countries?). So we will be in competition with the existing trading partners of those countries. We wont be competing with the Poles and Czechs for jobs, well be in competition with the Mexicans, Brazilians, Chinese etc.
I wonder how our economy will look then?
I suspect the unions would have had more chance if their wage claims etc. hadn’t been so extravagant at the outset, and their leaders more focussed on improving conditions than bringing down governments of both colours.
My main concern about the “new markets” is that many of them, particularly Comonwealth countries like Australia, New Zealand and Canada, are the very same ones with whom we had good trading relationships (almost a monopoly in some cases) before Britain’s entry into the EU bloc, bridges that have now been burned and will need a lot of work to rebuild; because those same nations have had over 40 years to find new markets, and quite frankly they don’t really need us any more.
It’s always the high profile cases and the negative examples that are quoted in order to bad mouth Unions or point out why some think they are the Anti Christ to the working people.
For every one of those examples there are hundreds of isolated cases where Unions have helped individual workers.
I know Unions in there present and recent historical periods have been far from perfect in many cases, but let’s keep an open mind eh, before the bandwagon gathers anymore momentum.
robroy:
It’s always the high profile cases and the negative examples that are quoted in order to bad mouth Unions or point out why some think they are the Anti Christ to the working people.
For every one of those examples there are hundreds of isolated cases where Unions have helped individual workers.
I know Unions in there present and recent historical periods have been far from perfect in many cases, but let’s keep an open mind eh, before the bandwagon gathers anymore momentum.
A union is only as good as its members rob.
robroy:
It’s always the high profile cases and the negative examples that are quoted in order to bad mouth Unions or point out why some think they are the Anti Christ to the working people.
For every one of those examples there are hundreds of isolated cases where Unions have helped individual workers.
I know Unions in there present and recent historical periods have been far from perfect in many cases, but let’s keep an open mind eh, before the bandwagon gathers anymore momentum.
Indeed Rob; but the same can be said about MP’s.
Incidentally I’m a paid up union member and have been for a few years.
In 1971 I was forced to join the TGWU otherwise I couldn’t work in the London docks, I duly paid me 5 bob joining fee and got the card and from thereon in I signed it mesen and never paid another penny … tightarse !
Firstly in the real world there’s no way that the industry could afford to pay drivers for 24 hours just because they have to stop out on the road for the night.
As for tramping and being away from home for not enough pay blah blah.If drivers were that bothered the obvious solution would be for trampers/distance drivers to walk away and work on agencies.Then everyone gets a share of all the downsides and the upsides of all the different types of jobs.IE commuting costs and relative boredom and aggro of many home every day type jobs v being away from home for long periods of,hopefully,more interesting distance work,especially what’s left of our international operations.
Instead of which we’ve got trampers and distance drivers moaning about how long they’ve spent away from home over their working lives and others rightly moaning about those doing more interesting distance work wanting to stay with it.
Instead of everyone chopping an changing around on a rotational basis thereby balancing out all the downsides and all the upsides of all the different types of work.
The conclusion being that distance drivers only have themselves to blame in coveting their jobs too much,at others’ expense.On the basis that it is possible to have too much of a good thing and how often do we ever see agencies asking for distance/international drivers,as opposed to all the other boring multi drop/building deliveries/retail distribution,home every night type dross.