Pansie Division:
Socketset:
I think you’ll find that the folks on fuel rigs are very handsomely paid!My point was this concept of everything evolves around drivers is crap, we play a important part in the economy, but so do others.
No, I’m not saying we are the centre of the commercial world but we are an integral part of it - bit like train drivers and look how much they’re paid.
happysack:
Your not making many friends…maybe if you want to petition the government about things, get a lot more people on your side first.
You can talk , with the kind of comments your making nothing sensible just abuse, grow up or shut up, as for friends, i have enough, The petition is for the benefit of those who consider it to be in there interest or not, you made your view clear previously, i am not going to lose sleep over it, i have the same to gain or lose from it as everyone else. At least i am thinking about the future generations, and not just myself, what have the kids got to look forward to eh!, living in cabs, long hours, crap money ( like the most of us). More traffic on the roads and its only gonna get worse, more and more foreigners from Europe taking our jobs, Well this is a start, I dont hear anything positive from you !! 
At least your thinking of the children
Thank you no hard feelings 
I am not just thinking of shift workers and going to screw it up for trampers , this like i have said is only the start, maybe the job descriptions need to be re-defined, into two categories and different hours apply to each, i dont know just some ideas 
need loads of help and advice if it kicks off, thats where you guys come in.
You ain’t going to change a hundred years of Custom & Practice overnight, matey.
Truckulent:
I do think however, if office workers were expected to work the hours drivers are, and sleep in the office from time to time, there would be a fair bit said about it.
That’s a bit of a generalisation and lumping everyone who works in an office into one group doesn’t make sense. Most of my friends work in offices. Some have degrees, have climbed a few rungs up the greasy pole but do 40 hours a week and many earn less than me. Whereas another friend who earns more than me, but you know what? The hours he puts in makes me and most people look like part timers. My point is Some office workers work harder than any of us and earn more than we ever will but often that person you know who does 40 hours a week at a desk probably isn’t on as much you think he is
Retired Old ■■■■:
You ain’t going to change a hundred years of Custom & Practice overnight, matey.
Point taken friend, but nothing lasts forever has to change or become extinct, kids dont want to work hard or like us donkeys, some are smart and others are lazy
I think its a shame us lorry drivers cant work day and night, i know plenty that would given the green light.
all the good jobs come to an end sometime so it seems…
switchlogic:
Truckulent:
I do think however, if office workers were expected to work the hours drivers are, and sleep in the office from time to time, there would be a fair bit said about it.That’s a bit of a generalisation but often that person you know who does 40 hours a week at a desk probably isn’t on as much you think he is
Thats true, I used to live with a girl who worked for a high street bank, and she used to earn half off what I was earning, she on a 40 hr week and me doing 65-70hrs. Hour for hour her wage was no better or worse than mine, not what alot off guys would seem to think on here. There was also a guy working at the same branch who used to clean a school in the evening to make up his wage, so he didnt think that the money there was that good either. dont suppose its changed alot in the intervening years 
Paid on the hour, quite good pay too actually but if I have the option of working an extra 6 hours a week as in 3x15 then I will, top cryin an get on with it
Saaamon:
I think its a shame us lorry drivers cant work day and night, i know plenty that would given the green light.
You should be on animal feeds at the moment. We;ve just had two weeks de-regulation along with the oil fuel and LPG gas drivers, to get customers through the recent weather. 15 on 9 off virtually all the way through if you wanted it, maximim 66 hours per week RTD; with a caveat added by the Ministry that “drivers should not be encouraged to work if tired” or words to that effect. I’ve never been more grateful for today’s rain; grass will start growing now and mebbe I’ll get a few earlier finishes.
Which brings me to another flaw in this reducing hours idea; supply and demand. Transport, logistics or whatever you choose to call it is ruled by this, probably like no other industry. One week it’s flat out, the next it can be absolutely dead. Reduce drivers hours and all it will mean is even more drivers on short-term contracts or agency; anyone that thinks it’ll increase the wage is just dreaming.
Simple answer to the OP; if you can’t hack it you need a career change. Plenty of jobs about only offering 30 hours a week if you look hard enough.
overworked/underpaid:
Thank you no hard feelings
I am not just thinking of shift workers and going to screw it up for trampers , this like i have said is only the start, maybe the job descriptions need to be re-defined, into two categories and different hours apply to each, i don’t know just some ideas
your whole idea is flawed from the start, and I mean this with respect,
firstly you would have to get Britain to leave the e.u as the drivers hours etc are laid down in e.u law and not British law, we only adopt the regulation because they are e.u regs and we are like it or not part of the e.u.
as for the hours!! yes I tramp and have done for years and to do say 12 hrs a day just wouldn’t work in my situation I need the 15’s and use them every week. 
Have been doing 15 hrs a day for the last three weeks and just get on with it and the money isn’t even exceptional after a few days u just get used to It
FFS - I stop banging on about something irritating for the week, and look how the vacuum is filled?!
Let’s calm things down a bit, and draw the line that “15 hours is cool if you get to choose if and when you do it”
and it’s “crap if you’re salaried, and forced to do it as part of your T&C contract.”
Horses for courses.
Full time over Agency isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. A regular, but stagnating wage? Long, and further lengthening hours?
Planners who couldn’t get laid in a whorehouse? Bootlickers who can’t tell the difference between the toe of a doc marten and a shiny (or drippy) helmet?
Your job, full, casual, or part time is what anyone makes it. The day when you can’t make it anything is the day you should consider leaving it. Bowing to the illusion that somehow “keeping your head down and getting on with it” will somehow render you immune from being cut loose come the hour is just that - an illusion. Jobs for life ended years ago.
Right where do i start
To mark h , thats it then as long as your happy, the rest dont matter
To sidevalve, not eveyone works on animal feeds, where your work is temperamental shall we say, and as far as hacking it is concerned didnt take you long to wish for rain did it
To wildfire, Start at home then travel further uk then eu if need be, trying to walk before i can run and like i said maybe different rules need to apply for tramps and shift workers
To Nedflanders, from your logic lets just rollover and die 
To Winseer, you sir are a smart guy and we need more like you 
more than one hgv driver per week is killed at work
fatigue is a major factor in traffic accidents
More than half of truckers marriages fail
hgv wages are less than other professionals
hgv drivers work longer hours than average workers
the value of driver hours would increase if their supply was reduced
the price of driver hours is in-elastic. i.e. a reduction in supply of driver hours would cause a proportionately greater rise in driver hour prices.
Euro:
more than one hgv driver per week is killed at work
fatigue is a major factor in traffic accidents
More than half of truckers marriages fail
hgv wages are less than other professionals
hgv drivers work longer hours than average workers
the value of driver hours would increase if their supply was reduced
the price of driver hours is in-elastic. i.e. a reduction in supply of driver hours would cause a proportionately greater rise in driver hour prices.
I think you’ll find that the stat on logistic workers death at over 60 a year, is not all driver, this includes other workers working for logistic/hualage operations, but I am prepared to be re-educated on that, though any death at work is a tragedy.
Many drivers relationships that fail would most likely fail regardless of hours done in this industry. It is possible to have a decent marriage tramping, I know because I do, I also know that relationships fail, done that aswell, but the job just enhances underlying problems, but the job gets the blame.
The sooner we stop this high minded attitude off Professionalism, and realise like so many other so called professionals that we are skilled tradesmen, then the sooner we might get a dose off reallity. I did not go to University for several years to get my qualification, and find it an insult to true professionals (doctors, lawyers, teachers etc) that I wish to consider my trade as at the same level as theirs. I know I could not do their jobs, but for the sake off a couple of grand for couple off weeks training they couild do mine.
It isnt as cut and dried as that, many" proper professionals" and other tradesmen do long hours, or even work away, but they dont spend time bleating about it. Lots of people dont realise the hours truckers work, and probably think that if we start early we go home at the same time as the milkman. I know, that as today were I’m at a premises for a 4 hour tip, quite often guys say to me “thats allright for you just sitting about”, I normaly respond with something like “you wouldnt have said that at 2am when I was loading your box”. so we shouldnt assume we are the only long hours workers.
It never has been the case, or at least in my expeirience that if there is a shortage off drivers for what ever reason, reduction in working time(not happened yet), or lack off replacment through poor working conditions, causes an increase in wage rates, their is allways someone coming along to do the job. recently its east europeans, back in nineties it was ex squaddies ( just to say this is no dig at anyone looking for work for what ever reason), soon it’l be someone else. They come and the good ones stay, and the bad ones get filtered out. Which I feel kinda backs up my veiws on professionalism.
We just keep on trucking, its a good job. I love it, havent liked all the firms i’ve worked for. havent allways been on good money, or had top range trucks, driven Renaults for 15 years in one form or another.got a globby at the mo .
overworked/underpaid:
Right where do i start
To mark h , thats it then as long as your happy, the rest dont matter
To sidevalve, not eveyone works on animal feeds, where your work is temperamental shall we say, and as far as hacking it is concerned didnt take you long to wish for rain did itTo wildfire, Start at home then travel further uk then eu if need be, trying to walk before i can run and like i said maybe different rules need to apply for tramps and shift workers
To Nedflanders, from your logic lets just rollover and die
To Winseer, you sir are a smart guy and we need more like you
It would be nice if you could but unless we are out of the e.u the government would be breaking e.u. law. Even the non e.u countries driving hour are now in line with the e.u hours. So as I said before it is to complicated and to many counties involved for the government even to consider it. So the e-pertion is going to be a total non starter, sorry but thats the facts as it is 
wildfire:
overworked/underpaid:
Right where do i start
To mark h , thats it then as long as your happy, the rest dont matter
To sidevalve, not eveyone works on animal feeds, where your work is temperamental shall we say, and as far as hacking it is concerned didnt take you long to wish for rain did itTo wildfire, Start at home then travel further uk then eu if need be, trying to walk before i can run and like i said maybe different rules need to apply for tramps and shift workers
To Nedflanders, from your logic lets just rollover and die
To Winseer, you sir are a smart guy and we need more like you
It would be nice if you could but unless we are out of the e.u the government would be breaking e.u. law. Even the non e.u countries driving hour are now in line with the e.u hours. So as I said before it is to complicated and to many counties involved for the government even to consider it. So the e-pertion is going to be a total non starter, sorry but thats the facts as it is
Sooner we r out of this eu the better