I think he’s watched smokey and the bandit once too often 
switchlogic:
Happydaze:
Truly. Remember when the days used to blur into one, which then became a trip, which then ended with being turned again…?
You haven’t done a proper days work till you see at least two sunrises two sunsets in one shift in my opinion…
And even then some of the old boys would say that’s half a shift!
Pah you part timer 
switchlogic:
Happydaze:
Truly. Remember when the days used to blur into one, which then became a trip, which then ended with being turned again…?You haven’t done a proper days work till you see at least two sunrises two sunsets in one shift in my opinion…
And even then some of the old boys would say that’s half a shift!
That shivery feeling that only true tiredness can bring, the looks on people’s faces when you went for yet another coffee. Not forgetting the worst bit of all, being too wired to sleep when you eventually got the chance!!
Happydaze:
switchlogic:
Happydaze:
Truly. Remember when the days used to blur into one, which then became a trip, which then ended with being turned again…?You haven’t done a proper days work till you see at least two sunrises two sunsets in one shift in my opinion…
And even then some of the old boys would say that’s half a shift!
Oh god I remember that only too well, lying on the bed thinking ‘what the ■■■■ is going on, arghhhhhhhh’
Speaking of bed, it’s time for some zzz’s about now I think (for me anyway). Safe driving to all who are pressing on! 
switchlogic:
Happydaze:
Truly. Remember when the days used to blur into one, which then became a trip, which then ended with being turned again…?You haven’t done a proper days work till you see at least two sunrises two sunsets in one shift in my opinion…
And even then some of the old boys would say that’s half a shift!
The scary thing is that there’s plenty out there who’d agree with that. 
OVLOV JAY:
I think he’s watched smokey and the bandit once too often
Ironically the reality of that was all about 55 mph limits and knackered drivers trying to get the job done by putting in too many hours.
Carryfast:
switchlogic:
Happydaze:
Truly. Remember when the days used to blur into one, which then became a trip, which then ended with being turned again…?You haven’t done a proper days work till you see at least two sunrises two sunsets in one shift in my opinion…
And even then some of the old boys would say that’s half a shift!
The scary thing is that there’s plenty out there who’d agree with that.
Errrr yes, thats why I said it. And thats why lots of us see 15 hour days as fairly easy.
Carryfast:
OVLOV JAY:
I think he’s watched smokey and the bandit once too oftenIronically the reality of that was all about 55 mph limits and knackered drivers trying to get the job done by putting in too many hours.
■■■■■■■■, there was more than enough time to give Sally Field a good stuffing, and rightly so.
Wheel Nut:
Carryfast:
OVLOV JAY:
I think he’s watched smokey and the bandit once too oftenIronically the reality of that was all about 55 mph limits and knackered drivers trying to get the job done by putting in too many hours.
■■■■■■■■, there was more than enough time to give Sally Field a good stuffing, and rightly so.
Only because they were ignoring the 55 (and 65) limit. 
switchlogic:
Well you see your falling down again. We all have a Gendarme problem because if they want to stop you and get their teeth into you they will, for any reason they can find. As for getting ‘ferry boarding protocol’ wrong well yes it is your fault, you imply I’m making the 2 and a half hour wait up when you clearly haven’t a clue what your talking about. I don’t go on to a thread and start telling tipper drivers or tanker drivers they are wrong do I. You have made yourself look really stupid on this thread even by your usual standards. I wouldn’t comment on Heathrow to Leeds having never done it directly in a truck, see what I did there? Maybe you should try it sometime before telling us you can do 500km via Paris in under 4 and a half hours. You’d need a lot more than 65. And yes yours was hypothetical of course, where as mine was what actually happened in the last two days. Just as well you never got on to Euro work, you’d never of been able to hack it. Today and 15 hour days are a walk in the park compared to what it used to be.
Yeah right so there’s never any Gendarmes going via Rouen and if they’re out to get you then they’ll stop you anyway so like I said it gets to Birmingham when it gets there.
I don’t think that my statement about ‘getting loaded ‘by’ (before) lunchtime’ and ‘hopefully’ getting a boat for after 17.00 related to an under 4.5 hour run either.However whatever time it is it’ll be quicker at 65 mph being allowed on the motorway sections than 55.But if you must split hairs maybe it would be the 17.15 boat maybe later.However the important bit is that as I said it gets to Birmingham when it gets there and unlike you I wouldn’t be trying to do almost two days work in one.
The only downside to having a nine off for me is the commute home and back again, but nine off when you park up and only need to commute from the drivers seat to the bunk is easy enough. As for your mythical 11.5 hour day, for ten hours driving you have had 1.5 hours break so all you have done is drive and have break, no fuelling, no loading/unloading, no vehicle checks. You need 15 hour days on general because you spend half your life ■■■■■■■ around in RDCs. I’ve never actually done general, only trolley dollying but we are on urban multidrop so can spend six hours a day tipping. And being based in an RDC I see how long the Goods In vehicles are kept waiting for, so it’s easy for a relative novice like me to see you are talking nonsense Carryfast.
Carryfast:
switchlogic:
Well you see your falling down again. We all have a Gendarme problem because if they want to stop you and get their teeth into you they will, for any reason they can find. As for getting ‘ferry boarding protocol’ wrong well yes it is your fault, you imply I’m making the 2 and a half hour wait up when you clearly haven’t a clue what your talking about. I don’t go on to a thread and start telling tipper drivers or tanker drivers they are wrong do I. You have made yourself look really stupid on this thread even by your usual standards. I wouldn’t comment on Heathrow to Leeds having never done it directly in a truck, see what I did there? Maybe you should try it sometime before telling us you can do 500km via Paris in under 4 and a half hours. You’d need a lot more than 65. And yes yours was hypothetical of course, where as mine was what actually happened in the last two days. Just as well you never got on to Euro work, you’d never of been able to hack it. Today and 15 hour days are a walk in the park compared to what it used to be.Yeah right so there’s never any Gendarmes going via Rouen and if they’re out to get you then they’ll stop you anyway so like I said it gets to Birmingham when it gets there.
I don’t think that my statement about ‘getting loaded ‘by’ (before) lunchtime’ and ‘hopefully’ getting a boat for after 17.00 related to an under 4.5 hour run either.However whatever time it is it’ll be quicker at 65 mph being allowed on the motorway sections than 55.But if you must split hairs maybe it would be the 17.15 boat maybe later.However the important bit is that as I said it gets to Birmingham when it gets there and unlike you I wouldn’t be trying to do almost two days work in one.
Ah yes I knew it wouldn’t be too long before you come back with more clueless fantasy. Still not able to read what I posted are you despite posting it twice?You wouldn’t have been loading at all Monday, you’d have been out of hours. You started at midnight to get to Orleans on time. Stop digging Carryfast, you really are making yourself look very very silly. It’s very clear you would never have been able to hack European work back when you were driving. I’m not lying when I say it’s easy now in comparison.
So just to humour your delusions for a second, say you did get loaded lunchtime Monday after starting at 07:30 (but you wouldn’t have remember, I was in Orleans washing the trailer) and got to Calais at 17:00, I’m bring very generous, that’s unlikely, but say you did. If you get a good run so can get to and through the port into the lanes and onto the ferry in an hour. Lots more checks in Calais. So say it takes an hour then, and you get the 18:00 boat, being generous again, when does that get into Dover? Oh yes, 19:30 an hour after your hours ran out. Good work. Even if you’d got your 17:15 boat you’d hoped to turn up and drive on to it it’d take you over 11 hours.
Oh and of course there are Gendarmes everywhere, but they pull trucks a lot on the A1 at Roye. I don’t know about others but apart from hating Paris I’m not a big fan of the A1 either.
You sound like you’d have been an employers worst nightmare doing Europe. I must say this topic has been loads of fun! Don’t give up now…
switchlogic:
Carryfast:
switchlogic:
Well you see your falling down again. We all have a Gendarme problem because if they want to stop you and get their teeth into you they will, for any reason they can find. As for getting ‘ferry boarding protocol’ wrong well yes it is your fault, you imply I’m making the 2 and a half hour wait up when you clearly haven’t a clue what your talking about. I don’t go on to a thread and start telling tipper drivers or tanker drivers they are wrong do I. You have made yourself look really stupid on this thread even by your usual standards. I wouldn’t comment on Heathrow to Leeds having never done it directly in a truck, see what I did there? Maybe you should try it sometime before telling us you can do 500km via Paris in under 4 and a half hours. You’d need a lot more than 65. And yes yours was hypothetical of course, where as mine was what actually happened in the last two days. Just as well you never got on to Euro work, you’d never of been able to hack it. Today and 15 hour days are a walk in the park compared to what it used to be.Yeah right so there’s never any Gendarmes going via Rouen and if they’re out to get you then they’ll stop you anyway so like I said it gets to Birmingham when it gets there.
I don’t think that my statement about ‘getting loaded ‘by’ (before) lunchtime’ and ‘hopefully’ getting a boat for after 17.00 related to an under 4.5 hour run either.However whatever time it is it’ll be quicker at 65 mph being allowed on the motorway sections than 55.But if you must split hairs maybe it would be the 17.15 boat maybe later.However the important bit is that as I said it gets to Birmingham when it gets there and unlike you I wouldn’t be trying to do almost two days work in one.
Ah yes I knew it wouldn’t be too long before you come back with more clueless fantasy. Still not able to read what I posted are you despite posting it twice?You wouldn’t have been loading at all Monday, you’d have been out of hours. You started at midnight to get to Orleans on time. Stop digging Carryfast, you really are making yourself look very very silly. It’s very clear you would never have been able to hack European work back when you were driving. I’m not lying when I say it’s easy now in comparison.
So just to humour your delusions for a second, say you did get loaded lunchtime Monday after starting at 07:30 (but you wouldn’t have remember, I was in Orleans washing the trailer) and got to Calais at 17:00, I’m bring very generous, that’s unlikely, but say you did. If you get a good run so can get to and through the port into the lanes and onto the ferry in an hour. Lots more checks in Calais. So say it takes an hour then, and you get the 18:00 boat, being generous again, when does that get into Dover? Oh yes, 19:30 an hour after your hours ran out. Good work. Even if you’d got your 17:15 boat you’d hoped to turn up and drive on to it it’d take you over 11 hours.
Oh and of course there are Gendarmes everywhere, but they pull trucks a lot on the A1 at Roye. I don’t know about others but apart from hating Paris I’m not a big fan of the A1 either.
You sound like you’d have been an employers worst nightmare doing Europe. I must say this topic has been loads of fun! Don’t give up now…
you mean you dont go via Paris when coming back up■■? but honest boss my ■■■■ nav says its the quickest route up from that area 
No never, don’t go down to Orleans via Paris either. The quickest way isn’t always the best. Always go via Rouen and Chartres. Much more laid back run and of course a lot cheaper on tolls and often quicker when you factor in the disaster that is Paris. All personal preference but it’s the route I like and the one we all use here now.
switchlogic:
No never, don’t go down to Orleans via Paris either. The quickest way isn’t always the best. Always go via Rouen and Chartres. Much more laid back run and of course a lot cheaper on tolls and often quicker when you factor in the disaster that is Paris. All personal preference but it’s the route I like and the one we all use here now.
Always used to ship out via St Malo but if ever came back up through Calais for weekend in the UK always up N10 then up through Rouen and then the coast road to Calais and yea stopped at Abbeville by the Douanne lol
pavaroti:
I consider it a perk of my job that I get 15hr shifts in every week.
Aye but you’re an eejit!
44 Tonne Ton:
pavaroti:
I consider it a perk of my job that I get 15hr shifts in every week.Aye but you’re an eejit!
Not if you are paid by the hour 
Carryfast:
Yeah right so there’s never any Gendarmes going via Rouen and if they’re out to get you then they’ll stop you anyway so like I said it gets to Birmingham when it gets there.
There are Gendarmes everywhere but they have their favourite haunts and the Peages above and below Paris are amongst those. You’re more likely to get Douanes on that route too CF. Oh and there’s good old St Omer as well
I don’t think that my statement about ‘getting loaded ‘by’ (before) lunchtime’ and ‘hopefully’ getting a boat for after 17.00 related to an under 4.5 hour run either.However whatever time it is it’ll be quicker at 65 mph being allowed on the motorway sections than 55.But if you must split hairs maybe it would be the 17.15 boat maybe later.
You’ve clearly never tried to load anything in France at or around lunchtime
You’d also need some sort of Limeyphil free pass to skip the checks at Calais. Not to mention at peak times and for a multitude of reasons technical/weather etc the queue into the dock can take up to an hour
However the important bit is that as I said it gets to Birmingham when it gets there and unlike you I wouldn’t be trying to do almost two days work in one.
Really and how long would you have been employed for with that ethos ■■?
CF I still go all over Europe and even on a drive only day with load checks,pre and post trip checks, coffee stops, fuel stops and stops to eat, a 9 hour drive takes more than your eutopian 11 hours I prefer to have a longer steadier day with plenty of breaks and not rush to cram it all into 11 hours.
Above all though, you haven’t done it so you have no relevant experience, facts or clue upon which to base your opinions 
No disrespect to carryfast but he is what my dad would describe as a council worker. Haulage isn’t a 9-5 job and never will be.
I think that’s why he never got the euro gig back in the day. As a kid I spent a fair few school holidays with my dad on Italian work and the usual crack was multiple collections of wine from vineyards all Thursday and Friday. Then one hit to Calais for Saturday night. I’m not saying its right but that was the job take it or leave it.