i started driving 8 wheelers in 1964 a foden with garderner 6 lw top speed of 28 mph on the flat roads up hill the likes of alden hill on the a 38 out of exeter heading for plymouth afther dropping off 8 tons of 1cwt babgs of sugar (HANDBALL) the next drop was tavistock going up alden at 5 mph. the back load was 10ton of china clay (handball) again the back to sandbach round trip 36 hours, those were the days paul
Yeah those were the days ■■ Pass me the rose tinted glasses please !
Handball your own load on simply because the dockers or customers treated you as cheap labour !
Out of one job and into another ? No H.G.V. licence required so we were just labourers who could drive !
Following on from that was the famous phrase uttered by the boss “if you don’t like it f**k off as there are 10 more donkeys at the gate” !
Driving a vehicle [wagons in them days] with crap suspension and a rigid fixed seat [one size fits all 6ft 6ins or 5ft 4ins] – still suffering bad back !
No Tacho’s but a log book ? Worked both ways – remember the bosses phrase “just loaded ? well I don’t care what time you started - back here now” !
I could go on and on – Good money ? £’s per hour weren’t that great – Good thing about the “Good Old Days” is the fact they’ve gone !! 
Big Leggy:
Yeah those were the days ■■ Pass me the rose tinted glasses please !
Handball your own load on simply because the dockers or customers treated you as cheap labour !
Out of one job and into another ? No H.G.V. licence required so we were just labourers who could drive !
Following on from that was the famous phrase uttered by the boss “if you don’t like it f**k off as there are 10 more donkeys at the gate” !
Driving a vehicle [wagons in them days] with crap suspension and a rigid fixed seat [one size fits all 6ft 6ins or 5ft 4ins] – still suffering bad back !
No Tacho’s but a log book ? Worked both ways – remember the bosses phrase “just loaded ? well I don’t care what time you started - back here now” !I could go on and on – Good money ? £’s per hour weren’t that great – Good thing about the “Good Old Days” is the fact they’ve gone !!
hi big leggy,you must have the rose tints on if you think the job is better now than years ago,apart from the money the conditions now are no better than in the 50’s-60’s ,15hrs a day? great! driving hours! w.t.d hours! you never know if your coming or going,rolling week? fantastic, knock your overtime if you do a short day after doing a couple of 15’s on the trot what a great job it is now.oh yeh you do get a great big 44ton volvo,scania,man,daf though so it dont matter about the terms and conditions does it? (rant over)
in my humble opinion the best times for a lorry driver in this country was after the 1979 strike the wages of most (unionised)drivers went up by about 25%, in the early 80’s lorries were getting a lot better (sleeper cabs etc) 121/2hrs a day max tacho’s were just coming in and although we didnt like them they were great if you worked for a firm who didnt run bent. JUST MY OPINION .
CHEERS STEVE.
pollystag
Maybe I was lucky with regards to the companies I have worked for !! Shell Mex & BP at Buncefield Hemel Hempstead – 100% union [TGWU] + good money & conditions – but not for me !
Always worked on European or M/E after that – when I started on European we were still on log books limited to 281 miles per day …
Ninety hour fortnight driving hours - no problem as I always got paid for hours worked never ever trip money or percentage of “vehicle profits” !! Always got paid for whenever parked up abroad + expenses.
Top of the range trucks [last 3 were Renauld Magnums with all the extras]… Encouraged to run 100% legal [tacho’s analysed monthly] & then of course digi tacho !
Perhaps we’ve seen the best of the job [depending on your age & how far off retirement is] – but now European work is being done cheaper by Eastern Bloc drivers … I’m no expert on U.K. driving but I believe there are still some good well paid jobs around …
Hi Big Leggy,
It depends what you wanna do now as to what you class as a good job. I think European has finished now for British firms, we cannot compete any more, & even the jobs that were once open to the Brits, for the French/Dutch etc arent as plentifull. Last Euro job I did was for a Dutch firm on fridges, all Poles now! For the last 6 years I been driving a 6 wheeler rigid tanker, I depot supervisor now so I drive & get a day in the yard doing all the paperwork etc. I not done a night out in 3 years now, bores me to tears sometimes compared to what I done in the past, & my DAF 75 aint no glamour puss when I think of the F88s/F10s/12s/Toplines/Globetrotters/Spacecabs etc of my dim & distant past! But you gota look at whats out there for us now, I paid weekly, good sick pay (from 1st day), good wages, BUPA private medical (paid by the company) 5 weeks holiday a year. Also 100% legal running, l would have laughed at that years ago, but now, with speed cameras, digitachs, satellite tracking, VOSA with the new on the spot fines, I think I can stick with it until I retire.
So I come on here as often as possible & read all the stories & look at the pictures & smile a lot, because at least I did the job when it was a crack. The ones I feel sorry for are the ones in there 20s at my depot who think the jobs great cos they are on top money, but do they have as much fun as I was having at their age in the job? I doubt it very much, I know I dont, but at least I got memories!
adr:
Hi Big Leggy,
It depends what you wanna do now as to what you class as a good job. I think European has finished now for British firms, we cannot compete any more, & even the jobs that were once open to the Brits, for the French/Dutch etc arent as plentifull. Last Euro job I did was for a Dutch firm on fridges, all Poles now! For the last 6 years I been driving a 6 wheeler rigid tanker, I depot supervisor now so I drive & get a day in the yard doing all the paperwork etc. I not done a night out in 3 years now, bores me to tears sometimes compared to what I done in the past, & my DAF 75 aint no glamour puss when I think of the F88s/F10s/12s/Toplines/Globetrotters/Spacecabs etc of my dim & distant past! But you gota look at whats out there for us now, I paid weekly, good sick pay (from 1st day), good wages, BUPA private medical (paid by the company) 5 weeks holiday a year. Also 100% legal running, l would have laughed at that years ago, but now, with speed cameras, digitachs, satellite tracking, VOSA with the new on the spot fines, I think I can stick with it until I retire.
So I come on here as often as possible & read all the stories & look at the pictures & smile a lot, because at least I did the job when it was a crack. The ones I feel sorry for are the ones in there 20s at my depot who think the jobs great cos they are on top money, but do they have as much fun as I was having at their age in the job? I doubt it very much, I know I dont, but at least I got memories!
What can I say ? European work started to go down hill when we stopped queuing on the stairs at Dover with T forms or Carnets… Yes Poles drive now for less money, once they get dearer it’ll be Bulgarians and then Romanians etc etc… This wasn’t how we Brits envisaged the E.U. [Common Market when we voted on it] – genie is now out of the bottle now though !!
What now – well I packed it all in long before I reached retirement age and although I still have my HGV1 licence I’m not working for the money that’s on offer as I can stay at home for nothing !! It’s like playing poker – you can only play the hand you’re dealt & jack it in if it doesn’t suit…
I’ve made enough money on M/E & European work, I am entitled to 3 pensions when I decide to draw on them [the goverment pension is increased if you defer drawing it at 65yrs of age], so hopefully I should have money to live on…
I’ve had the best years of the job & now I’m happy to call it a day !!
I agree, the Euro scene has been dead for many years now, I had a lot of fun (& grief, but its all in the same package) across the water, you are older & more experienced than me so you will have memories of even better times. Its all a game, cos as you say eventually the Poles will want more money one day & someone else will undercut them, nobody can do the job for a round of drinks forever!
To earn the better wage now you have to specialise, be it Tankers or whatever. But in saying that, at what cost? You were on Shell/BP at Buncefield, as we spoke before you know my dad was on Home Counties Petroleum (Mobil) Oxford, all the years I went with him, every weekend & school hols I never remember him charging around, there was always time for a cup of tea & a chat, but you look at the petrol boys now, charging round like headless chickens not a minute to live! you have to think is it worth it? Yes the money might be good, but there is more to life than money when the camaraderie has gone, & your boss is a jumped up little pratt who if you stood an artic outside his window & asked him which is the tractor & which is the trailer, he doesnt know without looking it up on the internet!
I have had some bosses over the years I would do anything for, no matter what time of day/night it was, cos you new it was appreciated, cos at the end of the week he would take you all down the boozer to blow the froth off a couple to say thanks, & cos you respected him cos he could do the job himself. So personally now I think the 48 hr week working time directive is great cos it gives me more time to do what I want to do.
adr:
I agree, the Euro scene has been dead for many years now, I had a lot of fun (& grief, but its all in the same package) across the water, you are older & more experienced than me so you will have memories of even better times. Its all a game, cos as you say eventually the Poles will want more money one day & someone else will undercut them, nobody can do the job for a round of drinks forever!
To earn the better wage now you have to specialise, be it Tankers or whatever. But in saying that, at what cost? You were on Shell/BP at Buncefield, as we spoke before you know my dad was on Home Counties Petroleum (Mobil) Oxford, all the years I went with him, every weekend & school hols I never remember him charging around, there was always time for a cup of tea & a chat, but you look at the petrol boys now, charging round like headless chickens not a minute to live! you have to think is it worth it? Yes the money might be good, but there is more to life than money when the camaraderie has gone, & your boss is a jumped up little pratt who if you stood an artic outside his window & asked him which is the tractor & which is the trailer, he doesnt know without looking it up on the internet!
I have had some bosses over the years I would do anything for, no matter what time of day/night it was, cos you new it was appreciated, cos at the end of the week he would take you all down the boozer to blow the froth off a couple to say thanks, & cos you respected him cos he could do the job himself. So personally now I think the 48 hr week working time directive is great cos it gives me more time to do what I want to do.
Just my fourpenny worth but whole heartedly agree with above post 
powershot:
Any you guys rember logbook 20 hours a day and no breaks lorry drivers
2 a penny out of one job into the next but what a lot of money I earned
all the best Powershot
20 Hours a day ■■? What were ya a part timer powershot
Bl**dy hell fellows this thread like a morgue, I am glad I retired early at 62 in 1999, I had a wonderful time with my life on the road, but never missed it when I stopped, I guessed change was around the corner, but had mostly good paid jobs, those that were poor, I said lick them and stick them, no one would make me run bent, I cut a few corners to please myself. What you say about today, is like driving in chains, no fun and no adventure, just a league of the living dead, rest in peace my children, amen SAndman Norman
Pat Hasler:
powershot:
Any you guys rember logbook 20 hours a day and no breaksREMEMBER
… Like , last week
Oh wait
I have no idea what you could be refering to Pat 
Norman Ingram:
Bl**dy hell fellows this thread like a morgue, I am glad I retired early at 62 in 1999, I had a wonderful time with my life on the road, but never missed it when I stopped, I guessed change was around the corner, but had mostly good paid jobs, those that were poor, I said lick them and stick them, no one would make me run bent, I cut a few corners to please myself. What you say about today, is like driving in chains, no fun and no adventure, just a league of the living dead, rest in peace my children, amen SAndman Norman
here here brother 
Any you guys rember logbook 20 hours a day and no breaks lorry drivers
2 a penny out of one job into the next but what a lot of money I earned
all the best Powershot
Not arf…and the old log sheets…throw one away and start again…best things since sliced bread…should bring them back…eh powershot…dont affect you now though…enjoy your retirement…and send me a stick of rock.
I got done for failing to complete the weekly report 
could have sworn I had done it earlier! Must have been in the wrong book 
Silent Check, No not me guv
powershot:
Any you guys rember logbook 20 hours a day and no breaks
REMEMBER Yeah … Like , last week
Oh wait it was last week