OK then, part 3 as requested, you asked for it… 
…where i shall try to focus on improvements and not go into one of my daft rants…
Lady Drivers, a Massive Apology…i write as if this is a male only profession, i apologise for that, nothing is meant by it and i’m not ignoring you, its just the way i phrase things, when i say chaps or lads i include chappesses and girls too.
My own dear Sis has been driving lorries longer than i have, she still does, she’s roughed it on continental in the old days, full tilt strip outs, handballing, long fragile loads, oversized etc you name it, her accident and work record are exemplary and i’m as proud as hell of her.
She had to do the job better than many men because in previous times there would be the odd idiot and his neanderthal groupies hoping for a mess up, the men she worked with had nothing but respect for her too.
I work with two women drivers now and they are both very competent at the job, and respected by us colleagues and the company.
Employment terms and conditions,
have never been better, for me personally and many, though others have found different, i’m salaried but earning as much for every hour worked as i did when working me fingers to the bone on the transporters, the company i work for do not want to kill their staff off so POA is not required and will not be counted.
POA is a bit of fiddle in some cases and enables drivers to still be working 70odd hour weeks, often in order to gain only 1 decent weeks pay for two weeks work, this is not in the spirit of the WTD, which was meant to stop people being exploited by poor pay schemes only of any use when excessive hours or effort are put in.
Some drivers want to continue working 70 hour weeks, this IMO is a throwback to the old days we could do without, a driver should be able to earn a decent wage for 40ish hours, or if longer weeks are required as they often are, then the better companies pay the driver for stand down time to bring the average hours back in line, my previous car transporter employer paid stand down at around £100 a day.
Terms and conditions have stagnated for many over the time of this recession, its noticeable how much better off drivers with active unions at their place of work are, but thats almost always been the case and i think it always will be.
Militancy doesn’t work, and a good union steward should be wearing two hats, both protecting his members interests, but also keeping the sillier members excesses in check and using his influence to help maintain some discipline, so the usual suspects don’t take the ■■■■ and effectively sickie themselves and every one else out of a good job, work hard keep your good employer in profit and everyone’s a winner.
I’ve been in the union (URTU 38 years ago), and latterly T&G now Unite for nearly all my working life, i recommend all drivers to form themselves into unions, but thats only my opionion based on what i’ve experienced, one union set ups was poor but that was choice of wrong, buyable selfish, stewards…your shop steward is the most important choice you will ever make, so choose wisely.
The people who do annoy me are those who work for unionised companies, won’t join the union (which is their right), but have no trouble trousering the annual pay deals the union negotiates for them.
Do new drivers get into transport under false hopes and promises i wonder (trainers/agencies do you tell porkies?), you’ve always been able to earn relatively good money for a working class type of job, but it always involves either anti social shift work of some sort, or excessive hours, or sheer bloody hard work muck filth and bullets to earn the better money…there are exceptions of course, usually highly unionised jobs where dead mans shoes rules strictly apply, these jobs do not really count for the vast majority of us because unless you are related you will never ever get in.
Headline figures of £40k+ only tell half the story, it won’t ever happen on a 9 to 5x5 day week easy life job.
You can work relatively normal days without weekends by doing parcel delivery collection work, and i take my hat off to the boys and girls who do this because its hell, and i always bend over backwards to let them out and ease their passage whenever possible, i couldn’t do it.
Relationships, which fits nicely between T’s and C’s and training.
This job is hard on all involved, and there has been a sea change in what people expect from life, much of it pie in the sky from what i can see.
Look, we’re generally working class people, being told we’re middle class because we sensibly bought our own houses doesn’t wash with me, simply put we get up and go and graft for a living, that makes us working class by definition…or as my old Geordie mate used to say, some of 'em don’t know which pot to ■■■■ in.
That’s not to say people shouldn’t have ambitions and hopes, but tempered by realism, we aint premiership footballers or celebs so don’t try to live the false, and IMO quite ludicrous, lives of excess that these odd people inhabit.
If you get married and you’re on a joint income of £40k a year, does it really make any sense to splash out £20k+ on a flash wedding leaving you with a millstone round your neck before you’ve even started out…other idiotically wasteful things should be viewed similarly.
Working hard with an eye on the future further ahead is the key, in my humble.
There is no more liberating day in your life than when you pay that mortgage off, they no longer have you by the bollox, no one can take your home, so whilst its nice to have new cars and exotic holidays and whoop it up nights out, temper your outgoings so you can do things sensibly.
Modern attitudes are generated by the media as much as anything, much of it is false, maybe if more people got back to realising what is important in their lives, their loved ones, instead of materialistic gain or by trying to live up to someone else’s ideals, then they might find themselves happier.
Work/life balance, you need time with your families, but you also need to provide enough sustenance for them to live a decent life (without spoiling them), being together playing modern utopian parent when you should really be working won’t pay the bills and it definately won’t pay that mortgage off before interest rates rise sharply, a fine line to walk this with no hard and fast rules.
Driver Training, hmm a thorny one this, and will i suspect have some very opposing views, which is exactly how it should be.
Trainers are good at getting new drivers through tests, of that there is no question, but i’m thoroughly disappointed in the vehicle control and handling skills i see on the road now from too many drivers, and general awareness and respect of the type of vehicle they are now in, drivers so obviously relying (or totally unaware of what they are doing ) on the vehicles systems to keep it from sliding off the road.
Maybe a bit of back to basics is called for, maybe get away from theorising and box ticking and get back to putting training time into teaching drivers to control that vehicle, make them do controlled emergency stops on private ground but with the ABS disconnected, teach them how to manoeuver confidently, teach them feel again, and for God’s sake throw this half witted ‘brakes to slow gears to go’ mantra firmly where it belongs, in the dustbin…lorries despite all this dumbing down are not cars, and when things go wrong ice and snow arrive or even driving on melted tarmac when its rained, then that old fashioned feel and skill comes back into play to keep the thing on the road, let alone learning to feel G’s building up on corners or pendulums being created on switchbacks and roundabouts, especially when the new driver has no concept of feel so hasn’t the foggiest idea how to drive to the load/weather/conditions/weight/surface, because he’s never been taught.
The move to give new drivers a manual licence when the instruction and test is taken on an auto is frankly bordering on insanity, what idiot dreamed that one up, don’t tell me an EU directive that no one here in their cushy civil service well pensioned jobs (sorry careers) had the guts to object to, and i include trainers and testers in this, yes you front line troops in this sector.
And please trainers, when you have in the drivers seat someone who will blatantly never be a lorry driver as long as they have a hole in their arse, do the decent thing and stop the training and send the person away, even if it means re-imbursing the balance and losing a couple of days training money, it won’t happen often as people as bad as i’m thinking of only come up every now and then, not everyone is lorry driver material and its not morally right to just take their money and send them out into work they will never be able to do competently.
Testers must bear their share of this too, we’ve all seen the results of idiots with licences who should never have passed.
By the way, hope i never have to resit my test… 
On the job training varies greatly, you have the one extreme where new agency lads arrive at a job at 4am and are somehow expected to know everything, some regular drivers and admin at some of these places are of no use at all and at best ignore the poor sod, or get snotty with them when they ask where the engine oil is…shouldn’t need oil but maybe the regulars fail to check it between services… 
At the other extreme i’ve worked on car transporters for years and latterly tankers, in both scenarios the training is usually first class, where it isn’t natural selection follows.
Many jobs could do with better on the job training, and i don’t mean the endless running through damned daily check lists ticking idiot boxes as found at logistics giant run sites.
One thing thats missing now is mentoring, or the unofficial apprenticeship.
When i started out on artics a decent older driver took me under his wing and taught me the job for a long time, i was so grateful for this and i shall never forget his memory, there is no better point in a drivers life than when you’ve earned the respect of the old school, that respect isn’t a right because someone has passed a driving test, it has to be earned just it always has in all industries.
I believe responsible companies should encourage this more than they currently do, when a drivers learning the ropes try where possible to send a trusted decent driver (preferably usual mentor) with another load to work alongside them, helps give the new driver confidence knowing someone there is looking out for them, this would IMO make a massive difference to the skills and attitude being passed down the line.
Many older drivers would welcome this as much as the new drivers would appreciate it, nothing but good for the industry, paid trainers are all evry well, but there’s an us and them where many trainers are concerned.
Sorry for waffling on so much, you’'ll be glad its end of part 3, may be a part 4 later in the week when i’ve found inspiration…
) just once a non power steering, crash box motor, just to see how different it was, but I definitely prefer my modern Actros.
I don’t work anymore but I started driving in the sixties when we didn’t have curtainsiders and very few boxes. We were even lucky if we didn’t have to handball everything on to pallets, only to have to handball it all off again at the other end ! I was as fit as a butchers dog and loved the job. As you said, no mobiles, no spotty yoof breathing down yer neck and a bit of common sense that you had to use. The Foden 12 speed could sort the men from the boys, no air suspension, so if a trailer was too high or low, it was get out and wind time. Didn’t you used to just love it when you ended up with nice new rope… not. Sheets that weighed a bleeding ton 