I found this in the Pro driver Forum and thought it might be good to put on here…
MartinC
FROM HERE:
See, now there are many good things about this site for wannabes; but there’s also a downside to having access to the experiences of working drivers.
a) We learn that there aren’t 80,000 vacancies from employers desperate to pay drivers £40k a year to drive their 09 plate extended supercab 50lt V10 Scaneaultolvomandaferf megatruck with jet engine assistance for those gruelling hills (not needed for Fenland milk runs, obviously) and running water, shower, comfy bed and kitchenette for those five-star nights out.
b) We learn that all those nice ads offering unbeatable deals on training fees are not necessarily plated with 24ct honesty.
c) We begin to understand the amount of brain-numbing, hand-cramping work needed to read and understand all the rules and regulations and the record keeping that involves.
We still wannabe
d) Then we learn about RDCs and find that, contrary to the respect we have (well, I have) always had for LGV drivers, they are often treated like errant schoolkids and with contempt, often by people with less skill and little to no understanding of what the LGV driving job entails.
e) Then we learn, both from this forum and from our own observation, that in the real world many drivers break the speed limits. I say many, not most, although in my experience it is most…on a fairly easy SC near me I have been frustrated when following a large vehicle travelling at 40 where the traffic is often just a bit too heavy for safe overtaking (why IS it that when going around a series of hairpin bends NOTHING comes the other way, then, as soon as the road opens to a long straight, there is tail to tail traffic coming towards you). But those times of frustration are rare occasions, because most times the large vehicles are doing 50-60 (yes they do slow down for the two cameras).
f) And then we find a thread like this and learn that TMs expect and instruct drivers to break the rules. Yes, we know it’s ‘our licence and our responsibility’; but against that we know that (assumiing we are lucky enough to find one) it would also be ‘our job and our livelihood’. So to keep a job, there will be pressure to ‘be a team player’ and break the rules. I imagine that in this respect driving is no different to any other job: if you don’t ‘fit in’ then you will be given all the crap work and/or lose your job (and I’m pretty sure that they won’t put ‘failing to obey the instruction to break the law and drive for longer than allowed’ on any dismissal paperwork).
I still wannabe…I think
Cheers…M