NormanInNorfolk:
I’m a woman driver - not full time driving at the moment, just when the business needs me to deliver something - boats on a trailer. I do lots of nights out, but my business charges the client for a Travelodge or similar for me. (And anyone else who does an overnight stop when needed).
I was considering getting my Class 1 and going f/t as a driver. Nights out in potentially deserted lay byes concern me more than where to wee, as I am quite happy with outdoor and camping-type options and regular stops at an RSA.
The big ‘you what■■?’ for me was reading that on long overnight ferries drivers can be put in double cabins. No offence guys, but that would be a big NO, with a male driver.
I am still deciding whether to drive full time or not, but whatever, the provision in this country for all drivers, whatever ■■■, is terrible and it’s shocking that companies won’t pay for a truckstop. I don’t know how this has been allowed, given all the H&S and welfare regs in employment law.
I hope the employment of a female driver leads to a ‘levelling up’ of conditions for all drivers. (ooh look - is that a pig in the sky?)
They wouldn’t put you in a cabin with a bloke anyway.
Erm I will admit I have stopped working for companies who won’t pay parking. As mentioned by others, I don’t like the risks from laybys and I’m too old to do the old ‘behind the tree’ shuffle
My niece bought me a ‘shewee’ and that works OK as long as you don’t laugh! You have to have decent bladder control as well else it pours everywhere! TBH I managed better with a washing up bowl and plastic bags.
My view now is that if they want me to drive then they blinking look after me. If they don’t look after me then they can find somieone else to drive. The guys I drive for now are fabulous and I don’t plan on leaving them anytime soon
BTW - I have done a lot of ferry journeys and have never had to share with anyone, not either another woman. Irish ferries have been known to give me a staff cabin
NormanInNorfolk:
I’m a woman driver - not full time driving at the moment, just when the business needs me to deliver something - boats on a trailer. I do lots of nights out, but my business charges the client for a Travelodge or similar for me. (And anyone else who does an overnight stop when needed).
I was considering getting my Class 1 and going f/t as a driver. Nights out in potentially deserted lay byes concern me more than where to wee, as I am quite happy with outdoor and camping-type options and regular stops at an RSA.
The big ‘you what■■?’ for me was reading that on long overnight ferries drivers can be put in double cabins. No offence guys, but that would be a big NO, with a male driver.
I am still deciding whether to drive full time or not, but whatever, the provision in this country for all drivers, whatever ■■■, is terrible and it’s shocking that companies won’t pay for a truckstop. I don’t know how this has been allowed, given all the H&S and welfare regs in employment law.
I hope the employment of a female driver leads to a ‘levelling up’ of conditions for all drivers. (ooh look - is that a pig in the sky?)
They wouldn’t put you in a cabin with a bloke anyway.
I had a lady driver, cannot remember which crossing but it was a Brittany Ferries on the Western Channel and she got allocated a cabin to share with a male driver.
NormanInNorfolk:
I’m a woman driver - not full time driving at the moment, just when the business needs me to deliver something - boats on a trailer. I do lots of nights out, but my business charges the client for a Travelodge or similar for me. (And anyone else who does an overnight stop when needed).
I was considering getting my Class 1 and going f/t as a driver. Nights out in potentially deserted lay byes concern me more than where to wee, as I am quite happy with outdoor and camping-type options and regular stops at an RSA.
The big ‘you what■■?’ for me was reading that on long overnight ferries drivers can be put in double cabins. No offence guys, but that would be a big NO, with a male driver.
I am still deciding whether to drive full time or not, but whatever, the provision in this country for all drivers, whatever ■■■, is terrible and it’s shocking that companies won’t pay for a truckstop. I don’t know how this has been allowed, given all the H&S and welfare regs in employment law.
I hope the employment of a female driver leads to a ‘levelling up’ of conditions for all drivers. (ooh look - is that a pig in the sky?)
They wouldn’t put you in a cabin with a bloke anyway.
I had a lady driver, cannot remember which crossing but it was a Brittany Ferries on the Western Channel and she got allocated a cabin to share with a male driver.
Yes she did kick up a fuss.
I stand corrected
In fact it’s just came back to me when I think back…,.I was made to share with this driver on the Hull Rotterdam one night,.I was livid…in fact I went straight to the Captain to give him a piece of my mind.
My apologies to Ms Albion for the 70s style sexist joke…my only defence is as my wife keeps reminding me…‘I’m a typical BLOKE’’ …or ‘kerel’ as they apparentlly say in Hollland.
albion:
I had a lady driver, cannot remember which crossing but it was a Brittany Ferries on the Western Channel and she got allocated a cabin to share with a male driver.
Yes she did kick up a fuss.
I stand corrected
In fact it’s just came back to me when I think back…,.I was made to share with this driver on the Hull Rotterdam one night,.I was livid…in fact I went straight to the Captain to give him a piece of my mind.
0
My apologies to Ms Albion for the 70s style sexist joke…my only defence is as my wife keeps reminding me…‘I’m a typical BLOKE’’ …or ‘kerel’ as they apparentlly say in Hollland.
Theres a good argument for bike riding. :smiley: . Ive never known Brittany have mixed ■■■ cabins, except when the two were co-drivers in the same truck. They would make the assumption that they would both sleep in the truck, so would be OK to share a cabin. Im pretty sure Albion will say that wasnt the case in her operations?
Since Covid it`s been one to a cabin.
6 ‘Robpoints’ for shoehorning ‘COVID’ into the thread Frangers. …don’t suppose BORIS used the ferry during his BREXIT negotiations did he?..you could have been awarded 10.
robroy:
6 ‘Robpoints’ for shoehorning ‘COVID’ into the thread Frangers. …don’t suppose BORIS used the ferry during his BREXIT negotiations did he?..you could have been awarded 10.
To be fair mate it you making the deal out of it this time. All he saying is that since Covid it’s been one to a cabin which is more of an observation rather than an argument no? I mean since covid a lot has changed hasn’t it?
robroy:
6 ‘Robpoints’ for shoehorning ‘COVID’ into the thread Frangers. …don’t suppose BORIS used the ferry during his BREXIT negotiations did he?..you could have been awarded 10.
To be fair mate it you making the deal out of it this time. All he saying is that since Covid it’s been one to a cabin which is more of an observation rather than an argument no? I mean since covid a lot has changed hasn’t it?
Ok
‘To be fair mate’…it was just a bit of banter between us, hence the emojis… he knows exactly what I meant.
But cheers anyway.
robroy:
6 ‘Robpoints’ for shoehorning ‘COVID’ into the thread Frangers. …don’t suppose BORIS used the ferry during his BREXIT negotiations did he?..you could have been awarded 10.
To be fair mate it you making the deal out of it this time. All he saying is that since Covid it’s been one to a cabin which is more of an observation rather than an argument no? I mean since covid a lot has changed hasn’t it?
Ok
‘To be fair mate’…it was just a bit of banter between us, hence the emojis… he knows exactly what I meant.
But cheers anyway.
Taken as such.
But is that pic the reason your lycra shorts are being aired? I though that would have got a bite too!
robroy:
6 ‘Robpoints’ for shoehorning ‘COVID’ into the thread Frangers. …don’t suppose BORIS used the ferry during his BREXIT negotiations did he?..you could have been awarded 10.
To be fair mate it you making the deal out of it this time. All he saying is that since Covid it’s been one to a cabin which is more of an observation rather than an argument no? I mean since covid a lot has changed hasn’t it?
Ok
‘To be fair mate’…it was just a bit of banter between us, hence the emojis… he knows exactly what I meant.
But cheers anyway.
Taken as such.
But is that pic the reason your lycra shorts are being aired? I though that would have got a bite too!
My psychedelic lycra suit hasn’t arrived yet but I’ll keep you posted.
My first purchase was a gel seat cover, me and my daughter had a tour of the local nature reserve the other day, I’m constantly accused iif walking like John Wayne,.but it changed to a ‘Quasimodo needing the khazi’ style since then.
15 years a Class 1 tramper here, not all of it with parking paid. In answer to your asked (and possibly unasked but wondered) questions:
Some kind of tub or pot. Old pasta sauce punnets (the fresh kind) are ideal, cos they come with a lid. Or under the trailer, though not so good with a skelly, plus splashback is an issue. . Various sealable arrangements for other necessities, at other times…though I did eventually give up and go on a contraceptive pill which removed the problem.
As another female tramping friend of put it, when you start you look for a good big bush to go behind. Give it a few months and any scraggy old shrub is considered cover enough. Give it a decade and you’ve lost so much dignity a couple of twigs is considered a luxury!
As a side note, I also carried two children (separately) to 8.5 months pregnant in the truck. Quickest way to get tipped on the face of the planet is to stand at the Goods In desk with your back arched, then when they tell you it’ll be a long time, stretch and rub your belly while making “ooofff” noises. See a bay suddenly become available, and a three hour tip turn into 20 minutes. Can’t get you off their premises fast enough!
Lucy:
15 years a Class 1 tramper here, not all of it with parking paid. In answer to your asked (and possibly unasked but wondered) questions:
Some kind of tub or pot. Old pasta sauce punnets (the fresh kind) are ideal, cos they come with a lid. Or under the trailer, though not so good with a skelly, plus splashback is an issue. . Various sealable arrangements for other necessities, at other times…though I did eventually give up and go on a contraceptive pill which removed the problem.
As another female tramping friend of put it, when you start you look for a good big bush to go behind. Give it a few months and any scraggy old shrub is considered cover enough. Give it a decade and you’ve lost so much dignity a couple of twigs is considered a luxury!
As a side note, I also carried two children (separately) to 8.5 months pregnant in the truck. Quickest way to get tipped on the face of the planet is to stand at the Goods In desk with your back arched, then when they tell you it’ll be a long time, stretch and rub your belly while making “ooofff” noises. See a bay suddenly become available, and a three hour tip turn into 20 minutes. Can’t get you off their premises fast enough!
Well, that’s taken some of the glamour out of the job.
OP, it would be a lot simpler if you asked the woman driver personally. If you are unsure then take along another woman driver to ask the question you want to ask. Or are we back in the playground?
Ok, I am being unfair, I sort of understand you are afraid of law suits OP. All as the employer you need to do is ensure you treat any and all people equally. So, would you ask a male driver the same question?
Then you need to (as the employer) is if you have considered all of the needs of the employee under a general Duty of Care.
Well, it will get tricky if you don’t ask the same questions at interview of a female driver as you would to a male driver. I would say DO NOT DO THAT!
I would say that the woman concerned is an adult (presumably), can do her own research and can therefore decide for herself whether a job is suitable, thank you very much. If you wouldn’t worry about a bloke using a hard hat and a Tesco bag, why worry about a lass doing the same?
I’ve been off the road for a good few years now, but I always used to say I wasn’t a woman driver, I was a driver. I left my gender in the car outside the yard gate.
Even now I’m the only female road-testing truck journalist in the UK, and I still get asked when the test driver’s turning up when I go places they don’t know me. It’s pathetic, it really is.
And thank you. I’m glad someone asked the toilet question, because I have gleaned two very useful tips from this thread which means it will not be necessary for me to turn up to work with my camping toilet under my arm.
Nah. Just plan to cook yourself a lot of stuff that comes in wide-necked tubs with lids and job’s a good 'un!
Ps. Seriously, if you ever need to know anything like that you know where I am. One of my other favourite tips, which I know many lasses would disagree with but nonetheless, is not to have a nameplate in your windscreen with an obviously female name on. Or, if you must have one, at least take it out at night. If you were looking to try and do a driver over and you had a choice between “Grandpa Bob”, “The Captain” and “Crazy Daisy!!!”, which one would you pick/lie in wait for them to get out/follow across the truck park? And no, MSAs are NOT safer places to be as females overnight. Far too much getting out and walking across vast swathes of concrete in full view of anyone watching. Obviously alone. And obviously in YN 68 HDF - which I also always refused to shout out aloud at the shop desk when I bought my parking ticket. Enter it yourself. There’s loads of stuff like this, but most of it you’ll work out for yourself if you’ve half a brain.
Lucy:
Nah. Just plan to cook yourself a lot of stuff that comes in wide-necked tubs with lids and job’s a good 'un!
Ps. Seriously, if you ever need to know anything like that you know where I am. One of my other favourite tips, which I know many lasses would disagree with but nonetheless, is not to have a nameplate in your windscreen with an obviously female name on. Or, if you must have one, at least take it out at night. If you were looking to try and do a driver over and you had a choice between “Grandpa Bob”, “The Captain” and “Crazy Daisy!!!”, which one would you pick/lie in wait for them to get out/follow across the truck park? And no, MSAs are NOT safer places to be as females overnight. Far too much getting out and walking across vast swathes of concrete in full view of anyone watching. Obviously alone. And obviously in YN 68 HDF - which I also always refused to shout out aloud at the shop desk when I bought my parking ticket. Enter it yourself. There’s loads of stuff like this, but most of it you’ll work out for yourself if you’ve half a brain.
Good advice is that about cab nameplates .I’ve always thought that lasses are inviting unwanted attention overnight by displaying them.
Lucy:
Nah. Just plan to cook yourself a lot of stuff that comes in wide-necked tubs with lids and job’s a good 'un!
Ps. Seriously, if you ever need to know anything like that you know where I am. One of my other favourite tips, which I know many lasses would disagree with but nonetheless, is not to have a nameplate in your windscreen with an obviously female name on. Or, if you must have one, at least take it out at night. If you were looking to try and do a driver over and you had a choice between “Grandpa Bob”, “The Captain” and “Crazy Daisy!!!”, which one would you pick/lie in wait for them to get out/follow across the truck park? And no, MSAs are NOT safer places to be as females overnight. Far too much getting out and walking across vast swathes of concrete in full view of anyone watching. Obviously alone. And obviously in YN 68 HDF - which I also always refused to shout out aloud at the shop desk when I bought my parking ticket. Enter it yourself. There’s loads of stuff like this, but most of it you’ll work out for yourself if you’ve half a brain.
Thanks, I will PM you with my list
Regarding name plates, each to their own but anonymity and not drawing attention to myself is much more my style
…or ‘kerel’ as they apparentlly say in Hollland.
