My understanding of the term professional was someone ‘qualified to do the job’, ‘no longer in training’.
Thats a good point to debate…
Why don’t employers want drivers with less than 2 years experience if they are professional and no longer in training 
THE TEMPLAR:
up until today i thought i was an sort of pro until i tried to back on to a bay today and it took me 4 goes , dont look at me ! im not worthy, the shame , WHY is there ALWAYS a bunch of drivers watching when you make a pigs ear of backing onto something , but NEVER NEVER anybody about when you back on to the mother of all nightmare bays on your blindside etc on your first attempt ■■? i lost the will to live today, i need beer, pies , and cake to make things right again and give me my pro powers back. .
in my opinion what makes us proffessional drivers isn’t whether we can back onto a loading bay, blindside, first time or not. its whether we care enough to do it right without causing any damage or causing other road users get frustrated and put themselves in unnecessary danger.
surely if a proffessional driver saw another struggling he’d offer some assistance
Well, your ‘profession’ is what you do for a living, is it not? Profession is just another word for ‘job’.
Eg. The plumbing needs sorted, I can’t do it myself, I’ll call in ‘a professional’
I can’t move all these pallets of bricks without a wagon, and I haven’t even got a licence, I’ll have to get ‘a professional’ to do it.
Whether we get referred to as ‘professional’ or not is another matter.
just a tail note for anyone who may backtrack onto this subject. i have come to see that you can only be professional if you are treated professionally by those who profess to be professional…deep for this site. most who bandy the term around are usually not and seek to cover their arses!!!
Personally, whilst I try to do my job in a professional manner I think we are more akin to “tradesmen” than professionals.
The wikipeadia definition of a professional:
The term profession derives from the Latin: “to swear (an oath)”. The oath referred to dictates adherence to ethical standards, which invariably include practitioner/client confidentiality, truthfulness, and the striving to be an expert in one’s calling, all three of these being practiced above all for the benefit of the client. There is also a stipulation about upholding the good name of the profession.
The term profession thus refers to an occupation, vocation or high-status career, usually involving prolonged academic training, formal qualifications and membership of a professional or regulatory body. Professions involve the application of specialized knowledge of a subject, field, or science to fee-paying clientele
And the wikipeadia definition of a tradesman:
A tradesman is a skilled manual worker in a particular trade or craft. Economically and socially, a tradesman’s status is considered between a laborer and a professional, with a high degree of both practical and theoretical knowledge of their trade.
I rest my case M’Lud.
Hombre:
Personally, whilst I try to do my job in a professional manner I think we are more akin to “tradesmen” than professionals.The wikipeadia definition of a professional:
The term profession derives from the Latin: “to swear (an oath)”. The oath referred to dictates adherence to ethical standards, which invariably include practitioner/client confidentiality, truthfulness, and the striving to be an expert in one’s calling, all three of these being practiced above all for the benefit of the client. There is also a stipulation about upholding the good name of the profession.
The term profession thus refers to an occupation, vocation or high-status career, usually involving prolonged academic training, formal qualifications and membership of a professional or regulatory body. Professions involve the application of specialized knowledge of a subject, field, or science to fee-paying clientele
And the wikipeadia definition of a tradesman:
A tradesman is a skilled manual worker in a particular trade or craft. Economically and socially, a tradesman’s status is considered between a laborer and a professional, with a high degree of both practical and theoretical knowledge of their trade.
I rest my case M’Lud.
your case is far from proved, you forgot to put this bit in
A tradesman still begins as an apprentice, but the apprenticeship is carried out partly through working for a qualified tradesman and partly through an accredited trade school for a definite period of time (usually around 4 years), after which he/she is fully qualified.
also from the wikipedia defination of a tradesman.
if we were paid better wages and not given sooo much agro by joe public etc then i owuld see more people being more professional about their job but not really were just those {zb}ing truckers that get in everyones way.
example here, my local council pay somebody to drive about in a ■■■■■■ dropside with one or 2 other people and he gets more than the oflk who drive the class 1s and about £1.50 an hour more than the class 2 drivers.
mayby not seem much but they only have grandfather rights or a car licence depending when they passed yet we pay thousands for the licence we have so we should get paid more.