Get in early to park at The Red Lion.The Indian owners have spent a lot of money and their investment is paying off.
The Hollies has improved a lot too.Good food.
And Lincoln farm.200 trucks a night in there.Religous and friendly owners.
Thanks for the truck stop tips, I see lesmahagow has closed down, had quite a few runs near that place, quite literally in fact after a dodgy meal or two.
This RDC hand your keys in fiasco is strange, do they give you a waiting room with all the creature comforts one would expect and a variety of other drivers to burn some diesel with.
Thanks for the digi tacho link tallyman.
Dipper_Dave:
Thanks for the truck stop tips, I see lesmahagow has closed down, had quite a few runs near that place, quite literally in fact after a dodgy meal or two.This RDC hand your keys in fiasco is strange, do they give you a waiting room with all the creature comforts one would expect and a variety of other drivers to burn some diesel with.
Thanks for the digi tacho link tallyman.
you will get a nice hard plastic seat,a coffee machine and an overpriced vending machine with crisps and crappy egg and cress sandwiches for 2 quid.get comfy,ive waited 6 hours at morrissons wakey,that’s not unusual anywhere.
stobarttrucker:
Dipper_Dave:
Thanks for the truck stop tips, I see lesmahagow has closed down, had quite a few runs near that place, quite literally in fact after a dodgy meal or two.This RDC hand your keys in fiasco is strange, do they give you a waiting room with all the creature comforts one would expect and a variety of other drivers to burn some diesel with.
Thanks for the digi tacho link tallyman.
you will get a nice hard plastic seat,a coffee machine and an overpriced vending machine with crisps and crappy egg and cress sandwiches for 2 quid.get comfy,ive waited 6 hours at morrissons wakey,that’s not unusual anywhere.
You forgot to add that you will sit next to a hero who just missed the herald and has been caught out at many a RDC and had to be chalked in until the morning! 
This whole RDC thing has me confused, I used to have a kip, possibly even a quick tug whilst they unloaded and reloaded me in the good old days. I must admit I was guilty of popping it on a break for 45 minutes then switching back to other work just in case I wanted to run straight to another destination when I left.
So in this day and age is it possible to park up on the bay, switch it onto a break then hand keys in go to waiting room for 45 mins then return to truck to switch it back to ‘POA’ (10 years ago we never bothered with this square box with a line through it, or even knew what it was-I thought it was for driving off road). Course I could just leave it on break but I don’t class sitting on a plastic chair as a break although to give myself options I have no problems getting a 45minutes tacho break on the card just in case it helps me out.
Are some RDC’s better than others allowing you back to your wagon or are they all pretty much the same.
everything now is all “health and safety”
no keys,no tip.
asda and morrissons wakefield,pull curtains then give forkie keys then get back in untill told then move curtains then get back in,like a yoyo.
i think it’s the same in every business now since all the “where there’s blame there’s a claim” started.
If you live in essex or lincs your pretty much cream crackered the polish have taken over if your lucky try and find a all uk driver firm to go on if you do hats of mate, you,ve cracked it, keepin it real
If exit J 24 on the M5 you can park free at Bridgwater cattle
market.There is a free shower at the back of the unloading area and talk of building a new shower.The food in the cafe is spot on for breakfast or hot meals.Staff are fab too.If full there is space on the dirt off road bit.
There is a farm shop nearby with food and drink too.If on a tacho break you can see the livestock auctions but sterilise the boots when go in and out for disease control.There is talk it may be pay to park.When you exit you have to exit by the no entry sign or go around the back where the livestock wagons tip but sometimes the gate is shut that way.
Don’t try taking 3x15mins or a 20 and a 25. It’s frowned upon these days.
This thread is better than most on here. Good banter. Not be long until one of the usual doom mungers comes soon to throw a spanner in the works!
3 days on shap with a broken flask? Pah I was stuck there for 2 weeks without even a broken flask. Mind you it could have been worse, I could have ended up visiting uncle Monty with my old friend Withnail.
isaac hunt:
Don’t try taking 3x15mins or a 20 and a 25. It’s frowned upon these days.
Ah memories, i remember taking 2 x 23 min breaks many a time.
Or driving round the yard, 30 minutes break while having a coffee/fueling up/putting stuff in fridge/loading then a 15 min break for rest of the day!
The joys of getting in those breaks when trickling round the yard slow enough that it didn’t register on the tacho.
Anyone familiar with portacabins/containers know if we are still allowed to climb on the roofs to put the lifting chains on, or if we are feeling really fit climb up without a ladder using the door catches.
I only ask because just before I moved on i had some HSE risk assesment chappy deceide it was safer to attach a rope to each chain leg of the chain then drag it round to eacy corner to connect up the lifting chains.
Course in those days we used to use the hiabs to lift us up on the roofs, I suspect thats frowned upon a bit now.
Just updating this thread as I did my first shift last weekend after 10 years away.
First off I found the advice, FAQ section on this forum a goldmine of information and anyone thinking of getting back in the saddle should visit it and familiarise themselves with the updated drivers hours regs, digital tachos, working time directive, auto transmissions and discussions about experiences of other drivers especially those that included H & S bollox.
How I did it:
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First I sent off for new licence and digi tacho card as I still had my old paper licence. When it comes back make sure they have correctly copied over all your driving entitlements.
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Went shopping, as I finished driving on agency work I kitted myself out with my usual fail safes- a proper map book, hi viz vest, torch, small tool kit (you never know), bomber jacket, pair of lee cooper safety boots/trainers also a decent truckers sat naz, tried to get the Tomtom 5150 but was offered a deal on the Garmin 560 so chose that one.
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Signed up with an agency (recommended to me) and spent a few hours with them discussing my situation and filling in the usual paperwork + a quick written assessment.
First Driving Job
OK I can’t name the firm as I had to tell some white lies, i.e. why is your digicard unused, have you been assessed etc. Luckily I have had quite a few assessments in the old days so wasn’t too worried.
Usual procedure- heres your unit and heres your trailer number (best of luck finding it) and then a 3 hour drive to delivery point.
So I double, triple, quadruple checked everything- unit, trailer, coupling up, pin in jaws, load safety and took my time over everything.
Now what I would recommend here is locate your rough destination on the map book then follow sat nav if you agree with it and if possible find an ind estate to do a practice reverse just to blow the cobwebs out when no body’s watching.
First drop was as you can guess a semi blindside reverse onto loading bay, by semi I mean there was room to straighten up and slide in nicely, I could have done a U turn and done away with the blind side reverse but was fully loaded and didn’t fancy leaving a rubber ring on the tarmac, plus there wasn’t many folks about so could take my time.
No real dramas after that a fairly straightforward trailer drop at next collection point and then back to base.
What I did like was the truck was limited to 51 (this may give away who I was driving for) so didn’t have to worry about overtaking much, got cut up a lot by cars but thats the norm and expected, in fact if they don’t cut me up at motorway junctions I get worried. So happily drove for about 8 hours of my 14 hour shift (2 hours POA and Breaks), usual stuff pouring a sneaky cup of tea from me flask, tugging on me vape toker (smoking substitute) and randomly brushing my teeth-whilst playing with the radio, cruise control and engine brake lever.
So pretty uneventful really and a nice job to get back in the saddle with.
Best advice I can give to old drivers getting back on the road is research, research then research some more and take your time, check everything (or at least pretend to).
Oh and drop your suspension when coupling up coz you can guarantee the bloke before you hasn’t wound the legs all the way down when dropping the trailer.
Glad to see your first day went well, hope you get many more steady days! I had been hoping to return to wagons after 7 years driving the local buses. Unfortunately I ended up with a hernia in the summer and had an op 4 weeks ago which has ruled out me moving jobs this year. I was going to pay for a couple of hours in a learner truck just to get back into the swing of it. as you say preparation is important. I had wanted to get a job back at Asda where I used to work, but it seems these days big company’s tend to employ more agency drivers rather than set on, and I`ve never been confident in them providing full time work.
Thanks, agency’s seem to be taking over now from what I can gather, no doubt work will dry up in the new year but leading up to crimbo there should be plenty about.
I thought about a bit of re-training but it panned out I was chucked in at the deep end which is pretty much how I learnt, especially HIABS i.e. there you go drive your trucks got a crane on it you will soon pick it up 
Things have changed so much that this wouldn’t happen now but just spending a few hours on google paid dividends, simple things like where the button is to move the steering column which I only ever did when on a night out but you can guarantee the wagon your about to jump into has a steering column in the lets say ‘relaxed’ position for the salad dodgers.
Good luck with the hernia recuperation.
Dipper_Dave:
Thanks, agency’s seem to be taking over now from what I can gather, no doubt work will dry up in the new year but leading up to crimbo there should be plenty about.I thought about a bit of re-training but it panned out I was chucked in at the deep end which is pretty much how I learnt, especially HIABS i.e. there you go drive your trucks got a crane on it you will soon pick it up
Things have changed so much that this wouldn’t happen now but just spending a few hours on google paid dividends, simple things like where the button is to move the steering column which I only ever did when on a night out but you can guarantee the wagon your about to jump into has a steering column in the lets say ‘relaxed’ position for the salad dodgers.
Good luck with the hernia recuperation.
Cheers,(I never even got a “how are you” when I took my sick note in!) I`ll hold out now till March then start looking for work.