I do my job because I enjoy it, I could go back into management if I wanted to (possibly) but I’ve never been my own boss so much in my life. I get given a job, I do it, don’t mind the hours,
The-Snowman:
robroy:
Hey Snowman sorry to hear about your present situation, hope you are able to get back to driving soon anyway.Just to answer your point. There are a lot of moaners on here I’m one of em
.Maybe a lot is to do with how long you have done the job, those that have been at it a while have sat back and watched how it has changed over the years. Ok some improvements such as better trucks, but the over regulated bs it has became to date, bears no resemblance to the job that once, like you, attracted me.
Crap conditions like parking, ridiculous h&s, crap driving among HGV drivers, timed deliveries with little moving space, cab phones, [zb] trackers, rdc.s, Vosa, pedantic finable offences and the list goes on.
Ok it’s progress, that does not mean to say it’ s an improvementSo spare a thought for the…veterans
that moan.
The old crack, (mostly from young boys that have done the job for a whole 5 minutesBy your own admission you say you have not been it it very long, so maybe not long enough to get into the moaning stage, that is what I was getting at.
Lol.
You and plenty others on here come across as guys who moans about the job and the way its “progressed” but still enjoy it and thats fine. A bit of moaning about the bad parts of a job is fine.
I was actually meaning the ■■■■■■■■ whingers (and we all know who they are) who come on here and come across as guys who literally HATE the job and most of them actually say they hate and despise everythnig about it. And with these wage threads the old “mcdonalds pay better” comment always appears somewhere. All I was meaning was if someone hates it so much and thinks McDs is so much better, they could go work there instead.
Yes the wages are poor esp when you consider the license costs upwards of £2.5K to get but the same guys who moan the loudest about the wages are also the most vocal in arguing all day about the job being so easy a trained monkey can do it and its been so dumbed down anyone can do the job. Even if this where true,when you have guys spouting this, and getting all apoplectic and furious whenever someone tries to talk the job up a bit, then why would anyone who makes the wage structure of a company think anything more than minimum wage is justified?
I wasnt meaning everyone who moans should go work somewhere else and I apologise to Robroy and anyone else who got caught up in my (in hindsight} scattergun comment. Without positive moaners, companies will rip the ■■■■ more and more. Positive moaning is a neccessitiy.
It was aimed at the true haters of the job and I cant understand why ,if they hate it so much, they still do it. After all, as they keep telling us, Tesco pays better to stack shelves and is better than driving an HGV
It’s not just the HGV world. In my job, everyone moans, unless they’re on the management tree. There was a time I remember when moaning was limited to day to day stuff, but now it’s wider topics. Normally for good reason these days. Everyone is completely knackered, stressed and tired of coming back from trips having gone the extra mile to read the latest communicae from their company who wants to pay them less and send them on longer trips with less rest with even tighter testing and monitoring.
But someone who’s aspiring to get into the job would think why moan? Silver spooners surely, excellent money considered above Doctors according to the Times, sounds fun, lots of leave on paper and days off surely? The reality, like anything is - you do it and there’s always a price to pay. The ultimate Faustian deal in health and lifestyle. It’s the old end of the rainbow syndrome. There is no magical happiness for all that stress and if you’ve been planning on it fixing your life and changing you into a different person, you’ll be disappointed. There’s an old management adage, give a pilot a pay rise and he’ll complain that the envelope it comes in is white rather than manilla coloured. If you think HGV drivers moan, you’ve not seen anything until you go into a crew room.
This phenomenon to complain has been studied. It’s actually a sign that a person cares. That maybe they care about their profession and there is a subconscious nagging doubt that if you say nothing the status quo will change. Almost like you take your eye off the ball and you’ll be robbed in terms and conditions. This historically generally is always the way so it’s not hard to see where this tendency comes from. The other facet is the sign of caring can come from frustration. The frustration that someone feels if they wish they could do something else but perceive their age, circumstances, abilities or income prevent them.
People change and what they felt they wanted when they were twenty may not be what they want when they’re forty five, compounded by the third divorce, never seeing the kids, health suffering from stress of the job. It comes out. Doesn’t mean they don’t love said job, perhaps their lives are a twisted mess and their vent is to complain. We’re all individuals of course and deal with our hand in different ways.
thetastytrucker:
Starting work at 6am and finishing at 9pm driving a vehicle is wrong. Lets cut all the crap about yeah but your sleeping for most of that. The simple fact is you are at work for that amount of time and could still be driving at 8pm - 9pm is wrong on many many levels
Don’t do it then and go get a different job.
taffytrucker:
thetastytrucker:
Starting work at 6am and finishing at 9pm driving a vehicle is wrong. Lets cut all the crap about yeah but your sleeping for most of that. The simple fact is you are at work for that amount of time and could still be driving at 8pm - 9pm is wrong on many many levelsDon’t do it then and go get a different job.
it totally depends on the type of work your doing, box jockeys / fridges / trunking 15 hours isn’t that bad at all as you aint being pushed to the limit, class 2 multi drop where your ■■■■■■■ all day yeah a 15 hour day will seem long. but again why should one group be punished because another thinks its too long?
15 hours stood on a factory line would be a killer to me (longest I ever lasted was 8 hours putting 3 screws into a microwave), but drive 4 hours tip 4 hours (Tosco etc.) drive an hour to reload, 3 hours loading 3 hours back isn’t a hard day to me.
thetastytrucker:
Starting work at 6am and finishing at 9pm driving a vehicle is wrong. Lets cut all the crap about yeah but your sleeping for most of that. The simple fact is you are at work for that amount of time and could still be driving at 8pm - 9pm is wrong on many many levels
If anything id like longer days. I mean it should be 19 hours max not a measley 15, more choice is my moto. Thinking about it perhaps Fridays or the day before commencing a weekly rest period could have no limit to duty time as long as sufficient rest was taken after and 10 hours driving wasnt breached. Would mean more of us got home, downside is it could cost me my night out allowance.
Sure different jobs have different thresholds for tiredness but choice = freedom and im definately pro that.
I do think conor has a good point on the whole conditioning thingy and im starting to think lorry driving is some sort of brainwashing cult. What if one day I take the blue pill and wake up in a bath with a load of suction devices attached to me appendages, hang on thats my standard saturday night.
However im very suspicious of folk who try and sway others opinion for their own bone idol agenda, course as long as we all think of the road safety aspect not to mention the children, nuns and kittens
keepthefaith:
isn’t it about time that we humans got together and collectively refuse to be treated like slaves, fifteen hours working in a pressure cooker enviromment isn’t acceptable in this day and age …for anyone that is in favour of working fifteen hours i would love to know why…ta
Well if your a European Tramper you need a 15 hour day to get anywhere and get anything done, any less would be no good, you would never get nowhere, manys a day I’m glad iv got a fifteen hour spread over as it gets me home to spend sum time with my family.
I like where I work to a point, office don’t seem to give two hoots just as long as the stuff to delivered but there has been plenty of times where I’ve run close to a 13, parked up and called them to say I’ll finish it in the morning. There are sometimes where our planners remember that we’re only human.
I dont class most of this on here as moaning it is more like constructive criticism,i am not sure but when I first started when we had log books I think it was a 12 hour spread ,I will stand corrected as it was in 70s.
war1974:
15 hours stood on a factory line would be a killer to me (longest I ever lasted was 8 hours putting 3 screws into a microwave), but drive 4 hours tip 4 hours (Tosco etc.) drive an hour to reload, 3 hours loading 3 hours back isn’t a hard day to me.
I can understand that.But the limiting factor in the case of driving for a living is the sleep angle.Biologically humans have a nasty design flaw whereby we compensate for lack of sleep on a summary unpredictable basis in which the first we know about it is when the wagon runs off the road or into something or someone. 
How about; banning 15 hour shifts and limiting them to 10.
Also, make it illegal for lorry driver’s to sleep in their cabs. Instead, they should only be allowed to night out, if they are put into hotel’s-like any other human being working away from home.
BOGEYMAN:
How about; banning 15 hour shifts and limiting them to 10.Also, make it illegal for lorry driver’s to sleep in their cabs. Instead, they should only be allowed to night out, if they are put into hotel’s-like any other human being working away from home.
Look who’s back…
BOGEYMAN:
How about; banning 15 hour shifts and limiting them to 10.
Not realistic. The very nature of this industry requires some long shifts.
My argument has always been that if a certain job requires long shifts, why does the driver still have to work 5 days?
BOGEYMAN:
Also, make it illegal for lorry driver’s to sleep in their cabs. Instead, they should only be allowed to night out, if they are put into hotel’s-like any other human being working away from home.
To be honest, unless I was going to be put in 5 star luxury, i’d rather have my own motor with a proper place to park with good facilities. Better than living out of a suitcase in & out of crummy hotels. Cheapskate bosses would probably double you up as well.
Id like you to be able to carry 15’s over a fortnight, I.e 6 x 15 hour days but usuable over 2 weeks in any combination. So if one week you dont use all your 15’s you can use em the next week, would be better if everyday could be a 15 though.
Id also like the 90 hours fortnightly driving limit removed and replaced with 56 hours per week every week, so 112 hours per fortnight.
Id also like those who feel they are forced to work long hours to grow a pair of testicles.
Id also like a slightly larger todger.
Dipper_Dave:
Id like you to be able to carry 15’s over a fortnight, I.e 6 x 15 hour days but usuable over 2 weeks in any combination. So if one week you dont use all your 15’s you can use em the next week, would be better if everyday could be a 15 though.Id also like the 90 hours fortnightly driving limit removed and replaced with 56 hours per week every week, so 112 hours per fortnight.
Id also like those who feel they are forced to work long hours to grow a pair of testicles.
Id also like a slightly larger todger.
agree with 3 out of the 4 dipper 
Just make it simple. No more then 70 hrs work in a week job done. That includes driving, pre trips, post trips, fueling loading and unloading. Less chance for the driver to slip up in his hours of service
f— that. 35-40 hour week basic with 48-60 hours including overtime - tops.
TheYoungTrucker:
keepthefaith:
isn’t it about time that we humans got together and collectively refuse to be treated like slaves, fifteen hours working in a pressure cooker enviromment isn’t acceptable in this day and age …for anyone that is in favour of working fifteen hours i would love to know why…taWell if your a European Tramper you need a 15 hour day to get anywhere and get anything done, any less would be no good, you would never get nowhere, manys a day I’m glad iv got a fifteen hour spread over as it gets me home to spend sum time with my family.
Know what you mean mate, but you get around in your 15 hours because it is planned for that amount of time to work on.
If the max was reduced, the work would have to be planned accordingly.
As I said it hasn’t always been 15, and we used to manage ok before it. Ok there was a lot of fiddling going on in a lot of cases,… but that was planned for also by a notorious few.
15 hour shifts are fine - providing it’s a 3 day week. 45 hours is quite enough.
OK, so what’s the opinion on this. Tachograph breaks on multi drop 7.5ton work.
In my opinion, if you’re doing 15-20 drops in an area, you’re stopping and starting every 20 minutes or so. You’re not feeling tired in the same way as you’re constantly moving. So why be tied down to the 45 minute break after 4.5hours.yes,have a break, but when it fits into the run, not strictly after 4.5hours. On multi drop, you’re more concerned about getting drops off than watching a clock for breaks. If you’ve done 2 or 3 hours solid driving to get to an area, then fine, you should be stopping for a break.
I prefer 15 hours daily rest. Usually more.