Can you help BBC News please

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

Firstly can I say I am on this Forum will full permission of Rikki-UK who I have spoken to on the phone. Secondly to add that I am a producer with BBC television news
My reporter colleague and I are looking at doing a sympathetic piece next week on the plight of HGV drivers and how badly they have been hit by the recession.

We are planning to base this near Felixstowe but would first like to do some filming in the Northampton area with a haulier who has experienced the changes and with truckers who have either lost their jobs or have greatly reduced hours or a lay off day a week. This would be pre recorded.

The initial piece will run on BBC Breakfast News and the BBC channel(used to be News24) and will run alongside live interviews with people from the industry. It may then go on the 1 o clock news but that depends on news on the day ie swine flu
We plan this to coincide with the new figures coming out next week showing how many fewer trucks were on the road in the first quarter of 2009.

This has come from me and my colleagues noticing a stark difference in the number of drivers on the A14 and me talking to a friend up north who runs a haulage business. On investigation your industry seems to be one of the ones that has been badly hit by stores collapsing and other cutbacks.
Thankyou for your help.

2

Sorry am not close to you but i wanted to say thanks for taking a intrested in the fight drivers/owners have been having for years now
it would be good to have a " voice " esp one who is as well regared as the BBC , !

3

i would help you out but im too far north. for the northhampton area try member garnerlives im sure hes from there

and im sure there is alot of drivers around felixstowe on here. lets hope this doesnt get taken the wrong way by the british public and thanks for taking a look into how bad things are for us. some recognition finally

4

I’ve already been asked for my current situation status and I’m

Not suitable for what we are looking for

Sounds like all the ■■■■’ing letters from jobs I’ve applied for :laughing: :laughing:

Nevermind life goes on doesn’t it

5

gogzy:
i would help you out but im too far north. for the northhampton area try member garnerlives im sure hes from there

and im sure there is alot of drivers around felixstowe on here. lets hope this doesnt get taken the wrong way by the british public and thanks for taking a look into how bad things are for us. some recognition finally

how it is taken is normally down to how it is portrayed mate and the BBC have had decades of practice at producing a show which is clearly but deniably biased. especially with trucks! i cant see a news story from this as it affects every industry so i will remain sceptical of it. they dont show any interest in us with issues that matter so why start now? :imp:

6

Sorry Garnerlives, glad you passed but we really need experienced people who suddenly have found themselves in a situation they have not been in before.
We can get to people in the eastern region but picked Northampton or maybe Peterborough area because it comes under the Midlands hub and seems to be fairly central.
Also interested in other parts of the region.
It is likely to be Thursday 7th so maybe we can interview some of you “live” on tv from the truckstop near Felixstowe. I will let you know the times.
Its a straightforward news story tying in with figures which show what has happened to your industry.
Thanks

7

Its not a problem, i’ve not got the face for TV anyway it’ll make all the female viewers moist :wink:

I know of a couple of companies whose workload has decreased but I’m not sure how happy or otherwise they would be with people asking them about the subject as I don’t know anyone who runs the company, just know of people in said companies who have passed on information. I think i’ll sit back and wait for others to come forward before I go getting myself into trouble with local hauliers and the forum :confused:

8

if i lived closer i would help you out but alas im a scotsman

9

garnerlives:
Its not a problem, i’ve not got the face for TV anyway it’ll make all the female viewers moist :wink:

You mean like swine flu is making victims moist? :stuck_out_tongue: :smiley:

10

You wanna pre record some at the truck show but then the gen public would get the wrong end of it thinking were rich with all the bling.

A good looking truck after all dont mean were rolling in it, it’s ones way of advertising your company.
A nice looking outfit you’ll prob use again :slight_smile: a scruffy outfit and they’ll remember not to use again but then if they see a nice looking outfit they’ll tend to think they are paying too much for the service provided.

O/O arn’t the only people being hit hard in the industry.
There are thousands of drivers all over the country being hit by high fuel costs and taxes that the other EU truck drivers dont have like fuel duty.

It’s not just the container ports that are being hit so in fairness your not giving a fair view about the industry.
I think a better way for your news Item would be a main area then small segments thrughout the country like Scotland, Wales, Northern areas and the South / South West .

Only an opinion by a driver of 20+ thats been on agency for 15odd years working for about 10 years on one contract.
As I said better to have a main bit with snipits country wide.

But hell I’m as most people see us as

JUST A DRIVER WITH NO RIGHTS OR SAY IN OUR INDUSTRY

11

Are you also going to cover the appalling tactics used by some companies to entice prospective new drivers to pay over a thousand pounds for LGV training in order to get into this industry with information on their websites that claim that there are thousands of LGV vacancies due to a ‘driver shortage’ when in fact there are more drivers than jobs :question: :question: :question:

TAKEN FROM THIS THREAD

ONE

The Driver Shortage Problem
A recent survey carried out by the Road Haulage Distribution & Training Council (RHDTC) concluded that 72% of the top 100 transport companies in the UK have a driver shortage issue.
The survey also estimated that the industry needed to recruit around 50,000 additional LGV drivers just to fill the current vacancies.
Why is there this problem? There are around 1.2 million LGV licences issued and about 450,000 people actually working as drivers.
This means that only 1 in 3 people holding a licence are actually using it.
The average age of an LGV driver is now 46 years with thousands of drivers reaching retirement age each year.

TWO

Q:
Will I get a job after pasing the test without experience?

A:
With over 60,000 vacancies for LGV drivers you should have no problems finding a job to suit you.
Our employment business, Qualidrive has numerous contacts throughout the country and will help organise your interviews for you.

THREE

HGV Driver Benefits
Earn up to £600 a week — over £30k a year
Train in just 5 days
Over 60,000 HGV jobs nationwide

FOUR

Is it easy to get a job?
There are 80,000 job vacancies nationwide, so the answer is yes.

FIVE

Q: Will I get a job after my training?
A: With over 80,000 UK HGV vacancies — you’ll have little trouble in securing a position that suits you — check our website for 1000’s of the latest HGV jobs

Not all say exactly the same…
SIX

Finding your Ideal Driving Job in a recession
In a weak economy having a job partner you can rely on has never been more important.
We’re your HGV training partner from start to finish.
This means that we keep working for you after you pass your test to ensure you land the best driving job possible, with the pay and benefits you need and deserve!

12

Although not in the area you require Truckless I can give you an insight to the situation in North East .
Been in the Industry just short of 40yr never been out of work, made redundant 2yrs ago re employed straight away made redundant new yrs eve 2008. Despite my exeperience & good work record nothing at all anywhere Agencies didnt even want to know the same goes for many of the other guys I worked with had loads of experience but nothing doing anywhere. I am presently doing 4 days a week for an agency but only got the job because my cousin is manager of the place Im working out of.Many of the firms in the area working short weeks instead of paying people off.

13

Truckless:
The initial piece will run on BBC Breakfast News and the BBC channel(used to be News24) and will run alongside live interviews with people from the industry. It may then go on the 1 o clock news but that depends on news on the day ie swine flu

Well that just about sums it up :open_mouth: :open_mouth: :open_mouth: :open_mouth:

The effects of Swine Flu is more important than the Problems in the Transport industry, example 27 people suffering from Swine Flu 2,700 drivers out of work and the BBC may find 27 people coming out in Rasher’s more important :unamused: :unamused: :unamused: :unamused:

14

Hi truckless i am a small haulier from Thetford in Norfolk i have 12 trucks working from felixstowe port some of these trucks also make severall trips into europe, I would be more than willing to put me and my drivers views across.
But i do fill that over the last 3 to 4 years we have tried very hard to be heard but the press and the government have always made there own views clear and not ours.We are told to pull our belts in when there already around our necks and yet some more important cival servants get to spend £60 000 pounds on exspences to us working men this is 3 peoples wages perhaps we are pulling the wrong belts in.
We as hauliers have had many many fuel increases so many that our customers turn to non eu hauliers and cheap labour because we became to dear due mainly fuel increases.We have and are seen as an easy touch to raise money for a goverment that has lead us down a one way street then just forgets us.IF i was to run my company the way they have run our country i would be made to pay for my mistakes not cover them up and make honest working people pay and pay.
We seem to think if we put fuel up we save the planet and our customers will pay unfortunately this is not the case for small and medium companys we just get told someone else will deliver cheaper i think MR Brown needs to come back to earth and see that if we are allowed to make a profit we will spend it which helps everyone.

15

I truckless good luck with the program that you are making in Felixstowe and Northampton areas its about time some one showed who bad it was for us thanks .just one thing why dont you do some filming in other parts of the uk aswell :question: . At the end of the day its bad all over the county.

16

You have PM truckless… :wink:

And I have a dose…of something but it aint swine flu, :laughing:

17

Truckless:
We are planning to base this near Felixstowe but would first like to do some filming in the Northampton area with a haulier who has experienced the changes and with truckers who have either lost their jobs or have greatly reduced hours or a lay off day a week. This would be pre recorded.

Seeing as the Northampton area is pretty central for all the countrys distribution, especially in retail distribution, the only actual difference you may see in hauliers terms is volumes which may or may not be evident by the amount of journeys he makes. (i.e doing the same runs with a lot less volume)

Truckless:
This has come from me and my colleagues noticing a stark difference in the number of drivers on the A14 and me talking to a friend up north who runs a haulage business. On investigation your industry seems to be one of the ones that has been badly hit by stores collapsing and other cutbacks.

No?!! Never!! Stores collapse and you reckon there’s less trucks? Well who’d figure that?
On a personal note i’ve read in the newspapers that the country is in a rescession and GDP is down, unemployment is up, figures are bleak etc.etc.etc… BUT !! The roads are still chock a block with traffic everyday, i’d hate to see what it’s like if we ever get busy !!
Unfortunately your ‘sympathetic piece’ next week on the plight of truckers is likeley to be exactly what it says. A weeks worth of research.

18

I’m going to be slightly biased here because i’m the friend from up North in Truckless’s original post.

We all know that from our perspective the haulage industry is a difficult thing to put across as a news article for a start half the population think we should either only drive at night to leave the roads empty for them or just should stop driving aimlessly around because we aren’t really neccessary… Short memories some people have! And whatever story you put out, trying to put every factor that causes us problems in our industry is nigh on impossible unless there is any chance the BBC would like to run an hour long programme 5 days a week covering different aspects.

I’d rather have something put out than nothing on telly. We’re always moaning the general public don’t understand our problems,but they never will unless someone puts some effort into getting the message across.

19

I am on Albions side here and agree that the general Joe Public need educating about trucks, difficulties delivering and the speed limits and limiters.

I dont mean a reality programme like Ice Road Truckers or that crap about them rednecks working on an oil rig.

More of a traffic education system showing why pulling out in front of a truck is a bad idea or that the truck isn’t going to let you pull onto a motorway because you do not know how to join one safely

20

For what its worth,

I sold my transport business nearly four years ago, if I could see what was coming, how come not many others did ?

There were too many trucks chasing too little work even in those days, our industry is too easy to enter, we have all met people with good intentions, but, who did`nt have a clue with the costings ect.

Don`t forget, its very easy to cut a rate, but very difficult to get it back up again.

All the crap about the cost of fuel, it does not matter if its £10 per litre, its a cost, YOU PASS IT ON, I know plenty of companies who are on “cost plus” contracts, they seem very relaxed.

And, it is`nt rocket science, the UK economy has SHRUNK, [by more than the government admits], so, the need for trucks / drivers has shrunk accordingly, my old bank manager used to ask me about the “actual” economy, as “road transport” was at the sharp end, he said that spending 20 mins on the phone with a SOLVENT haulier was far more productive than speaking with the banks analyists, who were actually paid to “watch” the economy, but, who had little idea of what was actually happening, or, if they did, it was six / twelve months out of date.

One things for sure, when things DO pick up, the transport industry will be one of the first to know about it.

My only worry, will there be anyone left to actually carry the loads ■■?