Correct Procedure

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
61

waddy640:
Obviously the OP has no sense of smell, there is a very distinct aroma to burning brakes. It normally wafts some time before they spontaneously ignite themselves.

Why whinge about a bit of excitement at the of another boring day, no gratitude some people.

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: Fair play, itā€™s a good yarn for the pub. Did I tell you about the tiā€¦ :laughing:

62

diesel dan:

newmercman:

Saaamon:
Brakes do get hot if you drive like a [zb].

Yeah they do, hot enough to catch fire, a failed wheel bearing can also cause a wheel fire :wink:

BUT, lorry drivers do not call tractor units a cab :laughing:

hi,
tractor units were called prime movers when i started driving, :laughing: :laughing:

I remember being asked by the yard foreman to " get thi loose hoss and pick up yon trailer".
I always referred to my unit as my loose horse after that.

I caused a bit of a laugh many years ago at Jackā€™s Hill cafe when I told the drivers ā€œI was off to Towcester in the loose horse for a pint and did anybody want a liftā€.
Not many took up the offer of a ride in a Scammell Highwayman running loose.

63

Im going against the majority here but apart from the fire incident im with the OP.

If the company sales rep Mondeo was on fire and was taken to Ford dealer for repair would the sales rep be expected to sleep in somebody elses lorry because it was convenient?? No he would be put up in a hotel.

why couldnt the OP be put up in a cheap B&B for the night? I was in a similar situation with my old firm. I didnt demand the B&B it was offered because I worked for a modern and progressive company that respected and valued its workforce.

Thats the trouble with Lorry Driversā€¦we have let management walk all over us and we are still working in the dark ages!

64

msgyorkie:
Im going against the majority here but apart from the fire incident im with the OP.

If the company sales rep Mondeo was on fire and was taken to Ford dealer for repair would the sales rep be expected to sleep in somebody elses lorry because it was convenient?? No he would be put up in a hotel.

why couldnt the OP be put up in a cheap B&B for the night? I was in a similar situation with my old firm. I didnt demand the B&B it was offered because I worked for a modern and progressive company that respected and valued its workforce.

Thats the trouble with Lorry Driversā€¦we have let management walk all over us and we are still working in the dark ages!

Where does the hotel agreement stop? When you donā€™t feel like listening to the fridge? When itā€™s raining and itā€™s annoying you as it hits the roof? When itā€™s daytime and thereā€™s too much noise in the services?

65

msgyorkie:
Im going against the majority here but apart from the fire incident im with the OP.

If the company sales rep Mondeo was on fire and was taken to Ford dealer for repair would the sales rep be expected to sleep in somebody elses lorry because it was convenient?? No he would be put up in a hotel.

why couldnt the OP be put up in a cheap B&B for the night? I was in a similar situation with my old firm. I didnt demand the B&B it was offered because I worked for a modern and progressive company that respected and valued its workforce.

Thats the trouble with Lorry Driversā€¦we have let management walk all over us and we are still working in the dark ages!

so, going by your obviously trolling post, if the salesmans mondeo was not on fire and he was out for the night, would he sleep in his car?

no!!!

so, be a good lad and stop talking ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– !!!

66

msgyorkie:
Im going against the majority here but apart from the fire incident im with the OP.

If the company sales rep Mondeo was on fire and was taken to Ford dealer for repair would the sales rep be expected to sleep in somebody elses lorry because it was convenient?? No he would be put up in a hotel.

why couldnt the OP be put up in a cheap B&B for the night? I was in a similar situation with my old firm. I didnt demand the B&B it was offered because I worked for a modern and progressive company that respected and valued its workforce.

Thats the trouble with Lorry Driversā€¦we have let management walk all over us and we are still working in the dark ages!

We sleep in cabs. reps always stay in hotels, there not being many beds in vectras

67

shuttlespanker:

msgyorkie:
Im going against the majority here but apart from the fire incident im with the OP.

If the company sales rep Mondeo was on fire and was taken to Ford dealer for repair would the sales rep be expected to sleep in somebody elses lorry because it was convenient?? No he would be put up in a hotel.

why couldnt the OP be put up in a cheap B&B for the night? I was in a similar situation with my old firm. I didnt demand the B&B it was offered because I worked for a modern and progressive company that respected and valued its workforce.

Thats the trouble with Lorry Driversā€¦we have let management walk all over us and we are still working in the dark ages!

so, going by your obviously trolling post, if the salesmans mondeo was not on fire and he was out for the night, would he sleep in his car?

no!!!

so, be a good lad and stop talking ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– !!!

Not trolling at all ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā–  but giving a different spin.

If you read all my post you will see that I was once in a similar position to the OP and I was offered B&B.
I didnt ask or demand a B&B and there were trucks available to spend the night in but my boss at the time was a decent fella and simply paid the Ā£25 B&B. But as said I worked for a progressive company that didnt look at drivers as some dog ā– ā– ā– ā–  on their shoe.

So the point im making (without trolling) is why not be put up in a CHEAP (not some expensive hotel) digs?

68

msgyorkie:

shuttlespanker:

msgyorkie:
Im going against the majority here but apart from the fire incident im with the OP.

If the company sales rep Mondeo was on fire and was taken to Ford dealer for repair would the sales rep be expected to sleep in somebody elses lorry because it was convenient?? No he would be put up in a hotel.

why couldnt the OP be put up in a cheap B&B for the night? I was in a similar situation with my old firm. I didnt demand the B&B it was offered because I worked for a modern and progressive company that respected and valued its workforce.

Thats the trouble with Lorry Driversā€¦we have let management walk all over us and we are still working in the dark ages!

so, going by your obviously trolling post, if the salesmans mondeo was not on fire and he was out for the night, would he sleep in his car?

no!!!

so, be a good lad and stop talking ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– !!!

Not trolling at all [zb] but giving a different spin.

If you read all my post you will see that I was once in a similar position to the OP and I was offered B&B.
I didnt ask or demand a B&B and there were trucks available to spend the night in but my boss at the time was a decent fella and simply paid the Ā£25 B&B. But as said I worked for a progressive company that didnt look at drivers as some dog [zb] on their shoe.

So the point im making (without trolling) is why not be put up in a CHEAP (not some expensive hotel) digs?

so, why use the point of a sales rep in his Mondeo?

if a rep was on a night away from home, would he usually sleep in his car?

no

that is the point i was making about you talking ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā–  :unamused:

69

A great Gaffer will put you up in his own house and give you a lift in the Bentley the next morning! :laughing:

70

PaulLGV1:
Its 2012 and not the good old days, we have rights now and having one shower a week simply makes you unhygenic, that is not acceptable.

So it seems like you old dogs are happy to accept that drivers have no welfare and should be treated like idiots. I now realise with attitudes like yours, why we are paid peanuts and have to work 65-70 hours each and every week.

I would be interested to know what VOSA would say if they read all this!

Please tell me this is a bleedin windup.
I agree about only having one shower but you cannot tell me the driver didnt drive past services or truckstops more than once a week. Driver welfare, they found you a bed for the night, be thankful you wernt in the middle of nowhere and had to be towed in an then trying to sleep in a dealers drivers lounge/fleepit.Would you rather them have left it until the following morning then not payed you for the day cause your trucks earned nowt.
We are not paid peanuts but not draped in riches either. If you want to work 40 hrs for minimum wage in the local sweatshop fine, thats working for peanuts. Oh and we aint old dogs` we are realists.

71

PaulLGV1:
All your answers have made myself and others have a proper giggle, now I know what kind of people frequent such a forum as this. Too retarded for my fancy, I guess there are no good forums for lorry drivers that have respect for themselves :laughing:

Ady, is that you??

72

The Sarge:

PaulLGV1:
All your answers have made myself and others have a proper giggle, now I know what kind of people frequent such a forum as this. Too retarded for my fancy, I guess there are no good forums for lorry drivers that have respect for themselves :laughing:

Ady, is that you??

canā€™t be, the text isnā€™t close with a load of,

73

mickyblue:

The Sarge:

PaulLGV1:
All your answers have made myself and others have a proper giggle, now I know what kind of people frequent such a forum as this. Too retarded for my fancy, I guess there are no good forums for lorry drivers that have respect for themselves :laughing:

Ady, is that you??

canā€™t be, the text isnā€™t close with a load of,

I bow to your superior forensic skills :wink:

74

:smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

75

Iā€™ve got to agree with the majority here, alternative accommodation was found in the form of a different unit, inconvenient, yes, but no biggy, itā€™s only 1 night.
My employer recently sacked our rigid driver & 4 of the artic drivers had a week each in the rigid whilst my employer searched for a replacement, i was 1 of those drivers, i wasnā€™t happy about it but i didnā€™t whinge, just realised it was something that had to be done.
Looking at things from the employers position, heā€™s got an important/valuable load that needs moving, & delaying the process for 9+ hours to please the driver is probably going to lead to some grief from someone. No need, just bite the bullet.
As for having to do a Friday night out, thats something youā€™ll need to get used to, especially if its general haulage you work in rather than dedicated work. On general haulage the goalposts are constantly shifting, especially on Friday afternoons & drivers need to realise that. In the past when working on general haulage, if iā€™ve wanted to be home on a Friday night iā€™ve mentioned it to my boss on the Monday morning, then at least 1 or 2 times during the week, then come Friday iā€™ve been able to refuse jobs that wouldnā€™t get me home.
Just my opinion Paul.

76

Tankerman:

diesel dan:

newmercman:

Saaamon:
Brakes do get hot if you drive like a [zb].

Yeah they do, hot enough to catch fire, a failed wheel bearing can also cause a wheel fire :wink:

BUT, lorry drivers do not call tractor units a cab :laughing:

hi,
tractor units were called prime movers when i started driving, :laughing: :laughing:

I remember being asked by the yard foreman to " get thi loose hoss and pick up yon trailer".
I always referred to my unit as my loose horse after that.

I caused a bit of a laugh many years ago at Jackā€™s Hill cafe when I told the drivers ā€œI was off to Towcester in the loose horse for a pint and did anybody want a liftā€.
Not many took up the offer of a ride in a Scammell Highwayman running loose.

hi tankerman
i once drove a scammell mechanical hoss :laughing: :laughing: it was so slow you wouldnt know if it was loose or not :laughing: :laughing:

77

I find it facinating reading some of the posts on this, the ā€˜UK professional drivers forumā€™! I nip over to this side once Iā€™ve read the humourous, nostalgic and friendly comments on the ā€˜Old Bladgers Siteā€™. Its clear some of todays younger drivers have a totally different outlook to the job some of us older lags had and I have to say want everything on a plate, I know things are different today and there have been many changes but a lack of common sense seems to be the main item missing when some are carrying out their duties.
I say some because in the main many replies to posts are sensible so most young chaps are doing the job as we older guys did it, I wonder if its a training issue today. If a driver hasnā€™t had a background in haulage of whatever type and has come to the job fresh from schooling, is his only training what other so called ā€˜Trainersā€™ hand out to him/her and also what they might read up on themselves, as opposed to the youngster that had say a Father or relative in the job and he learned the skills from them over a period of years, a sort of apprenticeship in other words.
I donā€™t know Iā€™m just guessing but there does seem to be a very different mindset to being a Lorry driver today. The OP of this thread mentioned older blokes putting up with things but I have to say in our day not using your nogging could well have got you the sack for being incompetant. Franky.

78

To be honest Frank I think the bloke who started this is just winding people up but the replies are valid enough.
I think a lot of it is as you said,a lot of people donā€™t come from a haulage background and see things another way but times move I suppose and things are done differently.
Most people now arnā€™t allowed to use the initiative to get things done as the office will tear a strip off them for doing so.Thankfully itā€™s different where I work and itā€™s the reason I prefer to work for small family firms.

Regards you ald bladger :laughing:

79

Franky, you make an interesting point, Iā€™ve raised it myself many times. In the ā€˜old daysā€™ kids used to go out in the lorry with Dad, sitting beside him, watching his every move, itā€™s how a lot of us knew how to do stuff before we did it, it was in the subconscience and we automaticlly knew how to do it, like positioning to set up a reverse, in my case I put my ease at getting into a LHD for the first time down to spending all my childhood sitting in the passenger seat of my Dadā€™s lorries, I automatically knew where to be on the road as it was where Iā€™d spent a lot of years, just had a steering wheel and pedals this time :sunglasses:

In recent years going out with Dad has not been possible, therefore nobody is learning the old tricks of the trade and we have what we have now as a result. Now I know times change and things move on, but some of the old lessons can be used as a basis to use the more modern technologies and get the best of both worlds :wink:

Some of the people who come on here with silly questions and answers boggle the mind, but even that has an upside, at least theyā€™re interested enough to come on a lorry driverā€™s site and the fact that theyā€™re asking questions means that they have an interest in doing things right. Maybe the old boys need to be a little less condescending in their replies, I include myself in that, even though Iā€™m not old, just well run in :laughing: This way the young lads may take a bit more notice, after all the situation theyā€™re in is not their fault :wink:

Even the van drivers hoping to move up to the big lorries can learn from the older blokes experiences, I know saaamon follows my posts intently, hopefully some of the lessons Iā€™ve learned in the last 25yrs or so will help him if and when he parks up the Transit and starts driving proper lorries :laughing: :laughing:

80

newmercman:
Franky, you make an interesting point, Iā€™ve raised it myself many times. In the ā€˜old daysā€™ kids used to go out in the lorry with Dad, sitting beside him, watching his every move, itā€™s how a lot of us knew how to do stuff before we did it, it was in the subconscience and we automaticlly knew how to do it, like positioning to set up a reverse, in my case I put my ease at getting into a LHD for the first time down to spending all my childhood sitting in the passenger seat of my Dadā€™s lorries, I automatically knew where to be on the road as it was where Iā€™d spent a lot of years, just had a steering wheel and pedals this time :sunglasses:

In recent years going out with Dad has not been possible, therefore nobody is learning the old tricks of the trade and we have what we have now as a result. Now I know times change and things move on, but some of the old lessons can be used as a basis to use the more modern technologies and get the best of both worlds :wink:

Some of the people who come on here with silly questions and answers boggle the mind, but even that has an upside, at least theyā€™re interested enough to come on a lorry driverā€™s site and the fact that theyā€™re asking questions means that they have an interest in doing things right. Maybe the old boys need to be a little less condescending in their replies, I include myself in that, even though Iā€™m not old, just well run in :laughing: This way the young lads may take a bit more notice, after all the situation theyā€™re in is not their fault :wink:

Even the van drivers hoping to move up to the big lorries can learn from the older blokes experiences, I know saaamon follows my posts intently, hopefully some of the lessons Iā€™ve learned in the last 25yrs or so will help him if and when he parks up the Transit and starts driving proper lorries :laughing: :laughing:

I think this has a lot to do with it. These days most companies wont allow passengers, or at least children under 16 and even if they do, theyā€™re banned from many sites. Even in the 90s as a kid, I can remember countless times, jumping on to the top bunk and hiding when we went in somewhere like that.

The other problem is that those lads who come in to the industry without any backgroudn in it, often have highly unrealistic expectations of the job. Mate of mine got his Class 1 in the army, hates driving trucks but its all heā€™s qualified to do. He expects Ā£600 in the bank every week with no nights out. Wont do multi drop, wont do ferry trailers etc etc etc. In the boom years of the 2000s far too many unsuitable people were recruited into driving with the lure of the big wages advertised by agencies and such like and while they may be alright driving for Tesco or Wincanton theyā€™re not much use when it comes to general haulage, tramping around, out all week and getting dirty with tilts and such like.

I consider myself lucky having the background that I did. At the age of 9 on the return from a trip to Barcelona with my dad, the boss and his son (now the boss) promised me a job when I was older, and repeated that promise year after year, until I passed my class one aged 21 and they set me on immidiately with no questions asked.