I think most of us lot that tackle RDCs on a regular basis will have to say that a massive perk of the pandemic is the shut down of the dreaded drivers waiting room.
Who would have thought the day would come that you could have a kip on the bunk whilst being tipped at an Amazon RDC, rather than sat next to a toilet on a plastic chair watching Bargain Hunt with the background drone of the bloke that used be in the SAS. I only know of one Amazon site that still wants you in the waiting room because "it’s big enough to social distance 
".
I even got TOLD OFF for loitering in the former waiting room at one Tesco site yesterday afternoon, I had a green light and had lost patience waiting for my keys. “Go back to your cab and wait for a phone call”. Blimey.
Whats most apparent to me is the complete lack of any incident associated with drivers waiting in their cabs in the past 6 months, I haven’t heard of a single one. Could it be it wasn’t the big H&S risk the high vis brigade thought it always was? I don’t mind dropping my trailer and pulling forward if they are paranoid.
Hopefully this is the end of waiting rooms, for the love of god guys & gals let’s not ■■■■ it up for ourselves and start pulling off on red lights with the spare keys etc.
rob22888:
I think most of us lot that tackle RDCs on a regular basis will have to say that a massive perk of the pandemic is the shut down of the dreaded drivers waiting room.
Who would have thought the day would come that you could have a kip on the bunk whilst being tipped at an Amazon RDC, rather than sat next to a toilet on a plastic chair watching Bargain Hunt with the background drone of the bloke that used be in the SAS. I only know of one Amazon site that still wants you in the waiting room because "it’s big enough to social distance ".
I even got TOLD OFF for loitering in the former waiting room at one Tesco site yesterday afternoon, I had a green light and had lost patience waiting for my keys. “Go back to your cab and wait for a phone call”. Blimey.
Whats most apparent to me is the complete lack of any incident associated with drivers waiting in their cabs in the past 6 months, I haven’t heard of a single one. Could it be it wasn’t the big H&S risk the high vis brigade thought it always was? I don’t mind dropping my trailer and pulling forward if they are paranoid.
Hopefully this is the end of waiting rooms, for the love of god guys & gals let’s not [zb] it up for ourselves and start pulling off on red lights with the spare keys etc.
There are a couple of advantages we have found travelling, we stayed in a hotel in North Yorkshire with our dog and at breakfast time they said we couldn’t take animals in the restaurant, leave him in the hotel room, he will be fine, and he was, he was fast asleep on the big bed and didnt seem unduly worried we had left him, plus he got a spare sausage off the wifes plate.
Another trip we found we were welcome to leave the dog in the rented caravan whilst we went out for a meal, is Covid 19 turning into Common Sense 20.
The dog is happy as long as he can sleep on our bed. 
Three hours sat in my cab surrounded by my creature comforts os far more bearable and refreshing than three hours sat on a plastic chair listening to telly at volume 100.
Table service in the pub beats standing atvs crowded bar trying to attract the batman’s attention whilst you’re missing the football. 
I’ve done a couple of rdc.s lately, and I agree, it’s far better resting on the bunk than listening to all the dog ■■■■ and ■■■■■■■■ being spouted in ■■■■ hole waiting rooms,.with the fragrance of body odour.
rob22888:
Hopefully this is the end of waiting rooms, for the love of god guys & gals let’s not [zb] it up for ourselves and start pulling off on red lights with the spare keys etc.
We didn’t have such things as lights.We walked to the back of the trailer on the dock and made sure the shutter was closed.Bonus points if it was a trailer with barn doors then you had to go the extra mile to make absolutely sure they’d finished with it.
rob22888:
I think most of us lot that tackle RDCs on a regular basis will have to say that a massive perk of the pandemic is the shut down of the dreaded drivers waiting room.
Who would have thought the day would come that you could have a kip on the bunk whilst being tipped at an Amazon RDC, rather than sat next to a toilet on a plastic chair watching Bargain Hunt with the background drone of the bloke that used be in the SAS. I only know of one Amazon site that still wants you in the waiting room because "it’s big enough to social distance ".
I even got TOLD OFF for loitering in the former waiting room at one Tesco site yesterday afternoon, I had a green light and had lost patience waiting for my keys. “Go back to your cab and wait for a phone call”. Blimey.
Whats most apparent to me is the complete lack of any incident associated with drivers waiting in their cabs in the past 6 months, I haven’t heard of a single one. Could it be it wasn’t the big H&S risk the high vis brigade thought it always was? I don’t mind dropping my trailer and pulling forward if they are paranoid.
Hopefully this is the end of waiting rooms, for the love of god guys & gals let’s not [zb] it up for ourselves and start pulling off on red lights with the spare keys etc.
I love your sentiment, but I was up in Amazon Leeds the other night, and they want you to drop your trailer if waiting in cab. No problem I thought, so did that. What struck me was that the other 10 lorries I counted chose not to, and instead all the drivers chose to wait in the canteen with said plastic chairs, nearby toilets, and blaring tv. I really don’t know what’s up with drivers choosing 2 hours of that over their own bunk. Unfortunately, such en masse canteen loitering will send a message to these places that drivers prefer canteens over their own cabs, and they might ban waiting in cabs. Incidentally, I was there 4 1/4 hours tipping 15 pallets. The 60 seconds of work dropping the trailer was well worth it.
The Amazon not letting you, it’s not the older Coalville is it? They insist you sit in their canteen, and won’t even let you drop your trailer to sit in your cab.
ezydriver:
The Amazon not letting you, it’s not the older Coalville is it? They insist you sit in their canteen, and won’t even let you drop your trailer to sit in your cab.
St Helens MAN8, did let you drop at one point but not recently.
Perhaps we could turn this into a list of new rules st s particular RDC? I go to some regularly where it seems to change day by day, even shift by shift on the same day 
For instance… Sainsburys Rye Park, Hoddesdon. Can wait in cab if you lock your red line with a supplied padlock.