Hullo all ,
I know that I am sure to get loads of flac back from this. But on returning to the Uk after many years of driving in Europe M/E and laterly in Latin America, I must say what a crap load of drivers we have turned out in the UK this era. Driving down the A1M recently, I see a truck entering on my left, I pull out to the right to let him enter, Immediately he is up to maximum speed and then tries to force a race to see who will win, and I am left out in the centre lane with nowhere to go. You come to a hill and you see a truck pull out from behind another truck, he has no chance of ever overtaking this truck,( because all governed to 52 m.p.h.) but he will sit there for five miles trying to pass the other truck, and then pull in behind it. ( is he daft or what ) Have any of you ever driven abroad ■■ Two lane Motorways, you pass and you get back into the nearside lane, You see somebody give you clearance for entry to the Motorway and you respect it and let him get in front, then if you have enough powe then you overtake. All I hear when I get back to the UK, is moans about Foreign Drivers taking over our jobs. There are plenty of jobs available, I know because I can always find work. And I am 72 years old. And these blokes are Professionels just as we old UK drivers were. Manners on the road cost nothing. Think about it. We are are now ( THE ENGLISH) the worst drivers in Europe. I know this will cause offence to many, but please think about it. Most especially you lads that have been abroad and have gained some experiencein th UK. Take it easy, THINK Life is not a race.
Cheers, Archie
Further to this thread. You get into a service area area. Trucks ? Huuh? Nobody talks to you, THE FOOD is non existent after 9.p.m. even then it’s crap. Everybody just walks past you without passing the time of day. MORONS are todays truck drivers. I am just so pleased that I can still get in a Wagon though. I Still live my life, and I still enjoy it. What a miserable old ■■■■■■■ I’ve become eh ■■
Hullo Wheelnut,
YEs but come on Lad you were from the East Riding, a Truck fraternity. You knew manners, you were into Europe and M/E ? you have to admit that the quality of drivers here is almost down to zero from when you started from Billy Malcolmsons. Even if you were influenced by prats like Johnie Hutchinson. He loooked after my Scania 110 WWF 818J, I did many Kms in that , not miles.
Archie I agree with everything you say old mate, especially about being courtious and letting someone out from a motorway slip road only for them to leave you sitting in the middle lane while they started creeping up the inside; I usually found a left indicator and large amounts of trailer worked its a bit ■■■■■■■ but they deserve it after all they started it. Motorway services should send their staff to the states for training both for service and quality of food, its not that much cheaper in price for a meal but the size of the portions and the freindly service you get make it a much nicer experience. Still have’nt found a proper english breakfast but the variety and amount of food on offer more than makes up for it. Truck speeds on motorways are a bit of an eye opener though and as you can overtake and undertake here its nothing to be sat behind another vehicle at sixty when you are over or undertaken by a ‘‘semi’’ doing the best part of seventy miles per hour, put the wind up er indoors the first time I can tell you.
chazzer
Got to agree with alot of what you say Archie I`m 12yr younger & still on the road some of the driving both of trucks & joe public has a lot to do with attitude, and unfortunatly a lot of the attitude is crap
Archie Paice:
Hullo Wheelnut,
YEs but come on Lad you were from the East Riding, a Truck fraternity. You knew manners, you were into Europe and M/E ? you have to admit that the quality of drivers here is almost down to zero from when you started from Billy Malcolmsons. Even if you were influenced by prats like Johnie Hutchinson. He loooked after my Scania 110 WWF 818J, I did many Kms in that , not miles.
Cheers, Archie.
Didn’t do Middle East myself Archie, did cross the Bosphorus several times. Asia Locale
Have to be careful on TruckNet now, I don’t want Rita Halfwired having a rant at me for distortion of fact
Archie Paice:
Hullo all ,
I know that I am sure to get loads of flac back from this. But on returning to the Uk after many years of driving in Europe M/E and laterly in Latin America, I must say what a crap load of drivers we have turned out in the UK this era. Driving down the A1M recently, I see a truck entering on my left, I pull out to the right to let him enter, Immediately he is up to maximum speed and then tries to force a race to see who will win, and I am left out in the centre lane with nowhere to go. You come to a hill and you see a truck pull out from behind another truck, he has no chance of ever overtaking this truck,( because all governed to 52 m.p.h.) but he will sit there for five miles trying to pass the other truck, and then pull in behind it. ( is he daft or what ) Have any of you ever driven abroad ■■ Two lane Motorways, you pass and you get back into the nearside lane, You see somebody give you clearance for entry to the Motorway and you respect it and let him get in front, then if you have enough powe then you overtake. All I hear when I get back to the UK, is moans about Foreign Drivers taking over our jobs. There are plenty of jobs available, I know because I can always find work. And I am 72 years old. And these blokes are Professionels just as we old UK drivers were. Manners on the road cost nothing. Think about it. We are are now ( THE ENGLISH) the worst drivers in Europe. I know this will cause offence to many, but please think about it. Most especially you lads that have been abroad and have gained some experiencein th UK. Take it easy, THINK Life is not a race.
Cheers, Archie
Further to this thread. You get into a service area area. Trucks ? Huuh? Nobody talks to you, THE FOOD is non existent after 9.p.m. even then it’s crap. Everybody just walks past you without passing the time of day. MORONS are todays truck drivers. I am just so pleased that I can still get in a Wagon though. I Still live my life, and I still enjoy it. What a miserable old [zb] I’ve become eh ■■
archie lad it seems too be the same were ever you go theses days ( blow you jack im alright )
On MSA subject,once saw a MSA catering manager,sat down on the running boards,where a customer slides the tray along to join the cashier pay till,thought it was disgusting and not very hygenic.She should have known better,i left,without buying any food.Why cant they steam clean out the urine that sits for months in the pot holes of parking areas,the stench is worse than rotting cider,or smells like a pig farm farrowing house in the summer sun.It is a case of "Pay a lota,for not a lota."Thought the government were going continental,by putting “Aire de repos” rest areas every 20 miles or so,with basic facilties,such as loo`s.
I am a mere lad of 45 (!!) but I can remember the days when you didn’t have to ask for help, it always just arrived from a passing wagon. If anyone was in trouble you always stopped and helped because one day you knew that the favour would be returned.
The cameraderie disappeared when a lot of the old-school drivers retired.The job was fun then, the mickey-taking was expected and welcomed, it always made a hard job a lot easier. I got fed up with the job about 10 years ago now and came off the road but still see a lot of drivers, unfortunately they wouldn’t p**s on each other if they were on fire!
I still have diesel in my veins, it never quite leaves you but I couldn’t work like that. Unfortunately, selfishness prevails everywhere now, not just on the road…
Enough now, before I fall off my soapbox and hurt myself
Sorry to enter an opposite point of view.I have lived in Alberta Canada for the last thirty two years .I am a class one driver once in the uk (now expired) I have a class one licence in Alberta and have operated tanker trucks and buses in western canada and the north west united states.I visit the UK every couple of years and find British drivers far more well mannered and less aggressive than that i ve come to be used to over here.I drove 1300 miles in a rented car in May 2009 and only witnessed a couple of incidents of poor driving and these were not truck drivers either.Also when you want to change lanes most people ease off and let you in.Give way seems to be in most people phrase book in the UK.Sorry if I sound argumentative
no point giving you flac for your point of view, you are wrong but I don’t think your ego would accept that.
you will find good and bad in all walks of life but i’d guess you had a bad day and wanted to blow some steam.
there are many good English drivers still driving in the UK and Europe, could I just add that the trucks you see may be registered in the UK but sadly that does not mean they are Englishmen driving these trucks.
I notice your list of countrys you class as home under your name, best get off to one of them if its so bad here. Every one knocks the English and everyone wants to be in England- work it out?
Can’t quite understand the bit about only being a decent driver if you have been abroad or middle east, I knew plenty of top guys that didn’t leave these shores and many a clown that had. Its not about individuals but the current trend of todays driving and standards, no one likes to be overtaken, slow down for others, use common sense or read the road further than the bonnet of their BMW or AUDI. So if the petrol heads are driving poorly then some Truck drivers will too. I’ve been dissapointed at times with Heavies with some of the things I’ve witnessed but obviously they see me as ‘another ■■■■■■ in a car’ when I’ve likely got more experience of the thing they are sitting in themselves. On the other hand I’ll flash Trucks as they approach roundabouts, junctions etc to keep on going, and when they’ve overtaken, my Missus says I only do that cos they’re wagons but if car drivers were more aware they could be a lot more helpful and get it in return. Sign of the times I suppose, people just care a lot less today. Franky.
mikey1964:
no point giving you flac for your point of view, you are wrong but I don’t think your ego would accept that.
you will find good and bad in all walks of life but i’d guess you had a bad day and wanted to blow some steam.
there are many good English drivers still driving in the UK and Europe, could I just add that the trucks you see may be registered in the UK but sadly that does not mean they are Englishmen driving these trucks.
I notice your list of countrys you class as home under your name, best get off to one of them if its so bad here. Every one knocks the English and everyone wants to be in England- work it out?
Hullo mikey1964,
Thank you for your comments on this subject, everybody has and is entitled to their own opinion opf course. No I was’nt having a bad day at all, my days are mostly very good. I only had one bad period and that was seven years ago, my wife died, I retired and I had to have serious heart surgery, all within a year. But it’s been overcome now and as I said most days are good. I still drive every week when I am back in the UK . Though that is ending soon I’ve been informed.
Of course there are are many good drivers in the UK, nobody is saying any different, but the general trend has got a whole lot worse than it was, and as you will see nine out of thirteen people agree. And of course hostile remarks only serve to strenghen my point. I conceed that some, a few of these drivers in UK registered trucks may be foriegn but the percentage is very small indeed compared to the ammount of lorries on the road.
My LIST of countries is TWO. I live at my main residence which is in a very beautiful part of the UK, the people around are very genuine and friendly, so I shall never leave it here. I now share my home with my Brazillian partner six months of the year, and I share her home in Sao Paulo for six months every year. I also have a small house on a campsite in Portugal. I am then able to miss all Winters and enjoy the warm weather. I worked very hard for many years with my own lorries and this is my reward, if you work hard and save all your pennies then just maybe you will be able to afford to do the same. Six months holiday a year is fantastic.
Cheers, Archie.
Frankydobo:
Can’t quite understand the bit about only being a decent driver if you have been abroad or middle east, I knew plenty of top guys that didn’t leave these shores and many a clown that had. Its not about individuals but the current trend of todays driving and standards, no one likes to be overtaken, slow down for others, use common sense or read the road further than the bonnet of their BMW or AUDI. So if the petrol heads are driving poorly then some Truck drivers will too. I’ve been dissapointed at times with Heavies with some of the things I’ve witnessed but obviously they see me as ‘another ■■■■■■ in a car’ when I’ve likely got more experience of the thing they are sitting in themselves. On the other hand I’ll flash Trucks as they approach roundabouts, junctions etc to keep on going, and when they’ve overtaken, my Missus says I only do that cos they’re wagons but if car drivers were more aware they could be a lot more helpful and get it in return. Sign of the times I suppose, people just care a lot less today. Franky.
Hullo Frankydobo,
I belive I may have given you the wrong impression with regard to Drivers that have worked abroad. I was not infering that they are better than the ones that have stayed at home, only that the farthest travelled has seen more and thus has a better Yardstick / Metrestick , to compare and judge things by.
Cheers, Archie.
Frankydobo:
Can’t quite understand the bit about only being a decent driver if you have been abroad or middle east,
Franky, I don’t think you quite understood Mr Paice’s point, it was about me being from the East Riding, (of Yorkshire) in itself a very strong transport area, it was more about a couple of blokes we both knew, one for being a bit of a prat, one for being a respected man who taught me an awful lot about lorrying and cartage.
There were a lot of hauliers in our local area, many delving into the Middle East markets in it’s heyday, some got there, some didn’t. Some are still in business today without leaving these shores, many others are dead.
I Think you must have been driving around all over the world with BLINKERS ON…As I have travelled far and wide across the whole of Europe & Beyond since the early 80’s and witnessed countless numbers of incidents because of the driving standards in those countries.
Yes the UK has got worse, lot at the volume of traffic nowadays. But not on the scale of some countries.
Some countries you can get your licence in a lucky bag…even in this country by the standards of SOME.
Look at the Stobart / Irlam driver trying to get on a bay !!!
20 Years experience (Supposedly), ran his own fleet… More like 20 minutes, if any at all.
SAY NO MORE
Say the wrong thing and you will be castrated ,you must have balls ,I take it you are refering to me ,with your comment which I find unjust ,I always speak the truth no point in telling stories that are untrue ,have I found fault with your posts, no if you have comment on what I say, make your own, dont hide ,if its War you want choose you Handbag we will meet at Dawn.
just pondering ! are any of you chaps actually distance drivers that disagree with archie ? everything he says is true the average british steerer is crap without a doubt , park on pumps , cut in , aggresive but wont look you in the eye when it comes down to it etc etc new age nah keepem
Got to agree with the courtesy thing, and the cafe club, single seats are needed.
and on an apprentice wage!
