So I was getting on with my work today, just like any other day.
Went to the fuel terminal, loaded up, then started making my way to my delivery when my phone rang. It’s the office. I answered and asked what they want. They mutter something about another driver having a problem with his vehicle and want me to go back to the yard and swap.
I assumed his trailer had a defect and he needed to use mine while I used a different one and did my next delivery. (We have tanks with two different liveries and can only use certain ones for certain customers).
I was wrong.
I got back and asked the other driver what the problem was. He said his usual cab was in the workshop, and they had told him to drive a DAF! (All of our cabs are Mercs, with this one exception) He started ranting and raving that he hadn’t had any ‘vehicle familiarisation training’ and therefore couldn’t use the cab.
So instead of swapping trailers, I was there to swap cabs.
I looked at the DAF, which I had also never used, and never been trained in its use. But I opened the door and looked inside.
Steering wheel? Check.
Pedals? Check.
Gears? Handbrake? Lights? All other controls? Check, check, check and check again.
Maybe his problem was with the pump? I looked at the hydropac unit. It had a switch on the side, one way for the compressor, the other for the pump. It was set to pump, as it should be. Got back in the cab, located the PTO switch, right next to steering wheel, easily identified as the symbol on it is universal. I pressed the button, the pump fired into life, so that works.
The other driver had over 2 hours to figure all this stuff out, I’d done it in about 2 minutes!
Long story short, the other driver was just creating a stupid excuse to get out of doing work, and he got away with it!
So, what’s the worst excuse you have known a driver use to get out of doing his job?
Sounds like malicious compliance, playing the higher up’s at their own game. Not been trained? Not doing it then. Imagine what the H&S bod would do if he/she learned of a driver operating a vehicle they hadn’t been suitably trained for.
Agency driver, arrives is given drivers pack, and set of keys. 20 minutes later reappeared, all okay mate, er no, what’s the problem, I’ve never driven a manual, ffs, they are out there.
harrawaffa:
Sounds like malicious compliance, playing the higher up’s at their own game. Not been trained? Not doing it then. Imagine what the H&S bod would do if he/she learned of a driver operating a vehicle they hadn’t been suitably trained for.
There was nothing for him to be trained on! Press the same button as you usually do, delivery goes as normal. The PTO is on the cab but powers the pump on the trailer, and he was using his usual trailer so nothing new or unusual there!
And just to show he was after wasting time, he started going on about having no hard hat or hi-vis so he still couldn’t do any work!
I’m all for proper training but ffs!
Some so called ‘‘drivers’’ need trained to wipe their arses these days, it’s ■■■■ pathetic, if they aint spoon fed they are a waste of skin.
I’d tell the useless 2 hat to ■■■■ off and never come in my yard again.
We had an agency driver who refused to use our ad blue tank at the end of his shift because he hadnt been trained. Pointy shoe pointed out that it was exactly the same as putting diesel in, just a different tank.
Because I was in one of them moods, I pointed out that actually it isnt. Ad blue is made of different stuff and therefore presents a different health hazard to diesel and needs to be risk assessed separately.
I was told to shut the ■■■■ up, agency driver was told not to drink it, consider yourself trained.
I’m an agency driver but had been working with this company and same yard on and off for a few months. I was asked to swap trucks as I was finishing my checks at the beginning of my shift, a different agency driver who started 30 minutes before me couldn’t get the 12 volt outlet to work
His excuse to the office? He’s not from this country and so he needs his sat nav as he can’t read the road signs The trip was 12 miles round trip - Hardly far
So I swapped. 20 minutes later, he went back to the office and said 12 volt doesn’t work in his second truck so they gave him a third truck
Yep you guessed it, his third truck suddenly didn’t have working 12 volt either. I don’t know if he actually made it out the yard that day or told to leave in the end
Turned out he was using some cheap sat nav that was blowing the 12 volt circuit fuses in the trucks
Not all agency drivers are bad, there’s even some decent ones but there also some truly awful ones out there !
We’ve got a FT driver who won’t tow the twin axle urban trailer because he can’t reverse it [emoji849]
He does also have problems reversing 45ft trailers as well [emoji23]
He’s an EE but passed test over here
biggriffin:
Agency driver, arrives is given drivers pack, and set of keys. 20 minutes later reappeared, all okay mate, er no, what’s the problem, I’ve never driven a manual, ffs, they are out there.
That why the got rid of the 3/4 manual
Trucks we had at Newark as agency wouldn’t
Drive them , didn’t go down at all
Well with regular drivers
biggriffin:
Agency driver, arrives is given drivers pack, and set of keys. 20 minutes later reappeared, all okay mate, er no, what’s the problem, I’ve never driven a manual, ffs, they are out there.
If an agency rang up these days and told me the gears are manual, they may as well be telling me the starter is a crank handle.
My mates a class 2 driver. And he can’t stay in a job long .always finds faults and leaves.
Not long ago he got full time.job at a small.manafacturing place in manchester.delivering .there products.
1st day he spends the morning being inducted shown around what they do etc. Has his diner 12 - 13. Then is told trucks loaded up with a delivery for kendal.
He checks it tells manager needs fuel needles in the red
He’s given a fuel.card .
Then tells them to stick there job
I’m no messing about fuelling up if you can’t make.sure it’s fuelled up I’m not going to kendal this late
Was told hours are 7 to 17.00 it’s to late for me to go to kendal and messing about fuelling up as well
And he wonders why he can’t get or hold down a job
edd1974:
My mates a class 2 driver. And he can’t stay in a job long .always finds faults and leaves.
Not long ago he got full time.job at a small.manafacturing place in manchester.delivering .there products.
1st day he spends the morning being inducted shown around what they do etc. Has his diner 12 - 13. Then is told trucks loaded up with a delivery for kendal.
He checks it tells manager needs fuel needles in the red
He’s given a fuel.card .
Then tells them to stick there job
I’m no messing about fuelling up if you can’t make.sure it’s fuelled up I’m not going to kendal this late
Was told hours are 7 to 17.00 it’s to late for me to go to kendal and messing about fuelling up as well
And he wonders why he can’t get or hold down a job
Maybe not a very liberal opinion, but those type of useless effers should be exterminated …they’re totally unemployable and good for ■■■■ all.
I said on another thread about the generational thing where a certain group of drivers believe any old crap told to them by their firms to basically abuse their rights as employees.
I reckon it’s down to a left wing liberal education system agenda by stealth (or have I got too much time on my hands here? )
Is it the same in this scenario where we have bred a generation of feckless beings…, imagine if war broke out ffs, and we relied on these types to defend us.
Hell in a handcart situation or what.
edd1974:
My mates a class 2 driver. And he can’t stay in a job long .always finds faults and leaves.
Not long ago he got full time.job at a small.manafacturing place in manchester.delivering .there products.
1st day he spends the morning being inducted shown around what they do etc. Has his diner 12 - 13. Then is told trucks loaded up with a delivery for kendal.
He checks it tells manager needs fuel needles in the red
He’s given a fuel.card .
Then tells them to stick there job
I’m no messing about fuelling up if you can’t make.sure it’s fuelled up I’m not going to kendal this late
Was told hours are 7 to 17.00 it’s to late for me to go to kendal and messing about fuelling up as well
And he wonders why he can’t get or hold down a job
Perhaps by then he’d developed a bad impression of the firm overall. Once you’ve got some experience under your belt, small things can speak volumes about a firm, and obviously it is the worst firms who are in the market to recruit most frequently.
I wouldn’t walk out of a place because of an empty fuel tank per se. But I might draw two inferences.
One, perhaps the other drivers here don’t give a toss. Or perhaps it’s just been an oversight.
Two, combined with an induction, you’re not dealing with a firm that rely on initiative anymore, you’re dealing with clowns who actually think they have a system, or whose priorities for such a system don’t include getting a wagon ready for a driver’s first day. And that’s going to be an all the more serious and persistent problem.
Thing is my mate he soon seems to get another job. In past year he’s had about a dozen full time jobs.
But he doesn’t last long he walks out for no reason
1st I duno how he even gets a job as they obvioulsy don’t ask for a reference or anything.
2nd I give up he keeps asking how can I afford holidays bikes etc.
And then he’s moaning he’s always skint got no money.
Like most hes lazy wants a 9 to 5 job do as little as possible.
edd1974:
Thing is my mate he soon seems to get another job. In past year he’s had about a dozen full time jobs.
But he doesn’t last long he walks out for no reason
1st I duno how he even gets a job as they obvioulsy don’t ask for a reference or anything.
2nd I give up he keeps asking how can I afford holidays bikes etc.
And then he’s moaning he’s always skint got no money.
Like most hes lazy wants a 9 to 5 job do as little as possible.
Then HGV driving is not for him [emoji49][emoji6][emoji23][emoji23]
The best excuse I heard one time was when one of our “drivers” had a day off for whatever reason and his regular motor was not back from a night out,He was not prepared to go out on a night out in another motor because he didnt have his portable coloured TV to watch Emmerdale at 7 oclock.
lolipop:
The best excuse I heard one time was when one of our “drivers” had a day off for whatever reason and his regular motor was not back from a night out,He was not prepared to go out on a night out in another motor because he didnt have his portable coloured TV to watch Emmerdale at 7 oclock.
To be fair mate, I refuse to do nights out in other’s motors on the rare occasions I’ve been asked.
It’s nothing to do with Emmerdale either, I’ve just got ott standards on cleanliness where I sleep, (have you seen some other driver’s cabs? )…and I like my own living space.
I wonder if there are a growing group of agency drivers - who just want to turn up for the “guaranteed minimum shift payment” - and then get sent home as soon as possible, “Hours Minmalists”…?
It might explain why I’ve not had any problems getting flat-out work with my more sensible work ethic of “being prepared to work nights, weekends, and night shifts over 10 hours”.
lolipop:
The best excuse I heard one time was when one of our “drivers” had a day off for whatever reason and his regular motor was not back from a night out,He was not prepared to go out on a night out in another motor because he didnt have his portable coloured TV to watch Emmerdale at 7 oclock.
Sounds perfectly reasonable to me. The deal in the job is that he has his own motor with it’s furnishings as the quid pro quo for sleeping in it.
…they’re totally unemployable and good for ■■■■ all.
)…and I like my own living space.
