Yes there is a pecking order…
Im the best and top of the tree
The rest of you are below me…
Seriously tho, I work with a bloke who thinks just coz he’s done Greece and the Greek Islands he’s a better driver than someone whos only done UK work… I know UK drivers who could run rings round him(only in the UK tho)
But like I said, what suits one person might not suit another.
I’ve always loved the ultra-long-distance stuff, and if I was offered a chance of a job driving to Italy or Spain or Turkey of somesuch for £500 a week, or driving a Tesco lorry for £600 a week, I would take the former. I wouldn’t consider myself to be higher up the “pecking order” because I was driving further, and I wouldn’t consider myself down the pecking order because I was earning less.
I have no pecking order, i hate you all equally <3 x
Surely the best job going is the one you can do standing on your head for the most money, working the hours you like best?
I’ve never understood this ethic thing that says you’ve gotta “lick road clean wit’ toongue. and pay pit owner to employ uz” mentality. “Having it Toof” seems to be some kind of inverted snobbery in some areas? - Perhaps there are some who like the extra graft, lest they hold their manhoods cheap or something?! 
If you’ve got a london multidrop job and you chuck it in, and get a night trunk out of town instead - then even without better pay (which it will be anyways!) you are better off right out of the gate! 
Being a night trunker isn’t about having a small willy - it’s about a bigger wad & cushier number all around!
I have spent 20 years doing london drops on OT during the afternoons, then a night trunk duty at the end of it. Breaks the 12 hour shift up nicely to do a bit of both in my book, but I’m unusual in that London driving doesn’t bother me. I just wouldn’t want to do it for my entire job!
Harry Monk:
But like I said, what suits one person might not suit another.I’ve always loved the ultra-long-distance stuff, and if I was offered a chance of a job driving to Italy or Spain or Turkey of somesuch for £500 a week, or driving a Tesco lorry for £600 a week, I would take the former. I wouldn’t consider myself to be higher up the “pecking order” because I was driving further, and I wouldn’t consider myself down the pecking order because I was earning less.
I pretty much agree with that, I’ve had a go at many types of truck driving work and do what I do because I enjoy it, I don’t look down on other drivers, one of the most professional drivers I ever met was driving a 7.5 tonner delivering cookers and fridges, wouldn’t want his job though .
I love my local work, I know the area very well, know the short cuts etc, pretty much every job is a hiab lift or even better a manitou at the farms or building sites , I may not have the biggest wagon but I bet I can get 32ft x 8ft lump of steel in a tighter gap than most can get a car & make it look easy , I may not earn as much as I could doing class 1 tramping , but I’m home every night in my own bed with a cooked meal made by the misses, that’s worth a lot more in my eyes …
Does anyone look down on very short forklift drivers?
NathanB:
Happydaze:
kr79:
Carryfast:
You’re right there is no comparison between the ‘skills’ of someone who ‘chooses’ to do multi drop zb compared to someone who ‘decides’ to do trunking instead.The first thing that shows is that trunk drivers have the ‘skill’ to know that multi drop is zb work.
I get very well paid for my [zb] local work thanks. Any idiot can drive up a motorway and in to a big yard. Some of the places I go you would be crying in two minutes.
+1 I love my 8-legger
+2 (when I do drive a spare one)
Like reversing a (proper) wagon and drag off that road through those gates when you’re feeling a bit knackered in the morning after an 85 kmh limited run from Heathrow-Luton-Leeds and back but don’t hang around you need to get it on the dock,trailer dropped post tripped and on your way again in less than 15 minutes max to help get back to Heathrow before the traffic starts building up for the morning rush.By the way try it blind side just to make it ineresting or they’ll (rightly) think you’re just not up to the job. 
Although credit where it’s due they don’t even seem to leave the box with the skele now so it’s got to be put back under it when you pick it up the for following run.
I was actually told by my transport manager that class 1 is a step up from class 2. Then he went out in a 9m load length scania and wrapped the back end into an audi. When I saw him I said what happened mate, he had no answer for me. I explained to him how class 2 is handy for the tricky stuff, farms, metropolitan supermarkets, city centers, etc, but if you take the ■■■■ it’ll soon bite you, swanning up and down the motorway, following pre arranged routes into massive rdc’s.
Professional is professional, end of. I’ve done 80 drops a day for interlink, now I do 3 or 4 a day long distance into some of the tightest yards going, because they know I can do it.
Respect is also due to the bin wagon drivers out there, I did that for 2 years, and had to navigate some roads a transit driver would tut at.
White SGS2
Android 4.0.3
3UK
THE_niall:
I was actually told by my transport manager that class 1 is a step up from class 2.
Well, I suppose it is in a way, in the same way that a first class railway carriage is generally considered to be a step up from a second class railway carriage.
I have never thought about it, we are all drivers and I look down on them all equally 
Happydaze:
Does anyone look down on very short forklift drivers?
…Only Klaus (der staplerfahrer) but he’s a whole head shorter than most people anyway! 
(Not for kids!) 
Dave55:
Harry Monk:
I suppose though that if you did insist in thinking there was a pecking order, then a Formula 1 transporter driver would be towards the top of it.They look good driving along the road, but don’t they end up as skivvies at the venue?
Music is better… Most F1 and rally events are held at tracks in the middle of nowhere. Obviously there are a few exceptions such as Monaco. With music, however, once you’ve loaded in, you’re time is your own until the load out. Also, most venues are within or near a city centre. When on jobs, most of my time is spent doing the ‘tourist thing’ or sitting in bars in cities throughout Europe and beyond (I have to add that I’m tee-total…)!
kr79:
Carryfast:
You’re right there is no comparison between the ‘skills’ of someone who ‘chooses’ to do multi drop zb compared to someone who ‘decides’ to do trunking instead.The first thing that shows is that trunk drivers have the ‘skill’ to know that multi drop is zb work.I get very well paid for my [zb] local work thanks. Any idiot can drive up a motorway and in to a big yard. Some of the places I go you would be crying in two minutes.
Does anyone really have the urge for a good cry?
Even making the bald man cry seems more likely around here, reading some of the posts…
Carryfast:
NathanB:
Happydaze:
kr79:
Carryfast:
You’re right there is no comparison between the ‘skills’ of someone who ‘chooses’ to do multi drop zb compared to someone who ‘decides’ to do trunking instead.The first thing that shows is that trunk drivers have the ‘skill’ to know that multi drop is zb work.I get very well paid for my [zb] local work thanks. Any idiot can drive up a motorway and in to a big yard. Some of the places I go you would be crying in two minutes.
+1 I love my 8-legger
+2 (when I do drive a spare one)
Like reversing a (proper) wagon and drag off that road through those gates when you’re feeling a bit knackered in the morning after an 85 kmh limited run from Heathrow-Luton-Leeds and back but don’t hang around you need to get it on the dock,trailer dropped post tripped and on your way again in less than 15 minutes max to help get back to Heathrow before the traffic starts building up for the morning rush.By the way try it blind side just to make it ineresting or they’ll (rightly) think you’re just not up to the job.
Although credit where it’s due they don’t even seem to leave the box with the skele now so it’s got to be put back under it when you pick it up the for following run.
If that’s your idea of stress you haven’t lived.
Low loader moves in central London in and out of places designed for a horse and cart 8 wheel roll on off and trailers. Taking artics off road in some tricky situations.
Regular job I’m doing at the moment in a tipper involves reversing between two buildings with both mirrors pulled in.
I might not have done the miles and seen the places others have but every day is a challenge and it makes the job interesting and gives you a sense of achievement.
A week of night trunking and I’d be ready to drive in to a motorway bridge
kr79:
If that’s your idea of stress you haven’t lived.
Low loader moves in central London in and out of places designed for a horse and cart 8 wheel roll on off and trailers. Taking artics off road in some tricky situations.
Regular job I’m doing at the moment in a tipper involves reversing between two buildings with both mirrors pulled in.
I might not have done the miles and seen the places others have but every day is a challenge and it makes the job interesting and gives you a sense of achievement.
A week of night trunking and I’d be ready to drive in to a motorway bridge
I didn’t actually find the job stressful at all.It was you who was making all the fuss about jobs that would make anyone cry.As I’ve said I wasn’t always on night trunking though and did enough jobs into central London with an artic delivering building materials to know that long distance night trunking wasn’t an ‘easier’ job at all,especially after the introduction of speed limiters,but it was a ‘better’ option depending on wether someone prefers sitting in constant traffic jams in a concrete jungle environment and spending loads of time doing multiple deliveries and collections compared to driving long distance on a clear motorway,through the countryside,on a mid summer June late evening and early morning.
But if only there had been a lot more drivers who preferred London work to anything else because they wanted the ‘challenge’.
No question: When you drive one of these you are at the top:
Carryfast:
kr79:
If that’s your idea of stress you haven’t lived.
Low loader moves in central London in and out of places designed for a horse and cart 8 wheel roll on off and trailers. Taking artics off road in some tricky situations.
Regular job I’m doing at the moment in a tipper involves reversing between two buildings with both mirrors pulled in.
I might not have done the miles and seen the places others have but every day is a challenge and it makes the job interesting and gives you a sense of achievement.
A week of night trunking and I’d be ready to drive in to a motorway bridgeI didn’t actually find the job stressful at all.It was you who was making all the fuss about jobs that would make anyone cry.As I’ve said I wasn’t always on night trunking though and did enough jobs into central London with an artic delivering building materials to know that long distance night trunking wasn’t an ‘easier’ job at all,especially after the introduction of speed limiters,but it was a ‘better’ option depending on wether someone prefers sitting in constant traffic jams in a concrete jungle environment and spending loads of time doing multiple deliveries and collections compared to driving long distance on a clear motorway,through the countryside,on a mid summer June late evening and early morning.
But if only there had been a lot more drivers who preferred London work to anything else because they wanted the ‘challenge’.
Are you from New Addington?
Anyone smaller than me is below me, anyone bigger is purely compensating for something
We’re all in the same boat regardless of what we do or drive. I’d say rigid drivers have got it pretty rough though, much more work expected to be done in a day and much tighter places to have to get into compared to an artic.
