theguardian.com/world/2021/ … dApp_Other
I thought the figure of qualified drivers not using their licence was around 80,000. I stand corrected. It’s 600,000 Yep, over HALF A MILLION drivers not driving.
This guy hits the nail squarely on the head.
Build5:
HGV driver shortage was inevitable | Letters | The GuardianI thought the figure of qualified drivers not using their licence was around 80,000. I stand corrected. It’s 600,000 Yep, over HALF A MILLION drivers not driving.
This guy hits the nail squarely on the head.
Build5:
HGV driver shortage was inevitable | Letters | The GuardianI thought the figure of qualified drivers not using their licence was around 80,000. I stand corrected. It’s 600,000 Yep, over HALF A MILLION drivers not driving.
This guy hits the nail squarely on the head.
80k is the figure that also have their dcpc that are not driving so I’ve read.
I had to re-read that twice, and rechecked the name of the publication twice for good measure, never seen such good common sense from a Grauniad columnist, then realised it wasn’t a paid hack’s offering it was a bang on letter sent in by the former editor of Trucking mag, which to be fair they published.
Amusing watching the barrell scrapers and cheap skaters of the transport world panicking at the reaping of what they have been sowning for a good number of years since, now calling for cheap bums for seats from anywhere, any cheap short term cure bar them actually take responsibility what they’ve collectively buggered between them and put it right.
Couldn’t happen to a more deserving bunch, sadly even the better employers have been infiltrated by suits trained in the methods of dhstobcanton etc, what the better operators thought they were doing bringing in such types and allowed them to carry on carrying on is the burning question, hopefully they will take a long hard look at all the clever pointy shoes and HR they left things to.
Large tubs of popcorn required whilst this farce runs its course.
I do not think they have any idea about any thing ,years ago I read that there was 95 million national insurance numbers in action in UK when the population was “60 million” 60 million ha those were the days …another thousand that they know of came by boat today rescued by RNLI and boarder farce
fuse:
I do not think they have any idea about any thing ,years ago I read that there was 95 million national insurance numbers in action in UK when the population was “60 million” 60 million ha those were the days …another thousand that they know of came by boat today rescued by RNLI and boarder farce
The ones coming over in boats has been going on for yrs. It’s only now they’re using it as a smoke screen to divert people away from the real issues of how Johnson and his cronies have ■■■■■■ the country up
Juddian:
I had to re-read that twice, and rechecked the name of the publication twice for good measure, never seen such good common sense from a Grauniad columnist, then realised it wasn’t a paid hack’s offering it was a bang on letter sent in by the former editor of Trucking mag, which to be fair they published.Large tubs of popcorn required whilst this farce runs its course.
That was a surprise name from the past.
Interesting view regarding the government’s laughable policy of cyclist runs a red light or give way line or undertakes a left turning truck it’s automatically the driver’s fault.
But the Grauniad probably would have drawn the line at allowing any reference to the numerous anti road transport government policies.
Bearing in mind that road fuel taxation by definition is a discriminatory tax on everyone who works in the industry and road transport friendly Sweden/Netherlands this isn’t.The result being a dead end industry treated as such by potential new employees.
Cheers guys,
Still doing what I can for the industry generally, and drivers in particular.
I fell victim to a culture of cost-cutting after a corporate takeover, hence no longer work for the news-stand magazines very much.
I now write more technical stuff for mags like Transport Engineer, and do much of the news for Transport Operator, which you can read on-line.
Best wishes to all who remember the glory days of Trucking magazine. I like to think that Steev Hayes, Bob Beech and I helped to raise the bar for road transport magazines a bit…not forgetting the various magazine designers, photographers and sales folk who made it all possible. Teamwork made the dream work…then it all got ruined by a bunch of greedy gimps in suits.
I’m sure a lot of you will have experienced similar in your own working lives.
GasGas:
Teamwork made the dream work…then it all got ruined by a bunch of greedy gimps in suits.I’m sure a lot of you will have experienced similar in your own working lives.
Absolutely, time and again.
Companies/operations running well, the job’s getting done in record time efficiently, customer happy as a puppy with two tails, all staff motivated skilled and earning well…woah we can’t have that, here come the shiny suits with pointy shoes and gelled hair, we’ll get rid of the old management who made it work by delegating and decently remunerating cherry picked competent loyal staff, and a decent profit was had by everyone…next we’ll rewrite the worker’s contracts because, well, they’re earning more than we think they should and we all know you can get drivers ten a penny.
12 months later it’s gone to the dogs, customers unhappy, another 12 months and the place is a ghost premises.
The irony was, the new lot saw good profits and thought by cost cutting the people who actually made it all work, both white and blue collar, they could make loadsa money…2 years later the shiny suits are gone and busy ruining the next victim/operation 
It’s a well-worn path for British businesses.
I can let you into a secret from the days when all was going well. I was approached by a journalist from a rival mag at an event we both attended and he said to me:
“You can keep it going with 100 plus pages and everything, can’t you?”
I assured him I was doing my best.
“That’s good,” he said. “Our new publisher want us to cut editorial costs, but every time that’s mentioned the editor just shows him the latest issue of Trucking and says ‘this is the competition, we can’t cut costs.’”
I spent plenty of my publisher’s money…sometimes more than he would have liked…but we always made a decent profit.
Likewise, everyone had to work hard, but I’d fight their corner if I had to. We had a designer straight out of college who had a drongo boyfriend she couldn’t get away from. She needed to get her stuff out of their flat while he wasn’t about, but was too young to hire a van. I got a nice man from Mercedes to lend us a Vito, and gave her the day off to sort it out.
Happy days.
Carryfast:
Juddian:
I had to re-read that twice, and rechecked the name of the publication twice for good measure, never seen such good common sense from a Grauniad columnist, then realised it wasn’t a paid hack’s offering it was a bang on letter sent in by the former editor of Trucking mag, which to be fair they published.Large tubs of popcorn required whilst this farce runs its course.
That was a surprise name from the past.
Interesting view regarding the government’s laughable policy of cyclist runs a red light or give way line or undertakes a left turning truck it’s automatically the driver’s fault.But the Grauniad probably would have drawn the line at allowing any reference to the numerous anti road transport government policies.
Bearing in mind that road fuel taxation by definition is a discriminatory tax on everyone who works in the industry and road transport friendly Sweden/Netherlands this isn’t.The result being a dead end industry treated as such by potential new employees.
They cut the final part of my letter, in which I pointed out that ‘lorry drivers who killed’ in RTAs invariably got custodial sentences, while a Croydon tram driver who dozed off at the controls while doing 3 x the speed limit and killed 7 people wasn’t even prosecuted.
GasGas:
Cheers guys,Still doing what I can for the industry generally, and drivers in particular.
I fell victim to a culture of cost-cutting after a corporate takeover, hence no longer work for the news-stand magazines very much.
I now write more technical stuff for mags like Transport Engineer, and do much of the news for Transport Operator, which you can read on-line.
Best wishes to all who remember the glory days of Trucking magazine. I like to think that Steev Hayes, Bob Beech and I helped to raise the bar for road transport magazines a bit…not forgetting the various magazine designers, photographers and sales folk who made it all possible. Teamwork made the dream work…then it all got ruined by a bunch of greedy gimps in suits.
I’m sure a lot of you will have experienced similar in your own working lives.
Hi Richard,
Glad I found your article and was able to bring it over here.
Keep banging that drum. Maybe one day they’ll start to listen to the guys on the ground.
Thanks…I picked up a copy of the RHA house mag Roadway, and even they now accept that with 600,000 drivers not ‘trucking’ there’s something wrong with the job.
In other news…Orwell Truck Stop is to be turned in to warehouses…how the hell do they expect them to function without drivers?
GasGas:
Thanks…I picked up a copy of the RHA house mag Roadway, and even they now accept that with 600,000 drivers not ‘trucking’ there’s something wrong with the job.
In other news…Orwell Truck Stop is to be turned in to warehouses…how the hell do they expect them to function without drivers?
…Warehouses where you sit and wait outside in a queue to get tipped, average time 10-12 hours, more spoiled chicken and other products on the way…
…But we saved a few quid on driver hospitality along the way, so it’s all cool - the wasted food will make Brexit look bad - which keeps Remainer jack-its happy too…
Another DHL/McDs scandal is on the way…
Thank goodness Orwell is going to be warehousing, a national shortage of warehouses i tell ya
shakes head sadly at the lunacy of it all
GasGas:
Thanks…I picked up a copy of the RHA house mag Roadway, and even they now accept that with 600,000 drivers not ‘trucking’ there’s something wrong with the job.
I’d guess that the majority of the 600,000 view/ed the definition of ‘trucking’ as in the opening scenes of Convoy and Il Bestione, especially the latter.
As opposed to what most of the UK ‘road transport’ industry has now been deliberately reduced to.
Assuming they haven’t been forced out of the job at the age of 40, having had their back broken by being used as a warehouse labourer, in the politicised deliberate rush to minimise truck mileages and to save mechanical handling and warehouse staff costs.