On a day trip to Belgium this week (stocking up on decent Belgian beer) we were waiting our turn to board the ferry to Dunquerke having arrived a bit early. When the ferry arrived and began disgorging its load from France I out of curiosity started watching the lorry’s as they came off. Loads of them but one major thing missing, not a single one was from the UK. No British plates on an lorry, loads of Polish, Lithuanian, German, etc. What is going on with our Gov’t, all this foreign traffic coming in and I wonder how many have ‘paid’ to use our roads.
YEP, us common people can see the way its going, but our government either haven’t got a clue or don’t give a toss, in a word … D.I.L.L.I.G.A.F
The government could’nt care less,they wish to see the demise of the UK haulage industry,to be replaced with cheap haulage from wherever, when the PL,LT,RO&BG boys wise up they will be replaced by the next lot of new EU entrants 
Paul-H:
On a day trip to Belgium this week (stocking up on decent Belgian beer) we were waiting our turn to board the ferry to Dunquerke having arrived a bit early. When the ferry arrived and began disgorging its load from France I out of curiosity started watching the lorry’s as they came off. Loads of them but one major thing missing, not a single one was from the UK. No British plates on an lorry, loads of Polish, Lithuanian, German, etc. What is going on with our Gov’t, all this foreign traffic coming in and I wonder how many have ‘paid’ to use our roads.
because too many brits want to do european work, but want an early finish friday.
they want 4 days on 4 days off.
the poles will do the same as the germans, and the dutch. 3 weeks on, 1 week off.
people in this country complain about east european rate cutters, but they work for a boss that works his lorries at £1 per mile.
the going rate in lithuania as a subby equates to £1.50 to £1.80 per mile.
the uk has far to many people with a can’t do attitude, just like spain, italy, and greece.
other european countries have a can do attitude.
we will end up the laughing stock of europe before long.
Think thats a bit unfair Phil on your compatriots. Theres lazy gits in every country,and yeah sure we all want four on four off,but,on past experience,I never found British drivers lazy.
On a side note,I think it does depend as well, when the o.p. was awaiting his ferry,as there were,in my recollection, peaks and troughs in when British lorries shipped in and out.Go to Dover on a Friday evening and the vast majority shippiong out would be Europeans,but,come sunday afternoon/evening it`s all British and Irish.Have things changed that much in 17 years?
limeyphil:
the uk has far to many people with a can’t do attitude, just like spain, italy, and greece.
other european countries have a can do attitude.
Blimey, I’m amazed to find a limeyphil comment I actually agree with… but I do.
limeyphil:
we will end up the laughing stock of europe before long.
We already are mate!
Which day that you went to Belgium? Best is go to Saturday afternoon and Sunday all day then you will see numbers of Brits and Irish but not that large amount compare to 20 years ago
also Dunkerque ( Norfolkline DFDS Ferry) are quite popular for Eastern European lorries and cars due cheap ticket compare to P&O or Eurotunnel… Sometime I call them Polishline Ferry!
It’s nothing to do with being “lazy”, it’s just exactly what happened to coal mining, shipbuilding, the textile industry etc etc etc, it’s just cheaper for owners to get Johnny Foreigner to do the work.
In the medium to long term, this isn’t a very good business model though because if the indigenous population aren’t earning then they aren’t spending and the whole money-go-round stops.
I’d hate to see any company in uk running trucks at £1 a mile. Its the low rate companys that is messing it up and messing drivers wages to be so low, how many drivers have had a pay rise in last 3-4 years, every thing going up fuel, cost of living yet drivers wages dont seem to reflect this as companys rather run low rate for small profit just to keep there pockets filled. plenty work out there and if every company put rates up to reflect this we would see happier drivers but as we know its never gona happen.
Harry Monk:
It’s nothing to do with being “lazy”, it’s just exactly what happened to coal mining, shipbuilding, the textile industry etc etc etc, it’s just cheaper for owners to get Johnny Foreigner to do the work.In the medium to long term, this isn’t a very good business model though because if the indigenous population aren’t earning then they aren’t spending and the whole money-go-round stops.
Perhaps you should have gone into politics with this summary, something those in power don’t seem to have grasped 
I am begining to get really fed up with people saying how bad we are as a nation or how lazy we are, if these people dont like it here, why dont they pack their bags and Bugger off to healthier climes…■■? No didnt think so…
People should try and be a bit more positive about our country, then may be, just may be it might rub off on to others and things will get better…
When I started doing this job in the mid-1980s, a typical truck driver would live in a 3-4 bedroom house with the mortgage mostly paid off and buy a new car every 2-3 years, most new truck drivers nowadays would struggle to get a mortgage on a two-up-two-down, and drive 12 year old cars if they can afford a car at all.
I don’t think this is because British truck drivers’ work ethic has worsened. Romanians and Bulgarians may spend the best part of a year on the road at a time in Western Europe, neglecting their children and wives in the pursuit of desperately needed cash but should we really need to make those sacrifices simply to get a worse deal than we were on thirty years ago?
Truly Mrs Thatcher, dedicated opponent of Communism and the Eastern Bloc, has a lot to answer for. I’m amazed that so many truck drivers still seem to hold her in such awe.
“Turkeys voting for Christmas” comes to mind.
Deepinvet:
People should try and be a bit more positive about our country, then may be, just may be it might rub off on to others and things will get better…
DREAM ON COCKER! you’re British ( I’m English ) and you’ll do as you’re told! Once they opened the Borders up over the water it all went DOWNHILL rapidly! I made a fortune smuggling them in £2000 a foreigner 
but charged £12,000 for one slave! it wasn’t hard, thats how I made my money! 
Government couldn’t care less about us peasants!
DREAM ON COCKER! you’re British ( I’m English ) and you’ll do as you’re told!
I AM NOT ENGLISH I’M FICKIN IRISH!!! and I never do as im told…well only by a fully qualified rugby referee…
Harry Monk:
It’s nothing to do with being “lazy”, it’s just exactly what happened to coal mining, shipbuilding, the textile industry etc etc etc, it’s just cheaper for owners to get Johnny Foreigner to do the work.In the medium to long term, this isn’t a very good business model though because if the indigenous population aren’t earning then they aren’t spending and the whole money-go-round stops.
Carryfast may be a raving nutcase in most cases but this is an arguement he has put forward for a long time and it’s quite true. It goes back to Henry Fords principle pay you workers well and they will keep buying your products and keep the whole wheel turning.
ST3:
I’d hate to see any company in uk running trucks at £1 a mile. Its the low rate companys that is messing it up and messing drivers wages to be so low, how many drivers have had a pay rise in last 3-4 years, every thing going up fuel, cost of living yet drivers wages dont seem to reflect this as companys rather run low rate for small profit just to keep there pockets filled. plenty work out there and if every company put rates up to reflect this we would see happier drivers but as we know its never gona happen.
many wont of had a pay rise but from 2000 to 2005 i had a 40% - 50% rise, rough with the smooth an all
companies generally don’t want to go out of business, so they try to ride the storm out on low rates. what would you do, keep your rates the same or increase them whilst running the risk of losing the customer and going pop, or tighten your belt, trim the rates and try to ride the storm out?
do you not think companies are charging as much as they think they can get away with?
companies are in competition with each other, they want each others work. are you suggesting a cartel type arrangement? how would you feel if supermarkets, petrol stations, car insurance companies etc did it?
just because there are x mount of tons getting shifted every day doesn’t mean there’s plenty of work about, plenty of work about can surely only be said when the demand is greater than the supply, or at least getting close to it, but i don’t think it is.
I’ve got a slightly different persepctive…
The customers of the firm I work for don’t export, therefore we don’t go. BTW they often ask us to carry their imports though.
The imports we collect at Tilbury come in twenty five tonne loads that are re~configured into twenty eight tonne loads for us. I would say UK 1 Euros 0.
The imports we collect from other docks often need an internal load height over three and a half metres.
UK 2 Euros 0.
I have a mate who loads containers for Italy and Belgium in the UK. The Italian ones go by train and the others get the boat. UK 3 Euros 0.
My old firm H&S saw fit to set up a UK Depot to handle their short sea traffic (which is now almost exclusivley drop tanks). UK 4 Euros 1.
I know it’s not very fashionable to say it but British Haulage is the most cost effective and efficient in Europe. The main reason we don’t go traipsing around the Continent is that it is simply not worth it.
W
Does no one remember Barbara Castle ( labour ) and the 1968 traffic act / operators licences which allowed every person who operated a truck were made into hauliers overnight , the rest as is said was downhill after that !!! .
shugg:
Does no one remember Barbara Castle ( labour ) and the 1968 traffic act / operators licences which allowed every person who operated a truck were made into hauliers overnight , the rest as is said was downhill after that !!! .
what year was it the set rates rha/ fta ( said you could charge ) got abolished■■? Then the undercutting began! 
early 80s IIRC!
We went on Tuesday, used to go to Calais but this time we decided to do the Dunquerke bit. Spotted another Ferry line that I never saw before, myFerryLink. To be honest on the way down to Dover and coming back all we could see was European lorry’s, we all have a lazy element in every industry but something should be done to at least try and encourage Brits to get back to the industry. Calais shops are generally closed on Sunday, found that out a long time ago and as for EuroCity its the same stuff but more expensive each time.