They come on here begging for the glory and prestige of EU work,but only last two weeks or less,the reason is they think they can do a round trip within a week,and be in their own bed Friday night.That does not happen,when the tacho time is up,it is time to dump the truck within the nearest facilties for the 24 or 45 hours off.
The thing is,the slightest exscuse,of the cat has died,i have to get back for the funeral,the wife is cooking a meal Saturday,i need to get back,one of the kids is doing a piano/clarinet/flute/trumpet/trombone/violin rectital at the school,i need to get back,the car is booked for a MOT,i have to pick up my dentures on Monday morning.
The first freezing weekend on a wind swept mountain,they quit,never to be seen again,but all the time wanted euro work,the novelty soon wears off,when your weekend off,is lay by or Msa,where you wont eat that foreign muck.
Blimey…But you are right!
If the wagon broke down over there,it would be panic stations,i have known many drivers that have left the truck there and made their own way home,after being told to fix the break down,as the firm does not have call out assistance.
toby1234abc:
They come on here begging for the glory and prestige of EU work,but only last two weeks or less,the reason is they think they can do a round trip within a week,and be in their own bed Friday night.That does not happen,when the tacho time is up,it is time to dump the truck within the nearest facilties for the 24 or 45 hours off.
The thing is,the slightest exscuse,of the cat has died,i have to get back for the funeral,the wife is cooking a meal Saturday,i need to get back,one of the kids is doing a piano/clarinet/flute/trumpet/trombone/violin rectital at the school,i need to get back,the car is booked for a MOT,i have to pick up my dentures on Monday morning.
The first freezing weekend on a wind swept mountain,they quit,never to be seen again,but all the time wanted euro work,the novelty soon wears off,when your weekend off,is lay by or Msa,where you wont eat that foreign muck.
Spot on " T C " there are a lot like that on U K work too… 
We had one whose “continental experience” as he liked to call it, was a few trips to Holland.
40 minutes into Hull,North Sea Ferries to Europort, half an hour to the drop, another half an hour to the collection and an hour back to the same ferry.
His sense of adventure was unbounded, so much so that he rang base to say that he couldn’t find one drop because it was in a different place on his small scale map to the large scale copy.
( ie on the other side of the road 
)
Another time, his truck developed a tiny fault, so instead of bringing it back, he called out Volvo, in Holland and in one go, wiped out a week’s profit from three trucks.
Any time spent with him was too long, but I was constantly being asked about his “epic” trips by those (non- drivers) who could stand to drink with him.
Yet another reason why the operation was closed but he thought he was God’s gift to us all.
Regards,
Nick.
toby1234abc:
They come on here begging for the glory and prestige of EU work,but only last two weeks or less,the reason is they think they can do a round trip within a week,and be in their own bed Friday night.That does not happen,when the tacho time is up,it is time to dump the truck within the nearest facilties for the 24 or 45 hours off.
The thing is,the slightest exscuse,of the cat has died,i have to get back for the funeral,the wife is cooking a meal Saturday,i need to get back,one of the kids is doing a piano/clarinet/flute/trumpet/trombone/violin rectital at the school,i need to get back,the car is booked for a MOT,i have to pick up my dentures on Monday morning.
The first freezing weekend on a wind swept mountain,they quit,never to be seen again,but all the time wanted euro work,the novelty soon wears off,when your weekend off,is lay by or Msa,where you wont eat that foreign muck.
you’ve met kevin and scott who used to work with me at CITMA then toby 
always trying to find excuses to get home or even not to go
your right toby
when i was driving we had a driver who was the same , he had to be home every friday morning,
he used every excuse in the book, from the budgie is losing its feathers to needing to go to the dentist
he must have had every tooth out in his mouth ,and he had buried his relatives at least 6 times a year,
the p**** take was you would be going south with his load while he was going home with yours.
Had to go and buy new clothes before now due to being turned around unexpectedly and not been near laundrettes. Its part of the job on european work that you are going to be home not very often.
Its a shame that they stopped the tax break for being out of the country for so long in the year, although my brother works as naafi on Royal navy ships and gets most if not all of his tax back every year.
toby1234abc:
They come on here begging for the glory and prestige of EU work,but only last two weeks or less,the reason is they think they can do a round trip within a week,and be in their own bed Friday night.That does not happen,when the tacho time is up,it is time to dump the truck within the nearest facilties for the 24 or 45 hours off.
The thing is,the slightest exscuse,of the cat has died,i have to get back for the funeral,the wife is cooking a meal Saturday,i need to get back,one of the kids is doing a piano/clarinet/flute/trumpet/trombone/violin rectital at the school,i need to get back,the car is booked for a MOT,i have to pick up my dentures on Monday morning.
The first freezing weekend on a wind swept mountain,they quit,never to be seen again,but all the time wanted euro work,the novelty soon wears off,when your weekend off,is lay by or Msa,where you wont eat that foreign muck.
Is this aimed at any one in particular?
skids:
Had to go and buy new clothes before now due to being turned around unexpectedly and not been near laundrettes.
Done that once or twice. The best one was about a year and a half ago here in Canada. I’d only had my washing in the machine at the yard about 10 minutes and got begged to go off and do a job down to the US somewhere…said I would but pretty much all my clothes from the 15 day trip I’d just done were in the machine and I wasn’t prepared to just drive off leaving them there to an unkown fate. They assured me that the office would take care of everything and indeed upon my return a week later they were all washed, dryed, ironed and folded up waiting for me! They even sent me a message over the satellite computer telling me all was well with my clothes.
toby1234abc:
If the wagon broke down over there,it would be panic stations,i have known many drivers that have left the truck there and made their own way home,after being told to fix the break down,as the firm does not have call out assistance.
It wouldn’t very wise of the company sending trucks to euroland without some form of breakdown/recovery cover, if i was an od i wouldn’t be risking it without, same goes for tyres too
As for drivers leaving the vehicles behind, it would depend on a few factors,
1, if the said driver knew anything about how things under the cab actually worked or not,
2, if the repair required new parts being fitted or not, and of course if those parts along with any specialist tools where available to the driver,that’s also assuming that he /she was capable of carrying out the work, and of course whether they wanted to become liable should their work be deemed a contributory factor following an accident, some one i spoke too recently wanted to carry out a basic repair on the company truck ,he got told that he was not insured to work on it?, or could that of been that it may invalidate the company insurance if he carried out the work, by not being competent /qualified to carry out such work
Got to get back,the German Shepheard is having puppies at any time,the chimney needs sweeping,got to get to the bank on a working day,tell that to the customer who is loading you friday,to see if they are interested in that.
one of the reasons i wouldnt do european for one of the bigs boys as i dont want to be weekened i openly admit that. but then i wouldnt go to brian yeardleys or similar and expect to be home every friday. if you go to those sort of companies you have to expect to be turned round.
with my limited european experiance i have done mostly short haul stuff there and back in a week. but ive always told my bosses whoever they are i dont want weekened. ive no intrest at all in spending my weekend in a lorry.
One of the problems with this that if you are applying for a job and are up against a wannabe, his absolute enthusiasm and willing to do any thing on the cheap can some times cloud a employer’s mind. I have lost out to these chaps before only to be contacted a few weeks later when the cheapskate boss has found out his mistake and enjoyed saying “sorry mate you had your chance and blew it”.
best stay at home then shag !, i fear you wouldnt last long with our crew…ha ha
tommy t:
toby1234abc:
If the wagon broke down over there,it would be panic stations,i have known many drivers that have left the truck there and made their own way home,after being told to fix the break down,as the firm does not have call out assistance.It wouldn’t very wise of the company sending trucks to euroland without some form of breakdown/recovery cover, if i was an od i wouldn’t be risking it without, same goes for tyres too
As for drivers leaving the vehicles behind, it would depend on a few factors,
1, if the said driver knew anything about how things under the cab actually worked or not,
2, if the repair required new parts being fitted or not, and of course if those parts along with any specialist tools where available to the driver,that’s also assuming that he /she was capable of carrying out the work, and of course whether they wanted to become liable should their work be deemed a contributory factor following an accident, some one i spoke too recently wanted to carry out a basic repair on the company truck ,he got told that he was not insured to work on it?, or could that of been that it may invalidate the company insurance if he carried out the work, by not being competent /qualified to carry out such work
i took a newbie down to cagliari on sardinia to show him the ropes, on the way back everyone he spoke to was bombarded with his years of european knowledge.
It was the other way round for me, i never wanted to go home
Sugar Ray:
It was the other way round for me, i never wanted to go home
You can always tell the married ones
TC
When i did the euro work we was out (on the road) for 2 weeks at a time ,providing i have enough clean clothes to wear,(or am able to find somewhere to do laundry) i wouldn’t have a problem being away from home for weeks at a time, done it for several years, And i can’t be doing with the mundane, costly (unpaid)daily commute to and from work,
But as for fixing the truck should it breakdown, not my part of the ship, unless it’s something that i am able to diagnose & fix, safely without the need for a full tool kit unless it is supplied