jonboy:
do you think its harder for old hands to learn new thingswould you old boys be willing to do the nvq/classroom stuff
jon
Don’t be silly, Jon!!!
I more than likely would fail any tests miserably if I had to take them again… purely on mirror work if nothing else. That ‘flick the eyes’ attitude is too engrained now
Loggo:
You mean you don’t swerve for squirrels Spaceman ■■?I thought we all did ?
I seen the remains of a deer that was hit by a brand new 53 seater coach… Apart from the large quantaties of blood that was splashed down most of the coach, the deer hit on the passenger side near the door - The coach was written off just because of that damage.
I don’t swerve for most animals, if they’ve been allowed onto the roads through human fault I’m not going to risk toppling the vehicle just to save them. It may sound heartless, but I do drive a top heavy vehicle and I don’t think my boss would like it if I wrote off a truck with rolling it and saved the life of a squirell… 
spaceman:
Adaptable / flexible / enthusiastic, good with customers, can drive a lorry and get from A to B without accident and within the law.Middle aged guys doing a career change into lorry driving might be the best bet for a recruiting employer — nice and steady, not easily intimidated by spotty upstarts. Probably can’t reverse — but less likely to wipe anyone out going forwards!
Yep, that’s me!
spaceman:
Adaptable / flexible / enthusiastic, good with customers,Yeah!
the old hands are more grumpy,
Oi!
but are less likely to bow to pressure when things don’t go to plan.
Yeah!
That’s us 
Salut, David.
I can see the scene now smeserver - there you are telling your boss that you have written off his unit
“But the good news is the squirrel is going to be OK”
Could be an unsympathetic response !
I was thinking more of badgers, they are not the most popular animal in the countryside but cary a lot of weight and can do a lot of damage if you hit one.
Regarding the deer and the bus I recall back in my railway days a class 47 hitting two cows - like something off crime scene investigates. Stopped the train in it’s tracks ( ! ) as it tore the air lines loose
there has been a thread of this nature before and what was said was who has the most experince and driver for 20years on tesco or a driver of 5 years on general …
some drivers of 20-30 years the problem is they are too confident i.e not strapping up trailers or loads in general with the attitude “it’l be ok” or “ive never had one shift”
or the other bunch are agency drivers ( i am an agency driver ) who dont give a toss cos they will be in another job tomorrow.
i always leave a trailer or lorry how i would expect to find it … clean and tidy full of diesal and load secured.
jessicas dad:
there has been a thread of this nature before and what was said was who has the most experince and driver for 20years on tesco or a driver of 5 years on general ….
This has always been my arguement about ‘truck drivers’ and chaffeurs, JD!!
You can drive for Tesco’s for 50 years and as far as I am concerned, you know NOTHING!!!
Loggo:
I can see the scene now smeserver - there you are telling your boss that you have written off his unit
“But the good news is the squirrel is going to be OK”Could be an unsympathetic response !
One of our customers had a unit on self-op. Bounced it off a crash barrier, caused about £8k of damage to the side of the unit. Have been told if I had done it I would be in serious [zb]!!!
TheBear:
This has always been my arguement about ‘truck drivers’ and chaffeurs, JD!!
You can drive for Tesco’s for 50 years and as far as I am concerned, you know NOTHING!!!
i agree a couple of weeks ago i was on the agency for morrison’s and their driver hook up to a trailer take it to a store then… nothing they dont even open the roller shutter door they just sit in the cab’s then when empty the warehouse staff lock everything back up and you are on your way again.
i did a tanker last night for the first time and it was full of …carlsberg… that was the first time i did a tanker and it was ok nice and steady round the corners and everything was fine there was one problem though… you know when your pulling a trailer you know you are pulling a trailer well with this one being full of my favorite tipple i felt as though it was chasing me!!!
My take on this “experience” thing is it’s not just the driving ability but other factors to consider.
Like familiarity with our road networks, which roads to avoid while trying to get from A to B in the quickest possible time depending on time of day and how much load your carrying, and knowing intimately the main areas of distribution.
Understanding Tacho regs and using them to maximise your day, knowing to best time to start and fit breaks in to complete your run within a 9 or 10 hour drive, while at the same time being aware of the tip/load times a various places, along with their breaks/shift changes so to know what you can get away with. This all has to be considered while planning your 15 or 13 hours, and in my case where I’ll end up at the end of my shift…
I appreciate this might not be a factor for a lot, but for those that are out all week it could mean getting home or not
As others have said, length of time doing the job has no relevance to experience.
I know most of Europe and European work, but don’t ask me to do a container or UK RDC work as I haven’t got a clue. Never driven a tanker and pulled a fridge maybe twice so again haven’t got a clue. I’m OK on the tacho rules and various other bits of legislation but don’t ask me about spanner type stuff.
So, after 21 years am I an experienced driver? Unless it falls into the field I do know about then the answer is no, but I am always willing to learn new things.
In my 21 years I have driven
Light
panel vans
tippers
recovery
dropside
tail lift
luton
twin wheel
single wheel
flat
multidrop
Medium
7.5t
17t
18t
21t
23t
26t
32t
4 wheeler
6 wheeler
8wheeler
flat
curtainsider
taillift
fridge
wide load
tipper
box van
container
beaver tail
hiab
tipper
multidrop
Heavy
er everything except
Heavy haulage (stgo)
Car transporters
mega distance (ie outside EU)
Oh and a few obscure jobs that you lot are bound to come up with
So I would say I have a lot of experience
BUT
I dont know everything about anything nor would I say so.
Even if you have been doing one job for years you can never know everything if only for the fact that the EU keeps moving the goal posts all the time.
You are never too old to learn somthing new
You are never too young to teach what you know
north surrey haulage:
In my 21 years I have driven:You are never too old to learn somthing new
You are never too young to teach what you know
Now, THAT is experience!!!
By comparison I’ve been limited to anything under 7.5t as either one vehicle or under 10t off road as several vehicles.
The first 2 years of holding a drivers licence, the last 4 years while driving 7.5t top heavy trucks have been the most informative in my life… 
Don’t think I’ll go back to Agency work from this job as it sounds waaaay too stressful…
or
The day you stop learning is the day you have learned you have died 
I think I have driven just about every vehicle and type of load but there are lots of things I could still learn.
An experienced driver probably knows this 
TheBear:
I would say that experience isn’t the length of time you have been driving, Carl. Experience is more the variety of work you have done. You may have been driving for 30 years but not know how to operate a fridge…!
I think TheBear’s ‘hit the nail on the head’!
I know some of the internal shunters at Longbridge and they’re having difficulties coming to terms with the realities of transport nowadays. They’ve spent 20-30 years running trailers around the plant with one or two local collections a week. One bloke said to me that he was really looking forward to long-distance work - just as long it wasn’t more than 100 miles radius of Birmingham!
If you asked these blokes if they were experienced drivers they would reply that they were. TheBear’s quite right when he says, “its the variety of work not the length of time”!
carlbrum:
just bein reading some old threads and i have one question how long does it take to become a experinced driver. i have been drivin for 8 years but class 1 ony 1 years. and i feel confident to back any trailer in any space i could do this in 3 weeks driving.in my view is if you have the confidence u will do it not experince any thoughts on this
just talked with a Warehouse Manager who told my he has a experianced Warehousestaff who works since Years there.
I called it:doing wrong since Years which made them upset.
But i heard they changed few Weeks ago experianced Staff to Dayshift and Agencyworkers to Neightshift.
My meaning:
Doing wrong over Years means not experianced
Doing right over Years means not well liked by Manager
thats easy for you to say 
North Surrey Haulage:
thats easy for you to say
But you’re the one with all the experience…
