Coffeeholic:
On the subject of the UKIP, I couldn’t vote for them as I feel they are an extremist, short sighted, one track party and somewhat racist.
Well, Ive read their manifesto, and can certainly say they are not one track. Of course, the EU is a big issue, and I feel they are right to keep it to the fore, time is short! As for being racist, where did you get that from? I aint seen any evidence of it throughout the entire site or manifesto!
Coffeeholic:
They are dead against the EU but none the less want to become MEPs and take the salary etc, how does that work?
The stated aim is to have people inside the EU, to report first hand on the corruption and whatever else they will be privvy to in that capacity. They also realise that their jobs will be short lived if the UKIP win power one day! 
We will just have to agree to differ on this one Mal but maybe when I said rascist that was the wrong word and xenophobic would have been better now I think about it.
I’ve but following this post and as a retired driver remember the days when it was quite an event to see any foreign registered truck as regards the EU,it doesn’t seem too long ago all the EU commisioners (22 I think headed by Neill Kinnock) got the Sack!. Would you take work from a firm who’s Directors had got the sack for fiddling and these are the people Tony B Liar wants to put in charge although dont you think he would allow anybody to take over as long as he could take the top job.
I passed my HGV in 1969 and have seen this industry change so much but not like it does now .Every day brings more restrictions and costs to Transport I’m certainly glad to be retired (Rant Over)
Regards derek N.Ireland
Indeed we will have to agree to differ Neil.
I think a better word is Corruptuspoliticophobic meself! 
“and since there sell out they have undercut even prestons to get work,so is stobart now paying mop and bucket ■■”
Yes it does seem ironic that Stobarts are looking like going the same way as all the smaller companies they hammered into the ground.
What ever happened to Murfits? Last I heared they put a load of their trucks on Belgian plates and then they suddenly disapeared. You used to see alot of them abroad.
Muckles,
In the scenario that Britain pulled out of the EU you say that foreign trucks would still be here. True, but would a Polish truck be allowed to load in Birmingham for say Barcelona or a Slovak be allowed to load in Grimsby for Berlin? The problem isn’t only Polish/Czech/Slovak trucks bringing in their own cheaper products to Britain. Its that they now carry loads from Germany, Holland, France, Italy and Spain to Britain and vice versa. Plus they can do internal British work and work on British or any other EU truck. I dont know what pulling out of the EU would achieve but I’m confident if nothing is done there will be hardly a single British truck with a British driver on the road in Europe in a few years time and who knows, all those unaccompanied trailers from Hull and Immingham dock may soon be pulled by E.European trucks, maybe even tippers and flatbeds.
muckles:
[I would rather stay in the EU and try and change the system of unaccountable commissioners, and subsidies, and also break the ■■■■■■■■■■ of France and Germany.
Well said Muckles, I agree with everything you say.
As far as foreign trucks not paying road costs is concerned there should be reciprocal agreements. Ideally no payments by anybody but because of private road tolls on France etc. there could be refunds for Brits or payments by French hauliers. Those countries where there are no charges could travel in the UK for free.
Regarding the ‘■■■■■■■■■■ of France & Germany’; if this exists to the disadvantage of the UK it is precisely because the UK won’t get wholeheartedly involved. It is powerful enough (economically) to make a real difference but from the inside taking part. Personally, as most of my pension originates in Britain I am very happy with the strong pound to buy me extra Euros, but it is hurting British industry which includes road haulage.
Happy with my windfall this month but would be happier not on the roller coaster!
Salut, David.
im wondering if, in the 80’s during the heyday of european haulage, whether the portugese, spanish, italians etc were moaning about the brits doing a lot of " their " export work to the uk?
also, why is it some uk companies are thriving doing continental work whilst others are shutting up shop??
its the same as everything else, if you find the right customer youre laughing.
when i get my new truck ill be doing some continental work taking advantage of european diesel prices.
it seems to me that the ones who are moaning are the ones who are losing out, but are they blaming the right people?
paul
Flatbedman,
I can see no problem with a British truck taking good from Italy to Britain, a Polish truck taking goods from Britain to Poland or Poland to Britain but what I personally dont like is when Polish trucks take loads from Spain to Denmark or from Britain to Austria, in small numbers its ok but we all know that due to their cheapness compared to Western Europeans that they will and indeed are coming in massive amounts and practically completely replacing the trucks that were there prior. I know its not their fault for doing it, they’re making the best of it for themselves but that doesn’t help me or you much when we’ve got no work does it. Something has to be done or the transport industry will mirror the shipping industry where practically every single British, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, German and Dutch ship has a full Polish crew. Even Estonian ships now emply cheaper Russian seamen and the Estonian seamen how have to find work on British and German ships. Read in Truck & Driver about the new driving agency set up in Coventry soley to supply Polish drivers to British companies doing international work. I wonder wether they’d put me on their books? If not I wonder wether I’d have a case for racial discrimination?
surely thats the way the world goes round?
we buy and source our goods and services from the least expensive place?
you dont see many fuel cruises to the uk do you??
you dont buy your shopping from the most expensive supermarket do you??
paul
When the world goes around abit further and you’re out of a trucking job, got anything else lined up? It must be nice to be just as happy to work in a mind numbing factory or stacking tesco shelves as you are driving a truck. Good luck to you, I know I couldn’t do that for the rest of my life.
robinhood, do you really think you can stop it or change anything■■?
people will always go for the cheaper option.
regards
paul
flatbedman:
im wondering if, in the 80’s during the heyday of european haulage, whether the portugese, spanish, italians etc were moaning about the brits doing a lot of " their " export work to the uk?
also, why is it some uk companies are thriving doing continental work whilst others are shutting up shop??
its the same as everything else, if you find the right customer youre laughing.
paul
I have to agree with what you’re saying. It’s easy to blame the Eastern Europeans (especially if you don’t know any or have never been to their countries to understand what sort of conditions they live in). As you say there are still British hauliers working the European routes, and making good money out of it. Two in particular from this very forum come to mind - they don’t shout about who they’re working for, or how much they’re making but they’re still doing the work, year in, year out.
This morning I spent some time chatting with a driver from this town who does international work. He told me that his firm, a local French haulier with 50 trucks, has more international work than they can cope with: Germany, Austria, Denmark, Switzerland. All full load work, no scraping around for groupage from some money sharking freight forwarder. When I asked him “why?” his answer was simple: “The service we offer to our customers”.
That’s why certain hauliers keep going when others can no longer find a trip across the water. Any fool can take a unit on HP and go to work for less than £1 a mile pulling traction for shysters like LKW You-know-who. If the Eastern Europeans are doing that sort of work then it’s of no real loss to the British transport industry. Admittedly, the continentals take some of the better work too but that’s just plain economics, if you can get the same level of service for less why not take advantage of the lower rates. The challenge to British hauliers and their counterparts is to strive to offer a better service than anyone else: if you don’t intend to do that just shut up shop and stop moaning !
robinhood_1984:
Muckles,
In the scenario that Britain pulled out of the EU you say that foreign trucks would still be here. True, but would a Polish truck be allowed to load in Birmingham for say Barcelona or a Slovak be allowed to load in Grimsby for Berlin?
If these East European contries were in the EU then they would be able to take frieght from other countries in the to the UK and goods out of the country anywhere else in the EU because it’s a single market trading block and in the EU there is very little we can do to change it, and if we were out of the EU there is even less we can do.
Any restrictions placed on UK companies to only use UK hauliers to move goods into europe would put the few UK manufacturing companies at a disadvantage and make it more likely for manufacturers to move into the EU zone and leave even less goods for us to move.
The same things said now about Eastern Europe joining the EU were said when Spain and Portugal joined, but despite thousands of Portuguese workers moving to the UK to get work, especially in this area, I have yet to met a Portuguse truck driver working for a UK haulier and a report on the news the other day stated that of the 15,000 workers from Poland that came to the UK on May 1st, 8000 have already returned to Poland after finding out the the UK is not what they thought it was.
The biggest threat to the UK haulage industry is not the EU or Eastern European drivers and hauliers, it comes from our own govenment, who know little about haulage and care even less about it.
Craig 111:
“The service we offer to our customers”.
And that one little phrase hits the nail right on the head, while some companies will always go for the bottom line on price others still place value in “Service” and are prepared to pay for that pleasure.
I’ve done work in the past that we then lost because the customer went elsewhere for, in there view, a better price. Few months later we get the work back because the “better price” didn’t include reliability and good service.
On the subject of foreign firms loading in the UK for destinations other than home, that isn’t an exclusive right of foreign hauliers, and this may come as a surprise to you but we can do the same thing. 
Over the last 15 years I’ve done many loads where I loaded one country and delivered another, with the relevant permits when they were required, before picking up a load back to the UK. On more than a few occasions when talking to other UK drivers and especially owner drivers and the subject of where you are headed comes up, as it always does, and I mention I have loaded say from Spain to Germany the response was often along the lines of “Stuff that, don’t want to mess around like that, I want a load for the UK or not at all.”
i am a class 1 driver, and just like every other driver i get peed off being treated like an idiot when i go to a place to tip or load that i have never been to before when i ask the paper shuffler behind the desk where i need to go within the depot, or you phone a company up and ask for directions and they talk to you like your thick because they know where they are, so should you. The point is the job is hard enough for us drivers, so why do some drivers feel they can treat me like an idiot on the road just because i drive a foreign registered truck?I am english and just earning a crust to feed my family just the same as the next driver that overtakes you on the Mway. my number plate doesnt say dont be the profesional driver that you are and dont flash me in if i overtake you nor does it say box me in cos i’m only a foriegner. It says the UNIT is foriegn registered NOT THE DRIVER. we are all supposed to be professional drivers so lets act like it.
Muckles,
I’ve met a Portugese driver on a British truck before, cant remember the company but he said its based in the Bristol area and employs alot of foreign drivers, he usually runs between England - Switzerland. The thing with Poland in particular is that it is a labour exporting country and they will come here driving like they are on most European ships. I dont blame them in the slightest, I’d like to go to America and drive there and that in turn would be doing away with an American job, I doubt I’d ever get a green card though!
I agree that one of the biggest threats is the government, ours and the European one alike. They should be doing atleast something to create somesort of a level playingfield if such a thing is possible. It certainly doesn’t help when our companies here are faced with such high fuel and road tax costs when compared to even other W.European countries, let alone Eastern ones.
"On the subject of foreign firms loading in the UK for destinations other than home, that isn’t an exclusive right of foreign hauliers, and this may come as a surprise to you but we can do the same thing. "
Coffee,
I know that but can you as an owner driver (I presume you are one?!) honestly say that if it comes to the crunch, you can seriously compete with a Pole, Latvian or Hungarian company who are after the same work as you? They can easily undercut you and whilst your service may be better, by the time thats realised and you’re wanted again, you may well have gone bust.
