Further to the Skills Shortage Posts

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS OLD TIME LORRIES, COMPANIES AND DRIVERS (INTERACT
1

I’ve been reading with interest the various posts on a skills shortage…

Much informed content by drivers, current and ex , and also former employers.

It set me thinking about the skills required both now in the modern world and way back when in Mary Hopkins time ( acknowledgements to JD Buzzer ) and the ( possibly ) different requirements?

Many who inhabit ( or haunt ) these pages and this " Old " forum in particular are those with our careers firmly behind us.
We all like to think we’re the best driver God ever put breath into but how would any of us fare now if we were dropped into a bang up,to date computer oriented Scania or the like? I’m sure it would be a learning ( and possibly re learning ) curve.

Those of us of a certain age started our driving lives when there were no cab phones or sat navs and a certain amount of mechanical skills were a distinct advantage to keep going on the road. Punctures were things you dealt with yourselves not sorted with a phone call from your cab with the night heater or A/C running. A lot of us will have honed our skills on inferior roads both here and abroad.
The International ones among us would have to deal with different Customs procedures on a daily basis.

Very few of the once needed skills and on the job experience are needed now. Including of course roping and sheeting and thinking what gear ratio is needed rather than the trucks brain deciding for you.

The above is not an exhaustive list , I’m sure there are many other skills not required so much or even at all in today’s Truck driver / Lorry Driver …

Soooooo. The question is: What skills are required today, what do employers look for and what makes the difference between a bad driver and a goodun as Buzzer put it?..

I’m not writing this and saying to the younger ones " you’ve got it easy " . The World of driving has changed irredeemably , I’m just curious about the whole question of " skills " and what is actually required today.

Cheers for now
Baldrick. ( aged 92 and never having made a mistake in life or on the road :laughing: )

2

Baldrick1953:
I’ve been reading with interest the various posts on a skills shortage…

Much informed content by drivers, current and ex , and also former employers.

It set me thinking about the skills required both now in the modern world and way back when in Mary Hopkins time ( acknowledgements to JD Buzzer ) and the ( possibly ) different requirements?

Many who inhabit ( or haunt ) these pages and this " Old " forum in particular are those with our careers firmly behind us.
We all like to think we’re the best driver God ever put breath into but how would any of us fare now if we were dropped into a bang up,to date computer oriented Scania or the like? I’m sure it would be a learning ( and possibly re learning ) curve.

Those of us of a certain age started our driving lives when there were no cab phones or sat navs and a certain amount of mechanical skills were a distinct advantage to keep going on the road. Punctures were things you dealt with yourselves not sorted with a phone call from your cab with the night heater or A/C running. A lot of us will have honed our skills on inferior roads both here and abroad.
The International ones among us would have to deal with different Customs procedures on a daily basis.

Very few of the once needed skills and on the job experience are needed now. Including of course roping and sheeting and thinking what gear ratio is needed rather than the trucks brain deciding for you.

The above is not an exhaustive list , I’m sure there are many other skills not required so much or even at all in today’s Truck driver / Lorry Driver …

Soooooo. The question is: What skills are required today, what do employers look for and what makes the difference between a bad driver and a goodun as Buzzer put it?..

I’m not writing this and saying to the younger ones " you’ve got it easy " . The World of driving has changed irredeemably , I’m just curious about the whole question of " skills " and what is actually required today.

Cheers for now
Baldrick. ( aged 92 and never having made a mistake in life or on the road :laughing: )

I think our main skill was having pride in our job and respect for each other, unlike todays Truckers. Les.

3

I would say that skills needed back in the day were, apart from having a certain aptitude for actually driving an HGV across Europe (and beyond) were, in no particular order…
A sense of adventure and a desire to travel, not a skill I admit, but a prerequisite of the job itself.
A level of mechanical ingenuity.
An ability to get yourself out of the brown stuff with out calling for help via a mobile phone!
An ability to actually read a map and keep it in your head, to instinctively know when you are going in the wrong direction or are in the wrong part of a certain town or city.
Language skills and having the confidence to try and communicate to “foreigners” in their own language.
Having the confidence and people skills to deal with officials of various types, Customs, plod etc, in different languages and countries, using a myriad of different forms and papers and still keep calm and get the job done.
Being content with your own company for days on end.
Dealing with various currencies, wads of different notes from different countries.
Coffee money and who or who not to offer a coffee to!! :laughing:
Patience! :wink:

These are just a few that sprung to mind, Im sure many of us could add more.

Nowadays it would seem that you can drive on motorway type roads from the UK to Turkey without having to talk to another person, being told where to go by a little box and, if things go pear shaped, help is a phone call away!
The truck chooses which gears to use and can maintain a set speed all day if you want it to. Apparently some even maintain a set distance from the truck in front when on cruise control so all you actually have to do as a “driver” is gently correct the steering!

Glad I did when I did, im not sure I would fancy it now.

4

Really good points. I just wonder if the time pressure is not more these days. Reliability, comfortable driving environment etc. are the pluses. But, as you pointed out, it is not all plain sailing.

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5

jsutherland:
… I just wonder if the time pressure is not more these days…k

Good point. I never liked feeling pushed to get to one place or another. if I wanted to get there quick then I would, equally, if it suited me to get somewhere so as it would facilitate a weekend on the beach then of course, I would! Imports cleared in the morning and exports cleared in the afternoon, if you were late for either one then it would be time to retire to a bar of your choice and chill! (hence the need for patience! :laughing: ) Tomorrow is another day.
Nowadays, big brother can watch and track you as you go! Some stroppy TM or “traffic clerk” (very important job that!) can see where you are and phone you to demand why you are not at point A or B and what were you doing going this route or that route! Don’t think I could work that way to be honest. I liked to left alone. As long as I got to where I was supposed to be at around the time I was supposed to be there then all was good. If I need you I will contact you, apart from that I will see you when I get back.

6

Good points All. Thanks for the replies lads…
Hope we’ll get more comments in time…

So , is it just that the job has been " Dumbed down " by progress and the skills and " Nous " we speak of are just no longer needed?
No more tramping with a blue book , successfully negotiating mountain passes with " old " motors etc etc…etc…

As you rightly say Bullit it’s possible now to travel into Europe and beyond , ( hats off to you and the other further distance boys :wink: ) without the need for much input driving wise or negotiating sub standard roads or even catch a glimpse of a Customs man that might want a decent " coffee" before even looking at your paperwork …
BUT … That’s the way it is now .
Still we have our memories and that’s what keeps us , and these forums going. Sad old gits with too much time , opinions to share or force and several pairs of rose tinted spectacles!! :laughing: :laughing:

7

About half of my 45 year driving career was driving for smaller companies where the owner(s) or foreman had been, or still were, drivers themselves. The difference being they had “been there-done that” so knew if you were doing a good, or bad, job without resorting to telemetrics or whatever clever things are used to look over the drivers shoulder today.
On one large international company we had a graduate as a manager, knew the thoery of everything and the reality of nothing, when he was promoted sideways we then had an ex driver that had worked through the ranks to become depot manager, breath of fresh air to have someone who was not talking out of their bottom.
So my take on the shortage of skills is it all went to pot when you needed a piece of paper (or diploma) to do a job. A good manager or traffic controller is just that with or without written proof, likewise a year at uni or wherever does not make a proffessional even with a diploma, you need a ‘feel’ for the job.
The UK treating drivers like second class citizens doesn’t help either.

8

Nowdays it is seen as just a job. The unsociable hours, living for the job; thats gone. Its not what is wanted. Alot of younger drivers like to come home to our wife and children.

Theres also the wages. You dont get paid extra in most places for overtime, you get worked to your legal maximum for pittance. You may earn £25k a year in a permanent job but you may work 55-60 hours a week, have 2 rest reductions, get home and be knackered for what is £8.70 an hour; the same as shelf stacking and you sacrifice your time with your family. I always hear stories of older drivers telling about their divorces.

But the fault doesnt lie with just the drivers. Companies are to blame too. Gone are the ability for drivers to be sociable. Many dictate where you night out due to collection times. Comradeship is gone down the ■■■■■■■■ I got a bollocking for helping a colleague out for an hour who stopped on the hardshoulder because of deadlines. Everything is deadlines, its get there, tip, ■■■■■ that your planned to be in and out in ten minutes not 2 hours which ruins your next job

Skill-wise what really was there in the first place that isnt here today? Gear changing? Technology has moved on from 12-speed manual’s with high and low gear. Much like cars; gear changing is gradually being replaced with flappy paddle auto boxes. Roping and sheeting? Most loads dont require it. Map reading? Can still do that without relying on Sat-Navs.

The skill of manouevering, road reading and judgement is the same as before if not harder today with much busier roads and the inundation of vehicles.

Realistically, its not that much of a skilled job. We arent saving lives. We havent undergone years of examinations and learning like Nurses for example. All lorry drivers do is drive a big vehicle, tick some check boxes, the employer is accountable for almost every bit of maintainence. We simply secure a load, drive to our destination and the reversing is the hardest bit.

9

I see your point Andrew…
I’m just playing devils advocate here… Bit like being the ref in the England / Italy ruck or tackle issue.
Non six nations fans look away now…

Driving a truck has always been a low paid job, many a time I’ve worked out my hourly rate over the years and discovered that despite being away for ( in some cases ) over 3 months and worked an average of 70 hours a week , the money in the bank equated to less than a bus driver that was home every night.
A one hit to Italy for 320 back in the day wouldn’t show a good hourly rate but many of us did it and would do a turnaround …
However, strangely, I got HUGE job satisfaction from it… Strange but true and I’m sure many on here will agree.
On the other side of the coin I worked for a multinational company paying brilliant wages and lots of approved fiddles courtesy of a strong Union… It couldn’t last. Market Forces came to bear as they always will and takeover and redundancies came.

My point about gear changing , roping and sheeting etc , sat navs and mobile phones was only to point up what you seem to confirm. I.E. There aren’t so many skills needed these days. Other than the basics of pointing steering and reversing onto a bay.
Maybe workers expect much more these days?
Also the point about Hauliers now being responsible for all maintainance. As you say , not necessary now so a lessening of skill requirement there too.

Anyway. Employers , past and present…lets have some input!!! :wink:

10

Baldrick1953:
…Employers , past and present…lets have some input!!! :wink:

Good point Baldrick, maybe Buzzer, Bewick et al can give us an insight as to what skills, knowledge, personality and experience made them employ a driver back in the day and, in contrast, any current day employers, what it is you look for nowadays.!!

11

Some things never change, good drivers are never out of work for long and usually float to the better end of jobs in their own area, that’s always been the case and i see no reason for it to change.

The question to ask is what makes a good driver worth employing.
We can ignore those employers who just want cheap staff in this, if they think less than a tenner an hour basic is acceptable then they can plough their own furrow of doom.

Better employers can pick from reliable clean-licenced presentable literate polite staff, add in loyalty discretion damage/accident work timekeeping attendance sickness history and you’re half way through the door and feet under the table already, because there’s a hell of a lot out there who can’t offer many if any of those attributes.
In return the good driver wants good pay, decent not excessive hours for that pay, decent well maintained kit, and to be treated with respect, employers who can’t come up with those offerings are not going to attract the skilled drivers they seem to want but go out of their way to alienate.

Too many, and this includes the better employers, can’t bloody stop fixing what isn’t broken, through their own poor management they recruit a small number of idiots but instead of admitting they cocked up and either get rid or train them properly if indeed possible (be honest not every person behind the wheel of a lorry should be there, nor should every suit be in the position they’ve got to), instead they bring in dumbed down one size fits all working practices, including spying on and constant monitoring of their staff through electronic means, this not only alienates and demoralises the good drivers who take a pride in doing the job well without all this spyware cobblers for decades when it was hard graft, but now suddenly need to be watched and questioned by some shiney arsed twerp who wouldn’t have lasted 5 minutes in an old transport yard.

I can’t stress this highly enough, it’s stubborn pride in doing their jobs properly that keeps lots of drivers going against everything thats being thrown at them (or rather taken away from them), if you take away their pride by dumbing the job down to idiot level you destroy everything that you had going for you.

12

Excellent points Juddian!

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13

This is a topic in various similar formats that regularly occurs particularly on the drivers’ forum and is usually linked to low pay, driver shortages, excessive hours, foreign drivers, etc. etc. So as a type of contributor requested by the OP I will submit some thoughts and ideas. Firstly, my credentials allowing me to comment, hopefully objectively.

I’m in my late sixties, still working full time as a Transport Manager of a 25 truck company running food grade powder tankers and general haulage. In my career I have worked for own account fleet companies and the biggest family owned haulier in the country. I had my first ride in a lorry in 1953 aged 5, it was a WW2 built Leyland Lynx. In the 60 odd years since that memorable day I have always been around lorries and road transport. I’ve driven them, repaired them, restored and rebuilt them, and managed them - along with their drivers. So what has changed in my time? Well, obviously lots as has been commented on by others which I will not repeat, but embellish slightly. Back in the day there was a skill set needed by drivers, just to drive the things, load them safely and securely and get them to their destination. (I’m referring to UK domestic haulage, as I’ve never been involved in European or International work). Nowadays there is absolutely no realistic comparison between the lorries of even 20 years ago and those of today, so many former skills are no longer needed. Traffic conditions are horrendous compared with former times and virtually everything delivered is to a strict schedule. Customer demands in this respect are much, much greater than they were even 10 years ago. The traffic office is a much more pressurised environment than it used to be, and this filters down to drivers. Customers are more difficult to satisfy and are less forgiving than they used to be. Competition for my customers is always lurking in the background. Ever since I can remember drivers’ pay has been governed by hours worked. To earn a decent wage then on hourly pay you needed plenty of hours. Nothing has changed in that respect. The same applies to me; I still work in excess of 60 hours weekly and I’m on call 24/7. As it happens only a couple of days ago I compared my salary in 1990 when I left Spillers Milling to my salary now. In real terms I’m now earning half of what I did in 1990. Drivers can probably make a similar comparison. Makes you think doesn’t it? I had to smile at a comment on the Driver’s Forum about a minimum rate of £15 per hour for a driver, obviously someone with absolutely no idea about the economics of hire and reward road transport. Is the driver who got me out of bed at 02.30 last Tuesday morning to come and open the yard gate because he couldn’t open a combination lock worth £15 an hour? No, I don’t think so. (Not one of my drivers I must add). Is there a driver shortage? NO, I have a waiting list of applicants, but the job is cyclical and always has been. The last quarter of 2016 was the busiest ever for my company, but so far this year it has been the opposite and I have laid off 7 drivers since mid-January. Hard to do for me and the business owner, but an economic necessity. There are signs that business is beginning to pick up slightly. One final point. Drivers taking pride in the job. I do believe that because of my lengthy experience I do know every aspect of the job so I know how to manage and treat drivers. Several of the drivers here have customised their trucks and attend shows such as Truckfest. Only yesterday half a dozen of them spent all day polishing and cleaning before taking part in a local charity convoy last evening. So the skills required these days might be different, but there are still good drivers about who take pride in the job. They are a credit to the profession and the company I work for.

14

Most interesting thread! I’ve seen some good arguments on here…

Now, I’m no doubt the youngest driver on here, and with only 13 years driving experience under my belt, I might be still wet behind the ears…however, in those 13 years I’ve traveled to the most of Europe, including the ex-soviet countries.
I can’t imagine how it was back in the 60’s and 70’s, although a get a good whiff about it coming on here, but I do remember how it was when I joined the old man on various trips in the late 80’s and early 90’s, and one of the things that really has changed is…time…you see, back then communication wasn’t as it now obviously, and surely the job needed to be done, but there was nobody looking over your shoulder or shouting on the other end of the line that you had to press on… But the same goes for customers as well, they haven’t got time, if you’re 5min. late, prepare yourself for some bollocking, from both the customer as the guv in the office…

I haven’t had a lot to do with “normal” road haulage, just been on multi drop and tilt work for about 2 years, before switching to heavy haulage…and for the better I like to add, because I sincerely don’t know if I was still in this game if I still was stuck on tilt work.
It’s much more “laid back” with the heavies, due to the dimensions and routes one has to follow, although even in this branch of transport things are changing…I’ve seen it happen in the firm I work for, all that IT malarkey is coming in, and the planners are now students coming fresh from uni, but without any sense of working experience whatsoever, or any “feelings” with transport for that matter, to them it’s just a job…

Now, about skill shortage…there really is a shortage, or maybe it’s just lack of proper sense and manners…for example, there are quite a few newbies on CAT1 loads in my firm, most of them haven’t got any heavy haulage experience, so if they come up to me with a question, I will most certainly help them the best I can…however, these “supertruckers” as I like to refirm them to, have seen it all, done it all, and who am I to say something to them? One of those lads asked me the other day if I was familiar with some tipping adress, I was and explained it to him, but right in the middle he broke of and said, I’ll will put it into my satnav…alright, best of luck to you mate!
Another thing is, what happended to introduce yourself if you are a newbie? Manners are fastly deteriorating…

That’s the point that really buggers me, I like to think I’m “old school” because I’ve learned the trade by the likes of you lot, asking things and got my nose into reading all those different permits I carry around, trying to speak foreign languages, solving problems, whether it be mechanical or when some diplomacy was needed.
I haven’t got a satnav, still got a proper manual gearbox, haven’t got a microwave on board, like to drive on the national roads, and don’t speak to the lads in the office unless there’s a problem I can’t solve, not with those newbies though, they are being told where to park up for the night, which route they have to take, drive mostly on the motorways and give the office a ring just about every hour…

Other thing that really buggers me, the regulations…it’s not all that easy to keep your tachocard “clean” these days due to the intense traffic on the roads, but what really is a downside to things is the amount of money you’re fined with, 15 min to long equals a E1000 fine in some parts of Europe…

Other thing is that the comradery is fastly disappearing, when was the last time when you flashed someone in you got a thank you…?

And the wages, well, it’s always been poor, I live on my own, so I can have quite a luxurious lifestyle if I wanted to, but it can be a struggle if you’ve got several mouths to feed…

So what makes a good driver then? It’s more then just getting from A to B isn’t it, but with the younger generation I’m not to sure anymore…

Cheers, Patrick

15

Good post Gingerfold.

Interesting comparisons between 1990 and now, highlighting the difference between hire and reward and own account, there’s a reason you were so much better off in real terms on Spillers.

edit,
PV83, a good point about trying to keep infringement free, thats a skill on its own these days, trying to fit 2 parallel systems in (normal drivers hours and bloody WTD at the same time) and please the customer, without whom non of us have a job, can be quite a juggling act.

One other odd thing is how some companies add massive costs to themselves because they won’t allow drivers to fit bulbs or carry out other minor jobs, well up to a point its understandable if they’ve employed monkeys who can’t distinguish between a single or twin contact bulb, or can’t manage to fit a headlight bulb the right way up, but it begs the question of why did they employ idiots in the first place.

16

Juddian:
Good post Gingerfold.

Interesting comparisons between 1990 and now, highlighting the difference between hire and reward and own account, there’s a reason you were so much better off in real terms on Spillers.

I think it has always been like that Juddian, I worked for Tilcon as firstly a fitter and later a driver and the wages were top class. Us, Tarmac and Blue Circle were the three most sort after driving jobs in the area and all had waiting lists, I was fortunate in transferring from the garage to driving as I was already in their employment. Such a vast difference in wages, one job (six loads a day to a local concrete works) paid as much in loading/tipping time (11/4 hours per load!) than working all day in the garage and then you had the actual driving pay on top of that! As long as the loads got where they should everyone was happy. Then things declined, loading pay was cut slightly, slow running time through London vanished altogether and mileages steadily got reduced plus the pay went from 25 miles per hour to 28 and later 30 so wages decreased.

Then Tilcon sold the transport off and our TM bought the tippers, the pay remained the same (still decent compared to those lads driving for contractors) but a couple of ex OD’s came driving for us. They both said that we were being paid too much for the work we were doing, a few weeks later the gaffer told us that he was changing the pay structure so ultimately we would work more for less money and the two OD’s left as they “wouldn’t work for less money”!!! :unamused: The trucks didn’t get as much maintenance as in the ‘old days’ but the Sowerby Bridge disaster involving another ex Tilcon haulier was a wake up call and things improved swiftly! Some new trucks were purchased, I had one but fed up with the long hours left and went driving a six wheeler for a local firm with just two trucks.

There I was paid on earnings so it was ‘job and knock’ which suited me instead of hours. Still a few long days surfacing on motorways etc but plenty of shorter ones. I did a lot of my own maintenance, usually on a Saturday when there was no work, including MOT prep and sorted my daily own work out when our regular quarry had nothing for me and it worked well for five years until he was forced to finish me due mostly to the quarry wanting contract hauliers. The money was very similar to what I had been earning previously but it made me realise how poor a lot of the rates were and that when Tilcon etc ran their own fleets the rates were good and the OD’s etc got good rated work in return, it all fell apart when they no longer ran trucks! Hence companies who run their own fleet carrying their own goods can always pay decent money as the profit is in the product.

I think that I did the job ‘right’ and didn’t damage the tackle mutch but I did see a few ‘rough arses’ who had no respect for the vehicle or their employer and who complained about the wages etc and that was 14 years ago. I don’t know if the job is less skilled now, I would certainly struggle with understanding the tacho side of things and fines for going slightly over the hours and breaks etc seems ridiculous to me as we all had a fiddle or two to get us back homewhen a few miles from base. Common sense seems to have totally vanished from the trade and drivers nowadays appear to be the whipping boys for TM’s etc who have absolutely no idea how the job is run and have never actually driven a truck to make a living? I would like to still be driving but realistically it would be better if I accepted that my time has now passed! :confused:

Pete.

17

Yes Pete, i’m lucky enough to be seeing my last years out on own account tanker work, cut me artic baby teeth on general for around 11/12 years then got a chance of something different (van driving) which directly, right time right licence, led me into one of the best artic night trunking jobs of the 80’s.
Never looked back after that, when that job went ■■■■ up, they always do, i got a shakey start on car transporters which i stuck with for 20 years with a minor shift onto supermarket work in between (actually paid more than the cars at the time :open_mouth: ), but returned to the cars when offered a start up night night trunking operation, which led onto better things in the cars, but age eventually crept up with me as it does, the cars are not an old mans game though plenty of old uns do it and i’ve known plenty who its killed too.

A few years ago i packed the cars in, my lovely wife took me to one side and told me she didn’t want to be the richest widow in town, she’d seen what it was doing to me i hadn’t, within three weeks i’d packed it in, bummed around on agency for 18 months as a working recovery period then took it into me silly head to knock on the door where i am now, welcomed with open arms and all being well i’ll see me time out.
Irony being i now average more per every hour worked than i ever did the transporters, so why the hell didn’t i knock on this particular door twenty year previously?
Learned valuable lessons long ago, i’ve had good jobs and crappy jobs (don’t stay in crappy for long) all the good jobs have been unionised, and all jobs found by either word of mouth, recommendation, or cold calling, only ever found one job by newspaper ad and that was the worse job of all, on me weeks notice the childish sods in the office wouldn’t speak to me, suited me fine but you really couldn’t make it up.

I’ll have a pint of hindsight if you’re buying :sunglasses: :laughing:

18

pv83:
Most interesting thread! I’ve seen some good arguments on here…

Now, I’m no doubt the youngest driver on here, and with only 13 years driving experience under my belt, I might be still wet behind the ears…however, in those 13 years I’ve traveled to the most of Europe, including the ex-soviet countries.
I can’t imagine how it was back in the 60’s and 70’s, although a get a good whiff about it coming on here, but I do remember how it was when I joined the old man on various trips in the late 80’s and early 90’s, and one of the things that really has changed is…time…you see, back then communication wasn’t as it now obviously, and surely the job needed to be done, but there was nobody looking over your shoulder or shouting on the other end of the line that you had to press on… But the same goes for customers as well, they haven’t got time, if you’re 5min. late, prepare yourself for some bollocking, from both the customer as the guv in the office…

I haven’t had a lot to do with “normal” road haulage, just been on multi drop and tilt work for about 2 years, before switching to heavy haulage…and for the better I like to add, because I sincerely don’t know if I was still in this game if I still was stuck on tilt work.
It’s much more “laid back” with the heavies, due to the dimensions and routes one has to follow, although even in this branch of transport things are changing…I’ve seen it happen in the firm I work for, all that IT malarkey is coming in, and the planners are now students coming fresh from uni, but without any sense of working experience whatsoever, or any “feelings” with transport for that matter, to them it’s just a job…

Now, about skill shortage…there really is a shortage, or maybe it’s just lack of proper sense and manners…for example, there are quite a few newbies on CAT1 loads in my firm, most of them haven’t got any heavy haulage experience, so if they come up to me with a question, I will most certainly help them the best I can…however, these “supertruckers” as I like to refirm them to, have seen it all, done it all, and who am I to say something to them? One of those lads asked me the other day if I was familiar with some tipping adress, I was and explained it to him, but right in the middle he broke of and said, I’ll will put it into my satnav…alright, best of luck to you mate!
Another thing is, what happended to introduce yourself if you are a newbie? Manners are fastly deteriorating…

That’s the point that really buggers me, I like to think I’m “old school” because I’ve learned the trade by the likes of you lot, asking things and got my nose into reading all those different permits I carry around, trying to speak foreign languages, solving problems, whether it be mechanical or when some diplomacy was needed.
I haven’t got a satnav, still got a proper manual gearbox, haven’t got a microwave on board, like to drive on the national roads, and don’t speak to the lads in the office unless there’s a problem I can’t solve, not with those newbies though, they are being told where to park up for the night, which route they have to take, drive mostly on the motorways and give the office a ring just about every hour…

Other thing that really buggers me, the regulations…it’s not all that easy to keep your tachocard “clean” these days due to the intense traffic on the roads, but what really is a downside to things is the amount of money you’re fined with, 15 min to long equals a E1000 fine in some parts of Europe…

Other thing is that the comradery is fastly disappearing, when was the last time when you flashed someone in you got a thank you…?

And the wages, well, it’s always been poor, I live on my own, so I can have quite a luxurious lifestyle if I wanted to, but it can be a struggle if you’ve got several mouths to feed…

So what makes a good driver then? It’s more then just getting from A to B isn’t it, but with the younger generation I’m not to sure anymore…

Cheers, Patrick

5 years experience and Im 26, already hate the sector.

I think one of the reasons we should be paid £10+ an hour is a combination of the danger in driving but also how much law we have to abide by and the fines we can incur.

Compared to stacking a shelf for £8.50 an hour it is insane that driving a truck is the same wage.

19

Andrew.simmons:

pv83:
Most interesting thread! I’ve seen some good arguments on here…

5 years experience and Im 26, already hate the sector.

I think one of the reasons we should be paid £10+ an hour is a combination of the danger in driving but also how much law we have to abide by and the fines we can incur.

Compared to stacking a shelf for £8.50 an hour it is insane that driving a truck is the same wage.

You can earn a hell of a lot more than a tenner an hour basic, but you’ve got to have a certain amount of luck to find the right jobs.
You can make some of that luck for yourself by earning yourself a reputation, a good one of which will open closed doors, a bad one of which close open doors.
Prove yourself trouble free, accident free, absolutely reliable punctual and self sufficient without taking sickies, take a pride in your work which means looking after the customer and your vehicle even if its a shed because it’s the tool that makes you money.
You’ll be surprised as the years go by when you knock on the right door, your name gets mentioned and someone who’s worked with you before pipes up ‘‘he’s a good bloke’’.
Drivers in good jobs don’t recommend anyone they wouldn’t employ themselves, networking works.

You have to make yourself stand out above the rest, oh and if you get the offer a proper job rip their arm off, no poncing about ‘i’ll have to have a chat with Mrs’’ and other assorted ■■■■■■■■ i’ve heard a million times, if you aint hungry enough to land the job what does that tell the prospective employer what your attitude will be like once you’re safely in?

Disagree with you that the job is dangerous, it’s true there are sectors where some won’t last because you get the odd knock, but they usually pay well over the odds, there’s precious little danger in chauffering a standard lorry.

Juggling your hours can be a bugger, but giving arse hole planners with no idea of the road a good ignoring and setting your own pace helps take the pressure off, start early enough to do the job steadily, if they give you an unrealistic start time well when the load’s late they’ll know why.

Everyone has to find their own niche, the better won’t come to you, first thing i’d do in your shoes is work out why you hate the job after 5 years, then when you’ve done so seek out the niche that will give you job satisfaction.

20

With regards to danger, im comparing it to stacking shelves. Theres risk in driving or ring any vehicle.

The biggest thing for me is the low pay mixed with just how rogered we can be for any legislation we break.