Yes, I could give up driving, and in some respects I am giving up driving. I currently work 3 days a week driving and 2 days in the office, because unless the conditions and pay gets better, I need something to fall back on.
The office work is EASY, with BETTER HOURS and DECENT PAY! Why would I want to drive?
The only answer is that I enjoy driving. If I didn’t, I would’ve given up ages ago.
thanks everyone im still sat at home… well in theroy im actually decorating my dads!!! ive benn told by the union to forget everything ive got a meeting a week on wed and have told to say ive post trumatic stress!!!
ive been driving 9 years uk/continent and before christmas i packed it in ive got a 4year old lad an 18month old lad i hardley saw and on the 29th of jan my new daughter made an appearence i went back to work 2 months ago doing 4 days friday to monday home everynight and i tip and reload kent back to hamshall and its great i needed a break from driving and id advise anyone if youve had enough pack it in for a while if ya missit go back part time first.it took me 9years to realise family was more important than fancy motors and seeing europe.
AlexxInNY:
If I could get a job other than driving with similar benefits and similar pay etc I would quit tomorrow
If you lived 150 miles further west, you could probably work here-we will be needing another person soon. As long as your accent isn’t too thick…
Wow ! Is that a job offer Alex ? I can use a posh and clear English accent any time I want when needed 
pm me and tell me more, like where exactly you are buddy 
jessicas dad:
thanks everyone im still sat at home… well in theroy im actually decorating my dads!!! ive benn told by the union to forget everything ive got a meeting a week on wed and have told to say ive post trumatic stress!!!
Yes, I’ve heard the post is bad in England!
Take it easy mate and best of luck.
Salut, David.
Pat Hasler:
AlexxInNY:
If I could get a job other than driving with similar benefits and similar pay etc I would quit tomorrow
If you lived 150 miles further west, you could probably work here-we will be needing another person soon. As long as your accent isn’t too thick…
Wow ! Is that a job offer Alex ? I can use a posh and clear English accent any time I want when needed
pm me and tell me more, like where exactly you are buddy
Sorry, but they hired a new guy today. Besides, there is no need for people to speak ‘posh’ here. At this job, you need to be able to speak hillbilly, spanish, hindi and polish.
if all goes to plan i’ll be out of the game in 18 months, i always said i’d retire at 50
ive been driving hgv since 78, the roads are better now, the equipment is far superior, so why don’t i enjoy it anymore?
the job i’m doing now isn’t the job i started doing in 78, and the people have changed too.
i broke down by the pumps at colsterworth a few weeks ago.
the fitter was surprised that i had donned my overalls and tipped the cab ready for him.
he was even more surprised when i pitched in and helped him, he reckons 99% of drivers would have been sat in the cafe waiting for him to finish. (i’m a driver not a mechanic attitude)
the thing that really let me know that my time in this industry is almost over, was while we were working on the breakdown another of my firms wagons pulled in, fuelled up, and buggered off without even checking if he could help, or even saying hello or asking to make sure i had enough cash for a brew.
the last time i had a blowout in europe, all the brit trucks raced past me while i struggled to change the wheel, that would never have happened a few years ago, (and for all the pole knockers, it was two poles who stopped and helped me.)
theres too much rush these days, surely i can’t be the only driver left who will lose an hour to help someone change a wheel ( did this for a czech on the M1 last week) or help another driver in any kind of trouble
sorry for the rant, but you asked, and i’d be out tomorrow if i could.
Pat Hasler:
AlexxInNY:
If I could get a job other than driving with similar benefits and similar pay etc I would quit tomorrow
If you lived 150 miles further west, you could probably work here-we will be needing another person soon. As long as your accent isn’t too thick…
Wow ! Is that a job offer Alex ? I can use a posh and clear English accent any time I want when needed
pm me and tell me more, like where exactly you are buddy
watch it alex pat will take the job do his best to wind you up and then tell everyone about it on these pages 
I’ve hung mine back up again after a whole 7 days employment. 
Dunno if I’ll be unhanging them again any time soon…I had the ■■■■■■■ day I’ve ever had and I’m not sure it’s worth it. 
Sorry to hear you had a bad day Andyroo.
I just can’t handle the pace, I thought I’d get a class 2 so I could slow down a little and not have to pretend to be a helicopter in a little van anymore. Reality turns out worse, I wanted to drive so I didn’t have to answer the phone every 20 minutes. I can’t drive fast enough to get round the drops and the hours are killing me. They gave the decent round I’d been on last week (Norwich) to a guy who started yesterday (when I’d started last week) and let him get on with it on his own straight away, whilst they give me a horrible round (Bury, Mildenhall, Stowmarket and all rural areas surrounding) have me chaperoned, treat me like a moron who can’t read his paperwork and don’t listen to what I say if I phone them. When I was doing ok on Norwich (cos I know Norwich and the pace is urban and I don’t have to drive like a madman) they just patronised me.
I rung them to tell them I had an extra pallet on and no paperwork, that was loaded in error. After five minutes of them asking me for all the numbers on the ticket, I HAVEN’T GOT THE BLOODY PAPERWORK! They then said - ‘Oh that must have been loaded in error’ YES! LIKE I PHONED YOU AND TOLD YOU!
To top it all off I got pulled for going through a weight limit after I’d diverted to avoid another weight limit that I knew about. I went round the corner, saw the sign and it was too late to stop safe and 10 yards later a copper jumps out of a bush! Explained that I couldn’t really avoid it cos the sign was after a bend and that I was trying to avoid another wieght limit in the first place so my intentions were honest. He wasn’t having any of it and gave me a fixed penalty. I’m gonna go to court and have my say just for the hell of it, I’m past caring what happens.
Then I drove straight back and quit. Now I’m up ■■■■ creek again. At least I’ve got some sodding dignity back.
We have all had those jobs Andyroo, I had a couple on Agency for a well known parcel comapny, just put it down to expierence. Like all jobs it takes a while to fall into one you really like, but if you like driving stick with it, the job you want will turn up. Time to hit the agencies by the looks of it, at least you will get to try a variety of jobs and then can look out for the ones you really want.
Have you thought about getting class 1 or going to work
for someone else that don’t phone all the time. I hope you
get it all sorted Andyroo and all the best for the future .
I thought this was gonna be ok, apart from the hours, I’d done pallets on agency before and enjoyed it and was treated like an adult. I felt like taking in my GCSE certificates to show them I could read and write this morning or a letter from a doctor confirming I’m not just a trained chimp or something.
Anyway I’ve written a letter to Suffolk Police and managed to avoid asking why they think it’s a good idea to hide in a bush when there was a still unsolved murder about a mile away recently.
Andy…
When things are bad it looks like the whole world is against you, when you 1st pass your test every traffic sign is the one you don’t want to see.
But as time goes on things change, so don’t give up on your dream/vocation just because some of us that have been there and read the book are moving on.
Transport can be a great life and even better Job, one Mans poison is another man’s cure.
Don’t be quick to give in.
I recently went through hell nuying a house and moving in, I don’t intend to move 150 feet, let alone miles Alex 
so thats ok thanks
Andyroo:
I thought this was gonna be ok, apart from the hours, I’d done pallets on agency before and enjoyed it and was treated like an adult. I felt like taking in my GCSE certificates to show them I could read and write this morning or a letter from a doctor confirming I’m not just a trained chimp or something.Anyway I’ve written a letter to Suffolk Police and managed to avoid asking why they think it’s a good idea to hide in a bush when there was a still unsolved murder about a mile away recently.
Trust me, it’s a [zb]. I did it for just over 2 years with 15/16 drops a day and 5/6 collects on an artic. . I think you made the right descion - you’ll avoid the heart attack later on 
. The stress from learning a new route can’t be any help, neither can an inflexible attitude on the part of the company .
The letter would read something like I didn’t know the area, was on a new route and lost etc etc I trust 
.
jessicas dad:
watch it alex pat will take the job do his best to wind you up and then tell everyone about it on these pages
Yeah, I know what you mean. One of the moderators on the American board drives for my company, and even badmouthed my department once. Of course, I went back and checked the records and found that the post was mostly hogwash, but was not in a position to correct this person due to my position of authority.
Still, I think it would be interesting to have a driver call up and be greeted by:
“Oi! So yor truck is broken dahn, isit? Woss wrong, eh, guv? Where are yer?”
Driving International was all I ever wanted to do ever since I was knee high to a grasshopper.I’ve achieved my ambition,but have to say I no longer enjoy the job,as truckyboy said,there’s just not the camaraderie any more and the amount of traffic on the roads just makes the job more stressfull.
Mobile phones and satellite tracking means the boss always knows where you are and can get in touch with you.
Another downside from my point of view is that after the fall of communism every Tom,■■■■ and Harry is in the game now,which in turn has driven down rates and swamped the market,you only have to look at all the East Europeans parked up for day’s on end waiting for loads to see that’s true.
Don’t get me wrong,I actually sat there in tears the night the Berlin Wall came down,as I’d been all over the Commie Bloc and seen the way they lived under the communist system.Having said that,it was a lot safer to drive in the former commie countries than it is today.
But unless I come up with the right numbers on the Lotto(er indoors say’s I should buy a ticket to improve me chances,but what do women know! ),then I can’t see me doing anything else that will bring in the same money.
Mind you,there’s a red light district about 5km’s from me so I was thinking about maybe running a house of ill repute,but then the missus said I can’t test 'em out first
Andy,
I took my class 2 through an agency (OK, I was naive then, not to mention skint) so was stuck with it. My 1st day out was with 3663, 29 drops round Derbyshire. I hated it. I had this romantic idea of the open road, travelling through beautiful countryside, having a little time to think! The reality was horrific. I didn’t know where any of the drops were, I found cages hard work to move around (probably due to them being knackered), a lot of the customers were awful (we work in a kitchen so we KNOW what stress is). I had more than a couple of occasions of sitting there staring out the window, close to tears. I mean, for ■■■■ sake, a job that does that to someone cannot be worth it (all for £6 an hour).
Then, i got a job delivering dialysis equipment to hospitals and patients homes. It was hard work, dragging heavy pallets about and carrying boxes up peoples stairs, but it doesn’t matter when someone’s ill and can’t do it for themselves. 99.5% of the people were great, always chatting and having a brew! I was given my own truck from my 2nd week (6 month old Scania), and my own runs. I used to do the Cornwall run, 5 drops over 2 days, more drops in summer, but over 3 days. Most days I would be parked up for the night at 2-3 in the afternoon, roll back in the next day for about 9, load up and be home for 10.30!
I DOES get better, it’s just finding the right job.