ok guys,how much harder or easier has lorry driving got over the years , has it got easier due to only a small percentage of hauliers roping & sheeting or running tilts,or is it harder with the clamp down on drivers hours ? as a coach driver have knowledge of the hours regulations although they are slightly different from lorry driving and coach driving,what do you guys think?
Better trucks, worse traffic. 
son of a truck driver:
ok guys,how much harder or easier has lorry driving got over the years , has it got easier due to only a small percentage of hauliers roping & sheeting or running tilts,or is it harder with the clamp down on drivers hours ? as a coach driver have knowledge of the hours regulations although they are slightly different from lorry driving and coach driving,what do you guys think?
I thought the regulations we used were now the same for coach operators since 11th April 2007.
The job is harder because of impossible deadlines, ridiculous booking times and Health & Safety, but the actual job we are employed to do, to drive, is so much easier. Extra large heated mirrors, synchromesh or automatic gearboxes, better brakes, comfortable seating and bunks, Scania Excepted 
Satellite navigation, mobile phones, (not good but necessary) curtainsiders have dumbed down the job, drivers can say no if they understand the regulations, but if not can make themselves look even more stoopid.
It was easier when the driver collected a trailer for Athens and no-one wants to hear from you until it is empty and you are ready to come back
Wheel Nut:
…It was easier when the driver collected a trailer for Athens and no-one wants to hear from you until it is empty and you are ready to come back
■■■■ right wheelnut 
bullitt:
Wheel Nut:
…It was easier when the driver collected a trailer for Athens and no-one wants to hear from you until it is empty and you are ready to come back■■■■ right wheelnut
back in the 60s,it was harder work,handball, rope+sheet, no heater etc, but if you were on “A” licence ,once you left the yard, the only time the guvnor heard from you was by reverse charge call,to tell him where you were going and what the rate was!,and the big plus was the cameraderie between drivers,no proper driver passed another driver in trouble,all stopped to help,with no thought of reward, just the thought," it could be me next time!"…chris
trunkera1:
bullitt:
Wheel Nut:
…It was easier when the driver collected a trailer for Athens and no-one wants to hear from you until it is empty and you are ready to come back■■■■ right wheelnut
back in the 60s,it was harder work,handball, rope+sheet, no heater etc, but if you were on “A” licence ,once you left the yard, the only time the guvnor heard from you was by reverse charge call,to tell him where you were going and what the rate was!,and the big plus was the cameraderie between drivers,no proper driver passed another driver in trouble,all stopped to help,with no thought of reward, just the thought," it could be me next time!"…chris
I agree with all you say Chris,away on a sunday for wherever,backload off whoever,ring in and tell the gaffer where you were bound.You were your own gaffer.Hard work yes,but less hassle and good lads on the road who would help out if you were in trouble.
Chris
Blimey, youre right, it is easier now.
See a tipper the other day,remote control for the sheet…
on board weighing machine…
automatic tailboard…
loading with an automatic system…
Must be better than pulling on the chain to open the trap door at Penmaenmawr Granite Co. Liverpool, then finding the bloody trapdoor jammed, whilst 10 million tons of quarter granite chippings start to bury your wagon while you feverishly try to get it closed…then realise its time to go…sod the trap door and its granite
Chris Webb:
trunkera1:
bullitt:
Wheel Nut:
…It was easier when the driver collected a trailer for Athens and no-one wants to hear from you until it is empty and you are ready to come back■■■■ right wheelnut
back in the 60s,it was harder work,handball, rope+sheet, no heater etc, but if you were on “A” licence ,once you left the yard, the only time the guvnor heard from you was by reverse charge call,to tell him where you were going and what the rate was!,and the big plus was the cameraderie between drivers,no proper driver passed another driver in trouble,all stopped to help,with no thought of reward, just the thought," it could be me next time!"…chris
I agree with all you say Chris,away on a sunday for wherever,backload off whoever,ring in and tell the gaffer where you were bound.You were your own gaffer.Hard work yes,but less hassle and good lads on the road who would help out if you were in trouble.
Chris
and just think of all the Green shield stamps,in the dodgy garage with your Agency card! 
…chris
and where STILL using the soup bowls from Esso !
The trucks have got a lot easier to drive and are a lot more comfortable with nearly all the creature comforts of home. The trailers are easier to use although I will say I was a lot fitter stripping out a tilt than I am now sliding the roof of a euroliner. But the job has got a lot harder due to the amount of stupid rules coming from Brussels and the Health and safety executive doing their hardest to put everybody out of business. If only we could go back to the days when you were allowed to use your common sense and think for yourself. I just wonder how I ever survived so long without a hi-vis vest.
I am soooooooooooo glad that I never bothered with the medical !
Its over 20 years since I drove a wagon, do I miss the driving ? NO.
It was so nice to start having Sunday dinners again !
Good to be reminded of it all on here though !
Everyone keep up the good work. 
trunkera1:
Chris Webb:
trunkera1:
bullitt:
Wheel Nut:
…It was easier when the driver collected a trailer for Athens and no-one wants to hear from you until it is empty and you are ready to come back■■■■ right wheelnut
back in the 60s,it was harder work,handball, rope+sheet, no heater etc, but if you were on “A” licence ,once you left the yard, the only time the guvnor heard from you was by reverse charge call,to tell him where you were going and what the rate was!,and the big plus was the cameraderie between drivers,no proper driver passed another driver in trouble,all stopped to help,with no thought of reward, just the thought," it could be me next time!"…chris
I agree with all you say Chris,away on a sunday for wherever,backload off whoever,ring in and tell the gaffer where you were bound.You were your own gaffer.Hard work yes,but less hassle and good lads on the road who would help out if you were in trouble.
Chris
and just think of all the Green shield stamps,in the dodgy garage with your Agency card!
Aye,thought never crossed me mind Chris 
.Still got 40 Senior Service from a garage where I was a regular customer,a bit dry now mind you after 35 plus years.
Of course the garage was blacklisted by our company after a driver booked 100 galls into a 75 gall tank
And getting your own back on the dockers, by “gaining a couple of boxes” by a bit of carefull pallett stacking, right under their noses! never bought a tin of friut for years! …chris
Well the job has become 10 times easier to the point of being boring ! travelling everywhere uphill and downdale at 53mph without having gears to change without worrying about brakes or load security is mind numbing.
Laws ,rules , regulations, h&s is strangling the job. I would swap my new globetrotter for a Crusader, Marathon or Guy tomorrow !
I can honestly say I don’t miss roping and sheeting 40 footers in the rain but everything else just seems a backwards step to me.
The thing I miss the most? the craic and the laughs we had.
Trev_H:
Well the job has become 10 times easier to the point of being boring ! travelling everywhere uphill and downdale at 53mph without having gears to change without worrying about brakes or load security is mind numbing.
Laws ,rules , regulations, h&s is strangling the job. I would swap my new globetrotter for a Crusader, Marathon or Guy tomorrow !
I can honestly say I don’t miss roping and sheeting 40 footers in the rain but everything else just seems a backwards step to me.
The thing I miss the most? the craic and the laughs we had.
Trev H How true I am now in my sixties but i do miss the old days everybody who drove lorries seemed so much more friendlier you all helped one another .I think the drivers of today have to many constraints put upon them H&S time dels Vosa and coppers with lorries all out to trap them and as for your new i globey i would swap it for my old Leylend Beaver.
Hauling bricks back in the fifties is a case in point…all loading and unloading by hand…one company in coalville where I grew up did three loads a day on 8 wheeler atkinson to the then new coalville precinct from whitwick brick yard…obviously this was a young mans job
dashman:
and where STILL using the soup bowls from Esso !
…and the glasses from Shell!!
I used to be on heavy haulage with a 220 ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ drive ERF,alot of work from and to South Wales[Cross Hands specifically]I used to call in at a garage in Stoke on Trent and fill both tanks,the attendant didnt count the Green Shield stamps,he just through a full roll,I almost refurnished the house at the CO Op on Oldham Rd with those foul tasting stamps!!
Take it easy,
David
David you did’t stick them on the wall as well as wallpaper, no wonder you hate the taste of the glue by the way nice to speak to you at the show. Norman