just been looking at the vacancies on indeed .co.uk,it does make me laugh when i see in the ad and i quote,EXCITING OPPERTUNITY HAS ARISEN FOR A HGV DRIVER WITH OUR COMPANY,where do these employers get their ideas from,lets face it the average hgv driver like myself goes in at 5 or 6 in the morning [or earlier] probably have a coffee to wake ourselves up get our paperwork, go to the lorry, do the usual checks and away we go,when that happens with me i am so beside myself with excitement its hard to explain,this happens to me everyday when i am working full time,in reality all we want to do is get the job done and get back,park up and go home [except for the blokes who do away all week]but then it must be exciting for them when they wake up, the thought of another day in such an exciting job[NOT]
If you don’t like your job go quit and do something else, no ones making you do it after all and just for the record I still enjoy my job.
terratology:
If you don’t like your job go quit and do something else, no ones making you do it after all and just for the record I still enjoy my job.
+1 
My heart bleeds for you having to do 0500 starts.
Have a word with HR and may be they can let you start later.
Or even give you your P45 then you can stay in bed all day!
And 0500 start are a luxury where i work, if a job has to be done early you get on with it!
We operate 365 days a year & if it requires even Christmas day!!!
skypilot:
even Christmas day!!!
F#€$ that! Christmas Day is one day I never work. Never have and never will lol
Maybe the company concerned has just bought a brand new top of the range truck and a brand new trailer, so for them it is an Exciting Opportunity, it was for me when i bought my first truck, and as with the other posters, early starts and late finishes come within the transport industry, if the hours do not suit, find a company where you can be more flexible with your hours.
Will you three look at what he has typed again, he never complained about his job he is on about the advert and it is not the most exciting job going, done it for 31 yesrs and I don’t really gst excited about work. It’s just a job, now if I win Tuesday’s lottery I may raise a smile.
Dafman:
Will you three look at what he has typed again, he never complained about his job he is on about the advert and it is not the most exciting job going, done it for 31 yesrs and I don’t really gst excited about work. It’s just a job, now if I win Tuesday’s lottery I may raise a smile.
Precisely! No matter how hard I try I just can’t go all day with a stupid grin on my clock just because I’ve got up to drive a LORRY!
Off to buy my root millions ticket now! 
Root■■? Euro!
Maybe it’s considered “exciting” to work all week long, and still not earn enough to pay the mortgage, and be left wondering with racing heart, how you’re gonna get that overdraft paid off? 
terratology:
If you don’t like your job go quit and do something else, no ones making you do it after all and just for the record I still enjoy my job.
bully for you fella
Dafman:
Will you three look at what he has typed again, he never complained about his job he is on about the advert and it is not the most exciting job going, done it for 31 yesrs and I don’t really gst excited about work. It’s just a job, now if I win Tuesday’s lottery I may raise a smile.
thank you,at least you knew what i meant,actually you might be lucky,i think about 3 HGV drivers have won it so far,one getting 15 million about 4 yrs ago,so you never know
Seany:
skypilot:
even Christmas day!!!F#€$ that! Christmas Day is one day I never work. Never have and never will lol
I presume that’s because you go to church that day?
skypilot:
My heart bleeds for you having to do 0500 starts.
Have a word with HR and may be they can let you start later.
Or even give you your P45 then you can stay in bed all day!And 0500 start are a luxury where i work, if a job has to be done early you get on with it!
We operate 365 days a year & if it requires even Christmas day!!!
While we have drivers like this the job will never improve, most early starts are to get to some firm for when they open instead of last thing the day before. How many early morning crashes could be avoided if drivers had a bit more sleep.
Strange how there’s never any USEFUL statistics around, like “how many fatalities are there due to 84 hour weeks” or “0400 starts” or “dodgy kit because the firm is too skinflint to replace it” etc etc 
The last decade has already seen firms chasing the cheap immigrant labour in order to drive down wages.
Now, in 2013, with the possibility of immigration slowing down or stopping by the end of THIS decade (because the UK has become poorer than the country they come from!) we have the new downward driving force of wages: “Take this job or have your benefits stopped”.
Well, it would have been nice to have been paid enough not to require a top-up in the first place, but where is it all going to end?
A straight-line continuation will see the following in 10 years time:
Most good drivers have retired aged about 70.
Few good drivers are now in their early 30’s.
THere will be a glut of rab-c-nesbitt lookalikes clinging onto their jobs with a “dead man’s shoes” mindset.
Agencies will be campaigned against by the above, to further protect their jobs.
It won’t work, and agency rates will gradually rise, because there is a dearth of drivers that are good insurance risks
Agencies who employ the cheapest instead of the safest go bust in the iterim - kit attrition.
Firms who’ve got away with taking someone on for buttons for stupid hours per week “basic” will continue laughing all the way to the bank, until some “black swan” event like a strong economic upturn or massive drop in fuel price unseats the lot of them all at once…
Today’s big question:
Has there ever been a “Golden Age” for heavy goods drivers? If so, what 5-10 year period would you say it was in history?
We’ve not heard much about the Tanker industry of late… Is this to mindset the rest of us that “You don’t get anything extra for having full ADR” doya think?
mac12:
skypilot:
My heart bleeds for you having to do 0500 starts.
Have a word with HR and may be they can let you start later.
Or even give you your P45 then you can stay in bed all day!And 0500 start are a luxury where i work, if a job has to be done early you get on with it!
We operate 365 days a year & if it requires even Christmas day!!!While we have drivers like this the job will never improve, most early starts are to get to some firm for when they open instead of last thing the day before. How many early morning crashes could be avoided if drivers had a bit more sleep.
what do you mean drivers like this? do you think transport is the only 24/7 job? 
if you have an early start you go to sleep earlier, its really not hard.
and yes its not unusual for me to start at 2am or 3am
If there was a golden age I would say about the mid 1970s.At that time there were no tachos and people were emigrating from this Country.There was a bit of concern about the Asians coming in.
maga:
mac12:
skypilot:
My heart bleeds for you having to do 0500 starts.
Have a word with HR and may be they can let you start later.
Or even give you your P45 then you can stay in bed all day!And 0500 start are a luxury where i work, if a job has to be done early you get on with it!
We operate 365 days a year & if it requires even Christmas day!!!While we have drivers like this the job will never improve, most early starts are to get to some firm for when they open instead of last thing the day before. How many early morning crashes could be avoided if drivers had a bit more sleep.
what do you mean drivers like this? do you think transport is the only 24/7 job?
if you have an early start you go to sleep earlier, its really not hard.
and yes its not unusual for me to start at 2am or 3am
+1
Maga,
I genuinely think, some (including on here…controversial accusation ) do think that they are the only people working at that time of the day.
Even when they are looking out the window at such and such o’clock they cannot “see” the others that are actually working too and not just driving a big shiny lorry!
Nearly all/if not all industries practically work 24/7 shifts normally to serve/aid another industry that is how ours and other countries economies work. You cannot change that due to consumer demand and that demand has been around for centuries not just because of the baby boomer generation etc.
And I don’t mean the man in the street buying a tin can of beans either as a consumer example.
C
truckman20:
just been looking at the vacancies on indeed .co.uk,it does make me laugh when i see in the ad and i quote,EXCITING OPPERTUNITY HAS ARISEN FOR A HGV DRIVER WITH OUR COMPANY,where do these employers get their ideas from,lets face it the average hgv driver like myself goes in at 5 or 6 in the morning [or earlier] probably have a coffee to wake ourselves up get our paperwork, go to the lorry, do the usual checks and away we go,when that happens with me i am so beside myself with excitement its hard to explain,this happens to me everyday when i am working full time,in reality all we want to do is get the job done and get back,park up and go home [except for the blokes who do away all week]but then it must be exciting for them when they wake up, the thought of another day in such an exciting job[NOT]
Agree 100%. Don’t listed to the tank polishing brigade above, they are just greatful to be in a job regardless of the nmw.
terratology:
If you don’t like your job go quit and do something else, no ones making you do it after all and just for the record I still enjoy my job.
+100000000