…all seem to know each other, park how they feel in msa’s & then every flip flop in a car comes to see them & then start either cooking, wheeler dealing out the car or all crawl around each others trailers !!! Funny bunch.
Yeah i was at Thurrock MSA a few weeks ago one afternoon and there was a few of the flip flop lot there all chatting and then a GB registered car turned up 2 lads got out the car with some stuff in Aldi bags gave them to the flip flopppers they had a quick ■■■ and the car shot off i wonder what that was all about. 
Thats where I am tonight & there’s been plenty of coming & going with cars & plastic bags !! & a total tool has obviously decided he’s ok to park in a spot that blocks access to get out !!
I was told by a talkative EE driver that as there away for so long the company/agent has men about Europe that take drivers there supplies, used to see it a lot when I was doing Spain and a battered up old merc car would turn up and supplies would appear for the said flip floppers…it always looked strange to me… if I’m wrong and he was telling me porkies I apologise and I will stand corrected. 
It’s probably something that’s largely died out amongst “professional” British truckers; sticking with your mates and helping them out.
Sidevalve:
It’s probably something that’s largely died out amongst “professional” British truckers; sticking with your mates and helping them out.
Many times I have parked up and spotted another Brit registered truck, and wandered over, got a brew or a beer, and had guys do it to me, I have also had agents turn up in cars with takeaway food or a crate of beer to apologise that the problem with the paperwork is going to take a while - nothing in the original OP is something that we Brits didnt do when abroad
Its was a regular thing , especially with the Brits and Dutch that we would in the services when weekended set up a BBQ hang washing between the trucks , and get piled into a few beverages, no one batted an eyelid , You know, exactly what you are seeing happening now in the UK- we did it too all over Europe, and to be honest I would go back and do it again tomorrow, some of the best nights I have had have been “al fresco”
Rikki-UK:
Sidevalve:
It’s probably something that’s largely died out amongst “professional” British truckers; sticking with your mates and helping them out.Many times I have parked up and spotted another Brit registered truck, and wandered over, got a brew or a beer, and had guys do it to me, I have also had agents turn up in cars with takeaway food or a crate of beer to apologise that the problem with the paperwork is going to take a while - nothing in the original OP is something that we Brits didnt do when abroad
Its was a regular thing , especially with the Brits and Dutch that we would in the services when weekended set up a BBQ hang washing between the trucks , and get piled into a few beverages, no one batted an eyelid , You know, exactly what you are seeing happening now in the UK- we did it too all over Europe, and to be honest I would go back and do it again tomorrow, some of the best nights I have had have been “al fresco”
One decent guy on the topic you are 
So many times I have stopped outside a factory, especially in Italy, to wait overnight for loading the next day. Soon one or two other British would appear, then a Dutchman or three, throw in a belgian and a Spaniard and soon the ‘camion stew’ was in the pot, the beers broken out where we would sit , eat and drink way into the early hours in the warm summer night air…and get bitten to death by the mossies Happy days.
If you notice they all shake hands like they know each other. They often dont. Its called comradeship and a like interest. When I started as a green driver 27 years ago if you stopped at a delivery and another trucker was there you would pass the time of day. You would flash lorries that passed you on the same route everyday. You would let cars out. You wouldnt ever dream of jumping a queue. You’d talk to another driver work out who was waiting for where and slot in. I know the yan brigade will hammer this as sentimental tosh but I can honestly say when I first passed my test I received nothing but help and encouragement. The yard I worked at I was a 7.5 ton driver and they put me through my class 2. I immediately got a drive on passing my test and everyone was helpful. I then went on to pay for my own class 1 and left the company two years later (I wouldnt have left earlier as I felt I owed them) They did offer me trunking from their Cornwall depot but I didnt want to be away. We left with a handshake and an offer of a job if I ever wanted to go back.
I returned to driving 18 months ago. Daily I get trucks on the motorway that I am a few miles an hour faster so you overtake. As soon as you draw level they put their foot down and strand you - why? People jumping queues and thinking they are clever. I did a beet run a while back (my First) I hadnt tipped it all to my horror so I asked another driver what do I do and his reply was to laugh and say " you got more left on than you tipped you ■■■■■■" Filling up at a fuel station and you are opposite someone and apart by about 3 ft and they dont even look in your eyes or communicate. ■■■■ anything up and there is always a “brother in arms” videoing you on his bloody phone. Just a quick look on Youtube and you can see they are all fellow drivers. Moaning about driving when most people are in fantastic trucks. All auto, most air conned some drivers could go to work in a suit and come home clean. And you think they are strange.
A post on here recently when the TM phoned and asked someone to change a shift because someone was ill. He said no. And you wonder why the TM then gets ar$ey. He has a job to0.
Progress - nah going backwards in my view. I await the usual assination of this post.
Midlifetrucker - think your right on all counts. I’m sure some will come an argue your wrong though.
Its was a regular thing , especially with the Brits and Dutch that we would in the services when weekended set up a BBQ hang washing between the trucks , and get piled into a few beverages, no one batted an eyelid , You know, exactly what you are seeing happening now in the UK- we did it too all over Europe, and to be honest I would go back and do it again tomorrow, some of the best nights I have had have been “al fresco”
[/quote]
them was the days you could write a book of the stories told sat round them barby’s lol
really good memories
totally agree with Midlifetrucker life on the road was better back then
Good post this.I rang the police to say a Polish truck was parked up for over two weeks.And the cab curtains were half over each time i saw the truck.Thinking the driver had died or taken ill.Cops rang the firm in Poland and the truck had broken down and the driver was stsying with the Polish community in the town while waiting for psrts or a mechanic to come over so maybe the foreign drivers in the Uk have family and friends in the Uk.
them was the days you could write a book of the stories told sat round them barby’s lol
They made a tv series about it.
Destination Doha.
A lot of the east Europeans know each other from their homelands, and with the onus of the mobile phone, theyre not that far away, another interesting point is the fact that ciggies and booze are a far lot cheaper in the E/B, than they are over here, so a lot of supplies reach these shores at half the price, thank you very much.
The Foreign flip flop brigade as you refer, was a trend started by the brits, when on overseas duty, the same as light flashing, funny how things catch on.
Boo9729:
Midlifetrucker - think your right on all counts. I’m sure some will come an argue your wrong though.
Agree to that - I’ll happily chat away to other drivers wherever - but I think some aren’t capable of stringing the words together that constitutes a conversation!
And I’ll always help the best I can if needed - it’s not big and it’s not clever to act like a ■■■■■
I lost a potential job to flip flopper 24yrs me 47 1991 class 1 pass date, i did,nt get job cause flip flopper tested me what a kin joke. i bet one of his flip flopper mates got the gig ■■■■■■ joke.
Sidevalve:
It’s probably something that’s largely died out amongst “professional” British truckers; sticking with your mates and helping them out.
Spot on. They’ve got it right and we’ve got it wrong in this respect in my opinion.
switchlogic:
Sidevalve:
It’s probably something that’s largely died out amongst “professional” British truckers; sticking with your mates and helping them out.Spot on. They’ve got it right and we’ve got it wrong in this respect in my opinion.
Very well said. Too many ‘new age’ drivers in Britain these days who’ve never done a great deal in their driving career other than agency work for ‘blue chip’ companies on day work or night trunks and think they’re the dogs boolarks and look down from the blue chip, shiney boot, pressed trouser and clean vis-vest tower of self righteousness and perceived superiority at those Eastern Europeans or whoever else who are making the best of a difficult job, a job that many of their own countrymen from the UK were doing in the not so distant past and a few still are.
lost:
I lost a potential job to flip flopper 24yrs me 47 1991 class 1 pass date, i did,nt get job cause flip flopper tested me what a kin joke. i bet one of his flip flopper mates got the gig [zb] joke.
Are you sure it wasnt at the attitude test where you lost it??
So the boss man completely turns this thread around. Nice move…
I agree with him and everyone who’s agreed too. I spent a good few years over the water and it was, as said, the way we did it, but it was also the way it was done here too.
Another lorry parked in the same place as you, or tipping/loading in the same place and the driver was your new mate, see the same lorry on the same road and after a week or so you’d wave to each other.
You also knew who was heavy by the firm they were driving for and you’d keep out of their way at the bottom of an uphill stretch so they could get a run at it.
Then there was the sharing of knowledge (& the story telling) when you got a couple of drivers together.
We stopped doing it, the ‘flip flops’ carried on doing it and while we go to the dogs, they go from strength to strength, coincidence or not…