One of the good things about this forum for me is reading about other drivers experiences ect.
The thing is, when I read about some of the bullcrap that has to be endured whilst working for some of the big outfits, you know the kind of thing.
The monitoring that happens, harsh breaking bla bla bla.
I get ■■■■■■ off when I get delayed now and then, but, I don’t think after being on my own since 1984 I could take it from some snotty gig in a suit talking ■■■■■■■■.
Which company is the the worst?
I imagine DHL would be in the top five.
you know what the worst of it is.
they [zb]ing love it. the more rules and regs, the more memos and training courses, the shiny hi vis whilst sleeping with the missus. they love it.
They’re not all like that, our company track us, but its purely for operational reasons…they never have a go at us for anything unless you’ve been a real idiot…long may that continue, none of that harsh brake bull.
Mutual respect and attitude goes a long way, generally (always the odd fly in the ointment) they get good working standards and customer focused care, we get excellent salaries and conditions, i enjoy going to work, mind you going home later every day is better still… 
I got my O licence issued some 25 years (blimey must be 28) ago but didn’t go through with it, thank goodness as it turned out, my ex of the time would have cleaned me out and i’ve been lucky enough to find lucrative if hard work since, with only the odd glimpse of the crap…could i have made a decent going on otherwise, who knows.
No complaints, other than there are so many incompetent licence holders at the wheels of lorries these days that the job has suffered more than enough, our own fellow licence holders have brought much of the bullshine on us all, by being incompetent and taking the P out of otherwise good jobs.
I monitor my own card and I get harsh braking warnings sometimes, and I’m baffled by them because I can’t recall having braked heavily on any of the occasions I get them.
Erm,harsh braking,what’s that?
bestbooties:
Erm,harsh braking,what’s that?
It’s when your slowing 15mph or more in 3 seconds or less, ridiculous. A lad at our place has been pulled in, he had 36 harsh braking in the month of August 
bestbooties:
Erm,harsh braking,what’s that?
When the analysis is done, any incident of harsh braking is flagged up, like this.
asda used to have vemis system that was the same harsh brake over rev idle time etc etc etc was great when i followed a driver up tebay and he stalled it as he didnt want a ‘bleep’ total ■■■■■■■■ just work out your mpg each day simple!
My employers (Drop it, Hide it, Lose it) are well keen on this sort of thing. Latest wheeze is to pay us a bonus based on “harsh braking” analysis of the tachograph.
In essence, they will ‘bank’ the bonus for each day’s work, then deduct a portion of it for each day where more than a couple of alleged harsh braking incidents are recorded. Can’t remember the cut-off point now.
Thing is, the bonus will only be paid every six months and it’s only 80-100 quid or so anyway, so not much of an incentive.
The annoying thing is that it’s being done in the interests of saving fuel. Which is fair enough, but every single day they ■■■■ away hundreds of pounds, even at our small depot, by planning loads that simply don’t fit on the vehicles, resulting in second runs to deliver one or two pallets or couriers being brought in to take them. They acknowledge this, but appear to do SFA to sort it out. Instead they prefer to penalise the drivers for (possibly) not eking the last few yards out of every gallon of diesel 
Actually that’s not totally true - they say it’s to reduce the cost of accident damage etc, which is [ZB] as almost all of the accident damage is bumps and bashes when manoeuvring at low speeds…
Top 5 should include dhl, wincanton, tesco etc. So much red tape & bs that’s ruined the job, it all equates to less £££ in our pockets & more in those up there that think of all this sort of crap…!
harsh braking, bonus for how you drive? 
thank ■■■■ i drive for a small
outfit dont think i could put up with all the crap.
Harry Monk:
I monitor my own card and I get harsh braking warnings sometimes, and I’m baffled by them because I can’t recall having braked heavily on any of the occasions I get them.
At stobarts Harry, reversing unit onto trailer kingpin constitutes A HARSH BREAK! that’s because THEY DON’T HAVE TO PAY YOUR BONUS FOR THAT DAY! 
Strange but VERY TRUE! 
and the one who takes it off you■■? The depot MANAGER!
Fatboy slimslow:
Harry Monk:
I monitor my own card and I get harsh braking warnings sometimes, and I’m baffled by them because I can’t recall having braked heavily on any of the occasions I get them.At stobarts Harry, reversing unit onto trailer kingpin constitutes A HARSH BREAK!
I can quite believe it, as I said earlier, on none of the occasions that my software has thrown up “harsh braking” warnings have I ever had to brake heavily. It’s my own truck and it’s me who has to pay for the brake re-lines so I take things as gently as possible, but still I get these warnings.
I can’t believe how much this job has gone to ratshit now… 
why not just put some glue in the box that senses the harsh braking? that’ll confuse the pen pushing pricks.
limeyphil:
why not just put some glue in the box that senses the harsh braking? that’ll confuse the pen pushing pricks.
Because your digicard would then be stuck in the tachograph head…
Roymondo:
limeyphil:
why not just put some glue in the box that senses the harsh braking? that’ll confuse the pen pushing pricks.Because your digicard would then be stuck in the tachograph head…
what’s the digi card got to do with it?
limeyphil:
what’s the digi card got to do with it?
The “box that detects the harsh braking” is the tacograph. So if you put glue in said box it won’t fox the pen-pushers but will result in your digicard becoming stuck inside…
I thought the truck had to be fitted with telematics to record such things as harsh braking, over revving and excessive idling?
Nothing at all to do with the tacho as far as I know.
Harry Monk:
Fatboy slimslow:
Harry Monk:
I monitor my own card and I get harsh braking warnings sometimes, and I’m baffled by them because I can’t recall having braked heavily on any of the occasions I get them.At stobarts Harry, reversing unit onto trailer kingpin constitutes A HARSH BREAK!
I can quite believe it, as I said earlier, on none of the occasions that my software has thrown up “harsh braking” warnings have I ever had to brake heavily. It’s my own truck and it’s me who has to pay for the brake re-lines so I take things as gently as possible, but still I get these warnings.
I can’t believe how much this job has gone to ratshit now…
but you are a owner driver who monitors his card to see how your driving, ■■■■■■■ unbeliavble, ratshit indeed 
Driveroneuk:
I thought the truck had to be fitted with telematics to record such things as harsh braking, over revving and excessive idling?Nothing at all to do with the tacho as far as I know.
Over revving and excessive idling, yes. But “harsh braking” is deduced by analysing the speed data from the tachograph, examining the rate at which speed reduces.