Hi im just thinkin to myself how many on ere are actually in the job they always wanted to be in which is trucking ?
It is my dream job but i give it up to chase £££ working in a factory.
Hopefully i can return to it when money isn’t so important later in life.
Yup, all i wanted to do as a kid, have a good, sadly rare these days, job where within reason i’m left alone to get on with it (so long as the job’s done and the customer happy), still enjoy my work.
It was mine when i was a kid and i enjoyed it when i did it but i wouldnt want to do it now
^^^^^^^^This.
I always wanted to do it after going off with my Dsd as a kid,.and with mates when a bit older who took me to all sorts of dens of iniquity on nights out. 
, so I also went down the tramping route…maybe for all the wrong reasons on reflection. 
I loved it at first, the freedom, left alone to do the job, no phones, trackers or any of that b/s, you were your own boss, making your own decisions, using your own initiative, and finding your own way around different areas,.and later on different countries.,.and a good social life chucked in…in fact I loved it so much I bought my own motor.
Thing is for all the aspects I pointed out, it was a totally different job in those days, but the way it has developed over the years into a virtual cluster ■■■■ of a rat race, with ridiculous hours, ran by ‘logistical companies’ employing clowns with non jobs with titles such as ‘compliance managers’, there’s no way in hell it would have the same attraction to me today if I was a young lad just starting out.
robroy:
Thing is for all the aspects I pointed out, it was a totally different job in those days, but the way it has developed over the years into a virtual cluster [zb] of a rat race, with ridiculous hours
It’s always been like that for at least the 27 years I’ve been doing it. And owner drivers are amongst the worst. Drivers chasing to the dock to get loaded before mugger or 6pm knock off, drivers chasing to get to deliveries to be first in the queue in a morning etc. But like the last 27 years I’ve been doing it chasing yourself up your own backside, trying to do the impossible and ridiculous hours are all within control of the driver. There’s a word, it’s simple to spell as it only has two letters and drivers should use it more. That word is no. And if they don’t take notice of it and you feel like your employer is taking the mick then vote with your feet and leave. There’s been a driver shortage as long as I can remember, I don’t even live in an area where there’s a particularly high number of transport companies yet for as long as I’ve held a licence it’s been a case you could quit on Friday and have found work by the end of the following week.
the freedom, left alone to do the job, no phones, trackers or any of that b/s, you were your own boss, making your own decisions, using your own initiative, and finding your own way around different areas,
Trackers aside I have that where I am now and being a FTSE 100 company it’s arguably one that’s going to be the heaviest on the stuff you say you detest. Yet every day I just get given a run sheet, a set of keys and I’m left to do the job, make my own decisions, choose my own routes and I’m never questioned. The only time the tracker comes into anything that I’m ever aware of as the driver is if there’s been a problem and they use it to find who is likely to be the nearest to be able to sort it out. If anything its better with the tracker as it means less phone calls, they’re not just phoning all the drivers they think are going to be in the area or passing on the way back trying to find one who can or will sort it out.
The job is clearly attractive to young people as I see more of them doing it now over the last couple of years than I have for donkeys years since the wages went up and made the job a real alternative to going to university, getting £30k in debt to get a job that pays a lot less. And because they’ve not done it for the past twenty, thirty, forty years and have no prior experience they don’t know it’s not as good as it was, or rather people claim it was as I’d argue there’s a lot of a lot of memory loss and more than a few pairs of rose tinted glasses being worn by many a seasoned driver. They take it as they find it now and as far as I’m concerned there’s a whole lot in this job better than it ever used to be.
Yes love it ,
Luckily have the support of my wife who never complains about nights away or the long hours .I am into my late 50s now and do still enjoy it immensely even though it has changed and not for the better.
However given the opportunities around for youngsters now which weren’t there when I was younger I wouldn’t mind a crack in the sports & leisure field or hospitality.
Would love to be a manager at a top hotel in one of the big cities preferably London or Manchester .
Conor:
robroy:
Thing is for all the aspects I pointed out, it was a totally different job in those days, but the way it has developed over the years into a virtual cluster [zb] of a rat race, with ridiculous hoursIt’s always been like that for at least the 27 years I’ve been doing it. And owner drivers are amongst the worst. Drivers chasing to the dock to get loaded before mugger or 6pm knock off, drivers chasing to get to deliveries to be first in the queue in a morning etc. But like the last 27 years I’ve been doing it chasing yourself up your own backside, trying to do the impossible and ridiculous hours are all within control of the driver. There’s a word, it’s simple to spell as it only has two letters and drivers should use it more. That word is no. And if they don’t take notice of it and you feel like your employer is taking the mick then vote with your feet and leave. There’s been a driver shortage as long as I can remember, I don’t even live in an area where there’s a particularly high number of transport companies yet for as long as I’ve held a licence it’s been a case you could quit on Friday and have found work by the end of the following week.
the freedom, left alone to do the job, no phones, trackers or any of that b/s, you were your own boss, making your own decisions, using your own initiative, and finding your own way around different areas,
Trackers aside I have that where I am now and being a FTSE 100 company it’s arguably one that’s going to be the heaviest on the stuff you say you detest. Yet every day I just get given a run sheet, a set of keys and I’m left to do the job, make my own decisions, choose my own routes and I’m never questioned. The only time the tracker comes into anything that I’m ever aware of as the driver is if there’s been a problem and they use it to find who is likely to be the nearest to be able to sort it out. If anything its better with the tracker as it means less phone calls, they’re not just phoning all the drivers they think are going to be in the area or passing on the way back trying to find one who can or will sort it out.
The job is clearly attractive to young people as I see more of them doing it now over the last couple of years than I have for donkeys years since the wages went up and made the job a real alternative to going to university, getting £30k in debt to get a job that pays a lot less. And because they’ve not done it for the past twenty, thirty, forty years and have no prior experience they don’t know it’s not as good as it was, or rather people claim it was as I’d argue there’s a lot of a lot of memory loss and more than a few pairs of rose tinted glasses being worn by many a seasoned driver. They take it as they find it now and as far as I’m concerned there’s a whole lot in this job better than it ever used to be.
Yep around late 90s was when things started to change for the worse in terms of the job being ran by up their own arse incompetents.
I ain’t looking through rosy specs at the time prior to that either by any means, but from a drivers pov, the job was much better in those days, if only for the fact that you were not constantly monitored, nor micro managed as some are now.
My analysis of how the job has become isn’t an account of how I am treated personally, it was an observation of how many drivers have reported their experiences, rather than my own.
As for your advice on the appropriate use of the word ‘‘NO’’…, you’re preaching to the choir mate, .and neither am I pushed or coerced in the number I presently have either, but that is because I’ve set my own parameters and stuck to them…
No
I always enjoyed the challenge of driving trucks and wanted to do the job before I was old enough to drive.
But driving long distances on out of town routes was at least as important in that.
Ironically now there’s as much if not more chance of doing that driving lighter vehicles.
Or now in my case even car deliveries and movements which I’m enjoying at least as much as the best truck driving jobs I ever had.
Keep seeing loads with “ Living the dream” festooned on their wagons so a lot must be
Uncleskid:
Keep seeing loads with “ Living the dream” festooned on their wagons so a lot must be
It always makes me roll my eyes that,.
Driving a Scania tipper up and down the M6 all week, is certainly not my idea of 'Living the dream 
…some people are too easily pleased.
When I was at school there were two transport cafes within 100 yards. I used to look at the trucks and dream about driving one when I was old enough.
The reality was that I spent a year doing furniture removals from London to the Irish Republic and later multi drop to caterers.
I then worked for a police force as a civilian driver where I obtained my class one, in 1979.
I was made redundant in 1987 having never driven an artic since I passed my test.
I then started work with the Home Office and did casual driving from 1996 til 2001 and retired in 2005 I then did another five years of casual driving from 2008 to 2013.
Throughout this period I earned more not driving than working as a driver.
I agree 100% conor veey open an good points i think this is the golden era ragards the tools an machinary used to get the job done but above that is the wages, there is masive salarys in the industry now an very little negatives to the job very good career and the world will forever more need truckers. Nice to get a reply back from someone real that tells the truth then the plebs ere complainin that its not wat it used to be and negative to the end etc its rubbish and im tired of listenin to most of the gits on here complainin about how hard they have it ffs the jobs a dream nowdays an if u not well to do from this career money wise well then thats your own fault and are stupid ■■■■■ to begin with. My last word to the real on ere is keep on truckin an #MAKETHATMIL
Welcome back btw.
^^^^^^^^^
Well spotted, I was a bit slow there mate.
Trick r truck:
I agree 100% conor veey open an good points i think this is the golden era ragards the tools an machinary used to get the job done but above that is the wages, there is masive salarys in the industry now an very little negatives to the job very good career and the world will forever more need truckers. Nice to get a reply back from someone real that tells the truth then the plebs ere complainin that its not wat it used to be and negative to the end etc its rubbish and im tired of listenin to most of the gits on here complainin about how hard they have it ffs the jobs a dream nowdays an if u not well to do from this career money wise well then thats your own fault and are stupid [zb] to begin with. My last word to the real on ere is keep on truckin an #MAKETHATMIL
Multi threads in a short time, all of the same or a similar theme.
Grossly exaggerated atrocious spelling…(that miraculously improves in a couple of other posts and threads)
Childlike grammar.
Disproportionately confident to the time he’s been on.(or how long he’s perceived to have been on here)
Gobby with insults,.again considering how long he’s been on…and very fluent in the ancient dialect of ■■■■■■■■…hmmmmm
Obviously a genuine poster… aye right.
As Maoster says…'‘Welcome back’. 
The return of The sock puppet.
robroy:
^^^^^^^^^
Well spotted, I was a bit slow there mate.Trick r truck:
I agree 100% conor veey open an good points i think this is the golden era ragards the tools an machinary used to get the job done but above that is the wages, there is masive salarys in the industry now an very little negatives to the job very good career and the world will forever more need truckers. Nice to get a reply back from someone real that tells the truth then the plebs ere complainin that its not wat it used to be and negative to the end etc its rubbish and im tired of listenin to most of the gits on here complainin about how hard they have it ffs the jobs a dream nowdays an if u not well to do from this career money wise well then thats your own fault and are stupid [zb] to begin with. My last word to the real on ere is keep on truckin an #MAKETHATMILMulti threads in a short time, all of the same or a similar theme.
Grossly exaggerated atrocious spelling…(that miraculously improves in a couple of other posts and threads)
Childlike grammar.
Disproportionately confident to the time he’s been on.(or how long he’s perceived to have been on here)
Gobby with insults,.again considering how long he’s been on…and very fluent in the ancient dialect of ■■■■■■■■…hmmmmm
Obviously a genuine poster… aye right.
As Maoster says…'‘Welcome back’.
The return of The sock puppet.
U got it “THATS ME” .
Used to love the days of the long distance European work but it’s just a means to an end now, earning and saving money in the Winter so I can spend the Summer out narrowboating. Won’t be driving a truck for at least four months now.
Never dreamed of being a lorry driver, just fell into the job as I was working as a loader and then a shunter so got my license for the sake of it really.
It works for me so probably going to do it for some years to come, passed when I was 21 and 34 now so closer to the beginning then the end ha.
To be fair I’m happy with my lot, I’m in Spain now on my way to France then onto southern Germany before going home this weekend coming. Wouldn’t suit everyone I realise but I like getting about.