Hi guys!
I am Johny Foreigner.
Done my PCV licence in GB.
This is a reason why I know what the Hard Shoulder is used for!
99% of foreigners simply have no idea when you ask them!
This is not excuse anyway, just an answer on your question!
.
Mario 
Zanfta:
Hi guys!
I am Johny Foreigner.
Done my PCV licence in GB.
This is a reason why I know what the Hard Shoulder is used for!
99% of foreigners simply have no idea when you ask them!
This is not excuse anyway, just an answer on your question!
.
Mario
That is no excuse or an answer,before you enter a country you should know the rules of the landâŚWhen in Rome etc
Thereâs no reason for this and no excuse.
Whatâs the harm of pulling or a motorway and finding a road or lay by to park up in? whatâs good about sleeping on the M25?
mickyblue:
Thereâs no reason for this and no excuse.Whatâs the harm of pulling or a motorway and finding a road or lay by to park up in? whatâs good about sleeping on the M25?
Just for arguments sake, IGNORING THE LEGALITY aspect for a moment, and coming from a common sense (or lack of common sense 
) point of view, what is worse parking on a M25 slip road or parking in a narrow lay by, that is so dangerous that the knobs who regularly do it , feel it necessary to pull their mirrors in 
, think I would take the slip road to be the safer bet.
robroy:
mickyblue:
Thereâs no reason for this and no excuse.Whatâs the harm of pulling or a motorway and finding a road or lay by to park up in? whatâs good about sleeping on the M25?
Just for arguments sake, IGNORING THE LEGALITY aspect for a moment, and coming from a common sense (or lack of common sense
Fair point but not being on the M25 is safer? and there mainly parking on hard shoulder slightly away from lane 1 making it no difference to parking in a layby of a A road
roadrunner:
I would imagine East European drivers carry very little cash if any at all, they all seem to self cater, they all have huge endurance fuel tanks so donât buy fuel. So its down to red tape and bureaucracy to extract any fines if the driver speaks poor english, so i guess its not financially viable for VOSA in terms of time vs money extraction , when there are many more financially viable UK drivers to fine. Or âLine of least resistanceâ . you might say
The obvious answer is for VOSA to make up foreign nationals into officers, who not only will speak whatever language is required, but are authorised to fine no-payee-eenglish drivers in diesel, seeing as theyâve got such large tanks to evade paying tax over here to boot. 
Perhaps Customs officials could dip their tanks a bit more often too!
Perhaps one day weâll have a government with a backbone thatâll enforce the law across the entire populace as it was originally intendedâŚ
mickyblue:
Fair point but not being on the M25 is safer? and there mainly parking on hard shoulder slightly away from lane 1 making it no difference to parking in a layby of a A road
Ok Mickey. So youâve come off the boat in Calais, youâve headed into Belgium and get as far as Brussels, youâve about run out of time on the ring road and youâve never had to park anywhere near there before so you donât have a clue about truckstops or if there are any laybys on roads leading off the ring roadâŚwhere are you going to park? Whats that I hear you say? You dont know? Surely Johnny Englishman knows everything and has an encyclopedic knowledge of every parking opportunity hardwired in to their brain like âJohnny Foreignerâ is supposed to have. In your hypothetical case youâd be alright because there are FREE services both sides of Brussels with plenty of parking unless you get there really late. Most people on here from what I can gather have never driven in Europe before and appear to have UK parking paid for by their company, how can those people judge âJohnny Foreignerâ when their circumstances are in no way comparable. Their parking in unsuitable places are only the consequence of the inaction of our government. Theyâre the symptom, not the cause.
NewLad:
I agree that there is a lack of cheap/free parking, Iâll even agree that there are very few places to park inside the M25 for a brake nevermind a rest, but you canât tell me that on a Friday night the services of Medway , London Gateway or Thurrock were full, I know for a fact Medway wasnât, I was there and it was neigh on empty!I know it cost a lot to park especially if your here for 10 days but all these things should be priced into jobs (by every haulier), or it should be costed in that the driver needs 30 mins to find a safe and LEGAL place to park. This is why the British haulier canât compete, because we canât have 9-11 hrs off on the M25 (not that I would want to mind).
Iâm not very old compared to many drivers @27 but I have been told many a tale from the old boys about doing Europe and the Far East and having ârunning moneyâ, does this not happen any more then?
Youâre talking about the good old days when there was money in haulage. You cannot compare a modern day Polish or Romanian driver to a British run from the 90s who had running money and happy times. These guys earn peanuts and their companies certainly do not give them hundreds of Euroâs of running money and they certainly do not pay for parking. The reason the good old days of British trucks making a living on the continent is at an end is because we simply cannot compete against this. That is another issue though and its not the fault of the individual driver any more than the lack of parking in the UK is your responsibiliy personally because youâre British.
Whether where they park is legal or not isnât the issue here. In their circumstances they have two options. 1 is to continue and hope they find somewhere to park, and in doing so go over their time, this will show on their tacho, there is no chance it wont, and if they get pulled in many other EU countries it will be a fine regardless of the reasons and again, they can ill afford it. Option 2 is to take a chance of parking somewhere inappropriate, they probably know its illegal but it offers better odds as far as prosecution are concerned, if they get moved on its no worse than option 1, if they get away with it their tacho is clean and they will not be suffering persecution for it in other countries within the next few weeks.
Drivers being forced to take breaks/daily rests by law and then due to physical circumstances, ie nowhere to actually park, or financial circumstances in the UK canât actually afford to park in â â â â Turpins lorry park is the problem here.
Out of interest, if you do actually stop in a services at night, do you pay for it yourself and not get reimbursed? ÂŁ30 for a British driver each night would make being nighted out financially pointless in my opinion, but to âJohnny Foreignerâ it would represent a much larger chunk of his wage. ÂŁ30 a night to us would probably be like ÂŁ100 per night for them in comparison to what they earn. Are you seriously suggesting they foot the bill for parking personally? Hungarian Warberer drivers are reckoned to be on ââÂŹ1200 per month which works out at little more than ÂŁ250 per week before tax. If you were earning that for being away weeks on end, and supporting a family, how are you going to afford ÂŁ30 per night parking in the UK and fines in Belgium, Germany, France, Spain etc that can easily run in to the several hundreds or thousands?
When you look at the bigger picture logically its no wonder they park where they do. Doing UK only work, getting paid hundreds of pounds per week more than they do, possibly getting parking paid by your company and knowing that any minor tacho offences you do rack up in your UK only job will never result in prosecution perhaps clouds over the judgement of the average UK driver here.
The whole situation â â â â â , its bad theyâre so cheap and we canât compete against them but thats not the fault of the individual drivers you see parked at night, they are merely pawns in the same game that we all are.
robinhood_1984:
mickyblue:
Fair point but not being on the M25 is safer? and there mainly parking on hard shoulder slightly away from lane 1 making it no difference to parking in a layby of a A roadOk Mickey. So youâve come off the boat in Calais, youâve headed into Belgium and get as far as Brussels, youâve about run out of time on the ring road and youâve never had to park anywhere near there before so you donât have a clue about truckstops or if there are any laybys on roads leading off the ring roadâŚwhere are you going to park? Whats that I hear you say? You dont know? Surely Johnny Englishman knows everything and has an encyclopedic knowledge of every parking opportunity hardwired in to their brain like âJohnny Foreignerâ is supposed to have. In your hypothetical case youâd be alright because there are FREE services both sides of Brussels with plenty of parking unless you get there really late. Most people on here from what I can gather have never driven in Europe before and appear to have UK parking paid for by their company, how can those people judge âJohnny Foreignerâ when their circumstances are in no way comparable. Their parking in unsuitable places are only the consequence of the inaction of our government. Theyâre the symptom, not the cause.
So your telling me you do a 14h 45min day before you try and find a place to park?
Robinhood mate, you are wasting your time trying to point out the plight of Foreign drivers to some on here. If a truck has different plates on with the wheel on the wrong side, the driver is âJohnny Foreignerâ (mostly by a lot of the ignorant narrow minded UK only drivers in this country who need their sat navs to find their own arses ) whether he is either Dutch or Romanian (said examples being at the opposite ends of the social-scale spectrum )
I have been at the receiving end of a lot of abuse myself while driving Dutch and Belgian plated trucks in the UK. Whenever I retaliated in an English accent these knobs always backed down with shock, saying âSorry mate I didnât realise you were a Britâ as if the abuse was ok if I had been Dutch or Belgian . You often see them watching a foreigner struggle to back in somewhere and taking the â â â â , rather than watch them in,⌠â â â â â â knob heads the lot of them!
If a Foreign co is doing a job cheaper than a UK co. for whatever reason it aint the fault of the driver, so have a pop at the Politicians, because in my eyes a driver is a fellow driver whatever his nationality, and if some of these stars are brave enough to leave the UK they become the foreigener, but without the hostility.
my opinions are nothing to do with the fact there not British, just got to love the fact that people use that line.
Let me chuck this point in,
As you all know I have started to driving all over the UK. I am going to places I never been before and I do nights out when needed. Now I have to find a place to park up in a area I never been to, or know what it offers. So what is the difference between me not knowing the area and a non English motor not knowing the area?
Mickyblue I would have thought the difference is that there is a faint possibility that you actually speak English allowing you to enquire from a yokel directions to a parking area.
hard shoulders are for emergency vehicles to use when people are in troubleâŚnot for foreign haulage firms to use as free parking.
I think this gets discussed every week,
We know why they park on the hard shoulder, because of the risk of heavy fines from authorities that donât understand or care about them being stuck in traffic in the UK and because its done in many places in europe Europe. Iâm in Italy at the moment and they have pull ins on the motorway every few miles along with plenty of service areas, and the distance from the Austrian, hungarian border to Budapest is about the same as London to Birmingham, but there is something like 15 service areas and quite a few rest areas between and far less traffic, how many service area on the M40? 4 or 5 maybe?
Most of the lack of enforcement has nothing to do with favourable treatment, but the fact the police and HATO donât really patrol the network, but more respond to call outs, its all about saving money.
As for knowing all the rules and regs of the country youâre driving in, well youâre probably right, and I try and keep informed, but I bet I donât know all the rules and regs of all the countries I drive through.
mickyblue:
my opinions are nothing to do with the fact there not British, just got to love the fact that people use that line.Let me chuck this point in,
As you all know I have started to driving all over the UK. I am going to places I never been before and I do nights out when needed. Now I have to find a place to park up in a area I never been to, or know what it offers. So what is the difference between me not knowing the area and a non English motor not knowing the area?
The average truck arriving from the continent may well have waited hours to get on the ferry, across on the ferry, and by the time they arrive in Kent they have not got enough time to get far enough north of London to actually stand a chance of finding parking.
Perhaps you can help us all out here and compose a list of all the places that you personally park in Kent and around the M25 because Iâm British and I certainly dont know of much, a list of free parking, laybys, industrial estates without parking restrictions etc would be great.
My last company in the UK didnât even pay for parking so Iâd be in the same boat as âJohnny Foreignerâ if I got held up in the SE and then faced the problem of trying to park down there. If I were doing a UK only job it wouldnât bother me too much, Iâd just continue driving, but as weâve already established a thousand times before, the consequences for them, unlike a UK only truck are huge fines.
robroy:
Robinhood mate, you are wasting your time trying to point out the plight of Foreign drivers to some on here. If a truck has different plates on with the wheel on the wrong side, the driver is âJohnny Foreignerâ (mostly by a lot of the ignorant narrow minded UK only drivers in this country who need their sat navs to find their own arses
I have been at the receiving end of a lot of abuse myself while driving Dutch and Belgian plated trucks in the UK. Whenever I retaliated in an English accent these knobs always backed down with shock, saying âSorry mate I didnât realise you were a Britâ as if the abuse was ok if I had been Dutch or Belgian
If a Foreign co is doing a job cheaper than a UK co. for whatever reason it aint the fault of the driver, so have a pop at the Politicians, because in my eyes a driver is a fellow driver whatever his nationality, and if some of these stars are brave enough to leave the UK they become the foreigener, but without the hostility.
Very true, but I like to put my point across none the less. Iâve had idiots shouting at me in slow pidgin English just because I turned up wearing a t-shirt, shorts and sandals in the summer. I always get an apology afterwards with a âSorry mate, thought you were Polishâ or the like.
I certainly dont like the situation weâre in with regards the eastern European competition that due to politics leave us unable to participate in our own economy but as youâve said, that has absolutely nothing to do with the driver of the trucks in question.
Theyâre doing a job in very difficult circumstances that many of the petty minded on here could never do. The only reason we Britâs who do or did go abroad were not in the same situation on a regular basis is purely because they do tend to have proper free parking over there, had they not, weâd have done the same in the fear of such fines. Iâve parked on the entry slip road to Capellen services in Luxembourg on many a night after running up from Swiss. Johnny Englishmen eh, they think they can do as they wish.
mickyblue:
So your telling me you do a 14h 45min day before you try and find a place to park?
No, and Iâve never had 1 single infringement on a digital tacho because I always plan ahead but the best planning in the world cannot prevent ferry delays and what the M25 has to offer. You could have 3 hours left and still run out of time due to grid-lock and a complete absence of parking.
posted too early
robinhood_1984:
mickyblue:
So your telling me you do a 14h 45min day before you try and find a place to park?No, and Iâve never had 1 single infringement on a digital tacho because I always plan ahead but the best planning in the world cannot prevent ferry delays and what the M25 has to offer. You could have 3 hours left and still run out of time due to grid-lock and a complete absence of parking.
IMO there is a massive difference between breaking the law by being stuck in traffic on the M25 and going over your time to find a safe and legal place to park, than WILLINGLY parking illegally on a motorway to prevent an infringement on your card that would have been no fault of your own.
I parked up at 1645 on Friday night, I was legal to drive until 1800 and was asked to get as far back as possible, I knew the M25 at Dartford was ZBed, so I told my planners that I wasnât going any further. That is what IMO a professional does to ensure they donât get an infringement, however if I had got my licence by towing a caravan behind a horse in Bulgeria, I would drive to the limit and park it anywhere, because âme noâa speakâa Englishhhhâ and â â â â the consequences. If there no capable of driving legally in a forigne country then donât do it.
I know Iâm not good enough nor confident enough to do Euro work (I would love to do it) but having only been driving HGVâs for just over a year I know I would come unstuck.
Edit - and if I had to do Euro work or lose my job I would make sure I am a little bit clued up on the rules and regs of the countries I would be driving in. Ignorance is not an excuse.
NewLad:
IMO there is a massive difference between breaking the law by being stuck in traffic on the M25 and going over your time to find a safe and legal place to park, than WILLINGLY parking illegally on a motorway to prevent an infringement on your card that would have been no fault of your own.I parked up at 1645 on Friday night, I was legal to drive until 1800 and was asked to get as far back as possible, I knew the M25 at Dartford was ZBed, so I told my planners that I wasnât going any further. That is what IMO a professional does to ensure they donât get an infringement, however if I had got my licence by towing a caravan behind a horse in Bulgeria, I would drive to the limit and park it anywhere, because âme noâa speakâa Englishhhhâ and [zb] the consequences. If there no capable of driving legally in a forigne country then donât do it.
I know Iâm not good enough nor confident enough to do Euro work (I would love to do it) but having only been driving HGVâs for just over a year I know I would come unstuck.
You may think there is a big difference between your two scenarioâs, I may know it, Vosa may know it, but many EU countries dont give a â â â â and these drivers are not merely fearing Vosa like you are, theyâre fearing every single equivillent authority of every country they drive through.
What if where you parked at 1645 was already full? what if you didnât start until later in the day and still had 5 hours left? what if your company didnât pay for parking and you didnât know which exits had nearby laybyâs or industrial estates? the list could go on. Britain is a disgrance for parking. You fear becoming unstuck because youâre not ready for European work. All these âJohnny Foreignersâ are guilty of here is coming unstuck because theyâre not prepared for our countries disgraceful approach to HGV parking and subsequent road safety and theyâre not familar with the area so they dont know where the little hidden out of the way parking places are.
As for not being good enough to do Euro work, thatâs not necessarily true. I passed my test at 21 and was doing weekly trips to Swiss and Germany by 22 and in Canada by 25. Your as good or as bad as you want to be. Its all about mentality and motiviation to do what you want to do. Many a driver in the 80s and 90s passed their tests and the next week went straight on European work as thats all that was available to them. If and when you do decide to try and get in to that line of work, you will understand where Iâm coming from with this.