robinhood_1984:
Mike-C:
mickyblue:
say 2 to 1 hour before time is up start thinking about parking.Hard to argue with that. Thats what anyone with a brain would do.
Thinking about parking and getting stuck on the M25 for hours and running out of time in situ as a consequence are very different things.
But parking on the M25 IS SAFE? 
mickyblue:
Two things my little hero,I am not a jobsworth, donāt know where you got that from but I prefer to plan ahead and have a plan a and b sorted, but in your little world your telling me that you drive along knowing your time is nearly up and you donāt start to think about where to park? thatās what I am getting at. I am not on about hold ups etc because thatās part of the job but I fail to see heroās like yourself not thinking, say 2 to 1 hour before time is up start thinking about parking.
I fail to see āBeing non Englishā gives it a OK to park up on a hard shoulder of a busy motorway but hey lets end it here.
Honestly Micky, you havenāt got a clue. I may at some stage employ drivers to do international journeys but there is no way I would ever employ you because I just know you would be on the phone every five minutes whining that āIt isnāt like it is in England, Boss! What should I do?ā
To which Iād reply āI donāt know, Iām 2,000 miles away. Havenāt you got some initiative you can use?ā although of course Iād already know the answerā¦
robinhood_1984:
Mike-C:
mickyblue:
say 2 to 1 hour before time is up start thinking about parking.Hard to argue with that. Thats what anyone with a brain would do.
Thinking about parking and getting stuck on the M25 for hours and running out of time in situ as a consequence are very different things.
Iād agree. In general its no problem to find a suitable parking place if you plan ahead. Also as per the OPās post and what youāve saidā¦there can be a bad hold or up road closure and if as you describe the M25 has been closed off for hours and drivers are stuck then they will turn and blind eye and allow such parking on hard shoulders. This might answer the OPās question,who knows?
But as we both say, thinking about parking gets you parked. Getting stuck in a RTA etc doesnāt.
Good example that incident at dartford crossing nothing no one can do and there was lots of trucks uk and euro reg that were parked up nothing you can do but the amount of euro motors you see taking a 45 during normal traffic during The day looks like its a case of drive for 4.29 and stop where that is.
Iām just impressed that some seem to have the luxury of looking to park up 1-2 hours before the end of their shift. Well done you, and the company you work for.
Iām lucky in that, Iām often not chasi g my arse, but still prefer to get as far as poss each shift, just in case the unexpected happens on the 2nd/3rd/4thā¦shift.
It often has over the years.
chilistrucker:
Iām just impressed that some seem to have the luxury of looking to park up 1-2 hours before the end of their shift.
Me too! 
In all honesty I think Mickyblue still has his Police head on and is going to face a very steep learning curve if he ever wants to make it as a truck driver.
Harry Monk:
chilistrucker:
Iām just impressed that some seem to have the luxury of looking to park up 1-2 hours before the end of their shift.Me too!
In all honesty I think Mickyblue still has his Police head on and is going to face a very steep learning curve if he ever wants to make it as a truck driver.
I reckon it would be 50/50 easy for guys who aint got a clue where theyāre going to stop Vās guys who know exactly where theyāre going to go. To be fair we have our fair share of UK drivers who donāt even know how to get where theyāre going never mind where theyāre going to stop.
chilistrucker:
Iām just impressed that some seem to have the luxury of looking to park up 1-2 hours before the end of their shift. Well done you, and the company you work for.
Iām lucky in that, Iām often not chasi g my arse, but still prefer to get as far as poss each shift, just in case the unexpected happens on the 2nd/3rd/4thā¦shift.
It often has over the years.
+1! Iām UK only, but my firm does a lot of over the water work. One reason I donāt go over the water is that I donāt fancy having a day like today (4:40 to get from Reading to Deptford and back again to park up) and then in three weeks time having a Gendarme say to me āIs problem Monsieur, 300 Euro Sāil vous plais!ā At least if Vostapo pull me I can argue my case - over there itās pay up or get locked up!
EVERY Euro driver I know is worried about going over by a single minute - because they donāt get the slack that we do. If Iām on a changeover down towards Dover and get stuck, I canāt park on the M25 - BUT I wonāt get my trousers pulled down if I have to go half an hour over my time to find a safe parking space.
UK drivers who run abroad all say itās better than running UK because of parking and attitudes. So just imagine what it must be like for drivers who are used to the European way of working coming to this ā ā ā ā -poor ā ā ā ā holeā¦
I still go to plenty of places that I donāt know.so if Iām on a 4 or 5 day trip between gigs, Iāll try and make the most of each day as I go, just to give me a buffer on the last day incase I need it.
20 odd years of this job, has taught me that this often pays dividends.
daleyboy:
Will:
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!
.
MarioThat is no excuse or an answer,before you enter a country you should know the rules of the landā¦When in Rome etc
And yet just a few posts up you were getting fined because you didnāt know that you canāt park in an sos bay in France.
When in Rome etc
Yes this is what I was getting at,its time that we started dishing out penaltys for parking on the hard shoulder,no ifs or buts 
How many UK drivers know that you cannot park in a layby in France that has an S O S phone with no yellow lines 
& I do not mean phone lines 
While it may not be tomaz or bogdan behind the wheels fault and we csnt blame him for not wanting to spend a months wages in a fine the whole situation is part or the cause why the uk haulage industury is suffering.
Im sure the gendames and gauardia civil dont give them no leeway like they dont any UK drivers who can still get across the channel
To me its simple, If they cant afford to operate on the same terms as UK operators, then dont come here and operate at all. As for the fines for infringements being alot larger on the continent than here, well the same apllies to british operators going to the continent, and you dont see them parked on the hardshoulders here, and the police should just tow them and park them up til the fine is paid. then the playing field might be leveled a bit. It not the drivers fualt, but until his company is inconvenienced it wont get changed.
As for eu trucks parking at newark cattle market for free just so the police dont have to chase up diesel/load theft well that is wrong. they have to pay, like us, and if they get their deisel/load nicked thats is the price for cutting the job down to a rate where uk hauliers cant compete.
The fact that few seem to take on board is that these operators are cutting uk operators throats, and when weāve been put on the scrap heap for a Ā£50 a day bulgarian weāll be complaining about that.
The east europe hauliers allready have a wage cost base advantage, if they cant use that to make their operations pay then they will have price higher and risk losing the work. the same as happened to uk hauliers
Spot on
Despite the recession, thereās never been as many trucks on the roads as there are now.
Problem is, two thirds of them are foreign. 
Levelling the playing field would therefore roughly DOUBLE the number of driving jobs in the UK overnight, because half would desist, and leave, whilst some more determined foreign firms (like Nobbys) would start setting up more yards over here IF there was a level playing field.
Strangely, no MP ever seems to ask for my vote, considering Iām a floating voter worth asking AND can be sold to with a decent policy such as this post suggestsā¦ 
Harry Monk:
mickyblue:
Two things my little hero,I am not a jobsworth, donāt know where you got that from but I prefer to plan ahead and have a plan a and b sorted, but in your little world your telling me that you drive along knowing your time is nearly up and you donāt start to think about where to park? thatās what I am getting at. I am not on about hold ups etc because thatās part of the job but I fail to see heroās like yourself not thinking, say 2 to 1 hour before time is up start thinking about parking.
I fail to see āBeing non Englishā gives it a OK to park up on a hard shoulder of a busy motorway but hey lets end it here.
Honestly Micky, you havenāt got a clue. I may at some stage employ drivers to do international journeys but there is no way I would ever employ you because I just know you would be on the phone every five minutes whining that āIt isnāt like it is in England, Boss! What should I do?ā
To which Iād reply āI donāt know, Iām 2,000 miles away. Havenāt you got some initiative you can use?ā although of course Iād already know the answerā¦
What is it with you with the little attacks? when people donāt agree, you reply like a child, why is that? is it hard to try and explain things to someone rather then reply with posts like that.
Also why would I want to work for you, now come on, Really? but it would help if you give me the āClueā as I fail to see why a so called Professional driver like yourself is unable to plan ahead?
Harry Monk:
chilistrucker:
Iām just impressed that some seem to have the luxury of looking to park up 1-2 hours before the end of their shift.Me too!
In all honesty I think Mickyblue still has his Police head on and is going to face a very steep learning curve if he ever wants to make it as a truck driver.
Keep going little fella 
Been a while since I left the police, and itās been 10 months now as a Lorry Driver. I donāt have this āPolice headā as you call it, and ā ā ā ā knows why I need to have one of those when all I am doing is driving a āLorryā and talking about parking up on the M25 hard shoulder where it is NOT safe at all. Why the ā ā ā ā would I need a āPolice headā for that? a normal person would see it is not safe at all.
How I see it. I see drivers without a reason park up for the night on a busy motorway hard shoulder putting there lives at risk just for a plastic card. Now if he was held up in traffic for a large amount of time then thatās a different issue but not being held up and just parking up for the night is a no brainer.
chilistrucker:
Iām just impressed that some seem to have the luxury of looking to park up 1-2 hours before the end of their shift. Well done you, and the company you work for.
Iām lucky in that, Iām often not chasi g my arse, but still prefer to get as far as poss each shift, just in case the unexpected happens on the 2nd/3rd/4thā¦shift.
It often has over the years.
I get sent up to Scotland every now and then. I do 5 to 8 drops and get as far south as possible. I tend to do the drops and then work out how much time and driving time I have left. I then work out how far I am going to get and head for the nearest truck stop I can get to. I also have another plan in place should the first option was to go ā ā ā ā up. I cannot see what I am doing wrong here, or why the non English drivers do the same.
Very true they all seem to have internet access so can google locations. They do it because they get away with it.
Parking on a motorway hard shoulder is lunacy and nothing will ne done until theres a few bad smashes.
But what do i know im not a trucknet overland hero. But then again other than driving on the wrong side of the roadeuro work is hardly heading to iran in the 60s hard.
As an adide ive not noticed any irish motors parked on hatd shoulders and im guessing a fair few of them in blighty may be crossing the water.
kr79:
Very true they all seem to have internet access so can google locations. They do it because they get away with it.
Parking on a motorway hard shoulder is lunacy and nothing will ne done until theres a few bad smashes.
But what do i know im not a trucknet overland hero. But then again other than driving on the wrong side of the roadeuro work is hardly heading to iran in the 60s hard.
As an adide ive not noticed any irish motors parked on hatd shoulders and im guessing a fair few of them in blighty may be crossing the water.
I agree
Harry Monk:
mickyblue:
Two things my little hero,I am not a jobsworth, donāt know where you got that from but I prefer to plan ahead and have a plan a and b sorted, but in your little world your telling me that you drive along knowing your time is nearly up and you donāt start to think about where to park? thatās what I am getting at. I am not on about hold ups etc because thatās part of the job but I fail to see heroās like yourself not thinking, say 2 to 1 hour before time is up start thinking about parking.
I fail to see āBeing non Englishā gives it a OK to park up on a hard shoulder of a busy motorway but hey lets end it here.
Honestly Micky, you havenāt got a clue. I may at some stage employ drivers to do international journeys but there is no way I would ever employ you because I just know you would be on the phone every five minutes whining that āIt isnāt like it is in England, Boss! What should I do?ā
To which Iād reply āI donāt know, Iām 2,000 miles away. Havenāt you got some initiative you can use?ā although of course Iād already know the answerā¦
I thought you were selling up and buying a narrow boat Make your mind up
There is a lot of ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā being written on this thread and so far none of it has come from mickyblue
Unless there has been an unforseen situation, like an accident, there is absolutely no reason for anyone to park on the hard shoulder
If you are in unfamiliar territory then you should not be waiting until the 15min warning bleeper goes off before looking for somewhere to park 
That is bad planning, the drivers hours laws set a LIMIT to how many hours you can drive without a break/rest, not a TARGET that must be achieved at all costs
It isnāt rocket science, a bit of planning before you start the final segment of your allowed hours and you can find somewhere safe to park
If, for example, you are leaving Peterborough with 3hrs left on your card then you aināt going to make Ashford Services, so you start looking around Maidstone and spend the final 45mins of your shift looking for somewhere to park, if youāve hit traffic then it might be Dartford, or even call it a day with an hour and a half left at Birchanger Green if itās approaching rush hour
You can say that Johnny Foreigner wonāt know how busy the M25 gets, but thatās ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā , we all knew the reputation of the big cities in Europe and wouldnāt, for example, join the Tangenziale around Milan at 4pm on 9hrs 45mins, we wouldāve stopped on 8hrs 30mins at Carisio or Santhia or used a bit more time and parked in the services a bit further down the road