I’ve been driving trucks now for 3 years and every week my kids ask to come with me. The employers I’ve worked for its a definite no. I see other drivers with their kids with them. Is this allowed or being done on the sly?
Sent from my SM-G988B using Tapatalk
Small family run firms might allow it, and an owner driver has only to ask himself for permission, but in reality if you arrived at most sites or premises with more than a handful of employees the child would not be allowed to enter, and who can blame them.
Yes, my lads used to come with me, at one changeover (at night) my lad would hide behind the curtains in case seen, but it’s been years since i worked anywhere that would allow such passengers in the vehicle.
Up to a point drivers have themselves to blame for much that has happened, H&S has gone mad because drivers hurting themselves by their own stupidity made claims and were paid out because the company failed to prevent them from earning their Darwin award.
Biggest problem now days is the elf’s, there’s so many places that don’t allow under 16 on site, (as if you’d let them run about), I can take my son with me, but I have to make sure we’re I’m going in case it’s a place with silly elf’s, In the oldern days kids out in cabs during the Holidays was a common sight,it’s what made Kids want to be drivers, learning from there dad’s, and allowed you some precious time with them, so it’s all the elf’s fault, O and some companies say insurance as a get out.
I’ve took all my 4 kids away with me at different times, (just one at a time after I realised taking two together was a big mistake. 
I had them well trained 
, they knew to jump in the bunk whenever we went to tip or load somewhere, and there was a tv and play station in there, so they were ok with it.
It meant that I could see more of them during the school holidays and they would take turns coming away with me…I think the girls enjoyed it even more than my boys.
As said things are a bit different now with all this micro management and h&s ■■■■■■■■, but I would not have missed all the quality time and memories of them coming all over the UK and Europe with me.
In fact, I think even now I would have said ‘■■■■ it’ and still took em with me.
I used to go with my old man all the time. I used to help him handball boxes of tiles all over the place. Heavy work now let alone for a ten year old. I remember being in the MI6 building in Vauxhall when that was being built! Not an issue, just stayed in the cab for that one but still allowed on site. Imagine the Marshalls these days? 
I think the path of least resistance would actually be when I’m over the water. I can’t see any of the regular places I go to having any issue whatsoever with my lad being there, because H&S is less extravagant mainly (ie you can keep your keys etc etc)
It does flow onto a wider problem. A lot of us used to go with our dads right? And thats most likely what gave us the bug? Did for me anyway. That link is broken now. There’s no feed in for the next generation. For an industry with a high average age that’s an issue being stacked up.
toonsy:
I used to go with my old man all the time. I used to help him handball boxes of tiles all over the place. Heavy work now let alone for a ten year old. I remember being in the MI6 building in Vauxhall when that was being built! Not an issue, just stayed in the cab for that one but still allowed on site. Imagine the Marshalls these days?I think the path of least resistance would actually be when I’m over the water. I can’t see any of the regular places I go to having any issue whatsoever, because H&S is less extravagant mainly (ie you can keep your keys etc etc)
It does flow onto a wider problem. A lot of us used to go with our dads right? And thats most likely what gave us the bug? Did for me anyway. That link is broken now. There’s no feed in for the next generation. For an industry with a high average age that’s an issue being stacked up.
Same here, I could rope and sheet when I started. because I’d travelled with him (and mates when I was older)
If I hadn’t initially gone away with my Dad as a kid, I would not have been a trucker today…
A lot to answer for has my Dad. 
robroy:
toonsy:
I used to go with my old man all the time. I used to help him handball boxes of tiles all over the place. Heavy work now let alone for a ten year old. I remember being in the MI6 building in Vauxhall when that was being built! Not an issue, just stayed in the cab for that one but still allowed on site. Imagine the Marshalls these days?I think the path of least resistance would actually be when I’m over the water. I can’t see any of the regular places I go to having any issue whatsoever, because H&S is less extravagant mainly (ie you can keep your keys etc etc)
It does flow onto a wider problem. A lot of us used to go with our dads right? And thats most likely what gave us the bug? Did for me anyway. That link is broken now. There’s no feed in for the next generation. For an industry with a high average age that’s an issue being stacked up.
Same here, I could rope and sheet when I started. because I’d travelled with him (and mates when I was older)
If I hadn’t initially gone away with my Dad as a kid, I would not have been a trucker today…A lot to answer for has my Dad.
Ain’t that the truth!
I’d advise my lad against it, he’s only 8 and I’d have higher hopes but I’d also like him to see that he can make a living by doing an honest job if you get me?
Not really worth the risk now is it. I work on containers, one cab check and thats me fired.
Sent from my SM-G988B using Tapatalk
Given the wrong time and the wrong place in a serious RTA, a cab over truck cab at least can be terrible place to be.It’s not really the type of harm’s way they need to be in.Imagine a poor mum lost her husband and her children in a bad truck collision.On that basis alone the downsides outweigh the upsides.Let alone if they got out and are involved in the hazards of many types of loading unloading environments added to that.Just because such hazards were often overlooked completely in less snowflake times doesn’t mean that they weren’t there.
cmld2018:
Not really worth the risk now is it. I work on containers, one cab check and thats me fired.Sent from my SM-G988B using Tapatalk
Ain’t that the truth? I took my gf with me literally days after 9/11 to deliver Co2 to Sellafield. I obviously hadn’t thought this through. As we got near the gate I told her to get on the top bunk. What I wasn’t expecting was the full cab search from the armed BNFL cop. I jumped out of the drivers seat while he did his search, couldn’t believe my luck as he completely missed her on the top bunk, breathed a huge sigh of relief that turned out to be short lived when he then went around to the passenger side to continue his search! I literally stood there offering him my wrists to put the cuffs on.
As it happens I wasn’t arrested as he never bloody saw her! I rationalised it by the fact that she was dressed totally in black on a dark top bunk and I knew that the human brain only sees what it expects to see, so he only saw what he expected to see. Squeeky bum time anyway.
the maoster:
cmld2018:
Not really worth the risk now is it. I work on containers, one cab check and thats me fired.Sent from my SM-G988B using Tapatalk
Ain’t that the truth? I took my gf with me literally days after 9/11 to deliver Co2 to Sellafield. I obviously hadn’t thought this through. As we got near the gate I told her to get on the top bunk. What I wasn’t expecting was the full cab search from the armed BNFL cop. I jumped out of the drivers seat while he did his search, couldn’t believe my luck as he completely missed her on the top bunk, breathed a huge sigh of relief that turned out to be short lived when he then went around to the passenger side to continue his search! I literally stood there offering him my wrists to put the cuffs on.
As it happens I wasn’t arrested as he never bloody saw her! I rationalised it by the fact that she was dressed totally in black on a dark top bunk and I knew that the human brain only sees what it expects to see, so he only saw what he expected to see. Squeeky bum time anyway.
Funny you should say that, around 89/90 I was delivering ducting to the new THORP site they were building.
I’d picked the load up from Bury and my little girl was already with me when we arrived at BNFL.
Same thing. a copper looked in cab, my daughter (5 yrs old) was under the duvet, he didn’t see her.
Went on site to tip, and when I was out of cab, she got out of bunk and was seen. 
Within seconds the BNFL Police were on me, luckily I had got tipped, they escorted me back to main gate, and I got a right bollocking and I was banned off site, with photos of me and my licence taken, I wasn’t too fussed as it was a one off back load, and it was my own motor.
I’ve often wondered if I rocked up today whether or not I would be flagged up.
The compensation culture has also played a part. I once went to work with my old man after he had retired i was young by then.I went inside to use the toilets and he decided to come out. I was thrown out of the sight despite my protests and my old man standing there. I was too young to be a driver. After the lorry was loaded did they actually realised i was the driver. These days i only try it over Christmas when most firms are in a jovial mood.
It’s very sad how children are all but barred from riding with their dads. I read all the classic lorry magazines, and there’s so many old boys who’ve restored lorries that talk of riding with their dads back in the 50s and 60s, even doing a bit of driving round farms or quarries (imagine that now? In a quarry? lol).
Even as recently as 1991, when I was 12 years old, my dad knew a few sites where the owners let me practice driving. One site was a cheap shoe wholesaler who shared a yard with Young’s Transport at Thurrock, next to where Ikea is today. The other was a shoe wholesaler in Preston. I learnt to drive on a 7.5 tonner aged 11 and 12.
That’s unfathomable today. And I wonder where the next generation of lorry drivers will come from. Various institutions talk of initiatives to get youngsters into driving. Well letting children ride with their dads is almost a dead cert. It’ll give them a sense of adventure, confidence and ambition to go out into the world, and knowledge about vehicles and the transport industry.
When I was at college I used to spend all my summer holiday travelling around with my bf in his Scania 112(is that right?). I think then I always wanted to have a go at driving one myself
The company he drove for has long gone, Shifnal Transport, and so has the bf. He married someone else
All seems a long time ago now
i’ve got great memories of going with my dad,in his magnificent Atkinson i’ve took all my 3 kids in my trucks,one at a time of course,when driver’s children weren’t treated like lepers in the quarries.got no chance of taking my grandson out with me though…until my last day before retirement…
Thing is… look at it through the eyes of a youngun thinking about giving HGV driving a go… sell it to them.
Probably be about 60 more a week or so.
You’ll most likely be working unsociable hours.
You might not even know if you’re home on a particular day.
Lack of facilities generally.
Monitored to within an inch of your life.
Looked down upon.
The list goes on and on. Its hardly an inspiring environment but at least those who went with their dad or whatever had an insight into it and got the taste for it. If you didn’t, why go through the above over a job with more structure regarding work/life balance?
I’ve seen kids go with their dads into Pallethubs, where they don the usual high vis, and only leave the cab to use the restroom facilities.
If a yard is “private owned”, I guess more of the personal touch could apply overall,
but a large multinational firm - just ain’t gonna take the chance, and their rules will be rigid at all times. Big firms mean you can win big amounts from litigating against them.
"Can’t cover the insurance, so No Kids, No Dogs, and definitely No Passengers even!
Kinda makes me laugh when a “manager” gives themself permission to travel as your passenger, as if them getting in the side door somehow “puts the necessary insurances in place that somehow were not there before their permission was given for you to take on this particular passenger…”
Perhaps we’ll see rather less of such “too big to care” firms once this lockdown is finally over?
Something that became a NO NO for me 40+ years ago. My lad used to come with me,with permission, until I went to Grimsby Docks on a trip,fortunately without him that day. Had a serious accident and landed up in Grimsby`s Scatho Rd Hospital for three months. My lad would have been terrified if he had been there,after that he never ever went with me again to risky.
In Feb 73 my uncle rang mum and offered me a trip to France for a week and said he’d pick me up in Shrewsbury. I was 12. Got to the dock where I was given a ticket as a Co-driver. Went to Le Havre and on to Les Halles in Paris where we unloaded the meat hanging in the back, but not till we had had to wait a day, freezing cold (literally) which was a blessing as you couldn’t really smell the blood in the gutters. I do, however, remember very clearly the smell of onion soup… We reloaded at Rouen with animal feed and I remember going past the cemeteries at Verdun - the sight of the rows of crosses is indelibly imprinted in my head. My uncle had a Guy “J” with a day-cab - he fitted a bunk to the back of the cab with hinges and chains for himself and I slept across the front two seats and the engine hump which wasn’t the most comfortable place, but it did me.
Hitch-hikers are a thing of the past, that little elf called safety has changed a few things, but I imagine there is less chance of receiving a Darwin Award.
I could be wrong…
Carryfast:
Given the wrong time and the wrong place in a serious RTA, a cab over truck cab at least can be terrible place to be.It’s not really the type of harm’s way they need to be in.Imagine a poor mum lost her husband and her children in a bad truck collision.On that basis alone the downsides outweigh the upsides.Let alone if they got out and are involved in the hazards of many types of loading unloading environments added to that.Just because such hazards were often overlooked completely in less snowflake times doesn’t mean that they weren’t there.
So you do everything to avoid every thing you point out by …LOOKING AFTER your kid 
Yes it was always in the back of my mind an rta, but I weighed up the chances (an h&s risk assessment if you like.) and went for it…and pleeease don’t any snowflake come back with…"Are you really prepared to risk your child’s life’’ ffs.
You are just illustrating the mindset of these ■■■■ s who have devised all this H&S ■■■■■■■■ for every bloody thing we do these days, life determines one rule …■■■■ happens.
This COULD happen, that COULD happen, …so let’s wrap everybody in cotton wool and stop them doing every bloody thing, …kids aren’t allowed to play conkers at school nowadays ffs, unless they dress up like a construction worker.
Thing is Carryfast, if 
we all thought like that, we would never go over the doorstep.