it would be intresting to know how many of us became truck drivers due to traveling all over with our dads in school holidays etc.with to total ban on traveling in trucks and entering commercial premesis thanks to health & safety nazis,wheres the next generation of drivers going to come from■■?.i think in 10 years time this policy will really bite our indusrtry in the arse.i know myself and many pals got into our industry at about 10 years old or younger due to being allowed to go to work with our dads[or mums]
I agree, I used to go with my Dad at every opportunity. I was roping & sheeting from about 14 years old, climbing on top of a double deck of glass bottles, the health & safety bods would blow a fuse seeing a 14 year old kid doing that now. He passed on so much knowledge and its the reason I do what I do. I can remember going on some sites where he’d let me drive round in the truck, a 111 with a 40ft flat on, what memories. Those were the days!
europleb:
it would be intresting to know how many of us became truck drivers due to traveling all over with our dads in school holidays etc.with to total ban on traveling in trucks and entering commercial premesis thanks to health & safety nazis,wheres the next generation of drivers going to come from■■?.i think in 10 years time this policy will really bite our indusrtry in the arse.i know myself and many pals got into our industry at about 10 years old or younger due to being allowed to go to work with our dads[or mums]
2 year old when I went in the lorry with my dad never looked back since 
Aye. Started in passenger seat of Dad’s Thames Trader all over Midlands & South Wales delivering flagstones & kerbs, then into his new Reiver at the age of 5 I know the age for certain as it was LUE 67 E (1967) then age 10 into his Mercury in which he taught me to sheet,rope & then drive god bless him. Was roping by 11 & driving by 12.
Went all over the UK,docks,car factories,railway engineering works,shipyards,power stations including Windscale & Dounreay & the only place I wasn’t allowed into was the foundry in Nuneaton where we loaded engine blocks for Bathgate!
Fantastic way to spend school hol’s,watching ships being built week by week on Tyneside & Clydeside (Dad delivered copper tubing) big mugs of tea & bacon butties in canteens with the workers. Climbing into crane cabs to be shown how the drivers worked them. Spotting Robson’s Fodens, Smith’s Guys & Russel’s really flashy 110s etc etc. Happy days & a great intro’ into the industry. As said earlier the industry will & even already is suffering from the lack of lads & lasses with this insight into what happens & what’s expected.
I was so proud of myself when I got my 1st motor a Dodge Commando 7.5 aged 18 & on my 1st London run, 4 or 5 drops round Richmond,Kingston & Croydon & didn’t even need an A-Z (well perhaps just for finding the actual addresses) as Dad had shown me all the main drags over the years. It’s all stick a Sat Nav on the screen now & woe betide if there’s a road closed or prob’s on the 25!
I won’t let my 5 year old anywhere near a lorry. I don’t talk to him about the job or encourage him in any way, I want better for him than being a truck driver.
daleyboy:
I won’t let my 5 year old anywhere near a lorry. I don’t talk to him about the job or encourage him in any way, I want better for him than being a truck driver.
I 2ND THAT!!!
My children will not get anywhere near my truck!!!
This Industry is ■■■■.
and if your driving time is up the kid can take the helm! Remember that story about vosa pulling that paddy wagon over and kid was at wheel as his dads driving hours where up! Lol lol
i used to got with my dad when he hired 7.5 tonners if i was off school in this job i think if there H&S natzis dont have a problem then you should take them as long as there old enough i know one thing when my lad is old enough to come with me he will at least hell know what i do properly if he decideds it somthing he want to do ill support him to say that a 5 your determined not to let you child near a truck as you dont want them doing it then if could back fire as they will be curious what is involved in you job
daleyboy:
I won’t let my 5 year old anywhere near a lorry. I don’t talk to him about the job or encourage him in any way, I want better for him than being a truck driver.
thats sad.
and how mny of us when we was young pretended to drive the lorry from passenger seat or even when they was on break sat in the drivers seat and played with gears and being told to never touch the handbrake and tooting the horn…
or was it just me…
Saaamon:
daleyboy:
I won’t let my 5 year old anywhere near a lorry. I don’t talk to him about the job or encourage him in any way, I want better for him than being a truck driver.thats sad.
Why’s that sad? I want more for him than a generally low paid unskilled job. IF he chooses he wants to drive a truck then of course I will support him, but as the industry stands at the moment I wouldn’t encourage anyone to join it.
Now my son has already been moved up a year because he is so advanced with his reading and writing and also his mathematics I believe he can do better than drive a truck.
What I find sad is that people are happy for their children to just be a lorry driver when they could be so much more. I strongly believe that children aren’t born stupid but are made that way by lazy parents who can’t be bothered to put the extra effort in with their kids.
I chose to drive trucks, my dad has never driven a truck in his life or had anything to do with the transport industry. But it was my decision. He also regularly tells me I could do better, which considering I also have a degree I would have to agree with.
My trouble is starting from scratch again moneywise. We have got used to a reasonable lifestyle now and going back to the bottom of the ladder and working my way up I can’t afford to do this.
Please dont take this as a slight on your or anyone’s parenting skills, I just believe children are a blank canvas and it’s down to us to give them the best possible chance in life. And being a lorry driver isn’t the best for him 
Yeah i can see your point, i dont have kids yet so i spose i see it from a different angle. But fair play to you, atleast your boy has perents that are bothered, many parents aren’t.
jayeastanglia:
and how mny of us when we was young pretended to drive the lorry from passenger seat or even when they was on break sat in the drivers seat and played with gears and being told to never touch the handbrake and tooting the horn…
or was it just me…
I did that many a times, often got told off for it though 
Whenever I got the chance I snuck out of my passenger seat into the driver seat and pretend I was driving it. I was sad as a young child, but even now I love every chance I get to sit behind the wheel of a truck. My love for this industry has only grown, and I’ve seen what the likes of this industry does to families.
So what if your kids want to drive a truck, the more you support them the more likely they will find out for themselves if its a ■■■■ industry or a good industry for them. I often wonder would I still want to drive trucks if my dad did the opposite in trying to get me away from it. Now I am older and a lot more grown up when I once was he has accepted that driving trucks is what I want to do and there’s not a dogg in hells chance I’m going to be put off. Not exactly a bad thing when from nursery school up to college, I’ve always boasted about what my dad and grandad do for a living and how I love the industry. The first thing anyone gets to know about me is that I love trucks Either that or that I’m a pain in the rear end
I could think of worser industrys
Cheers
Jonny
I went with my dad when i was a kid, only problem…he was a painter and decorator…at least i learnt how to hold a brush…
As for kids following in dads footsteps…i had 4 brothers, and two sisters…all of them thought i was mad to take up this profession…got the hump when i used to say, where i was going next, and getting paid for it.
My kids are all girls( 5) and only one of them is interested in driving trucks…problem is the cost in getting a licence nowdays, anything up to £2000…and my finances are not what they used to be seeing as i`ve retired, and i need money for me ■■■■ and booze, and to keep my car on the road…and as has been said before…there is no help for training in this industry, alas its all self funding.
I loved doing it.
I hated School with a passion and would always go with my dad every chance i could,my Mum can remember putting me in one of my Dads first truck,a Thames Trader at 3 months old and that was where the rot started,as my old man would say
I can remember roping and sheeting with my Dad in many a company,docks etc and never having a problem with the people we were delivering to,i can remember helping my dad getting the sheets off at a company called Burton,son and Sanders in Ipswich and the chap in charge gave me a load of Chocolate after watching me,i thought at the age of 10 that that was fantastic.
I really felt as if i learnt more about life and dealing with people going with my dad than i ever did at School,in fact going with him made me the man i am today and im proud to say i’m a truck drivers son and proud to be following in his footsteps.
Its just a shame that other kids who’s fathers are truckers and want to go with him,can’t on the whole have the same kind of upbringing i had and i think thats really sad.
H and S up to a point,is stiffling this country.
Just to add, I have worked for one company who didn’t mind me taking my daughtger with me, I had a topline at the time with the bed above the drivers seat. Every factory I went to she’d climb up the ladder and hide. She is only 17 now, no interest in trucks but always talks of the time she went with me when I did a delivery and stopped at the Rock factory(sweets) at bridlington. Got to see more of her growing up with company’s who are not too H&S mad. Not many drivers will get the same chance now, which is sad.
i loved it when i was little- my dad was an owner driver and i went everywhere with him in the school hols.
i must have driven him mad lol. when i left school obviously i couldnt take an hgv test until age twenty one so i became a bricklayer(top money but i hate it lol).then the civil engineering firm i worked for (along with my dad for seven years) said they would put me through the test.(it was something i would have done anyway),so i ended up getting paid to do the license.used to drive their grab lorries on weekends-all cash in hand aswell,happy days!! 
and from then on it became my career .i work for a pretty good firm on decent money (as much as i would earn bricklaying) and still enjoy driving for a living all these years later.
I always went with my dad everytime i could. Even when i was too sick to go to school, i wasnt too sick to go in the lorry
I noticed people saying they wont let their sons/daughters near thier wagon. My dad told me no matter what i chose to do with my life he will help when he can. I told him i wanted to drive and he said fine. He has brought up 3 sons and put food on the table for my mum too. Nothing wrong with being a lorry driver!
He asked me what i planned to do until i could get my license and i wasnt sure. That was the point he told me that he would like it if a got a trade. So thats what i done. Im a fully qualified Carpenter and Joiner. Was self employed for a few years, when i got the chance to get my cat D. I packed away the tools and went for it. now my goal is to get my C and C+E.
When i have a son, i hope he wants to come with me
I think it is quite sad too that a five year old is denied from riding in a shiny truck, even if only round the yard.
kids love machinery, that is why toy manufacturers make models of tractors, lorries, cars excavators and fire engines.
My mates race motorcycle and sidecar, the drivers son is six and is wearing Dads kit at every opportunity, climbing all over the bike and is more knowledgeable about the rules than most riders.
It doesn’t mean he will go out and race bikes himself, he may want to, but I am sure if he decided to be a female impersonator, his mum and dad would still support him.
my dad wasn’t a lorry driver although he died taking his HGV. My biggest regret was that I was never able to take my old man on a trip out
and can remember the time of going into ici at stowmarket and having to kneel in the footwell with a coat over me so i could get in(I was about 10 at the time) and at a few places back then having to stand by the gate house eating ice cream while dad went and quickly tipped a load…