the shame of it is having worked in the industry for over 30 years it is no wonder we are still treated as lesser beings, as an awful lot of our comrads are just that, they either create as much rubbish as they can and throw it out of the window, use your yard as the toilet instead of the one supplied for free and cleaned or they load up everything that is not nailed down, just like the four wheel box van that had his cab level with the artics and when he left in the early hours all the paviours behind his truck went as well.
We need a Jimmy hoffer, only way to get anything done, they are only intrested in rules that make them money via fines and .we are ruled by idiots , , I have never been asked what would make things better I wants a bloody good shake up if you ask me,WTD and SILLY POA what a joke
Fuse, you’re not wrong mate, but combinded we all have the potential to be Jimmy Hoffa, do you really think that we’d have all this crap like WTD and all the H&S ■■■■■■■■ if we’d all said NO when it was first spoken about 
To sidetrack a litttle, I was tipping in a warehouse in Daventry, one of the ‘logistics’ firms, I was parked on the bay near the little garden in front of the offices, so when I went to get my paperwork I never walked in the yard at all, I was in their little garden from my cab to the door, the jumped up little knob in the office refused to give me my papoerwork because I wasn’t wearing safety shoes, I had trodden the same path he had in getting to his office, he had a pair of normal shoes on and the birds in the office had high heels on, I pointed this out and got the stock reply "It’s company policy’ I then went off on a rant about the ridiculousness of it all… I bet I was the only one who had said anything about it in a long time, if at all, and we wonder why they take the ■■■■ 
You all have a voice, if you see something you don’t like, say something
So did they put the load back on then?
Easiest way to deal with these people is to smile and say “you know that when you have finished ranting and ravingIi will still have the same shoes on, and you will have to give me the paperwork sooner or later, I’ll be in my cab asleep when your ready, but knock softley, I love soft knockers”
I left 5mins later, empty with paperwork in hand and a pair of Adidas on my feet 
The whole situation was mind boggling, a jumped up little squirt telling a grown man what to wear FFS, far too many of the people in offices that deal with lorry drivers on a daily basis have this impression that we’re a lower form of the spieces and they can tell us what to do and how to do it, well I’m sorry, but I don’t conform to that, I will always question any instruction or request that I feel is unnecessary, if I don’t get a reasonable answer, well ■■■■ em, I do it my way 
All this kind of crap is the reason I stopped driving lorries in England and moved to Canada, I would be banned from every RDC in the country by now 
newmercman:
All this kind of crap is the reason I stopped driving lorries in England and moved to Canada, I would be banned from every RDC in the country by now
You and me too, and the saddest thing is that when YOU stand up to the k nobs, there will be half a dozen ‘men’ in their wagons who will side with the aformentioned k nobs!
bubsy06:
Dear MP, why is it free to park 50 yards from Tesco, Asda, pubs, Chinese, Indian etc and £25 to park 30miles away from these? also why do leisure centres charge £0 for a nice clean shower and truckstops charge £1+ for a shower with ■■■ stained walls? Please sort this problem out by reducing the price the numpties pay for the pee poor services they choose to use. Yours Sincerely a driver with more than half a brain cell xxxx
Yep, we hear you.
“I’m alright Jack”
newmercman:
I left 5mins later, empty with paperwork in hand and a pair of Adidas on my feetThe whole situation was mind boggling, a jumped up little squirt telling a grown man what to wear FFS, far too many of the people in offices that deal with lorry drivers on a daily basis have this impression that we’re a lower form of the spieces and they can tell us what to do and how to do it, well I’m sorry, but I don’t conform to that, I will always question any instruction or request that I feel is unnecessary, if I don’t get a reasonable answer, well [zb] em, I do it my way
All this kind of crap is the reason I stopped driving lorries in England and moved to Canada, I would be banned from every RDC in the country by now
I totally agree with you mate. I think one of the main reasons we as truck drivers get so much crap thrown our way, wether it be petty legislation, H&S madness or lack of any kind of facilities is that drivers hardly ever stand up and say anything when they’re being trodden on. I’m back in the UK now for a few months and last week was my first week driving in the UK properly for almost three years. I’m already banned from one place as I would not stay quiet as they blatently took the p**s out of me. While drivers sit back and take it, say yes sir, thank you sir or say nothing at all when truckstops close apart from “oh well, what can you do?” nothing will get any better because the long list of people who keep ■■■■■■■■ on us know that we wont do anything about it, so they’re free to do as they please.
I moved to Canada for the very same reasons and its such a shame because I really do like being in England but the job is just made so impossible and so unenjoyable by jobsworths and their politician bretheren.
Something I said right at the beginning of this thread relates to H&S, now to go off on a tangent a little…
Health and Safety is a good thing, in moderation, if we had a few companies around that came into firms and advised them on what they had to do to operate a safe working environment then things would be fine, as it is people took it too seriously (because of insurance companies and their thieving ways, BOCs) so they employed people to be H&S Advisors, well once they made everyone wear yellow vests and painted a few lines in the yard they didn’t have much to do, so they invaded every part of everyone’s lives and put their mark on it, just to keep themself in a job, now we have what we have
BUT, we can use H&S to work for us, it just takes a little bit of lateral thinking. Most companies and all of the big ones have an H&S department, they do all kinds of risk assessments and so forth for the places you go while at work, they set parameters on their site, such as where you can park safely, how far away from production/high traffic areas people need to be. So, now they’ve done all that there isn’t much left for them to do, they would relish the challenge of sticking their interfering bugles into something like the parking issue and it can all be done under the banner of Health and Safety
Another way to achieve a change would be for a few drivers for, let’s say Wincanton, to all go arse over ■■■ on the muddy verge at the side of the lorry while doing the morning walk around check, a few drivers off with back problems related to the fall or illness caused from falling into a steaming pile of human ■■■■■ matter and the resulting claims against the company’s insurance, then maybe the insurance companies would add conditions to policies that forbid overnight parking in laybys or side streets, once the Wincantons and their kind have to deal with it they would start ■■■■■■■■ and whining to the powers that be and things would get sorted, a twisted way of looking at it…maybe, maybe not 
The laybys should not be used for overnight parking, they weren’t meant for that ever and really they should only be used for short breaks and dogging 
mickfly:
bubsy06:
Dear MP, why is it free to park 50 yards from Tesco, Asda, pubs, Chinese, Indian etc and £25 to park 30miles away from these? also why do leisure centres charge £0 for a nice clean shower and truckstops charge £1+ for a shower with ■■■ stained walls? Please sort this problem out by reducing the price the numpties pay for the pee poor services they choose to use. Yours Sincerely a driver with more than half a brain cell xxxxYep, we hear you.
“I’m alright Jack”
If I can do it why cant the others? too many drivers with OCD by the looks of it
newmercman:
Something I said right at the beginning of this thread relates to H&S, now to go off on a tangent a little…Health and Safety is a good thing, in moderation, if we had a few companies around that came into firms and advised them on what they had to do to operate a safe working environment then things would be fine, as it is people took it too seriously (because of insurance companies and their thieving ways, BOCs) so they employed people to be H&S Advisors, well once they made everyone wear yellow vests and painted a few lines in the yard they didn’t have much to do, so they invaded every part of everyone’s lives and put their mark on it, just to keep themself in a job, now we have what we have
BUT, we can use H&S to work for us, it just takes a little bit of lateral thinking. Most companies and all of the big ones have an H&S department, they do all kinds of risk assessments and so forth for the places you go while at work, they set parameters on their site, such as where you can park safely, how far away from production/high traffic areas people need to be. So, now they’ve done all that there isn’t much left for them to do, they would relish the challenge of sticking their interfering bugles into something like the parking issue and it can all be done under the banner of Health and Safety
The laybys should not be used for overnight parking, they weren’t meant for that ever and really they should only be used for short breaks and dogging
Now this is a great idea! So well done on that one newmercman…
newmercman:
I would be banned from every RDC in the country by now
I’m not far off lol