and driver’s health…It seems that almost every day that i come on here, there is mention of someone passing, whether that be through health or having an accident whilst out on the road, ‘just doing a job’. Are the stresses & strains that are involved in being a driver beginning to take their toll on us? Long hours, little ‘quality’ rest, arsey ‘gatekeepers’, constantly having to watch the clock etc etc. For those of you that tramp all week (and those that do the Euro slogs) how do you feel when you get home at the end of your stint? Is it about time that there was a bloody good look at the hours/work patterns of this industry we all love? Are there any proffesions (apart from the forces) that work 15 hours per day, have a 9 hour ‘rest’ and go do it all again for a crap wage? Are we all ticking bombs, where all the ■■■■ that most of you go through on a daily basis is slowly building up until the body has had enough? Modern trucks are, on the whole, quite comfortable, but there’s nothing like your own bed at the end of the day and having proper rest. Can you imagine the outcry if office bods started work at 9am and went through till midnight, then slept in the office chair and started work 9 hours later? Our days our too long, it’s time for change…it’s literally putting us in an early grave. I’m 45 and have been driving since I was 17…28 years, which is not as many as others by a long way, but am I nearing my last drop? Who knows?
We are working to many hours but thats seems to be what drivers want,if you told most drivers that they could work less hours by sharing there truck they would cry all they want to do is sit in there truck even if they got no pay they would still be there.
there was a report a few years ago claiming that the average lifespan of a HGV driver was 65.
since then there has been lots of investigations done on sleep deprivation, stress levels, shift working etc and all show the same results, that these practices reduce life expectancy.
Indeed the government (inc Europe) acknowledge at least some of this by having the night time working restrictions in the WTD, even if they did put in a get out clause.
Look on the bright side, your private retirement pension/annuity will be higher because of shorter life expectancy 
I like long hours as a mechanic I liked 68 hours a week and my great uncle been doing it for 50 + years its all down to the person doing it long hours are not for every one im 28 now and been at this pace since I can remeber
Hiya… driving was always poor money but plenty of hours, especially when we run bent.
BUT i know of two manufacturing companies whose shift pattern is 6 till 2 for 2 days
double back from 2pm and back on for 10 pm at night for 2 nights. come of the
night shift and go back on for the 2 pm shift untill 10 pm x 2 then have 4 days off,
god knows what your body feels like. also these workers are using heavy machinery.
why not have 1 week or 1 month about
John
We had the almost unbloodybelievable news in another thread that the green mobs soddin containers are paying the sum of £8.03 IIRC for the first 60 bleedin hours i ask you, i nipped into Aldi on the way home from work today (at 11.30am after me 4am start… 
) and they are advertising for shop staff…get this, shop assistants at Aldi from £8.70 an hour rising to nigh on a tenner an hour…last time i looked shop assistants didn’t need to jump through a hundred hoops and spend thousands of pounds of their own money to qualify, together with the ongoing costs of licence maintenance…and don’t think for one minute that the bloody govt won’t come up with another money or tax raising scam once DCPC is up to date, they will they can’t help themselves.
Yet we have people in our industry prepared to don lucifers green uniform and do 60 hours at basic, before even reaching a shop assistants basic starting wage…i give up, and its not just the greenies either.
Part of the problem now though is despite these ridiculous hours, the job is lethargic and boring with drivers as chauffers, at work for 15 hours many days and hardly doing any manual (exercise) work in that time, it can’t be good for a body, arguably it was better when we worked those 15 hours, roping, sheeting, handballing, hauling heavy steering round changing gears with heavy clutches to operate etc etc
**just one other bit to add to me rant…remember back when we ran on log books, 12.5 hour spreadover it was then, yes some ran bent but many including me didn’t, 12 hours a day is plenty for anyone…then we joined the EUSSR and gained professional standards and in the interests of safety upped our working day to 15 hours…brilliant, you couldnt make it up.
Fully concur with what Juddian say’s the job does not keep you fit as it once did.As for running bent it wasn’t as so many think,I did it for years indeed my most
memorable day was running bent to get home to Plymouth in time to get to Court for running bent then running bent to get back up the road and back on schedule.
But that was the exception, most running bent I did was to be where I wanted to be for a social occasion or to sleep,I hated driving during the afternoon still do so I would pull up,have 3 or 4 hours kip then run bent at night to make up the time,ensuring I never ran tired which even today is daft and how many of you running legal are absolutely knackered half way through your legal day.Lot safer to run bent you know it makes sense.!!!
Nah, it’s not just lorryists.
I’m fairly sure people in other occupations die too.
In the 30 + years I have been in the industry I have been to more funerals than retirement do’s , by a large margin, a sad reflection on just how much drivers work and how much we are valued, as one chairman of a haulage company once told me " I view drivers as a component- if the gear box breaks - I get a new one, if a driver breaks theres plenty out there".
There are a few companies that value their employee’s - there are a lot that see drivers as no more than another cog in the wheel
i work on a farm now, a few of us clocked up 119 hours the other week and currently doing 85 - 95, a few weeks earlier 2 lads did 24 hours shifts.
one of the jobs i did tramping would see me up at 4, go and kick off 26 pallets between 4 - 6 drops, corner shops so tail lift and pump truck, ditch trailer, hour back to yard, then hour / hour an half in me car to meet me mates at the gym for 1900 feeling very fresh! 1 / 1.5 hours in the gym then pool, sauna, jacuzzi till kicking out time at 2130. then out for a chinky or a few games of pool, all whilst feeling as a wake as me mates.
before trucking i worked in catering, that was long hours too
but i do fancy the 40 hours per week though
I think it’s a certain type of person that lets stress dictate to them, yes we want to get the job done and a lot of drivers in the coffee room “I won’t speed or run bent for anyone, if it can’t be done it can’t be done” but when it comes down to it on the road you bet your arse they are doing the exact opposite. Of course stress is there but like I say it depends how you handle it to let it effect you.
I personally don’t think your average truck driving job is actually stressful at all, the problem lies with the drivers who when a little problem arrises they start to flap and are straight on the phone to the office, just chill, get the job done and crank up the tunes.
If im out in the lorry all week i dont want to be doing 8 hour days, but i dont think 45 hours off is enough, probably plenty if you live in the truck all the time but not if you go home at the weekend. As for tachos i know without them i’d be running day and night and i think i’ll pass on that.
When I was on for Stobarts as a tramper I averaged 58 - 63 hrs per week. Very rare did I do 15 hr shifts…even though I was ‘informed’ I should do them if need be■■? 
Over 5 days (4 nights away) I personally think 63 hrs per week is sufficient for any company to make a profit. When planned for stupid hour shifts I was on the phone and stating that their requests were unreasonable and also asked where they think I should wash and eat. Response was that I am the experienced lorry driver and should know these things.
I told them I DO know these things and I will be parking AT■■? A nice place where I could relax, have a meal and sometimes a pint 
My advice to anyone starting at Stobarts is - Start as you mean to go on!!! If you give them an inch they will take a mile…If you give them a mile you’ve blown it 
Where to vstart!
I came back to driving last year after twenty five years away. I got a job tramping in a good fleet of well maintained Actrosess. I settled in overnight, mainly RDC work Tescos, Asda P&g Carlsberg Tetley you get the drift. The one thing I found most stressful was planning fimes and was continually early as I hate being late. Never returned a load even though the odd near miss happened a few times in the first few weeks. I found it difficult to sleep well after the first few months and the contsant planning for early starts and tight schedules combined with finding places to park within “time left” I made myself "ill
At this point I have to say up until this point I was one of those people who didnt even get a headcold. I had the odd bad back but had learnt ways to put it right over the years. Even the stresses of running my own business for twenty years and employing up to six people at a time I never got stressed and was often quoted as being very laid back.
What I noticed as a returning driver is the way technology has reduced the "slack and trimmed off any spare margins of time that gives you the oppurtunity to enjoy the job. I dont expect to lie by the side of the road sunbathing but with trackers and computers planning everything so tightly and "customers exacerbating things by living to a different ethic to the rest of the supply chain theres no room for a reasonable expectation of a decent lifestyle for drivers today.
I hear the cynics saying the job is what you make it and I agree to some extent but, I cant see why it is expected that all the contingency is passed into the drivers lap when ultimately they are in a very vunerable position with VOSA, customers, traffic office staff and all and sundry taking a swipe at them at every oppurtunity.
I for one found no difficulty being away from home finding obscure adresses and generally getting in and out for a quick tip, so god help the rest, but the changing of shifts from day to night and back in a working week and the fiteen hour days and finding somewhere to park unreal for 500 to 600 per week.
Smoking shortens your life but thousands of lorry driver smoke
getting ■■■■■■ regular shortens your life thousands of lorry drivers
get ■■■■■■ regular.
Hard work never killed anyone
SHYTOT:
Smoking shortens your life but thousands of lorry driver smoke
getting ■■■■■■ regular shortens your life thousands of lorry drivers
get ■■■■■■ regular.
Hard work never killed anyone
Wouldnt be so sure about that. My mate use to work day and night and it put him in hospital. But i shouldnt think our part time hours will have the same effect.
I have done a few different jobs.
Catering…Long Hours, high pressure, but very lively. Never felt really knackered. Got bored, left.
Food manufacture…Short hours, high pay, massively stressful. Never felt really knackered. Got stressed, left.
I have my own business that is a peice of ■■■■, operated it through the catering and the food manufacture jobs, whilst also studying to be a counsellor for 5 years…That didn`t even knacker me.
Lorry driving…Long hours, very easy job…Too easy to do everyday, as it leaves me feeling knackered, because not enough going on, yet having to concentrate to stay alive on the roads we have, populated by the idiots we have…That combination is lethal for me, so I only do it a couple of times a week, so I can enjoy it without feeling knackered.
There is no way in this world, that I could do tramping…I would be dead on my feet after 3 days.
I reckon it is one of the unhealthiest jobs on the planet, if not the most!
I see too many existing on a poor diet, coffee, nicotene…Couple that with irregular sleep pattern and you have a ticking timebomb, then throw some stupid and silly practices (H&S) add a little VOSA, some grumpy goods in bods and a few waiting rooms for drivers, then you may as well top yourself now and cut out the middle man.
It is, without doubt, the worst job that anyone could do full time…Yet, ironically, if a few changes were made, it could be the best.
Armagedon:
indeed my most memorable day was running bent to get home to Plymouth in time to get to Court for running bent then running bent to get back up the road and back on schedule.
Best quote of the week by far.
Armageddon:
most running bent I did was to be where I wanted to be for a social occasion or to sleep,I hated driving during the afternoon still do so I would pull up,have 3 or 4 hours kip then run bent at night to make up the time,ensuring I never ran tired which even today is daft and how many of you running legal are absolutely knackered half way through your legal day.Lot safer to run bent you know it makes sense.!!!
I know exactly what you are saying. I will admit to having run bent in the past, although it wasnt a daily occurrence, and in the majority of cases it was to allow me to get a job done as required but in the way that best suited me.
If you compare today’s job with the drivers lot in say the 70s or 80s then the biggest change is that the fact that we are now 24/7. There is very little " if you don’t make it by 5 then tip it in the morning" these days and what we’re left with is these huge 24 hour operations that are obsessed with booking times and almost implode if you deviate by more than 15 minutes despite the fact that they are running 24/7.
This is a what creates most if the stress in today’s job and it is well documented that stress is a killer.
Cheers
Neilf
I’ve been away from it for about a month, and although i miss climbing in the truck, and cruising along a quite motorway listening to my Ipod, the banter with other drivers, even the MMTM stories in the RDC’s, the last couple of days when i’ve been out in my car listening to Sally traffic, floods, accidents, queues, boy am i glad to be out of it!
neilf:
Armagedon:
indeed my most memorable day was running bent to get home to Plymouth in time to get to Court for running bent then running bent to get back up the road and back on schedule.Best quote of the week by far.
Yep, made me chuckle too.