I was told by a young driver that it was against his companies policy to do any small repaires I.E change a light bulb, replace a cracked lens Etc.unless you are a qualified fitter.to me this is bloody stupidity at its best.
In my day to run to a garage for a bulb change would have got me the sack, for wasting time. 
With some wagons now changing headlight bulbs has turned into a major job. Iâm a qualified mechanic and I look at them and wonder how the hell you get to some of them.
Conor:
With some wagons now changing headlight bulbs has turned into a major job. Iâm a qualified mechanic and I look at them and wonder how the hell you get to some of them.
I suppose youvâe got something there Conor,with some of the new trucks you need a degree to climb into the cab LOL
Few months ago Im working in the garage on a Sunday night,agency driver comes in and asks me for the keys for a unit so I give him the keys
5 minutes later he walks back in and says that he couldnt take the vehicle out âin that conditionâ
I ask him whats wrong with it expecting bald tyres,air leak etc
His reply âthe mirrors are absolutely filthyâ
I was literaly f*kin stunned he wanted me to go and clean the soddin mirrors!
never has my flabber been so gasted.
Gimme a soddin break.
Been asked to put oil in,connect the yellow line(its hard to do) back trailers into the garage,wind up trailers dropped on their knees,couple trailers,drive a truck to the garage across the yard because a wheel nut tag is missing and its not âsafeâ,change a tyre because its the wrong colour,tune in a radio,wind down stiff legs,pull the "frozen "pin,fill a full tank with more diesel,the list is endless.
These are requests from so called âprofessional driversâ who are also supposed to be full grown men.I despair.
rocky 7:
In my day to run to a garage for a bulb change would have got me the sack, for wasting time.
Iâd also expect the sack.
Weâre not allowed to do much so all iâll do is change a bulb or a fuse anything more complicated than that and weâre not expected to touch anything.
Bking:
Few months ago Im working in the garage on a Sunday night,agency driver comes in and asks me for the keys for a unit so I give him the keys
5 minutes later he walks back in and says that he couldnt take the vehicle out âin that conditionâI ask him whats wrong with it expecting bald tyres,air leak etc
His reply âthe mirrors are absolutely filthyâ
I was literaly f*kin stunned he wanted me to go and clean the soddin mirrors!
never has my flabber been so gasted.
Gimme a soddin break.
Been asked to put oil in,connect the yellow line(its hard to do) back trailers into the garage,wind up trailers dropped on their knees,couple trailers,drive a truck to the garage across the yard because a wheel nut tag is missing and its not âsafeâ,change a tyre because its the wrong colour,tune in a radio,wind down stiff legs,pull the "frozen "pin,fill a full tank with more diesel,the list is endless.
These are requests from so called âprofessional driversâ who are also supposed to be full grown men.I despair.
Whatever happened to embarrassment? I would not allow myself to be beaten by any of the items on that list! And a few more besidesâŚ
Mind you, I think the youger generation have been wet nursed and as a consequence are all pink, frilly and wrapped in cotton wool sorts 
Conor:
With some wagons now changing headlight bulbs has turned into a major job. Iâm a qualified mechanic and I look at them and wonder how the hell you get to some of them.
renaults midlums you have to complety remove the light casing, not and easy task. there have been incidents of the light casing not been correctly secured by the person doing the bulb change and it has fallen out and been run over, costing ÂŁ200 or so to replace, now renault come out to do them. premiums are easier, just unscrew a bolt at side and it swings out, job done,
weâre not expected to do any repairs to the truck, simply defect it - weâre drivers not fitters. yes some of you old skool drivers will shake your heads at that last bit- weâre not trained and in this day and age if you did and injured yourself or did extra damage to the truck you would have no comeback on the company.
att:
Bking:
Few months ago Im working in the garage on a Sunday night,agency driver comes in and asks me for the keys for a unit so I give him the keys
5 minutes later he walks back in and says that he couldnt take the vehicle out âin that conditionâI ask him whats wrong with it expecting bald tyres,air leak etc
His reply âthe mirrors are absolutely filthyâ
I was literaly f*kin stunned he wanted me to go and clean the soddin mirrors!
never has my flabber been so gasted.
Gimme a soddin break.
Been asked to put oil in,connect the yellow line(its hard to do) back trailers into the garage,wind up trailers dropped on their knees,couple trailers,drive a truck to the garage across the yard because a wheel nut tag is missing and its not âsafeâ,change a tyre because its the wrong colour,tune in a radio,wind down stiff legs,pull the "frozen "pin,fill a full tank with more diesel,the list is endless.
These are requests from so called âprofessional driversâ who are also supposed to be full grown men.I despair.Whatever happened to embarrassment? I would not allow myself to be beaten by any of the items on that list! And a few more besidesâŚ
Mind you, I think the youger generation have been wet nursed and as a consequence are all pink, frilly and wrapped in cotton wool sorts
Thats just it there is no embarassment they believe that their job is to drive a truck,sun glasses,stupid â â â â â hat,king of the road.anything that involves a bit of work or even worse a bit of brain is ânot in their remittâ These are not drivers they are â â â â â steering wheel attendents and should never been given a bloody car license never mind a hgv ticket.
This thread demonstates how far we have come, or should I say have gone down the road of hopelessness. Over the last say thirty years the desk theorists and the legal vultures have seen to it that every turn is covered by dont do this and dont do that resulting in an enviroment of apathy and cant do,none the wonder weve stagnated as a nation, Dunkirk spirit whats that then?
My company lets us fix stuff if we want and are up to it, if not then theyâre just as happy for us to pop down the workshops.
Two ways of looking at this problem, if the driver is competent has some common sense and has the nous to look at the bulb holder and count the contacts and check the fittings, then do the same with the bulb, then fair enough, a competent driver knows or finds out the basics to keep his vehicle goingâŚif i get a new vehicle and donât know how to get into the headlight the correct way i simply ask the mechanic if i can watch him doing the first one that blows, then i get some spares from him and donât bother him againâŚ99% of proper mechanics are quite happy to show you and not be bothered for such trivia.
However i have delved into more than enough light holders to find the wrong bulb jammed in, not working either because it didnât fit or had twin contacts in a single contact holder or vice versa, or as i found two weeks ago a headlight aiming up into the trees on dip because some clown had jammed the bulb in â â â â â â up.
Where the hell do these companies find these people, theyâre not drivers they are in the words of one of the proper mechs at an indy workshops we useâŚââsteering wheel operativesââ, he says that with a resigned sadness.
As an operator you donât want bodgit and scarper messing about with the electronic laden nightmare that you bought to replace simple working vehicles.
Hi all.I think itâs a combination of factors.First itâs a generation thing,in the earlier days of transport you were expected to do general maintenance as a matter of course.plus most drivers were enthusiastic amateur mechanics for their own cars so already had a basic grasp of things.Nowadays modern cars are much more complex so the ââhome mechanicââ is a dying species.
Also now we have the dreaded Health and Safety culture which makes people almost afraid to think for themselves.This,coupled with the cancer of the ââlitigationââ culture has made life so much more difficult.Also with modern companies which have fewer of the ââold schoolââ employees and perhaps a more bureaucratic system itâs not always appreciated that you are ââtrying to helpââ.
Up here we are somewhat in the past so the 'âold waysâ are still prevalent to a greater degree.However youngsters starting in the industry are much less able or inclined to ââdo a bit extraââ .
I drive a Volvo fh 660 8x4 together with 3 other guys[shift system].We do general maintenance as a matter of course,but if the truck breaks down we first try to fix it between us before resorting to Volvo.
The mentality is that,we get salary anyway so if the truck stands still or drives we get the same,HOWEVER,if we can fix it it costs my boss about ÂŁ15 per hour for us as opposed to ÂŁ80 per hour for Volvo so if we can help the company to remain economically stable in these hard times itâs also partly for our own benefit in the long term.Mike
hutpik:
if we can help the company to remain economically stable in these hard times itâs also partly for our own benefit in the long term.Mike
Now THATS whats missing from the driver training manuals, good sense there.
The sentence should be writ in bold type and read every day before starting work, would make a good banner for the forum.
att:
Mind you, I think the youger generation have been wet nursed and as a consequence are all pink, frilly and wrapped in cotton wool sorts
I am 27, been trucking since
I was 21, and am more than capable of doing any job, I have always worked at places where if stuff needs doing you do it, changed pipes in the snow, swapped wheels rnd chained an axle off the floor where the wheel had a puncture so I could get 2 the tyre place wiv out having 2 call um out! Not all younguns r daft!
The place Iâm working at the minuite though do looked shocked when you say âill just do it myselfâ rather than take it to a dealer, the other day I changed a bumper head light and headlight panel and bracket 4 um (panel beater by trade) as a driver had bashed a hire truck so we put it right before any1 knew 
Howeva I find there are a lot out there who wonât use a bit of common sense and get the job done⌠Old or young!
jarvo:
att:
Mind you, I think the youger generation have been wet nursed and as a consequence are all pink, frilly and wrapped in cotton wool sortsI am 27, been trucking since
I was 21, and am more than capable of doing any job, I have always worked at places where if stuff needs doing you do it, changed pipes in the snow, swapped wheels rnd chained an axle off the floor where the wheel had a puncture so I could get 2 the tyre place wiv out having 2 call um out! Not all younguns r daft!
The place Iâm working at the minuite though do looked shocked when you say âill just do it myselfâ rather than take it to a dealer, the other day I changed a bumper head light and headlight panel and bracket 4 um (panel beater by trade) as a driver had bashed a hire truck so we put it right before any1 knew
Howeva I find there are a lot out there who wonât use a bit of common sense and get the job done⌠Old or young!
This is all well and good, and if I knew how to do something I wouldnât mind doing it, the fact is at my place if I was to do something and I didnât do it right I would get the sack, mainly because itâs not my job to be doing x, y and z and your not âtrained or qualifiedâ to do the job. Also if something I have done led to an accident (changed a wheel) and someone died I would also end up in jail.
Which is why at my place itâs a big no, no! On the other hand some people could say employers who expect drivers to do minor repairs, pre mot checks etc are cowboys in this day in age. I know everyone is skint, but surely unless someone is qualified to do a job they shouldnât be doing it, this includes flipping burgers at McDâs
the truck i drive at present is under full R&M so if anything needs doing other than changing a bulb ect, its in to the dealer, say that though the trailer ainât and its replace a leaking air bag for me tonight, should take me about 45 mins hopefully just waiting for the boss to drop it out to me 
dont get me started on this,hutpit,juddian â â â â right times are hard and if you can save the company money all and good.
i wouldnt expect to change an engine/gearbox BUT i will help the fitter do the bullwork.
It came as a big shock to the system when i moved to canada not just a driver but a team playerâŚthe long distance job i got you did what you could to get ya home.ie. i hit a deer on a stat holiday ,on the side of the rd i blocked leaking fuel tank ,wound of brakes on first drive,tyed up air line that was ripped off pot.drove slower back to base fitter repaired following day.
am i a mechanic hell no! but i knew it was going to cost the company thousands to get me pulled in on a holiday.
was the boss ok of course ,did i get thanked of course .
at present job we, oil /fuel basic maintenence greasing belt changes bulbs, replace your trucks tarpsâŚno tyres now as we have tyre man( young driver trained).
BUT if you are not sure ASK the fitter who checks your work before leaving yard. this sort of thing was common place in uk for decades,
YES the big mega fleets dont want you to touch anything so fairplay to them most are on lease anyway
but for the smaller guys the price of a trip to a main dealer everyday for sillythingsâŚits your pay rise /job security his house ,way off life
jimmy
So lets make everyone that drives a truck into a proper driver by doing his own maintenance, how long before the fitters are moaning on here that the sodding drivers are pinching their work and they on a three day week 
You donât do my work and I wonât do yours
Hi all.Unfortunately the mentality of 'âyou donât do my job and i donât do yoursâ'is one of the reasons why things are so difficult now.
Lets be realistic.I would not expect to change an engine as that IS a mechanics job,BUT neither would i bother a busy mechanic to fix a minor problem which i could do leaving him to continue his work.
In a big company everything is more bureaucratic and structured but in a small to medium company ââflexibilityââ is the order of the day.
I would not ask our mechanic to drive 10kms to the mine to fix a bulb,that is ludicrous. First he has enough work himself in the garage,or maybe he has been out driving a truck to help out or been out all night with the snowplough.
Taken to extremes i dont have to check my lights as that is a job for an electrician,and after having a wheel change after 50kms i should go to a tyre center to have a ââtyre fitterââ check the wheel nuts as that comes within HIS realm of work.
Câmon guys lets get back in the ââreal worldââ.Mike
I find it funny sometimes listening the old timers waffle on about "How you new drivers dont know youâre born Etc " .
Sometimes us older ones need to just pay a little attention and listen instead of the same old same old .
Here goes , turn your hearing aids up and do try to listen will you because this is very boring now , you ready ?
Most trucks nowadays are leased , rented or whatever , therefore they ( the driver ) are not allowed under any circumstances to touch or repair the vehicle , surely that isnât hard to understand is it ? Its the rules not everyones choice .
They ( the new driver ) have far more rediculous rules to follow that you or i ever did , they not only have H+S rules to follow but lease company rules aswell . ( not to mention goverment / vosa rules )
Yes i agree that in some cicumstances they have it easy and yes i agree they usually cant rope and sheet Etc . But what would you like them to do ?
I also agree there are plenty of tarts about that wont ,even if they could , help themselves out but give it a rest will ya FFS its boring , very boring . The job isnât the same anymore , its gone and it went along time ago .
Oh and before you start trolling just be aware i couldânt give a crap what you or anyone thinks of me , iâve also been there and got the Tshirt but that dont give me the right to have a go at the newer driver because they cant do some thing i or you did 300 yrs ago .
FFS give it a rest .