Before anyone jumps in saying rubbish, realise that I have real experience of both types of driver here. Average truck driver is introvert and coach drivers are extroverts. This is a given in most circumstances, however the real differences are apparant in a parking scenario. When a HGV driver parks up, it is either sit in the cab and straight onto their phone, try and speak to another driver and some will converse but the majority will be avoiding helping others out. Coach drivers park up and go out of their way to speak to each other, passing on helpful info on various destinations and generally extremely friendly, you will always see groups of coach drivers in parking facilities hanging out together, I have noticed a massive difference with the attitude towards any driver whether a new or seasoned coach driver. In summary I would say that coach drivers are happy with their jobs and HGV drivers are merely doing a job they not necessaraly enjoy. This is not 100% set in stone as there is always the exception, but in my limited coach driving experience these are my findings.
Things may have changed but when I was on distance/Euro work, a lot of drivers you got stuck with talked the biggest load of bull.
You know the kind-one ‘it to Pakistan, wouldn’t get out of bed for less than 10grand a week,just missed the Herald, second man on the balcony types. That’s usually why my window stayed firmly shut. Unfortunately, there were always plenty of them in RDC waiting rooms/cafes/ferry restaurants where they really couldn’t be avoided
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GOG47:
Things may have changed but when I was on distance/Euro work, a lot of drivers you got stuck with talked the biggest load of bull.
You know the kind-one ‘it to Pakistan, wouldn’t get out of bed for less than 10grand a week,just missed the Herald, second man on the balcony types. That’s usually why my window stayed firmly shut. Unfortunately, there were always plenty of them in RDC waiting rooms/cafes/ferry restaurants where they really couldn’t be avoidedSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
You have just shown another big difference between the two types of drivers, HGV drivers spouting off and trying to outdo each other, whereas coach drivers take Euro work as just another destination and nothing unusual to do. I will be doing some myself soon and will be doing Swiss skiing trips this year. Nothing once again to other Coach drivers as this is simply the norm. No bragging or bravado amongst coach drivers.
Yorkshire Tramper:
GOG47:
Things may have changed but when I was on distance/Euro work, a lot of drivers you got stuck with talked the biggest load of bull.
You know the kind-one ‘it to Pakistan, wouldn’t get out of bed for less than 10grand a week,just missed the Herald, second man on the balcony types. That’s usually why my window stayed firmly shut. Unfortunately, there were always plenty of them in RDC waiting rooms/cafes/ferry restaurants where they really couldn’t be avoidedSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
You have just shown another big difference between the two types of drivers, HGV drivers spouting off and trying to outdo each other, whereas coach drivers take Euro work as just another destination and nothing unusual to do. I will be doing some myself soon and will be doing Swiss skiing trips this year. Nothing once again to other Coach drivers as this is simply the norm. No bragging or bravado amongst coach drivers.
That’s one persons opinion of lorry drivers .
GOG47:
Things may have changed but when I was on distance/Euro work, a lot of drivers you got stuck with talked the biggest load of bull.
You know the kind-one ‘it to Pakistan, wouldn’t get out of bed for less than 10grand a week,just missed the Herald, second man on the balcony types. That’s usually why my window stayed firmly shut. Unfortunately, there were always plenty of them in RDC waiting rooms/cafes/ferry restaurants where they really couldn’t be avoidedSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reading you post you’re up there with the best of moaners !!
neighbour of mine was once “on the coaches”.I said like National Express? nah i only did the euro work ,drove miles up n down the Alps etc . i said why did you give it up? got sick of the 20 mile drive home from the depot apparently
I would talk to other drivers, but I can’t speak Polish.
Yorkshire Tramper:
GOG47:
Things may have changed but when I was on distance/Euro work, a lot of drivers you got stuck with talked the biggest load of bull.
You know the kind-one ‘it to Pakistan, wouldn’t get out of bed for less than 10grand a week,just missed the Herald, second man on the balcony types. That’s usually why my window stayed firmly shut. Unfortunately, there were always plenty of them in RDC waiting rooms/cafes/ferry restaurants where they really couldn’t be avoidedSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
You have just shown another big difference between the two types of drivers, HGV drivers spouting off and trying to outdo each other, whereas coach drivers take Euro work as just another destination and nothing unusual to do. I will be doing some myself soon and will be doing Swiss skiing trips this year. Nothing once again to other Coach drivers as this is simply the norm. No bragging or bravado amongst coach drivers.
If youre mixing with other coach drivers doing the same as you, thats one thing, but if you were mixing with local bus drivers, maybe some would be reliving their Euro touring days?
Those truck drivers who talk of Euro work, the ones you meet in RDCs, are likely those who no longer do it?
Dunno? Just a thought.
Really? I’ve spent many trips in drivers rooms on various ferries here and there wanting to rip my own eyeballs out and wedge them into my earholes to prevent the sheer level of bullshi… invading my ear canal from various coach drivers. I’ve never had time for their superiority complex and the amount of drivers up the mountain the day of the “Classic” coach fireball astounds me. That mountain pass must’ve looked like the M25 at rush hour.
Similarly the coach depart area in Venice I was expecting to be some lawless mafia ran wasteland going from other coach drivers. But alas it wasn’t when I went there. There was no burnt out vehicles, nor vehicles being stripped of parts because a driver didn’t give a backhand to (mafia ran) tour guide 
See the thing is there’s bullshine in both industries. Massively. And both are as bad as each other in varying aspects. Because ultimately whether a coach or HGV driver, thet are both still human.
toonsy:
See the thing is there’s bullshine in both industries. Massively. And both are as bad as each other in varying aspects. Because ultimately whether a coach or HGV driver, thet are both still human.
As stated not set in stone, however it appears to me from what I have experienced, that it is far more prevelant with HGV drivers all competing amongst each other, whereas Coach drivers do the same job as each other so do not need or try to compete with each other. An example of many that I could give is where I was parking in a very full and tight coach park, a driver left a group of chatting drivers to act as my banksman without even being asked. I have struggled parking in similar situations in my truck where everyone just stares watching you struggle.
I avoid the gob ■■■■■ s like herpes, and they are abundant in this industry…but in the past I have had numerous good night’s out with lads I’ve never met before, around the bars in towns.or on overnight ferries etc.
It’s what we all used to do when the job was more social, before the job turned to sh (as it is today on the whole.)
As for coach drivers,.I know they ain’t all the same, but I did a CPC session last time where two or three of them were in the class, they all had an air of superiority over us truckers in the class, one in particular who tried to put everybody else down when they made a contribution.showing off in front of his mates. 
I think he thought we were all 100 mile radius day men, who had never been south of Dover, or done ■■■■ all else.it just got too much in the end, I had to shut the ■■■■ up and show him up in front of his mates,…accompanied by a ‘‘Rob death stare’’. 
Not another dicky bird came out of him.
Point I make is there are also gob ■■■■■ s in the PSV job.
That’s too much of a sweeping generalization for me, but potentially it could be that it is the nature of the job which selects for a certain personality type.
I’d suggest that people who like the company of other people might be more attracted to a job involving people (PSV), those of us who prefer our own company may be more attracted to a job where it is the norm to spend a large amount of time without the company of other people - having lots of “my own personal space” was always a huge plus-side of HGV driving for me.
At the risk of going off on a tangent, those working in the field of psychology tend not to use introvert/extrovert in the same we we non-professionals might do in general conversation. A couple of years back I spent some time on a course during which a Briggs-Meyers personality test was conducted for all of us. The psychologist’s definition of introvert/extrovert was far different to what most people thought it meant.
robroy:
I avoid the gob [zb] s like herpes, and they are abundant in this industry…but in the past I have had numerous good night’s out with lads I’ve never met before, around the bars in towns.or on overnight ferries etc.
It’s what we all used to do when the job was more social, before the job turned to sh (as it is today on the whole.)As for coach drivers,.I know they ain’t all the same, but I did a CPC session last time where two or three of them were in the class, they all had an air of superiority over us truckers in the class, one in particular who tried to put everybody else down when they made a contribution.showing off in front of his mates.
I think he thought we were all 100 mile radius day men, who had never been south of Dover, or done [zb] all else.it just got too much in the end, I had to shut the [zb] up and show him up in front of his mates,…accompanied by a ‘‘Rob death stare’’.
Not another dicky bird came out of him.Point I make is there are also gob [zb] s in the PSV job.
Point taken and agreed, but here is a funny thing, everyone at my firm knows that I was a lorry driver previous to my new post and that oddly enough gets the same response from the other drivers, I get a respect from them for doing that job. Now you are the second one to mention this “superiority” issue and I don’t see it this way. Personally I havent got any superiority issues in comparison with either types of drivers. I love my coach work but that isnt anything to do with superiority. Maybe just maybe this is possibly a lorry driver feeling this way looking at the difference in drivers and the work difference? I can even say that lorry drivers are actually favoured at our firm as we do have a few ex lorry drivers working there. Everyone of them express my views on the job too, easy, cushy and love the work. No superiority but naturally helpful and happy to do it. Just as a side note to this, before I became a driver I did actually work in a professional capacity and have a University degree, but so as to fit in with the other drivers I have never even ever mentioned what I used to do. Worried that this may give my fellow drivers the wrong impression of me and make me an outsider.
Zac_A:
That’s too much of a sweeping generalization for me, but potentially it could be that it is the nature of the job which selects for a certain personality type.I’d suggest that people who like the company of other people might be more attracted to a job involving people (PSV), those of us who prefer our own company may be more attracted to a job where it is the norm to spend a large amount of time without the company of other people - having lots of “my own personal space” was always a huge plus-side of HGV driving for me.
At the risk of going off on a tangent, those working in the field of psychology tend not to use introvert/extrovert in the same we we non-professionals might do in general conversation. A couple of years back I spent some time on a course during which a Briggs-Meyers personality test was conducted for all of us. The psychologist’s definition of introvert/extrovert was far different to what most people thought it meant.
Out of genuine interest, what was their definition of the two types? I know it as a certain meaning but mine may be the wrong definition.
I must’ve stumbled on the wrong forum
Is this TruckNet or CoachNet?? 
peirre:
I must’ve stumbled on the wrong forum
Is this TruckNet or CoachNet??
I agree with the thread title 
What a load of tosh, good and bad with both, always has been but now the bad seem to be growing in numbers.(with both)
In the old days drivers were helpful and courteous (mostly) but now a lot seem to be always in a hurry, driving aggressively
and being totally unprofessional.
Maybe it’s just me but I always found some coach drivers seemed to think they were some sort of superior being because they drove a bus!
Mind you some lorry drivers drive like they own the road. Its amazing what passing a simple vocational licence does to some peoples heads.
An awful lot of so called professionals need a reality check. And they have the cheek to moan about others.
Yorkshire Tramper:
Out of genuine interest, what was their definition of the two types? I know it as a certain meaning but mine may be the wrong definition.
In the briefest terms it was to do with “where we feed”. That is, where do we get our energy from? Introverts get it from their own company, extroverts feed on the energy derived from a group.
I found this reference online which supports the explanation given at that time, there’s no abstract available on PubMed and I doubt the text is available online (it’s a little bit older than I am!) but I’d imagine it features in standard psychology textbooks.
Carrigan, P. M. (1960). Extraversion-introversion as a dimension of personality: A reappraisal. Psychological bulletin, 57(5), 329.
If I were to classify myself I’d definitely say I was an introvert, if I don’t get a decent amount of time to myself every day, it drains me. But, in my youth I spent years playing in various bands, and I’ve done lots of teaching at university, and done a fair few Public Awareness of Science presentations to the general public, so I’m definitely not “shy” about standing up in front of a large group of people . No one who has sat through my ADR courses would say I was an introvert.
jakethesnake:
What a load of tosh, .
Pretty much sums up my point, an opinion starting off with that phrase insinuates you know better or somehow that you are clever. You are most certainly not. You can have an opinion but choose an attempt to belittle my findings instead of putting accross your opinion in a civil way. I wouldn’t normally answer such a self righteous idiot but I recall a post that you made about Zac_A and how he made you look silly, perhaps you thought you might try your luck with me but once again you have failed.
In my experience it depends where you are.
In a routiers you sit with strangers and have a conversation, usually the only person with a phone out is me, and that’s just to use google translate.
The rest of Europe seems similar to here, usually one to a table and not much talking going on.