rob22888:
We have drivers at our place up North that winge about going into Manchester and Liverpool city centre. I don’t think it’s just London, just busy city centres in general. Birmingham is another I hear drivers whinging about.
I’m not bothered, but city centres can be a nightmare if you don’t know the place or the drop and get lost, miss your turn and it can take 10-15mins to get back round the one way system etc. Then you have the heart in mouth moment everytime you approach a drop when you pray some knob isn’t parked in the loading bay or blue badge holder parked on double yellows taking up your turning space.
As for drivers that “don’t/won’t do London” etc when its part of the job where they work… grow a pair and stop being childish. Almost as bad as drivers that “won’t drive the rigid”.
I don’t think any driver gives a zb about going into towns in my experience the ( justified ) complaints are all about being lumbered with local multi drop type zb work which means exactly what it says and which forms a large proportion of the job opportunities for those unlucky drivers who are based near to big cities especially London.Compared to distance work which obviously will sometimes involve running into towns to deliver and collect but which is offset by the amount of mileage that’s driven out on the road between cities.That’s the difference.As for drivers in general preferring local multi drop in town v international/uk distance work that’s total bs,unfortunatley for those who prefer distance work to local multi drop in town.
Carryfast:
As for drivers in general preferring local multi drop in town v international/uk distance work that’s total bs.
No one said drivers ‘in general’ prefer multi drop, just that some do, like some enjoy tippers, supermarket or tramping round Europe in a big cab. Everyone is different, you seem to struggle with that concept.
Carryfast:
As for drivers in general preferring local multi drop in town v international/uk distance work that’s total bs.
No one said drivers ‘in general’ prefer multi drop, just that some do, like some enjoy tippers, supermarket or tramping round Europe in a big cab. Everyone is different, you seem to struggle with that concept.
The issue which I was referring to was that ‘in general’ ( IE the vast majority of ) drivers don’t enter the industry with the intention of driving trucks on local urban work in London.As I said the problem for drivers who are based near to cities like London is that too many operators in those areas,and hence local job opportunities,want to take advantage of the customer demand for that type of zb work while the driver pool is mostly looking for something totally different as I said just like in any other part of the country.
So while ‘some’ may enjoy driving building supplies wagons etc etc on local urban multi drop etc etc type work plenty of others don’t.As I said in that case it’s no suprise that that large majority of ‘others’ ( justifiably ) complain about the distortion in job opportunities in their chosen sector of the industry who happen to be based in those areas.
In which case being moaned at by both the few who are happy to spend their careers sitting in London traffic amongst the urban jungle environment,and employers based near to big cities like London who are often just out to take a disproprtionate advantage of the demand for local delivery transport and distribution in big cities,just adds insult to injury.
It seems to me to be the ones who seem to like driving in London ( or so they say ) who are struggling with the concept that ‘everyone is different’ in just the same way that it’s those employers,who ( unjustifiably ) whinge,about drivers ( justifiably ) moaning about having to spend too much of their careers in town,when those drivers entered the industry with the intention of spending most of their time on the open road driving ‘between’ cities throughout the uk and/or europe.
You have loads of firms in London offering distance UK work and when there was lots more euro work done by UK trucks industrial areas in London had loads of international hauliers.
Dagenham Rainham purfleet Erith Edmonton Waltham abbey.
Naturally the infrastructure of any big city creates lots of city driving jobs but most blokes I’ve met doing tipper work or skips are either guys who have done distance work and want to be at home now or people who have no intrest in being a tramper or euro driver.
Most of us do a job we either enjoy or can do it without losing the will to live but I don’t think most of the city drivers I have met are frustrated kris kristofosons
switchlogic:
You managed to turn what I said in three lines into four paragraphs…
Not as I read it.
No well the fact we agree on something clearly went over your head. You’ve got to stop overthinking things, I’ve never seen someone who can write so much about nothing
kr79:
You have loads of firms in London offering distance UK work and when there was lots more euro work done by UK trucks industrial areas in London had loads of international hauliers.
Dagenham Rainham purfleet Erith Edmonton Waltham abbey.
Naturally the infrastructure of any big city creates lots of city driving jobs but most blokes I’ve met doing tipper work or skips are either guys who have done distance work and want to be at home now or people who have no intrest in being a tramper or euro driver.
Most of us do a job we either enjoy or can do it without losing the will to live but I don’t think most of the city drivers I have met are frustrated kris kristofosons
So it’s going to come as a shock to you to find out that while there were a few operators in and around London doing uk and/or international distance work the actual ‘proportions’ of drivers,looking for that type of work,versus the amount of job opportunities in that sector,was just the same as ever.While the disproportionate amount of zb medium distance/local London building deliveries/multi drop etc etc job opportunities versus the amount of drivers who were really looking for,and who really wanted to do that type of work,was also just the same as ever.
Trust me there were and have always been loads of ( what you would call ) ‘frustrated kris kristoferson’s’ who were lumbered with doing that type of zb work day after day wether agency or employed.With that situation being magnified even more in the case of being unlucky enough to be based in or near to London.In all my time I never saw any drivers who moved from distance/international/trunking work to local/multi drop type work.But there were always plenty who were looking for a chance to get off of the local zb onto distance/international/trunking work.
Which in general has usually been the motivation for drivers upgrading licences from class 3/2 to class 1.As I’ve said in my case it was the employers bs non recognition of class 2 being suitable for drawbar work at the time and their attitudes to the bs experience issue which I found the biggest barriers to that.IE very few drivers upgrade their licence to class 1 just to spend most of their working lives running around locally in town not on the open road doing inter city work and any employer who expects that not to be the case is being far more unreasonable than any class 1 driver who ( rightly ) complains about that situation.
But no surprise that the ‘experience’ issue didn’t apply so much in the case of employers wanting drivers for local zb work especially when it involved mostly running into London.
You know Carryfast you could have looked for jobs outside the small area in which you live! You think it’s bad there, try being from rural south west Wales. That’s why many of us from that area ended up driving Irish trucks. Fact is some go out and do it some sit at home moaning and ■■■■■■■■ that the perfect job didn’t land in their lap.
switchlogic:
You know Carryfast you could have looked for jobs outside the small area in which you live! You think it’s bad there, try being from rural south west Wales. That’s why many of us from that area ended up driving Irish trucks. Fact is some go out and do it some sit at home moaning and ■■■■■■■■ that the perfect job didn’t land in their lap.
With hindsight the Irish option may have been worth a try but I don’t think the Irish government and employers were really looking to help out the British employment situation of the 1980’s.But I was turned down by loads of international operators around the country here both on the bs grounds of experience anyway and geographic location which suggested to me that,in addition to the bs experience issue,decent jobs were also being reserved for local applicants only around the country.
Although that has nothing to do with the issues,raised by rob 22888,of drivers ( justifiably ) complaining about having to run locally in town on a disproportionate basis,assuming that they haven’t entered the industry and upgraded their licence to class 1 to do that, regardless.
London isn’t bad to get around, it’s the stupid weight limits and time restrictions. Remove these and deliveries could be done early morning and be done before the NIMBYs and yoghurt knitters are up and eating their fair trade cornflakes.
Maybe Bertie can be the new Mayor of London, he got through a Douane customs check point , he get past that, he can get past anything that is thrown at him, apart from eggs.
syramax:
some people are comparing london to paris …done both and didnt like either,but managed with the help of a sat nav however been to leeds today first time and absoluteley hated it, spent 40 mins going round in a circle sat nav wasnt up to date with the road system and asking didnt work.
however been to leeds today first time and absoluteley hated it, spent 40 mins going round in a circle 
sat nav wasnt up to date with the road system and asking didnt work. 
