After 20 years behind the wheel I’m making the jump and getting a proper job, if there is such a thing that is.
Finally realising you’ve missed a lot of your life, which normal folk ( who love to hate the trucker ) take for granted, stuff like missing your kids grow up, their first steps, learning to talk, first day at school, plays and awards, their graduation ball, leaving home and having kids of their own, things you’ll never get back, hits home.
There was a post on here the other day, a new driver looking for a job, he’d had a start at a firm but he didn’t like it, said it was 12 hour days and was becoming a lifestyle more than a job, but being a trucker is a lifestyle, even the RDC drivers take the rough with the smooth, with the sparrow ■■■■ start times, or running through the night, trampers away early Monday morning back in Saturday afternoon, the European drivers some of us who were away for 6 or 7 weeks at a time and some even longer… Social life … what’s that ■■ 
I’ve only had one “proper job” since leaving the army, and being unable to adjust to the civilian way of thinking I soon began to isolate myself from so called fellow workers - a mixture of foreign labour and university graduates who seem to look down on you, needless to say I was soon told I would be better suited to somewhere I could work on my own, I was already feeling low so getting a few kicks on the way out made me feel even lower. On the way out the security guard ( an ex rock ape ) stopped me for the obligatory car and bag search, he asked if I’d thought about doing his line of work, and no disrespect to him it really wasn’t me sat in a box booking bods in and out all day to him it suited his life and was a top up to his pension, my back fall was the class 2 I’d got while in the army, bills to pay and a pregnant wife I opted for a driving job, a few deliveries here and there couldn’t be hard.
Finding something where I worked on my own, getting the odd call now and again the bug soon got me, and it wasn’t long before I was saving for my class 1, that was 20 years ago, and since then I’ve worked for a few hauliers some I’d never recommend to other drivers, the ones wanting that extra 30 mins even if you were already pushing your hours and some who treat you like family. I eventually got the opportunity to work for a small family company who just did European work, this opened the doors to other firms where I could travel across east and west Europe, Scandinavia, Balkans and around the Med, be away for weeks at a time, but it was an employment where I could fit in, a community built with drivers from all walks of life, some with the same adjustment problems, some dragged their wives along as a freebie holiday for them, no one judging you, always there to offer advice or give a hand, I’ve had to change wheels in the middle of nowhere, temp repairs at the side of the road , been snowed in, paid farcical fines, dealt with immigrants, and sadly I’ve lost some really good mates along the way, haulage … everyday’s a learning day and everyday is a new challenge, but it’s a lifestyle and for those young drivers sitting in the saddle for the first time, having ordered their Dealer boots and chequered shirts, it’s not all Yorkie bars, country music and a big 19, be prepared to give up your social lives, if a planner asks you to do something and you’re unsure ask another driver, and don’t say you’ll get it done if it’s not possible.
And don’t drive with your foot on the dash 
All the best with it, hope it all goes to plan. What are you going to be doing?
Drempels:
All the best with it, hope it all goes to plan. What are you going to be doing?
Cheers, nothing planned as yet, got a mate who wants me to go work for his gaffer in fleet but I’ll end up in a truck again so that’s a no lol
I’m getting around to the same way of thinking too. Had licence (but not always used it) for ages, currently on an easy enough number, but the hours are killing it for me now. Don’t see much point in going on days and adding a commute to already long days, so either I find a job with a 4/4 shift pattern or get out of the industry.
You’re bang on, you know yourself, the minute something goes wrong and they need a driver in a hurry…
You will be back.
I couldn’t go back to driving in the U.K. Haulage in the U.K. is on its arse, majority of planning offices are full of college kids with qualifications in bollox and breast milk on their top lip, they haven’t a clue about the problems drivers face or the grief they receive from customers, any decisions they have to make need to be cleared by planning managers usually an incompetent fumblebum uni graduate with a CPC and again no idea of the industry but press drivers so as to keep KPI’s up, fleet management ex drivers some with a chip on their shoulder who forget they were once behind the wheel, jumping on drivers for poor vehicle fuel returns, damage and increased servicing costs but no more than theirs were.
It’s a shame because being a driver was at one time a decent gig, now it’s not even recognised as a skilled employment, nice to see the RHA stuck up for the industry there, and quick to jump on the anti Brexit bandwagon because only skilled workers would be allowed in and the industry is 50k short.
You can always get your machine ticket, you have ground workers nearby but you’re in the cab on your own and you earn a lot more than driving.
Working for a small family firm,cuts out all the ■■■■■■■■.
Building site work,keeps the hours down.
try and find a job where you notice they smile a lot at work
alamcculloch:
You will be back.
Ha Ha ! I retired last November.
last Sunday a call from an ex employer of over12 years ago offers “part time” adhoc/ driving, why not I thought whats the worst that could happen. Started Monday 8am and have just finished 50hr week.
Still it’s given the wife a break 
I am 66 years young and think that come Sept when my DCPC expires I will walk. I drive mainly on quiet country roads but they are getting busier now. Its not the fun that it used to be. The authorities have made obtaining a licence very difficult for the younger people, so I get phone calls .
Done chester…today.
Any time between 7 and 3.
Tip it…and run back…job done.
Not draggin a fortune,but as much as I’ll earn in any"proper job"
Easy life 
No back loads,no forking about.
Job and knock.
Future.