I’m sorry you have decided to chuck it all in, I understand what you say regarding that we all need to grow a pair and stand up for ourselves. I respectfully counter that with this: no matter how much we as an industry protest about pay, hours, conditions, roads and traffic, I’m afraid nothing will ever change. We have seen this industry keel over and submit to longer working hours, increased weekend and night work, ‘just in time’ deliveries. Ridiculous booking times for goods in at the other end of the country, lack of decent town parking, cafes and just about everthing else we rely on to help us in this strange, sometimes nomadic life.
Collectively we cannot, and will not do anything it seems to better our ‘lot’. We threaten to strike but we all know we wont lose money if we can help it. We cant blockade the road networks as the French did succesfully in the past, our political structure is in so many ways different that denies it being a feasible ploy to our advantage. In many ways we continue to ■■■■ it up, hoping for change but knowing it will never get any better.
I honestly think that each of us needs to negotiate our own terms. I had been dealt a bitter blow by heart problems that saw me leave the road transport industry, and take a job with a large corporate materials supply company as a driver of a rigid 6 wheeler.
For ten years I suffered bullying and intimidation on a scale I would never once have put up with. But when you feel like this is all you are fit for, I stupidly and meekly accepted it. Eventually resentment and anger built up so much that I went into meltdown, and was seriously concerned about the stress levels i was under. I started kicking back, and everything came to a head the day I was called in and asked to explain why I took a certain route to a delivery. The dreaded Tracker had been used to try and catch me out, a day later and the same happened again. I quit there and then without another job to go to. so in a way I ‘grew a pair’ and dealt with that aspect. 
A day after leaving, I found a lower paid job and only a few months later and through a friends information,I finally found the type of job that I had since longed for, where gladly to say, I was welcomed with open arms. Being a bit ‘old skool’ I had found a job with a firm that shared the same values as my own. I was prepared to give them my very best providing they treated me the same way. Luckily for me that ethos has worked. Now, with only two years to go until retirement, I will see it through to the end. I am extremely lucky with the job I have now, and for as long as it lasts (hopefully two years! ) I will give it my all. The pay wasnt particulary great to start with, but after nine months I presented them with the pay scheme I regarded I was worth. Much to my surprise they agreed and all is now well with the world. Yet again in another way I grew a pair
I do my fair share of early starts, Am always punctual for timed deliveries, I keep the vehicle clean and run it as efficient as I can. I will go anywhere at the drop of a hat, and will work the hours needed to do the job legally. I do not run over time, or off the card and have my daily 11 hours off if at all possible. Sometimes though a nine is needed, but I talk to my man and explain that I cannot be where he needs me to be and a compromise is reached, this way I do my best to manage my weekend rest. So all in all I can negotiate with the management in a calm manner to get the conditions that I want. Another pair grown
I too detest certain aspects of driving for a living, and have done for quite a while. But, I do not take umbrage with my current bosses, for the most part, it is not their fault. Customer service dictates in the world we operate in, and if companies want to stay in business, then adapt or die is the maxim. for that part we must put ourselves out now and again. We may not like it but if this is the life we have chosen, then what else are we to do?
Unfortunately we share out world with those who’s standards dont always match our own. We are treated like crap because many drivers hurl abuse left right and centre at security staff, goods in doormen, forklift drivers other roadusers including ourselves. Some of us pee and defecate literally anywhere, carve our own comrades up out on the road and generally behave like prima donnas because they drive a large vehicle. The culture of ‘I’m a truck driver, I’m better than you’ sometimes seems rife against lesser roadusers. Certain V8 drivers look down on six pots, Artic drivers look down on rigid drivers who in turn look down on puddle jumpers and transits.At the end of the day wea are all doing the same job, delivering goods. Gone is the ‘Knight of the Road image’ unfortunately we are all seen as a blight on humanity!
The country is getting more crowded, roads are breaking up under the strain, we are expected to serve many more years until retirement age is reached…and that keeps getting pushed back ! So many firms expect levels of commitment exceeding the normal while dishing out a meagre or non existant level of wage increases. I very much doubt that being a plumber or an electrician, a roofer or a builder will change things for you that much, they are all fighting for work and most of the people in those trades suffer from their own inherrent work related problems… . Its a jungle out there and only the fittest will survive!
good luck!
We are actively encouraged to inform on everyone and every indiscretion we see.
It is simply so that I can jam the crap out of the motorway and cause chaos. Whilst this chaos would be happening I would simply phone the press. The crappy rags like The Sun et al, would love it. And in an ideal world I would then be able to explain the frustration and disdain we have within the job.
