Members on here have been complaining for years about being stereotyped as fat scruffy gits.
A company comes along who wishes to employ drivers who do not conform to said stereotype.
Members complain that company is discriminatory.
Am I missing something here? 
ROG:
Odd that the subject of âdressâ has come up - I went for a âpre interview chatâ with a college in anticipation of a trainee DGV NVQ A1 assessor job which may, or may not, start in September this year.I wore smart tracky bottoms and a polo shirt and she was very pleased that I had done so and not come in shirt & tie type garb.
The reason - I would be assessing truck drivers and the presence of some shirt & tie looking muppet is likely to alienate on first impressions.
The college experience from years of NVQ assessing in many fields had taught them to have assessors that did not look (dress code wise) like the bosses as it made the assessed person feel like their boss was looking over their shoulder all the time.
I have the same view on LGV instructors - to me, and many trainees I have spoken to, said that the shirt & tie thing made them feel âuncomfortableâ.
I have noticed that many LGV schools are now introducing a more relaxed but casually smart garb such as polo shirts.
There is no such thing as smart tracky bottoms
Used to wear blue shirts with collars & navy blue âdrivers trousersâ but present co. provide sweat shirts with co. logo on, i find them much more comfortable.
I see drivers sometimes who are so fat i do wonder if they would actually be able to do the work we do such as 5 trailer swops a day sometimes, climb on and off trailers, strap loads, etc. etc.
Harry Monk:
Santa:
I sacked a driver once for being too fat:He wasnât just a bit overweight though - the steering wheel disappeared into his gut when he was driving and we considered it a danger that he wasnât in proper control. This was for the Health Authority and we did everything by the book.
First he was given advice by a nutritionist and given six months to demonstrate that he was losing weight. Then he was suspended on full pay for a month to have a final effort. Then he was dismissed.
You might get flamed for that post but not from me- the driver obviously had mental health issues.
And whatâs wrong with driving with mental health issues 
There is more to this obesity thing,I have been heavy for all of my life even though I rarely eat fried food or drink beer.I have a fairly active life style I cycle 50 miles some days and I do some hill walking ,but the gut seems to want to stay.
Theres nothing more hideous looking than a fat driver wearing his rubber CROC gutties, wearing his cheap â â â 2 stripes, stinking old wooly jumper, a head full of hair that hasnt been washed in 2 weeks as well as a big scruffy face⌠People should take pride in themselves a little.
There is no such thing as smart tracky bottoms
Unless your a scouser going out for sunday lunch
It will take a lot more than slim smart drivers to make me have a good impression of anything on Dutch plates !!! 
i saw a driver the other day dressed as (another drivers words) a cowboy 
hat on the lot⌠yeeha and even bin laden was in the same place
some drivers see the job as just turn up how you want and ok if your atipper driver you aint exactly gonna wear a shirt and tie to do it are you? your gonna wear clothes that you dont mind about getting dirty.
same with when i go out in an artic ill wear decent enough clothes that i dont mind getting dirty (the state of some of the suzies when ive been trying to connect them have been rediculous). it all depends on the job im doing, i have smart jeans for the clean jobs that i wear, got older jeans for the dirtier jobs/landfill stuff. always wear a plain black tshirt or something plain anyway. if im doing long distances ill drive in trainers, if im going from site to site ill usually just keep my riggerboots on. some companies find it weird when i turn up in them for like parcel deliveries until i explain that most of my work involves building sites or landfill sites etc so i need them.
hi viz is always kept clean most of the time. shave most of the time or at least tidy it up cause i do have a full beard and sideys and if i shave the whole lot off ill probably get pulled over again for looking too young.
but yea i have seen some dirvers who just dont really take care of themselves
Santa:
I sacked a driver once for being too fat:He wasnât just a bit overweight though - the steering wheel disappeared into his gut when he was driving and we considered it a danger that he wasnât in proper control. This was for the Health Authority and we did everything by the book.
First he was given advice by a nutritionist and given six months to demonstrate that he was losing weight. Then he was suspended on full pay for a month to have a final effort. Then he was dismissed.
My lot had to get rid of driver for being overweight. Turned out that he weighed 28 stone, on contacting the truck manufacturer (no names!) they stated that the seats could cope with a 22 stone max weight. The driver concerned did little if anything to lose weight so we had to get rid for reasons of health & safety. And now he (is trying to) take us to a employment tribunal 
If we had retained him as a driver and the seat had collapsed due to him being overweight I wonder if he would have put a claim inâŚâ â Sometimes you just canât win whatever you do.
What about that lorry driver in one of the traffic cops episodes 
There the ones you want to worry about. The police pull up and find a driver in tights, high heals and a gold thong I am in stitches just thinking about it
bubsy06:
What about that lorry driver in one of the traffic cops episodes
You make the poor chap sound indecent he was wearing a rather fetching red dress.
Theres nothing more hideous looking than a fat driver wearing her rubber CROC gutties, wearing his cheap â â â 2 stripes, stinking old wooly jumper, a head full of hair that hasnt been washed in 2 weeks as well as a big scruffy face⌠People should take pride in themselves a little.
I see youâve met the wife thenâŚ
I wear blue combats and company polo shirtâŚlooks alrightâŚi shave once a week,always have done and possibly always willâŚim tall and reasonably skinny though and wouldnât say i was that scruffy
over the last year iâve seen a few old skool drivers with shirts and tiesâŚone on Wigglesworth and another one on Ralph Coleman are 2 that i can recallâŚthey looked like lorry drivers used to look and i must admit that they both looked good.
Nowadays the general trend with a lot of drivers is to wear t shirts too small with all their fat guts hanging out the bottom,greasy hair and generally look like scum bagsâŚits not a case of discriminationâŚif someone half sensibly smart with a bit of pride came for an interview or someone iâve just described,then whoâd you think would get itâ â ?..ever heard of first impressions??..the fat unkempt one could be the better driver,but a lot of companies wouldnât give them the benefit of the doubtâŚalso whats worth mentioning is a driver turning up on a customers premises is basically representing their company,so im not surprised some pick and choose the smarter and less fat of possible new recruits
Mike-C:
It will take a lot more than slim smart drivers to make me have a good impression of anything on Dutch plates !!!
When I was in Holland, Dutch food came on Dutch plates and I have a very good impression of that. 
Mike-C:
It will take a lot more than slim smart drivers to make me have a good impression of anything on Dutch plates !!!
Would that be with English or Dutch drivers?
When my friend used to run to Italy in the 70âs & 80âs with an oldish motor, (F88 then F10) it wasnât unknown to break down in those days.
He said a Dutch man would always stop to see if he could help, whereas an English man might stop.
Job very different in those days, non of your fancy electronics & computers. Guess thatâs why folk donât stop now, knowing its unlikely they can do anything.
Harry Monk:
Personally, I can never understand why anyone is overweight. If my truck needs 300 litres of diesel, I donât put 500 litres in.
But then again, the pleasure centres of your brain are not hardwired to the truckâs fuel gauge, are they? 
dieseldave:
For similar reasons, I was always a bit nervous when my pen-friend sent correpondence from Paris. Never knew what the postman would make of itâŚ
peterm:
Harry Monk:
Santa:
I sacked a driver once for being too fat:He wasnât just a bit overweight though - the steering wheel disappeared into his gut when he was driving and we considered it a danger that he wasnât in proper control. This was for the Health Authority and we did everything by the book.
First he was given advice by a nutritionist and given six months to demonstrate that he was losing weight. Then he was suspended on full pay for a month to have a final effort. Then he was dismissed.
Health and safety wise you should also take into account the maximum design weight for the drivers seat, our fleet department checked with Merc, Scania & MAN and the standard issue design weights were between 17.5 & 23 stone, if you employ a driver who is overweight for the seat you must take every effort (& cost) to ensure itâs suitable, thatâs another reason to consider before taking on the BIG drivers