And that’s the way it should be Biggdaz.
Well, I’ll conclude on this issue… I’m semi-retired from HGV stuff, and this Forum’s more entertaining that any Corrie, Emmerdale or Eastenders… 
MEGGA
simon1958:
After reading your post there Dipper Dave, I’ll ask you or anybody who chooses to read this with a traffic office regime.Not the TM
Not the lads on despatch
No. It’s an old guy; 65 and looking hence to his happy retirement day.
But, he’s just heard his granddaughter’s past away in hospital. These details were submitted to the transport office… the Area Manager’s response… ‘’ I Don’t consider that a close enough family relationship to grant you time off for a funeral’’If I knew more about these [zb] comps’, you’de have seen this statement in red!!!..
Sorry but if it was me I would have gone to the funeral…
I would have said in a calm voice; ‘Sorry but we are a close family and as a senior member I have to be there you lend support’. ‘Sorry if you don’t have that family closeness and I feel sorry for you’. ‘I will be in work the following day and I will resume my duties as normal’.
I would await his response and if he said any thing like ‘don’t bother coming back’ or ‘you are sacked’. I would say ‘don’t be so daft and I will see you the following day’. If he still insisted that I would be sacked, ‘I would say don’t be daft, how would that look in the local and national press and TV?’ …
I would then turn up for work the next day as stated. If it then transpires I am sacked. I would ensure that I had a picture of the boss/tm and ring the The Sun, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Star, locatl BBC and ITV local TVnews channels asking if they want a story on the what could possibly be the worse boss in the country to work for?
I think that the company would lose any industrial tribunal you lodged for unfair dismissal as it could also be breaching your human rights under the grounds of the right to have a family life.
But at the end of the day do you really want to work for a company like that?
Thanks Thruxton. Believe me, I did have the last laugh…
About two month later,or thereabouts, The Managing Director sent out circular 
requesting for the return of previous employees… 2nd word… 
at our DHL depot,most of the management team have bailed out,leaving a 21 yr old girl trying to run the transport…and she’s doing a pretty good job IMO.
i don`t believe for a second,that any tm would suggest somenes grandchild was not close enough to justify attending their funeral.
sounds like rdc bull dust…to me
We lost ours in December he was managed out as he knew the job inside out and that wasn’t what they were looking for now … Go figure that one . SHAME . These slave drivers who think 15 hours isn’t a limit but a target will reap what they sow as in the end they will have a much smaller pool of drivers year on year willing to work them hours and with good reason !
old 67:
Reading many of the posts on here, it doesn’t appear there are a lot of these left in the industry. You know, the decent bloke who knew the job and acted as a kind of buffer between his drivers and his directors who sometimes didn’t have a clue. He would protect the company from out and out tossers but equally and just as importantly would protect the decent driver from the ignorant demands of those above him.
Where do you buy your rose tinted glasses from? Old style transport managers expected you to run bent, they sacked you for nowt and the attitude was generally “if I could have you driving 24hrs a dat 365 days a year I would do.”
commonrail:
i don`t believe for a second,that any tm would suggest somenes grandchild was not close enough to justify attending their funeral.
sounds like rdc bull dust…to me
^this^
my grandchildren are my life, if I lost one of them I would need
a lot more than one day off!!!
any employer that didn’t like it could go **** 'emselves
Conor:
old 67:
Reading many of the posts on here, it doesn’t appear there are a lot of these left in the industry. You know, the decent bloke who knew the job and acted as a kind of buffer between his drivers and his directors who sometimes didn’t have a clue. He would protect the company from out and out tossers but equally and just as importantly would protect the decent driver from the ignorant demands of those above him.Where do you buy your rose tinted glasses from? Old style transport managers expected you to run bent, they sacked you for nowt and the attitude was generally “if I could have you driving 24hrs a dat 365 days a year I would do.”
You are right Conor. Some transport managers were as you described,especially ones who also owned the firm and some of them were real cowboy outfits.Indeed some of them were not averse to giving an errant driver one on the chin !
There just seems to me to be less of the type I was referring to in the industry today,again based on the posts I read on here.
Regard. John.
P.S. I didn’t buy my rose tinted specs,they were a retirement present after 50 years in the industry 
.
I work for the fore mentioned he wouldn’t have a clue about computers and stuff still has a huge book,with pen and ink and the occasional tipex 
Very old school and knows the job inside out,although some of the roads he drove in his time are either now limited to 7.5ton or don’t exist anymore.