After seeing the quack today I have had to accept my driving days are done, I have been over the last 18 months experiencing difficulty getting in and out of cabs due to back pain and increasing knee pain, it has got so severe in the last month I stopped working but I was going to go back when the pain stopped and have been looking around, but it hasn’t stopped its got worse to the point I can hardly put my foot down, I have Osteo Arthritis it seems in my right hip, right Knee, left elbow, left foot and I am ready for dignitas, the quack said it will probably spread to other joints so its bye bye to driving trucks, I am 62 and I doubt very much that I will work again, I cant even sit for long without hurting, the quack pointed out I am overweight which does not help he said, so I told jumping in and out of trucks and trailers and heaving and tugging stuff about for 60+ hours a week for 35 years wont have done me a lot of good either.
feel 4 ya m8 always happens to the good guys hope things get better 4 ya your one of the guys deserve every penny u get from goverment gd luck 
I sympathise with you fella, I have only the beginnings of OA in my knees and hands after years of jumping out of cabs and off trailers, endless handballing etc. I feel lucky that at least I’ve made it to 72 so when I have to park up it will be about time for the knackers yard!
A big reason why I went back to tippers was health reasons. Once a month visits to the chiropractors was telling me something. I was handballing loads, pumptrucking stupid amounts on my own and doing 15 hour days. Worked through breaks to get done and for what? The same money (less once the chiropractor took his share) for what I get now by pushing a lever to unload in seconds.
blunderman I got it in both ankles took chance and had ankle fustions helped big time takes a good year to get over but worth it reduced my pain 70 percent but ill never b pervect regards rowly ward
Common problem with LGV Drivers, especially the oldies who go back year, when it was climb into the cab via the wheel studs/trim and tyre and safer to drop from the cab so you didn`t skin your shins and knees, unlike modern trucks with 4-5 steps and grab handles.
don’t let it get you down blunder man . i had to finish at the same age as you , but with heart related problems . get signed on longterm and see a pension advisor . you should get a liveable sum and it will give you the time to get treatment . i did just that and although things were tight at first you adjust and learn to enjoy life . if you aren’t at work doing more damage to your legs the problem will be easier to treat . good luck and enjoy life . dave
You have done your work and are deserving of whatever benefits that you can claim.I hope that you can keep your self occupied with a hobby or interest of some sort.
Thanks for the comments it seems a bit strange to see ahead with nothing to do, I have volunteered to drive people about for the local hospice as I am reasonably ok in my car but they are fully manned at the moment, I like gardening but cant dig now, but I hobbled round to the pub this afternoons and swapped tall tales with the other village lame and weary, it resembles a set from the Walking Dead, I have to admit I feel a kind of relief that that is it, no more trucks, silly hours, idiot security guards in fact I might well drive into Scunthorpe and pull faces and laugh and point at the fools that man the gate at NISA, I suspect my wife will poison my coffee in a month or two, I have yet to receive my 50" plasma TV, sky subscription, free car, £500 per week, Free holidays, and even subsidised beer the Daily Mail reckons all Benefit Scroungers like me get, but I live in hope.
Unfortunately a familiar site among drivers approaching retirement, and the reason I’ve jacked tilts and gone back on tin boxes while I’m still in my 30s. I get the level of exercise I feel comfortable with, when I want to do it, and not at the dictation of how badly stuffed a trailer is, or how many discount retailers order you to be on site labour
Blunder Man:
Thanks for the comments it seems a bit strange to see ahead with nothing to do, I have volunteered to drive people about for the local hospice as I am reasonably ok in my car but they are fully manned at the moment, I like gardening but cant dig now, but I hobbled round to the pub this afternoons and swapped tall tales with the other village lame and weary, it resembles a set from the Walking Dead, I have to admit I feel a kind of relief that that is it, no more trucks, silly hours, idiot security guards in fact I might well drive into Scunthorpe and pull faces and laugh and point at the fools that man the gate at NISA, I suspect my wife will poison my coffee in a month or two, I have yet to receive my 50" plasma TV, sky subscription, free car, £500 per week, Free holidays, and even subsidised beer the Daily Mail reckons all Benefit Scroungers like me get, but I live in hope.
know what you mean about benefit scroungers,unlike them though you can hold your head up high mate,although you have had to retire early you have earned the right to take it easy,good luck