Last night i as i was driving down the M6 and slipping onto the M1 south i was watching the two trucks coming down the M1 together . As i am not far off being ready to merge the Asda driver pulls over into lane one (cheers buddy) i slow up and the ReedBoardall driver who is quite slow hangs on and lets me out (thanks), as i just cross the white lines a car shoots inbetween us so i figure that he’ll have a harder job explaining why he hit the back of a truck than i will so i go, anyway thats that and he trundles off eventually at 58mph in his polish registered ■■■■■■ estate. The night before almost the same place a polish Mondeo comes along the slip road from Jnc 18 onto M1 going south, steady 40mph up the slip road and no sign of him attempting to go faster anytime soon so i move over, theres no one about anyway only me and him. He’s into lane one behind me, then he pulls out into lane two and maintains a steady 56mph sitting a few feet away from the corner of my trailer in lane two! So it started me thinking again, the Poles really are bad drivers. Don’t take my word for it see what the government think here. It doesn’t look like they’re faring any better over in Ireland either , see here.
Given their driving record i was suprised, or not, to read in commercial motor that the General Manager for Training at the FTA, Mr.Brian Szukala looked into the prospect of training drivers in Poland and bringing them to the UK. However Mr. Szukala whose father was a Polish immigrant says “the project stalled”.Now there is a pun there, but leave it for now! Looks like its back to the drawing board to sort out the old driver shortage Bri!!
Now, my favourite charity (skills for logistics) have recently been awarded £100,000 to look at how we can make Logistics more appealing to ethnic minorities and women, at first i thought i was hand /eye co ordination issues but no, there are other factors involved. Infact probably at this very minute their £50,000 a year chairman is probably in some hotel/confrence room drinking port and eating asparagus tips and thrashing out a hard deal to see which “consultancy” is going to get the lions share! It would be ironic if they discovered as in the case with 600,000 Poles, that the way to attract them is to offer loads more money.
just read the irish paper a line made me chuckle , apparantley because polish people buy second hand cars(.makes a note too swap my second hand car for a new one as soon as my 6 numbers come up)mmmmmmmmmmm.interesting read 
Id say they just dont have experience of driving in this country and driving on the proper side of the road.
Yes there are bad polish drivers and there are good ones, most of the ones ive met seem very good. There are of course some bad british drivers too.
However as it has been proven many times the standard of driving in this country is very good (compared to length of roads to amount of vehicles on the road)
How well would you do in poland driving on the other side of the road on the other side of the cab?
ralliesport:
How well would you do in poland driving on the other side of the road on the other side of the cab?
Not to well apparently, the government say its dangerous and full of bad drivers.
ralliesport There are guys on here that were driving in Poland when it was still commie bloc. When they get back from their trips they will probably give you the proven record you are looking for…( Don`t underestimate the years of experience the lads that use this forum have under their belt, ) 
ralliesport:
How well would you do in poland driving on the other side of the road on the other side of the cab?
Didn’t have a problem when I went to Gdansk last month.
harry:
ralliesport There are guys on here that were driving in Poland when it was still commie bloc. When they get back from their trips they will probably give you the proven record you are looking for…( Don`t underestimate the years of experience the lads that use this forum have under their belt, )
yes mate i agree with you, however we have thousands of polish drivers in this country that have no experience of driving here. This is what I believe is causing problems for the poles rarther than them being bad drivers.
As I say we have bad british drivers in this country, but there are a lot of very good drivers, which you have to be with all the traffic on the road.
Dunno if it is true, but I have heard that because the driving categories are different in Poland, you can get a licence to drive an articulated lorry by passing a driving test on an agricultural tractor towing a trailer.
Have also read in the commercial press that there are a lot of forged licences around- VOSA found 17 with the same number…
Years ago when I was working in Swiss the Yugo`s used to make their own licence. Some had never been in a truck & when the took the truck on the road for a short test they drove on the hard shoulder because they were not used to the width. But you could not beat them on price… 
Use this ,Mike.
worldlingo.com/en/products_s … lator.html
Ooops! No Polish…
Maybe this…?
poltran.com/
Mike-C:
Also can anyone translate this advert from the latest truckstop news for me as i can’t understand it…
Job starting 19 September for an over 25 year old, £515 per week less £85 for digs?
Give O Ewan a call if you’re interested.
That could be mostly complete crap but that’s my effort at understanding it.
Drivers wanted for local firm, must be 25+, £85 per day + overtime, OTE £515 per week.
Starting |September 19
Or something like that but I can’t be sure cos the post seems to have disappeared now.
Ah well, I was close.
Is that local to Poland or local to Wiltshire? 
where did my post go?
My views ( and you probably won’t agree) regarding the Polish and other East European drivers is as long as they aren’t killing or injuring in any way any of our own let them carry on 
Just wait til you see the driving standards of the Romanians and Bulgarians when they start to swarm in 
Mike-C:
where did my post go?
No idea, it was there when i quoted from it. 
Harry Monk:
Dunno if it is true, but I have heard that because the driving categories are different in Poland, you can get a licence to drive an articulated lorry by passing a driving test on an agricultural tractor towing a trailer.Have also read in the commercial press that there are a lot of forged licences around- VOSA found 17 with the same number…
Let them all in the more the merriermy company is having trouble at the minute they are fleet minimising, due to a poor year of sales maybe a better idea would be to sack all the British drivers they employ and save millions by employing poles?.
The government might suffer a little though by having to pay my dole money.
Heresa letter to my local paper this week by a well known local plumber who could save thousands by employing foreign workers.
Breaking point
I agree with the sentiments expressed by the Newark MP Mr Patrick Mercer about Polish people but disagree with his views on immigration (Pride In Poles, Advertiser, August 25).
We were told by our politicians to expect 13,500 immigrants but it appears 600,000 have arrived. How could they get it so wrong?
Before they arrived, the infrastructure of this country was at breaking point. The transport system, heath service, police and education services could not cope.
Now our population has increased by over half a million. Are things going to get better? I think not.
Immigration should be cut to a trickle until such time as the country’s infrastructure can cope with the people that are here now.
If this does not happen our standard of living will go down towards the level of the countries these immigrants are coming from.
Something must be done before the 600,000 becomes 1.6m or, even worse, my grandchildren become part of a minority group in this country. – PAUL DERRY, Grange Road, Newark.
It seems that its not just the employees who have had enough but some of the employers too.
Me personally?, ill stick to trying to be British anbd loving the nation i grew up in as for all the ■■■■■■■■■ who say " but Britain is a nation of immigrants" thats fine and your right to a certain degree but its got to stop some day and its got to be soon.
I dont want my country to be Pol-British or Brit-Polish in the future im quite happy with it the way it is.
Weve got to close the doors one day and that day has got to be tomorrow.
We are obviously a bunch of lazy arse workers in this country otherwise they wouldnt have to import the far harder working class of people would we?.
Having driven in Poland before the block was lifted I have the greatest respect for polish drivers. Anyone who has been there will confirm that the roads are dangerous due to subsidance, ruts as deep as house footings, odd cambers that chuck you from side to side and to cap it all every few kilometers an abandoned car that has been smashed or simply expired. Anyone that can drive in a half decent style on them with a clapped out motor often with knackered cab mounts has my respect.and I havnt even mentioned the ice and snow. whereas my missus could drive a truck on a straight bit of motorway over here.
AS regards polish drivers there are those who
have been doing this work for many years and
are A1: &there are those who have jumped on the job
due to the opening up of the borders,I,ve
said it before it is very easy to get paperwork
without haveing to pass a test,and people,
transport companys will use cheaper labour
until either the insurance companys say this is it
us or them,or also the customer for whom they are
working for says the same,IT is a shame that those
who come from poland and are good are haveing
problems due to those who are totaly incompetent ,
try not to tar every one with being the same as Good
& Bad all over weither it be some one from PL to GB
to D,etcetc AND by the way the description of the roads
is one that is true and also they still have problems
today with the heat makeing the roads unuseable
due to theheat distorting the road surface.