I understand why some of the public hate trucks and truckers,
I turn up in a street at 8-9am, parked cars every where, I have to reverse in a gate then onto a bay, which is just down the road from a primary school, if there is a miracle and there is no parked cars I’m in the gate and off the street straight away. When cars are sitting all round the gate, it takes up to 5 mins of shunting to get in the gate, with 3 people assisting me, one of them to watch the parked cars on my nearside, another one to stop traffic from driving up to the back of the unit (which does happen) he also stops mothers walking their kids round the back of the trailer as I reverse in, other guy stops people walking in from the other side. Horns going, traffic queued up round the scheme, people complaining to the guys helping me in… Only people who enjoy this is the wee kids seeing a big lorry close up lol
Yesterday I watched a elephant race in front of me on the M73 (s) the queue was never ending, one to55er was weaving left and right repeatedly behind the truck, loads of motorists sitting at -56mph on a scorching Friday afternoon, must have been raging.
lolipop:
You never will have a Union like the RMT or the USA Teamsters
To many do all the talking when they are in a crowd but as soon as they leave the yard and go the road they change into Individuals,and run as they see fit,only changing when the are near returning to base.
Drivers are their own worst enemy
The public image of a “trucker” is an over weight man in his 50’s,wearing a wife beaters egg stained oily shirt.
Rigger boots are optional,along with a lumberjack shirt.Having a daily fry up.
LIBERTY_GUY:
I don’t think the general public hate truckers, but probably more accurately a very small element of the truck driving industry. We all know which ones. The idiot ‘professional’ drivers that think riding 6" from the car in front at 50mph shows industry in a good light (irrespective of circumstances). The clowns that don’t have the power to overtake another truck, but still continue to block the other lane for miles on end, causing bedlam behind. The skip drivers that have no concept of what a net is, as half their load gets deposited in the path of following cars. The list could go on, but we are not talking about errors of judgement, but deliberate acts of anti social behaviour that does nobody any favours.
Get the idiot element of so called ‘professional’ drivers off the road and perhaps then the public perception of HGV’s will improve. Many drivers though, remain their own worst enemy.
^This. Spot on.
Companies like Tesco don’t do us any favours either, having 3-5 HGV deliveries a day to a poxy high street Express store with crap access/limited parking. Locals then have to put up with wagons snarling the road up, bread men rattling deliveries 100 yards down the road etc. & blame us.
G6Bob:
I turn up in a street at 8-9am, parked cars every where, I have to reverse in a gate then onto a bay, which is just down the road from a primary school, if there is a miracle and there is no parked cars I’m in the gate and off the street straight away. When cars are sitting all round the gate, it takes up to 5 mins of shunting to get in the gate, with 3 people assisting me, one of them to watch the parked cars on my nearside, another one to stop traffic from driving up to the back of the unit (which does happen) he also stops mothers walking their kids round the back of the trailer as I reverse in, other guy stops people walking in from the other side. Horns going, traffic queued up round the scheme, people complaining to the guys helping me in… Only people who enjoy this is the wee kids seeing a big lorry close up lol
Thats similar to my Tesco point. Whoever you are delivering to shouldn’t be having a delivery during the school run. Their fault, but the trucker gets the blame
I think a lot of this is how some drivers conduct themselves.
Our yard is on a farm and we have to pass houses early morning and late on a night but we don’t go speeding past and try and keep the noise down.
Some of the residents actually wave as we go past.
Now iv been to yards that are near houses and seen some drivers blasting the horn and shouting when there is no need to,and this doesn’t keep relationships good with your neighbours.
Then for every nice friendly courteous driver who is polite there is 5 who are rude and bad mannered so this is the perception the public keep I’m afraid.
G6Bob:
I turn up in a street at 8-9am, parked cars every where, I have to reverse in a gate then onto a bay, which is just down the road from a primary school, if there is a miracle and there is no parked cars I’m in the gate and off the street straight away. When cars are sitting all round the gate, it takes up to 5 mins of shunting to get in the gate, with 3 people assisting me, one of them to watch the parked cars on my nearside, another one to stop traffic from driving up to the back of the unit (which does happen) he also stops mothers walking their kids round the back of the trailer as I reverse in, other guy stops people walking in from the other side. Horns going, traffic queued up round the scheme, people complaining to the guys helping me in… Only people who enjoy this is the wee kids seeing a big lorry close up lol
rob22888:
Thats similar to my Tesco point. Whoever you are delivering to shouldn’t be having a delivery during the school run. Their fault, but the trucker gets the blame
BUT, if G6Bob KNOWS it is like that at that time, could he not defer the drop till say 0930 Well after the school run, when the road is quieter?? i’ve done drops in similar circumstances, and then had them repeated a few days later. and EVERY time there has been something I as a driver could do to to alleviate the problem!
there are simple things we can do as drivers to improve things, TELLING transport planners of things like schools and other bad spots for a start, ok alot wont give a flying firkin, but any company who wants to make a good reputation will listen and WILL act on the info supplied!
Remember chaps, the numpties in the office DON’T KNOW UNLESS YOU TELL THEM!!!
G6Bob:
I turn up in a street at 8-9am, parked cars every where, I have to reverse in a gate then onto a bay, which is just down the road from a primary school, if there is a miracle and there is no parked cars I’m in the gate and off the street straight away. When cars are sitting all round the gate, it takes up to 5 mins of shunting to get in the gate, with 3 people assisting me, one of them to watch the parked cars on my nearside, another one to stop traffic from driving up to the back of the unit (which does happen) he also stops mothers walking their kids round the back of the trailer as I reverse in, other guy stops people walking in from the other side. Horns going, traffic queued up round the scheme, people complaining to the guys helping me in… Only people who enjoy this is the wee kids seeing a big lorry close up lol
rob22888:
Thats similar to my Tesco point. Whoever you are delivering to shouldn’t be having a delivery during the school run. Their fault, but the trucker gets the blame
BUT, if G6Bob KNOWS it is like that at that time, could he not defer the drop till say 0930 Well after the school run, when the road is quieter?? i’ve done drops in similar circumstances, and then had them repeated a few days later. and EVERY time there has been something I as a driver could do to to alleviate the problem!
there are simple things we can do as drivers to improve things, TELLING transport planners of things like schools and other bad spots for a start, ok alot wont give a flying firkin, but any company who wants to make a good reputation will listen and WILL act on the info supplied!
Remember chaps, the numpties in the office DON’T KNOW UNLESS YOU TELL THEM!!!
B…
we tell our planners about bad drops I,e sending an article when it needs to go on a rigid, bad times to do drops etc. you may as we’ll bang your head against a brick wall. The office bods know best as you know
Olog Hai:
The job of the lorry driver is no more or less important than that of the shelf-stacker, order picker or the guy on the forks, because if they didn’t do their jobs then food would never find its way to the supermarket shelves either. And actually the cleaner as well, because if the supermarket never got cleaned it would probably get shut down by Environmental Health. See what I am alluding to Winseer?
As for your attempted point regarding banker, lawyer and so on: you actually have to devote some serious study towards gaining the qualifications necessary to do those kind of jobs. You can become a lorry driver in a matter of days. That’s why they get paid £50k and over and your average driver doesn’t. It really is that simple.
I do agree. That’s a fair point. When talking in terms of the supply chain structure as a whole then each bit needs to work. Its about risk considering the amount of rules you have to abide by that are legally enforced, the ease at which you can put one foot wrong through a mistake and be held to account by (pick the relevant authority).
As has been said already, it aint the real drivers that have caused the public hate, it’s the ■■■■ whits with licences that impersonate drivers that are the culprits responsible
G6Bob:
I turn up in a street at 8-9am, parked cars every where, I have to reverse in a gate then onto a bay, which is just down the road from a primary school, if there is a miracle and there is no parked cars I’m in the gate and off the street straight away. When cars are sitting all round the gate, it takes up to 5 mins of shunting to get in the gate, with 3 people assisting me, one of them to watch the parked cars on my nearside, another one to stop traffic from driving up to the back of the unit (which does happen) he also stops mothers walking their kids round the back of the trailer as I reverse in, other guy stops people walking in from the other side. Horns going, traffic queued up round the scheme, people complaining to the guys helping me in… Only people who enjoy this is the wee kids seeing a big lorry close up lol
rob22888:
Thats similar to my Tesco point. Whoever you are delivering to shouldn’t be having a delivery during the school run. Their fault, but the trucker gets the blame
BUT, if G6Bob KNOWS it is like that at that time, could he not defer the drop till say 0930 Well after the school run, when the road is quieter?? i’ve done drops in similar circumstances, and then had them repeated a few days later. and EVERY time there has been something I as a driver could do to to alleviate the problem!
there are simple things we can do as drivers to improve things, TELLING transport planners of things like schools and other bad spots for a start, ok alot wont give a flying firkin, but any company who wants to make a good reputation will listen and WILL act on the info supplied!
Remember chaps, the numpties in the office DON’T KNOW UNLESS YOU TELL THEM!!!
B…
Ever thought of becoming a ‘spin doctor’?
In an ideal world this would be great but in reality the world revolves around the clock and making money.
Timed deliveries into areas designed for smaller vehicles, no flexibility by the customer or employer, provide feedback as required during your ‘debrief’ so another box can be ticked by ‘managers/supervisors’ that don’t have a clue. Then set out again tomorrow for more of the same because there were no issues previously!
Of course the public don’t help the situation either but hey, they pay your wages don’t they?
LIBERTY_GUY:
I don’t think the general public hate truckers, but probably more accurately a very small element of the truck driving industry. We all know which ones. The idiot ‘professional’ drivers that think riding 6" from the car in front at 50mph shows industry in a good light (irrespective of circumstances). The clowns that don’t have the power to overtake another truck, but still continue to block the other lane for miles on end, causing bedlam behind. The skip drivers that have no concept of what a net is, as half their load gets deposited in the path of following cars. The list could go on, but we are not talking about errors of judgement, but deliberate acts of anti social behaviour that does nobody any favours.
Get the idiot element of so called ‘professional’ drivers off the road and perhaps then the public perception of HGV’s will improve. Many drivers though, remain their own worst enemy.
Don’t forget the artic drivers that think they own the road & think anything smaller than a road train is inferior.
G6Bob:
I turn up in a street at 8-9am, parked cars every where, I have to reverse in a gate then onto a bay, which is just down the road from a primary school, if there is a miracle and there is no parked cars I’m in the gate and off the street straight away. When cars are sitting all round the gate, it takes up to 5 mins of shunting to get in the gate, with 3 people assisting me, one of them to watch the parked cars on my nearside, another one to stop traffic from driving up to the back of the unit (which does happen) he also stops mothers walking their kids round the back of the trailer as I reverse in, other guy stops people walking in from the other side. Horns going, traffic queued up round the scheme, people complaining to the guys helping me in… Only people who enjoy this is the wee kids seeing a big lorry close up lol
rob22888:
Thats similar to my Tesco point. Whoever you are delivering to shouldn’t be having a delivery during the school run. Their fault, but the trucker gets the blame
BUT, if G6Bob KNOWS it is like that at that time, could he not defer the drop till say 0930 Well after the school run, when the road is quieter?? i’ve done drops in similar circumstances, and then had them repeated a few days later. and EVERY time there has been something I as a driver could do to to alleviate the problem!
there are simple things we can do as drivers to improve things, TELLING transport planners of things like schools and other bad spots for a start, ok alot wont give a flying firkin, but any company who wants to make a good reputation will listen and WILL act on the info supplied!
Remember chaps, the numpties in the office DON’T KNOW UNLESS YOU TELL THEM!!!
B…
we tell our planners about bad drops I,e sending an article when it needs to go on a rigid, bad times to do drops etc. you may as we’ll bang your head against a brick wall. The office bods know best as you know
G6BOB Is only a driver, I and all my fellow workers, including the manager of the warehouse/stores where I am delivering to, complain about this every day, “The Numpties in the office” know full well the difficulties and dangers the driver faces at this location and at this time, but the stuff must go (Trackers fitted), as my fellow driver above says… “may as well bang your head against a brick wall”. The reason they continually send a artic here is, on my way back I stop in somewhere else and fill the trailer to the gunnels, if it was a rigid, couldn’t fit as much on. Went to this particular drop a few weeks ago with the artic with only six pallets on lol MADNESS!!!
toby1234abc:
In Europe drivers are treated with respect.
Free parking and eat like a King for a cheap price.Nimbies like to moan for the sake of it.Action groups set up to stop progress on developments that are benificial to the enviroment.
Wind turbine farms seem to upset people, and solar panel farms.
They can not see the new sites from where they live but will stop it.
Google Lorry Watch.
Coffin dodgers working for free nicking nasty juggernauts thundering up and down the street they "OWN " ?
