When faced with the dole or a low income I always chose the low income until I got sorted in a better job.
Always ended up more than dole money.
Ladyman
What you need to do is target your rescources for example Kent, where most foreign lorries come into the country
Mike-C
What a great idea, when you have them in one place (i.e a ferry port) let them loose all over the country and then try and catch/find them out!
R143-500:
hitch:
it was as i thought if you dont break the law in Ireland your sacked
thick paddy dont they employment rights in the EUGet a life Hitch. I hear the same words from English,Scottish and Welsh mouths all the time at truckstops and delivery points all over the country.Plenty of people in areas with drving jobs thin on the ground will tell you if they dont do it someone else will and they have a family to support so put up with it. I am not condoning it but feel your " thick paddy " jibe shows a lack of understaning of the real world.
Seriously have to disagree with that . If you are breaking the law to carry out your duties then you deserve everything that is coming to youand you deserve no sympathy .
Go and stand in front of the families that have lost loved ones at the hands of law breaking drivers and say what you have just said .
What an idiotic comment .
Sorry, but this “we’re forced to do it otherwise we’d be out of a job” argument is a load of bull [zb]. Last time I checked, people were free to work where they wanted and no-one is forced to do anything they don’t want to do.
Having a mortgage and kids is no excuse. If they can’t afford those luxuries without having to work round the clock 24/7 then they shouldn’t have got themselves in that position it the first place. Serves them right.
Sling the [zb] book at them, that’s what I say. If the fines are heavy enough then they’ll be forced to sit down and have a rethink rather than just paying it and carrying on regardless hoping they don’t get caught again.
Rob K:
Sorry, but this “we’re forced to do it otherwise we’d be out of a job” argument is a load of bull [zb]. Last time I checked, people were free to work where they wanted and no-one is forced to do anything they don’t want to do.Having a mortgage and kids is no excuse. If they can’t afford those luxuries without having to work round the clock 24/7 then they shouldn’t have got themselves in that position it the first place. Serves them right.
Sling the [zb] book at them, that’s what I say. If the fines are heavy enough then they’ll be forced to sit down and have a rethink rather than just paying it and carrying on regardless hoping they don’t get caught again.
Hate to say it I couldn’t agree more.
Me too
paul@midway:
R143-500:
hitch:
it was as i thought if you dont break the law in Ireland your sacked
thick paddy dont they employment rights in the EUGet a life Hitch. I hear the same words from English,Scottish and Welsh mouths all the time at truckstops and delivery points all over the country.Plenty of people in areas with drving jobs thin on the ground will tell you if they dont do it someone else will and they have a family to support so put up with it. I am not condoning it but feel your " thick paddy " jibe shows a lack of understaning of the real world.
Seriously have to disagree with that . If you are breaking the law to carry out your duties then you deserve everything that is coming to youand you deserve no sympathy .
Go and stand in front of the families that have lost loved ones at the hands of law breaking drivers and say what you have just said .What an idiotic comment .
Maybe I did not get my point over properly. What I was commenting on was Hitch’s "thick paddy " jibe. On the tv program last night an irish driver who had his face blurred for the camera mentioned in his defence that if he did not do the excesive hours they would get rid of him and find someone who would. I wrote that I had heard that from many people over the years maybe you Paul have heard the same. I also wrote that " I dont condone it " so feel no need to stand in front of the grieving familys.
Or maybe i didn’t read it properly . 
the entire program was a farce. the reporter spent a day with Barrie but VOSA got involved so that entire day was cut from the final show. it was supposed to highlight the problems we face every day as professionals but it seems that we dont make headlines so hitting us with this was better for viewers. nothing new there.
incidentally, a lot of us have emailled the bbc to complain about this and Barrie has been in touch with them by phone. it seems that they are going to look into the real issues that we face in everyday life but as i was extremely untrusting when they first asked for our help (and i was spot on), i wont hold my breath on that one 
In thirty years of driving mainly european with fish and meat from ireland and scotland to all destinations and i am sad to think of the names and faces of the drivers which i have known and who have lost there lives doing the imposible for companys and agents who dont give a ■■■■ if you sleep or not but you dont have to do it now tell them to stick it there are good companys around now who are doing by the book as we are now, in my oppinion we have a safer haulage industry than any of these new eu states in maintenance and hours, 
etc
klunk/running fish to europe totaly legal (as long as the fishermen get the weights right)
How scary was the pole who confessed to regularly working for 24/26 hr stretches and his record was 32hrs? 
I think the only way to put a stop to foreign drivers putting lifes at risk here in the UK is to ban them from driving in our country.
Johnny Foreigner brings the load as far as the ferry on his side of the channel,then a UK haulier and driver takes it from there.
gsm31:
I think the only way to put a stop to foreign drivers putting lifes at risk here in the UK is to ban them from driving in our country.
Johnny Foreigner brings the load as far as the ferry on his side of the channel,then a UK haulier and driver takes it from there.
you’re going to upset a lot of brits who do international work 
i can only say ++++++++++ BECAUSE they would
have to censor, gsm31, try rethinking what you posted
because i can name firms from the uk who with
UK born drivers do those hours,so sorry it is not only
the non-uk drivers,but also uk drivers
as for the polish drivers ignorance,why did they not
do a written test if need be in his language,BUT
sorry surely they have done that ,and also a
charecter check,the 100%check that the licence
holder is competent to drive the vehicle he or
she holds a licence for,and what about HSE
SURELY AGAIN when working IN the UK
due to safety and insurance the knowledge
and use of the english language is required.
AGAIN WHAT THIS PROVES IS THAT MONEY
RULES AND ““PROFIT”” IS THE GOD
THEY FOLLOW;
they being the exploiters of these drivers
from where ever they come be it the
GB; P;D:A:F;SP;PL; etcetc
Coffeeholic:
They have been talking about it most of the day on BBC TV and radio, and reporting how the drivers had exceeded the recommended driving hours. Er, those hours aren’t a recommendation.
I heard the words 'recommended’on radio 2,I felt like ringing them up and correcting them.
■■■■■
brit pete:
i can only say ++++++++++ BECAUSE they would
have to censor, gsm31, try rethinking what you posted
because i can name firms from the uk who with
UK born drivers do those hours,so sorry it is not only
the non-uk drivers,but also uk driversas for the polish drivers ignorance,why did they not
do a written test if need be in his language,BUT
sorry surely they have done that ,and also a
charecter check,the 100%check that the licence
holder is competent to drive the vehicle he or
she holds a licence for,and what about HSE
SURELY AGAIN when working IN the UK
due to safety and insurance the knowledge
and use of the english language is required.AGAIN WHAT THIS PROVES IS THAT MONEY
RULES AND ““PROFIT”” IS THE GOD
THEY FOLLOW;
they being the exploiters of these drivers
from where ever they come be it theGB; P;D:A:F;SP;PL; etcetc
There are cowboys in all walks of life, not just Eastern Europe.
why did the paddy get arrested and not that polish driver, surely theyd both done the same thing, there was a line of trucks parked up for 24 hrs , why wasnt paddy put in the line or vice versa, if paddys arrested why wasnt everyone else. on that bit it did seem one rule for one and another rule for paddy
Steveo_uk:
you watching it?about the guys in dover pulling over dodgey trucks coming over to here.
No I haven’t as ive only just got home, but i wonder if our eu counterparts are going to do one on the UK reg trucks that venture forth, sure there are not that many UK reg trucks doing international work now, but when there was we wrote the book, so to speak on how to bend just about every rule in the book, why do you think the French Germans, et al stop UK reg trucks (Still), goes back over a lot of years, why do you think you are still stopped now, you can argue all you like about forigin reg trucks coming over here and bending the rules.But think you will find that the UK reg trucks and drivers are just as bad, if not worse. Sure you can come on this forum and rant and rave about non UK based trucks doing this and that, but if you were just for once to get your own house in order before you start having a go at the rest of europe you might gain some respect back. O and i dont work for a UK based haulage company, in the last 15 years iv’e worked maybe 2 years of that for UK based companies doing internatinational work, never agian.
sdj
Well said Biggles, can’t really add much more to what you have said except that everyone should remember that the programme was largely about VOSA and the police targetting foreign trucks. Small wonder that so many of them were foreign . Even then almost 2 thirds of them were ok.
And if I remember rightly the Polish driver interviewed spoke of excessive duty hours, not driving hours. Bad enough, but not quite the same thing, as anyone who has ever booked a break when unloading will know.
As far as him not getting arrested while the Paddy was, well, Paddy was caught in the act, the Pole was interviewed incognito by the programme and talking about incidents in his past - something many of us do on here regularly.