Running bent in the 80's and 90's

[robert1952]

There has been a proliferation of threads in recent times across the forum with themes like running bent, fell off the back of a lorry, who managed to get one over on the boss etc. We wait with baited breath for Who ran the furthest on cherry? Who bought their house-extension from the proceeds of contraband? Who got away with driving ■■■■■■ on micky permits and no driving licence?

I’m not saying I was squeaky clean, but why on earth put all this stuff on a public forum?

Back in the ‘80s they had to take that serial Truckers(?) off the telly because the industry made such a hoo-ha about the fact that it cast us in a bad light and besmirched the names of thousands of respectable truckers earning a decent living as best they could. Likewise the castigation of Clarkson after his prostitute joke (which I have to say amused me no end, but it wasn’t good for the drivers’ image).

By the early '70s drivers were beginning to shake off the grease-monkey image of earlier years, but it soon became replaced with a sort of criminal-cowboy image fuelled by vacuous American films and various books. We never enjoyed the respect that our continental counterparts enjoyed (who remembers their blissful initial experience of Les Routiers after our greasy spoons?). So did drivers then become lovable rogues? No! This comes from glamourising crime (like the appalling press coverage of the ‘Great Train Robbery’ - no it wasn’t great, not least because the driver never fully recovered).

Drivers have to work hard to retain any dignity in the UK. If we want respect as professionals, the least we can do is to stop boasting about our naughtier exploits on a public forum and keep it for Friday night in the pub among colleagues. Sorry chaps - rant over. Robert

[carryfast]

Jarvy:
So this thread has descended into name calling and ■■■■ taking. Is it not about running bent in the 80s and 90s and would you earn more for doing such?
I now find I was on the lowest rung of the ladder, a crook and was alone in running bent at times.
Was I the only one? Nope, on European tramping even the big companies put pressure on their drivers to bend to the customers demands. Of course with most companies the harder you worked the better the money.
As for 8 hours driving then 12 hours rest, no way would that get anything done.
France, Italy and Spain all had police that could be persuaded to your view of the tacho rules!

Blimey If I’m not moaning about name calling etc then there’s no need for anyone else to worry about it it goes with the territory.Especially that trouble maker Bewick.

Seriously in my case the argument is more one of the EU forcing ‘its’ ideas regards hours regs into ( what should be ) ‘domestic’ operations.In which case what I’m saying is that Saviem’s comments are actually a case of EU over regulation having the counter productive effect of ‘less’ actual rest for drivers.On that note the idea ‘should be’ 12 hours unbroken minimum daily rest period and ‘no’ seperate driving time limit log books and no tachos and as previously 60 mph motorway limit without limiters.

The effect of all that would mean ‘more’ available driving time,with drivers being able to take extra breaks if/when they feel like it without the guvnor’s knowledge,then being able to make up the time or finish sooner with the extra speed and/or find suitable parking without the tacho forcing a stop to the minute.Without drivers working ( legal ) 13-15 hour potential days and the resulting potential lack of sleep .

[carryfast]

robert1952:
Drivers have to work hard to retain any dignity in the UK. If we want respect as professionals, the least we can do is to stop boasting about our naughtier exploits on a public forum and keep it for Friday night in the pub among colleagues. Sorry chaps - rant over. Robert

To be fair the argument between over regulation actually having a negative effect as opposed to Saviem’s comments is probably a good thing from the public interest point of view.IE in this case with the EU regs actually telling drivers to drive when they feel like a break and to be plodding along clear night time motorways at 56 mph when they could be home and finished,and driving as part of up to a 15 hour working day,or parked up on motorway hard shoulders because the tacho says so,who needs cowboys.

[robert1952]

This picture might put truckers in a better light! Robert

[carryfast]

robert1952:
This picture might put truckers in a better light! Robert

0

Or like the logic which says why use log books,which allow a driver to take a some extra break or start a bit later or finish a bit earlier without the guvnor knowing.Instead of allowing the guvnor ( and the EU ) to set the hours regime to every minute of the day with tachos.

Why allow the cyclist to use the loads of unused room on the pavement through the hazard or to stop and let the truck go.When the cyclist can be told to ride a few inches from the rear wheels of an artic in the hope that the driver sees the cyclist in the mirrors in time before running the cyclist over.

Or lets build houses out of light timber panels in places where we get tornadoes and heavy concrete and bricks where we get earthquakes instead of vice versa.

[robert1952]

Carryfast:

robert1952:
This picture might put truckers in a better light! Robert

0

Or like the logic which says why use log books,which allow a driver to take a some extra break or start a bit later or finish a bit earlier without the guvnor knowing.Instead of allowing the guvnor ( and the EU ) to set the hours regime to every minute of the day with tachos.

Why allow the cyclist to use the loads of unused room on the pavement through the hazard or to stop and let the truck go.When the cyclist can be told to ride a few inches from the rear wheels of an artic in the hope that the driver sees the cyclist in the mirrors in time before running the cyclist over.

Or lets build houses out of light timber panels in places where we get tornadoes and heavy concrete and bricks where we get earthquakes instead of vice versa.

You wanna take more water with it, CF!! Robert

[dani1972]

B

[dani1972]

Oops didn’t realise I posted that, and can’t work out how to delete it. Still it makes more sense than I normally do.

[dave_the_renegade]

dani1972:
Oops didn’t realise I posted that, and can’t work out how to delete it. Still it makes more sense than I normally do.

You can’t delete a post Dan, but you can edit a post and delete what you put on, and post something relevant to a thread .
Cheers Dave.

[lawrence_dunbar]

I find this a very interesting subject, I wonder how many proper drivers can honestly say that they never ever ran bent when working as a driver in those days ■■?, Regards Larry.

[deckboypeggy]

Lawrence ,not anyone who did drive european in the 1970s80s90s AND maybe this year.[:]

[dave_the_renegade]

I will hold my hands up Larry. Like yourself I started with log sheets, before the days of logbooks which came in with the HGV licence. I admit to writing a log sheet out, and then writing a second one out later. Not because my boss told me to do it, all I wanted was to get as many hours as possible, because I wanted to earn as much as I could.
When the HGV licence came in our wages rose by a fair bit, and the logbook came in, but I still got as many hours as possible. It was my choice, as I was a young bloke who had aims and ambition, and was going to become an owner driver, until I had a change of lifestyle, which had nothing to do with long hours.

Now I’m a poacher turned gamekeeper, and for 26 years have worked as a TM.
Cheers Dave.

[dave_the_renegade]

I will hold my hands up Larry. Like yourself I started with log sheets, before the days of logbooks which came in with the HGV licence. I admit to writing a log sheet out, and then writing a second one out later. Not because my boss told me to do it, all I wanted was to get as many hours as possible, because I wanted to earn as much as I could.
When the HGV licence came in our wages rose by a fair bit, and the logbook came in, but I still got as many hours as possible. It was my choice, as I was a young bloke who had aims and ambition, and was going to become an owner driver, until I had a change of lifestyle, which had nothing to do with long hours.

Now I’m a poacher turned gamekeeper, and for 26 years have worked as a TM.
Cheers Dave.

[saviem]

robert1952:
There has been a proliferation of threads in recent times across the forum with themes like running bent, fell off the back of a lorry, who managed to get one over on the boss etc. We wait with baited breath for Who ran the furthest on cherry? Who bought their house-extension from the proceeds of contraband? Who got away with driving ■■■■■■ on micky permits and no driving licence?

I’m not saying I was squeaky clean, but why on earth put all this stuff on a public forum?

Back in the ‘80s they had to take that serial Truckers(?) off the telly because the industry made such a hoo-ha about the fact that it cast us in a bad light and besmirched the names of thousands of respectable truckers earning a decent living as best they could. Likewise the castigation of Clarkson after his prostitute joke (which I have to say amused me no end, but it wasn’t good for the drivers’ image).

By the early '70s drivers were beginning to shake off the grease-monkey image of earlier years, but it soon became replaced with a sort of criminal-cowboy image fuelled by vacuous American films and various books. We never enjoyed the respect that our continental counterparts enjoyed (who remembers their blissful initial experience of Les Routiers after our greasy spoons?). So did drivers then become lovable rogues? No! This comes from glamourising crime (like the appalling press coverage of the ‘Great Train Robbery’ - no it wasn’t great, not least because the driver never fully recovered).

Drivers have to work hard to retain any dignity in the UK. If we want respect as professionals, the least we can do is to stop boasting about our naughtier exploits on a public forum and keep it for Friday night in the pub among colleagues. Sorry chaps - rant over. Robert

Evening all,

Well said Robert, but alas those who rejoice in boasting about such things, simply will not understand the point you make.

In a similar vein, I am somewhat at a loss to understand the route that dear Carryfasts mind has taken him, The ongoing ramble and subsequent comments concerning my only contribution on this thread would seem to indicate a total lack of awareness as to the public perception of the industry, (refer to Roberts post),at the time. Followed by the inevitable result.

Personally I find the title of this thread a little inelegant, just as I was saddened when the standard of our UK Hire and Reward industry began to crumble.

I`m sorry if anyone finds my comments unpalatable, but the industry, (both here and in Europe, for with changes in licencing criteria to operate commercial vehicles for hire and reward on the mainland, as in our islands) and the subsequent rise in service providers, frankly created the scenario for the legislators coming along with a very large stick to beat us all!

And there is democratic process, so where were your MPs, did they hear your voices? Did the then current minister receive copious lobbying? Did Brussels hear the UK voice?..of course not…as it did not hear the voice of France, Holland, Belgium, Italy, (who to a man totally ignore any legislation that they do not like)! So you end up with regulation that sometimes is hard to work within…but the industry had its chance…as did everyone of us if we disagreed.

Strict regulation is a consequence of a grossly oversubscribed and very public facing industry, chasing after an ever reducing volume of work. Rates fall, (great for the end user, and consumer), but bad working practices creep in. That operators and drivers who subscribe to, “running bent”, (and I refer to my previous comment, (“it a`int the odd hour”), they deserve the strongest penalty, for there are a majority of operators and drivers who just get on with the job in a professional manner. They deserve the reward that can be earned.

Cheerio for now.

[karl2878]

Larry as I put in my first post for me it isn’t just about hours . Hours are a big subject but for some this thread is taboo but IMHO not that counts for much I’d say more did than claim not
Be it machanical , paperwork , driving hours , one of the popular ones back then was carrying haz and hiding paperwork under the bunk and not declaring it . a lot of people pulled many a stroke in getting the job done . most new drivers wouldn’t step foot in a yard back then let alone drive out of one . for all the faults I do miss the times and the characters…

[carryfast]

Saviem:
I am somewhat at a loss to understand the route that dear Carryfasts mind has taken him, The ongoing ramble and subsequent comments concerning my only contribution on this thread would seem to indicate a total lack of awareness as to the public perception of the industry, (refer to Roberts post),at the time. Followed by the inevitable result.

Strict regulation is a consequence of a grossly oversubscribed and very public facing industry, chasing after an ever reducing volume of work. Rates fall, (great for the end user, and consumer), but bad working practices creep in. That operators and drivers who subscribe to, “running bent”, (and I refer to my previous comment, (“it a`int the odd hour”), they deserve the strongest penalty, for there are a majority of operators and drivers who just get on with the job in a professional manner. They deserve the reward that can be earned.

Cheerio for now.

I thought my ‘ramblings’ were quite clear in that how does ‘regulation’ that :

(1) means drivers taking ‘less’ breaks and/or ‘less’ daily rest period than they otherwise would,because the guvnor knows every move over every minute and EU enforced lower speeds than those ‘legally allowed’ under the national motorway speed limit mean that ‘lost’ time in that regard can’t be made up.

Or (2) legally sanctioned up to 15 hour overall working days.

Or (3) speeds that keep drivers out plodding along clear night time motorways when they could be home and finished.

Or (4) trucks parked on motorway hard shoulders because the tacho says so.

all supposedly help anyone regards the image of the industry.Also bearing in mind that all the references to employed drivers doing more hours than they probably should were obviously sanctioned by their guvnors to do so.Unless they were doing it for no extra pay which the comments in question suggests not.

[petecud]

I know that it’s a popular thing to diss CF, he does seem to have an annoying way of getting his point across, but I think that he really does have a point about tacho’s benefiting the bosses rather than the drivers!

Back in the late 60’s early 70’s, when we were still using the old type of log book, the one before the one with the grid that you drew a line in to record driving time, we were on trip money, can’t remember what the exact figures were, we would do three trips to the smoke one week, and 2 the next.

Usually, we would leave the depot in Cheshire at 3 or 4 am, the first stop used to be the ‘Aviary’ cafe at Hinckley, Peter, who ran it at the time, used to open up at 6am. He did what was probably the best breakfast on the A5, in my opinion. It was usually followed by a couple of mugs of tea, and while you were sat there, drivers who started a bit later, or came from further up north, would come in and the practice was to buy the lads already there another brew, before you knew it it was about 9am!

You got to know most of the drivers that used the cafe by name, the leisurely breakfast was spent discussing where everybody was going and where we would meet up at the end of the day, whether it was Aldgate, Tooley Street, the Montague at New Cross or the Adam and Eve at Peckham or any other of the numerous favourite stopping places!

You could almost guarantee that you’d make it to wherever was arranged, even if it was a bit late, it was worth making the effort because you were sure of a good night out with fellow drivers!

Being on trip money meant that you weren’t cheating the boss out of any unearned pay, it just meant that you could plan your day the way you wanted to run, rather than being told how to do it, as long as the work was done everybody was happy

I certainly don’t think that I was on my own in filling in the log book retrospectively, at the end of the day, sometimes two or three day later, On more than one occasion, I can remember getting the flashing headlights and the thumbs down from oncoming lorries, warning of police ahead, and trying to fill in the log book while on the move!

With the coming of the tachograph, mobile phones which meant that the office could contact you whenever they wanted, satellite tracking and the latest digital taco’s, all this camaraderie slowly but surely has disappeared!

I pity lorry drivers of today, they cannot possibly have any idea of what lorry driving meant to us back then, the freedom of the road certainly had true meaning then!
Pete

[petecud]

Oh dear!! Sorry, didn’t mean to kill the thread…ooops!
Pete

[carryfast]

petecud:
Oh dear!! Sorry, didn’t mean to kill the thread…ooops!
Pete

Or maybe just that the guvnors’ yes men,who were mostly the cause of the problem anyway,and/or supporters of counter productive over regulation,are slowly running out of justification of their views.

[zb_anorak]

Carryfast:

petecud:
Oh dear!! Sorry, didn’t mean to kill the thread…ooops!
Pete

Or maybe just that the guvnors’ yes men,who were mostly the cause of the problem anyway,and/or supporters of counter productive over regulation,are slowly running out of justification of their views.

The regulations are created by people, for the good of people, to deter selfish criminals from earning a living off the rest. They are undermined by silly little rebels, who think they know best. In this case, the hours regs and the speed limits are there to protect the safety of everyone and the work of the driver. Circumstances occasionally dictate that the rules must be bent, but your attitude, that the whole plot is lost to regulation, is wrong. Nobody who has read your bellowings on this forum would trust you to decide how long to drive, or at what speed. You are a textbook example of the need for regulation.