Now this true episode is what I would call really running bent ! A ■■■■■■■■ haulier (not me!) who once had a motor leaving Aberdeen travelling South on the dual carriageway and all of a sudden there was this “■■■■■■ up jock” in his car hurtling straight for the ■■■■■■■■ motor on the wrong carriageway.So seconds before the impact Marra flicks a hidden switch to activate his tacho 
So when the Old Bill at the scene of the carnage had a butchers at the lads card they informed him that he had gone from 0 to 60 mph faster than a formula one racing car !! So how had he managed such a “feat” ? “Well I just reached over and switched my Tacho on” 
he says.No need to say that the balloon went “up” and this firms motors were pulled up all over the country and had their tacho cables chopped and were effectively put off the road for a while.Cheers Bewick.
You sure it wasn’t one of your ex SAY motors Dennis ?
Dan Punchard:
You sure it wasn’t one of your ex SAY motors Dennis ?
Bewick:
Now this true episode is what I would call really running bent ! A ■■■■■■■■ haulier (not me!) who once had a motor leaving Aberdeen travelling South on the dual carriageway and all of a sudden there was this “■■■■■■ up jock” in his car hurtling straight for the ■■■■■■■■ motor on the wrong carriageway.So seconds before the impact Marra flicks a hidden switch to activate his tacho
Evening all,
You know Dennis that is what I hated about the level that Hire and Reward Haulage sank to. Run cheap, run bent, run with fools who simply did not understand what they were doing…or the implications of their actions…run without any realisation that your earnings did not cover your costs…then go bump…and start up again…employing the same daft Bs that you ran with before!..Because for a few bob in their back pocket they thought that they were great…Sadly these were the people who ruined the reputation of a great, and professional industry, their employers, the rouges who bought the weight of onerous control that now besets it…And if one is factual, quite rightly…for if any industry is so oversubscribed by providers of its services, that result in such flagrant, (and stupid), actions by its artisans…then for the public good it does need controlling!
I have,( and still have), great pride in being a lorry driver, but I saw the standard of my compatriots fall, and I have to say the culprits were only from the , Hire and Reward section…Knights of the Road…became…Nightmares of the Road…No wonder speed limiters were introduced…up any motorists rear orifice with headlights full on, blaring horn…for what…10 minutes extra on the Fruit Machine■■? And what did you do for your image■■?,…“professional”…Ithink not.
Then post speed limiter…owners who simply could not understand, or chose not to comprehend just how many hours a journey should take,so exhorted, incentified, or simply chose to ignore what the artisan, (anxious to preserve his employ), actually did to get the job done.
It is a sad thread this…anyone who has pride in “running bent”, (and we all know truly what that means…and it a`int the odd hour), really should consider an alternative, employment…or career. This is a site for “real” lorry drivers.
Cheerio for now.
Well said Saviem,
the reason we now have trackers, digital tacho’s, etc and one of the most legislated industries in the UK - is because of the stunts that were pulled in the past. This industry is its own worst enemy, cut the rate to get the job and hope you can make the money on a backload, if not cut the drivers wage so the only way he can make any money is running “bent”
It has been a race to the bottom for the last 30 years and only now are we starting to see the results, with a bit of a shortage of drivers (try recruiting at the moment and see what dead heads turn up) . we are only reaping what we have sown.
I like a laugh as much as the next man, but please stop looking at the past through rose tinted glasses
A lot of the so called running bent started years ago, long before the HGV licences came in, when the only way drivers could earn decent money was to work long hours. People in offices thought they had done a lot of hours at 40 hours a week, later cut to 37 hours.
Lorry drivers could only take home a decent wage by working well over 60 hours a week. I agree with Saviem’s comments about drivers running bent and carving the job up, thus causing rate cutting. The haulage industry started to pay drivers a decent wage after the HGV licence came in, but soon lapsed back into the job being a poorly paid occupation due to rate cutting and cowboys spoiling the job.
Cheers Dave.
going back to the 60s/early70s the pay was n’t good so creative record keeping was the norm to make a decent wage . then along came o licenses and everyone and his brother were there competing for work . bosses routinely pushed their drivers for more , not counting the heroes who ripped the job up to gain brownie points . some of us may have bent the rules a little , usually making our favourite watering holes , for our own benefit not the bosses . what had been a day run suddenly had extra work tagged on . i refused to be bullied into that situation , but many others were afraid of slipping down the pecking order ( better runs , new lorries )so they did as they were told and ran bent routinely . with all the regulation these days it must be difficult to get away with very much , and all the better for it . dave
Nbjhh
I don’t disagree with any of the above ,and I don’t agree with so called running bent ,but back in the 80s & 90s spare a thought for the man owner operator with 5 kids , a mortgage ,hp ,and some bad recessions who’s not cutting rates and who is just trying to ride through difficult times not brought on by his own doing ,iam sure there were plenty in this situation back then .
I ran from South of Bordeaux to the border in Spain, to save paying the tolls, I came off the toll road to use the national, the Gendarmes stop me, no analogue tacho in the head.
Only fined about 60 quid for no records.
Another time driving over ten hours but left the card in, get stopped by the Basque police, a young trainee, fresh out of police college inspects my card, didn’t realise the gravity of the offence and potential huge fine.
He walks to his older and experienced officer, I thought here we go, mega fine to pay.
He see that he is busy and hands my card back, off I went.
Have to admit that none of my gaffers ever forced me to break the rules, any ‘fiddling’ like loading on break etc was done purely for my own benefit often to keep my place in a queue of trucks waiting to load or tip tarmac! On that job you got plenty of breaks in but not always at the time you needed them, having to stop for a 45 a couple of miles from the job could extend your day by several hours when five+ trucks went past you, or you had the last load of basecourse and the trucks carrying wearing course went past you while you were sitting in a laybye !!! You could become very unpopular with the surfacing gangs then, and they had long memories 
Pete.
hardyd44:
Well said Saviem,the reason we now have trackers, digital tacho’s, etc and one of the most legislated industries in the UK - is because of the stunts that were pulled in the past. This industry is its own worst enemy, cut the rate to get the job and hope you can make the money on a backload, if not cut the drivers wage so the only way he can make any money is running “bent”
It has been a race to the bottom for the last 30 years and only now are we starting to see the results, with a bit of a shortage of drivers (try recruiting at the moment and see what dead heads turn up) . we are only reaping what we have sown.
I like a laugh as much as the next man, but please stop looking at the past through rose tinted glasses
The fact is the type of outfit that wanted to run at silly speeds and do silly hours wasn’t going to give a zb about tachos or speed limiters.Most if not all of the over regulation we’ve got is actually there to appease the EU and,ironically regarding Saviem’s comments,that has been mostly a case of the French applying their ideas to everyone else.The result being drivers having to stop when they could be getting on with the job and having to drive when they are knackered under the ever watchful big brother spy in the cab the tacho.
On that note having to keep going when a driver feels like taking a break or having to stop when the driver wants to work,because the EU says so and/or the guvnor knows every move,as part of a 15 hour shift.Or being forced to drive at a ridiculously low ( French ) truck motorway speed limits,meaning the diver can’t make up time spent on having extra breaks and/or is still out plodding along the road instead of home/parked up and finished,isn’t exactly going to help the issue of knackered drivers.
Also bearing in mind that the unions weren’t exactly all about helping dodgy guvnors to force drivers into dodgy running practices.In which case it doesn’t take a genius to realise that log books and high running speeds were actually more use in preventing driver fatigue than they ever were in causing bent running.Which as history shows if someone wants a driver to run silly hours then a tacho won’t stop them.Which is why the unions were also actually against tachos before,like the Labour Party,they became another mouthpiece for the zb EU and its French and German leadership. 
I can understand half an hour or pushing an hour every blue moon but on international you would loose out big time and the French police would catch you and then it would be like a dog with a bone… But for the life of me don’t matter what size of firm or who they were they had their yes men who would run bent regular as clockwork…my thing is permits and carnets how many of them were original■■? Or are we assuming they were all real as UK only issued so many■■?
karl2878:
my thing is permits and carnets how many of them were original■■? Or are we assuming they were all real as UK only issued so many■■?
To be fair any arguable issues regarding dodgy permits used by Brits was outweighed by the officially sanctioned rigging of the system by foreign authorities in favour of their own.Such as using the advantage of being on transit routes as leverage to increase quotas for themselves.When what was needed was a system based on permits only issued at point of departure integral with customs documents on a journey by journey basis and with transit journeys not counting towards any quotas.IE from memory I think it was possible for French or German operators to use Brit-Italy traffic transiting Germany or France as counting towards quotas regarding German or French-Brit traffic.Amongst other issues of the system being loaded in favour of foreign operators.
In which case it wouldn’t be surprising and only fair that the Brits sometimes resorted to dodgy practices in regards to same to level the playing field a bit. 
But whatever the rights and wrongs it seems obvious where a free market unhindered by quotas has now got the Brit international haulage fleet.More or less where its merchant naval fleet went before,down the tubes.
Carry fast I agree with what you said but at the time didn’t make it rite for the drivers. Who took the blame no matter what. But where we were then is pretty much were the eastern europeans have been for last 5-10 years only they have newer trucks there standards of driving are poor.But our policing is 20 years too late we should have had the big fines and tougher punishments may have prevented the over regulation
karl2878:
Carry fast I agree with what you said but at the time didn’t make it rite for the drivers. Who took the blame no matter what. But where we were then is pretty much were the eastern europeans have been for last 5-10 years only they have newer trucks there standards of driving are poor.But our policing is 20 years too late we should have had the big fines and tougher punishments may have prevented the over regulation
It seems obvious that ‘the authorities’ were taking advantage of what was always a minority problem to push through a different agenda which was all about making life ( much ) more difficult for the majority of reasonable law abiding operators and drivers.
IE speed limiters set at 90kmh and replacing log books with tachos was never about taking the type of surgical action needed against the minority issue of cowboys running all hours at silly speeds.With the introduction of tachos at least arguably being more a case of EU compliance and guvnors trying to get more work out of their drivers in the day.Rather than it being of any advantage whatsoever regards enforcement of hours regs.
On that note I don’t think the intention was ever a case of reasonable policing of a reasonable hours and speed enforcement regime,of the type which our North American and NZ/Australian counterparts have enjoyed ( so far ). IE over regulation based on politically driven EU dictat and guvnors with a them and us attitude to their workforce. 
For some rules are their to be broken from the piece of sponge, winding the clock,different size tyres to magnets people will find a way they always do. I had to check my speed the other day on the m6 I passed Irishmen and they weren’t in the service’s…How times have changed
Dan Punchard:
I used to go with one driver who would drop the cable off for 45 mins twice a day and at the end off the day too ,also another who had a switch on the dash with a T marked on in tipex and a bull dog clip next to it with delivery notes on to cover it up ,I’ve also known plenty convert to pull stops too !
i worked with one like that , no matter where he was sent he was back in the day . obviously the gaffer gave him all the long runs , ok for him paid on mileage but it put pressure on the other drivers . " how long are you going to be we need the lorry for the night man " , my reply " parked up out of hours , tata " . it became a constant hassle . he put the card in after an hour and took it out an hour from home , we christened him day tripper .
Carryfast:
karl2878:
my thing is permits and carnets how many of them were original■■? Or are we assuming they were all real as UK only issued so many■■?To be fair any arguable issues regarding dodgy permits used by Brits was outweighed by the officially sanctioned rigging of the system by foreign authorities in favour of their own.Such as using the advantage of being on transit routes as leverage to increase quotas for themselves.When what was needed was a system based on permits only issued at point of departure integral with customs documents on a journey by journey basis and with transit journeys not counting towards any quotas.IE from memory I think it was possible for French or German operators to use Brit-Italy traffic transiting Germany or France as counting towards quotas regarding German or French-Brit traffic.Amongst other issues of the system being loaded in favour of foreign operators.
In which case it wouldn’t be surprising and only fair that the Brits sometimes resorted to dodgy practices in regards to same to level the playing field a bit.
But whatever the rights and wrongs it seems obvious where a free market unhindered by quotas has now got the Brit international haulage fleet.More or less where its merchant naval fleet went before,down the tubes.
■■■■ oFF YOU rSOLE
rigsby:
i worked with one like that , no matter where he was sent he was back in the day . obviously the gaffer gave him all the long runs , ok for him paid on mileage but it put pressure on the other drivers . " how long are you going to be we need the lorry for the night man " , my reply " parked up out of hours , tata " . it became a constant hassle . he put the card in after an hour and took it out an hour from home , we christened him day tripper .
Pre tacho we had a tipper driver at Ballidon like that but he did it differently! He would go to Glasgow and on my way home from the quarry at 5.30pm I would see him at Longclffe X roads on HIS way home, (when we could take the lorry home) then he would come into the quarry at 10am the following morning and regale us with tales of his night out in Morecambe! We never let on that he had been spotted.
Pete.