weeto:
Bet no one can name another industry that has no hours laws, were they are forced to work 24 hrs a day.
Indians with sewing machines for Nike! 
£2 aday! 
Fatboy slimslow:
weeto:
Bet no one can name another industry that has no hours laws, were they are forced to work 24 hrs a day.Indians with sewing machines for Nike!
UK only, trucks are less productive now than what they were 20 years ago, so it’s not surprising ODs could be tempted to do a bit more than they should.
Tacho laws need to be brought into the 21st century and simplified.
Fatboy slimslow:
weeto:
Bet no one can name another industry that has no hours laws, were they are forced to work 24 hrs a day.Indians with sewing machines for Nike!
Try any of the Armed forces and the poor bugers got their hands tied so tight they cant shoot back at the fckuers 
if you really want to run bent that bad go work for a recovery firm for 6 month where its all legal then see how you like it I bet you’ll be saying we need more tacho laws
There is running bent and then there is interpreting the rules, what would most people think of a driver who spends three hours on a loading bay either on other work or POA, gets loaded then pulls outside the gates and takes a 45, the driver performed no duty in the period of loading. coz I know my interpretation put it on break while loading and get the ■■■■ back to the depot so I don’t delay others
K5Project:
if you really want to run bent that bad go work for a recovery firm for 6 month where its all legal then see how you like it I bet you’ll be saying we need more tacho laws
This + 1,000,000
My hand brake was binding one New Years Day, I was visiting a family member 80 miles away from home, I phoned my breakdown co, who sent a subbie out, I said to him the usual, you must be on some ££ to work today, he said “yeah, been on a good screw all week, started on Christmas Eve morning and I have been on call constantly and will be until 3rd of Jan”, I asked him if he sleeps in the back of the cab, he just laughed and said “when I get to go to sleep I go home, but it’s never for long as I’m on 24hr call out”.
My guess is he was getting by on about 3hrs of sleep a day, probably 3hrs sleep at 30 mins a time.
Fatboy slimslow:
weeto:
Bet no one can name another industry that has no hours laws, were they are forced to work 24 hrs a day.Indians with sewing machines for Nike!
There should be a sensible balance
But when was the last time someone on a sewing machine ploughed on killing someone through inattention or falling asleep ?.
Going home after a long shift doesn’t count 
I do think we need rules to protect drivers from companies who would run then 24 hours a day if they could but I dont like the rigid interpretation on the other hand of how they are applied. As has been mentioned above, if all somebody is doing is going 15-20 minutes over their time for either a safe place to park or to get back to the yard on a Friday night to go home then I certainly dont think thats “running bent” in the sligtest, we’re not the machine the tacho would like us to be after all. Personally I dont know how the correct ballance would be reached as the minute one driver started to run 20 minutes over to get back, another 5 would be crying foul because they dont want to feel obliged to do the same thing.
All I know is that I like driving in the UK but I detest the constant clock watching and stop/starting to appease the tacho and worrying about going 1 minute over. I dont enjoy the driving so much in North America but I love the freedom of being able to do things my own way in my own time. Yes we have driving limits and spread over limits but we dont have to take breaks when the log book says and if one truckstop is full and we’re out of time, we just carry on until the next one without a single thought, even if its 30 minutes or an hour away. Yes its open to abuse but it also allows me to rest when I want and to go when I want and I’m far less stressed and better rested here than in the UK, despite the fact I do considerably more hours in North America. I’d like a ballance between the two but unfortunetely these things only seem to be one extreme or the other.
No need to run bent where I’m at!! Well within my driving hours for the distance to and from destination! Loads of sleep waiting for reloads(usually)!!
switchlogic:
Being caught to the extent he was and then being put in prison would lead me to believe he’s not the wisest man you’ll ever meet that’s for sure. The wisest are the ones that use the rules to their best advantage in my opinion.
Or get caught?
Me I work to live not live to work.
The driver trainer at rhys davies here said one thing on my first week.
‘The rules are on your side’
Never a true word more spoken.
nick2008:
Fatboy slimslow:
weeto:
Try any of the Armed forces and the poor buggers got their hands tied so tight they cant shoot back at the fckuers
the problem is the little halfwits in the mod and Westminster who masquerade as " CIVIL SERVANTS " would rather the human rights of the terrorists from in no particular order, northern Ireland, Iraq, Yemen, Balkans, bradistan and anything else where they to kill our troops, not to be harmed! If you don’t get caught " SHOOTING FIRST, ASK QUESTIONS LATER " then how do dead men tell lies■■? 
how many signed the petition for the five royal marines■■? I’ve got no qualms about shooting to kill as that’s what you’re trained to do!
Rules… whats these rules everone is going on about… never knew there was any
weeto:
Bet no one can name another industry that has no hours laws, were they are forced to work 24 hrs a day.
I could name a log haulier in the Fort William area who has a financial interest in a couple of small ships that carry logs as well. They expect the crews to fiddle their legal allowable working hours. They also thought they were above the law regarding tacho fiddles two or three years ago but the public enquiry thought otherwise.
weeto:
Bet no one can name another industry that has no hours laws, were they are forced to work 24 hrs a day.
Before their hours were limited by EU directive, junior doctors were often obliged to do it. Working weeks of 100 hours or more were not unusual up until the mid-1990’s.
1969 was when i got my first licence and we did what the boss said, our’s was a decent bloke,paid ok and paid for xmas booze up with sarnies etc .Looked after us so we looked after him.we did our job and we talked/met other drivers.
into the late 70’s early 90’s worked for a number of firms doing different sort of stuff, some gaffers looked after you but needed the full monty some didn’t care but demanded the full monty.we tried to do our job. most towns had a lorry park where we would meet other drivers and go an eat/drink together
90 to 2000 bosses were getting a tad worried an so was we,tacho’s were in full swing/d.o.t. (vosa) were flexing their muscles, plod was doing the sweeny thing.we were hammered for doin our job. less towns had a lorry park so we didn’t meet up os often.
2001 to date. vosa is god apart from h&s overlord who is equal.Bosses can’t pay cos overhead on their house is to the extreme so we have to work harder but no overtime, the corporate companies don’t care anyway cos we is a number/commodity ,nothing more nothing less.The public don’t like us big lorry drivers and lorries,(our fault cos we let it get that way) few towns have a lorry park ,so we park anywhere and close our curtains.
We don’t like each other in most cases so we don’t stick together. (God help uk plc if ever we did).
In an ideal world we would all stand as one and get better treated as in
better wages
conditions
safe parking
safe loads
respect from the public
self esteem
more towns would have a lorry park.
glad i have only 5 years to go cos by that time the only places to park will be in a pi k y camp and there will be less facilities than now.
I really do not envy you new guys,fancy motors etc /v8’s etc…nah the best days of lorry driving in this country are long gone i’m afraid.
You new guys will be steering wheel attendants thats all, will park up ,close curtains and never realise there is another world out there that had died. 
Roymondo:
weeto:
Bet no one can name another industry that has no hours laws, were they are forced to work 24 hrs a day.Before their hours were limited by EU directive, junior doctors were often obliged to do it. Working weeks of 100 hours or more were not unusual up until the mid-1990’s.
TBH im a refrigeration engineer servicing supermarkets across Scotland its seasonal work due to the higher (lol) ambiant temperatures during the summer. In the summer 100+ hour weeks are common place as are 20+ hour shifts (30+ even). Nobody has a gun to your head but the opt out form for the working time directive is in with the contract when your starting. The only rule we really have is that there is to be 8hours rest between shifts, on call out where i am just now though from 1700 sat until 0830 mon your on your own and in the summer could easily be out working every hour of that time if you could hack it.Lots of driving between sites, put about 60/70k a year on my works vans. I like money so im quite happy i dont have anyone trying to restrict my earning potential.
Did anyone see the footballer on cental news yesterday he flew back from dubi went to work then on his way home fell asleep at the wheel killed a motorbiker on the a6 i think he got a suspended sentence .good job he wasnt a hgv driver or he would be putting his first bar of soap on a rope.
Some of you may remember some years back. a lorry driver got a load of flack in the papers for causing the death of a doctor on Amounderness way, Thornton Cleveleys.
The lorry was coming from Fleetwood docks with a load of concrete slabs. The Doctor was on his way home.
Everyone of the comments on the newspaper websites slated the lorry driver, but felt very sorry for the doctor and his family etc.
After the investigation it turned out the doctor had done a full shift in Blackpool then driven to Liverpool where he did another full shift. The doctor fell asleep at the wheel causing an accident and his own death.
Anyone heard of a doctor getting sent down for working too many shifts back to back?
Before tachos on international runs I would start work at 0800 &after pit stops etc. I would finish around 2400 & slept good ,every day was the same. Post tachos you started on days & ended up on nights feeling wrecked because of erratic sleep patterns. No Tachos & drivers discretion was a healthier way to live. If you had a big social function on the road you took the next day off with the hangover nothing was said ,the job got done & everybody happy.Post tacho the customer is screaming for the load & you are parked in a crummy lay by on a forced break. They call it progress?