I was passing the distribution centre/yard of DB Schenker, in Mechelen, Belgium tonight, which I pass three times a week, and once again I was thinking ‘sod that for a game of soldiers’.
The slip road to the motorway is on a raised level so you see clearly into DB Schenker. Every night, you see the EE’s that work for them parked up in just their units in a circle, in a muddy pot hole strewn far corner of the yard, camping out as best they can. I don’t know whether there are any toilet facilities provided, but it’s a fair old walk to the nearest building from where they’re parked so I imagine it’s normally a pee up the wheel job.
However, due to the heavy rain that we’ve had in the Benelux over the past week, the area where they park is under at least a foot of water. It certainly reaches the bottom step, and yet they still have to park there. I don’t know how they do it, wading through water to get in and out of their units, and the area has poor lighting at the best of times so they can hardly see where they’re going when it’s dark. I think the Calais jungle looked better than what I see below me as I pass by.
Jost Group is another one just around the corner. Their website looks all fancy but their operating centre seems to be a long laby in Sint Katerlijne Waver judging by all the company trucks with EE plates that are parked up every night and all weekend, the drivers sharing their camion stew among all the mosquitos in the summer.
Once again, I thank god that I manage to have a European trucking job that takes me to my home and family every night (well, the early hours of the morning anyway), and that I don’t have to camp out in a swamp or desolate layby like these poor sods.
Just to touch on the recent thread about someone spotting a dog in a truck cab, it seems to be an accepted practice over here for drivers to take their wives and girlfriends in the cab with them while out working, not that I’m suggesting any of them is a dog. The Dutch companies seem fine with it including my own and there doesn’t seem to be any insurance issues. I’ve tried asking my wife if she fancies spending a shift with me but she doesn’t seem too keen to spend ten hours in a truck. Can’t understand why??