Sunday truck ban.You for or against

[winseer]

Reclaiming sundays as a universal day off (ie for retail and therefore transport!) is going to be very hard - as hard as re-claiming high interest rates or an exit from the common agricultural policy.

If sundays went, 14% of staff would be let go across the retail & transport industry because there’s no pressure for firms to re-distribute the hours during the other 6 days, just to maintain workers pay. In fact, it would be used as an excuse for a pay cut even if the hours WERE maintained - after all, one of your contractual days isn’t a sunday anymore, so why pay extra for bog-standard hours the rest of the time?

…But we’d have quieter roads on sunday, which the hapless worker cannot afford to be out in their car on anymore, because the price of fuel is still sky-high, AND their wages have been cut.

Crude Oil is up over 10% in the last 7 days - all due to “euro deals being back on”. Doh!
The next wave of recession - caused by this sudden price upset - beckons I think. If you can still get 129.9 better fill up now.

A better ban would be taxing all vehicles from the road that are less than 50% loaded!

[robinhood_1984]

I think an even better thing would be to stop restricting the economy and peoples options and allow industry and commerce to flourish in a less regulated atmosphere. It always seems to be the way in the UK that when times are hard the government puts further restriction on a struggling private sector to pay for an increasing public sector with regards enforcement officials and other such bureaucrats.

There isn’t a truck congestion problem on British roads as it is on Sundays, to my mind this is just another ill thought out public PR gesture to a truck hating public.

[taffytrucker]

is that a new unit you got there robin?

[notbad4ayounglad]

Stupid idea if you ask me… Do we not have enough rules/regulations/restrictions in place as it is? Why should operators pay a ridiculous amount of money to tax a HGV, when we have less benefits on the road than somebody in a car?! Weight restrictions, lane restrictions, height restrictions, width restrictions, length restrictions etc etc… Yes i know there are some that are purely for public safety but then there are others that are simply to keep us out the way. I understand that some people will be glad to have the extra time off but what about the people who have a long distance drop monday morning? Its getting beyond a joke for us drivers now there are so many things happening and i cant see where we actually benefit from any of it. We set off about our business leaving the mrs and kids behind for sometimes weeks on end, to provide a service for joe bloggs and we are only seen as a hindrance. Do we ever get a pat on the back or a reward for doing a tough job. No we get a new ban/rule. Ever seen the stickers ‘without trucks you get nothing’ ? Its true, without us nothing would ever happen but we are looked upon by the general public as fat, lazy, useless, in the way, you name it, we are it! If you ask me its about time we start getting something back from the government instead of keep having things taken away from us…

[robinhood_1984]

taffytrucker:
is that a new unit you got there robin?

Its new to me. Starting a new job this week and they bought this truck for me. Its a 2008 Cascadia with 720,000km on it but its been looked after well. I just hope its as reliable on the road as it looks!

[robinhood_1984]

NotBad4AYoungLad:
Stupid idea if you ask me… Do we not have enough rules/regulations/restrictions in place as it is? Why should operators pay a ridiculous amount of money to tax a HGV, when we have less benefits on the road than somebody in a car?! Weight restrictions, lane restrictions, height restrictions, width restrictions, length restrictions etc etc… Yes i know there are some that are purely for public safety but then there are others that are simply to keep us out the way. I understand that some people will be glad to have the extra time off but what about the people who have a long distance drop monday morning? Its getting beyond a joke for us drivers now there are so many things happening and i cant see where we actually benefit from any of it. We set off about our business leaving the mrs and kids behind for sometimes weeks on end, to provide a service for joe bloggs and we are only seen as a hindrance. Do we ever get a pat on the back or a reward for doing a tough job. No we get a new ban/rule. Ever seen the stickers ‘without trucks you get nothing’ ? Its true, without us nothing would ever happen but we are looked upon by the general public as fat, lazy, useless, in the way, you name it, we are it! If you ask me its about time we start getting something back from the government instead of keep having things taken away from us…

I agree 100% Good post!

[tommy_t]

On the face of it ,it sounds like a good idea( Sunday day of a national day of rest ) But due to the financial situation and the hidden untalked about fact that the uk is is over run with the flip flop brigade who will gladly sit in their truck from 12midnight till10pm on a sunday without being paid a penny by those employers who will take advantage of their employee’s regardless of their nationality , so bring it on if you want to be stuck in a lorry at some MSA or lay by to observe this statutory ruling /law and not get paid for it
Who the hell wants to encourage this type of thing, at the moment it largely only is affecting some euro drivers ,

[robinhood_1984]

tommy t:
On the face of it ,it sounds like a good idea( Sunday day of a national day of rest ) But due to the financial situation and the hidden untalked about fact that the uk is is over run with the flip flop brigade who will gladly sit in their truck from 12midnight till10pm on a sunday without being paid a penny by those employers who will take advantage of their employee’s regardless of their nationality , so bring it on if you want to be stuck in a lorry at some MSA or lay by to observe this statutory ruling /law and not get paid for it
Who the hell wants to encourage this type of thing, at the moment it largely only is affecting some euro drivers ,

With cabotage soon on the way out completely, its not too much of a stetch of the imagination to predict that if this did happen, British trucks, with British drivers who want to be at home for the weekend will lose out to trucks on eastern European plates who will be weekended here anyway but will now load what was until now a British trucks load on a Friday and run with it, park up Saturday night and tip monday morning, while the British driver can no longer run on a Sunday afternoon to do the same job from home and as such his company will expect him to weekend out in the cab in order for them to keep their work, or lose it to any one of the thousands of E.Europan companies who opperate here, which can only increase dramatically with the abolition of cabotage.

[tattoo5984]

im all 4 it sooner the better as allready stated we used to have something called leisure time

[busy_fool]

What a joke. Monday mornings would be even worse than they are now. Just because some European countries has it don’t mean we have to have it.

[tommy_t]

tattoo5984:
im all 4 it sooner the better as allready stated we used to have something called leisure time

yeah what’s that then? you have to be able to afford most types of leisure don’t you ? in particular if you are an agency driver, (only day apart from a bank holiday worth working), it would not work on this over populated small island called blighty , as many other things that they do/have in euroland wouldn’t work, or the government wouldn’t give the chance to happen here

[robinhood_1984]

Shippers and receivers who want their goods delivered first thing monday morning wont just lay down and accept a massive blow to their enterprises, they’ll simply get foreign firms to do the work with drivers who will park on the road outside the customers from Saturday to Monday and British firms will lose even more work and even more drivers will lose their jobs or have less hours/pay.

Just because Germany has this stupid law, it doesn’t mean its a good idea for German firms or drivers. Its not unusual for a German truck to get stuck 100 miles from home on a Saturday and have to be weekended out. Especially as there are saturday driving bans on many German roads too for trucks.

This sort of ban might have worked 10 or 20 years ago when our domestic work was much more protected but now it would just be another nail in the coffin. If a British truck wont or cant do the job tomorrow, a Polish, Lithuanian or Romanian WILL be doing it next time.

[notbad4ayounglad]

It doesnt even take a foreign truck. A foreign driver in a british truck better for the employer better for the driver, everyones a winner. Except us!

[robinhood_1984]

NotBad4AYoungLad:
It doesnt even take a foreign truck. A foreign driver in a british truck better for the employer better for the driver, everyones a winner. Except us!

Thats right. Many companies already have a full or almost full foreign contingent, many living in company supplied housing and often camp out in the trucks over the weekend as it is. That will probably become a job requirement and with jobs in short supply, not only will many drivers not gain their desired sunday off, but they’ll lose Saturday as well while they’re driving to their Sunday ■■■■■■■■■■■■ ready for monday mornings tip.

[taffytrucker]

Not being funny guys but its not just the taliban thats not paid to be weekended there are plenty of firms in the UK that sont pay UK drivers for being weekended either here or across europe. No way am I defending the flip flop boys bbut the industry in this country was killed as soon as the boders came down made worse by the like of MAN and Scania walking in and and giving the units away with no payments for 4 yrs

[taffytrucker]

the way Boris the German and pierrie the frog get round it is the high charges or road tolls and this is something we need in this country but kowing the the government in this country they might start charging them in about 50 yrs

[solly]

Richard Hayes President of the Institute of Highway Engineers is quoted as saying:

“…current “Just-In-Time” delivery patterns are unsustainable, and the problem of congestion will force draconian measures in the future if nothing is done to address it now”. (My emphasis)

This IMO doesn’t necessarily read as an assault on the transport industry but a warning to the distribution chain ie supermarket to sort out the demands for “Just-In-Time” deliveries. And, if they don’t co-operate then I see Sunday HGV movements banned all together. What you think?

[tyler4164]

Yeah why not just ban trucks every day of the week & let the public see what happens!! When will all this crap end??

[limeyphil]

i recently sent an email to find out what the official government response would be to such a proposal of hgv bans in the uk.
the uk government won’t consider such a proposal as it would be very damaging to the uk economy.
it won’t be considered now, or in the future.

[fredthered]

limeyphil:
i recently sent an email to find out what the official government response would be to such a proposal of hgv bans in the uk.
the uk government won’t consider such a proposal as it would be very damaging to the uk economy.
it won’t be considered now, or in the future.

What a load of bull shine as usual from Nick & Dave’s lot. Thank goodness they are only a one term government!

Can’t leave it there because it really does get my goat (may end up eating him too at this rate!)

I don’t have any issues with people who want to work all the hours they can — that is their choice. The reasons I believe they do this are (IMO):

1. Living beyond their means.
2. Can’t stand the missus (?)
3. Want to be the richest (?) man or woman in the cemetery.
4. Loners.
5. No social skills or friends.
6. Disowned by their families, friends and/or relatives.
7. They need to earn lots of cash (when do they spend it if they are always at work?)
8. They like to live a 24/7/365 existence at a fast pace to gather material things and pay for an extravagant funeral in the shortest possible time.
9. Their children/wives need them to work to a standstill so they can have the things that they crave and desire and quite obviously deserve — it’s their right don’t you know!
10. They blindly follow the mantra that work makes them free — but not always!
11. They can see their objective but it stays just out of reach which in turn keeps them keen and full of wanton desire!

And so it goes on. I know some of that seems extreme and some of it is tongue in cheek but what are you really hoping to achieve by working flexibly and to serve the needs of the business at all times?

People keep spouting that if you don’t, Johnny foreigner will. Well the bad news is he’s already here and he will keep arriving and under cutting and doing all he can for his gain. The Far East procurement idea is also now loosing it’s appeal because the workers there are demanding better pay and conditions to be able to acquire (yes you’ve guessed it) all the material things those in the west have.

This obviously means that costs are rising for business and therefore they will require grants and interest free loans to keep them competitive in the global market and they will now have to embrace lower workforce costs here to maintain their market position.

The marketing men and women along with greedy entrepreneurs and self serving governments of the past, present (and future) have convinced the masses to turn in on themselves and become selfish, egotistical maniacs who care less for each other and more for money, material things and their place in the pecking order of this wonderful society and country we live in. Fear of having nothing is the greatest driver of all!

History tells us that if you oppress the masses for too long they WILL turn on you. Look at the eurozone now, fighting on the streets and their own police and armed forces turning on them in the name of democracy (and because they are being paid to do so) just to keep the ever hungry wolves and snakes (bankers and such like drains on society) from the door! The people that made the mess are not the ones paying for it and those (workers) that subscribed to the economic boom that was really just a paper exercise to line the pockets of those responsible are happily again bailing them out through a belief that it’s the ‘right’ thing to do and accept that declining standards of living and austerity are the only way forward! Now profit is good and profit is required to be the perpetual life blood of a business but profit on profit is nothing but sheer and utter greed!

The risk takers that slag off the public sector or working man for being greedy and unreasonable for hurting their business blah, blah, blah are really the ones responsible for all this mess and for what is still to come down the track because of their continued greed. How, in a recession do businesses increase their profits and dividends unless someone somewhere is suffering through cut backs and redundancies? But hey! I’m alright because I’ve still got a less well paid job and so it dosen’t affect me directly so who cares?

They can’t compete if they can’t have this or that grant or opt out of all the legislation that holds them back! What a load of twaddle! It’s gone right back in time where really it’s down to very, very poor, multi layered and unprofessional British management, greed and downright selfishness and the invitation to all and sundry from all over the world that has spare CASH to spend to ‘invest’ in Great Britain Plc. Come and buy all our assets and infrastructure our nice foreign friend, milk it dry and then sell it back to the government for a profit and then do one! Sorted as the chavs say!How many businesses have started with a grant from the government and then moved large chunks of their enterprise abroad when the grant or concession ends? I could name some and if you are honest, so could you!

Business is quite happy to take from the public sector but moans constantly when it has to prove that it is a viable, going concern and give something back in the form of taxes which quite a number (allegedly) don’t feel the need to pay thereby saddling the rest of us with a higher burden whilst they trouser the difference! But that’s good because it makes them competitive don’t you know?! If they can’t compete on a level playing field then they should close and leave the country and take their corrupt ‘friends’ with them to a utopia in another land. I’m sure that for those that also wanted to - they could forge a new career abroad and do what has happened here — become immigrant workers!

So, why would I support a lorry ban? Because successive governments keep telling me that family life is the foundation of our society and must be protected at all costs. A total ban is the only way that businesses would be compelled to stop the systematic abuse of the rules governing road transport and the morally unacceptable practices of corporate Britain abusing it’s driving staff by misinformation, intimidation, bullying, poorly trained and imported cheap labour, excessive working hours trying to achieve a decent wage and scare tactics about employment opportunities being eroded forever.

This was my chosen career when I signed up for work when I was 15 and there wasn’t a glossy brochure promising the world (that it never planned to deliver) so I started in the garage until I was old enough to get a license. No one told me then that I would forever have to be thankful that I had a job and would need to work longer hours for less pay and be at the company’s beck and call 24/7! And if I chose this career then I should not expect to have a family or friends!

I thought that we had earned the right to a ‘lifestyle choice’ (see I do know some modern phraseology!) and don’t reside in another universe that does not embrace modern living and lifestyles but I would rather work what I perceive to be a normal work regime. I remember somewhere along the way that if I chose to have kids my wife and I brought them up and not the state? So after showering all that love and affection on them why should I abandon them just because my employer deems it so?

I also thought that I would not be discriminated against if I didn’t wish to live the 24/7 lifestyle or because of my age? To tell me that I should find another way of earning a living if I don’t like it is, in my humble opinion crass, small minded and disrespectful. If there is work to be done over a weekend then there are many who will gladly do it (and without extra reward it seems) so they should not be denied the opportunity to do it if they so desire. One volunteer is worth ten pressed men as they say! What could be better for our economy than free workers?!

I’m hard working and have all the good things an employer used to crave but suddenly they are no longer good enough and if I don’t like the ‘new’ way of things I should just shove off and find something else to do instead.

Why the hell should I■■? I will say this though; if they really want me to go I will happily retire now so long as they give me two thirds of what I am earning now tax free until I’m due to collect my pension. It will then free up a position for a younger man to fill and start out on his chosen professional career — really?!

But me? I have a failed marriage behind me and I have lost many, many friends due to my commitment to the ‘cause’. I had a lot on my plate to consider and worked all the hours I could to achieve a ‘better’ life but in the end the only dreams I fulfilled were those of other people! I didn’t receive an improved or better quality of life either and the extra leisure time we were encouraged to embrace suddenly disappeared.

So, if a lorry ban came into force I would gladly support it so I didn’t have to work unsocial and unreasonable hours (except in the eyes of British business and some of the ‘workforce’) and before I loose my children - yes they are over eighteen but they are still my children with families of their own) my grand children and any more of my small (and getting smaller) group of friends who (inconsiderately) work Monday to Friday whilst I look after the ‘needs’ of my employers business and the wishes of the great British (thoughtless and selfish) public, work a very sociable Thursday to Monday thereby being denied my ‘right’ to a meaningful life but all in the ‘interests’ or ‘needs’ of the business! To quote a very famous lady: ‘U turn if you want to…’

What a fantastic opportunity the UK Government has allowed me to have — no family, no friends and no hope when I get to pension age!

So it’s simple really — I’m so selfish it’s unbelievable really but ■■■■!! I wish I had been born German and because 20/20 hind sight is the only clear picture of life you’ll ever see!!