smoker:
Actually there are quite a few, but you usually see them driving trucks for chinese food suppliers.
That’s the only trucks I’ve seen Chinese people driving.
smoker:
As for disabled drivers, how are they supposed to do the work ? Are they to be given special treatment there too ? I have trouble climbing in the cab somedays, how is someone with one arm supposed to do that and offload cages or handball sacks ?
I used to work with a guy with one arm, he only had the right one, he neither asked for nor got special treatment and could strip a tilt as fast as anyone. I’ve also worked with a guy with one leg and he was the same. Sharing a cabin on the ferry with him was funny as he used to take his false leg off and leave it on the floor. Gave a bit of a fright to whoever came round waking you up, they opened the door, switched the light on and the first thing they saw was a leg!
Quite often see a guy on the Dublin ferry who is in a wheelchair, he drives an adapted Volvo FH. The only special treatment he gets is where they park him on the ferry, they leave him room to get out the cab while the rest of us have to squeeze out a small gap.
I am disturbed by that letter, not because the writer is gay, but for some reason he seems to think appropriate to advertise what he gets upto in bed on a name plate in his trucks windscreen.
WHY? its no-one elses business except his own, and I have no interest in what truck drivers and their partners (of either ■■■) do in the privacy of their own home.
His ■■■■■■■■■ has no bearing on his ability to do the job, it is irrelevent.
I have worked on companies over the years that have employed fellow drivers who are openly gay, but I cant think of one that thought it appropriate to advertise the fact on the truck, those that were “camp” it would be fairly obvious to any one who spoke to them that they were gay, but most simply didnt mention it at work as it wasnt anything to do with how they earnt a wage. and many of their colleagues didnt have a clue.
A question for Mike C. You are a waggon driver, in addition to your censorship role on TNUK.What sort of response were you expecting from the viewers of this thread other than the ones that you got.Some half sensible; some half witted; and some outright homophobic; some humorous.It was once called free speech.
In my view the very fact that a Homosexual person has been given “Letter of the Month” status in T&D, must surely admit to the fact that homosexuality is accepted as being part and parcel of life in this country. If they are not as well represented in the Road Haulage Industry ( Sorry Logistiks Industry), as you might wish,it might be because there are not enough to go round. Maybe many of them have come over all patriotic, and gone and joined the Navy.
Governed as we are by institutions, which I mentioned in my earlier post, in which Homosexuals male and female, hold high ranking, and powerful positions. Possibly even in the upper echelons of T&D, CM,and even TNUK. It is even apparently being taught to children in primary school that it is OK 2 B Gay. My big fear is that we will one day wake up ,to find that Homosexuality has become compulsory.
I think I,d better buy lots of shares in Vaseline,or whatever the new stuff is called, ready for the big day.
I didn’t mean to sound like disabled drivers couldn’t do the job, just that depending on the job, it could be impossible. And what constitutes disabled ? I’ve got a mate who is registered disabled and claims benefits like a good’un, but his disability … he’s lost his little finger on one hand ! He’s had course after course paid for by the state for forklifts, cranes you name it. He’s actually qualified as a tower crane instructor and can issue tickets, all paid for by the state. Thousands of quid in our money, but if you’re missing one fairly useless finger - here you go mate - fill yer boots.
He does work mostly so I’m not holding it against him, but the govt. need a good kicking.
smoker:
They’ve got more sense …
Actually there are quite a few, but you usually see them driving trucks for chinese food suppliers.
I don’t think being part of a minority group means anything anyway. You make your own life. It’s very rare that people are discriminated against in the work place just because they’re a minority. I know arabs, chinese, Iranians, various shades of africans, and they all seem to get on with life fine. It’s when they form ghettos that trouble starts. And when they demand special treatment just because they are a minority.
As for disabled drivers, how are they supposed to do the work ? Are they to be given special treatment there too ? I have trouble climbing in the cab somedays, how is someone with one arm supposed to do that and offload cages or handball sacks ? You don’t see disabled front line troops (not to start with anyway) because they are not fit for the job. Rifles are hard to aim with only one arm or only one eye. Anybody who can do the job isn’t really that disabled, are they.
As for gays, I couldn’t care less. What people do behind closed doors is up to them. They should have no more rights than the rest of us. I have no respect for those who feel the need to shove their choices in everybodys faces, whatever those choices are. Gay marriage should never have been considered illegal. A partner is a partner. If a gay man dies and leaves a pension, it should go to whoever he ■■■■ well leaves it to ! As I hope my possessions will (if I have any left by then).
It’s all just divide and rule, and I ignore it.
Got to agree with you there Smoker.
It may be that Asian/Middle Easterns over here choose to push their kids into higher education. Certainly truck driving has never been considered a ‘sort after’ job by anyone (except die-hard truck-bloods). At the end of the day a trucker is just that and I dont really care what they are as long as they are polite in response to courteous behaviour. But then I am biased being half-breed ‘born in the UK’ trucker
As for racism/bigotry etc. it stills exists in many areas but th PC brigade keep it damped down; so people simmer. In trucking it is basically out in the open still and for people like me it is actually quite refreshing as I at least know where I stand with some folk. Also, for some it is an automatic reflex response rather than anything properly thought out, and I find that with time I suddenly move from ‘the asian looking bloke’ to ‘one of the lads’. Maybe thats because I dont regard myself as a minority in anything, just a UK trucker doing my job as best I can… same as you.
after reading that letter in t&d,i thought the same as i always do about this subject.it doesnt bother me what ■■■■■■■■■ or creed people belong to,as long as they dont ram it down my throat.i respect peoples beliefs and ■■■■■■ preferences,as long as they keep it to themselves.i dont write letters into truck mags saying i am straight,married,catholic,or i fancy women??,who cares.
Too many haters about. Granted, I don’t want to hear about it or see it, it’s not my bag but if they keep it to themselves and don’t foist it on people then live and let live I say. Too many haters. It’s a gang or tribal mentality, you’re different, “not local”, burn them at the stake! See it all the time at football matches, us v them, animosity for the sake of it, shows we’re not too far removed from apes still. All I care about is if a bloke gets on with the job and doesn’t take the ■■■■, I don’t care if they’re black, brown, yellow, jewish, muslim, female, disabled or martian. There was a pre-op transexual fella used to work for Sam’s transport years back, spoke to him a few times, found it very weird but hey whatever makes you happy. Saw a bloke with no hands driving a truck few months back! (true).
Often find its the most homophobic people who are secretly gay, and they are so unsure about their sexualty they have to always go on the offensive and attack gay folk.
I’m straight and comfortable being straight and feel no need to try and bully or attack others because of their ■■■■■■■■■, always wonder about homophobic people and their reasons for being homophobic.
Find a lot of the time its the guy saying stuff like being gay is a diesese and AIDS is the cure, that you find out five years later the same guy left his wife and family to move in with his gay lover.
what i found strange about the said letter is why does gaytrucker find it necessary to tell total strangers about his ■■■■■■■■■? and then he gets upset that he isn’t treated like the rest of the boys.
Buycrider:
A question for Mike C. You are a waggon driver, in addition to your censorship role on TNUK.What sort of response were you expecting from the viewers of this thread other than the ones that you got.Some half sensible; some half witted; and some outright homophobic; some humorous.It was once called free speech.
A coherent theory as to why truck drivers in very general terms all fit a certain type and why the job is not pushed as an option to any other types. I can think of two (there may be more?) schemes to push out the job one was the young drivers scheme which given at the time we had a driver shortage didn’t really get off the ground as regards providing a lot of new recruits and the other was a scheme in Fife i think it was to train women lorry drivers. Both short lived.
Just this week I saw an Asian female driving an artic coming out of Southall, I know a few disabled drivers, we have some members on here who are classed as disabled. There are more gay drivers than one thinks there are, there are now more females driving for a living (some are even good looking).
So I think our industry is becoming more diverse.
Eveybody else has got too much sense to become a driver in the first place
Mike-C:
Anyone else seen it? A homosexual guy looking to get on the bendies. I thought it was a refreshing change. We don’t have enough homosexuals driving trucks, or ethnic minorities or women either. Infact i think this Industry is ‘institutionallly racist, homophobic and sexist’ , it seems to prefer older , unskilled or non proffesional males. Sometimes i wonder, do employers do this on purpose. Also why are trucks not designed with disabled drivers in mind, its a fact there are quite a few disabled drivers in full time employment. There doesn’t seem to be any diversity in our job, i wonder why?
Becuase what is the point in creating trucks for disabled truck drivers there’s not gonna be much money in it for volvo, daf etc. When there arn’t many so for those who are disabled and drive a truck they can get the truck modified for there purposes by someone else.
limeyphil:
sorry, but i must disagree on this.
[zb] are abnormal. god made man and women to produce man and women.
on the point of ethnic minorities, if we carry on with the way we are going, we will be the minority.
we should however design trucks for people who are disabled, as long as they are for the majority, ethnic, british people.
why should we think of the immigrants before our own kids.
my comments are not politically correct, but they are right.
we usually agree on most points mike, but on this issue, i cannot agree with you.
Can I guess which party you voted for recently then?
Kenny1975:
Often find its the most homophobic people who are secretly gay, and they are so unsure about their sexualty they have to always go on the offensive and attack gay folk.
Funny that, couple of years ago we had a guy working with us - he hated “gays”, you would always hear him mouthing of about it when something came on the TV in the drivers room, or read something in the papers. Then one night another guy from our depot spotted him in a layby having a break, so he called in for a cuppa, knocked on his door and finds him dressed up in the full works - wig, bra, susspenders, high heels - even the lippy!! I’m sure it was a nasty sight - this guy was was built like a [zb]house!
If you cant post on this thread without using inflammatory language, or dropping into personal attacks, then dont post on it at all. Anyone who fails to understand that, while you are permitted to have a view - you are expected to post in line with the forum rules, may find themselves being put onto pre-moderation so their posts can be reviewed before posting-
In our line of work we have trained young to early thirties, white males, asian males, african males, polish males, 1 gay male, 1 Chinese/English, 1 disabled male with 2 arms, but 1 hand missing (the only adaption needed for this guy was a ball fitted to the steering wheel) he’s a great driver and has a brilliant sense of humour, 1 part time policeman, and 2 females in their early 20’s. I think we’ve had a fairly diverse group of people come through the door, the gay guy didnt advertise his preferences and the disabled guy just wanted to work and never once looked for preferential treatment. It was us as the training providers taking him to test that met with difficulties on his behalf as they insisted we booked 2 test slots for him, even though only 1 was needed and the 2nd was refunded… He unfortunately failed his first test, so when we re-booked his 2nd i followed the same procedure and was promptly told he didnt need 2 test slots! But i would agree, they have been very diverse, and being a minority has never crept into it.
berewic:
One [zb] on the lorries is one [zb] too many. One [zb] in the country is one too many. Being a [zb] is supposed to result from some mental deficiency they can’t control. If these people were castrated, it would solve their problems. I find gay boys as offensive as pedophiles. If a law was introduced making it legal to shoot them stone dead on sight, it would get my total support.
How these perverts can live knowing the public sham they give their parents beggars belief.
( derogatory comments removed ) jd
The above ridiculously, laughable, stupid post, “beggars belief”!
Joshh:
Becuase what is the point in creating trucks for disabled truck drivers there’s not gonna be much money in it for volvo, daf etc. When there arn’t many so for those who are disabled and drive a truck they can get the truck modified for there purposes by someone else.
Have you considered that a development that makes it possible for a “disabled” driver to become “enabled” might also be of benefit to all drivers? A couple of examples that I could offer would be air dampered seats and power assisted controls. For those who have back injuries air damped seats are a great benefit, for all drivers they are better than the truck suspension alone.
For those who have chest/breathing problems the exersion of operating vehicles that are not power assisted could be prohibitive. All drivers benefit from the lighter, more responsive, vehicle controls which in turn reduces driver strain, fatigue.
Take it from someone who is currently “enabled” there are few things more annoying than being patronised and bracketed by people who would right you off because of their inability, maybe that should be “disability”, to think creatively and enable people who can do a job to do so; all be it in an unconventional way. The best enabler that I have is my manner and my tongue. “I’m struggling with this cage/pallet can you give me a hand please?” failing that i take a bit longer and break them down so that I can manage them. To use the management speak I work smarter not harder.
As to the gay angle well I couldn’t give a stuff about other peoples ■■■■■■ orientation and preferences. I tend not to be fighting off unwanted ■■■■■■ advances from either gender so I guess I’m either so hot I scare them off or so ugly as to …scare them off.
He unfortunately failed his first test, so when we re-booked his 2nd i followed the same procedure and was promptly told he didnt need 2 test slots! 
But i would agree, they have been very diverse, and being a minority has never crept into it.