DieselDemon:
I’m a rich ASDA bum, I get loads of overtime sticking to 40 on the motorway. Laughing all the way to the bank.
No you’re not getting rich, you may be earning more in comparison to burger flippers & more than some other lorry drivers, but you ain’t getting rich
As for doing 40mph on a motorway, that is just stupidity & total disregard for other road users, fine if you want to stick to the 40mph limit on a single carriageway, even going 35mph if you want, after all 5mph under the limit would allow people to pass you without breaking the law themselves, but to be doing 16mph slower than every other lorry & at least 30mph slower than every car on the road, that is just an accident waiting to happen.
With the traffic density on a motorway today everyone needs to be travelling at roughly the same speed or it will create a huge traffic jam & in those traffic jams accidents are far more likely to occur, the sheer volume of vehicles means that people are travelling far too close, but it works as long as everything is moving, as soon as the brakes start to come on the likelihood of an accident increases dramatically.
My own view on this is that any driver who is happy to do 40mph on a motorway is not a lorry driver at all, they are just workers who drive for their job, lorry driving is about the freedom of the road, making decisions as to which route is best, being in control from the point of collection through to the point of delivery, a supermarket driver is no more than a part of the machine, they have a strict set of rules on how they do everything, which route they take, what they have to do when they get there, from the minute they clock on shift they are fed a load of instructions that they must follow to the letter, they may drive lorries, but one thing they are not is lorry drivers.
DieselDemon:
I’m a rich ASDA bum, I get loads of overtime sticking to 40 on the motorway. Laughing all the way to the bank.
No you’re not getting rich, you may be earning more in comparison to burger flippers & more than some other lorry drivers, but you ain’t getting rich
As for doing 40mph on a motorway, that is just stupidity & total disregard for other road users, fine if you want to stick to the 40mph limit on a single carriageway, even going 35mph if you want, after all 5mph under the limit would allow people to pass you without breaking the law themselves, but to be doing 16mph slower than every other lorry & at least 30mph slower than every car on the road, that is just an accident waiting to happen.
With the traffic density on a motorway today everyone needs to be travelling at roughly the same speed or it will create a huge traffic jam & in those traffic jams accidents are far more likely to occur, the sheer volume of vehicles means that people are travelling far too close, but it works as long as everything is moving, as soon as the brakes start to come on the likelihood of an accident increases dramatically.
My own view on this is that any driver who is happy to do 40mph on a motorway is not a lorry driver at all, they are just workers who drive for their job, lorry driving is about the freedom of the road, making decisions as to which route is best, being in control from the point of collection through to the point of delivery, a supermarket driver is no more than a part of the machine, they have a strict set of rules on how they do everything, which route they take, what they have to do when they get there, from the minute they clock on shift they are fed a load of instructions that they must follow to the letter, they may drive lorries, but one thing they are not is lorry drivers.[/quote Thats hit the nail on the head,they,re just steering wheel attendants,robots who can,t or won,t think for themselves.Given routes with recommended speed limits in the rain or dry,jesus !!.my 12yr old son comes every holiday with me and he can plan a route using a MAP,oh and i don,t care how much they supposedly earn,theres things called self respect and job satisfaction
Asda drivers in general drive far to slowly on motorways, I stick to 52 this gives others the chance to pass and stops me getting bunched up with other trucks which i don’t like, I regularly pass Asda trucks doing less than 50 which could cause problems particularly on busy motorways, I also resent the allegations of previous posts that we are steering wheel attendants and not real lorry drivers. The vast majority of us have been about a bit and would not go back to general haulage in a hurry, if being a real driver means sleeping in a ■■■■ sodden lay-by in the middle of nowhere then I am happy to be tagged a trolley dolly. Try this tip, Next time you are in an RDC take a look at the drivers in goods in, then take a look at the drivers in goods out. Who looks healthier and happier! I rest my case
mike68:
Asda drivers in general drive far to slowly on motorways, I stick to 52 this gives others the chance to pass and stops me getting bunched up with other trucks which i don’t like, I regularly pass Asda trucks doing less than 50 which could cause problems particularly on busy motorways, I also resent the allegations of previous posts that we are steering wheel attendants and not real lorry drivers. The vast majority of us have been about a bit and would not go back to general haulage in a hurry, if being a real driver means sleeping in a ■■■■ sodden lay-by in the middle of nowhere then I am happy to be tagged a trolley dolly. Try this tip, Next time you are in an RDC take a look at the drivers in goods in, then take a look at the drivers in goods out. Who looks healthier and happier! I rest my case
Now there’s always an exception to the rule & I agree with you about the state of drivers in goods in compared to those in goods out, I also agree with the sleeping in laybys thing, many of you trolley dollies have done all that, but that was when you used to be ‘proper’ lorry drivers, but I stick to my view that supermarket drivers (as a group) are not lorry drivers, I’ve done supermarket work myself, as a subcontractor for Tesco, it is a different world, but let’s be honest, it isn’t difficult, there is a piece of paper that has instructions for every part of the job, some even require you to undergo training in the simplest of tasks, e.g. winding landing gear up & down on trailers (Sainsbury at Charlton) it is totally different from the world of general haulage, all you have to do is switch your brain off, follow your instructions for 8,9,10hrs a day & go home & watch Eastenders or Jeremy Kyle (depending on your shift) Yes the money & the benefits are good, but again, the fact that you spend your working day in a commercial vehicle does not make you a lorry driver, now whether that is a good thing or a bad thing depends on the individual, personally I’m a lorry driver driver & the wrapped in cotton wool systems that supermarkets employ do not appeal to me, but I accepted them because I was first & foremost a businessman & I was earning very good money from it, but as a driver, no thanks, I’d rather suffer the ■■■■ soaked laybys & use my brain every now & again
Been trolleying for nearly 3 years now. Took the job initially to be at home through personal circumstances.
I won’t knock anybody else for choosing this line of work as it’s easy money with good conditions, but it’s not my cup of tea.
Been trying to find something decent back on tramping for a while now, and willing to drop a wee bit of money to do so.
However the rates I’ve been offered and the one’s I’ve seen advertised are a joke, and fall well short of what I’m earning now.
So it’s the devil you know for now.
Davyboy:
‘…My own view on this is that … a supermarket driver is no more than a part of the machine … they must follow to the letter, they may drive lorries, but one thing they are not is lorry drivers … oh and i don,t care how much they supposedly earn,theres things called self respect and job satisfaction…’
May I respectfully observe that one’s ‘…respect…’ appears solely spent on oneself and not for anyone else of a persuasion other than one’s own? Too much time spent ‘thinking’ on a foam bunk in a (not) en-suite but sodden field? Maybe it was eleven hours of embittered reflection with an exemption chit from being part of any ‘…machine…’ Or perhaps it was a smelly, minging, sadly nourished and far more satisfactory(?) nine?
It’s live & let live from here …but such cheeriness shouts volumes
I’m sure there are a lot of supermarket commodity relocation specialists, or whatever the current ‘thinking outside of the box’ term is for them, that have self respect & job satisfaction, it may not suit some, but it will suit others, there are many different subsections in driving, tramping, which is basically sitting in traffic, waiting in drivers rooms, parking in laybys, does not appeal to everybody, nor does multidrop in a rigid, likewise containers, tankers, tippers, car transporters, blah, blah, blah.
I raised the point that I do not think of trolley dollies as drivers, because the only thing they have in common with a lorry driver is the fact they work in a lorry, this doesn’t make them less human/macho/whatever, but they are not lorry drivers, so why expect them to think & act like lorry drivers?
Your average lorry driver would not work for a company that insisted on driving at 40mph on a motorway, even the ones that don’t wear stetsons & cowboy boots, but a trolley dolly has no problem with it, they have worked out that they will now be doing less for the same money, so you can’t blame them, they’re just following the (stupid & dangerous) rules that have come down from some graduate in head office who has worked out a formula where a drop in speed will make the company 0.000000001p more per tin of beans carried.
If anyone on here has an official letter or memo from an employer stating that they must drive at 40 mph on a motorway then please PM me as I have someone waiting to take this matter further.
Just me being pedantic the op’s original post he gives 2 examples Dundee-Perth and easterhouse-coatbridge they are both dual carriageways. Motorway regulations end at easterhouse and start again at the Airdrie cut off.
To be honest until this thread was made id always had the impression asda’s where one of the quickest. Im bored so ive made up my own supermarket league
ROG:
If anyone on here has an official letter or memo from an employer stating that they must drive at 40 mph on a motorway then please PM me as I have someone waiting to take this matter further.
ROG:
If anyone on here has an official letter or memo from an employer stating that they must drive at 40 mph on a motorway then please PM me as I have someone waiting to take this matter further.
sorry - that is all I can say.
Our speeds aren’t monitored unless the tacho shows an overspeed.
As for who’s the quickest, try following an Asda motor going to Elgin and then tell me that we dawdle along the road…
Just to clear up a few points. As a trolley dolly myself, MPG has never been an issue if you want to drive on the limiter on the M way no problem, with the introduction of Iso Trak and Fleetboard poor driving habits are monitored IE; you start the shift with 100% you loose points for 1. harsh braking 2. leaving the engine idling for 3 minutes or more 3. revving out of the green. I myself try to stay at 52 or above on M ways any slower is dangerous, I always observe the SC limit as we are monitored by Iso Trak, I also give traffic on SC roads every opportunity to pass and this includes stopping in lay bys, I don’t like to see a big que behind me believe me, I take no pleasure from it.
joemaxi:
I drive a lorry-therefor I am a lorry driver!!
It doesn’t matter if it says Asda,tesco or joe bloggs haulage-a lorry is a lorry!
In a generic sense, yes you are, but the actual driving of a lorry is the easiest part of being a lorry driver, supermarket distribution has all the other factors removed, you get a piece of paper telling you which route to take, another piece of paper telling you what to do when you get to the delivery point, a risk assessment telling you how not to get maimed or killed the process of being able to think for yourself is totally unnecessary, every part of the job has a set way of doing it, thought up by some knobhead who thinks that all lorry drivers are too stupid to work it out for themselves.
I can’t imagine any of the supermarkets having a 40mph policy on motorways, even they must be able to work out that it’s dangerous to be going that much slower than law abiding motorists, doing 40mph on a single carriageway may have the same speed diferential in some cases, but the driver doing 56mph shouldn’t be, however safe it may be along a particular stretch. I think the driver/s doing 40mph are just having a skive, the Isotrack or whatever can tell when he’s parked up in a layby with his feet on the dash, it can’t tell whether the 40mph is voluntary or that the vehicle is in traffic, so really the bloke deserves a smack in the mouth for being such a ■■■■
newmercman:
‘…supermarket distribution has … a piece of paper telling you which route to take…’
Which is a legal requirement of the CPC holder to provide - if requested by the driver. I’ve done three dolly firms & they’re all different: To slag them off generically is advertising one’s ignorance.
newmercman:
‘… another piece of paper telling you what to do when you get to the delivery point…’
Maybe for some chains. Besides, a first time driver getting it wrong in a mediaeval town centre on a Saturday morning is so funny? Not!
newmercman:
‘…a risk assessment telling you how not to get maimed or killed …’
Er, perhaps as required by the Health & Safety at Work etc Act (1974)?
newmercman:
‘…the process of being able to think for yourself is totally unnecessary, every part of the job has a set way of doing it, thought up by some knobhead who thinks that all lorry drivers are too stupid to work it out for themselves…’
Solution: Either enjoy the challenge of proving the ‘…knobheads…’ wrong - or maybe get a consultancy job at the Hedron Collider project in Lucerne? But it’s a shame that you hadn’t spotted that it isn’t the driver’s - but their Europeanised and legislated ‘best practise’ [sic] systems of work and that you’re unhappy about.
I’ve just returned from 3 days in France. Was in a little Sprinter van capable of 100.m.p.h. I never once went over 60. Amazing fuel economy. I can see the sense in driving slower. It’s frustrating to be stuck behind slower vehicles. But you will go your separate ways eventually.
Better to be a live coward, than a dead hero!
I must be a Lorry driving genius then as i do General haulage a little trunking and store deliveries all in the same week.Tesco trolley dollies only have themselves to blame when they turn their cushty jobs to S***E by hanging the hell out of one drop or refusing to go beyond 9 hours as what they were doing at Middlewich and Tesco got shot of them So Mark is correct the trolley dollies don’t even have the work ethics of a real Trucker
