toby1234abc:
What happened to socializing after a days work with fellow drivers, it does not exist now ?
They all close their cab curtains and speak to nobody, in the cafes and truckstops, slop the grub down as soon as possible, keep the face down, avoid all eye contact.
Drivers sit on their own.
On the continent, you would share the taxi to the beach, meet in the bar for some drinks, have a large meal.
On some occasions, end up in a nightclub and mingle with the locals.
Most would have to change their own tyres by carrying a spare for the trailer and unit, we would stop and offer to help, now you just call a fitter out.
Yes Toby, it really was like that when I started driving in the mid seventies. Times move on it’s a different job with different drivers. Like a lot of the old hands I enjoyed the job at 22 yrs old. The one thing I would take back in time, would be a night heater.
How much though is that the driver attitude has changed or the structure and culture that encouraged the social side has changed?
To pull it apart…
You mention the continent. Nowadays there really isn’t the large movement of UK continental drivers that there was. So less of a unified feeling. “being in that club”
You mention back in the day. I know from my Grandfather is was sociable in the 1960s driving lorries in the UK. But then, he only worked 12 hour days and stayed in digs. Being sociable was almost forced upon you. You broke down - you had no choice but to ask for help. Not because you felt sociable, just that’s because it was all you had in the way of help. No mobiles, no company procedures just get on with it. The one way of looking at it led to the other and vice versa.
Tramping. Less trampers in the UK these days and the facilities very very poor. Not many designated truck sites with room to socialise. Even in my short memory I remember truck world.
Culture. In past times you were almost encouraged to be given a full reign. Given the keys and off you go. This made the job a bit more relaxing and drivers felt some pride in the idea of “them and us” comraderie. Nowadays the UK industry has done everything it possibly can to shed the “trucking” image to keep up with a modern world and now uses words like “logistics”. Drivers are now working to Standard Operating Procedures! A situation that never existed outside of fuel tankers. The industry has sanistised itself and the culture.
I blame lots of things for it but chiefly I blame the Japanese! (Well somebody had to!). Their business model of JIT deliveries suddenly changed the face of transport.
That’s without even getting started on containers, RDC’s, massive faceless logistics co’s, closure of in town lorry parks, closure of many truck friendly cafes etc.
Freight Dog:
Nowadays the UK industry has done everything it possibly can to shed the “trucking” image to keep up with a modern world and now uses words like “logistics”. Drivers are now working to Standard Operating Procedures! A situation that never existed outside of fuel tankers. The industry has sanistised itself and the culture.
I will do a little experiment experiment tomorrow. On my way to my destination on the ‘A’ road I usually use, I will give a cheery wave to any HGV drivers I see coming opposite way. Might not be very successful though as I only see about 4 lorries on that stretch, but hey ho
I recon it died of in the mid 90s when people that never in a million years would have driven a truck were made redundant from their chosen profesions and they took the offer of retraining as a driver.
Now saying that since moving to rural Canada,and starting out OTR the two times I had major breakdowns(hit deer causing bust airlines /pulling of fuel lines/ tore a pot off ) I must say near every truck passing stopped to offer a hand ,to say I was shocked was an understatement.
now on local quarry work everyone stops for a broken down tipper even if they are in competition to offer a hand even change tyres on one occasion I pulled one(co. in close competition with the company I run for) to a safe spot until a fitter arrived,no problem from my boss, in fact he acknowledged in competition or not you don’t pass a broken down truck on back rds.
jimmy.
I like to just get on with it, delays, tight spots, traffic, bad drivers, none of it gets to me anymore. I still like this job, even with all of it’s over regulated crap that now comes with it. I don’t want to listen to complaining, moaning, bad mouthing drivers. I just don’t.
So if I someone in trouble, I’ll try to help.
Other than that I’m in the cab doing my own thing.
I just can’t listen to the crap.
Im a new truck driver, us mixer drivers always wave to each other which is nice.
Maybe its not the same as it used to be but I still have chats with other drivers if our paths cross on sites etc and find most drivers friendly enough
Radar19:
I’ll still talk to people, only problem is that they don’t want to talk back.
I know the feeling
Reminds me of a very depressing incident the week before Christmas.
In a queue and the one in front hadn’t moved into the gap ahead of him. I was packing up so in no hurry. Once I got my stuff together 5mins later he was still there so I wondered over. Glow of a mobile from behind the frilly curtains and a bit of arm waving got the window to come down.
“Alright mate? Could I ask you to pull forward as I just need to get by?.. I’m just parking up in this space next to you.”
This was met with a cold sullen silent stare. “Errr is that alright?.. umm hello? Ahh can you hear me?”
I was beginning to think he was foreign and didn’t know what I was after when suddenly, without a word he started up and moved forward.
A bit confused, and feeling a bit put out by this fairly rude response to a reasonable request I walked up to his still open window.
“Mate? Hello, are you hearing me? I’m talking to you.”
Blank face continued to ignore me.
I know I should have just left it but his eventual response warmed my cockles, restored my faith in humanity and gave me a warm fuzzy glow.
“I’ve done what you want, now go away.” He said flatly and wound the window up.
Ahh the camaraderie oh the banter. Oh the prick.
Yes small incident but so unnecessarily unpleasant. A simple “yep” would have done.
Sorry for rant but I am still dreaming up revenge strategies. I managed not to swear at him but I nearly pulled his trl plate off, thought of kicking a bit of pallet with nail under one of his tyres… as well as a few others…
Radar19:
I’ll still talk to people, only problem is that they don’t want to talk back.
I know the feeling
Reminds me of a very depressing incident the week before Christmas.
In a queue and the one in front hadn’t moved into the gap ahead of him. I was packing up so in no hurry. Once I got my stuff together 5mins later he was still there so I wondered over. Glow of a mobile from behind the frilly curtains and a bit of arm waving got the window to come down.
“Alright mate? Could I ask you to pull forward as I just need to get by?.. I’m just parking up in this space next to you.”
This was met with a cold sullen silent stare. “Errr is that alright?.. umm hello? Ahh can you hear me?”
I was beginning to think he was foreign and didn’t know what I was after when suddenly, without a word he started up and moved forward.
A bit confused, and feeling a bit put out by this fairly rude response to a reasonable request I walked up to his still open window.
“Mate? Hello, are you hearing me? I’m talking to you.”
Blank face continued to ignore me.
I know I should have just left it but his eventual response warmed my cockles, restored my faith in humanity and gave me a warm fuzzy glow.
“I’ve done what you want, now go away.” He said flatly and wound the window up.
Ahh the camaraderie oh the banter. Oh the prick.
Yes small incident but so unnecessarily unpleasant. A simple “yep” would have done.
Sorry for rant but I am still dreaming up revenge strategies. I managed not to swear at him but I nearly pulled his trl plate off, thought of kicking a bit of pallet with nail under one of his tyres… as well as a few others…
Went home in a foul mood.
That’s not camaraderie, he was just a prick.
No need to be rude about it.
I wouldn’t bother worrying about it
come over to Ireland and when you get off the ferry,turn your watch back 30 years…the cameradrie is still there in heaps over here whether its north or south,moreso in the south,but plenty in the north.
in the 70s nobody had a bed,heater,curtains,or anything other than the most basic creature comforts.it wasn’t 24/7 rdc tipping,so when the factory said,tomorrow morning,it was parkup,down the pub,and a few pints.or down the docks,blocked,with the chance of waking up next to some trollop in the morning.
there were no tv,laptops,or anything to while away the time,i thought I was the dogs doodaas late 70`s in my transconti with a black and white telly,and that pingpong tennis game you played with a paddle thing.how bad was that? times change,everybodys booked in,with no chance to go on the prowl down the pub.time critical bookings have done away with that. running Europe still had its moments,but even that now has seen better days,especially if your on trip money.
ive not been in watling st for many years till last month,Christ almighty,it was just still the same manky poxhole it always was,with the added bonus of the 10 dudes sitting eating were spaced as far apart as poss,all looking like death warmed up.no eye contact,2 on laptops,1 on tinterweb on his mobile,and a Cpl gazing as dung on the telly. zombie flesheaters sprang to mind,especially when the skank behind the counter served me. how hard is it when theres only 10 guys in the whole place,to forget to go and get me my pudding.?..no wonder everybody just hides and does their own thing…depressing beyond belief.
toby1234abc:
What happened to socializing after a days work with fellow drivers, it does not exist now ?
They all close their cab curtains and speak to nobody, in the cafes and truckstops, slop the grub down as soon as possible, keep the face down, avoid all eye contact.
Drivers sit on their own.
On the continent, you would share the taxi to the beach, meet in the bar for some drinks, have a large meal.
On some occasions, end up in a nightclub and mingle with the locals.
Most would have to change their own tyres by carrying a spare for the trailer and unit, we would stop and offer to help, now you just call a fitter out.
I dont remember such Times.
Yes,you stood together when making Your Break,but most got not paid enough to go from Bar to Bar.
Some got paid a lot,but they had to work a Lot,and they were doing it to pay a Mortgage,but not for Bars and Beach.
That what were brought up to get Young Lads into Transport,made spending the lots of Money to get a HGV License to tell them then to drive LGV’s not HGVs.
Internet,including Trucknetuk is full of People who made such Stories there Dream to follow.
See yourself what happened to them.
I started out in year 2000 and apart from my first job working doing multi drop catering supply’s and the job I’m in now iv never known drivers help each other.
Iv known them grass up fellow drivers iv known a driver take photos of other drivers doing wrong and sending them to the manager and just general horrible people that make them not nice to work with let alone socialise with.
Radar19:
I’ll still talk to people, only problem is that they don’t want to talk back.
I know the feeling
Reminds me of a very depressing incident the week before Christmas.
In a queue and the one in front hadn’t moved into the gap ahead of him. I was packing up so in no hurry. Once I got my stuff together 5mins later he was still there so I wondered over. Glow of a mobile from behind the frilly curtains and a bit of arm waving got the window to come down.
“Alright mate? Could I ask you to pull forward as I just need to get by?.. I’m just parking up in this space next to you.”
This was met with a cold sullen silent stare. “Errr is that alright?.. umm hello? Ahh can you hear me?”
I was beginning to think he was foreign and didn’t know what I was after when suddenly, without a word he started up and moved forward.
A bit confused, and feeling a bit put out by this fairly rude response to a reasonable request I walked up to his still open window.
“Mate? Hello, are you hearing me? I’m talking to you.”
Blank face continued to ignore me.
I know I should have just left it but his eventual response warmed my cockles, restored my faith in humanity and gave me a warm fuzzy glow.
“I’ve done what you want, now go away.” He said flatly and wound the window up.
Ahh the camaraderie oh the banter. Oh the prick.
Yes small incident but so unnecessarily unpleasant. A simple “yep” would have done.
Sorry for rant but I am still dreaming up revenge strategies. I managed not to swear at him but I nearly pulled his trl plate off, thought of kicking a bit of pallet with nail under one of his tyres… as well as a few others…
Went home in a foul mood.
I think this is just the population in general these days. The human race is full of moaning, miserable, idiotic [zb]s.
toby1234abc:
What happened to socializing after a days work with fellow drivers, it does not exist now ?
Blame the EU Drivers Hours Regs which make a 15hr shift legal giving you literally just enough time to ram some food down your throat, throw some water on your face and then get straight to bed if you want to have a remote chance to get 7/8hrs kip and have chance for a crap in the morning before starting again.
F-reds:
If you want the lack of camaraderie among us drivers to change, why not try lobbying to make ■■■■■■■■■■■■ in public socially acceptable?
That might get a few more lads out of their cabs for ya
Oh and you’ll be able to talk to Dipper Dave in the…err…flesh
Funny you should mention this, myself and a few like minded individuals (well swingers to be exact) are forming our own political party where amongst other things we will be campaigning for the relaxation of decency laws to enable acts of self gratification and mutual masterbation to be permitted in general public.
We have deceided to call ourselves U.K.U.M.
The only problem we have at the moment is producing the manifesto as whenever we get together as a group we always seem to end up shagging.
[Yep, I’m obviously sitting on a bay waiting for the magic green light with too much time on my hands, not too mention small amounts of ■■■■…]
Ih the joys of the excuses of the freight forwarding agents while waiting to clear Customs in Alverca and Porto, they kept saying come back in two hours.
You went to see them ,then they say come back in an hour.
This would go on all day.
Then all day, not cleared, so I could off gone off somewhere for the day.
If you arrived on a Friday afternoon, the chances of being weekended were high.
Irun and Hendaye were nice places to sit in the Tir parking.
Cheap ■■■■ and booze, there was a launderet to wash the bedding and clothes.
La Jonqera was a small village year’s ago.
It is now a truck metropolis, full of huge all you can eat buffet warehouse size.
Years ago when most towns and city’s had a lorry park you would usually meet a driver who fancied a walk and a swift half down the local. I had some cracking nights out. Seems nowadays they want to spend 15 hours driving it and the rest of the time laying on the bunk after they have microwaved some gourmet meal.
A lack of proper facilities was always going to change things. Look they want the stuff in the shops but they dont want you and a tiny minority of drivers you know the ones helped put the nail in the coffin.
Dipper_Dave:
Funny you should mention this, myself and a few like minded individuals (well swingers to be exact) are forming our own political party where amongst other things we will be campaigning for the relaxation of decency laws to enable acts of self gratification and mutual masterbation to be permitted in general public.
We have deceided to call ourselves U.K.U.M.
The only problem we have at the moment is producing the manifesto as whenever we get together as a group we always seem to end up shagging.
[Yep, I’m obviously sitting on a bay waiting for the magic green light with too much time on my hands, not too mention small amounts of ■■■■…]
Why not get charitable status and name yourselves The Wonkas Association Trust?
