we dont need to be in unions to back each other.there is a thing called camaradarie which most people in uk have forgot about,its what used to make great britain great.as for the french they havent tried for anything lately but when they do they,ll get it with or without police behind them.
Take no notice Trubrit, I see you aren’t anyway 
, of the dinosaurs who think that scab is not a bit of dried blood. That strike I was involved in, reluctantly as shop steward, and it did us no good at all.
As to the first trip over. I honestly can’t remember it, possibly because my brother beat me to it by a few months and I took a week off to go with him. We tipped on the outskirts of Paris and there was no reload but a hint of one towards the southwest. So, looking for a place to park we headed out of town down the N10 I suppose wondering if French drivers had the same excellent 
transport cafés as we did. We must have driven for an hour or so getting more desperate when all of a sudden the road was lined both sides with wagons. We found a spot not too far from the ‘source’ and so began my love affair with les routiers.
Well pleased with ourselves after dining like kings and sleeping the sleep of the just, we were brought to earth with a bump on ringing the office in the morning to find our reload was on the banks of the Seine in the middle of Paris. 
How the boss laughed when we told him how long it would take us to get there. 
jackson619:
we dont need to be in unions to back each other.there is a thing called camaradarie which most people in uk have forgot about,its what used to make great britain great.as for the french they havent tried for anything lately but when they do they,ll get it with or without police behind them.
Don’t you believe it mate, they’ll be off the road without a licence if they try it. Times have changed especially since Sarkozy took over. If he can stand up to the all powerful civil service unions as he looks like doing, he’ll have no problem with a few lorry drivers most of whom are not even in one - and there are about 3 to choose from.
icky:
i agree with jackson 619. we always hear about the conditions we have to put up with and rightly so but nothing will ever happen because there is always drivers who will break a strike and browns mob knows this, so we will always endure crap wages,bad parking and treated like a third class person, no wonder no young people want to join this industry.
I definitely agree! It’s the same in my country. There were many strikes, but people are afraid to lose jobs so they don’t join the strike, so there are always about 40% who continue being submissive, humble, and that is why the position of drivers can’t and won’t change. Though this is a nice, heterogeneous job! But it’s a shame that drivers are not as respected as they used to be.
what strike was that spardo and did everyone back you up.i dont think so.
as for french drivers having license took off them do you mean all of them.wouldnt that cause a bigger problem.like i said if the french want it theyll get it because they stick together 
Did you join in all the strikes Jackson?
If so how do you pay the mortgage, the kids dinner money or buy food?
Seems like we’ve lost the topic here !
what strikes.im still at school wheelnut but when im old enough i will join strikes as long as everyone else does.a few weeks hardship would be worth it if you get what you want in the end.
jackson619:
what strikes.im still at school wheelnut but when im old enough i will join strikes as long as everyone else does.a few weeks hardship would be worth it if you get what you want in the end.
Ah…the innocence of youth…
Nostalgia…its a thing of the past…
OK, point taken.
My very first trip wasn’t in a truck but a 1 tonne Datsun pick up. I had to drive to Hull and get a visitors passport from the Post office. I then had to call at Neil & Browns office and was given a handful of letters. Then caught the ferry to Zeebrugge that evening.
One letter was shown to the ferry company, basically it said We, Neil and Brown will pay shipping costs for vehicle reg : - - - - - - -. Please send invoice with copy of this letter. I managed to get a freight drivers ticket so got directed to the proper truckers table and listened to tales of derring do, now after 30 years I realise it was probably doggy doo 
I had been asked dozens of times what I was doing and who I worked for by the drivers on the ferry. I told them I had to collect something in Germany and it was my first trip abroad. I did manage to get a couple of pints and a decent nights sleep. I was very excited and probably a bit scared
I had been given a tatty map of Germany and some written instructions, it was fairly easy to follow the road signs until I got to Brussels when I missed the ring road and went into the city I then passed Frankfurt and Fulda and ended up in a little village called Bad Kissingen. All I had was an order number for the factory I was to load from. The fact that i was in a plain white pick up and didnt speak German never crossed my mind.
The security guard must have thought I was after directions because he kept looking in a map for me. Eventually someone came to help and we decided that the order number was correct and that the consignment was ready. A man got in my pickup with me and I put my sleeping bags and boxes of bedding into the back. We drove inside the factory and he pointed to my collection point.
I had to deliver it directly to Lytham St Annes and didnt even know where that was. He took me in an office and gave me envelopes, delivery documents and a plan, this plan was the border in Aachen. Dont worry I knew Aachen, after all I had just driven through it earlier that day, showing my passport to the nice man.
On the plan was an agents name, although I didn’t know it was an agent then. He then gave me some keys and led me outside to inspect the load.
It was one of these
I checked it over for damage and that everything was there that should be there according to the check list. I had been worrying about sleeping across the seats in my Datsun, now it would be pure luxury as I threw my bedding into the caravan.
The German guy who had released my caravan to me then said he would show me where I could park when Im coupled up and said that he would take me to a restaurant later that evening, he said all the English drivers used it. It was the first time I ate Jager Scnitzel, it was my first trip abroad and it was the first time I was to come across T forms, but that story is for another day.
I did another 5 or 6 of these trips to Bad Kissingen using either my bosses SD1 Rover or one of the 3 ton Fiat transporters that we used to build caravan ramps on, shortly after this experience I left the company to become a proper little trucker
jackson619:
what strikes.im still at school wheelnut but when im old enough i will join strikes as long as everyone else does.a few weeks hardship would be worth it if you get what you want in the end.
Exactly the reason I asked the question young man Is your dad a communist too?
jackson619:
what strikes.im still at school wheelnut but when im old enough i will join strikes as long as everyone else does.a few weeks hardship would be worth it if you get what you want in the end.
i love it i suppose when your kids are hungry and no shoes on their feet you will tell them to not be selfish as next month we will be £5 better off or will you be running to your parents like you do at the moment
thats not fair asking about someones father if you do not know if he has one. well jacko if you want to work in this industry you have at least 5 years to learn to speake polsky in order to get a driving job. seen them advertised that you have to speak english and polsky. mind you living in the north east you would have to learn english first.
well wheelnut my father isnt a commie.he is however a member of one of the best known political parties ever.THE PEOPLES FRONT OF JUDEA,or is it THE JUDEAN PEOPLES FRONT.i can never remember. .
as for you matt f.ive never ran to my parents.ive always been very independant.i get away with allsorts with my hoodie friends in supermarkets and the odd post office 
.
thanks for advice icky.i got an honourey degree from the liverpool university of shoplifting it makes up for my lack of the english language.thinking of doing a degree in eastern european cooking but cant find an empty layby or carpark to learn in. 
jackson619:
as for french drivers having license took off them do you mean all of them.wouldnt that cause a bigger problem.like i said if the french want it theyll get it because they stick together
Have you read anything which has been posted on this thread? As has already been mentioned several times these days the French drivers do not stick together any more than drivers in this country do. Since the nineties every time they tried anything they were threatened with loss of their licences and the action just fizzled out as they were not prepared to risk losing their licences and livelihood. The whole “French drivers stick together” thing you hear spouted all to frequently is nothing more than an urban myth these days, and has been for more than 10 years.
jackson619:
what strikes.im still at school wheelnut but when im old enough i will join strikes as long as everyone else does.a few weeks hardship would be worth it if you get what you want in the end.
Since you’re still at school, it might be an idea for you to study some history to help you get your facts straight.
If you do that, you could make informed comments about a subject that you understand.
Otherwise, your comments might attract laughter from people who were actually there at the time. Your choice though…
jackson619:
well wheelnut my father isnt a commie.he is however a member of one of the best known political parties ever.THE PEOPLES FRONT OF JUDEA,or is it THE JUDEAN PEOPLES FRONT.i can never remember.
Could well be me but I personally have never heard of em. Considering they are so well known phrahps you could get their views on Essential Fuel User Rebate you never know they might be worth a tick.
a while ago when i was working for norbert dentressangle on the day the french drivers were due to go on strike i was in the Arras depot having a little running repair to my truck in the garage, when on noticing my GB reg their union bloke said “ah englishman you must get out of france before 1800h or you vill be cought in blockade” i pointed to a WW1 british cemetry across the road and said “where was you blockade in 1914 all those british gave their lives for your country” the workshop manager who spoke and understood english thought it funny and translated to the union bloke who left me alone and went with his tail between his legs.
ps i did manage to get outta france that day
Ben9:
jackson619:
well wheelnut my father isnt a commie.he is however a member of one of the best known political parties ever.THE PEOPLES FRONT OF JUDEA,or is it THE JUDEAN PEOPLES FRONT.i can never remember.Could well be me but I personally have never heard of em. Considering they are so well known phrahps you could get their views on Essential Fuel User Rebate you never know they might be worth a tick.
It could be both actually Ben9. (Did you ever see the film “The life of Brian”■■)
I fear that we’re all the victims of a clever wind-up
“Snapper” has a suspect in mind