You lot may take the ■■■■ out of the video, but after doing a fair bit of tramping myself I can agree on some of the points made by the drivers…and no I don’t mean the drug taking or the substance abuse
Bit of an enthusiast subject of mine. But that was bad observational film making. Even with an agenda he could have portrayed the balance and let the negatives show naturally alongside positives. The line of questioning was terrible and closed, the soundtrack mournful, the screen framing set to be showing almost childlike men. I could go on. These sentiments may have showed through naturally anyway. I certainly encountered them from other blokes when I was a young tramper. As LH aircrew it’s not dissimilar, but you choose to portray it naturally or force it.
As a former tramper, I thought this an opportunity missed.
It seemed to concentrate on apparently miserable (in denial?) drivers without any positive input, the “sad” theme music playing almost sounded like that from a funeral!
How I wish somebody would portray us / our job as it actually is rather than this ■■■■■ your wrist crap at one extreme and Mark ****ing Dixon at the other! (and this is a Stobart driver saying so!)
Another nail in the coffin of what little - if any - reputation we drivers ever had!
My god that is the most miserable video ever made about drivers 
I had some dark moments while tramping but my god these guys are on another level.
These blokes must have balls like coconuts.
Imagine the stick they are going to take at work over this.
Full respect. I would have been all like.
"Oh yeah get us Brexited before the ■■■■■■■ French eat all of our kittens & puppies. Nineteen pints of Worthington E on a Saturday, and I’m still away at 2am with ten drops to Galashiels. Powered only by a Full English, Double Gut Buster from Greasy Gurtie on the A30. I don’t know about lonely mate, you aren’t lonely when you run up the arse of the National Express coming down over Clevedon Bank in Irish Overdrive. Bloody Rolls Royce Eagle & Fuller Nine Speed jammed in your Dirt Box keeps you from worrying about being lonely pal.
A very negative video, not even mentioning the positives of the job. I’ve seen other videos like this that the BBC squeeze-out, trying to pull on viewers’ heartstrings by telling sad stories, combined with dark shooting and depressing library music.
I saw a very similar BBC short documentary on Calais, and the lorries running through it. It had an obvious liberal-left bias, the journalist blatantly demonising the lorry drivers as racist bigots, the only film of them she put on being the parts when they said they’d run the migrants over, and that they have no sympathy for them. Nothing said about how they’re trying to earn an honest living, to feed their families, and the Calais crisis is making it near-impossible. The journalist then went on to glorify the migrants as heroes, trying to find a better life, but yet spoke to the drivers like they were scum. Terrible, biased journalism from the BBC, clearly with an agenda.
Bad choice of drivers to be interviewed too, although they may have been the only ones who could speak English, and agreed to be interviewed. Still, they were all overweight, middle-aged men, and one was an ex heroin addict! It’s not the most balanced sample. He could have tried to get a younger driver, or a foreigner who goes away for months at a time, that would have been better. A Waberers driver who goes away for six months at a time, and gets £300 per month, that would have been interesting! 
It was as if he was trying to explain why the number of drivers is decreasing, which according to Transport Operator is due to unrealistic expectations from management, too much micro-management and telematics, overzealous enforcement by the authorities, and poor treatment by other road users. He was implying that there is a driver shortage because the driver has to sleep in the lorry, and their wives get fed-up. It may have a small contribution to the driver shortage, but it’s not the main one.
what a load of crap, the tone on the interviewer’s voice set the scene - complete misery. It painted the completely wrong picture.
Felt sorry for Yorkshire guy who lost his wife… 
Found this at same time on YouTube, might cheer you up if you like a bit of country… 
Don’t know how to put link on… Melinda Scneider Men in trucks…
A very negative video, not even mentioning the positives of the job. I’ve seen other videos like this that the BBC squeeze-out, trying to pull on viewers’ heartstrings by telling sad stories, combined with dark shooting and depressing library music.
I saw a very similar BBC short documentary on Calais, and the lorries running through it. It had an obvious liberal-left bias, the journalist blatantly demonising the lorry drivers as racist bigots, the only film of them she put on being the parts when they said they’d run the migrants over, and that they have no sympathy for them. Nothing said about how they’re trying to earn an honest living, to feed their families, and the Calais crisis is making it near-impossible. The journalist then went on to glorify the migrants as heroes, trying to find a better life, but yet spoke to the drivers like they were scum. Terrible, biased journalism from the BBC, clearly with an agenda.
Bad choice of drivers to be interviewed too, although they may have been the only ones who could speak English, and agreed to be interviewed. Still, they were all overweight, middle-aged men, and one was an ex heroin addict! It’s not the most balanced sample. He could have tried to get a younger driver, or a foreigner who goes away for months at a time, that would have been better. A Waberers driver who goes away for six months at a time, and gets £300 per month, that would have been interesting!
It was as if he was trying to explain why the number of drivers is decreasing, which according to Transport Operator is due to unrealistic expectations from management, too much micro-management and telematics, overzealous enforcement by the authorities, and poor treatment by other road users. He was implying that there is a driver shortage because the driver has to sleep in the lorry, and their wives get fed-up. It may have a small contribution to the driver shortage, but it’s not the main one.
Rottweiler22:
A very negative video, not even mentioning the positives of the job.
What positives? Sure, I can sleep in a wagon without falling into a pit of despair, but I’ve never done it for fun!
You can have a bit of fun sometimes. If I’m parked up with other guys from our company it’s not difficult walking to the pub for a few.
Some folk don’t have any mates to walk to the pub with.
ffs it part of the job not many places you can end a day go for a shower no travel and hit the bunk if you want.
modern cabs make tramping a whole lot easier you can stand up most have a lot of mod cons too.
totally agree far far far too much ■■■■■■ and boudoir for me.
What services was that anyone know? Hilton park?
war1974:
ffs it part of the job not many places you can end a day go for a shower no travel and hit the bunk if you want.
No travel? You drove there! And unless you’re lucky, you’ll have spent more time in the cab than most other workers spend from leaving their homes to returning.
And there are plenty of workplaces that have showers - most people just wait until they get home and do it in comfort. To answer others, there are also other workplaces where people are friends and can go the pub - in fact, I’d say that this job is much less sociable than the norm these days!
The reason we put up with these conditions of work are for hard cash, not because it’s a better lifestyle, and not because it gives us more time with our workmates!
commonrail2:
Some folk don’t have any mates to walk to the pub with.
Probably our lot are to often in the pub, if we are on a job with other tipper company drivers you normally end up parking together and then off to the pub. Did a week in Port Talbot and my £25 night out money was spent on beer and food in the wetherspoons and maybe a kebab on the way back to cab.
We do a pretty boring job within reason just moving stuff from A to B, you might as well have the craic whilst doing it. I think that’s why I never fitted in at Tesco or DHL 
I hear ya.
ive never ever worked for a company that paid parking,or night out money,after watching that,then if that’s meant to represent an evenings paid overnight parking you can keep it…ive kipped in plenty of truck stops years ago when it was a case of find a fellow victim and head for the pub,but how miserable do these dudes appear to be…the next stage down from them is to split up from your misses,jump into your wagon,fill it with hand grenades and head for the crowds…hang on a min■■? 
dieseldog999:
does marc isaacs get his wages easy or what!!!..that has to have been about the saddest miserable 17 mins of my entire life…just as well it wasn’t 30 mins lng or id be away slitting my wrists by now.
was a bit depressing
Jeeez H !!
After watching that I nearly feel like topping myself ffs!
Where did they get these guys from ‘The manic depressive truckers society’
I even thought to myself ‘Christ I would hate to do that job’’ then suddenly I realised to myself I’ve done it for years. 
The job is how you make it, if you treat it like some kind of challenge/endurance test, as many do…Where you are on a work sleep …work sleep only pattern, park up in a lay by or MSA, sit in your passenger seat all evening doing the anti social trucker .‘‘death stare,’’ with your alarm set for 8hours 59 mins to you restart again, then yeh, you eventually end up like those guys…■■■■ miserable !
You look upon 15 on 9 off as the rule, the 13 on 11 off as the exception, that you have to get…‘out of the way’ in your working week.
Breaks are also something you have to ‘‘get in’’ and are looked upon as an inconvenience
I have done tramping as I said for years, but would last about a week doing it like that.
There is more to life than that sort of ■■■■■■■■, the job has become like that ( to many) because of drivers succumbing to pressure, it started around the end of the 90s imo, it never was so.
If you do it right tramping can be quite enjoyable.