robroy:
Fincham:
If you feel you can change things then good luck to you.
If you read my previous post you will see that I made alternative arrangements to earn a living.
Yeh, sorry mate, 
I was a bit quick to jump there, I thought the ‘good luck’ thing was a sarcastic comment aimed at me, I see now that it was a genuine comment.
As for changing things, I can only speak from my own perspective, I do the job and get through the workload but answer back if I think I am being shafted. I work with a few guys, not all, that tear arse about like there is no tomorrow, we all get paid the same, they are hassled and I am left alone,…do you see my point.
Idiots carving the job up have always been a problem and with the proposed change in speed limits it will probably get worse. Sadly drivers have always been their own worst enemy and employers have capitalised on this.
Comparisons are regularly made with tube train drivers and their pay, the difference between us is that they can cause instant chaos whereas if we took action it would take time to take effect and alternative arrangements could be made.
I would much rather have continued driving but the economics didn’t add up.
From what I’m hearing all the local hauliers are looking for drivers. Seems to me the situation is regional, the company I’ve been on for regularly have 2 or 3 agency in at the local depot, add that they’ve started sending 2 or 3 of their own from the UK Hub to camp out at the Scottish each week, I suspect these are being replaced by taking on more EU/agency bods down there and they have instituted a driver training programme. Also seems to be a fair bit of ‘churn’ with as many drivers leaving as starting.
That the moribund dinosaurs in the RHA have finally woken up and acknowledged that there is a potential problem is a good sign. A big step the hauliers could do, to at least kick the problem down the line, is tell the insurance companies to ■■■■ off with their 2yr thing or bite the bullet and pay the premium, that could potentially make another 30,000 new drivers available.
As far as I can see we’re in the 'quiet period which will end in a few weeks. It also takes a bit of time for rate rises to work through to pay packets and even then it will be small incremental rises rather than anything spectacular.
I’m another driver looking to hang up the keys for the last time in the not too distant future, don’t think I can do it cold turkey so for now I’ve cut back to one or two choice shifts a week 
When I started at my current place, the TM said it would cost an extra £300 a year to have me insured on the company policy. That is peanuts compared to what the company makes. Hauliers are making too much a big deal out of these “jacked up” insurance premiums.
chicane:
From what I’m hearing all the local hauliers are looking for drivers. Seems to me the situation is regional, the company I’ve been on for regularly have 2 or 3 agency in at the local depot, add that they’ve started sending 2 or 3 of their own from the UK Hub to camp out at the Scottish each week, I suspect these are being replaced by taking on more EU/agency bods down there and they have instituted a driver training programme. Also seems to be a fair bit of ‘churn’ with as many drivers leaving as starting.
That the moribund dinosaurs in the RHA have finally woken up and acknowledged that there is a potential problem is a good sign. A big step the hauliers could do, to at least kick the problem down the line, is tell the insurance companies to [zb] off with their 2yr thing or bite the bullet and pay the premium, that could potentially make another 30,000 new drivers available.
As far as I can see we’re in the 'quiet period which will end in a few weeks. It also takes a bit of time for rate rises to work through to pay packets and even then it will be small incremental rises rather than anything spectacular.
I’m another driver looking to hang up the keys for the last time in the not too distant future, don’t think I can do it cold turkey so for now I’ve cut back to one or two choice shifts a week
Who do u work for ? Pm if u would rather
And the driver churn is that new drivers who realise the hrs/wages ain’t what they thought or company attitude
Coffeeholic:
robroy:
weeto:
They gave us the aquaducts!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExWfh6sGyso
Yeh, but apart from the aquaducts ? 
Roads? 
Ok, right, but apart from the aquaducts, and the roads, what have the Romans ever done for us?
tango boy":
Coffeeholic:
robroy:
weeto:
They gave us the aquaducts!
Yeh, but apart from the aquaducts ?
Roads?
Ok, right, but apart from the aquaducts, and the roads, what have the Romans ever done for us?
Latin words 
How far do you want us to go with this?..Orangeboy
hot baths, underfloor heating.
robroy:
BillyHunt:
Last time I checked nobody is forcing anyone to drive lorries. If you don’t like the wage structure you signed up for wherever you work then feel free to take up employment in another sector.
So we’ve found a driver that is happy with the old fashioned exploititive boss’s attitude and mantra of ‘‘Well son if you don’t like the way you are paid/treated just…[zb] off’’ If drivers can not see anything wrong with this we are all [zb] ed
What’s wrong with being in a job I like, with a wage I’m happy with? I just don’t understand the whiners that come on complaining of low pay. When I went for interview I was told how much I would be paid & what was expected of me, I was happy with both so took the job. If I wasn’t happy with either I would have said no & moved on, not come on here ■■■■■■■■ about how I was being shafted by the boss/Europeans or some other mythical group. Some bosses actually like & look after their staff you know.
BillyHunt:
robroy:
BillyHunt:
Last time I checked nobody is forcing anyone to drive lorries. If you don’t like the wage structure you signed up for wherever you work then feel free to take up employment in another sector.
So we’ve found a driver that is happy with the old fashioned exploititive boss’s attitude and mantra of ‘‘Well son if you don’t like the way you are paid/treated just…[zb] off’’ If drivers can not see anything wrong with this we are all [zb] ed
What’s wrong with being in a job I like, with a wage I’m happy with? I just don’t understand the whiners that come on complaining of low pay. When I went for interview I was told how much I would be paid & what was expected of me, I was happy with both so took the job. If I wasn’t happy with either I would have said no & moved on, not come on here ■■■■■■■■ about how I was being shafted by the boss/Europeans or some other mythical group. Some bosses actually like & look after their staff you know.
Because a lot of guys are not on decent pay, so unlike you are wanting to improve their conditions, what they don’t need is a fellow driver telling them they should think themselves lucky, and if they don’t like it …etc,etc. especially from a one that unlike them, is on a good wage, they get enough of that crap from their bosses ffs
For your information, yeh, I do know, as I have worked for that kind of co. in the past but when I did I didn’t knock those in a more unfortunate situation. 
Good drivers have almost a duty to get themselves into jobs with the best terms and conditions for reasons other than just their own benefit, good employers deserve good staff so they prosper and expand, whilst bad employers and bad employees deserve each other too so they drag each other under.
Too often i’ve seen the opposite, good blokes (and women, sorry girls) working their socks off and crapped on from a great height by ignorant incompetent bullying louts, whilst drivers who don’t deserve to but happen to have ended up in premium jobs fail spectacularly to understand or appreciate what they have and can’t take the ■■■■ quickly enough, sickies, total negligence including serious damage, couldn’t give a toss whether the job gets done or not…customer a nuisance instead of The most important person.
S’pose its always been thus.
robroy:
BillyHunt:
robroy:
BillyHunt:
Last time I checked nobody is forcing anyone to drive lorries. If you don’t like the wage structure you signed up for wherever you work then feel free to take up employment in another sector.
So we’ve found a driver that is happy with the old fashioned exploititive boss’s attitude and mantra of ‘‘Well son if you don’t like the way you are paid/treated just…[zb] off’’ If drivers can not see anything wrong with this we are all [zb] ed
What’s wrong with being in a job I like, with a wage I’m happy with? I just don’t understand the whiners that come on complaining of low pay. When I went for interview I was told how much I would be paid & what was expected of me, I was happy with both so took the job. If I wasn’t happy with either I would have said no & moved on, not come on here ■■■■■■■■ about how I was being shafted by the boss/Europeans or some other mythical group. Some bosses actually like & look after their staff you know.
Because a lot of guys are not on decent pay, so unlike you are wanting to improve their conditions, what they don’t need is a fellow driver telling them they should think themselves lucky, and if they don’t like it …etc,etc. especially from a one that unlike them, is on a good wage, they get enough of that crap from their bosses ffs
For your information, yeh, I do know, as I have worked for that kind of co. in the past but when I did I didn’t knock those in a more unfortunate situation.
Been there done that moved on to better things. There is no point moaning about pay & conditions then staying on for years, it’s giving the poor payers, the crap bosses etc a reason to keep everyone down. I’ve come across loads of people that don’t have the bottle to move on, even got some a chance of better pay & conditions, all they did was come up with excuses not to leave. You cannot help some people so I just look after me, sorry if that offends but that’s life & I’m not going to feel sorry for those that are happy to take the rough, other than ■■■■■ on forums where you have zero chance of accomplishing anything, but won’t do anything to help themselves get the smooth.
robroy:
Tris:
When are wages going to go up to reflect this?
I can’t see it happening as all that I think will happen is more Eastern Europeans will come over and take the jobs.
I think in a lot of cases there has already been pay raises for many drivers, down to a lot of older guys deciding the derisory dcpc was the last straw for them. Whether the raises were substantial enough is down to individual cases and opinions.
So here we go, this thread will now turn into the usual 6 page predictive and boring knocking of East European or …Johnny Foreigner type posts.
These EE guys love them or hate them (the latter being in the majority to most on here ) are only guilty of moving abroad for better wages …just like a lot of us Brits did when the Dutch were paying far better wages than the UK firms …so what is the difference. Whether it is fair to UK drivers is another argument, but I would say to the moaners about this, of which there are many,… life is tough, deal with it.
I agree with every thing you said. the only thing I can add to this is that of the many, many Brit’s that I know of that went to work for companies based in Europe, never ever went to work for less money than their own countries local drivers and in one or two cases that I know of, for slightly more, a friend of mine has worked for european based companies for the last 30years, the company he last worked for, had started employing all EE drivers and he was the last Brit working for them, they recently re-registered all their lorries in Luxemburg and all its drivers are now paid in euro’s, not the currency of the home country, the drivers losing an average of £600 a month, he stood his ground and luckily for him the company kept him on the original currency he was paid in, the rest were not, I don’t blame the EE drivers coming over here to work as our low wages are still a lot better than they can earn at home, the bosses know this and take advantage of them forcing the wages down for our local drivers, as for an answer I only wish I knew.
Tris:
ROG:
RHA spokesman on BBC breakfast this morning …
45000 current shortage
15000 more due to retire within next 12 months
only half of those taking test pass it leaving public to think that half never pass !!
That’s good news. Now we just need UKIP and the SNP to keep the pressure up on the Lab/Con establishment.
Purlease,ukip are merely the latest throw of the dice for the establishment.You don’tseriously believe they’re offering any genuine alternative.A non vote isthe only game in town.Farage is just another paid up establishment,masonic system server.Wake up.
maga:
ROG:
RHA spokesman on BBC breakfast this morning …
45000 current shortage
15000 more due to retire within next 12 months
only half of those taking test pass it leaving public to think that half never pass !!
why is it then whenever I order something online 99% of the time its delivered the next day with no problems. Every time I go to the shops or supermarkets all the the shelves are stocked and very rarely is something i need out of stock.
what exactly are these extra drivers needed for? am I missing something?
Its because there is no shortage drive, half of you drivers are running around empty most the time. More drivers are needed to screw the wages down, it increases haulier profits you see, it’s called business:grin:
eagerbeaver:
Good point Baldy-greedy insurance companies who are scared s.hitless of parting with some cash.
I wonder how much it cost the insurers when the 19yr old driver killed at least 3 in the southwest a few weeks ago:shock:
commonrail:
its more basic than that.its simple economics.the more drivers there are in the market…the lower their wages will be.
Nail on the head, I wonder why people don’t get this!?
ROG:
Soon know if the is real shortage come January
If loads of LGV jobs are being advertised at that time of year then there is a shortage
Yes, by agencies:!:
