so anyone had enough youve seen all the changes a haulage industry thats all but gone,
the wages that you earned 15 years ago.youre still earning,
theres not many companys left you would work for. 
and the future looks worse than bleak.
just more rules n regulations,
when the poles moan to me about the money ,somethings wrong
whos had enough.
ive been mending trucks for over 30 years…i have now had my change…im now driving the things…easy life.
Been thinking the same for a while, fed up with
rules and regs
endless roadworks
handing your keys in
hi vis jackets
health and safety
mobile phones
security guards
cpc
speed cameras
sat navs
impatient drivers inc some hgv
auto gearboxes
speed limiters
pratts in the office
over the top flashing lights police, ambulance, and road workers lorries
foreigners nicking our jobs (kraft should take 400 poles from the bristol area to run their new factory)
i could go on but i won’t, the thing is what job could i do there’s not much choice around here and what is about don’t appeal, so looks like another 20 years at it.
I think what ever job you would do these days is going to be marred by silly attitudes. h and s hi viz risk assesment and all that crap.
I think the problem is with this country in general not the specific industry.
before driving i was in the building trade and that is the same. now its no smoking in the open air. no radios. gloves goggles hi viz hat all the time. no steps only podiums scaffold towers must have scaff tag and be put up by trained bloke. ( its a piece of wee wee to put up!) what can you do to escape the madness. let me know I want to move
I’ve not been driving for anything like 20 years but the 1st chance I get I’ll be out!
Problem is there’s not much else out there.
Truth of it is that there is no sign of an end to the madness whatever you choose to do. I spent so long fighting the system over there that I was exhausted by it. The stupidity of elf an sayfdee like having to hold the harness rope in your hand to climb the ladder, wearing a hard hat over the top of your hairnet in food factories when the hardhat has been in your side locker next to the oilcans for the past 3 months…
This business about handing in the keys and the suchlike is evidence of a decay, but if it is bad for drivers I imagine it is bad for everyone else, too. The main difference is they have it all day long while we get times without the big brother watching so it just seems more of a bind to us.
Personally, I am going to try to go back to my roots a bit, in my spare time, and try to do some carpentry. I have the ads out looking for tools and I will buy them. If I can find amarket then I will give it up, but the truck purchase is still looking likeliest and the furniture thing will be a craft instead.
Face it, 245, you are hooked on the game whether you realise it or not.
We must all be entirely mad!!
Would all those moaning minnies who are not currently happy in the job, please hand in your notice now. 
I am still looking for a job after being made redundant 8 months ago and if you want to go and do something else…I’ll be happy to sit on your still-warm driving seat. 
Thank you.
bobthedog:
. I have the ads out looking for tools and I will buy them.
They not got an equivalent to B&Q near you then Bob… 
Back on thread…
Most of what you say is true the whole country, nay worlds , gone mad.
Cant do this cant do that wheres it gonna end?
They go one better here. Canadian Tire! 
There you can buy the tools then go buy your rifle shells and fishing lures at the same time as the wife prowls light fittings and girly things…
Only thing is that the new tools aren’t as good as the older stuff so I would prefer decent old tools. And they should be cheaper… I am Cornish after all… 
Andrew i’ve been made redundant twice since last july, no i don’t like my job and all the ■■■■ that comes with it but i need to work.
Been doing the job 16 years. I was made redundant on 1st November 2008. Not been in a truck since and not missed it. Quite surprised me really as when I’ve had to have time off due to ill health, I’ve always wanted to get back. I guess for me its come to an end for now. Still going to keep my licence going though “just in case”.
if you’ve had enough, then here’s what to do.
knock off the limiter,
don’t use a tacho,
go flat out, day and night,
you’ll have loads of fun before they get you.
It’s not the job that has changed, it’s the people, we still do the same stuff as always, pick stuff up & deliver it, it’s as simple as that, the way we do it is different, nobody has time for anybody else anymore. It’s all me first now.
There was a time not so long ago that drivers used to help each other out, if you were approaching a slower vehicle the lorry coming up behind you would back off & let you out, now they just block you in, if you were waiting to pull out from a junction you could almost guarantee the first lorry to come along would flash you out blah blah blah.
The same goes for all this HSE bollox, because everybody does their own thing now, there is no collective ‘Don’t be so [zb] stupid, we’re grown ups & we’re not doing that’
We, as a group, have more power than any politician, government or terror group, if we said that we’re fed up of working for peanuts, fed up of parking in rat infested laybys, fed up with being fined for simple mistakes like going 1 minute over our time by the same police that can do nothing about our fuel & loads being stolen everytime we park up & all the rest of the crap that we endure to keep this country on its feet & that we’re parking up the lorries until it’s sorted, can you imagine the impact that would have? The supermarket shelves & petrol stations would be emptied within an hour, after a day or two the Army would be involved, after a week we could name our price, a nice thought, but seeing as though you couldn’t get 2 lorry drivers to agree on the price of a free cup of tea I doubt this will ever happen, it’s a shame because if we did we would achieve two things, firstly we’d make our lives better & secondly, we’d send a message to the politicians that we’re not a load of sheep who will abide by a rule just because it’s a rule they want us to abide by…
Sign of age moaning about the good old days and how its not like it used to be 
Hello newmercman went on strike in 79/80 out for months got not a tot off the union stood out side of Tilbury docks and watched non union lorries go by knew then it was the begining of the end.Then got accused by all my neighbours it was my failt they had no sugar for there tea .
ajt:
Sign of age moaning about the good old days and how its not like it used to be
your right about that it will never be the same again, times have changed so have the drivers and so have the trucks, its a shame but life goes on. and yes I am an old git
Whatever job you do now you’ll have to swallow a load of (zb) at least with driving you can escape the madness for a few hours, unlike being in an office or warehouse.
Sticking together is a thing of the past, your better off looking after number one because there will always someone out there ready to steal your job or stab you in the back, sad but true 
newmercman:
the way we do it is different, nobody has time for anybody else anymore. It’s all me first now.There was a time not so long ago that drivers used to help each other out,
I can actually pinpoint that to within 2 years. For the first half of my driving career, I spent a lot of time on flatbeds hauling timber. You’d pull into a builders merchants and before you could even get out the cab, the other drivers there would be over givig you a hand to take off the sheets and fold them up - same with tilt trailers. I stopped doing that for a year in 1996 and went back in early 1998. Nobody helped you at all and would just sit in their cabs watching you struggle and moaning that you were holding the job up. So for me, I reckon the rot had well and truly set in around 1997-1998.
I still helped other drivers and the odd one now and again would give you a hand but it became a rare event.
After 10 yrs of tramping I gave it all up on Jan 2008, came back home to run the family farm after a berievment.
It was the best thing I ever did, for the first 6 months I did some runs for a local bloke as a s/e driver, and also did a couple of weekend sin the run up to christmas 2008. Inbetween I found some work with a local agri contractor, did more work for him last year, and am now in a position where I don’t need any extra driving work. The work with the contractor fits around my own farm commitments, admittedly my wage is worse than it was on the trucks but the bonus’s more than make up for that. My family life has improved 100% and I have actually seen my kids grow up instead of being told what they have achieved over the phone.
From reading on here and speaking to friends about whats happening in the industry, I think the move came at the right time, but I’m the same as Connor, I will keep the licence upto date just in case.
I think Newmercman has hit the nail on it’s head. It is about putting up with the crap and the H&S bods.
If it is so unsafe to sit in your cab in Tainsbury’s or Cesco, then how come DASA and Sommersons make you sit in your cab with your keys. If it is against H&S rules to go inside the warehouse let alone touch any equipment, then how come Adle and ■■■■■ expect the driver to drive an electric pallet truck and unload the vehicle?
The same in chemical works, drivers are not allowed to climb onto the tanker to load or secure the lids but have to use a gantry, yet if they go into a tank cleaning station, they then have to use the tank ladder and open the lids before pulling underneath the gantry.
Tipper drivers who are not allowed to reverse without a banksman but multidrop drivers in a city centre can reverse between traffic and pedestrians without a thought.
Stop me before I go mad 