Tramping and Cab-Hopping

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
21

I’m one of the MTFU and ■■■■ it up buttercup brigade in most things lorry related.

However there are certain things that you should not ■■■■ up and this is one of them. I’ve spent most of my adult life sleeping in lorries, I also drive them when I absolutely have to, apparently that’s part of the job of lorry driver.

I have very high standards when it comes to hygiene and there is no way I would have a night out in a lorry I hadn’t personally cleaned and disenfected to within an inch of its life.

Day work is different, especially if the lorry is double shifted, a lorry is just a tool with which to earn money after all, but if you’re doing night’s out then that changes as it also becomes your home.

So it should not be driven by all and sundry and should NEVER be allocated to an agency driver for the simple reason that they’re an unknown quantity.

I have ran my own lorries on a mixture of night’s out work and double shifts, it is difficult trying to get everything to work and on occasion I have used a lorry that was away all week on a night job, but I only used a driver that I knew would respect that his colleague lived in the lorry all week. I only ran a handful of lorries, so it was easier, but to me the extra work involved in making sure things were worked out to keep everyone happy paid dividends, my drivers were happy and my lorries were being looked after.

22

Thank christ I have a good gaffer, I am allocated my own truck and it gets parked up when I’m on holiday or off, so I can leave everything in it, mind you, it is a kind of specialised lorry mounted crane, so he won’t have agency or anyone else using it, I feel your pain.
Sapper

23

Find something better, ■■■■■ like this should be made to struggle to get drivers. They are treating you like a part of the machinery.

24

I agree that allocating trucks can make people look after them more, but to the management, it probably takes them a little more time to plan, and managers being managers, they don’t see things as they are, and to them, a truck’s a truck, they don’t see a reason why anyone should, or should need to get the same one every week.

Let’s face it, if you’re cab-hopping, you’re not going to put your heart and soul into repairs and keeping the truck clean, especially when dozens of agency men could be doing whatever they liked in it the next week. Being on days for the first week, I saw that some of the trucks had broken curtain hooks, so you had to wedge the curtain into the blind to get them to stay-up at night. The next shift, I brought some curtain hooks from my caravan and repaired the curtains, also giving the truck a thorough interior clean and polish. I didn’t get the truck the next week, so i decided I wouldn’t be doing any more repairs.

No doubt their system of not allocating trucks will have something to with streamlining their planning process, by just having a pot of all the keys, and giving them out randomly, not having to worry about getting trucks back for the allocated driver’s shift, etc. It probably makes the planners’ jobs slightly easier, especially now they’re trying to keep a 24/7 operation. I can’t blame them, the only people who lose out are those like myself, who are expected to do 4 nights out per week, in a different truck every week. First world problems I suppose, but thinking about it, it’s a LOT of time per week you spend in a truck, much more than you do at home, you deserve to be comfortable.

I managed to catch the foreman of another division looking for drivers, and I explained my situation that I enjoy tramping, but I’m getting really frustrated with all the cab-hopping. He said if I were with them, I’d not have to work weekends, be paid by the hour (I’m on a day rate), and get the same truck every week, which wouldn’t go out on my days-off. It seems a no-brainer, so he’s seeing about getting me transferred, I should know more by the end the day, so I’m happy! :grimacing: