md1987:
Macski:
wOuld never do tramping work when I had my dog!Not take it with you?
Not many places will let a dog into a depot/RDC/quarry or similar.
And not many places will let a driver take a dog in the cab. (open goal for someone)
I for one wouldn`t want to sit in, let alone night out in, a vehicle that previously had a dog in it.
Some do it, but not many.
with tramping you can make serious money if you know how to play the system 
had a friend of mine who need to be at said customer @ 10.00 so he would wake up at 0600 drive to customer and park outside then put it on break/poa when in reality he could of went there at 0900 as company only deduct 45min from break so thats worth noting
driveress:
I have a question that ties in with this, the “lazy” part referring to part time as opposed to early starts. I was interested to read on the recent “start times” thread that a lot of respondents work 3 days a week. Are any of them trampers? Is there such a shift as a 2 night/3 day tramp? Or are trampers mainly out 4 nights/5 days? robroy, you must do a 3 night/4 day tramp, correct? I would like to try tramping (the good way) because I think I would like it for the same reasons stated in this thread, and as I’m a long term agency driver, I could see myself doing a part time tramping shift once a month or so. Possible?
The term tramping is referred to drivers making deliveries being long distance and no chance of returning home due to drivers hours. There is indeed scope for part time tramping of a couple of nights away spread over 3 or 4 days and is now quite common to do this. 4 and 5 days tramping is the norm but if a company is struggling to get permanant trampers then they will often split the workload amongst those who are willing to do the odd night out. It would give you an oppotunity to get a taster for tramping doing it this way without having to commit to a 5 day 4 nights out experience. Once you get to know it and get your own routine going, it is more relaxed in most cases. Using your head instead of being micro managed is a refreshing change. The big secret to it is finding your own parking spots which is easier said than done. Once you have these regular haunts and find good facilities around you it is a satisfying way to drive. It takes time to sort all of this out so dont be put off at first by bad experiences, it gets easier each time. At first the simplest form of tramping is to use MSAs to get you going before you get your own area.
md1987:
Macski:
wOuld never do tramping work when I had my dog!Not take it with you?
I used to, when I first started driving, used to be able to take pasangers and didn’t have to wear a high viz or safety boots and I survived somehow!
I was first banned from going into a Sainsbury RDC with a dog. I remember the security guy telling me you wouldn’t take your dog into the shop, but I pointed out I would leave her in my car as I would in the RDC but in my cab.
When I later worked installing software which took me around the country in a Ford Fiesta the company encouraged its employees to take passangers and would pay for hotels and things as it had a responsibility to aid family life. I could even take the car on holiday.
I have a couple of friends who work away from home and they too are encouraged to take their partners when staying away from home.
Franglais:
md1987:
Macski:
wOuld never do tramping work when I had my dog!Not take it with you?
Not many places will let a dog into a depot/RDC/quarry or similar.
And not many places will let a driver take a dog in the cab. (open goal for someone)
I for one wouldn`t want to sit in, let alone night out in, a vehicle that previously had a dog in it.Some do it, but not many.
But what about the stink in the cab. 
After saying that I suppose the dog would eventually get used to it.
TruckDriverBen:
with tramping you can make serious money if you know how to play the systemhad a friend of mine who need to be at said customer @ 10.00 so he would wake up at 0600 drive to customer and park outside then put it on break/poa when in reality he could of went there at 0900 as company only deduct 45min from break so thats worth noting
Shhhh dont tell everybody. 
Yorkshire Tramper:
driveress:
I have a question that ties in with this, the “lazy” part referring to part time as opposed to early starts. I was interested to read on the recent “start times” thread that a lot of respondents work 3 days a week. Are any of them trampers? Is there such a shift as a 2 night/3 day tramp? Or are trampers mainly out 4 nights/5 days? robroy, you must do a 3 night/4 day tramp, correct? I would like to try tramping (the good way) because I think I would like it for the same reasons stated in this thread, and as I’m a long term agency driver, I could see myself doing a part time tramping shift once a month or so. Possible?THE TERM TRAMPING is referred to drivers making deliveries being long distance and no chance of returning home due to drivers hours. There is indeed scope for part time tramping of a couple of nights away spread over 3 or 4 days and is now quite common to do this. 4 and 5 days tramping is the norm but if a company is struggling to get permanant trampers then they will often split the workload amongst those who are willing to do the odd night out. It would give you an oppotunity to get a taster for tramping doing it this way without having to commit to a 5 day 4 nights out experience. Once you get to know it and get your own routine going, it is more relaxed in most cases. Using your head instead of being micro managed is a refreshing change. The big secret to it is finding your own parking spots which is easier said than done. Once you have these regular haunts and find good facilities around you it is a satisfying way to drive. It takes time to sort all of this out so dont be put off at first by bad experiences, it gets easier each time. At first the simplest form of tramping is to use MSAs to get you going before you get your own area.
Don’t want to be pedantic here, … but the term '‘Tramping’ was coined at the time (or before) when the likes of my Dad used to do it,.where a driver set off on a Monday with his first load,.tipped and went about finding all the rest of the work himself all week, either a back load home, or a series of loads up.down and across the country fir rest of his week, until he got his final back load home at the end of the week, he’d also book his own digs every night,.so it was all a case of organising his routes and his times…all done by himself.
By the time he’d got a bit of experience he would use the same firms, clearing houses as they called them,.and digs regularly each week.
But obviously you are right in the way the term is used today
As for drveress’s question, yeh of course you can get 4 days tramping jobs with 3 nights out a week, but it will more likely than not on a 4 on 4 off shift pattern which obviously means working through some weekends…and sharing the truck with another tramper, which is apt to cause issues and disagreements.
Where as in my job, I do 4 on 3 off, which means I work the same days every week.
Also the lad who shares who does Mon and Tues (truck parked up on a Sunday) is a day man,.so I just leave all my stuff in, which works for us both as I tell him to use all my stuff like kettle, fridge, microwave etc,.and more importantly (to me) he keeps the interior clean and tidy.
dozy:
How sad that lorry drivers would prefer to spend all week away from there families than with them , I hated every minute of tramping as I wanted to be at home wit the family , doing what normal people do
Begs the question why half the trampers get married & have kids if they don’t want to see them all week
I am ready 8 week in truck.Great life across EU.
robroy:
Don’t want to be pedantic here,
By the time he’d got a bit of experience he would use the same firms, clearing houses as they called them,.and digs regularly each week.
But obviously you are right in the way the term is used today .
I understood the meaning to come from the fact that truck drivers used to hang around, some times for days, for return loads?
Yorkshire Tramper:
dozy:
How sad that lorry drivers would prefer to spend all week away from there families than with them , I hated every minute of tramping as I wanted to be at home wit the family , doing what normal people do
Begs the question why half the trampers get married & have kids if they don’t want to see them all weekIt isn’t the fact of preference between at home with the family or not. When I was day driving I saw my wife for maybe an hour or so of quality time. I look forward to going home and seeing them every weekend, the job of tramping is more of a lifestyle than anything, not saying it is for everyone but I would rather spend quality time at home and not be shattered by the ridiculous hours as well as sneaking around the house so as not to wake anyone up. I have a good relationship with my wife and we don’t need to be with each other 24/7.
There are a lot of assumptions and incorrect stereotypes when it comes to the whole tramping v day/night drivers.
Supposedly, all trampers are run ragged, pushed to the limit with their hours while parking up in manky laybys or service stations and eating fast food, all the while not being paid for guarding their load all night. Supposedly, day drivers work 13 -15 hours, spend an hour commuting home to have a shower, eat, go to bed for 5 hours & then be up for their next hours commute to work and 15 hour shift - all the while not seeing their partner/kids. The truth in a lot of cases will be somewhere in the middle.
Never thought I’d say this, but I agree with Dozy about going tramping while having kids (particularly young ones). Fair enough, I can understand if you are single or even with just a partner - and get the argument about only seeing each other at the weekends works for you both in the relationship. However when kids are involved then why would you miss out on all that growing up/school stuff/milestones etc. just to drive a lorry because “that’s the nature of the job” or “that’s always been the way it is”. Lost count of the number of comments on here or from people I’ve worked with who missed out on their children growing up and now massively regret it.
robroy:
Yorkshire Tramper:
I have been tramping for years and I found it much easier than day work or night work. For one thing when you wake up, you are already at work without the hassle of getting out of bed at ridiculous o clock to travel to work, I got more hours to myself tramping than I ever did day working. Why I have taken to coach tour driving as I find it much easier being away in hotels all week. If you havent tried tramping before it is easier than day work in my humble opinion.Yep, I agree.
I couldn’t think of anything worse (slight exaggeration btw
But each to his own.Fair enough if it was 8 hours or so like a proper job, but not at the hours that you are expected to work in this game, just sounds like a bit of a rat race to me.
Ok, tramping has it’s down sides, but it can be,.(and is) a good life, …but only if you do it properly that is.
You sound like you need better jobs. Or maybe a more positive outlook You do quite often sound really quite miserable
dozy:
How sad that lorry drivers would prefer to spend all week away from there families than with them , I hated every minute of tramping as I wanted to be at home wit the family , doing what normal people do
Begs the question why half the trampers get married & have kids if they don’t want to see them all week
I’ve a feeling your family feel very differently tho old fruit
switchlogic:
robroy:
Yep, I agree.
I couldn’t think of anything worse (slight exaggeration btw
But each to his own.Fair enough if it was 8 hours or so like a proper job, but not at the hours that you are expected to work in this game, just sounds like a bit of a rat race to me.
Ok, tramping has it’s down sides, but it can be,.(and is) a good life, …but only if you do it properly that is.
You sound like you need better jobs. Or maybe a more positive outlook
ONLY ‘‘Quite often’’ I appear quite miserable?
I must be slipping, I’ll try and work on it.
tmcassett:
Never thought I’d say this, but I agree with Dozy about going tramping while having kids (particularly young ones). Fair enough, I can understand if you are single or even with just a partner - and get the argument about only seeing each other at the weekends works for you both in the relationship. However when kids are involved then why would you miss out on all that growing up/school stuff/milestones etc. just to drive a lorry because “that’s the nature of the job” or “that’s always been the way it is”. Lost count of the number of comments on here or from people I’ve worked with who missed out on their children growing up and now massively regret it.
Yep,.admittedly I agree.
I missed a lot of my kids growing up, it’s just that I just kinda ‘‘just got on with it’’ at the time,.never ever thought about doing something else…(truth is there ain’t a lot else I can do 
) and then time caught up with me,.and before I knew it they had grown up.
After saying that they all did come away with me on trips away in the truck at school hols at different times, and I was always on the phone to them, no ‘facetime’ in those days unfortunately.
Thing is in periods of your life,.and especially when you are young, you always think ‘‘This is it, things will always be the same forever’’ but they ain’t, and by the time you find that out, it’s invariably too late.
God that last bit was deep even for me.
tmcassett:
There are a lot of assumptions and incorrect stereotypes when it comes to the whole tramping v day/night drivers.Supposedly, all trampers are run ragged, pushed to the limit with their hours while parking up in manky laybys or service stations and eating fast food, all the while not being paid for guarding their load all night. Supposedly, day drivers work 13 -15 hours, spend an hour commuting home to have a shower, eat, go to bed for 5 hours & then be up for their next hours commute to work and 15 hour shift - all the while not seeing their partner/kids. The truth in a lot of cases will be somewhere in the middle.
Never thought I’d say this, but I agree with Dozy about going tramping while having kids (particularly young ones). Fair enough, I can understand if you are single or even with just a partner - and get the argument about only seeing each other at the weekends works for you both in the relationship. However when kids are involved then why would you miss out on all that growing up/school stuff/milestones etc. just to drive a lorry because “that’s the nature of the job” or “that’s always been the way it is”. Lost count of the number of comments on here or from people I’ve worked with who missed out on their children growing up and now massively regret it.
It depends on your family situation. For me with my eldest 2, I was split from their mother so only saw them at weekends anyway. From speaking with my youngest (17 now), yes I may have missed somethings at times, but she doesn’t see it as we missed things when comparing to her friends whos parents work ‘normal jobs’. As she put it, we have made the most of the time we have spent together when I was home. I have done day work and tramping whilst she was growing up so she’s seen all sides. I do regret the odd things that I missed but on the whole I don’t think I’d change it if I did it all again.
To do tramping you need a strong family relationship for it to work, any small cracks will be multiplied many times over. At the minute I can’t see me stopping for a good while, especially as I’m working for a decent firm who treat us well. Added that I don’t like the chasing on day work of having to be back in my hours.
switchlogic:
You sound like you need better jobs. Or maybe a more positive outlook
I couldnt be more positive about my work if I tried, I love my job now as I find it not only interesting but I meet some great people in the course of doing it, that also includes other tour drivers from different company’s. Only reason I was miserable with tramping was the fact of the way most companies conduct their business nowadays, H&S gone way overboard, being talked to like a child or at least a naughty one, working hours being increased and expected, stressful driving through no real facilities for driver welfare, time constraints on everything you do. parking facilities ever decreasing, I wouldn’t wish to return to those scenarios agin, I understand not all jobs are the same but I would say the majority are. I now enjoy complete freedom again and enjoy driving coaches on holidays and tours. Like anything Its a great life if you get the right job role.
md1987:
Macski:
wOuld never do tramping work when I had my dog!Not take it with you?
Fella where I used work tramped out all week took his dog. A staffi.
To be fair he kept his cab clean.
But personally bit unfair on the dog . Stuck in cab a day.
Just to add my two Euros to this family debate- as I often tell people worried about being away so often you can be an amazing parent only there at weekends etc and that’s infinitely preferable to a miserable one around all the time. My Dad was away a huge amount of of childhoods & the result?- Kids who think of him as a best friend as much as a Dad. He’s is and always has been an amazing Dad and says something I think that we all followed him into his professions (was a self employed rarely home mechanic, didn’t go full time driving till 40 or so). If he’d stayed at home in a job he didn’t want to do he’d have been miserable and as I often joke with Mum chances are they’d have been divorced years ago rather than just celebrating their 49th wedding anniversary, not bad considering neither are yet 70. So it’s not as black and white as it’s often portrayed
edd1974:
md1987:
Macski:
wOuld never do tramping work when I had my dog!Not take it with you?
Fella where I used work tramped out all week took his dog. A staffi.
To be fair he kept his cab clean.
But personally bit unfair on the dog . Stuck in cab a day.
I think the opposite, much better for a dogs day to be filled with stimulation instead of sitting at home alone and bored
Henrys cat:
tmcassett:
There are a lot of assumptions and incorrect stereotypes when it comes to the whole tramping v day/night drivers.Supposedly, all trampers are run ragged, pushed to the limit with their hours while parking up in manky laybys or service stations and eating fast food, all the while not being paid for guarding their load all night. Supposedly, day drivers work 13 -15 hours, spend an hour commuting home to have a shower, eat, go to bed for 5 hours & then be up for their next hours commute to work and 15 hour shift - all the while not seeing their partner/kids. The truth in a lot of cases will be somewhere in the middle.
Never thought I’d say this, but I agree with Dozy about going tramping while having kids (particularly young ones). Fair enough, I can understand if you are single or even with just a partner - and get the argument about only seeing each other at the weekends works for you both in the relationship. However when kids are involved then why would you miss out on all that growing up/school stuff/milestones etc. just to drive a lorry because “that’s the nature of the job” or “that’s always been the way it is”. Lost count of the number of comments on here or from people I’ve worked with who missed out on their children growing up and now massively regret it.
It depends on your family situation. For me with my eldest 2, I was split from their mother so only saw them at weekends anyway. From speaking with my youngest (17 now), yes I may have missed somethings at times, but she doesn’t see it as we missed things when comparing to her friends whos parents work ‘normal jobs’. As she put it, we have made the most of the time we have spent together when I was home. I have done day work and tramping whilst she was growing up so she’s seen all sides. I do regret the odd things that I missed but on the whole I don’t think I’d change it if I did it all again.
To do tramping you need a strong family relationship for it to work, any small cracks will be multiplied many times over. At the minute I can’t see me stopping for a good while, especially as I’m working for a decent firm who treat us well. Added that I don’t like the chasing on day work of having to be back in my hours.
This was what I was referring to about pre-conceived stereotypes, not all day/night drivers are chasing with their hours to finish and start again the next day/night. There are plenty of us in lorry driving who work in jobs where we work what is considered normal hours in other jobs, just as I say there are many trampers who make the job a pleasurable experience to suit them rather than the sort often discussed and mocked on here.
