I am an ex driver and now a Contract Manager. I still go out driving when I need to. I have an International and National CPC and various other management, training and vocational courses behind me. The key is to be understanding and explain why certain decisions have been made.
A driver who doesn’t moan is really unhappy, a driver who moans only about the routes he gets, has nothing better to moan about.
theonlybigman:
A driver who doesn’t moan is really unhappy, a driver who moans only about the routes he gets, has nothing better to moan about.
Very true. My old boss, who taught me much good sense, always maintained that the time for a manger to start worrying was when his drivers STOP moaning.
Because we do; let’s face it even if we love the job to bits it goes against the grain to say so.
My Tm doesn’t even have a car leicense !!! 
tattoo5984:
My Tm doesn’t even have a car leicense !!!
I bet he has a spell checker though
I don’t hold a C+E licence but have been Transport Manger for 12 years for Whites Transport Services. I hold national & international CPC. Ray is my dad. I am 34 years old. I have been around trucks all my life, traveled all over Europe with my dad when I was a kid, my dad is a driver my grandad was a driver. I single handedly run a fleet of 25 trucks around Europe carrying fresh meat. Very time critical work that requires lots of trailer changeovers that can be hard to plan. I appreciate that sometimes a drivers idea maybe better than mine though. I must be pretty good at it due to the fact our business grows year by year and We make good profit. Tough job my phone never stops but I love it and put 100% into it every day. And if you ask any of my drivers I would like to think they would say my planning was very good. Hope this help !!
A driver cant be arsed to do his walk around check and gets a pull, OCRS score screwed your fault! even though every professional driver should as instructed by the TM do a check its your fault, likewise for infringements on WTD and tacho’s they all have there DQC and DCPC and can talk the talk at the window quoting all the relevant MMTM, SAS McNabb is my mate, HOFE missed it by minutes and ive been driving like a prick since before you where born handbooks.
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been both sides of the fence -and that is the truest thing I have ever heard
Been a mechanic, been a driver in every kind of vehicle, from vans to tankers, silo tanks, curtainsiders, reefers, curtainsiders with reefers, low, high and middle loaders, but that doesn’t make me a good TM!
A good TM has nothing to do if you can drive, if you done “the job” if you can remember every delivery address you have ever been!
I have been a planner, Operation Manager, and a Transport Manager.
That all doesn’t make me a good TM.
I had the best and worst TM’s coming from University, and the best and worst where ex drivers.
A good Transport Manager is somebody who can make money for the company and can give the driver a honest day work.
can make the right choices and sometimes makes the right compromises.
A driver told me once, I want to make with as little as possible work as much as possible money.
A company want as much return as possible for every pound they invested.
A TM sits in between there, and that is not always easy.
A good TM has many qualities, a bad one misses a few of them.
caledoniandream:
Been a mechanic, been a driver in every kind of vehicle, from vans to tankers, silo tanks, curtainsiders, reefers, curtainsiders with reefers, low, high and middle loaders, but that doesn’t make me a good TM!
A good TM has nothing to do if you can drive, if you done “the job” if you can remember every delivery address you have ever been!I have been a planner, Operation Manager, and a Transport Manager.
That all doesn’t make me a good TM.
I had the best and worst TM’s coming from University, and the best and worst where ex drivers.
A good Transport Manager is somebody who can make money for the company and can give the driver a honest day work.
can make the right choices and sometimes makes the right compromises.A driver told me once, I want to make with as little as possible work as much as possible money.
A company want as much return as possible for every pound they invested.
A TM sits in between there, and that is not always easy.A good TM has many qualities, a bad one misses a few of them.
Very Well Said.
I have loved this thread and the opinions offered. Nearly 40 years ago, I was offered quite a pay rise to move from accounts to transport office. My life changed from that day. I have never worked a “normal” day since. Over the years I have worked for own account and for hauliers. I have been a forwarder, transport manager, director, transport clerk. I have never driven a truck on the road. I have taken phone calls from drivers at every hour of the day and night. Saturday and Sunday. I have worked alongside people who have been drivers and some who have no front-line experience like myself. I believe that transport management is something you either have an aptitude for or not. I have sent drivers to the wrong destinations, on the wrong time slots and with the wrong commodity.Drivers go to the wrong destinations, on the wrong time slots and have collected or delivered the wrong commodity. Because I have never held an HGV, does that make me better or worse than someone who has.Do I understand the driver’s position when I’m pushing for an extra delivery? I like to think so. Do I allow a driver to come home because a family member is ill, when he still has loads to do? Of course I do. Many drivers work unsociable hours and get treated like rubbish. So do many " Transport Management Staff". I don’t think that I am any worse qualified to instruct drivers than someone who has driven for a living. Many on these forums look back to the good old days. Certainly camaraderie is disappearing as the abuse on these forums show. Trucks have improved greatly. Facilities up the road for drivers have not. I cannot and have not answered the question originally asked, but hope I have given an open and informed opinion. Thanks for reading.
I was a driver first and then a TM. I took my national & international CPC and that is a little bit harder than the driver’s version even though a great deal of it is of very little use (If i wanted to know the C&U regs on rear lights I look them up), but you have to pass the exam at the end.
I think that my driving experience had two main benefits: It was hard for drivers to pull the wool over my eyes as I was an expert wool puller and I had a more realistic idea of what was possible.
Any middle manager like a TM is - well - in the middle, between the workforce on the ground and the bosses in their nice offices. To succeed you have to keep both sides reasonably happy. I was pretty lucky in that my first boss was an excellent example to follow, and my predecessor in the job was totally useless and had actually been fired.