When I drove for the Red Arrows, people waved at me. Once I put my notice in, quite a few drivers blanked me. A mate who worked for them after I left experienced the same, once working his notice he was ignored by a few aswell.
When I was at Stobarts, for the first few days I flashed other green and reds, but after about a day I realised that nobody cared.
I would say one in ten flashed you, and 50% waved. I agree with what some others have said though, a lot of Stobart drivers just ignore each other, in the depots, in the services, at tips, some will talk the hind legs off a donkey, but there is a big attitude of every man for himself. There are a lot of agency drivers at Stobarts, and I mean a lot, so maybe the feeling of belonging has diminished, and combined with the endless bureaucracy and relentless red-tape, the Stobart drivers don’t care anymore.
Shame, but that’s the way I interpreted it as being when I was there. Some good lads who would help you out, but an awful lot of solemn-faced, eyes to the ground, hunch-backed shells of people who just sauntered along not speaking to anybody else. I suppose there are people like that everywhere, but a bit of camerardery would have been nice.
the nodding donkey:
When I drove milk tankers all milk tanker drivers used to wave at each other, regardless of company. At night we would flash the indicators left-right, after you did not recognise the other tanker until you passed one and other.
Tends to be much the same in the animal feeds business. Perhaps it’s a rural thing cos the folk tend to be friendlier?
volvo2:
I even remember when if you had your AA badge on the front of your old jalopy that they always saluted you if you met them on the road.It is like all old habits they are just dying out
You must be quite old - They stopped doing the saluting stuff in 1961. The RAC stopped doing it two years later.