What was your first job like?

NEW AND WANNABE DRIVERS (INTERACTIVE)
21

Lennoxtown:
After a couple of years ‘On the Buses’ my first HGV job was around late 80’s driving a rigid for Wimpy International & delivering buns, pickles, ketchup and all the other associated stuff to Wimpy restaurants around the Home Counties and in particular East London… my usual delivery round was in such lovely places like Bethnal Green, Whitechapel, Hackney, Dalston, Canning Town, etc… horrible areas to be at 5am, having to move tramps from doorways so I could unlock the store to make my deliveries!

Then I had to collect all the money on Fridays from the restaurant owners, mostly Greeks, Turks and other dodgy foreigners and stash it in a safe in the vehicle & pray not to get done over before getting back to the depot to cash in the weeks takings, and hope it all added up right!.. I hated every minute of this job :cry:

I wanted to get on the artics here but they only had 2 and one was driven by the guv’ners son, and the other driver had been there years, so I knew I’d never get a look in without joining a long waiting list!

So I eventually left and got my first class one job for a haulier in Salfords, Surrey and spent a few happy years hauling sugar out of Tate & Lyle at Silvertown, amongst other UK general haulage! - Happier times! :smiley:

Nice one I used to be on the buses, hated every minute of it. Awkward customers :@

22

First gig I had other than a single shift doing rigid pallet work was sludge tankers for Scottish Water via agency. Only reason I got that was the other driver the agency sent walked away on his first morning due to the smell :laughing: . After a brief demo on the workings of a Crossland vacuum tanker I was chucked the keys and told to crack on having never driven an artic other than the one I passed the test in. Easy job although it was very repetitive it allowed me to learn how to reverse properly with no pressure as I was collecting from unmanned sewage works.

23

first job = multi drop with palletways 16 drops a day in birmingham

was a nightmare hated it but stayed for the experience managed to stick it out for 3 months. until i found something better

24

P&H for 12 months.

One years continuous service for me is similar to 20 years for some…

25

eagerbeaver:
P&H for 12 months.

One years continuous service for me is similar to 20 years for some…

And your previous uniforms need their own wardrobe! :laughing:

26

Had to rent a lock up :slight_smile:

27

First job was class2 for a builders merchants, doing hiab and tipper work, I had been with firm since I was 14 and still at school, started driving for them at 23. It was hard work, but I was given regular bungs from the girl in the office because she was paid off the amount we shifted, and when we “co-operated” we could shift a lot more than she had with her previous drivers :laughing: I had a ■■■■■■■ quality bloke picking loads for me, putting them exactly how we needed it for maximum efficiency, and Sarah could sell sand to the arabs. It was a winning combination and we all worked hard and played ■■■■■■■ harder!

Did we follow all the rules? Probably not, but we did a ■■■■ fine job, and the relationships we all built back then, have all seen us very well in our jobs that followed!

28

My first artic job.

1976, did a couple days on a 16 ton rigid, then issued with me very own probably 5 year old S39 Mickey Mouse Foden and much older 40 ft York flat trailer, no power steering, day cab, 12 speed Foden crash box with 4 speed box with normal gearstick and uneven spread three range shift on the dash…dash in name only it in fact a big lump of painted steel casting with a few dials sunk in it, ranger on one side and dead man on the other, heater in name only, the hardest riding must uncomfortable vehicle you could imagine, tiny cab with a row of lucas switches sticking into both knee caps, cast steel steering column bolted directly to the chassis so every road bump would cause an almighty jar straight up to the ships sized steering wheel, phwoar what a dream machine :unamused: :smiling_imp:

Two wooden boards cut to size stuffed behind the passenger seat, you would lay them from both window ledge meeting in the middle of the bonnet (same height as window ledges), then put a thin sponge roll across then yer sleeping bag on top, that was your sleeper cab back then…in practice you tried not to sleep n the heap and would use driver’s digs, but if you got stuck cab hotel it was…night heater? nope, curtains? nope. you stuck newspaper up the windows with tape and scraped the ice off the inside of the windows after a freezing night in pure luxury :laughing:

All flat work, so rope and sheeting every load, some handball 20 tons at a time but mostly palletised work.
The thing was this place paid about 1/2 as much again in wages as other hauliers in the area who had better flashier kit, a no brainer for me despite the lorries.
I stayed there about 3 or maybe 4 years., i swapped jobs for a bit around that time trying out different stuff, had a couple of years on night trunking which whilst a good payer i didn’t really like.

It might sound exaggerated and from a time gone by, and it was, but this was how lorrying was in the 60s and 70s and still was in the 80s here and there, i didn’t get a cushette drop down bunk in a day cab…cushette, there’s posh for you :sunglasses: …till i got a Scania 110 day cab on another very short lived way underpaid job and another cushette in a day cab Scammel Crusader when i changed jobs, around 1982 before i got a proper sleeper cab permanently issued to me, Seddon Atki 400, that job i stopped at a few years mainly bulk tippers, before i got my big break around 1987 which took me away from general haulage altogether and i’ve been on specialised work really ever since around 1991.

foden.PNG

now don’t be envious lads, one day you too could get a motor like this if you play your cards right, no i didn’t work for that company nor am i that bloke in the hat who looks like he’s seen the inside of a few prime motors too :wink: , twas just a handy pic to make you drool over :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

29

My hat’s off to you Crusty (and all the other old boys). I mentioned on here a couple of months back that I had enjoyed a visit to the commercial vehicle museum in Leyland, and when you are up close and personal to these 60’s/70’s machines, it really sinks in how primitive they are by today’s standards.

’ Being hard ’ is something that many young men today brag about. Shooting steroids into your veins and going to the gym DOES NOT make you hard. Going into the ring and doing a bit of milling requires a degree of courage, but still DOES NOT make you hard.

My Dad WAS hard. He came from Salford and was blonde haired and wore circular glasses as a kid. On most occasions he came home from school in the 1940’s with broken glasses from having to fight the bullies. Apparently he then got it in the neck off my Grandma because she was sick of trying to replace his glasses. As a man in the 70’s, he decided to drive HGV’s and slept in similar basic wagons to the one Crusty mentions, and worked out of a Cheshire salt mine handballing bags of salt through the winters using flatbed’s and roping and sheeting.

His hands resembled claws because of the arthritis brought on by the conditions, and it often took 10 mins sat in the cab to warm them enough to grip the steering wheel properly.

Men like Juddian and my old man got up at dawn in ALL conditions. Scraped ice out of their tins and got on with the job. Most have suffered poor health as a result.

But the vast majority got on with it without moaning, frozen to the bone all night, grafted until they were knackered, and did it day in day out. Month in month out. Year in year out.

That is HARD in my opinion…

30

Ah Beaver thats the truth, i did a few handball loads out the salt mines too, bet your dad and i crossed paths a few times, remember too the lads who worked at the salt mine would be handballing (with the driver) salt bags off the conveyor onto lorry beds all day every day, if any of those men are still with us they’ll be bent double and in pain much of the time, if your father was on that full time he’ll have known intimately the meaning of aches and pains.
Your poor father’s hands will have split to buggery during the winter, salt ending up in those splits really helping eh :unamused:
Its made an impression though hasn’t it, those times though they shouldn’t be repeated shouldn’t be forgotten either, this is the lot of the working class unless they stick together, bury their petty differences and look after one another.

The classic show at Gaydon (pretty certain thats where the pic was taken) is well worth a visit too, usually May or June.
Assuming it doesn’t fall on my weekend shift working, we’ll probably take a pleasant stroll around there this year.

31

eagerbeaver:
My hat’s off to you Crusty (and all the other old boys). I mentioned on here a couple of months back that I had enjoyed a visit to the commercial vehicle museum in Leyland, and when you are up close and personal to these 60’s/70’s machines, it really sinks in how primitive they are by today’s standards.

’ Being hard ’ is something that many young men today brag about. Shooting steroids into your veins and going to the gym DOES NOT make you hard. Going into the ring and doing a bit of milling requires a degree of courage, but still DOES NOT make you hard.

My Dad WAS hard. He came from Salford and was blonde haired and wore circular glasses as a kid. On most occasions he came home from school in the 1940’s with broken glasses from having to fight the bullies. Apparently he then got it in the neck off my Grandma because she was sick of trying to replace his glasses. As a man in the 70’s, he decided to drive HGV’s and slept in similar basic wagons to the one Crusty mentions, and worked out of a Cheshire salt mine handballing bags of salt through the winters using flatbed’s and roping and sheeting.

His hands resembled claws because of the arthritis brought on by the conditions, and it often took 10 mins sat in the cab to warm them enough to grip the steering wheel properly.

Men like Juddian and my old man got up at dawn in ALL conditions. Scraped ice out of their tins and got on with the job. Most have suffered poor health as a result.

But the vast majority got on with it without moaning, frozen to the bone all night, grafted until they were knackered, and did it day in day out. Month in month out. Year in year out.

That is HARD in my opinion…

Lorrying was a way of life back then, now its just another job, run by a faceless company, littered with middle management and their harebrained schemes. Drivers are drones now, any sense of independent thought is ground out of you. Trucks are castrated in the name of penny pinching. No manual input, tracked and analysed from the moment you turn the key. Constantly badgered by the spotty teenager sat at a computer screen. Yelled at for not making a delivery because of things out of your control. Left out on a Friday night.

I’ve not been in this industry long, hell some have more miles going backwards than I’ve got going forwards but even I can see this industry changing. Sure, you may land a good gig, with good kit, good T&C’s, management that treats you like a civilised person but for your one good gig there are dozens of bad ones and at the rate these large companies are racing to the bottom any sense of pride will be left mangled at the side of the road.

32

Sod me Radar you sound like me.

Pride you say?, they finally beat it out of me last year, it took 40 years but they finally did it.

I do exactly as me mate now, go in do the minimum i have to and sod off home again, you are right they don’t want lorry drivers who take a pride in their work any more they want the unthinking robotised borg.
Its a very good paying and short hours day run gig so i’d be daft to sod off for anything worse, and since the penny dropped about no longer giving a toss, like 99% of others, i feel a lot better now i’ve accepted it.

Sad innit.

What i can’t understand is why they’ve done this, what possible benefit can it be to a company to beat any enthusiasm or pride out of their staff.

33

I will tell you why J. Pride often is combined with honesty and acceptance of accountability.

What I have noticed in my short lorry career thus far is the following; Idealists vs. Realists.

Idealists in this industry believe that piloting a 44 tonner around is an extremely important and responsible occupation (this I believe to be true). They also believe in doing the task to the best of ones ability whilst thinking of others and the environment for example.

Realists in this industry are of the opinion that nobody gives a toss about lorry drivers so why care? Leading to apathy and a complete lack of motivation and/or interest.

I personally take pride in my job. Any mistakes made I hold my hand up. I NEVER leave crap anywhere, either in a lorry or thrown on the floor. But unfortunately after a period of time, you realise that the money you spend on cleaning materials and time/effort spent is appreciated by no-one. The unit that you made immaculate on Monday is a complete mess by Friday after others have used it.

It is to your credit J that it has taken 40 years to be disillusioned. It’s only taken me three :slight_smile:

34

Beav - just remember if you’re doing the job well because of personal pride, it shouldn’t matter a rat ■■■■ what anyone else does.

I kept my lorry clean, after a week in someone else’s care it would require some more effort to put it back to my standard. But that is what it was; my standard, not theirs. I delivered everything to the absolute maximum of my ability at any given time, because that’s just the way I am. More often than not, that meant the goods got there, faster/cleaner/tidier than others might have done it. Again, my standards, my pride.

Your standards are high, it’s not something to get downtrodden about, or make you feel like you are swimming against treacle…

It’s the difference between you and the dross, it sets you apart. Celebrate it.

35

F-reds:
Beav - just remember if you’re doing the job well because of personal pride, it shouldn’t matter a rat [zb] what anyone else does.

I kept my lorry clean, after a week in someone else’s care it would require some more effort to put it back to my standard. But that is what it was; my standard, not theirs. I delivered everything to the absolute maximum of my ability at any given time, because that’s just the way I am. More often than not, that meant the goods got there, faster/cleaner/tidier than others might have done it. Again, my standards, my pride.

Your standards are high, it’s not something to get downtrodden about, or make you feel like you are swimming against treacle…

It’s the difference between you and the dross, it sets you apart. Celebrate it.

This desk you’re driving now days mate, does it look like this? :open_mouth:

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

You’re right about taking pride in your work mate, but I feel the bigger the firm, the more this effort is wasted. And the moment you go corporate it’s a far wiser choice to give up caring if the alternative stresses you out. I’ve found that the second you get a truck or trailer assigned to you up together, they’ll take it off you to see if you’ll get another trailer up together for them… :unamused:

After the third trailer in a week the penny dropped! :laughing:

Which leaves the choice of whether you go and have a moan, or just get on with it? :neutral_face:

36

Ah! I’ve never had the misfortune to to go corporate Beeze, but I’d like to think I’d be true to my own values… Although I recognise the potential to be mugged off is greater! But since the Beaver is blessed with a back bone, and an even larger wardrobe, I’m sure this can be overcome.

Cream floats to the top, but only in its own bottle. If other peoples standards are so low, you don’t have to do very much, to start being separate :wink:

37

Corporate will beat the passion and vitality out of you mate, you’re better off not knowing! :laughing:

And to be cream in the corporate world, or the best way to deal with corporate, is to be almost invisible! :open_mouth:
So achieved by only being competent and not complaining, end of!
Yes you don’t leave the kit in a crap state, but that should just be common courtesy. :unamused:
Beyond that you’re wasting your time and effort in the corporate world… :cry: