I’ve known 2 drivers in a similar situations to you, both spoke to thier boss, well in one case thier boss called them and said “forget the job get home.” And that was a large PLC type company. The other was a working for one a family run haulage firms. He got told by the boss basically, “forget the load that’s his job to worry about getting it delivered and your job to look after your family.”
Of course not all bosses are the same, but give them a chance to do the decent thing, if they don’t then stuff them your family come first.
I’ve been driving 11 years but yet to sleep in a wagon,I’d of thought every company would be obliged to provide the driver with an emergency 24hr number that gets them through to someone at their base should emergencies like this arise■■?
xichrisxi:
I’ve been driving 11 years but yet to sleep in a wagon,I’d of thought every company would be obliged to provide the driver with an emergency 24hr number that gets them through to someone at their base should emergencies like this arise■■?
I don’t know about obliged, but haulage doesn’t operate just in office hours and every company I’ve worked large or small, I’ve been able to get hold of somebody out of hours.
If you for don’t have a telephone number for your employer then the police most definitely do have it. If you ring 101 and explain that you need to contact the company or a named person because an emergency situation has arisen then they will ring through to him.
I can only assume he has gone home,
I mean, how would he feel if his kid took a bad turn and 3 hours after the initial call later, he was still ■■■■ ing about on Trucknet asking advice.
If he had rang his boss immeadiately I am pretty sure that given he was only an hour away from base, that he would have organised something for him under the circumstances.
I don’t know the lad’s circumstances with his job (and I may be way off here) but what is it with a lot of drivers that they are ■■■■ scared to deviate off the norm, and stand up for themselves, and especially in a case like this… ie. HIM tell the boss what HE is doing and not the other way round.
As said, a quick call along the lines of ‘‘Must get home, if you can not help me I am leaving keys at xxxx and ■■■■ ing off home’’ …not waste time waiting for his approval, or worse the circumstances get even worse at home.
In the old days you would have held up a tacho disc, and any driver would have picked you up for a lift, I have done that many a time.
I was not trying to be too hard on the lad, I just thought a bit of straight talking was better than pussyfooting around him and wasting time when he could have been at the hospital with his Mrs.
As I said hope his kid is all ok.
pierrot 14:
Definitely a time of trauma when the wife calls all in a panic because one of the children is seriously ill and has been taken to hospital and you are at the other end of the country, or God forbid, in another country. I have never been in that situation and hope that I never will be.
Surely it’s a call to the company call-out number that you use in an emergency to explain what has happened and hopefully they will understand and do their utmost to get you home, be it solo back to the yard with another driver going to collect your trailer to continue the journey or arrange to get you home, whatever.
I don’t even know if we have such a number. I’ll admit I’m in utter turmoil right now, but she won’t let me move until she gives me the go ahead. Luckily I’m less than an hour away so can make it back sharpish
I do hope that your little girl is O.K. Chunky but less than an hour from home, is there no such thing as a Dodgy nowadays.
It might be a good idea to always carry your bosses home phone number for future reference.
Hope all was OK, but in this situation trust your partner, there’s not much you can do except worry.
Less than an hour away though I would be tempted to get a taxi straight to the hospital after letting boss know.
You never know your boss might surprise you with a better option.
Don’t drive worried.
The cost of the taxi is obviously irrelevant.
My girl fell down some concrete stairs when she was 4. I was on maritime back then, and was tipping a box in Rickmansworth. She got taken to hospital on a spinal board, my mrs was beside herself. I explained to the lads tipping that I was giving them 20mins and whatever wasn’t out was coming back another time. They were almost done, albeit they should have took another hour, and got me on my way. I told maritime I wasn’t going past my house to bring the truck back, and if they didn’t like it it’ll be back in the yard tomorrow and we’ll part company. To be absolutely fair to them, all I was told by the depot manager is I have his full support as they’re parents before they’re bosses. Couldn’t really fault anyone in the situation and when I got to the hospital she was up and about and made a full recovery. Hope your little one is ok. It’s the worst feeling in the world.
Dipper_Dave:
Hope all was OK, but in this situation trust your partner, there’s not much you can do except worry.
Finally! Someone with a bit of common sense and faith in their partner posted!
As my Wife said to me once in a not to dissimilar situation, “Yes I’m sure both of us pacing about here will help speed up the recovery time!” She told me when I offered to see about arranging to get back, “No, you try and concentrate on getting some sleep, I don’t want two dramas going on right now with you falling asleep at the wheel or something”
I accept that every situation is different and if it was a case of get here now or you’ll not get to say goodbye, then of course I’d do whatever it took to get back (and it wouldn’t involve waiting around for a mate a taxi or an employer/employee) and the law be damned, but something that is more than likely still going to be the same in the morning, then that’s why you married her/had kids with her isn’t it? because she’s the right person to be the Mother of your children?
Dipper_Dave:
Hope all was OK, but in this situation trust your partner, there’s not much you can do except worry.
Finally! Someone with a bit of common sense and faith in their partner posted!
As my Wife said to me once in a not to dissimilar situation, “Yes I’m sure both of us pacing about here will help speed up the recovery time!” She told me when I offered to see about arranging to get back, “No, you try and concentrate on getting some sleep, I don’t want two dramas going on right now with you falling asleep at the wheel or something”
I accept that every situation is different and if it was a case of get here now or you’ll not get to say goodbye, then of course I’d do whatever it took to get back (and it wouldn’t involve waiting around for a mate a taxi or an employer/employee) and the law be damned, but something that is more than likely still going to be the same in the morning, then that’s why you married her/had kids with her isn’t it? because she’s the right person to be the Mother of your children?
Well I have every faith in my Mrs coping on her own.
She is more than capable of dealing with these type of situations on her own, as proved with her bringing up 4 of our kids while I was away a lot of the time.
I reckon she would have said the same in that situation to put my mind at ease, and to reassure me she could deal with it.
However that would not stop me personally WANTING to be there with them both, as this lad was, nor would it stop me getting back by whatever method at hand, especially if I was ONLY 1 hour away from home.
I certainly would not be wasting valuable time asking people’s advice on the matter, but would just be getting on with it in the best way I could find.
To be fair maybe the lad was young and new at the job, so was not thinking straight.
I asked at work what might happen when the time comes, I was informed that if he deteriorates slowly, they’ll accommodate me on days, but if something happens suddenly, sod the load, I may have to dump the trailer somewhere, but it won’t have to be miles off my route back, just get back to the old fella, and let’s worry about anything else later on. Stuff like that means a lot to me.
Right guys, apologies if I came across as an idiot last night.
Anyway, little one is fine, I got a taxi to the hospital and a lift back in time to start this morning.
Chunkzilla:
Right guys, apologies if I came across as an idiot last night.
Anyway, little one is fine, I got a taxi to the hospital and a lift back in time to start this morning.
Thank you all for the kind wishes.
There you go then all fine and dandy apart from probably not getting much shut eye .
Chunkzilla:
Right guys, apologies if I came across as an idiot last night.
Anyway, little one is fine, I got a taxi to the hospital and a lift back in time to start this morning.
Thank you all for the kind wishes.
Pleased that it has all turned out ok for you bud.
No need to apologise for coming across as an idiot on here…I do it all the time.
Chunkzilla:
Right guys, apologies if I came across as an idiot last night.
Anyway, little one is fine, I got a taxi to the hospital and a lift back in time to start this morning.
Thank you all for the kind wishes.
You came across as somebody who cares for thier family, pleased to hear things are ok
Chunkzilla:
Right guys, apologies if I came across as an idiot last night.
Anyway, little one is fine, I got a taxi to the hospital and a lift back in time to start this morning.
Thank you all for the kind wishes.
Pleased that it has all turned out ok for you bud.
No need to apologise for coming across as an idiot on here…I do it all the time.
Not all the time Rob but certainly most of the time
