It makes me sick reading thru some of the posts and replies some of you people leave.
What happened to the Driver getting his hands dirty or using his brain,it seems nowadays all you do is reach for the fone,in the handy hip holder,or turn on the permenantly inserted blue tooth earpiece,and the “TomTom” n the dashboard(you are the bit that enters the dartboard).You can’t tell me its all the regulations,or the fines.These can be attributed to a few dropping out,but i put it down to you people who get their license,do “a bit”,then suddenly know it all,you are the people who are screwing up the industry,you all stand and point but none of you stand up to be counted.The Industry is being regulated by organisations that either have no experience of the industry,or who are in it simply for the profit.While you sheep go out buy a truck only to find that you’ve got in over your head.I seem to be an exception as everyday I’m still learning something new,but then again i’ve only been driving twenty years and I still don’t know enough.
Kellys’hi:
It makes me sick reading thru some of the posts and replies some of you people leave.
What happened to the Driver getting his hands dirty or using his brain,it seems nowadays all you do is reach for the fone,in the handy hip holder,or turn on the permenantly inserted blue tooth earpiece,and the “TomTom” n the dashboard(you are the bit that enters the dartboard).You can’t tell me its all the regulations,or the fines.These can be attributed to a few dropping out,but i put it down to you people who get their license,do “a bit”,then suddenly know it all,you are the people who are screwing up the industry,you all stand and point but none of you stand up to be counted.The Industry is being regulated by organisations that either have no experience of the industry,or who are in it simply for the profit.While you sheep go out buy a truck only to find that you’ve got in over your head.I seem to be an exception as everyday I’m still learning something new,but then again i’ve only been driving twenty years and I still don’t know enough.
dafdave
Its true what you say kelly,a lot of the larger haulage cmpanys t/ms run the job by computer and can tell you it will only take you 5hrs to drive from l/pool to dover. They are usually 20/30 yrs old and the biggest thing they have driven is a car.I drove uk eu for 34yrs and like you was still learning.My old boss was a driver who started as o/driver on m/e before starting his company.He was a hard but fair man to work for,he would not ask you to do something he would not do himself. The main thing was if a problem came up you could tell him and he would know what you was on about and come up with an aswer to it.He had some drivers he used to n/name blueline tpt.i.e.if they had to come off the m/way they were lost.This of course was before sat nav.I dont know what you think but hearing some of the problems encountered with sat navs i think you are better off with a good map[if you have had enough experience on the job to read one eh]What say you.
Regards Dave
Kellys’hi:
It makes me sick reading thru some of the posts and replies some of you people leave.
What happened to the Driver getting his hands dirty or using his brain,it seems nowadays all you do is reach for the fone,in the handy hip holder,or turn on the permenantly inserted blue tooth earpiece,and the “TomTom” n the dashboard(you are the bit that enters the dartboard).You can’t tell me its all the regulations,or the fines.These can be attributed to a few dropping out,but i put it down to you people who get their license,do “a bit”,then suddenly know it all,you are the people who are screwing up the industry,you all stand and point but none of you stand up to be counted.The Industry is being regulated by organisations that either have no experience of the industry,or who are in it simply for the profit.While you sheep go out buy a truck only to find that you’ve got in over your head.I seem to be an exception as everyday I’m still learning something new,but then again i’ve only been driving twenty years and I still don’t know enough.
having a bad day ? 
NO I’m Not having a bad day,I’m just sick of all the so called “truckers” posting on this site when they haven’t got a clue,I’m not an old boy(I’m 37) but i learnt from the old timers, kept my gob shut and listened to what they said, how many of you truckers would know how to seal a flat trailer with a TIR cord■■?
not many, howmany of these so called truckers know what a dolly is, and i’m not talking sheep,i care about the industry,its bought everything i own,and the way we are been sold up the river is disgusting, the old boys i learnt from had a backbone,most of the “truckers” on here talk the talk but they can’t find the path-without some idiot behind a desk telling em,or the gps pointing the way.I use technology to aid me,not to do everthing for me.
GGGRRrrrrrrrrr!!! Thats tellin` them Kellys’hi
Double Dolly on Yer Monro’er…? Class !!
well i’ve got to say i wholeheartedly agree with KellyHi’s second post, i also learned the job PROPERLY from old hands who themselves had “pioneered” european work, and i can imagine what they’re opinion of the majority of today’s drivers would be 
i know you can vote with your feet but i’m getting hacked off with the “i won’t do this, won’t do that” “told em to stick it” agency type eejits who seem to make up the majority of posted these days on the 2 forums I visit 
i’m afraid the job you knew and loved (as I did) is all but a distant memory mate 
I think the drivers on this site do generally know there stuff.
Why would you tie a dolly unless you had a flat-bed? Straps are for securing the load now. How can you get your hands dirty when there is a great computer on the engine? You need a workshop to fix it. I remember when we would tilt the cab abd get stuck in but those days are gone, except for tyres etc.
The industry is screwed by the large companies, not the drivers. If there was a call for old style drivers like us then wages would increase and we would come back on the road full time. There are only 2 hauliers I will work for these days, I have come across to many companies trying to rip me off.
If you learned from the “pioneers” of haulage you must be very old or they must be very old when they taught you.
julian:
If you learned from the “pioneers” of haulage you must be very old or they must be very old when they taught you.
if you’d bothered to read my post i said european work (this is the euro forum) as in blokes who started doing it in the early 1960s when they were late 20s or early 30s - i’m 35 and started learning the job when still in single figures 
not that i claim to know it all by a LONG chalk, it’s just these heroes who go on about doing continental work cos they liked the look of spaghetti no junction - wouldn’t last 2 minutes as some of the diaries have proved
well i cant rope n sheet ,i know what a dolly is but i cant tie one and i wouldnt have the first clue how to seal a flat trailer for use on the continent .cuz ive never had to.when i went across the water it was with tilts and fridges im not scared of getting my hands dirty but then the trucks i were driving were very reliable and as im not mechanically trained theres not much i could do apart from change a wheel or an airline but from whats been said in previous posts im not a proper driver cuz i cant do some of the above.and by the way ive never had satnav but if it were supplied id use it.im a fan of trucks from the seventies and eighties but id rather go to the continent in a bang up to date motor than one of them.come on fellas just cuz some of us wernt taught everything by some old boy who did europe in a day cab atki borderer it dont make us any less a driver.my first trip to europe was as a kid as a passenger to verona in a volvo f6 artic with a trailer full of furniture so thats not to differant from spaghetti no junction eh jj
I almost had a prepared statement for this type of post
The knights of the road were never British, they came from every other country, especially the Eastern Bloc. It was those drivers who would stop and help a stranded driver. I have had help both mechanical and financial from almost every driver I have come across, occasionally extending to emotional support.
I have also been robbed by my own workmates.
In Morroco I was watched by half a dozen brits as I struggled to rebuild a stepframe tilt in 40’C heat. For a few Dirham I had all the help I needed from the locals.
I had a Turk rewire my Saviem on the services near Leuven for the price of an ice cream.
A guy who my boss sent to rescue me from Romania when my truck was poorly did nothing but empty my belly tank and take my running money.
I stopped on the A61 to help a Dutch guy change a wheel and was forever fed in the old Routiers at Schwanenhaus.
I still carry a toolkit and have had many occasions when I could help someone out with a spare nut, bolt or olive.
My last occasion to slag the brits off was in Europoort when I had a puncture. I changed the wheel but could not lift the knackered wheel & tyre onto my chassis alone. Not one driver gave me assistance till a couple of Polish guys helped
Wheel Nut:
I almost had a prepared statement for this type of postThe knights of the road were never British, they came from every other country, especially the Eastern Bloc. It was those drivers who would stop and help a stranded driver. I have had help both mechanical and financial from almost every driver I have come across, occasionally extending to emotional support.
I have also been robbed by my own workmates.
In Morocco I was watched by half a dozen brits as I struggled to rebuild a stepframe tilt in 40’C heat. For a few Dirham I had all the help I needed from the locals.
I had a Turk rewire my Saviem on the services near Leuven for the price of an ice cream.
A guy who my boss sent to rescue me from Romania when my truck was poorly did nothing but empty my belly tank and take my running money.
I stopped on the A61 to help a Dutch guy change a wheel and was forever fed in the old Routiers at Schwanenhaus.
I still carry a toolkit and have had many occasions when I could help someone out with a spare nut, bolt or olive.
My last occasion to slag the brits off was in Europoort when I had a puncture. I changed the wheel but could not lift the knackered wheel & tyre onto my chassis alone. Not one driver gave me assistance till a couple of Polish guys helped
Same experience for me…had a double blowout on the forest road a few years ago, and had problems getting jack under trailer, 100’s of British trucks passed me, and a French (Giraud) truck stopped, helped me jack trailer up, lent me his spare wheel and followed me to a tyre service centre then translated for me and made sure I was sorted out before he carried on his way…
Also been helped when broken down in Italy by an Iranian who pulled over on motorway to see if I needed assistance, we had a bit of a communication problem, but I was very grateful that he stopped…
That was a great piece wheelnut,i remember i was on my way to ancona didnt have to be there till the next day i saw a turk with a flat and no jack so i stopped helped him,the next month i had one on the A1 as im changing it a turk stopped and helped,i asked why he stopped he told me that his mate had given all his mates my reg,well om the monday i was in truckworld thurrock this comedian was given these turks some earache so i stopped him i told him they were better than all the brits in their i tell you it did not go down to well but it was true.
When i first went to Switzerland, i got to the border at St.Louis and didnt what the hell i was supposed to do. I spotted a British truck and loitered about until the driver returned and asked him if he could help me out. All i got from him was “i am to effin busy to help, bye”. In the end a Dentressangle driver saw my little lost face and showed me step by step what to do.
I once helped an Italian Driver strip and rebuild a step frame tilt at Polestar in Luton on a friday afternoon. he didnt speak English and i cant speak Italian but by the end of the hour of rebulding it, i found out his name, he had a wife and 2 kids, his boss was buying 2 580 Scania’s and he was getting one that weekend. About 3 months later i was on the A13 when this Italian Scania came towards me flashing its lights. It was the same driver i had helped, he had remembered who i worked for and flashed me. I thought it was quite nice he had remembered me.
Kellys’hi:
It makes me sick reading thru some of the posts and replies some of you people leave.
What happened to the Driver getting his hands dirty or using his brain,it seems nowadays all you do is reach for the fone,in the handy hip holder,or turn on the permenantly inserted blue tooth earpiece,and the “TomTom” n the dashboard(you are the bit that enters the dartboard).You can’t tell me its all the regulations,or the fines.These can be attributed to a few dropping out,but i put it down to you people who get their license,do “a bit”,then suddenly know it all,you are the people who are screwing up the industry,you all stand and point but none of you stand up to be counted.The Industry is being regulated by organisations that either have no experience of the industry,or who are in it simply for the profit.While you sheep go out buy a truck only to find that you’ve got in over your head.I seem to be an exception as everyday I’m still learning something new,but then again i’ve only been driving twenty years and I still don’t know enough.
The driver doesn’t get his hands dirty these days because most UK trucks are leased and the leasing often includes full R&M. Why have a dog and bark yourself?
Also because the engines are run by computer now. I (and many others) might be able to make a running repair, to keep going. But the computer would almost certainly not let us get anywhere. Very few European companies even carry a spare wheel these days, let alone anything else.
I use a laptop with a navigation programme and gps receiver now, instead of a TomTom. But it boils down to the same thing. Its an electronic map, that’s all it is. Instead of the huge bag of maps I used to carry, I now use an attaché case. A TomTom unit fits in your pocket.
Once upon a time, truck driving was a vocation. All of those drivers did the job for the love of it. They learned all the tricks from the older drivers as they worked as trailer boys, an apprenticeship in other words. They didn’t have curtainsiders, they didn’t have straps. They had flatbeds, sheets and ropes.
Then, as now, there were people who’s mouths were bigger than there brains. They didn’t have computers, or forums like this one, to publicise the rubbish they were spouting either.
Its called progress, get over it.
Are you trying to say that owner drivers getting in over their heads is a new thing
I’ve only been in the industry for 25 years and still learn something new most days. What makes you so exceptional
Wheel Nut:
The knights of the road were never British,
I know what you mean Malc, but you are living proof of the lie in the above statement. Don’t tar us all with the same brush. I have been helped and ignored in equal measure by all nationalities.