gazza1970:
Juddian it was the same when I started driving at the beginning of the 90s , I worked at a firm that ran 401 Seddon atkinsons doing france and Belgium ,we used to get some funny looks from the snobs in there flash Swedish motors , but we had the last laugh especially when you found out what they was doing for the money and what we did and more to the point how much more we got paid , I always said I go to the work for the money not what I drive , for as long as it’s warm and road legal I really couldn’t care .
Unlike some of today’s drivers , what no aircon or cruise control I can’t drive that !!
Its kinda nice to have a motor thats not desirable for the usual crowd, or has an awkward gearbox or other quirks, when you’re off the others don’t want it.
401 is one of my favorite lorries of all time, 14 litre ■■■■■■■■ Fuller, Rockwell, simple fast lorry that could get through some serious work, i’d have one tomorrow like a shot if offered, they can stick all this electronic junk where the sun don’t shine.
Yep, terms and conditions is what makes a job, and you can still take a pride in your work whatever you drive.
Have you checked out my old 401 ‘Topliner’ from the 80s inn my gallery on here, (just click on my profile) Also a290E big cam ■■■■■■■■ Rockwell’ and 13 speed Fuller combination and with a Space cab to boot
Nice, unusual to see the grill and bumpers painted in body colour, was that a genuine high roof inside or a hollow deflector?
My last Seddack was an '84 E320 twin steer, with a set of uprated injectors on it, ex Demo, went like buggery with just a trace of black smoke as you went under power on each upchange, almost silent engine under load you’d just hear the blower, Jake meant it never needed brakes in my 3 years with it.
I’d like it back now please, some of the last enjoyable days of lorry driving…back on shift tomorrow to the grim reality of 2014, steering wheel attendant mode selected…
I’m no cameraman, and one of my many regrets is not having pics of the many lorries i drove over the years.
robroy:
OK mate, I’ve said me piece, good luck in whatever you choose to do, and bear in mind what I said about my experiences about missing my kids growing up, and try not to make the same mistakes that I did.
I do get where you and the others are coming from mate but things are a little easier being away from home these days what with the modern day mobile phones, tablets, I pads with Skype and FaceTime etc where you can be in contact with your loved ones every day and even have conversations where you can see them on the other end of the phone.
I accept this is no substitute for being there in the flesh but obviously you old heads probably never had any contact with your loved ones all week once you walked out the door. Also there ain’t just us who are away from home not seeing the kids grow up, how about the lads who work offshore where they can be away from 2-3 week away, lads in the army who could be away months on end, tradesmen who may be away upto 2 week working on sites and salesmen. I along with most of these are doing it to provide for our family’s.
Juddian:
Nice, unusual to see the grill and bumpers painted in body colour, was that a genuine high roof inside or a hollow deflector?
.
High roof with top bunk set in to it, I,m 6’ 1" and I could stand up on the engine cover.
My mate who could turn his hand to anything cut the top off a crew cab Sed Atk, cut the original flat roof off mine, and fabricated it on to mine.
I sold it to a guy down in South Wales and replaced it with a Renault R310 (also in my album) more modern with a synchromesh box, but still preferred the Sed Atk.
Juddian:
Nice, unusual to see the grill and bumpers painted in body colour, was that a genuine high roof inside or a hollow deflector?
.
High roof with top bunk set in to it, I,m 6’ 1" and I could stand up on the engine cover.
My mate who could turn his hand to anything cut the top off a crew cab Sed Atk, cut the original flat roof off mine, and fabricated it on to mine.
I sold it to a guy down in South Wales and replaced it with a Renault R310 (also in my album) more modern with a synchromesh box, but still preferred the Sed Atk.
Top stuff and a handy geezer that, luckily i only did the odd night out back then, did more than enough in bloody transporters with cut down cabs in the intervening years mind and a good few in a bolt on coffin on the back of a day cab, had to bloody levitate to get in that, and yes one of our lads had a leg over in a coffin, don’t imagine it you’ll go blind, which then promptly fell off the back of the cab onto the bonnet of the car underneath mid stroke.
Now i don’t do any nights out at all i’ve got a high roof with a lovely bed on it that (hopefully, haven’t CSI’d it yet) has yet to be christened…
Trucker8oy:
Hello, all. PLEASE DONT START Im after a tramping job in Northamptonshire area after the new year. ive worked at maritime last year and really liked it but the pain in the back side was that I never had my own unit. every time I would get back I would have to get my gear out and stick it in another motor and they kept telling me you’ll get one don’t worry and all that. to cut the long story short ive left because we just had our first baby and my other half wanted me home every night. but now shes 1.5 years young so ive been allowed to take off again HERE GOES Ive been thinking of applying at stobarts down at crick. don’t think the money would that much different work looks easy enough but whats the gig with the units… do you get one straight away or do you keep having to cab hop until something pops along. PLEASE don’t start bashing them cuz that’s not what im after.
P.S. any stobart drivers tramping out of crick please do PM me
thank you and ive got my tin hat ready just to be ready if its gonna kick off.
I do days and normally leave work for work at 10.30 a.m ,arrive home 1.30 a.m/2.30 a.m ,get in bed abt 3.30 a.m,back up 7.15 a.m ,see mrs for 15 mins per day ,she leaves 7.30 ( new hours) ,get 4/5 hrs sleep apx , and then you’ve got all these day shift drivers going on about not seeing yours kids / mrs if you go tramping :
dozy:
I do days and normally leave work for work at 10.30 a.m ,arrive home 1.30 a.m/2.30 a.m ,get in bed abt 3.30 a.m,back up 7.15 a.m ,see mrs for 15 mins per day ,she leaves 7.30 ( new hours) ,get 4/5 hrs sleep apx…
■■■■■ to be you.
It’s worth remembering that “all these day shift drivers going on about not seeing yours kids / mrs if you go tramping” probably don’t have a crap job with crap hours like you do.
dozy:
I do days and normally leave work for work at 10.30 a.m ,arrive home 1.30 a.m/2.30 a.m ,get in bed abt 3.30 a.m,back up 7.15 a.m ,see mrs for 15 mins per day ,she leaves 7.30 ( new hours) ,get 4/5 hrs sleep apx…
■■■■■ to be you.
It’s worth remembering that “all these day shift drivers going on about not seeing yours kids / mrs if you go tramping” probably don’t have a crap job with crap hours like you do.
Yea if you say so,I’ve got plenty of mates who work for loads of different companies and they’ve all got the same gripe ,long hours ,hardly see the mrs /kids ,then we’ve got truck nets day shifts drivers bar 1 who do 8 hrs a day
Brings back many memories robroy looking at your old 401 , the one I drove was fitted with a 14ltr ■■■■■■■ 320 super e and no limiter ,that thing used to fly , I used to love seeing how many car alarms I could set off when it was fully freighted with the jake on number 3 ,
It’s not my photo but I have just found a photo that someone posted on here of the firm I worked for and the motor I used to drive
robroy:
they are part of the reason the rest of us are on ■■■■ poor wages.
You have obviously been in the hgv game a while. Guys like me have come in at the tail end and I for one know and accept full well the days of good money are long gone. But im just wondering how guys like the OP are part of the reason for ■■■■ poor wages? Im not looking to start an argument,far from it. Im just asking. I like to respect the views of the “old hands” and take advice from them as much as possible if I need it and they are willing to supply (some don’t make it easy though!). Its just ive always wondered where the money went to from the old days. I don’t buy the high fuel prices argument as the main reason either. Most hauliers blame this but I think its a smoke screen. I may be wrong though,I dont know enough about running a haulage company to argue otherwise.
OK, where do I start. Yeh I have done a bit in the job, since 79 in fact, done most aspects of the job including owning a small fleet in the 80s.
Things have improved in most cases and declined in others, but I won’t bore you with what has been said on here (probs mostly by me ) hundreds of times already about that.
As for the wages thing, I admit recently a lot of lads have had pay raises, but in my opinion it is long overdue. Most of us are on the same money as we were 10+ yrs ago, (or in my case less since I went back on to UK work) and the percentage to wage ratio of night out money has reduced over the years, a lot of us are on the same rate as we were up to 20yrs ago.
Agencies don’t help the situation either but that’s another 2 page argument.
OK the statement I made about some drivers keeping the wages down was a bit general, but however there is an element of truth in it, there are a lot of hauliers that play on this, they buy top spec trucks with all the kit which is an asset to their business fair enough and good luck to them, but a lot, not all, use this as a means of attracting the type of driver that will work for next to [zb] all, for the kudos of driving them, I mean they ain’t going to pay me or you £12 an hour when they can pay these guys 7 are they. I know a haulier who was actually taking the ■■■■ one day in the pub one Sunday about 2 of his drivers running that Sunday for [zb] all to pay for their spotlights, others trade holidays to buy all this [zb] for their motors, and the sad fact is somebody will sure as hell come on here and defend that.
THAT was my point about these guys help in to keep pay down
As for the o/p… that is the impression (rightly or wrongly) I get of him, and now he appears ■■■■■■ about it, it was him that came out with the inane post of right on brother or some other crap when answering his mate about a Volvo or Scania being a job decider ffs!
Hope that answers your question, I could drone on even longer but would bore the arse off
you once I got going and juddian has once again I see put it far better than me.
Interesting points by both Juddian and yourself.
I see what you mean about the whole wages thing too. Id never thought of it like that. Although I did notice,maybe 2-3 years ago,that when I was applying for jobs that the bigger and fancier the wagons a company had,the lower the hourly rate. And if you have drivers willing to work for nothing just to pay for things like spotlights then that definitely impacts on those who’d say they want a better hourly rate.
One of the companies I work for a lot(im agency) pays £12 p/h. But a lot of the other agency guys dont want to work there. And one of them admitted to me,without thinking, that the reason was because they have 4x2 daf cf’s. But another company has brand new 1-2 year old Actros’s and they all want to work there. They only offer £8 p/h. I never understood that. For me,i’ll go where the best money is.
Does not matter to me what im driving as the main focus of ANY job is what gets paid into the bank at the end of the week.
Ive also noticed what you say about the anti social thing. Ive always wondered why you see so many guys with the curtains pulled shut as soon as they are stopped for the night. At least leave them open for a few hours!
But I also think some companies are a tad dishonest about their finances and how difficult the industry is to make a living in. A few years ago I was working for a company and the drivers had a meeting with the owners to request a pay rise of about,I think,75p p/h. Nothing in your face or anything,just a general meeting. The usual excuses “fuel bill too high” “struggling to get work” “Not enough to keep all drivers on if that happens” blah blah blah. No pay rise. But 6 months later they were boasting about 12 new rigids and 3 new artics being on order. Plus the owners all had new porsches and land rovers. No one asked the drivers if they were happy to keep the older wagons in exchange for a slight pay rise.
dozy:
I do days and normally leave work for work at 10.30 a.m ,arrive home 1.30 a.m/2.30 a.m ,get in bed abt 3.30 a.m,back up 7.15 a.m ,see mrs for 15 mins per day ,she leaves 7.30 ( new hours) ,get 4/5 hrs sleep apx…
■■■■■ to be you.
It’s worth remembering that “all these day shift drivers going on about not seeing yours kids / mrs if you go tramping” probably don’t have a crap job with crap hours like you do.
Yea if you say so,I’ve got plenty of mates who work for loads of different companies and they’ve all got the same gripe ,long hours ,hardly see the mrs /kids ,then we’ve got truck nets day shifts drivers bar 1 who do 8 hrs a day
I occasionally do 8 hours a day, usually it’s more like 9 or 10, sometimes 11, rarely more than that.
The difference between my job and your crap job is the start time. I’m home for 5 o’clock everyday and get loads of time with the wife and kids.
I can understand why you’re bitter though. It really must ■■■■ to be you.
