I packed it in on the 15th of june 2015.
27 years of wagon driving gone in the slam of an Actros drivers door.
Walking away to be fair was a bit of a wrench but i think you have to realise whens something has run its course.
Age and the kids having flown the nest plus household bills going down due to only having two to cook for, and mortgage payments being a thing of the past gave me the courage to look for something else.
i enjoyed my career on the wagons, but my one regret is thinking thats all i was cut out to do.
To have such a resolution to me is like saying “My ship will definitely come in next year.”
The more positive way to think of this of course is “I love driving so much, that apart from a life-changing win - I can’t see myself ever giving it up”.
It’s nice to see January Payday ahead of me as being rewarded with the biggest paycheque of the year to come, rather than sitting by the phone waiting for it to ring to get to some God-forsaken yard where the regular ain’t turned up in the snow at 6am, which is what Januarys were like for me on agency back in 2012-14…
I packed it in 2012, was driving to work on a Thursday morning when the thought of, i can do without this ■■■■ came to my head as it did each day … Turned the car around went home burnt my simm card went back to bed …
I gave it a lot of thought over Christmas last year and after the festivities had ceased I contacted an old employer’s pension provider.
Decided I could manage on what they offered and took an early retirement in March this year aged 62 1/2.
I had been driving for around 40 years and enjoyed most of that time although I had had a few crap jobs where I didn’t stay long.
Obviously got out and about seeing a good deal of the country but I haven’t missed the job at all.
robroy:
Mine definitely, as I have a cunning plan.
To correctly guess 6 numbers.
I would not even look at another [zb] truck as long as I lived, and change my licence to car only
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for me,then once my numbers come up,then apart from exiting the uk on the 1st plane to anywhere sunny,then asuming im living in a nice house with all year round sunny weather,id be having a fully tanged spec scania brand new parked outside the front door along with a wheelie bin,a 8 wheeler tipper full of bricks tipped next to it so that there would always be a bin full of bricks that my manservant would keep topped up from aforementioned pile.next on the list would be an alarm clock to wake me every day prompty at 9 a.am so that i could get up,go outside in my skiddies,stott a brick off the truck,then toodle off back to bed agan for a snooze…job done.
adam987:
Would love to stop driving this year but doubt it’ll happen, I’d ideally like to have my own truck on the road but it’s clear from reading on hear that a lot of what your told by ODs in the yard is bollox.
Although in saying that my boss has 20 odd trucks on the road containers on days and traction on nights and isn’t doing bad with it.
Don’t be stupid, OD’s can work, if you get the right work etc … get a regular payment … it will be tough but if that’s what you want go for it …
Just ensure, you have a good business plan and work accordingly… get the operator Cpc as a first then go from there. … maybe your boss could help you … you never know unless you ask.
This ^
You’ll never get rich working for someone else. Some places may pay reasonably well but if you want more than just enough to pay your bills working for yourself is the way to go. Never try going past your means though. I started with a very used F7 and although have continuously upgraded over the years all my trucks have been bought used, the only new one being this year but is free from finance.
A good used truck bought outright and along with a friendly HGV fitter can keep costs down. Good well paying work can be more of an obstacle but determination and a will to take the rough with the smooth is what its about. Im not pretending it was easy and financially ive had times when ive had to borrow money to fill the tank but 20+ years later my house in the UK along with my villa is now bought and paid for. If its something you really want to do then go for it, pass it over and you’ll forever regret would could have been…
If my present job stays as it is, within reason cos things always change, or get dumbed down to lowest common denominator via the suit’s default knee jerk reaction when some incompetent they should never have employed in the first place does their thing , or unless they fit driver facing cameras, then i have no intention of leaving, i’d be bloody mad to.
41 years now and yes most of the time i still enjoy it, all jobs have good and bad bits, the good still outweigh the bad.
Us old drivers are lucky in many ways, yes the job has changed, everything changes thats what happens (doesn’t mean you have to like it or welcome it), but in what other manual work are people of 50+ years still able to have no trouble in finding well paying jobs, and yes the jobs are out there but don’t expect them to come to you nor expect to land the perfect shift combo before you’ve got your feet under the table.
There’s worse jobs out there than lorrying, we’re still on our own when we leave the yard, can still do the job our way a lot of the time, they don’t interfere too much because they’re too busy dealing with and paying for the mistakes they made when recruiting (accidents. negligent damage, absenteeism, general incompetence), so even the most box ticking operations eventually learn to just leave the ones who can do the job alone to get on with it…well maybe the big logistics contractor mobs haven’t quite grasped that yet.
Juddian:
If my present job stays as it is, within reason cos things always change, or get dumbed down to lowest common denominator via the suit’s default knee jerk reaction when some incompetent they should never have employed in the first place does their thing , or unless they fit driver facing cameras, then i have no intention of leaving, i’d be bloody mad to.
41 years now and yes most of the time i still enjoy it, all jobs have good and bad bits, the good still outweigh the bad.
Us old drivers are lucky in many ways, yes the job has changed, everything changes thats what happens (doesn’t mean you have to like it or welcome it), but in what other manual work are people of 50+ years still able to have no trouble in finding well paying jobs, and yes the jobs are out there but don’t expect them to come to you nor expect to land the perfect shift combo before you’ve got your feet under the table.
There’s worse jobs out there than lorrying, we’re still on our own when we leave the yard, can still do the job our way a lot of the time, they don’t interfere too much because they’re too busy dealing with and paying for the mistakes they made when recruiting (accidents. negligent damage, absenteeism, general incompetence), so even the most box ticking operations eventually learn to just leave the ones who can do the job alone to get on with it…well maybe the big logistics contractor mobs haven’t quite grasped that yet.
A lot of that comes down to who you work for. Work for an company that treats you like a number then of course its going to ■■■■. I’m lucky where I am now. I’ve not been in this current place for 6 months yet but I’d like to think I’m one of the more reliable drivers. When I started I set my stall out to the planners. I wanted to be down the road as much as possible, I didn’t mind what jobs they gave me as long as they kept me busy. I rarely get the cream stuff, mostly the dross work that the other drivers have spat their dummy out over. Multi-drop, London, tail-lift stuff. I don’t care what it is, I’m a driver, I’ll get on and do it. Oh sure, I’ll moan a bit but I’ll get it done.
My planner thinks I’m mad asking for all these hours but I know that he can trust me to get on with whatever job he gives me. There are a lot of drivers here who just moan and complain, saying things like this job has gone to the dogs etc yet they are the ones who get the cream. The one hitters to Scotland or Cornwall. A vast majority of these drivers have been at the company for a long time so maybe the job has changed but a lot of them don’t know what its like to work under a Tyrant of a boss.
Harry Monk:
No, I’m not old enough to retire and I’m too old to re-train to do anything else, so I’ll carry on doing what I do, which is driving trucks from September to March, saving up as much as I can and then spending the Summer pottering around in my preferred mode of transport- which is also my home- until the money runs out. Then rinse and repeat.
First trip next year is to Llangollen, then down to London for a run along the tidal Thames, then Bristol. Don’t know after that.
Absolutely perfect life ,Fair play to you Harry ,Do you have winter moorings or are you a perminent cruiser ?
Thing is Radar, you’re a lorry driver and you go to work in the right frame of mind, some of these sods are in their perma-gloom as they walk though the gate, its infectious too, get a couple of really miserable buggers, the sort who’d still find summat to moan about if you paid 'em a £grand a week to lie in bed, and they can thoroughly demoralise an otherwise happy yard.
I wonder if some of your way of working comes from not wanting to have to listen to the endless depressing bloody moaning from the whiners?, if so thats exactly why i do what i do, i get me paperwork get me lorry prepare it to my standards and keep it that way (can be hard cos others use it when i’m not on shift but that goes with day/shift work), then sod off do me job to the best of me ability come back and bugger off home.
Soon as you catch one of them out the corner of your eye making a B line for you your heart sinks cos you just know the next 20 mins will be winge ■■■■■ moan
Beetlejuice:
Absolutely perfect life ,Fair play to you Harry ,Do you have winter moorings or are you a perminent cruiser ?
I have a permanent offside mooring on a farm between Rugby and Coventry and I generally stay put from September to March while I work, just cruising occasional weekends, then I go cruising when the clocks go forward in Spring for about six months.
I’m Keeping my options open having reached a point in life where I’m comfortable and have a small pension coming in, so if the right full time work comes along then whatever it is I’ll take it. However judging by the rates paid by local haulers I’m in no hurry to work for NMW. Till then I’ll keep the limp, and like Harry work through the winter months, leaving me able to use the time from May to September to reacquaint myself with my motorcycle that was sadly neglected while I took on my caring role, and enjoy time traveling across Europe and beyond. I still have a desire to ship a motorcycle over to the states and ride it coast to coast for the hell of it
Harry Monk:
No, I’m not old enough to retire and I’m too old to re-train to do anything else, so I’ll carry on doing what I do, which is driving trucks from September to March, saving up as much as I can and then spending the Summer pottering around in my preferred mode of transport- which is also my home- until the money runs out. Then rinse and repeat.
First trip next year is to Llangollen, then down to London for a run along the tidal Thames, then Bristol. Don’t know after that.
Absolutely perfect life ,Fair play to you Harry ,Do you have winter moorings or are you a perminent cruiser ?
^^^^^^^^
+1 TO THAT
good for you in picking your lifestyle to suit you.
heres an idea for you,would it not be better to park under that bridge in your pic for 2 reasons.
1 you wouldnt get we when t rains,
and
2 you could be lying in your bed imagining you were back in 1980 cabbing it when you were away on the distance as the cars rumbled along overhead.
i just thought of number 3
3 it would be a handier place to be catching unsuspecting doggers
hutpik:
0I live in a Square wooden box with a stove,does that make me also an ‘‘old tramper’’
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it only qualifies you as an old tramper if you ■■■■ outside your front door,and have lidl bags of crap slung all over your garden…
my misses is i gothenburg just now and its ■■■■■■■ of rain and miserable…when are you going to send some snow down?
Hi DD,don’t look like you will get any soon,but your’e welcome to come and collect a few buckets here.We’ve had over 1mtr since November and the forecast is to continue.
I can ■■■■ outside the door,i have an outside toilet,but thats only for guests.As for the plastic bags,i save them up until i got a bin bag full then take them to Gällivare for the beggars.
Beetlejuice:
Absolutely perfect life ,Fair play to you Harry ,Do you have winter moorings or are you a perminent cruiser ?
I have a permanent offside mooring on a farm between Rugby and Coventry and I generally stay put from September to March while I work, just cruising occasional weekends, then I go cruising when the clocks go forward in Spring for about six months.
Beetlejuice:
Absolutely perfect life ,Fair play to you Harry ,Do you have winter moorings or are you a perminent cruiser ?
I have a permanent offside mooring on a farm between Rugby and Coventry and I generally stay put from September to March while I work, just cruising occasional weekends, then I go cruising when the clocks go forward in Spring for about six months.
Local to me then ,How very nice .
Feel free to pop along and have a nosey round sometime.
hutpik:
0Hi DD,don’t look like you will get any soon,but your’e welcome to come and collect a few buckets here.We’ve had over 1mtr since November and the forecast is to continue.
I can ■■■■ outside the door,i have an outside toilet,but thats only for guests.As for the plastic bags,i save them up until i got a bin bag full then take them to Gällivare for the beggars.
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i think that qualifies you as an " old tramper " then.
i read elsewhere you did a saudi trip in an erf about the same time as i did one with a guy and 220 ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ rotten there… thank christ for volvos,and scanias:)
, or unless they fit driver facing cameras, then i have no intention of leaving, i’d be bloody mad to.
Hi DD,don’t look like you will get any soon,but your’e welcome to come and collect a few buckets here.We’ve had over 1mtr since November and the forecast is to continue.