I think at 18 i’m a really sensible driver and have been told so by the police on a few occasions, I have passed IAM and Pass plus, Class 1 & 2.
You’ve clearly wasted a lot of time & money on this, oh well as long as you’re happy… 
I hate to be logical but…
…If you look at the rules and regulations that this industry is bound by and the interpretation of such, the hours that are expected, the way in which drivers are treated by the delivery points, not to mention the employers, then the public.
You have VOSA, Police and other local authority spies on your case.
Add to this equation, the responsibility for the vehicle and it`s operating condition and responsibility to other road users, the load and securing of such. National and local traffic regulations.
It really is a challenging occupation.
I was an Ops manager of a meat processing plant and the job was a hell of a lot easier for more than double the pay, home every afternoon, good perks etc.
It is not difficult to see that anyone with a brain would not choose this as an occupation unless they enjoy it, or don`t give a stuff about the regs.
I am in the second camp, I dont give a stuff about the regs(Plus I enjoy it) and will not try and understand them all, as it makes the job tedious, so I guess at what I am doing and use my common sense......If I cant blag it with VOSA if and when I get pulled, then I can tell the pious TNUK to get stuffed as I have more money than him 
Pimpdaddy:
I think at 18 i’m a really sensible driver and have been told so by the police on a few occasions, I have passed IAM and Pass plus, Class 1 & 2.
You’ve clearly wasted a lot of time & money on this, oh well as long as you’re happy…
IAM was a competition and Pass Plus was part of my insurance so no expenses wasted, at least not on my behalf lol.
It was far easier to get a licence when I did it in 1986, none of this theory test, DCPC and Category C first stuff, I went from never having driven anything larger than a Transit van to having a Class 1 licence in nine days and one test.
I think people in their 20s were different in the 1980s, travel was still a great lure for lots of young people and that possibly isn’t quite the case today, with people more interested in careers in I.T. etc, a field of work which really didn’t exist then.
There was also still an enormous amount of continental work being done by British firms which was what attracted me to it. I doubt I would consider truck driving these days with all of the hoops you have to jump through to get a licence and with little chance of finding any job, let alone an interesting one.
I think there will be a renaissance in the future for any youngsters doing it now, although probably a decade away.
Harry Monk:
It was far easier to get a licence when I did it in 1986, none of this theory test, DCPC and Category C first stuff, I went from never having driven anything larger than a Transit van to having a Class 1 licence in nine days and one test.I think people in their 20s were different in the 1980s, travel was still a great lure for lots of young people and that possibly isn’t quite the case today, with people more interested in careers in I.T. etc, a field of work which really didn’t exist then.
There was also still an enormous amount of continental work being done by British firms which was what attracted me to it. I doubt I would consider truck driving these days with all of the hoops you have to jump through to get a licence and with little chance of finding any job, let alone an interesting one.
I think there will be a renaissance in the future for any youngsters doing it now, although probably a decade away.
It will happen when the driver shortage comes, it will be here soon.
att:
It will happen when the driver shortage comes, it will be here soon.
It has to. At 52, I’m no spring chicken, but when I go into an RDC waiting room I’m always one of the youngest people there. 
I went decimal some time back, will be 5.9 this year.
To this day I’ve never met a driver younger than me on the road, and I’m 26 now so explains it all
When I walk into the departure lounge at my place I immediately feel much better about the shift ahead at 44 I’m well below the average age, the funny thing is when I started back in '89 there were loads of young drivers, looks like a doctors waiting room nowadays and has done for some time.
With the lack of new drivers and the C.P.C and the initial high cost of obtaining C+E it can’t be too long before we reach a tipping point and good drivers will be able to command a premium, the only fly in the ointment is the availability of cheap Eastern European labor (no offence intended to our guests).
My licence cost £520 5 shared days in a ford cargo with a taped up splitter, test on the Thursday work on the agency the following Monday, young drivers have it very hard at the minute it’s no wonder they don’t bother
I started driving @ 21,aged 30 now am i a old timer in miles driven yet?
Two things have shocked me…I always thought Harry would be about 70…and gogzy 22! My mental images ruined. Next thing is 'immigrant’will declare his real identity as a21 year old tyre fitter.
i am 28 still look 21 tho and act it i was brought up with the saying if you want anything in life you have got to work for it, much more than just a job its a way of life
Its one of the few industries where within reason the older you are the more desirable you are to good employers, skill, knowledge, resouceful, dependable, experience, loyalty, respect, manners, reliability and honesty to name but a few attributes of a good employee…read into that what you will.
Young uns i have something to say to you.
The job was better up to about 20 years ago when the rot set in, drivers stuck together better, they didn’t knife each other in the back or grass a mate to gain brownie points or a new truck, didn’t carve each other up to get two spaces in front on a packed motorway.
They formed themselves into unions in many places and fought for better terms and conditions, and in many cases won them.
In the intervening years things have changed a lot, attitudes have changed, jealousy and envy as in every walk of life is rife and people have lost sight of some things important…who they are, self respect and honour.
Those previous good terms and conditions have been peed on from a great height, drivers, good ones are undervalued and underpaid, some of the blame for this rests at the drivers door cos they lost sight of who they are, alone and envious of others they are easy pickings for ruthless business.
Look, truck drivers are by and large working class people, they might well earn good money, i have but worked meself into an early grave in all likelihood, they may well have bought themselves decent homes, i have…but it doesn’t make me middle class or any other friggin class, i am a working class bloke, so long as i’ve got a hole in me arse i’ll be working class.
Some people have fallen for the middle class propaganda peddled by those who own the country…that is aimed at stopping working class people from sticking together.
Some people do not know which pot to ■■■■ in, they work for a living but think of themselves as middle class because they have been told they are.
Forget all that bullshine…in the coming years there will be a shortage of good drivers again, you have an opportunity to put a stop to the slide into oblivion of our industry…you can only do this like the drivers of old, by sticking together and negotiating via collecting bargaining and by refusing to sell yourself short for a pretty lorry or a better run than the other bloke.
Organise yourselves, no one else will do it for you…preferably form a drivers only union if possible, that way you are totally independent.
The time is not yet, but be prepared for when the time is right, stop the endless petty driver squabbles that are seen here and on the road, put the job back where it once was…we were never respected by the generaal public (sod em), but we had respect for ourselves and each other…without that there is no hope for the changes that are desperately needed.
here endeth the first lesson… 
Edit…forgot to say.
A good days pay should always accompany a good days work, i’m not advocating a red robbo approach of doing bugger all whilst expecting ever higher pay, without an employee earning for the company there will be no work, trucks and equipment have to work hard in their realtively short lives to pay for themselves.
happysack:
Two things have shocked me…I always thought Harry would be about 70…
That’s the mistake you make by thinking that the avatar is a true depiction of the the poster
If you really want to know what I look like, here’s a pic of me and my boy having Sunday lunch on top of a mountain in Switzerland on our 45-hour break a couple of years ago.
Juddian:
Young uns i have something to say to you.The job was better up to about 20 years ago when the rot set in, drivers stuck together better, they didn’t knife each other in the back or grass a mate to gain brownie points or a new truck, didn’t carve each other up to get two spaces in front on a packed motorway.
They formed themselves into unions in many places and fought for better terms and conditions, and in many cases won them.
Ain’t that the truth!
There are a lot of older drivers still doing the job that are over 65 because they can’t live on a crap pension 
Juddian:
Look, truck drivers are by and large working class people,
Im not Bi or large 
Juddian:
Look, truck drivers are by and large working class people
The massive, massive majority of people are working-class people. If you need to work to support yourself and your family then you are working-class, no ifs and no buts. If your working uniform is a suit, then you are still working-class, and your suit is the same as a toilet-cleaner’s smock or a burger-flipper’s apron. It is your workwear.
“Middle-class” people are just “working-class people with social pretensions”
No I wasn’t going by your avatar…just something in my head went ping! I have strange things boiling i’m my brain! Maybe had something to do with your (normally) intelligent and insightful posts!
Harry Monk:
Juddian:
Look, truck drivers are by and large working class peopleThe massive, massive majority of people are working-class people. If you need to work to support yourself and your family then you are working-class, no ifs and no buts. If your working uniform is a suit, then you are still working-class, and your suit is the same as a toilet-cleaner’s smock or a burger-flipper’s apron. It is your workwear.
“Middle-class” people are just “working-class people with social pretensions”
The upper class are just Hooray Henry’s and Daddy pays.
gogzy:
To this day I’ve never met a driver younger than me on the road, and I’m 26 now so explains it all
I’m 26 too. Been driving since I was 19. I too have never met anyone on the road younger than me or around the same age.
I am here: tapatalk.com/map.php?wzmnyw