Easy answer, the young uns today have more opportunity than we had- they understand the computer and interweb thingy and can earn 20K a year sitting behind a desk for 30 hours a week, then use the rest of their free time getting mongoed and kicking crap out of each other down town… Its a different world now- manual labour is a dinosaur
Rikki-UK:
Easy answer, the young uns today have more opportunity than we had- they understand the computer and interweb thingy and can earn 20K a year sitting behind a desk for 30 hours a week,
They used to be able to before the Chindians started doing 60 hours a week for £3k a year. 
Harry Monk:
When I started I was 26 and I was about the average age for an HGV driver, now I’m 52 and I’m still the average age for an HGV driver…
When I passed in 1991 I was the “boy” in the office. 
By the time I left in 2010, I was still position 30 seniority (out of 84) - so still a relative “boy” in the office! 
The only people leaving (What they call “natural wastage”?) were those below me in seniority and those actually at retirement age.
Fear of not being able to get another job goes a long way to explaining why so many don’t like change. The fact that you can’t pay a mortgage on less than £35k which has also been said in this thread also counts a lot too.
God knows what these northerners do with the “£6.50 an hour is OK boss” when house prices up there have not exactly been collapsing these past 4 years since the credit crunch began… Another thing that suggests there are few young drivers just starting out with a young family and a young mortgage right now!
I went after a job in warrington 18 months back, and getting it was easy. Being able to MOVE HOUSE (ie sell my house in Kent and buy one in Warrington!) turned out to be IMPOSSIBLE however, without downsizing to a damned 2down2up with an outside loo! Had to let it go in any case. I don’t see any changes since then either. 
So much for differentials…
Dave the Renegade:
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.
Working class people are middle class people that have fallen upon hard times. Funny how the 4x4 and daily mail still have not been given up though! 
Proof if any, that the middle class pretensions remain!
“I’d rather be chief of a village than second in Rome!” Julius Caesar
I blame Margaret Thatcher. She stopped the school milk so there are less opportunities to drive a milk float, and due to other government cuts there is less chance of becoming a lollipop man. I had promised myself that from a young age 
happysack:
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 was 21 when I started out in class 2 and 22 when I started class 1, I still get odd looks when I walk into traffic offices because I look about 18 lol
Harry Monk:
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.
^this^
From a transport manager’s viewpoint it is a worrying situation for the future because it is very difficult to attract young people into the industry. We employ 21 drivers (and I have two current vacancies). The age range is from 24 to 74.
Age Range 24 to 30, 3 drivers working on flat trailers our own work
Age Range 31 to 40, 1 lady driver working on containers for Turners Manchester Office
Age Range 41 to 50, 1 rigid driver, 7 drivers on flat trailers, on our own work 1 driver on containers for Turners Manchester Office, 1 lady driver on containers for Turners Felixstowe Office, 1 driver on Interbulk contract.
Age Range 51 to 60, 3 drivers on flat trailers on our own work
Age Range 61 to 70, 2 drivers on flat trailers on our own work
Age Range 70 plus, 1 driver on flat trailers on our own work.
We also do fridge work at certain times of the year and drivers like that, despite RDC delays.
I find now that I have to match the driver to the type of work we do which is unfair on those drivers that can do flat trailer work. I’m constantly recruiting and the ratio of success is about 1 in four, i.e, for every four drivers I give a start to probably 1 will stay. Reasons for leaving include not wanting nights out, type of work we do, lack of family and / or social life. Very rarely is wages given as a reason for leaving.
I have been with this company 4 years and only 5 drivers out of the 21 were here when I came.
I’ve got a slightly different perspective…
After a string of awful experiences with older drivers, our Manager decided to give any new driver who applied for a job a chance.
Each of these new drivers, whatever their age or experience is under direct supervision of a Mentor for three months. This might involve anything from the odd explanation of company procedure to teaching someone how to drop a trailer.
We have been operating this system for nearly two years and I have to say the most sucessful applicants have been the younger drivers in their early twenties.
Their outlook is much more sensible and mature than that of the older blokes (like myself) who should know better.
They make the effort to get home to spend time with their families (something I actively encourage) rather than string work out for extra night out or feel the need to blow their cash on useless gadgets or adornments for their trucks.
They see the job as it is, a practical job with a bit of variety. Not a legal right to draw 35k with as little effort as possible unlike many of their older colleagues.
Young so called inexperienced drivers have been the making of our firm and the best kept secret in Road Transport.
Good luck to anyone else who thinks otherwise.
W
.
keith:
AlexWignall:
Not a legal right to draw 35k with as little effort as possible unlike many of their older colleagues.Younger drivers that live with parents would get by ok on the ■■■■ poor wages offered in most places. Older drivers with families etc need a reasonable wage as they have bills to pay, £35k isnt a massive wage after tax its around £500 take home i think, hardly an excessive wage for 50 /60 hours a week.
Sorry chap, perhaps I should of said ‘rather return home to their young families with kids’.
My point still stands, the younger lads seem to do a fair days work for fair days pay while their older ‘better’ colleagues prefer to do a fair days lingering instead.
W
The world has moved on. A guy in his twenties doesn,t want to work 65hrs a week, and who can blame him?
Here,s the offer…fork out about £2500. IF you pass the test, (you might not), and IF you can find a job, you can earn £8 p/h ish. You,ll be working 60+ hrs aweek and possibly have to stay away from home.
I wont mention toilet facilities, parking ect.
Retrain every 5 years to keep your ticket.
Why are so few younguns coming in? HA!!!
Also, the image of the job is on par with a security man or somesuch mundane occupation. I must say, i,m slightly embarrassed to tell anyone i,m a lorry driver.
@ Juddian.
Great post. Spot on mate.
cheekymonkey:
The world has moved on. A guy in his twenties doesn,t want to work 65hrs a week, and who can blame him?
Here,s the offer…fork out about £2500. IF you pass the test, (you might not), and IF you can find a job, you can earn £8 p/h ish. You,ll be working 60+ hrs aweek and possibly have to stay away from home.
I wont mention toilet facilities, parking ect.
Retrain every 5 years to keep your ticket.
Why are so few younguns coming in? HA!!!
You’re right, the world has moved on.
Many young people are guided into 30k worth of debt and three years at any random ex Polytechnic so that they can come out such useful degrees as Media Studies, Politics or finger painting.
Then still have to compete for a job as assistant managers assistant at the local B&Q where if you think of all the unpaid overtime they will have to do to climb the greasy pole they might be glad of eight quid an hour…
Unlike you, I’m proud to be a truck driver, the first one in our family (we have a maritime heritage). I’m very happy to encourage new drivers, young or old in what is a down to earth and rewarding job.
It’s your life fella,
W
Theres a lot in what you say Alex, but when i started in my 20,s i supported a wife at home with two kids and we bought a detatched house in Stony Stratford. Unheard of for a lorry driver these days.
I left the industry to do other stuff and came back to it 5years ago to find it in its current state. It,ll do me for theast few years i,ve got left, but i thibk its a poor career choice for a 20 something these days. Its bollixed.
att:
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 don
t 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
You make an easy job sound really hard! That’s quite a skill
Hi all.Whilst i agree with most of what has been said on this subject[positive and negative] let us not forget some things.When you get more geriatric like a lot of us now[me 61]you just cannot do what you done when you were 25.Iknow for a fact that i would not be able physically drive in one hit from London to Milan,or load in Holland,catch the day boat to Harwich,drive to Glasgow and straight back.Or drive in 7 days from London to Tehran.[nor would i want to]but it was a different world.Everything was an adventure and a challenge.And yes,for many things it was easier.Now i have aches on top of aches.When i was young i worked hard,[as did we all]we wanted all the gadgets and luxuries of life and by means of hard work were able to get them.In those days it was a given that if you wanted something extra you were able to do a bit extra.Now it is much more restrictive.Driving has always been poorly paid and it was only the long hours and time away from home that made it attractive and lucrative.But it was hard and now many of us are paying for it with poor health.In retrospect maybe i would have worked less hard,made do with less and[possibly]had a bit better health now.
Now i am in the fortunate position of living a simple,debt free life and only having to work 1 or 2 weeks each month.If i work 8 days i bank about £1000 so can have an easy life and time to enjoy the outdoor activities here while i still have some health left.
Take care.Mike
cheekymonkey:
Theres a lot in what you say Alex, but when i started in my 20,s i supported a wife at home with two kids and we bought a detatched house in Stony Stratford. Unheard of for a lorry driver these days.
I left the industry to do other stuff and came back to it 5years ago to find it in its current state. It,ll do me for theast few years i,ve got left, but i thibk its a poor career choice for a 20 something these days. Its bollixed.
We are not so dissimilar then.
The drivers I worked with when I started in '94 thought I was mad to have a mortgage. Good job I didn’t listen to them.
I came back into transport with the crew I work with now five years ago after being self employed for four years.
I sussed out the scene pretty quickly (that wages are at best average) so I found a place where I could settle down and just be treated fairly.
As it happens our firm has grown and we’ve had a few pay rises so sometimes it does pay to commit a bit of time and effort to the place you work.
I read TNUK a lot and I listen to drivers from other firms so I sympathise with where you are coming from cheekymonkey but I’m sure you’ll agree that we drivers don’t do ourselves any favours.
Thanks for seeing my point of view cm. I hope you’ll forgive me as I struggle to hand my notes in with my zimmer frame.
W
gingerfold:
From a transport manager’s viewpoint it is a worrying situation for the future because it is very difficult to attract young people into the industry. We employ 21 drivers (and I have two current vacancies).
Worrying?? I thought from a TM’s point of view you’d be laughing because you don’t care about drivers, all you seem to be interested in nowadays is cost to the business & keeping it to a minimum by sacking staff or making them redundant, youngsters will only drive insurance premiums up & are a headache to deal with-but I guess that’s employees in general to any company. In future you can easily get drivers form eastern Europe who are willing to do the job @ a fraction of the cost to fill in the gap can’t you, or turn to agencies. Major logistics in this country doesn’t really belong to Brits anymore anyway, the big players like DHL, ND etc won’t struggle to find drivers today or in future, it’s all an urban myth… 