Ages of the 6 of us based at Gill Mill: 64,63(Dad),61,60,60 and 32(me). All going to plan I’m first to come off the road though as I’m going back to operating quarry plant as they’re better paid. We’ve only got one driver under 30 out of 35 drivers, but an increasing number of over 65s.
BTW - at 53 I don’t think I’m elderly, I just have more life experience
you are old i’m only 52 lol
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!!!
pretty much sums it up, also add the ‘no experience= no job’ scenario is it any wonder there are some very frustrated ‘just passed & very skint’ potential drivers about who wonder why they listened to the people who would say they’d earn the cost of training back in no time !
also it’s a 24/7 economy if you do get a job it will probably agency & that would probably mean supermarkets , although i loved driving milk liners i would often pass my thoughts of ‘what on earth am i doing sat in a layby at 2am eating tuna sandwiches on xmas eve ?’
the continuing responsibility on new drivers is also overwhelming , some of us have been doing the job for years & still get cought out with legislation, & for newbies the bottom line is what ever happens it’s going to be your fault, even if it actually someone elses doing, you will be to blame, you will be fined & you will get points on your license
cheekymonkey:
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.
See …things are getting better for us.I was under the impression,in the eyes of the public,and the customers ,that we were just below murderers,rapists,human trafficers, ■■■■■■ and ■■■■■■
Another reason as to why people don`t want to be a driver… 
I am 24 myself and am happy in this job been driving since I was 21 legally, got myself a good job earning good money but I must admit there are not many people about that I no who r younger than me besides dan lote but I wanted to become a driver since I was a kid and am proud to have achieved my goal
AlexWignall:
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
Absolutely right. Various factors over the last ten or fifteen years have contributed to wages being dramatically cut in just about every sector. Transport has (by and large) been one of the least affected.
I know someone who is a microbiologist. £28k PA… After years of study. At least getting a licence only takes a week! 
Several of our more mature drivers are only with us still because of the way things have moved on… if they were still on the steel and having to put on 3 sets of sheets they would have hung their keys up long ago (and the art of roping and sheeting will soon be gone forever).
I really like the idea of the mentor approach, its a pity that cant be used to reduce you DCPC hours or the insurance, which is what kills if for us when we are taking young drivers on, I honestly dont think family firms will be around for much longer unless you are really specialised and wont it be a boring motorway then - we will be independant spotting - rather than stobie’s.
Well, I did write to the government on several occasions, asking them to increase taxation by at least half again, in order to give pensioners a final salary pension, my request was turned down…the government at the time told me, `its ok mate, we retire at 50 anyway, and we already have increased our pay to give us a final salary pension, at the moment its £100,000 a year, but we can top it up with speeches etc. 
Joking aside, a lot of people ask me why i am still working ( i am a mere 66 yrs young )
Ask yourself if you can manage on £100 a week, thats the basic state pension.
I own 2 homes, 1 in the uk, 1 abroad, both paid for, with blood sweat and tears, i have more than a basic pension, plus a private pension, so i could retire, but bills still have to be paid, both here and abroad, plus i like my car, that has to be maintained, and filled with fuel, i like eating out, i like a drink, and of course we all have to pay for heating, gas, electric, water, so i keep working to maintain my lifestyle, but i only work 3 days a week, no weekends, no bank holidays, and a month at a time in my holiday home, whenever i want to, so i have it easier than most…but ask yourself this question…Can i afford not to retire, if i have to survive on £100 a week.
truckyboy:
Well, I did write to the government on several occasions, asking them to increase taxation by at least half again, in order to give pensioners a final salary pension, my request was turned down…the government at the time told me, `its ok mate, we retire at 50 anyway, and we already have increased our pay to give us a final salary pension, at the moment its £100,000 a year, but we can top it up with speeches etc.Joking aside, a lot of people ask me why i am still working ( i am a mere 66 yrs young )
Ask yourself if you can manage on £100 a week, thats the basic state pension.
I own 2 homes, 1 in the uk, 1 abroad, both paid for, with blood sweat and tears, i have more than a basic pension, plus a private pension, so i could retire, but bills still have to be paid, both here and abroad, plus i like my car, that has to be maintained, and filled with fuel, i like eating out, i like a drink, and of course we all have to pay for heating, gas, electric, water, so i keep working to maintain my lifestyle, but i only work 3 days a week, no weekends, no bank holidays, and a month at a time in my holiday home, whenever i want to, so i have it easier than most…but ask yourself this question…Can i afford not to retire, if i have to survive on £100 a week.
I honestly believe retirement kills.
There is nothing wrong with the youth of today, but really what in this job would attract somebody?
One of the attraction about the job was the freedom, not having a boss on your knowing exactly where you were all day, unlike many factory jobs.
Vehicle tracking has changed that, they know where you are how long you’ve been driving for when and how long you’ve been on a break, even your driving style.
As has been said travel was another attraction, even if some of us didn’t get very far in the first few years, reading things like, The long Distance Diary in Truck mag and tales from other drivers kept that carrot dangling in front of us.
But with changes in Europe the chances of getting a job hauling goods across there are less likely now and cheap flights mean you can nip of to most parts of Europe for a weekend break anyway.
We have a lad of 22 who work for us part time, he only got his HGV licences so he could work in motorsport, he’s not at all interested in haulage. When I tell him about tramping and stuff it just convinces him even more that he doesn’t want to do it.
I’m still here cos I don’t like change 
I’ll give the OP a race around the block any day 
Pimpdaddy:
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…
It might surprise you to know that there still a few of us out there that do care about the industry and try to treat drivers respctfully at all times, in spite of the cynical and frankly rude attitudes that some of you show in return.
This ’ elderly’ problem is truly pan European.Bars,cafes,ferry crossings where ever lorry drivers meet it is clearly obvious that the younger generation are not planning road transport as an occupation.Looking around Saturday night’s ferry the Spanish,Portugese and others looked to be 50 plus,I am sat looking around at 64 while my buddy was up getting the drinks,he is calling it a day this year…well he is 75.This CPC thingy,don’t think it’s high on the European agenda so September 2014 could be really interesting.That is if it is enforced and according to a CPC trainer I have spoken with 9 million hours of CPC traing are still to be completed and it is expected that a driver shortage will be in the region of 35%.Could be an interesting time…2014.
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.
Come on Harry, smell the coffee! They’ll do what they’ve always done when they think the working man is earning far too much for his own good. Bring in boatloads of immigrants to do the work!
gingerfold:
Pimpdaddy:
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…
It might surprise you to know that there still a few of us out there that do care about the industry and try to treat drivers respctfully at all times, in spite of the cynical and frankly rude attitudes that some of you show in return.
Fair enough, personally I’ve never met a TM or anybody working behind a desk in an office who gives a monkeys about drivers & their well being or the industry. I may be a but cynical & I know for a fact I wasn’t born that way so someone/something turned me that way… 
Being spoken to and treated like ■■■■ gets boring at 8quid an hour after a while.
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Pimpdaddy:
gingerfold:
Pimpdaddy:
gingerfold:
..
Fair enough, personally I’ve never met a TM or anybody working behind a desk in an office who gives a monkeys about drivers & their well being or the industry. I may be a but cynical & I know for a fact I wasn’t born that way so someone/something turned me that way…
Yes they are few and far between.
Where i work now is old fashioned, well as old fashioned as any job can be these days.
Respect and care is a two way street, our job is good so we appreciate it and do our best to make sure it stays like that, everyone in the company is valued and treated with respect by everyone else, that attitude comes from the top dog and filters down.
Company pay us very well and provide good equipment and good working terms and conditions, therefore we do our best to make the job run right, it works. Unionised too.
44 Tonne Ton:
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.
Come on Harry, smell the coffee! They’ll do what they’ve always done when they think the working man is earning far too much for his own good. Bring in boatloads of immigrants to do the work!
I made the same point at a union meeting once. Oh how I laughed as they asked me to leave the room.
They are all aged because nobody will give the fresh blood a chance 