We have a platform we can use which i am sure is the biggest website used by truck drivers in this country who is it? trucknetuk i wish that one day Rikki and Lucy would change their minds and make this site a campaigning organisation i wish one of them would explain WHY? they dont.
WHY NOT? if the legallity and bills is a problem Rikki there are many of us who use this site who will send money to you to help costs, YES i know that trucknetuk is for drivers by drivers but you have a fantastic site that has the support of probably 99% of its members.
We needed a farmer to start the protest about the price of fuel a few years ago ( thank you Mr Hanley) right now we are experiencing the highest fuel prices we have ever seen in this little island so who is going to start the next protest?.
Rikki my cheque will be in the post like i am sure many others on this site if you say YES if yuo say YES.
I work for one of the big boys as i’m sure many of you will know, but as for the owner driver there are a hell of a lot of people out there who own trucks and have taken a big ■■■■■■■ risk to do what they love, own a truck and make money from it, my hat goes off to every last one of them.
RIKKI , LUCY and MATTY you have an amazing platform here to protest and support the haulage industry so lets go forth and do it together with the brethren we have who visits this site.
We are all in this job for 2 things a love of driving a lorry and to earn a decent wage .
Sorry Baz i have seen your site many times BUT i think trucknetuk has the potential to do a lot better when it comes to awareness, all it takes is the Rikki and Lucy and the wee man to take that step forward with the people who come here and take a stand.
SO COME ON TNETUK HOWS ABOUT IT?? LETS DO IT TOGETHER !!!
Its nearly 2 a.m. and i’m a bit drunk after writing this but i am sorry i feel this website has a far greater voice than it lets itself be known for.
jammymutt:
We have a platform we can use which i am sure is the biggest website used by truck drivers in this country who is it? trucknetuk i wish that one day Rikki and Lucy would change their minds and make this site a campaigning organisation i wish one of them would explain WHY? they dont.
WHY NOT? if the legallity and bills is a problem Rikki there are many of us who use this site who will send money to you to help costs, YES i know that trucknetuk is for drivers by drivers but you have a fantastic site that has the support of probably 99% of its members.
Rikki my cheque will be in the post like i am sure many others on this site if you say YES if yuo say YES.
RIKKI , LUCY and MATTY you have an amazing platform here to protest and support the haulage industry so lets go forth and do it together with the brethren we have who visits this site.
Its nearly 2 a.m. and i’m a bit drunk after writing this but i am sorry i feel this website has a far greater voice than it lets itself be known for.
I think that if this site went down the sought of path your advocating then maybe many of the members would lose intrest, for instance what happens when the campaigns are no longer running the road that you want, do you take your money else were, were the campaigns being run are more to your liking, and if many did the same were does that leave those who have taken on finacial commitments on the basis of your sub’s. Then there would be the constant poling to get accurate break down of veiws, and requirments for new campaigns.And there are already bodies that serve this purpose trade unions, and even they fail to accuratly reflect all their members wishes, if the letters to Wheels are anything to go by.
Jammy your barking up the wrong tree on this one, if it aint broke dont brake it. Rikki and Lucy i think yuo’ve got a fantastic site, keep giving it the odd tweek as you do, but substancialy leave well alone is the order of the day.
The best way to hit these hauliers and distribution companies would be to stop your wife shopping at Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury and the like
Totally agree, i once delivered to a major supermarket and was appaled at the way that I and other drivers were treated and vowed from then never to use them again.
Both myself and my wife have told our friends and families and because i told my relatives what they were really like the supermarket has at present lost over 40 customers and growing as word gets past around, granted not alot in the grand scheme of things but if everyone voted with thier feet and spent money elsewhere things might slowly change.
i wish that one day Rikki and Lucy would change their minds and make this site a campaigning organisation
The day that happens will be the last time i log onto here.
I was out last night, to a surprise 50th birthday party for Me and I got slightly drunk.
So getting up this morning to read this thread is just what I needed to sober me up
I am not going to attempt to answer all the comments
One important one is by jammymutt
Rikki and Lucy operate the No1 site for drivers.
By not campaigning or having petitions and standing firm on their independence, allows them the opportunity to grow and attract drivers like you, and threads like this one.
Open honest discussion.
They have given truckersworld and others 100% support, so by being No1 and alllowing the platform for honest debate between drivers. is by far doing more good than you realise.
Allowing drivers to Unite and build up a comradeship, which is vastly lacking in our profession.
Most of the threads on here say one thing.
As professional Drivers we will continue to be walked all over, because we cannot unite together to fight our corner.
Until the apathy between us is thrown out the window and we start to unite as one workforce.
nothing will change.
Wheelnut
Truckersworld is only trying to act as a co-ordinator, to open the doors of debate, read my website.
A Trucker trying to help Truckers by getting the right people to listen to us in open debate.
Not a leader or politician or representative.
That is why anything I do, I come on sites like this one and ask “You” for your comments.
One day drivers will stick together, maybe not today or tomorrow
but the day will come.
Until that day I will remain stubborn and continue “Trying” to make our working day a bit better.
bazman:
IWheelnut
Truckersworld is only trying to act as a co-ordinator, to open the doors of debate, read my website.
A Trucker trying to help Truckers by getting the right people to listen to us in open debate.
Not a leader or politician or representative.
That is why anything I do, I come on sites like this one and ask “You” for your comments.
One day drivers will stick together, maybe not today or tomorrow
but the day will come.
Until that day I will remain stubborn and continue “Trying” to make our working day a bit better.
You complained that you had no comment, you get comment, you complain!
I have heard all these so called protest groups, lone speakers before. listen to any radio talk show or phone in programme. You will hear many complaints by people with their own agenda, they say what matters to them, they contradict each other with wrong facts and information.
We are a very small number on this trucknet site, we are an even smaller number in the big picture. Politicians and the public are not interested in trucks, truck drivers or that there are no facilities for drivers. I chose this profession 40 years ago when I was 7, drivers then lived in poorly designed trucks. flea infested roadhouses and were disliked by the general public.
Bob Geldof thinks he can change the world, David Icke thought he could and Trucknet has Bazman.
bazman:
IWheelnut
Truckersworld is only trying to act as a co-ordinator, to open the doors of debate, read my website.
A Trucker trying to help Truckers by getting the right people to listen to us in open debate.
Not a leader or politician or representative.
That is why anything I do, I come on sites like this one and ask “You” for your comments.
One day drivers will stick together, maybe not today or tomorrow
but the day will come.
Until that day I will remain stubborn and continue “Trying” to make our working day a bit better.
You complained that you had no comment, you get comment, you complain
Coffeeholic:
Me too, I would be heading out the door beside you Linux.
You would be right behind me
TruckNet UK and its members highlight issues sometimes, such as the De Poel database, and uses its contacts within the industry to get as far as possible to get to the bottom of them, however we do not actively garner support for a campaign aginst these issues, we prefer that drivers who wish to take a campaigning stance utalise either other organisations that are able to take on the work load of a orchestrated campaign (Such as Truckersworld, JFD etc) or organise it themselves. We support some of these organisations/campaigns.
We do not have the time or the resources to take on a campaigning role, more importantly, We dont want to!!!
TruckNet UK’s forte is providing the best place for open discussion, help, advice and support for the profesional driver, other people do the campaigning thing far better than we ever can or wish to.
TruckNet UK is a small business, it is run for the benefit of its users AND its shareholders, to take on a role that would jeopordise the business would be financial suicide and mean that those who have invested their time and money would have a valid claim against the directors of the company (Me and Lucy).
I hope this is finally an end to calls for TruckNet to re-invent itself,
Drivers by the nature of the job are induviduals, even when the big companies try and give them uniforms etc. This is why we find it difficult to stick together we have no culture of sticking together like other workforces, not that sticking together has done many of them much good.
As for Rob K’s argument that Owner Drivers and Small Hauliers are responible for low rates and running bent. It’s the big PLC with massive warehousing that keep the rates low, and many large companies have been found guilty of tacho offensive and poor maintainance practices, Becuase pressure if put on transport managers to increase profitabilty and reduce costs or they lose track of what is happening in thier company.
Coffeeholic:
Me too, I would be heading out the door beside you Linux.
You would be right behind me
You can add me to that list as well.
On a personal note, I have to say that I get heartily sick of people a) clamouring to change TNUK and b) wittering on when they either haven’t got the numbers that we have here or can’t very quickly get them. So let’s look at a few home truths shall we? Like what it actually took to get this site where it is.
It has taken this site 5 years…yes, 5 years to grow to this size. It didn’t just appear one day and 2 thousand-odd people suddenly descended and signed up. I remember it being just one forum on the US TN boards…and even then it was over a year before I stopped lurking and registered, in August 2001. In fact THIS was my first post as a Newbie with just 18 months driving under my belt.
When TNUK finally got it’s own Boards and became an entity in it’s own right, it had a slight head start in that it took over several other forums and groups at the same time - most notably the US one mentioned above, Anna Sharpe’s site, and the UKtrucking newsgroup. That didn’t happen by chance. It happened because Rikki had put time and effort into them, so much so that the people involved entrusted him with their safekeeping and progress.
The day that Rikki sat down with Craig Zweiner (owner of www.Truck.Net) at MATS and convinced him that he was the man to take the UK forum forwards as a standalone website was in itself the end of several years of perseverance…and TNUK was still only just being born! Add it all together and the 5 years of TNUK rapidly becomes more like 10 years…yes, 10 years of Rikki’s life, time and money.
You can find the first ever post on TruckNet UK HERE.
So why on earth would a businessman like Craig give both server space and use of an established name to a previously unknown British lorry driver? Because Rikki had proved himself, that’s why…He had worked as a Moderator on Truck.Net, and single-handedly raised the Worldwide Forum from the dead (a position to which it has since returned now the UK contingent are all over here). He had - and still has - the passion, drive, and long-term commitment needed to make the thing work. He also had the strength of character to give the site an identity all of it’s own…and to hang in there through the hard times as well as the good.
The fledgling website took time to start to take off, but our man persevered. If the forums were quiet, he started new threads. If Newbies needed an answer, he gave it. TNUK’s most active posting member was the one who brought it into being, and who nursed it to life.
Rikki also used his experience from the US boards and his knowledge of the members who came with him to recruit a strong and dedicated Moderating Team - people who shared the passion and belief in what they were doing, and who weren’t afraid to enforce Rikki’s very strict Guidelines. These Moderating Guidelines were built from the successes and mistakes on the US Forums and are largely the same to this day, give or take a few minor tweaks as the Forums have grown. That has only been possible because those early Mods started strong - one pace forward please Bully, Sundowner, Kathy, Vince, and Zzarbean.
Rikki had his first 100 members by August 2001, and it’s first 1000 by 28th January 2003…as can be seen HERE.
Since then? Well, for starters take a look at the visitor numbers quoted in the link above. 15,000 visitors a month. We now easily top 40,000 visitors a month. We had 1000 registered members then. We have well over twice that number now. We have a shiny new Bulletin Board, opened in October 2003. We have 3 major sponsors and many more advertisers and supporters, both major and minor. We are a Limited Company and were for the first time able to trade actively and show a slight profit for the end of 2004 - all of which has been ploughed straight back into the site. We have our own server now, too. We are finally, 10 years on, gaining a place within the wider industry as an entity to be taken seriously. Do you think this came easy? Do you think that Rikki just sat back on his laurels and let the members come rolling in?
Hell, no. He has quite literally put everything on the line several times over to achieve all this. And, since we have been together as a couple, so have I. Not just because I’m supporting him as my partner, although there is an element of that. Not just because, as a Company Director, I have a legal responsibility to ensure it’s success, although there’s an element of that as well. But mainly because I, too, can see how much good the site is doing and where it can go.
Nowadays Rikki rarely posts on the Boards, but that’s not because he wouldn’t like to , it’s because he hasn’t the time. I took over the running of the Forums simply to relieve him of some of the burden (something which I couldn’t do without an unbelievably dedicated Admin Team - Pam, Neil, Ken, Denis, Sean, Simon, Jonboy, Lib, Bully, Cliff, and Andy take one pace forward this time)…and I support us financially as a family so that he can do what anyone running a small business has to do and put in hours and hours of unpaid work to make it work.
You don’t get sponsors by sticking a few banners up and waiting for them to come knocking…you send out letters, e-mails, make phonecalls, travel to meetings, visit the tradeshows and stay sober to press the flesh with those who matter, write up media packs, research and produce presentations…the list goes on, and the effort and motivation it takes is phenomenal - all the more so when you consider that, for every banner and logo you see on this site there must be at least 20 more which aren’t there, the pursuit of which took just as much work as the ones who eventually said “Yes”.
One day, Rikki may be able to take a living wage for what he does. We’re not there yet. In that respect, the business is not yet truly paying for itself…hence the constant drive to push forward with new ideas (The Insider, for example) and reinforce old ones. It is only the sure knowledge that we’ll get there one day which keeps us going.
Why bother? Because there is very little in this world which is free, and even less which is free to drivers…and TruckNet UK is. The eventual earning of a wage is only a necessary fact of life - this website has grown way beyond Rikki’s wildest dreams and has reached a point where it has to pay for itself to survive, and so do we as a family. But that is not really the point.
I, of all people, know how much good this site does simply by bringing people together in an industry which is scattered and, at times, lonely by nature. Not by flag-waving and fighting for a cause, but by simply being there to provide a meeting point, and somewhere to chew the fat. It is precisely because there is a place for everyone here that TNUK works.
For every ten posts on the forums, there are maybe a hundred e-mails flying across the Net behind the scenes, as friendships are forged and strengthened, support given, and views shared.
I know of many members who have made it through some of the darkest points in their lives thanks to the friends they have made here. I myself have a husband with whom I am blessed, and who loves my daughter as his own, as well as a baby son who quite simply would not exist if it wasn’t for TruckNet. Let’s face it, the thing works!!!
So…to those who want to see us change…can you blame us for having NO[/b] desire to mess with something so good? Can you blame us for having NO desire to risk throwing away all those years of work, time, money and passion to try and do something which we never set out to do, just because a few people would rather hang off Rikki’s coat-tails than put the effort in to build a following for themselves? Can you blame us for not wanting to chuck the towel in at this point and say “We give up, we failed, give us your money.”? I think not. Barrie…this site and the support that Rikki has gained for it didn’t, as you can now see, appear overnight or by chance. Nor did it come easily. When you have been battling for the best part of a decade and getting no support, then you will be a position to complain…in the meantime it’s rather like someone with 5 minutes driving experience complaining because the career-worn veteran gets a better motor. Harsh, I know, but true. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and it took even longer to recruit the builders, if you see what I mean… Ok. Rant over.
bazman:
IWheelnut
Truckersworld is only trying to act as a co-ordinator, to open the doors of debate, read my website.
A Trucker trying to help Truckers by getting the right people to listen to us in open debate.
Not a leader or politician or representative.
That is why anything I do, I come on sites like this one and ask “You” for your comments.
One day drivers will stick together, maybe not today or tomorrow
but the day will come.
Until that day I will remain stubborn and continue “Trying” to make our working day a bit better.
You complained that you had no comment, you get comment, you complain
Where am I complaining
I answered your comments
Wheelnut, I really can’t see where Bazman is complaining.
I am glad this site does not campaign for causes. Any cause I am interested in I will search out rather than having banner ads & email shots ramming them down my throat. But I am glad that people are able to highlight issues, issues I may not have been aware of if they hadn’t.
The ‘I’m alright Jack’ attitude is not just among drivers, it’s there the country over. Until that changes (which it won’t), then nothing will ever happen. I think it’s a shame that the drivers on this website can’t be bothered to even send a letter to their MP. So, nothing may happen but the least you can do is try. I know one thing; Doing NOTHING is guaranteed NOT to change anything.
Ps. That rant wasn’t particularly aimed at Bazman, btw…it was aimed at all the “knockers”, all the people who throw our name about without a)permission or b) thought, and all those who keep pushing us to campaign.
Barrie PM’d me because he read it as aimed at him, and it wasn’t (apart from the last para) any more than anyone else…a quick re-reading and he’s right, so I thought I’d better clarify!!!
why no support ■■?
it could be that some drivers are happy in their jobs
if drivers are unhappy then they can go and see another site.
in the olden days , people say that drivers were more helpful and stood as one etc,etc.
well in them days there was only x amount of drivers. now there is probably well over a million hgv licence holders and you will never get them all standing as one.
we are all different drivers, different backgrounds, attitudes etc.
take two drivers on the same hourly pay.
one will sit at the speed limits and just plod along and do his job.
the other will tear arse around all day (never doing enough for his good boss),
and then complain at the end of the week that he has worked ■■■■ hard but there was no overtime in his pay packet.
we might all be drivers, but we all do different jobs.
lets not have a go at baz for trying to do something.
just because nobody else wants to do something to make the industry better we shouldn’t be knocking a guy (or girl) that feels that they have had enough and would like to make things better - were not talking about 50pence per hour more money from his (or her) boss for themselves and none of the others - were talking about someone that wants to better things for all - they aren’t asking for a tenner a month to do this (tgwu and urtu please take note), they (baz) is offering his services free of charge - all he wants to know is do you want to work in a better industry?
judging by all the complaints (and the amount of different jobs robk has had) i would say yes we do want a better industry but we need to find the right balance.
drivers having a go at owner operators based upon truckstop/rdc tittle tattle doesn’t help things along any.
if your that unhappy about o/d’s bragging about the amount of jobs they do and hours they work then call vosa (on their premium rate number), which is possibly another reason to complain - it doesn’t exactly encourage people to report bad or rogue operators when the call is charged at a higher than local rate.
ask your mp why it is taking so long to get the lorry road user charge operating in this country?
ask them who is going to refund you the cost of your tools for doing the job - smart card?
the list is endless really - there is so much wrong with the industry it’s hard to tell where to start but if nobody does anything at all then we will end up having to put up with what we’re given instead of choosing what we want.
just a thought - baz deserves better as does anyone who wants to take up the fight to better our working environment.
