Robinhood - not wanting to get too personal but I think your dad needs some help. If I dragged every one out of the cab who cut me up, I wouldn’t have time to do anything else. Perhaps he should consider something more sedate, perhaps market gardening.
Over the months I’ve come across many Betz drivers, and like other comments I too have found them pleasent and helpful, when needed. Not my experience with some brits I’ve come across.
Perhaps it’s this brown and smelly talk about ‘brits can do the job better than anyone else’ talk. And all this stuff about how we are being sold down the river by corporates. What nonsence! If your company can’t do the job for market rates someone else will. No one in business owes anyone anything. It’s the case now and in my 36 years, its always been the case.
Many eastern European drivers I speak to in Europe are working for British companies who are just trying to make a living. If you count the small haulage firm with four drivers, two of whom are non-brits, as coprorates, taking the food of our table its a bit sad. Suggest if you don’t like corporate ethics, cash in your pension, and live in a hole in the ground, because it’s everywhere. Me, I don’t shop in Tesco’s becuase I don’t like the way they treat their suppliers, but we all have choices.
But where does this stop. Spoke to a couple of South Africans working for an Irish haulier the other day, are they different? Or what about the brits that drive for French companies, because current French employment law makes it expensive to employ French drivers? Should we encourage our ‘brothers’ in France to kick them out of a job? What about Spanish and Portugese drivers who have always done the job cheaper than many brits?
Come on. Lets get real. Eastern Europeans aren’t the real problem here. It’s the head-up-the-arse british way of thinking.
Plambert:
Robinhood - not wanting to get too personal but I think your dad needs some help. If I dragged every one out of the cab who cut me up, I wouldn’t have time to do anything else. Perhaps he should consider something more sedate, perhaps market gardening.
What nonsense. Its not the cutting up that is the problem here, its the arrogant manner the Bulgarian went about it afterwards, almost as if to say “■■■■ you British drivers, I’ll probably be driving your truck soon anyway!” Though I suppose that to you would be an excellent prospect because then he’ll be supporting his family, and after all, as a Bulgarian driver he’s bound to be a very friendly, polite and helpful guy like they’re all supposed to be, so its ok then, we’ll just sit on the dole and not support our families because businesses in this country dont owe us anything…well thats not entirely true is it, because businesses in this country would not exist if it wasn’t for the consumer bases that only exists because of having people in EMPLOYMENT so I’d say that any business in Britain certainly DOES owe employment to British people if it wants to use Britain as a consumer. My I suggest you get some help of yourown, its called getting a backbone!
Plambert:
Robinhood - not wanting to get too personal but I think your dad needs some help. If I dragged every one out of the cab who cut me up, I wouldn’t have time to do anything else. Perhaps he should consider something more sedate, perhaps market gardening.
What nonsense. Its not the cutting up that is the problem here, its the arrogant manner the Bulgarian went about it afterwards, almost as if to say “[zb] you British drivers, I’ll probably be driving your truck soon anyway!” Though I suppose that to you would be an excellent prospect because then he’ll be supporting his family, and after all, as a Bulgarian driver he’s bound to be a very friendly, polite and helpful guy like they’re all supposed to be, so its ok then, we’ll just sit on the dole and not support our families because businesses in this country dont owe us anything…well thats not entirely true is it, because businesses in this country would not exist if it wasn’t for the consumer bases that only exists because of having people in EMPLOYMENT so I’d say that any business in Britain certainly DOES owe employment to British people if it wants to use Britain as a consumer. My I suggest you get some help of yourown, its called getting a backbone!
Well put fella
as for them getting a back bone I reckon on F A chance of that , in the real world drivers are not happy with the situation , cyber space isnt really an acurate view on what people think about the east european situation, so should I feel sorry for them because after all their only trying to improve their life style rollocks to that
Id give your old man a medal
At the end of the day no job is safe,be it in transport or farming…Ive seen it from both side’s of the fence.I have worked on large arable farms where eastern europeans are employed at peak times through out the year.
This is all well and good for finding cheap labour for a few months of the year,but when they say "when i get home i will have enough money to cash for my house or i dont have to work for 6 months!! and to think i wasted 3 years of my life doing a degree thats not worth (zb)…I left farming for a career in transport…what a joke, all we do is ■■■■■ amongst our selves or slag off new drivers that can’t reverse on to a loading bay!!!..nothing ever gets DONE.In my un-biast oppinion,if costs keep on rising like they are, we are going to see more and more eu drivers working here…
ive read all the comments on this thread and other similar ones and i think this is basically it now with europe everyone just has to accept that any lorry can be driven by any driver from whatever country for whatever money im sure that similar german and french sites to this are saying the same but of course polish and other similar countries are saying the opposite “like get yourself to england loads of money.”
when you see an english lorry dont automatically think its an english driver and the same for french german lituanian polish any others,
ill treat all drivers the same if they cut me push in the queue or just plain wind me up whatever country they are from they will get a bollocking.
i never said its the drivers fault.
i just thinks its typical it dosent go in our favour its always the favour of somone else.
robinhood_1984:
he drives straight ahead, cutting my dad up and giving the two finger hand jeasture to my dad.
Must have been a Brit or an Irishman driving that Betz truck, I don’t know any other nationality in Europe who use the two fingered gesture the rest of Europe tend to go with the one fingered variety.
Coffeeholic:
I don’t know any other nationality in Europe who use the two fingered gesture the rest of Europe tend to go with the one fingered variety.
You do now. It was most certainly of the two finger variety, which isn’t supprising considering he might well have spent more time actually in Britain in recent times than in Bulgaria.
What nonsense. Its not the cutting up that is the problem here, its the arrogant manner the Bulgarian went about it afterwards, almost as if to say “[zb] you British drivers, I’ll probably be driving your truck soon anyway!” Though I suppose that to you would be an excellent prospect because then he’ll be supporting his family, and after all, as a Bulgarian driver he’s bound to be a very friendly, polite and helpful guy like they’re all supposed to be, so its ok then, we’ll just sit on the dole and not support our families because businesses in this country dont owe us anything…well thats not entirely true is it, because businesses in this country would not exist if it wasn’t for the consumer bases that only exists because of having people in EMPLOYMENT so I’d say that any business in Britain certainly DOES owe employment to British people if it wants to use Britain as a consumer. My I suggest you get some help of yourown, its called getting a backbone!
Interesting view robinhood, although I’m not sure lack of backbone is the problem. You’ll soon learn that no one owes you a living. Sitting on the dole ■■■■■■■■ about others taking the job with your name on is, of course, one option. The other is to make your own luck.
There’s still a decent living to be made from driving. I do Spain every week and there are some loads I won’t be given because the others can do it cheaper. Whether its Eastern Europeans, Portugese, Irish, or other Brit hauliers, there’s always someone that will do the job for less money. But you have to live with that.
From what I see on these boards, I do the job very cheaply, compared to what the ‘proper’ rate is, but that’s the situation today, and I’ve had to change the way I do the job in order to make some money from it. But its my choice. If I didn’t make any money from it, I’d go off an do something else. I’ve been self employed - or making my own luck - for the last 10 years. So it works. You should try it!
At the end of the day Willi Betz is a great business model. One standard tractor unit, double manned, nothing flash, and paying drivers above the going rate in their own country - all the ones I’ve spoken to have been happy with their lot. As a result they (Will Betz) been able to win and maintain business. So perhaps the next time you hear of a driver demanding a Topline Scania with 2k’s worth of pointless light bars in order so they can ‘do their job’, just think about how the sucessful companies around are conducting themselves! You don’t see too many Polish 580 V8 units!
Coffeeholic:
I don’t know any other nationality in Europe who use the two fingered gesture the rest of Europe tend to go with the one fingered variety.
You do now. It was most certainly of the two finger variety, which isn’t supprising considering he might well have spent more time actually in Britain in recent times than in Bulgaria.
Well there you go then . Another thing that I find strange about your tale is why did your dad hand over £20 to ‘Security People?’ Security people don’t have the power to hand out fines and Dover Harbour is policed by Dover Harbour Police, they have their own station in the docks and if they were going to take action agaisnt your dad that would have been a court case and not an on the spot fine. Seems like somebody conned him out of £20 and if I were him I would be asking questions about that.
Coffeeholic:
Well there you go then . Another thing that I find strange about your tale is why did your dad hand over £20 to ‘Security People?’ Security people don’t have the power to hand out fines and Dover Harbour is policed by Dover Harbour Police, they have their own station in the docks and if they were going to take action agaisnt your dad that would have been a court case and not an on the spot fine. Seems like somebody conned him out of £20 and if I were him I would be asking questions about that.
He didn’t pay anything there and then, the “security people” which I so described as I didn’t know what they actually were, contacted his employer and he will pay it.
By the word “tale” I hope you dont mean that I am making this up?
a sort of ramp that is two laned that goes around a corner
Its called a linkspan and it allows 2 lanes of trucks to disembark from the ship. It is 2 lanes and takes you over the top of the embarkation area and then down to the exit gate, the normal procedure is to merge in turn, not get wound up and drag someone out of his cab. it takes less than a second to ease off and let a truck into one lane
This allows smooth progress for all the trucks to get on and off the ferries in the quickest time possible.
It makes me ashamed to be British when drivers act like this! But isnt your Dad German? Robin
a sort of ramp that is two laned that goes around a corner
Its called a linkspan and it allows 2 lanes of trucks to disembark from the ship. It is 2 lanes and takes you over the top of the embarkation area and then down to the exit gate, the normal procedure is to merge in turn, not get wound up and drag someone out of his cab. it takes less than a second to ease off and let a truck into one lane
This allows smooth progress for all the trucks to get on and off the ferries in the quickest time possible.
It makes me ashamed to be British when drivers act like this! But isnt your Dad German? Robin
My dad is back home now so here are the details. He’s driving off the ferry and onto the linkspan, to his right but back about half the lenth of his truck was a Bulgarian registered Willi Betz truck, as you begin to turn right the Betz truck overtook and cut my dad up in the process, this I am sure, is not common procedure but down right arrogance. After this, about 100 yards from the exit my dad catches up with this Bulgarian and it is here that he pulls him from his cab but before he can do a thing, he’s jumped on by some form of police officer, maybe the docks police who fined him for disorderly conduct and contacted his company with regards to that. Like my dad says, its one thing to pull in front and cut you up, but then to look you in the eye and give the two finger jeasture, well thats beyond a joke, I think so anyway.
Yes he’s German, though he is a British citizen for ever thats worth.
this seems a very strange tale, British Transport Police have overall control of all ports harbours and railway stations, there are often CID and other anti terrorist measures in place.
However there now seems to be a private security force who can act as judge jury and executioner.
I havent used Dover for a while, maybe this is the shape of things to come, like spot fines for trolley rage in Sainsburys
robinhood_1984:
he’s jumped on by some form of police officer, maybe the docks police who fined him for disorderly conduct and contacted his company with regards to that.
This whole thing doesn’t make sense. Security don’t have the power to charge anybody with disorderly conduct so from that it must have been Dover Harbour Police and if they were going to do him for that it would be a court case, not a £20 spot fine. Also it doesn’t sound much like disorderly conduct and more like assault, coupled with road rage. There are also signs in Dover warning that this sort of incident will be treated very seriously with prosecution and the possibility of the ferry companies refusing to carry the person and being banned from the port itself.
Why are the company going to pay this fine? I would have thought most companies would have sacked one of their drivers who goes around assualting people but in this case they seem to be condoning it and leaving themselves wide open.
I can’t understand the problem with Eastern Europeans■■?
BUT there is one thing I have noticed and I don’t care who I offend!!
Every time this issue raises its ugly head, it is the UK drivers who raise their voices the loudest!! The European drivers have normally met Eastern Europeans across the water and not got a problem with them.
Perhaps the UK drivers need to get out more
robinhood_1984:
he’s jumped on by some form of police officer, maybe the docks police who fined him for disorderly conduct and contacted his company with regards to that.
This whole thing doesn’t make sense. Security don’t have the power to charge anybody with disorderly conduct so from that it must have been Dover Harbour Police and if they were going to do him for that it would be a court case, not a £20 spot fine. Also it doesn’t sound much like disorderly conduct and more like assault, coupled with road rage. There are also signs in Dover warning that this sort of incident will be treated very seriously with prosecution and the possibility of the ferry companies refusing to carry the person and being banned from the port itself.
Why are the company going to pay this fine? I would have thought most companies would have sacked one of their drivers who goes around assualting people but in this case they seem to be condoning it and leaving themselves wide open.
Whether this makes sense or not to you is totally irrelivent, its how it happened and you’ll have to accept it because you have no proof otherwise and no matter how much you try and ridicule me using terms like “tale” or using those little rolling eyes emoticans to indirectly say I’m talking out of my backside, it wont make anything at all I’ve said to be wrong.
Those aren’t rolling eyes to ridicule your story, they are shocked eyes. Shocked that a company seem to be quite happy to have one of their drivers going round attacking people in a road rage type incident, which I find amazing especially in the current climate where people will sue anybody for any reason.
The word tale was also not used in that sense. If you don’t like ‘tale’ substitute one of these words for it as they all mean the same thing; story, account, saga, yarn, narrative.
TheBear:
All sounds very strange, doesn’t it, Coffee?
I can’t understand the problem with Eastern Europeans■■?
BUT there is one thing I have noticed and I don’t care who I offend!!
Every time this issue raises its ugly head, it is the UK drivers who raise their voices the loudest!! The European drivers have normally met Eastern Europeans across the water and not got a problem with them.
Perhaps the UK drivers need to get out more
I think that is a reasonable assumption of the attitudes of the UK wannabee drivers and UK Drivers too, Bear.
In my experience, I have had help changing wheels from the Eastern Bloc drivers, I had a Turkish driver help me rewire my dashboard after a fire, with hardly a common word spoken between us
Last week I had a trailer with a damaged roof, and I had to load 2 coils through the top. Not only did these 2 Polish lads jump in the back they also gave me 2 spansets to fasten it down.
Most of the tales you hear about Willi Betz are just that tales, there is nothing in this industry that drivers like doing more than slaging of large high profile companies, it must be one of the few industries around were to get on,expand etc is put down. Sure Betz has got some real bad drivers, but then so have most large, and small companies, most of which are in this country. Few months ago an English friend of mine driving for a Danish company was parked over night at Peterbo’ro services woke up in the morning, flat batteries, asked 3 or 4 english drivers for a jump start (he had got some cables) not one of em wanted to help, either hadn’t got enough time, not alowed to, or one guy ‘na mate bugger me computer up if i do that!’ there was a couple of betz Bulgarian trucks on there, after being a bit cagey when my mate aproached em, when they found out what e wanted, they dropped one of the trailers and took a unit over to his to start it, my mate offered em a tenner, neither would take it, Im not vouching for all of mr Betz’s drivers just the few ive had dealings with seem ok, as ive said there are good and bad from all countrys, and firms.
sdj
