Didn’t our very own Queen drive trucks?
I know a lot of women truck drivers and the only reason they didn’t do it in the dark days was the problem with digs and the attitudes of the blokes.
my first experience of a lady truck driver was when I was 15 and she taught me to rope and sheet at British Gypsum in Kirkby Thore. She drove a Scammell Crusader.
Hi Galaxy. I left office work to go out on the road, and it’s the best thing I have ever done. I got my class 2 and drove rigids for a year, then did my class 1. I’ve found the guys out there are really friendly and helpful and the experienced drivers will always give advice and help if you are stuck with anything. The only thing I wish I had done differently was to take my class 1 straight after passing the class 2. You get used to driving the rigids, hauling the steering wheel around for every manouver, then when you get into an artic, you do nothing but oversteer, especially in reversing! You go for it girl, and good luck. x
caveman:
hasnt the new scannie got a mirror on the sunvisor too
so would women have driven back in the days of no power steering, double declutching, sleeping over the seats because of no bunk?
i dont mean to sound patronising if i do sorry
but it is true that trucks nowadays are more driver friendly for men as well as women and as attitudes are changing why the hell not!!
suit of armer in place
chris
ahem I can double declutch, have driver a 30 foot 3 axle van with no power steering (Never again) and have overnighted across the front seats of a DAF 45 because it was a daycab… next?
And dont’ worry Caveman, I distinctly remember saying that not all men in this industry remind one of smelly parts of anatomy. Quite a few of them are really nice helpful people. There are, of course, always [zb]s around.
dont get me started on horseboxes 
as for daf 45’s i had the one before that for 2 days the road runner i think, biggest heap i ever had the misfortune to drive, no power steering, clutch and gearbox was knackard double declutch up and down, not much fun on multi drop, then handballing the load off, driving for a flooring company so big rolls of lino, 35kg sacks of adheasive (spelling) and plenty of other old crap as well, by the time i got to the first drop i was knackered after the 21st my arms were about to fall off and my left leg…
sleeping accross the frount seats isnt that illegal now alicat?
should have told your boss where to stick his 45 and probly the best place for it to
wiretwister you should know me me know me by now always gettin me self in to hot water 
chris
[/quote]
Errrmmm! The lipstick holder is for the blokes if my some of my mates are anything to go by. And as for trucks are getting more user friendly for the fairer ■■■, in my experience its the blokes that do the moaning about rough trucks.
And the horse box I pull takes 14 horses on a 45ft trailer and my top liner will give you all a run for its money and it certainly did well enough taking the household cavalry to St. Moritz. 
Calm down Ladytrucker, its a commercial! sorry wrong reply. 
Actually the comments about lippy holder were meant to be a bit of jolly banter. Most of the blokes on this thread seem to have respect for women truck drivers. I cut my teeth driving horse boxes, due to my mother running a riding school, started with a Ford D series and then got a Merc 814. Soon learn how to drive smoothly with a load of ponies in the back, but wouldn’t want to transport them for a living.
Mind you I’d rather take them to St Moritz in a topliner than our old D series, it used to jump out of top gear so you drove it holding the gear lever. and top speed was about 45 mph 50 if you were empty. 
The merc was lovely though that got driven all round the country.
muckles:
Soon learn how to drive smoothly with a load of ponies in the back, but wouldn’t want to transport them for a living.
What am I saying for a trip to St Moritz I’d haul rabid Rotwiellers. If you need another driver with some horse handling experience I’m your man. It would impress my mum and my dad no end especially if it was the Kings Troop. 
Why does everyone want 500 plus horsepower?
Lady trucker and Muckles seem content with 14hp, Oh and a Scania, Oh and a trip to St Moritz!
Muckles, Just back from the south of France with showjumpers, then had to run in on a job at Tiny Claphams place (your mum will know who that is)
Be careful of the offer of double manning, I may take you up on that.
we used to do horse flights out of stansted for some of the big arab race horse owners, bloody things go balistic so i have the utmost respect for the pros, grovel grovel (ladytrucker) not much fun on the maindeck loader loading in to a 747 when you have one unhappy horse going mental and you are the best part of 45ft up in the air with the thing!!
the horse boxes we referred too are the old cargos and bedfords crawling about the place belching clouds of smoke out the back and generally causing grief.
some of the horse transporters i have seen have been top class, and with the moneys worth of horse in em im not suprised
chris
I do a lot of charters, I was in a convoy from Shrewsbury to Luton with 47 arabs destined for America last monday, they didn’t load too bad, the thorougbreds out to the middle east are the worst.
Not surprise about thorougbreds, they were never breed for their intellegence. Sounds like you have an interesting job, is it full time with one truck or are you hired when they get a job?
I’m hired when they have a job but I would love to do it full time and my horse is a t/b and as mad as a bag of rabbits and at 18.1hh he is very good at stopping traffic but he’s a lot of fun.
you are both right about the t/bsbeing nutters, we had one destroy a flight box he didnt want to go in so he kicked the side out and put the handler in casualty with a broken wrist 
18.1 thats not a horse thats a monster i havent ridden any thing that big, but the best has to have been out in cuba her name was bullet and if a name was spot on… just relax the rein and off she went by god was she fast, out run most horses i have ever ridden in the uk and i have ridden a few 
chris
My friends won’t handle my horse because of the size of him but he’s like most blokes you’ve just got to know how to talk to him. We loaded a grey arab mare last week called Bull she can knock the head of a broom at 30 ft before you’ve realised she had moved, quite a character. Do you still have anything to do with horses?
i havent been on a horse since cuba, and since i left the airport havent worked with them either.
i might start riding again round here, as the area of france i live in is slap bang in the middle of 300,000ha of forest, so plenty of places to go see and no traffic, and no real need to go near a road
i have been riding since i was 4 and am now 27 so have been doing it a few years.
mum had a horse once and he was a total nutter, he was dopped when mum and dad went to look at him, and when they went to pick him up he was dopped again before they got there, got him home then the next day his true colours appered 
he used to attack mum in the field and as mum is only 5ft4 and he was well over 16hands he had to go.
after that my parents swore never to buy another horse and at the moment i just dont have the time to look after one, so me and mum may go down to local center and see how we get on.
chris
I was down your way a couple of weeks ago and it is wonderful riding country. Sometimes it takes [zb]ing across open farmland so fast that you can’t see because your eyes are running so much to put things into perspective, I could do with a bit of that myself but Moose needs the blacksmith.
What bought you to France? If you don’t mind me asking.
Go for it girl. I’ve got my class 1 as has a lot of us females on the forum.
You will enjoy it. I certainly do
lorianne
hiya galaxy…
It will be the best thing you ever do, go for it… get yer class 2 then go straight for yer artic…
I done my rigid, couldn’t get work down here for love nor moeny because of the lack of experience and the nasty attitude of some of the agencies… decided that getting my class one may make them see that i mean business… didn’t have time to find out as i couldn’t keep me legs crossed and fell pregnant 3 weeks after i passed my class 1… another story…
Anyway, once you’ve passed, and you start looking for work, don’t get disheartened if they won’t give you a job because you’ve got no experience, keep pestering and ringing the agencies and insist that they take you for an assessment and give you a go.
I’ve never had any grief from any other drivers, young or old, and if ever you want to know anything don’t be afraid to ask anyone, they will be more than willing to help you.
Whatelse… oh yeah, sense of humour, if you haven’t got one, get one and make sure you can give as good as you get, it doesn’t happen often but the ribbing you get can be very OTT. Take everything with a pinch of salt and make sure you laff.
I have never looked back since getting out on the road, i go to work with a smile and even in the eraly hours of the morning i come home with a smile, yeah the hours a long, yeah it is an isolated job sometimes, but why would being a driver appeal to you if it wasn’t for the freedom.
Don’t be worried about the test either, just make sure that you put everything you’ve been taught into practise and you can only do your best.
Good luck and let us know how you get on… anything i can do to help just holler
Tiggz
galaxy77:
hello people,
i have been looking at these forums and found them very interesting and helpful (glad i found this site).
i was jus wondering if this is still a male dominated industry? as i am a young woman taking a training course soon LGV2.
i know there are female drivers out there somewhere, but you dont get to see them very often.
have you got any advice for me.
thankyou.
I´m a portuguese lgv1 female and i work with petrol tankers,in my country there are 3 women in whole country doing this job.I´ve an advice for you.
This profession is not,only,like to drive,is to like everthing about it.
Load,unload,good weather,bad weather is like a marriage, for better and for worse.There will be men who treated you as a professional and others,only, like a woman. Depends on you,want to be treated as a professional or as a woman driving a truck.
Sorry for my bad English and good luck.