Last winter I was in Switzerland. Obviously our vans are unprepared. So I was unable to drive up that hill since I had no chains and crap tires
It was simply too step.
So I reversed to the nearest turning space, get down to the village in the valey again, and spoke to the locals, which advised me with alternative route. Impassable by British standards, but since it was almost flat, it was no problem:
After getting to the next village, I had couple of driving along the back roads and I made it back to my route.
Off course the place I was supposed to collect from was shut at 3pm, so I spend a nice evening sightsaying Basil, enjoying the Christmas market
and spent a night in a nice hotel in the city centre, all at the expense of my employer and being paid per each hour of this pleasure.
My employer is unprepared for winter condition? Well, if he prefers to pay me more for going around and then waiting, that’s good enough for me. I did my share of duties and I turned up for work.
If I stayed home, I would never had this nice run to Switzerland, would never seen beautiful Alps in Winter, will never be to the museum in Basil and never drunk milled wine on a town square with bunch of French tourists… And I took home about 800 for this trip…
but please dont go along the eastern european vs uk drivers, i,m just not interested in that crap!!
This is sooo British. “resonsible, insurance”.
you will find it as been inherited from the states and just due to the sue sue culture,i don,t agree with it but then I,m not gonna but myself at risk of being sued either… and I dont think the farmer should either,
my company wont go ■■■■ up because of this and any company that does is,nt worth working for anyway…
I only told that if it happened, I hope you did not blame us for it. It is absolutely nothing about Eastern European drivers, as you can see from other Britons who take their voice in this thread. I just mentioned Estern Europeans because they are usually to blame for everything
Off course the company wont go ■■■■ up because of one day of not-working (atltough in current economical climate it might be possible with so many companies fighting to keep their head over the water) but in general this attitude can be very harmful.
It just happens that I heard from the ex-workmates that the company I used to work for is now at the edge. And this is the company of which my boss called me at 9 am to tell me that due to very dangerous winds I should not leave today. I left early in the morning and I was past Tebay already… I was driving standard 18 tonner, very heavy loaded… But he saw some report in the news so he decided to call me when he came to work…
(you’ll propably start at me again that I am risking my life for the company - no, I wasn’t risking anything, the wind was pretty standard for UK and double decker lorries were running as usual) .
It is the company in which I waited on several occasions for more than 24 hours to be unloaded because of some health and safety mumbo jumbo…
Or when I waited for several hours because I could not leave the warehouse because someone put the pallet of stuff in the middle and I wasn’t allowed to move it, because I have no forklift license and they called agency to find a forklift driver to do it for me, then send him home paying for 8 hours of his work…
This was the company which was taking very good care of their workers - on one occassion I was told to drive one of our workers to the hotel at the other end of London, because “he might be lost on the subway and he is too shy to go by cab”. I am not joking you. In 18 tonner!
Off course it was very good place to work for and I was very well paid. But now cuts and redundancies are everywhere, whoever is more reasonable leaves the sinking ship and I will be surprised if the company survives for much longer…
Juddian:
Orys’s attitude is the perfect example of what you look for in a lorry driver, if you were an employer looking for a bloke to drive your truck with an attitude of can do…then Orys would be on the short list and several here written off.
He has the good sense to put the right tyres on his car so he can go to work, well done Orys, those tyres make the difference between going to work and not, as he rightly says they cost a lttle more than the normal junk if purchased at the right time…its not as if winter is a big surprise it turns up every year whatever happens.
What happened to the good old Tommy spirit lads, i see precious little of it around.
Hard times are coming lads, you want a reputation for being able not just another bod who vanishes when the going gets tough, good repute still gets you good jobs.
I would think that you are having a laugh at me, if not that you are propably right, as I know I had never any problems to find work and I know that many of the people I used to work for would like to see me back in their team (I know, they sometimes call, both agencies and employers).
As for my tires: I think you are wrong. I don’t buy right tires so I can go to work. I buy right tires so I can go whenever I want or need to.
No i am not having a laugh at you Orys, you stand out as an example of the attitude British blokes used to have, just go and get the bloody job done.
Luckily some still do but as you can see in this discussion a lot do not.
This thread shows yet another reason why East European drivers are well regarded here in Britain.
orys i dont agree with the uk v other countries ect as there are good and bad in both…
what i deliver is what we make, and i make most of the arrangments for delivery times ect… which is why I can get abit of play…
the day i did,nt go in cos of the snow, was replaced with me rearranging deliveries for a saturday… i,m not saying every company can do this but many companies could go along this route or similar still getting the job done but without such a risk… but because most class the driver as lowest of the low they simply cannot be arsed,then when it goes wrong the driver gets the blame… there are plenty ways of getting the job done but some may be safer then others.
I also cannot understand in a way why drivers refuse to leave a yard because a brake bulb is out and have to await fitter, or tyre fault ect but weather conditions that can and do cause the same incident don,t come into play.
dle1uk:
I also cannot understand in a way why drivers refuse to leave a yard because a brake bulb is out and have to await fitter, or tyre fault ect but weather conditions that can and do cause the same incident don,t come into play.
Hehe, I have some chaps in my place who claim that “changing bulbs is not their job” even that every of us is issued with a set of spare bulbs
I am due to drive from Boston to Liverpool and back today in a Bulk Tipper.
We live down a country lane that is virtually impassible, although I have to admit, I haven’t actually tried yet.
Would you go to work in jese conditions?
Cheers.
Tell me PROFESSIONAL DRIVER, if you were a tramper on a friday morning looked outside after a night out and found 3 inches of snow -would you have been brave enough to drive home ■■?
I am just chatting with my friend on facebook. She lives near Żywiec, where these pictures are made:
And now she told me that this morning the school bus driver called her and asked if she can let know to the parents in her neihgbourhood that he will be late about 45 minutes.
Now the funny bit: why he called her and not other parents? Because he is English and speak very poor Polish and she speaks very good English
He moved there because he is married to Polish lass and work for the local bus operator.
He arrived 55 minutes late and picked all kids and delivered them to school.
So obviously even English people can do it if they want
Edited: I just recalled some old article in local press, I wonder if this is the same guy: bielsko.biala.pl/1243,artykuly
