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Lorry drivers and poor pay& conditions.

I envy you: I love a good fair! ;)
I like a good fare too.
For a few months I worked as a private hire car driver.
Ferrying crews and passengers between different airports due to misplacement.
If you happened to pick up a return fare, on spec for cash, you were quids in!
 
I’ve Never seen an HGV on the upper vehicle deck of a cross channel ferry.
So don’t understand that claim.

You may not have noticed, but HGV vehicles are driven on the same roads to get to the ferry, and they load heavier vehicles onto ferries as low as possible for maximum stability. Good manners prevent me from applying an IQ-related insult.
 
“Yet as long as stuff’s on the shelf, people don’t seem to give a damn about us.”

My heart bleeds.

Long hours, poor pay, lousy working conditions and a job that doesn't exactly promote a healthy lifestyle. Oh, and back when the EU was going nicely for us, companies (such as Tescos) that actively hired EU workers at lower wages and forced their own drivers out. Well there you go. My dad ended up having a heart attack in Italy (still got the truck safely to the side of the road first, mind you) and having a quadruple stent operation.
 
Police, 0% pay rise and not allowed to strike. NHS, a slight softening this year but over-worked for decades. Etc.

Lorry drivers are looked after by maximum hours on the road. If they can’t work around that to make it a comfy job, fk em. They can go and sit next to each other on a dual carriageway at 56mph in another part of the world where they’ll be hugged and loved a lot more. Just like the rest of us are for just doing our jobs.

"looked after" by maximum hours on the road... When you've driven 9 hours a day straight with a 40 foot load behind you (or in the case of special loads, up to 60ft), trying to balance between keeping your tacho straight and getting a late delivery penalty that's usually based on "ideal conditions" driving times, or trying to reach the ferry so again you don't get screwed over with a late penalty, then you can you make your sneering comments from the comfort of your armchair. I suspect that you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about when it comes to HGV driving.
 
Long hours, poor pay, lousy working conditions and a job that doesn't exactly promote a healthy lifestyle. Oh, and back when the EU was going nicely for us, companies (such as Tescos) that actively hired EU workers at lower wages and forced their own drivers out. Well there you go. My dad ended up having a heart attack in Italy (still got the truck safely to the side of the road first, mind you) and having a quadruple stent operation.

Yes, having read through the thread, this seems to be the sensible viewpoint tbh.

Over reliance on cheaper European labour (the same with other industries too, such as agriculture & hospitality), and the aforementioned pay & conditions issue, is leading to a huge shortfall (100,00 says the haulage sector) of HGV drivers. Whatever people think, it is leading to shortages of goods, empty shelves & business not being able to operate as normal.
 
Doesn't Mr Musk have some self-driving trucks that can help?

I'd like to see one of his trucks argue with an American Sergeant at the gates of an army base about accepting a load of mortar bombs, then block the gates and watch the lazy bastard (who wouldn't lift a phone to check if the load was expected and not an accidental omission from his list) sweat. I learnt a lot of interesting phrases that day. My dad drove the knife in and made him apologise to me :p An interesting experience for a 7 year old, for sure.
 
"looked after" by maximum hours on the road... When you've driven 9 hours a day straight with a 40 foot load behind you (or in the case of special loads, up to 60ft), trying to balance between keeping your tacho straight and getting a late delivery penalty that's usually based on "ideal conditions" driving times, or trying to reach the ferry so again you don't get screwed over with a late penalty, then you can you make your sneering comments from the comfort of your armchair. I suspect that you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about when it comes to HGV driving.
I doubt whether many of us have the slightest clue about what’s involved in many jobs outside of those that family and very close friends do.
If anyone goes into lorry driving expecting to be treated well, they’re deluded. When I was planning the end of my time in the RAF and looking at resettlement courses, I was warned away from going down the HGV route by a couple of older guys. They were correct. That was in the late 80s.
I doubt many people are, in 2021, saying their job is better than it was in 1980. Everyone I speak to says theirs is worse and they’re looking forward to retirement.

Getting a load to the ferry on time? How about fixing an airliner overnight in crappy weather, then signing your life away on the reams of paperwork that has been designed to just catch you out, then seeing your work go airborne with 300 people on board? Or seeing the helicopter you’ve just worked on go into an aerobatic display practice? And all for less than some tanker drivers pull in?

I’ve no sympathy for anyone who doesn’t like the job they’re in. Especially at the moment when there are so many thousands of job vacancies.
 
I doubt whether many of us have the slightest clue about what’s involved in many jobs outside of those that family and very close friends do.
If anyone goes into lorry driving expecting to be treated well, they’re deluded. When I was planning the end of my time in the RAF and looking at resettlement courses, I was warned away from going down the HGV route by a couple of older guys. They were correct. That was in the late 80s.
I doubt many people are, in 2021, saying their job is better than it was in 1980. Everyone I speak to says theirs is worse and they’re looking forward to retirement.

Getting a load to the ferry on time? How about fixing an airliner overnight in crappy weather, then signing your life away on the reams of paperwork that has been designed to just catch you out, then seeing your work go airborne with 300 people on board? Or seeing the helicopter you’ve just worked on go into an aerobatic display practice? And all for less than some tanker drivers pull in?

I’ve no sympathy for anyone who doesn’t like the job they’re in. Especially at the moment when there are so many thousands of job vacancies.

So you did a job to approved safety standards and did the paperwork after. Any stress involved after that is self-imposed. No sympathy.
 
So you did a job to approved safety standards and did the paperwork after. Any stress involved after that is self-imposed. No sympathy.
I’ll assume you’re not involved in a dynamic engineering environment that has had commercial pressures? Better these days, not perfect.

But now you raise the point, lorry drivers can’t speed or exceed hours. I’m not sure what their problem is really.
 
I doubt many people are, in 2021, saying their job is better than it was in 1980. Everyone I speak to says theirs is worse and they’re looking forward to retirement.

More comfortable, safer, tractor units with better NVH, though.
 
I’ll assume you’re not involved in a dynamic engineering environment that has had commercial pressures? Better these days, not perfect.

But now you raise the point, lorry drivers can’t speed or exceed hours. I’m not sure what their problem is really.

They're put under pressure to, constantly.
 
I guess bottom of the pay scale were the multidrop drivers back in my day. These guys would take the multiple smaller deliveries from the ‘hub’ mentioned earlier and deliver to the shops, factories and private homes.
These for logistic reasons tend to be vans, 7.5ton and 16 ton vehicles. Small enough to manoeuvre in towns or direct to factories etc.

Oh and it was common for drivers only to be employed by agencies back in the day with minimal benefits so the companies could keep their costs down and have the flexibility to say “I only need half the staff tomorrow, so don’t bother coming in”!

I did a bit of 7.5t multi-drop driving for an agency after I left school. Frozen goods delivered to residential properties, many of which were down narrow streets in Bath and Bristol with parked cars on both sides. Was a bit of an ordeal especially for the first couple of weeks. 18 or 19 years old and never having driven anything larger than a Ford Escort beforehand, I was given literally zero training or guidance, just a fully packed lorry and a list of addresses. I have to confess that a handful of car wing mirrors may have become 'detached' as I trundled past on my rounds - in fact one time I got totally wedged trying to squeeze between two parked cars (one of which was double-parked) whereby whichever direction I tried to move I was bending both of their mirrors. Eventually gave up and just planted my foot and boinged them both, I think they both sprung back into place but I didn't hang around to confirm :D

Years later I helped my brother move back to the UK from Europe driving one of two 7.5t trucks, and experienced the delights of joining the trucker masses on the Channel Tunnel freight train. I gotta say that's not something I'd want to do on a regular basis, whatever the wages.
 
Yes, having read through the thread, this seems to be the sensible viewpoint tbh.

Over reliance on cheaper European labour (the same with other industries too, such as agriculture & hospitality), and the aforementioned pay & conditions issue, is leading to a huge shortfall (100,00 says the haulage sector) of HGV drivers. Whatever people think, it is leading to shortages of goods, empty shelves & business not being able to operate as normal.

Absolutely. Asda may not be publicising it, but there are purchasing limits in place on a number of their products if you shop online.
 
That's why they have to pass stringent medical examinations on a semi-regular basis. `including eyesight.
I forgive the sense of humour bypass under the circumstances. I fail to follow the 'I'm having a tough time, so why shouldn't you?' mentality on display in this thread-it only leads in one direction and that's downwards for all concerned.
 
I suppose government employees have the benefits of job for life, decent pay, excellent pensions and early retirement.
Please point me to the excellent pensions and early retirement. Seem to have missed that. What % do you and your employer contribute to your pension?
 


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