brissybee

Am just wondering how lorry drivers are regarded in the UK and how their vehicles are seen to behave on UK roads? Particularly when compared with those in Australia. With no disrespect intended to the good law abiding truckies in Australia, a few of the Aussie ones seem to have a reputation for driving long distances, fatigued and under the influence of stimulants. Is it the same story in the UK?

Jan n Neil

theres a new digital tacho system in the UK and from what i have heard it can,t be fiddled so the days of 16 hours are gone

brissybee

That's good news. Thanks for your input. Does anyone else have knowledge to share?

Bomber Harris

Don't believe everything you hear, it can be fiddled, although it's not yet as prolific as fiddling charts. Give it time.

nwtrucker

Digitach does help reduce the possibility of employers 'expecting' you to break the law but still expect to do 14-15 hour days and lots of that in congested traffic!! Alot of it depends on your traffic planner, if you have a reasonable one your ok, if not, the job can be miserable and just grind you down!With everyone in so much of a rush these days, truckers are seen as a nuisance on the road rather than delivering essential goods.
It does have good points still but these seem to be diminishing slowly.

Tockalosh

I think lorry drivers in the UK are getting better all the time though I suspect an awful lot of that seems to be down to the Tacho and the 55 mph governers

I had a lot of fun driving for NW haulage companies when the paper tachos came out and they made no difference to our hours at all as we were paid by the hour so out came the fuse on the early ones. When you had a holiday coming up it was bonus time as we used to wind the clocks forward to run into the holiday period. Thank God never got stopped. Munich to Cheshire in one hit with only 4 hours on the Zebrugge to Dover ferry with a green ticket at Dover so straight through anyone?

Parking seems to be a problem as all the car parks where lorries used to be able to park in my local area have all been made trucks prohibited. Salaries seem shite these days though as I was taking home more than I see being offered now and I hung up my licence long ago

On the plus side 180 Gardners have been regarded to the scrap heap and everyone seems to have 400+bhp these days

Never knew anyone on stimulants other than coca cola and bars of chocolate which seemed to work wonders

brissybee

RE QUOTE "Never knew anyone on stimulants other than coca cola and bars of chocolate which seemed to work wonders".

Wow. There have been plenty of stories in the Australian media about how some truckies abuse stimulants to get through the long hauls. I'd be glad to know that wasn't the case in the UK.

Tockalosh

Well I had would have to add that I have been out of the industry a few years now and wouldnt like to say what the young uns get up to but would be surprized if they were using. After investing all that cash to get a licence you wouldnt want to risk losing it. Cost me 380 quid for my HGV class 1. Reckon its a bit more these days

dinger24

The digi card and the EU regulations and all the other stuff are making it harder to get away with it nowerdays. There are rumours of roadside drugs testing coming into effect in the not to distant future. The wages have dropped drastically over the last few years as well.
Insurance companies are also a factor insisting on age and conviction restrictions.
VOSA are getting more powers and companies are getting heavier fines!
All these factors just make driving less appealing as a living!

Jay Bird

I have a friend who is a long-distance lorry driver, He tells me his employer (and many others) have tracking devices installed in the vehicles so the exact whereabouts of each vehicle is known at any given time. In fact he got his current job because the previous driver lied about an accident he was involved in - the tracker showed exactly what he'd been up to....so he was sacked. He also tells me the new digital tachographs are much harder to tamper with.

nwtrucker

True, most of the big logistics companies and even many smaller ones have tracking facilities on their trucks/trailers in a bid to cut costs and improve productivity, which is fair enough I suppose. It just seems to detract from the enjoyment of being out on your own. It's just something you have get used to. And with the compulsory CPC coming into force Unfortunately I could no longer recommend driving as a career to youngsters coming into adult employment. A shame that beauracrats have ruined it.