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Lorry Driver Shortage

S

Stitcher

Guest
I see in todays newspaper that we are short of lorry drivers. I have posted before that I was a lorry driver for a number of years and I really enjoyed it. Of course there were a few days when things did not go quite right but I was always happy. I met many nice people and I saw all the wonderful countryside in England Scotland and Wales. Things are very different now, motorways and the need for extreme alertness at all times. The standard of driving is much lower than it used to be, and the selfishness of some drivers is appalling.
 
Hi Stitcher, fully agree, i did many years as a HGV mechanic so traveled around a bit on breakdowns and filling in when drivers were down and generally enjoyed every minute ,met some great characters & made some great friends but would not do it now,too many restrictions , bad drivers & little flexibility .
I held a CPC for many years but now i would have to keep renewing it , i felt bad when i gave up my class 1 a couple of years back but when i drive up the motorway i think WE had the best years ( even when you had no heater ).
 
Hi both,

Like many drivers of my age group I got my HGV licence under the grandfather rule in 1970, but I was never happy as a driver and was only too happy some years later to get my CPC under the same rule and become our official general / transport manager which kept me safe in a nice warm office for most of the time. From that date which if I remember correctly was in the mid to late 70's I hardley ever drove a HGV or plant machinery again on the road.

I have very little knowlege of the set up today, but I understand the process of obtaining a current HGV or CPC is a long drawn out expensive business, so naturally most companies want fully trained operatives but are unwilling to offer training theirseves, this is what is causing the shortage of drivers.
 
Your right there Phil, you need HGV licence current cpc & a tacho card just to get through the door , but we know a good set of maps with bridge heights on beat just using a sat nav .
 
I did many thousands of miles with the load roped and sheeted so each load was potentially a different height to the previous one. I never hit a low bridge. Whatever the weather we did our scheduled run and we always got to the destination. If you keep a watchful eye on todays truckers you will observe a number of them drifting across lanes, speeding and showing disregard for other road users. But the worst put off for me is the standard of driving displayed by private motorists and I will not even mention some cyclists. As Ogri said, "WE HAD THE BEST TIMES AS TRUCKERS.
 
Ogri

Even today I do not use a sat nav in my car and when I drove a lorry computers and mobile phones were not even available let alone sat navs. I know it caused us quite some hardship when we had to have tachographs fitted to our vehicles as they weren't cheap to have fitted originally. Back when we were operating vehicles the only person requiring a CPC was the transport manager it just stated that he had experience in operating goods vehicles. I only retired in 2003 things haven't changed that much now that a HGV driver needs a CPC as well now have they? I didn't realise that as since 2003 I haven't bothered keeping up with current legislation.
 
I started my career as a trainee mechanic on cars and commercials at a garage in Ryland st in 1960. As you say a different world to today's but the stress drivers must be under with tacho's and timed deliveries as opposed to log books and 28 mph top speeds for many hgvs must just be as bad. I also got my hgv by grandfather rights but had to take my PSV in 66 which lapsed in 78, I took the PCV test in 98 but found it considerably more difficult.
 
My Grand son is an HGV driver and he loves it, when I tell him what it was like in my days on the road he says he prefers today but I prefer the past in my driving career.
 
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Yes Phil a drivers cpc certification is all part of it now plus "additional training every 5 years" (?) i got out as it was all changing as i would probably end up with a lot more work checking & monitoring others , the good times have gone .
nickcc101 bet you never came across two log books did you ?? those were the days.
 
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