Cornflake driving licences

[Moose McAlpine]

40 minutes ago, devon TWiG said:

I think you are wrong on both counts .... it is much more complex than that !!

 

Agreed. It's mostly down to pay and working conditions.

[eggsarascal]

2 minutes ago, Moose McAlpine said:

 

Agreed. It's mostly down to pay and working conditions.

Most motorway services just aren't set up for hgv drivers, and parking a truck outside McD's when you need a dump isn't an option. The money has had to change, our kids recent pay rise just pushed him over £50k for three sixteen hour shifts a week, (two drivers). I do dispute the lack of European drivers though, our kid tells me that tons of them that he knows left and went to drive, mainly, in Germany or went back to their own countries.

[Mark Bolam]

Average age of an HGV driver in the UK is now 55.

It’s pretty grim when you think about it.

 

Game designers and hedge fund twats cream the big bucks while the people who keep the country running have been put off by crap pay and conditions.

 

Nice one modern world, well played.

[spuddog0507]

1 hour ago, Mark Bolam said:

Average age of an HGV driver in the UK is now 55.

It’s pretty grim when you think about it.

 

Game designers and hedge fund twats cream the big bucks while the people who keep the country running have been put off by crap pay and conditions.

 

Nice one modern world, well played.

That confirms then what i so the other day on the A59, 8 or 9 arctics pulled up for a brew or a butty and all where 50+, Photo added below is back when a lot of young men wanted to drive a truck, photo was taken circa 1962/63 of my Dads wagon a 1958 Dodge 350  loaded with concreate posts for a water board job near Carlisle the morning after, back then it was nearly a days job doing that run as we have to remember there was no M6 back then so it was from just north of Preston, pick the A6 up and through Lancaster, Carnforth and Kendal and then the long hard climb up over Shap fell on the old A6 not as it is today, down in to Penrith and then on to Carlisle, That run today would take about half the time as compared to back then and its not the trucks its he road net work we have now, He drove till the early 80s but the company he drove for was changing every thing to arctics and he only had class 2 but he got a chance to go on to maintaince,,,

[daveatdave]

i am surprised the firm did not get him his full hgv license back in the 60s when they came in as the drivers could automatically get them if they were already driving wagons i know 5/6 that got them without passing a test i think most of them have retired now  

[spuddog0507]

2 minutes ago, daveatdave said:

i am surprised the firm did not get him his full hgv license back in the 60s when they came in as the drivers could automatically get them if they were already driving wagons i know 5/6 that got them without passing a test i think most of them have retired now  

I think they did offer him something like that but he had had enough driving by then and they wanted someone else in the garage maintaining a growing fleet so he took that job instead,

[devon TWiG]

back in those days driving was a hard job, mostly handball loading /off loading as not many places had forklifts then , hundredweight sacks no joke !!   that is why women did not drive lorries ....it can be very easy work now ( like most jobs due to mechanisation ) that is why older drivers can continue ......I have noticed at roadworks how old most of the crew are as well and after a bit of research it would appear there are more people aged around 55 than any other age in the UK !!!! 

[Justme]

11 hours ago, daveatdave said:

i am surprised the firm did not get him his full hgv license back in the 60s when they came in as the drivers could automatically get them if they were already driving wagons i know 5/6 that got them without passing a test i think most of them have retired now  

In 97 you got the CE restricted to wagon & drag not artic.

If they went to artics he still could not drive them.

I dont know about the 60's regs.

[Big J]

My take on the lorry driver shortage is this.

 

I should add that my dad drove rigid 14 tonners for most of my childhood, so I'm not entirely ignorant of the industry, especially given that most of my professional life now is dictated on how I get timber off site and how much it costs to do so.

 

There is obviously a shortage of HGV drivers, but I think that the problem isn't just down to pay or leaving the EU. 

 

There is a fundamental skills issue when it comes to drivers in the the UK, full stop. How many people pass their tests with 10-20 45 minute lessons and then never undertake any further CPC regarding the operation of a vehicle? 

 

This has the following knock-on effects:

 

• There is a massive chasm in driver skill needed to step up to operating HGVs
• There is simply no appreciation for the limitations and challenges of operating a large vehicle, so HGV drivers are often at the receiving end of a lot of aggression from other motorists.

Beyond the lack of skills of Joe Bloggs, the infrastructure (as has been touched upon already) is lacking to support our hauliers and our road network is horribly crowded and under-maintained. 

 

I can imagine that spending 50 hours a week threading a 44t wagon through traffic and hideously narrow lanes (we have a lot of those in Devon 😏) is hell. I personally couldn't imagine anything worse, even with the pay incentives now. 

 

If I was in charge (God help us all), I'd make the initial licence to operate a motor vehicle on the road much harder to attain. Take the Finnish approach - if I remember correctly it's a minimum 2 year period on a provisional licence and you have undertake exercises such as skid pan training. If we upped the overall skill level of British drivers, there would maybe be more appreciation for the very tough work hauliers do and there would be more people prepared to step into that industry.

 

As for simply giving people a trailer licence if they ask for one......that's pretty terrifying. A badly loaded, badly maintained trailer grossing 3500kg has the potential to do some serious harm. I regard myself as a very good driver of trailers, but even with 40-50k miles under my belt (at least, it's just a guess) of heavy trailer towing, I still treat the endeavour with the utmost respect and caution. 

 

In summary, more training, not less and sort the bloody roads out 😄

[Justme]

22 minutes ago, Big J said:

My take on the lorry driver shortage is this.

 

I should add that my dad drove rigid 14 tonners for most of my childhood, so I'm not entirely ignorant of the industry, especially given that most of my professional life now is dictated on how I get timber off site and how much it costs to do so.

 

There is obviously a shortage of HGV drivers, but I think that the problem isn't just down to pay or leaving the EU. 

 

There is a fundamental skills issue when it comes to drivers in the the UK, full stop. How many people pass their tests with 10-20 45 minute lessons and then never undertake any further CPC regarding the operation of a vehicle? 

 

This has the following knock-on effects:

 

• There is a massive chasm in driver skill needed to step up to operating HGVs
• There is simply no appreciation for the limitations and challenges of operating a large vehicle, so HGV drivers are often at the receiving end of a lot of aggression from other motorists.

Beyond the lack of skills of Joe Bloggs, the infrastructure (as has been touched upon already) is lacking to support our hauliers and our road network is horribly crowded and under-maintained. 

 

I can imagine that spending 50 hours a week threading a 44t wagon through traffic and hideously narrow lanes (we have a lot of those in Devon 😏) is hell. I personally couldn't imagine anything worse, even with the pay incentives now. 

 

If I was in charge (God help us all), I'd make the initial licence to operate a motor vehicle on the road much harder to attain. Take the Finnish approach - if I remember correctly it's a minimum 2 year period on a provisional licence and you have undertake exercises such as skid pan training. If we upped the overall skill level of British drivers, there would maybe be more appreciation for the very tough work hauliers do and there would be more people prepared to step into that industry.

 

As for simply giving people a trailer licence if they ask for one......that's pretty terrifying. A badly loaded, badly maintained trailer grossing 3500kg has the potential to do some serious harm. I regard myself as a very good driver of trailers, but even with 40-50k miles under my belt (at least, it's just a guess) of heavy trailer towing, I still treat the endeavour with the utmost respect and caution. 

 

In summary, more training, not less and sort the bloody roads out 😄

You can have your say here scroll down to section 4 

Changes to HGV and bus driving tests and allowing car drivers to tow a trailer without an extra test - GOV.UK

WWW.GOV.UK

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