Making the news today....

[daveatdave]

11 hours ago, 5thelement said:

My Dad, a tanker driver for over 30 years just sent me this from a Facebook group:-

 

So, you are running out of food on the shelves, fuel in the garages, you can’t buy things you need, because the shops can’t get their supplies.
Why is that?  
A shortage of goods?  No
A shortage of money?  No
A shortage of drivers to deliver the goods?  Well, sort of.
There isn’t actually a shortage of drivers, what we have, is a shortage of people who can drive, that are willing to drive any more.  You might wonder why that is.  I can’t answer for all drivers, but I can give you the reason I no longer drive.  Driving was something I always yearned to do as a young boy, and as soon as I could, I managed to get my driving licence, I even joined the army to get my HGV licence faster, I held my licence at the age of 17.  It was all I ever wanted to do, drive trucks, I had that vision of being a knight of the roads, bringing the goods to everyone, providing a service everyone needed.  What I didn’t take into account was the absolute abuse my profession would get over the years.
I have seen a massive decline in the respect this trade has, first, it was the erosion of truck parking and transport café’s, then it was the massive increase in restricting where I could stop, timed weight limits in just about every city and town, but not all the time, you can get there to do your delivery, but you can’t stay there, nobody wants an empty truck, nobody wants you there once they have what they did want.
Compare France to the UK.  I can park in nearly every town or village, they have marked truck parking bays, and somewhere nearby, will be a small routier, where I can get a meal and a shower, the locals respect me, and have no problems with me or my truck being there for the night.
Go out onto the motorway services, and I can park for no cost, go into the service area, and get a shower for a minimal cost, and have freshly cooked food, I even get to jump the queues, because others know that my time is limited, and respect I am there because it is my job.  Add to that, I even get a 20% discount of all I purchase.  Compare that to the UK £25-£40 just to park overnight, dirty showers, and expensive, dried (under heat lamps) food that is overpriced, and I have no choice but to park there, because you don’t want me in your towns and cities.
Ask yourself how you would feel, if doing your job actually cost you money at the end of the day, just so you could rest.
But that isn’t the half of it.  Not only have we been rejected from our towns and cities, but we have also suffered massive pay cuts, because of the influx of foreign drivers willing to work for a wage that is high where they come from, companies eagerly recruited from the eastern bloc, who can blame them, why pay good money when you can get cheap labour, and a never ending supply of it as well.  Never mind that their own countries would suffer from a shortage themselves, that was never our problem, they could always get people from further afield if they needed drivers.
We were once seen as knights of the road, now we are seen as the lepers of society.  Why would anyone want to go back to that?
If you are worried about not getting supplies on your supermarket shelves, ask your local council just how well they cater for trucks in your district.
I know Canterbury has the grand total of zero truck parking facilities, but does have a lot of restrictions, making it difficult for trucks to stop anywhere.
Do you want me to go back to driving trucks?  Give me a good reason to do so.  Give anyone a good reason to take it up as a profession.
Perhaps once you work out why you can’t, you will understand why your shelves are not as full as they could be.
I tried it for over 30 years, but will never go back, you just couldn't pay me enough.

Thank you to all those people who have shared this post.  I never expected such a massive response, but am glad that this message is getting out there.  I really hope that some people who are in a position to change just how bad it is for some drivers, can influence the powers that be to make changes for the better.  Perhaps some city and town councillors have seen this, and are willing to bring up these issues at their council meetings.  It surely cannot be too much to ask of a town/city to provide facilities for those who are doing so much to make sure their economies run and their shops and businesses are stocked with supplies.  I never wanted any luxuries, just somewhere safe to park, and some basic ablutions that are maintained to a reasonable standard.  I spent my nights away from my home and family for you, how much is it to ask that you at least give me access to some basic services.
There are tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of licence holders just like me, who will no longer tolerate the conditions.  So the ball is firmly in the court of the councils to solve this problem.

WOW. 100,000 shares in a week.
I have been humbled by the number of people who have never been involved in transport expressing concern about just how badly truck drivers are treated.  I don't think the general public have really ever given it a thought, but I have been pleased to see so many express their displeasure about how we have to live while just providing a service for all of them.
I have heard from a number of news outlets since posting this, but not a single councillor or politician has contacted me.
Not that I think anything will change. Trucks always have been an inconvenience for local governments, and the cost of catering for them is left to someone else, anyone else,  yet there is no someone else out there.

 I avoided another aspect of the job, that makes it bad even for those who try to get home every night.
We have many transport hubs where goods are collected and then distributed onwards to supermarkets and large retailers.  Anyone who has delivered to any of these regional distribution centres will tell you the same story.  You arrive there at a fixed time slot (don't be late or you will face serious delays), and you will be told where to park and then where to take your paper work, after that, you will be instructed to back onto a bay at some point, to be unloaded. it might take just 20 minutes to unload a truck, but you can bet that the time spent in this RDC will be much longer, waiting for a bay to tip, waiting for them to actually unload you, and then what is usually the longest wait.  Waiting for your paper work, so you can carry on to the next job.  It is no wonder there is a shortage of trucks on the roads, 1/2 of them are stuck inside these soulless places waiting for a piece of paper.!

there used to be a wagon park at our local market town a short walk to the shops pubs etc for supplies food  then they upgraded the A1 to a motorway built a service station then closed the wagon park 

also know a few hgv  drivers that have stopped driving because of the pay and conditions one of them worked for ES as a day driver and was put on the Tesco delivery said the timed delivery was a nightmare he even got locked in one yard while the security firm that came to pick up the cash had finished they would not open the gates for a hour and his boss was ringing him to see what he was doing as there was a tracker on his unit then trying to send him to another depo when he only had a hours driving left just enough to get back to his home depo   he went into the office the next morning and asked for alternative for the supermarket runs they said there was none so he jacked there and then  

[daveatdave]

on my travels today a Tesco's filling station on a retail park had shut all the pumps bar one either side and cars were queuing  up nearly onto the main road with all this panic buying the stations will be running out as it will be a few days before they will get another delivery 

[scbk]

How BP sparked a fuel crisis in drive to ease visa rules

WWW.TELEGRAPH.CO.UK

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Timing of leak about oil giant's pleading fuels suspicions it is more about a lobbying campaign for looser EU immigration policies

[Johnsond]

45 minutes ago, scbk said:

How BP sparked a fuel crisis in drive to ease visa rules

WWW.TELEGRAPH.CO.UK

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Timing of leak about oil giant's pleading fuels suspicions it is more about a lobbying campaign for looser EU immigration policies

Assisted marvellously by a willing media and a gullible public. Shame the government seems to have folded albeit only for 5000 drivers. 

[trigger_andy]

After a while in Scandinavia, once the shine wears off.. you will come to realise that the very rich are not much different to the rich in the UK or indeed anywhere else Jason.
 
They are simply more adapt at concealing their wealth and some might argue even more skillful in finding loopholes.
 
You will also find that the very Rich in Scandinavia pay personally very much less tax percentage wise than the lowest paid person in their employment.
 
Most of the very wealthy take their money from dividents, the consultancy fees they charge as paper employees of their own companies or assests are often paid in shares.The wealthy own alot of land, land owners have their own tax scales and handily can rent up to 50% of their propert tax free, to their other concerns of which they predictabley consult to...

Very well put.

entrepreneurialism is very much encouraged as well.

I pay less tax in Norway than I would do in Scotland. Between £5-10,000 less a year in Norway and you do not get punished for earning more by having all the benefits available to you means tested. So I still get full child benefit and just had a lump sum of Cash for Care back dated due to Brexit. A nice wee 70,000nok in the bank account on Friday. Unheard of in the U.K.

[Mike Hill]

One other fact regarding Sweden , is that it has an Aristocracy. Who are by definition the very essence of privilage.

 

They may let you roam their forests and swim in their lakes, but they probably got a cut from the fuel in your tank and the food in your cupboard, the clothes on your back and the government subsidies to the kindergarten your children attend.

 

These deeply entrenched old money monopolies are sometimes hundreds of years old.Coffee,Roofing,Shipping, Oil as a late commer to the wealth party are all big parts of a relatively few portfolio's.

 

The politicans after all, have to keep their prospective future employers happy as they can't all go and work for NATO,Brussels or the UN.

[Johnsond]

10 minutes ago, Mike Hill said:

One other fact regarding Sweden , is that it has an Aristocracy. Who are by definition the very essence of privilage.

 

They may let you roam their forests and swim in their lakes, but they probably got a cut from the fuel in your tank and the food in your cupboard, the clothes on your back and the government subsidies to the kindergarten your children attend.

 

These deeply entrenched old money monopolies are sometimes hundreds of years old.Coffee,Roofing,Shipping, Oil as a late commer to the wealth party are all big parts of a relatively few portfolio's.

 

The politicans after all, have to keep their prospective future employers happy as they can't all go and work for NATO,Brussels or the UN.

I do love a cynic Mike 👍👍very very true though. It is like you say quiet money ie no brashness or in your face opulence just ticking along living a good life and maintaining the status  quo 

[Mike Hill]

Another way to show the gap between rich and poor is wider than you think.

 

Coffee Barron buys a £300K Bentley as a company car.

 

Gets pretty much £100K in Vat straight back

 

Claims 15% per annum depreciation for four years and the rest in the fifth.

 

Free Car

 

But wait, there is more!

 

Sells five year old Bentley for £200k,( no vat on used cars) pays that out as a divident to himself taxed at 28% 

 

£142K right in the back burner. Whilst his cleaners are taxed at 36% and cant claim their bus pass as an expense.

 

 

[Mike Hill]

18 minutes ago, Big J said:

 

 

I suspect that you have a slightly different perspective living and working in Norway, which I feel is the most capitalist of the Nordic nations. 

I however defer to your experience in the matter. 

 

What is worth noting though is that the Nordic Model of Socialist Capitalism is very different from the Socialist Hell that the right in America so often categorise it as. Yes, it is very supportive of entrepreneurs and yes, it's possible to make a lot of money there. The difference is that throughout all of that, there is a rock solid social security safety net. I'd argue that part of the reason that the Scandinavian countries have been so successful in recent years is that the risk of abject destitution has been largely removed from the public consciousness. 

 

 

I think when such as in Scandi, the socialist model has been long established, contrary to the unlikely event of it ever being implemented in the US where it would need to strip wealth and assets from the rich.

 

The biggest benefactors of the Scandinavian Economic model are those at the very top and those at the very bottom. Its everyone inbetween who pays literally for their privilage.

[Johnsond]

Fuel supply crisis: Grant Shapps blames haulage group for creating 'manufactured situation' as pump chaos continues

APPLE.NEWS

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The transport secretary has said "there's plenty of fuel" in the country as he urged motorists to...

Not my favourite politician but he definitely called it how it is with the RHA today, cheap Eastern European drivers is exactly what they want and what contributed to driving  many out of the industry in the first place.