HGV Drivers

[Keith Tindell]

Thats one company that trains its own drivers, and good on them. I understand that there are government grants available to train for HGV licences. With the wage being offered, i should think there would be a large take up on that. I let mine lapse as soon as i retired, kt

[J Gowers]

#23 Lewis I spent 10 years in the North Sea on semi-sub drilling rigs and could never understand why guys worked on standby boats especially in the Winter I doubt if they ever got any sleep most of them at them at time were converted fishing boats which bounced about like corks. 80s-90s. I actually started working offshore through agencies I think most guys did but the wages were better and more consistant if you were employed by the drilling contractor and it was better paid than the MN.

[j.sabourn]

#27. JG I spent about 3 years on those same converted f/vs. Not through choice I can assure you , but necessity. It was either that or the dole , and the dole would of paid nearly as well. I can’t think of any normal seafarer who would have a good word to say about them. However I sailed with some very capable and respected people in the same straits as myself. They call it pride and not wishing to be held up as dole bludgers. They were often sneered at , and they sneered back at what they would call part time sailors. When the chips were down they were the only ones who answered the call for help, those on the super duper computer driven vessels scurrying away to more safer waters. A lot were ex fishermen and I would have no thoughts of putting my reliance on them. Some of them are dead now but will always be remembered as true seamen by at least myself. Today I hope is a different story and they may be appreciated a bit more by all and General , especially by their employers who have the power to better their living conditions. Cheers JS

[J Gowers]

#29 I know where you are coming from I was on the dole quite a few times during that period but was lucky I was not married at the time and still with my parents. I got an agency job offshore and also at that time I was offered a job with Gardners ( the pufffer company) on coasters but did not fancy doing 6 on 6 off for days on end on crap money. Also offered a C/E job with CalMac but the wages were the same as a 2/E offshore so I stayed offshore. Going offshore was the best decision as I stayed there for almost 30 years, mostly on a dollar contract.
In all the places I worked on rigs, West Africa, Far East, USA, Trinadad, India I never saw a dedicated standby boat like you have in the North Sea, what happened was that one of the supply boats was always held back as a standby boat untill another came on station.

[happy daze john in oz]

Driving test here are conducted by officials of Vic Roads.

There was a major testing point in one of the suburbs where there were a lot of Vietnamese back in late 1970's.

Most testers do two per day, one morning, one afternoon.

This day a Vietnamese guy turn sup and gets in the car with the tester who checks the paperwork.

He then tells the guy to get out of the car and go back inside the office for just a moment.

Within a few minutes a police car arrives at the testing station and the guy is arrested.
r
The tester recognised him as the one he had tested that morning, so many of them look very much alike.

Turns out he had been doing tests for others, admitted to about 20 or so where he had done the test for them.

He spent the next 6 months testing the waters inside Melbourne jail.

[Doc Vernon]

As i have posted before i never had a Licence with my Car (First one) then had to get a Bus Licence when Employed on the Durban Busses, but they sent a bunch of us to do an Extra Heavy Duty Course, why?? Dont ask me !
Anyway got that done and it was easy really, so then besides the Busses could Drive almost any Vehicle after that. Included some Tractors as well. And both Fixed and Articulated Vehicles! What a Buzz! Also had to get a Public Transport Licence .
cHEERS

[Robert Arlington]

Freelance truckers would usually be an agency driver. A lot of these agencies set the drivers up as limited companies which does have some tax advantages.
After leaving the sea I became a HGV driver for a few years. My first artic was a god old British Foden. 32 tones in those days with what was left of a 180 horsepower.( My current car has 300!) No power steering, a fold down bunk in the day cab, no night heater. The only way to hear the radio was to have it on full volume. (Probably the cause of my tinitus!)Every load had to be roped and most needed sheeting as well.
It was hard graft especially in winter!
I progressed to owning my own tractor unit which did have 320 horses, a decent size sleeper cab with night heater. Still had to do the occasional flat trailer with roping and sheeting. Did several trips on the continent running sheep skins down to Spain and fruit back.
The business was all so cut throat it was very difficult to make any money. I gave up in 1990, although I did go back to work for an agency driving for Tesco in the early 2010 for a short stint. What a difference! Well paid, nice trucks, no hard work. would go back tomorrow if I wasn't enjoying retirement in Spain so much 😎

[j.sabourn]

#30 The dedicated standby boat was a financial decision the way I saw it Jim ( is that your first name ?) the only stipulation for a supply boat to be kept back as. Stand by boat was that it had to have one third of its deck clear for survivors , most supply vessels carried a stand by certificate with the required crew members trained up for small boat work. I was when mate on supply vessels. It was all geared around money and charter rates on the spot market . A supply vessel could be on 5000 pounds a day , whereas a stand by boat on a fraction of that , I never found out what it was, probably peanuts by the wages paid. Don’t let anyone make false assumptions nearly all of the vessels out in the North Sea supply and anchor handlers were better equipped vessels for stand by duties than those stuck with the job. A lot was not made readable to the public about these vessels as would be unedible for the oil company’s and was the usual misnomer of safety being. Paramount.. Money was, and today it doesn’t concern me if still is as am not there to be cried down , someone else can pick up any of the banners lying around.
To make it more clearer it would be better and safer for all concerned to have had a standby vessel as the attending supply vessel , but the cost was greater ,it was much cheaper to have a clapped out old Past it’s use by date fishing vessel in its place . The name of the game was to get the much higher paid supply vessels on and off charter as fast as possible. The same as on your rigs the number one priority was the drill floor , to get the well done and the rig off charter which in those days was about 100,000 pounds a day , the charter rates for such were always in Lloyd’s list but never saw a stand by boats rates . Cheers JS
I worked out here on supply vessels also doing both jobs and was far more comfortable being on a halfway decent vessel , the oil company’s had to carry any additional expenses and would be a headache for their accountants but tuff titty is all I can say. Cheers JS

[John Miller]

I see the dire shortage of lorry drivers is causing lots of problems in the UK, now the cheap labour market has closed down, Tesco offering a £1000 for a new driver to sign up.The way i see it is that haulage firms have never bothered to do their own training of drivers, some maybe, but most not. In the Fire Service we trained all our own personnel for HGV and paid for the licence renewal, which was £40 many years ago. Driving huge HGV vehicles in our crowded little UK is skilled work. KT

My son has just changed jobs with another Hgv firm, he learned with the fire service. Was working six days a week. His new company Four on four off, Six weeks paid holiday a year £44,000
A year

[Ivan Cloherty]

Back to vehicles, has anyone else noticed that manufacturers are saving money by not fitting indicators to cars anymore.