One other small point not mentioned, is that there are many types of lorry drivers, there are the ones who drive locally, probably from a depot to a regular customer 2 or 3 times per day or what is commonly known as tramping.
You could leave home at 04.30 on Sunday morning not to return for 2, 3, or even 6 weeks later if your destination is Europe, add to this that the normal day is 13 hours but is stretched to 15 hours 3 times per week by a seventeen year old kid screaming down the phone every 20 minutes.
So you have done 10 hours driving and find yourself in a layby at the side of the A1, every time a truck or car passes the truck rocks, making it difficult to boil the kettle, You make something to eat but then you have to get some sleep as youre boss tells you to take a reduced 9 hours rest that day, the load you have is urgent and must be in Aberdeen before 6am.
Along with that is we now have to carry £35 electronic driver cards and have a £100 quid medical every 5 years, These cost the driver, not the company.
And for my final rant, although I have been driving a truck since I was 17 and learnt from the bottom up. Some civil servant has now decided I have to have an NVQ known as the driver CPC which involves teaching your granny to suck eggs. In my 34 years in transport, I now have to prove to a snotty youth that I can still do my job.
No wonder we are antisocial
