Trucking Report From England Part 2

Hi all.

So whats it like to be a British Trucker? To be honest, it’s a thoroughly thankless task. Crowded roads, impatient drivers, inconsiderate employers and draconian legislation all add up to stress, tiredness and misery.

British road are very busy. Rush hours are, as you’d imagine the worst time to travel – but they seem to be getting longer. Morning rush is between 6.30 and 9.30, and the afternoon peak seems to be from 3 to 6. There are no roads over here that you can just get on and drive for hours and hours. The longest single road in the UK is a little under 400 miles, but to travel the length of it would be considered a full days work. Along the way you’re sure to encounter road works, road hogs and road rage.

One thing you won’t find is good food or places to park for the night. The days of the family owned truckstop are long gone, so now all you’ll find are service areas that cater for all road users, and are owned by large “hospitality” companies. As a result, they are totally focused on separating you from your hard earned cash, and giving as little as possible in return. Most contain some sort of fast food franchise, usually one of the big US burger chains, as well as a “family” restaurant, in which you’ll find grossly over-priced, poor quality food, that’s been sitting for hours under heat lamps – the only thing that isn’t as tough as shoe leather are the limp, soggy french fries. Other facilities in these service areas include one filthy shower that will give you an occasional dribble of tepid water, a shop selling rubbish at a 50% mark up and a game arcade. For the pleasure of parking here, we are charged about $35!

So more often than not, you’ll find trucks parked up in lay-bys (which are little areas at the side of the road for motorists to stop for a few minutes), or on industrial areas. Naturally, there are no facilities here – no toilets, washrooms, or food.

On the plus side, we don’t have to stop at every scales we come to. Most scales over here are also check points, where Police and Government Inspectors will examine you and your vehicle. These only operate part-time, and you only stop if instructed. Most of the officers know what they’re looking for, so if you drive for a well known and respected operator, you get left alone. I’ve only been stopped once in the last 5 years.

We face the same issues as you regarding the people we work for too. Planners and dispatchers that make promises to customers that the driver can’t possibly acheive, delivery and collection locations that think you have nothing better to do than sit and wait for hours on end, and people generally blaming the driver for everything that goes wrong.

Life tends to be easier if you travel out of the UK and into Europe, but not always. Most of the European bound traffic travels from here to France, and the bulk of that travels by ferry or tunnel from Dover in south-west England to Calais in north-east France. As this is a very busy route, it has become a focal point for French strikers, so whenever the French farmers or truck drivers have some sort of grievance, the first course of action is to block the roads approaching Calais. Similarly, the French fishermen have no hesitation in using the thier boats to blockade the entrance to the port. However, if you’re lucky enough to get over unscathed, Driving in Europe is a much more relaxed and pleasurable experience, and drivers seem to be treated with a lot more respect.

So your deliveries in Europe are done, and you’ve got your collection and you’re heading home – but your problems aren’t over yet! Believe it or not, there is a massive movement of people out of Africa, and they all think that England is the promised land. They pay all their savings to people traffickers and make epic journeys up through the Sahara desert to Libya,  across the Mediterranean sea to Italy, then up through Italy into France where they all converge on Calias. Here, at the final hurdle, they’re looking for an England bound truck on which to stowaway. You must check your vehicle VERY carefully, as there is an automatic fine of £2,000 for every illegal immigrant that comes in to the country in your vehicle, even if you can prove you didn’t know they were there. Drivers used to report any stowaways
they found, but now are more likely to let them go free to avoid the fines.

As with everything in life, there are good and bad things in a truckers life over here, so I’ll talk about the good stuff next time.

Take care.