The Delta Tea Urn Natter

[Tim Falce]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

With all this guff about the Driver's CPC, it got me thinking about my own driving licence, so had a a quick looksie at the DVLA about what I am entitled to drive. Good thing that I did, as it reminds me that in a few months' time I have to renew it when I reach 3 score and ten.

Yet even that renewal is not straight-forward and is confusing. It would seem as though if I want renew my ability to drive C1 and C1E class vehicles (upto 7.5 tonnes) you cannot do it online. I fail to see why not; surely any question that needs to be answered could be included online, and shouldn't need a piece of paper. But then the Gov dot uk website tells me that the C1 entitlement needs to be renewed annually after your 65th birthday, but mine is still current even though I am 69 and will remain so until the day before my next birthday. Talk about confusing!

I think the medical after 65 depends when you passed your test and when your licence was issued. All us oldies got what is now C and C1 as part of passing the car test, now it's classed as vocational and medicals are required, I think it may even be the same as C (HGV) where you need one every five years after 45.
This is all getting such a pain with all the rules and regs, are there any other jobs where you can go to prison for minor infringements, I think robbing banks is less risky now. I just can't wait until I can figure out a way to retire and still have a bit of pocket money spare.

[delta]

Sorry I started all this now . This is not funny but that chap in Scotland driving the dust cart managed to beat the system., Just checked my licence and yes sure enough in two years time when I am 65 it expires and than I will have to have a medical each year.
" same as racing licence"

[Tel 911S]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

With all this guff about the Driver's CPC, it got me thinking about my own driving licence, so had a a quick looksie at the DVLA about what I am entitled to drive. Good thing that I did, as it reminds me that in a few months' time I have to renew it when I reach 3 score and ten.

Yet even that renewal is not straight-forward and is confusing. It would seem as though if I want renew my ability to drive C1 and C1E class vehicles (upto 7.5 tonnes) you cannot do it online. I fail to see why not; surely any question that needs to be answered could be included online, and shouldn't need a piece of paper. But then the Gov dot uk website tells me that the C1 entitlement needs to be renewed annually after your 65th birthday, but mine is still current even though I am 69 and will remain so until the day before my next birthday. Talk about confusing!

If you want to keep your over 3.5 ton part of your licence , [ C classes ] , you need a renewal form from the DVLA ,& a D4 medical test form . This will require an eye test & then a medical from your doctor . [ That will probably cost £120 as it is considered private medical treatment ] Then that all has to be sent off to the DVLA .
But an ordinary licence can be renewed online .

[Mike Harte]

Thanks for that. Thinking about it rationally, I haven't needed to drive a LGV for the last 15 years, so I don't really know why I thought that I should renew that part of the licence. I don't imagine that I will actually use it again, and it's certainly not worth £120 a year!

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by delta

Sorry I started all this now Just checked my licence and yes sure enough in two years time when I am 65 it expires and than I will have to have a medical each year.
" same as racing licence"

Yup, and its more thorough than race medical! I pay £75 + VAT to a private Doc who specialises in Pilot, HGV and PSV medicals.

[Tim Falce]

Originally Posted by Mike Bell

Yup, and its more thorough than race medical! I pay £75 + VAT to a private Doc who specialises in Pilot, HGV and PSV medicals.

Last HGV medical I had my doc charged £50 (which my firm paid) then come my race medical two months later he said, "didn't I do your HGV a while back"? Yes says I, ah well I can copy most of it from your records, that'll be twenty quid please.

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by Tim Falce

Last HGV medical I had my doc charged £50 (which my firm paid) then come my race medical two months later he said, "didn't I do your HGV a while back"? Yes says I, ah well I can copy most of it from your records, that'll be twenty quid please.

Jammy sod!

[grantp]

I have heard there is a shortage of HGV drivers.

True?

If so, having followed the recent posts I am not surprised.


If only the NHS could apply the same standards to doctors ....

Once in a while, being determined to deny that age is creeping along, I had wondered about maybe doing a course for PSV/HGV categories for the fun of it and the opportunity to drive something large. I note, for example, that our Skylink bus service has a number of lady drivers and I thought that if they can do it so can I.

However if the while process has become that complex and bureaucratic I can't see where the fun would be.

I might go for something easier to understand. Rocket Science perhaps. Or Quantum Physics.

What are the rule makers going to move on to when road safety is "assured" by the use of autonomous delivery vehicles?

Maybe our breathing?

[Paul D]

Until her very recent retirement, my wife worked for a haulage/logistics firm for a long time. She confirms that the average age of HGV drivers is going up year on year - young ones just aren't seeing the attraction apparently!

Hardly surprising really is it? A job that once offered the lure of the open roads, doing your own thing and having no one breathing down your neck has been replaced by constant traffic jams, over-regulation, unattainable delivery schedules, hassle of dealing with jobsworths at many pick-up/drop-off depots and the ever present threat of 'The Ministry' who, seemingly, can remove your livelihood and treat you like the devil incarnate because you did half an hour's work three weeks ago that you failed to mention! Surely there isn't another job out there where your chances of persecution for minor oversights are as high as this?

Without wishing to upset the truck drivers on here - it's driving a truck, for f**** sake - the world isn't going to end because you took your break a bit late or drove for 15 minutes more than you were supposed to is it? You'd certainly think that was the case when reading through some of the draconian rules mentioned in previous posts.

It's a job I may have considered doing when I was younger, but if I was looking at it now, with all the bureaucratic bullsh*t involved these days, I think I'd run a mile! Hardly surprising, then, that younger people aren't interested in taking it up as a career...

Edit: do the American truck drivers have to put up with this sh*t? I have a suspicion that it's largely foisted upon us by our European 'friends'!

[Mike Harte]

Paul, what you say is theoretically correct. However, the problem is not necessarily the drivers, per se, although there are some rogue ones out there as in all walks of life, but it is the unscrupulous bosses (and there are some around) that would take advantage of their drivers if they were able to do so.

There have been instances in the past where over-tired HGV/LGV drivers have piled into the back of other vehicles because they were either "asleep" at the wheel or their brains just couldn't compute the fact that they were heading for a collision. Yes, the same happens with car drivers, but the consequences tend to be less catastrophic.

[Paul D]

Yes, absolutely Mike - I agree. My wife has told me about some such firms that have their drivers doing all sorts of things to try to circumvent the rules, so I do appreciate that.

What I was really trying to say was that I'm sure there are other jobs out there where the consequences of being over-tired are potentially at least as serious as those for truck drivers, but I suspect those occupations aren't as heavily regulated as HGV drivers.

Air-traffic controller, anyone? Doctors? Nurses? Train drivers? Taxi drivers? Ferry Captains? Even jobs such as weapons manufacture, drug manufacturers, car/truck/bus/aeroplane mechanic or fitter all carry potential fatal consequences if not carried out effectively. Are any of these as tightly over-regulated as the HGV driver industry? I don't know, but I have a suspicion...

[Colin McKay]

Paul & Mike, you're both right of course. I started out 40 years ago shortly before tachos were compulsory and there were certainly some dangerous firms around (including one I worked for that was regarded as a shining light by all and sundry, and still is). The regulation that came with the tachograph has been a good thing for the driver, but the trouble is they don't know when to stop (the regulators I mean, not the drivers). The duplication of tacho rules by the Working Time rules is a total nonsense and the Eurocrats should be ashamed of themselves for foisting such a pointless piece of legislation on the transport industry however much it was needed elsewhere.

However the real scandal is that at the end of the day, having juggled their working hours to comply with 2 differing sets of rules, complied with myriad other legislation, dodged a thousand suicidal motorists and cyclists, and worked all the hours they can to repay the £1000's it costs to get a licence in the first place......in this country at least, there are next to no facilities where they can safely spend the night, and they end up in a stinking layby or deserted industrial estate (or in the case of many foreign drivers, on motorway slip roads). In Kent, the council's solution to the 'inappropriate' parking problem has been to close all the laybys! Sorted that then!

There, I said I'd get back to normal superficiality

[Mike Bell]

Well said that man!

[delta]

Hey !!!!!! What we need is a convoy 😄 that was a great tune let them truckers roll 10. 4 . What ever that means

[Moosehead]

When I was a kid I always wanted to be a truck driver, read TRUCK magazine every month (still have them in the loft) bought loads of books, remember well the furore when tachos were introduced, visited local heavy haulage companies to see the trucks up close etc etc. Sadly the careers officer had other ideas and convinced my parents (dad was HGV workshop foreman at the time), teachers and even myself that driving a truck was not a sensible choice and that I should study towards engineering instead.

After nearly 30 years in an increasingly stressfull service engineer role I finally cried enough a couple of years ago. Decided I wanted to do something that I wanted to do. So as quick as was humanly possible with the way the system works I passed my Class 2 and then Class 1 (L)HGV tests and was fortunate to sign up with an agency that found me a Class 1 job. Nine months later the company took me on their books. It was the best career decision of my life. No more struggling to get motivated on a work day, no more worrying about yesterdays issues. Yes there are other 'stresses' - traffic, the ministry etc but all stuff that is only for that moment, nothing that keeps me awake at night.

If I ever meet that careers guy again I'll give him a smack in the mouth

[Tim Falce]

Originally Posted by Moosehead

It was the best career decision of my life. No more struggling to get motivated on a work day, no more worrying about yesterdays issues. Yes there are other 'stresses' - traffic, the ministry etc but all stuff that is only for that moment, nothing that keeps me awake at night.

If I ever meet that careers guy again I'll give him a smack in the mouth

It certainly beats being stuck in an office or workshop with *****ing colleagues on your back all day. My problem is that I work solely in London and in recent years Boris has ****ed the city completely, unless you ride a push bike, added to that the amount of drivers that either don't seem to have licences or passed a test in this country make the job very stressful.

[bauble]

I don't want to carp, but I rather think you chaps have not quite grasped the meaning of 'a natter'

Reading this section recently, well not ACTUALLY READING IT, makes the minutes of any European Union committee meeting sound as exciting as a decent western story.

I fear for 2016 is we continue to wallow in misery for the next 12 months.

Come on fellas, lighten up a bit.

A tortoise was mugged by a snail, and when the police asked him to describe his attacker he replied; "I don't know. It all happened so fast."


Sorry to cast a little humour into this wake.

[Mike Bell]

Convoy- brilliant!

Bob, why do all tea break posts have to be humorous?

Where I was an apprentice, tea breaks quite often consisted of listening to one employee describing his experiences in a Far East PoW camp during the war.

They were far from humorous!

[Mike Harte]

What's a tea break?

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

What's a tea break?

45 minutes after 4.5 driving hours!

Just seen film of the bizarre pink bottle problem on that Cornish beach! Doesn't sound quite so odd when they mention that a container of Vanish sunk off the coast a while back.....

[Tim Falce]

Originally Posted by Mike Bell

45 minutes after 4.5 driving hours!

Nooo, that's sleep time.

[delta]

Going back to dry January . Got took out for lunch today . There in the Pub "Hob Goblin " . I did not give in . But I'm going of apple juice fast

[grantp]

Originally Posted by Mike Bell

45 minutes after 4.5 driving hours!

Just seen film of the bizarre pink bottle problem on that Cornish beach! Doesn't sound quite so odd when they mention that a container of Vanish sunk off the coast a while back.....

So presumably that's one beach that will be clean enough to pass the EU inspection then?

[Lancsbreaker]

Iain - stop it, the glow off your halo is dazzling!

[terence]

You sure its not just the sun bouncing of a shiny surface.