Why has trucking become so unpopular?

As someone who has held an HGV1 licence since the early 1990s, I have watched and witnessed a steady decline in the appeal of the job in recent years.

UK governments past and present, have all tried to find out why so many 'truckers' are throwing in the towel and leaving the business, and why the standards of driving currently, also seems to be dropping.

In a nutshell, the job isn't what it once was. The hours are far too long (up to 15 hours a day), more is expected of the driver other than just driving, and attacks, thefts and unsafe parking, have made the job undesirable.

Then of course, there is increased traffic, loads of unsuitable road diversions because of road works, and the general loathing of being stuck behind a truck, by impatient car drivers, putting lives at risk by dangerous overtaking, especially approaching the exit they want on a motorway! (#RoadRage is an added factor there too)

The media and the headline 'repeaters', shout loudly and regularly that the job is well paid and drivers earn ￡50k - ￡60k a year - this is mostly untrue and vastly exaggerated. In most HGV1 roles, if you're willing to work 50 - 60 hours a week, start on a Sunday night or in the very early hours of a Monday morning, run back in on the following Saturday, and you actually meet all the requirements of the mostly unrealistic 'bonuses' on offer, you may hit a gross of ￡40k a year, but most do not.

I have been asked to undertake manual unloading, heavy lifting, use of an on-truck forklift to do my own loading/unloading and ALL without any added payment. THEN, I am expected to driver for NINE or TEN hours a day, and not be tired at the wheel! I have refused on all occasions to use a forklift on my trailer!

#Aldi & #Lidl for example, now expect truck drivers to unload all pallets off their 40 feet trailers and place them in tidy lanes inside their warehouse!! Not only is this extra work for the driver, but jobs at these warehouses are lost as a result. Too many drivers in my opinion, all too readily accepted this and thus made a rod for the back of the rest of us.

Many companies will not pay drivers to stay in safe parking areas meaning they are left alone and insecure in laybys or industrial estates overnight with truck crime being rife. That said, even the so-called 'safe parking' areas these days, seem anything but SAFE! Curtains are regularly slashed, loads stolen and drivers robbed in motorway service areas and truckstops.

I worked for quite a few years on music touring, mainly across Europe and had to deal with illegal immigrants trying to get on board and hide within or even underneath trailers. If the drivers didn't see them and the ports didn't locate them either, a driver could be fined almost a year's wages as a result!

Then of course, there are the many fines that come out of drivers wages because of traffic and speeding offences. Now okay, most of these are the driver's own fault, BUT legislation is now such, that things outside of the driver's direct control can also lead to a fine!

I decided several years ago that I no longer wanted to undertake HGV1 work, but sometimes, it is the only kind of work I can get at 67 years old and with bills and rent to pay. I have given up music touring mainly due to being away from home for weeks at a time, but I remember most of my time doing that, very fondly, although the last couple of years of it, left some sour tastes for varying reasons, and even the comradery that used to exist in that area of trucking, seems to have waned on my more recent tours.

It is without a doubt, a young man's game, where you will spend most of your week away from home, sleeping in your cab and listening out for every suspicious noise outside, because of the increasing criminal activity. You may get gassed while they rob you, or you may just sleep while they take your load and your fuel! Meanwhile, the government still wonder why they can't recruit enough new drivers and why so many others are leaving trucking in their droves!

Ross Hemsworth B.A. (Hons) Open (Law, Social Sciences) Diploma in Law