Ey up Fozzy lad! Good video, sensible advice as always. I am fairly new into the general haulage industry too, Last june(2023) my father passed away and I was living with him, and had to lose the house and basically become homeless. - a long story and complicated, don't want to go into it. At the time I was doing removals, which I have been doing since 1988, with a few different jobs in between. I will be 58 next month - a bit of a late bloomer, one might say. So it was basically a kick up the arse time - my mate put me up until I got a flat to rent, I currently held a class 2 licence, since 2013 - yes, fairly recent, too I might add. And I though "How do I earn enough money to live?" (btw I am single, no partner) I decided to go for my class 1 and used a tesco credit card to pay the £1999 that was required - paid it back now. I passed the test(s) in August and went with an agency which introduced me to a local-ish about 20 miles away haulage company - MLH transport near Ely, Cambs, with which I am currently employed now. I was put on rigids - 7.5 to 26t for a few months to get used to the workings of the industry itself, Building sites, RDC's all with different but similar rules and systems, as well as driving a different vehicle all the time, most of them auto but a few manual, the 2 daf 6 wheelers have the 4 up 4 down gearstick with the switch, right clunky old girls, near on 800,000 on the clock lol. My first artic gig was november , taking a curtain sider load of office cabinets and stuff to the new shepperton studios near Kingston London, the site foreman was like Hitler, me misunderstanding him and cocking it up and almost panicking! I got where they wanted me eventually no harm done. Connected the anderson lead up and went to operate the tail lift mechanism, but not a peep out of it. The foreman was going " Got anther one booked in in 30 minutes, will have to have you out of here!" It turned out that the socket on the unit wasn't working, maybe a big fuse blown or something, so I called the office and they called back the other driver who was heading northbound on the M25, so He got back, uncoupled his unit and plugged the lead into his - and it worked! Now back to the present - Had a weird day today - First thing was be at a place for 6 am, engineering firm, delivering machines that were used during the covid that were picked up from an auction company in Port Talbot. After the first driver was tipped I went to my vehicle around the corner and went to start her up, a 19 plate DAF 480 - not a sausage, dash lights up, the familiar d-d-dang! - horrible beeping and red flashing warning - Transmission failure! Rang the night mobile number as it was still only 7 and old mike, bless him answered - he's the father of the company basically and usually mans the phone, he said " Ey all rioght, doodley?" (My name is actually Dudley btw) and he gave our spanners guy a ring. In the meantime I got it somehow started and pulled up and went to back up - it jolted and lurched like a bastard with the gentlest touch on the throttle but somehow got her in without a scratch or bump, and unloading began. When he got here, he plugged the computer thing in and came up with codes leading to a damaged or corroded wire having something to do with the clutch actuator - Aha, I thought. She drove ok in forward but the problem seemed to be with the reverse gear. So got back to our main yard and I was swapped to a rigid 18t sent to metsa timber yard Boston. Slow ain't the word for it - turned up there about 11:50 left at 16:20! got home about 7! Thats it for now sorry about the long comment lol
Yeah that’s how you pronounce Ardrossan, was that Hamilton services? I’m just over the road behind Bothwell services 😂 Agreed it’s always the drivers call whether it’s safe to go into a site or not, I’ve gotten stuck when I was a lot younger because I listened to someone on site who then promptly disappeared when I got stuck! Lesson learned
@@Dudleymiddleton I always wear shorts. If they want me to wear my protective stuff I put on my orange overalls. Problem is I look like a traffic cone lol
Thanks bud, we are very lucky. Not pushed and very easy going so can’t complain lol some days are hard but generally it’s good .. don’t leave it too long bud lol
Great video mate, I worked for a few companies that had transport managers and clerks that didn’t have HGV licenses and often tried to send artics to places only suitable for vans or 7.5t I was lucky to get a lot of experience in the smaller stuff before moving to general haulage then working my way up to the big stuff and although I have my license and am mainly up to date I don’t know if I would go back I left the industry with a bad taste in my mouth and a bad experience with a particular manager and moved to something totally different then after getting laid off I gave up my career to become my wife’s carer where I’m happily plodding away (although missing the money but not the stress or early/long shifts 😂)
I’ve just been busy with life and helping my daughter with her social media as she got very busy, so between that and work and life lol just takes a little time. It’s not for the want of wanting to do it :-) thanks for your support
Great video, some strange houses down that way bit colourful and modern but soulless 😂. Must admit Martin I unsubscribed as I thought you had packed this in and I did reach out in the comments, still nice you’re back and I did resubscribe oopsy
You have described a broken country - there are not enough truckstops in the UK, and as you say the facillities are run down, worn out and dirty and ridiculously expensive. Why does it cost 30 or more quid to park for one night? When snap first come out I thought Hey cheaper hgv parking at last! What an absolute con. The pot holes and craters that are found at every one of them bugger up your lorries costing more money! RDC's - no two of them have the same system of operation, some you drive straight in and go to transport office , some are gated with intercom that is often broken, some you have to hand keys in some you don't - there's a whole list of it! Thanks for your chat mate, keep on trucking! Knights of the road!
I've noticed something watching you and couple other UK truckers.... taking the license plates of the trailers when dropping them. I have a question.. in the UK, do you not have to register each trailer? Here in the states, we have to register each trailer & each trailer has it's own license (number) plate.
Great vid if you come into Kingspan in North Wales it’s two straps each pallet regardless of size I occasionally do the gantry but we are here to help the driver ,I also deliver the panels but only drive a three and a half ton flatbed ,keep up the good content like to see the trips
Hi Chris, Thankyou for the comment. I’ve been to your place lots of time to load, top place bud. And decent if you guys to help. I’ll give you a shout if I get there again. Take care mate.
hi m8 your lucky enuff not 2 be able to remember the days b4 air susspentionon trucks in the dark and cold having 2 wind the legs up when fully loaded so you could back your unit under it , i take it that loads had come in from over the water becouse all the strapps where on the wrong side
Another great video mate any chance of getting 1080p or is that too difficult either way enjoying the videos, rookie mistake forgetting your hat, I always carried spare clothes, gloves boots etc (don’t know how many times I’ve gotten soaked and needed to change) harder to do if it’s not permanently your own vehicle but these are the things we all learn. Keep up the good work mate! Also is there a video missing? I remember leaving a long comment on one that’s disappeared about my adventures while training.
I think it’s out of context now but it was something about being scarred by learning my class one around Sheffield and staying in the worst bedsit you’ve ever seen in Barnsley because the company forgot I was coming to train for the week and the hotel they used was full, my mrs thought I was just homesick until she saw the place 😂. She lovingly drove down on the Friday morning to pick me up after my test as the first lorry going back home wasn’t leaving until the Sunday and I’d had enough! Might have been a “short” video that I commented on
Dude, you are amazing to watch!. It's like watching a very good documentary but the narrator is on camera Vlogging instead of production & camera crews.. Hopefully I'm making sense 😂
Hey Fozzy! New subscriber. Loving the content & your personality already. How often to vlog?. I'd say 2+ times a week would be awesome. Content?.you Trucking lol...would love a truck tour inside and out. Lot more I'd like to ask but.. will spread it out over your vlogs lol I don't use tiktok, constantly flooded with garbage. I'm an American Trucker. Obsessed with trucks & Trucking all around the world. Looking forward to the future of your channel.
Nice video mate and the makings of a good channel. My suggestion is 2 vids a week, and PLEASE don't make them any longer than about 30 minutes. I love Jenko, for example, but the videos are too long. Many don't have the time to watch and keep up-to-date with long videos and you get behind, with no time or motivation to catch up. Keep up the good work
Nice one Fozzy, enjoyed that.👍👍👍 Good content,especially about "Health n Safety". In an industry that's awash with rules and regs its important to keep up with procedure and doing things correctly. Good to see you stopping at the Stockyard,cracking place with great food and facilities.
