Truckin!

Attitudes like this are the reason for such strict rules in the first place. That said, The fact livestock drivers and milk lorry drivers are exempt from such regulations is a total joke.

I can understand where @ponderosa is coming from, if a driver is so close to his base/home an extra 30 mins isn't going to make a hell of a difference but on the other side of the coin if there was leeway given it would be abused.
Once upon a time I used do an odd week of get up on a Tuesday morning around 5am and the only bed I got between that and Thursday night was a few hours kip on the boat to Fishguard then onwards to Italy with 8 or 10 drops of the finest Irish beef out of Rathdowney. Sleep in the lory Thursday night, finish doing the drops, do a few collections and point her for Mont Blanc Friday night and no stopping until gone through Dover Saturday night, back to Carlow Sud Sunday night. I only done it an odd time but there were lads at it week in week out.

It was f'ing lunacy but c'est la vie.
@Joseph 88 isn't looking at it from a drivers perspective but can see where he's coming from.
It was lunacy but it was the done thing. Manys the day/night going down the road seeing things in front of you from the lack of sleep, remember once slowing to to a near halt for a corner that wasn't there at all... Was on a pure straight road😅 Budapest in hungry was the furthest I went with fek all sleep, twas wild work.
My last job i finished up I used to leave sligo at 2 in the morning, and wouldn't be home till 6 or 7 in the evening 5 days a week. Pay was good but twas a long day, was a decent fella to work for so that helped as well.
 
Nick Ferrari spoke more sense. Flynn talking about contracts being done for 2 - 3 years is bull, they cut the rates and had drivers on poorish pay and now that drivers are wanting a rise the hauliers are in a corner because they haven't allowed for that in their "contracts" hence in an an article I posted yesterday they are looking to source drivers outside the EU so they pay them what the so called contracts allow.
 
I can understand where @ponderosa is coming from, if a driver is so close to his base/home an extra 30 mins isn't going to make a hell of a difference but on the other side of the coin if there was leeway given it would be abused.
Once upon a time I used do an odd week of get up on a Tuesday morning around 5am and the only bed I got between that and Thursday night was a few hours kip on the boat to Fishguard then onwards to Italy with 8 or 10 drops of the finest Irish beef out of Rathdowney. Sleep in the lory Thursday night, finish doing the drops, do a few collections and point her for Mont Blanc Friday night and no stopping until gone through Dover Saturday night, back to Carlow Sud Sunday night. I only done it an odd time but there were lads at it week in week out.

It was f'ing lunacy but c'est la vie.
I used do a run once a week as a second driver maybe starting at 1.30 am, I'd go to bed at 9.00pm or so after a days work but it might be 10 ish before I'd sleep and wake after 2 hrs, decide feck this I'll get up, have a bit of grub and a lash of coffee and go meet the other lad at 1.30, do my four and a half hours and then swap, by now its 6am and I'm in the bunk but not really sleeping and up around Omagh, 2 hours later and we are doing the first drop and I'm back behind the wheel for another four and a half hours, take a lunch break and the other lad does another few hours and I'm back driving again for another hour at maybe 5pm, legal but absolutely knackered.
 
I can understand where @ponderosa is coming from, if a driver is so close to his base/home an extra 30 mins isn't going to make a hell of a difference but on the other side of the coin if there was leeway given it would be abused.
Once upon a time I used do an odd week of get up on a Tuesday morning around 5am and the only bed I got between that and Thursday night was a few hours kip on the boat to Fishguard then onwards to Italy with 8 or 10 drops of the finest Irish beef out of Rathdowney. Sleep in the lory Thursday night, finish doing the drops, do a few collections and point her for Mont Blanc Friday night and no stopping until gone through Dover Saturday night, back to Carlow Sud Sunday night. I only done it an odd time but there were lads at it week in week out.

It was f'ing lunacy but c'est la vie.
There was a time i did crazy hours around harvest etc. In the end decided it wasn’t worth it and retired to a blissful life of of agri contracting only the calls keep coming lately. Hardship seems to follow some people !
 
No mention of the silage men or young men generally working with contractors in some cases 7 days aweek 12 hour days would be short if that's all they were ,at silage time for maybe up to 3 weeks if weather is permitting.

As bogman said it's not exactly a consistent approach of rules from authorities.
 
No mention of the silage men or young men generally working with contractors in some cases 7 days aweek 12 hour days would be short if that's all they were ,at silage time for maybe up to 3 weeks if weather is permitting.

As bogman said it's not exactly a consistent approach of rules from authorities.
Be careful what you wish for
 
I don't think I'm wishing for anything. Just highlighting inconsistent rules,so no wonder they get broken when there is a rule.
Two different industries, there are a lot of exemptions for agriculture when it comes to health & safety regulations in particular.
 
alot of them wouldn t advertise. they would source through other drivers, word of mouth, etc
how i got some of the work down in the port but i find with it's still not a guarateed work. i'd be only going down there if the contractor was badly stuck for a driver but from what i heard last week, theres plenty i could down there besides tractor and trailer work. asked me to do loader work in town but i couldnt due to the bales. would have loved to. an idiot like me up on an L150, would have been fun tbh. new toy to play with as you will
 
No mention of the silage men or young men generally working with contractors in some cases 7 days aweek 12 hour days would be short if that's all they were ,at silage time for maybe up to 3 weeks if weather is permitting.

As bogman said it's not exactly a consistent approach of rules from authorities.
I know one lad who's after buying a tractor and a 32ft low loader to do the job of which a 30ft beavertail would be better suited doing and for no reason other than all the rules and regulations that would have came with the truck and not the tractor. Anyone with a provisional can hop up and drive the tractor, the tractor and trailer doesn't need to be tested every few months, cheaper diesel and it's cheaper to tax and insure. Only real difference is the speed with the tractor only able to do 56kph which is still fast enough. Point is anyway there's a serious gap between all the rules and regulations for 2 vehicles that are essentially capable of doing the exact same job.
 
I know one lad who's after buying a tractor and a 32ft low loader to do the job of which a 30ft beavertail would be better suited doing and for no reason other than all the rules and regulations that would have came with the truck and not the tractor. Anyone with a provisional can hop up and drive the tractor, the tractor and trailer doesn't need to be tested every few months, cheaper diesel and it's cheaper to tax and insure. Only real difference is the speed with the tractor only able to do 56kph which is still fast enough. Point is anyway there's a serious gap between all the rules and regulations for 2 vehicles that are essentially capable of doing the exact same job.
A new truck is cheaper than a new tractor . While people do use tractors for truck work it is not a big problem for the haulage industry.
 
I know one lad who's after buying a tractor and a 32ft low loader to do the job of which a 30ft beavertail would be better suited doing and for no reason other than all the rules and regulations that would have came with the truck and not the tractor. Anyone with a provisional can hop up and drive the tractor, the tractor and trailer doesn't need to be tested every few months, cheaper diesel and it's cheaper to tax and insure. Only real difference is the speed with the tractor only able to do 56kph which is still fast enough. Point is anyway there's a serious gap between all the rules and regulations for 2 vehicles that are essentially capable of doing the exact same job.
Seen lads taking beet and straw from east cork to kerry in tractors and they probably take no notice of it, but having done similar runs and longer on a truck it would do your head in to take a tractor.
90km/h at 1200 rpm is so nice in comparision. but possibly cheaper to burn twice as much fuel in a tractor for some than pay for haulage
 
Eastern European drivers solve driver crisses
 

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Heard yesterday that one of the pair of drivers that lifts our milk is no longer doing it.@fiatagri10090dt knows him and probaly @mixedfleet might.
Seemingly parked up and sin è.
Well at least there shouldn't be any more deductions from our milk cheques to cover repairs to the tanker.
As the tictok people say , was it out of a f..king lucky bag you got your licence .....which did apply in this case.
Drivers will be even harder to get for a milk run regardless of what there paid
 
had a bit of an interesting discussion with me old mechanic friend yesterday. He was on about the hino trucks he used to work on in the 70s and 80s. I think it was a haris crowd he said used to assemble them. He was fairly certain nearly all of them he worked on had an eaton gearbox and was wondering did haris fit the eaton boxes to trucks they assembled here. would anyone here know if they did or not?
 
had a bit of an interesting discussion with me old mechanic friend yesterday. He was on about the hino trucks he used to work on in the 70s and 80s. I think it was a haris crowd he said used to assemble them. He was fairly certain nearly all of them he worked on had an eaton gearbox and was wondering did haris fit the eaton boxes to trucks they assembled here. would anyone here know if they did or not?
I think @Bog Man posted an article about Pino Harris before. You're on the right track anyway
 
had a bit of an interesting discussion with me old mechanic friend yesterday. He was on about the hino trucks he used to work on in the 70s and 80s. I think it was a haris crowd he said used to assemble them. He was fairly certain nearly all of them he worked on had an eaton gearbox and was wondering did haris fit the eaton boxes to trucks they assembled here. would anyone here know if they did or not?
Ring Harris and ask them, there's probably stull someone knocking around that's there that long, they were assembling Hino's from the 60's up until Toyota pulled out of the European market 5 or 6 years ago.
 
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