Getting a hgv license is something I would like to do.

Funny

I had an email this morning from chichester harbour conservancy (who i work for as a 2nd job occasioannly ) telling me of a job oppertunity. Going to apply.

Good luck!

Haulage isn't the job it used to be ... there's no money in it now, the hours and conditions are positively Victorian and you're pushed all the time. Unless you have (like I do) a deep rooted love of all things big and mechanical, are completely happy with your own company for hours, sometimes days at a time and don't mind being treated with disdain by security staff and fork lift truck drivers, I wouldn't recommend it as a career. That said, working nights is usually a different ball game, and if you are the "right" sort of person, it's a great job. I love it ... usually.

I dont know whether to apply for it. Ive got good chances as they all know me and i have a part time job there already so hae my foot in the door.

Downside is id go from full time eployment to seasonal.

But then there could he an oppertunity if one of the two all year round'ers leave..

Itd be good for my 2cv as id like to jpin traffic police one day,
Job is harbour patrol (doing people for speeding, rapid responce to medical / distress calls, saving lives etc)

Hmmm

I spent 5 years as a FLT driver and the next 30 years as a "Gantry" crane driver in my local steelworks [until my retirement in 2005].
I use to envy the drivers of the HGV's I was loading with steel .....I was stuck in my crane 24/7 on the same 400yds of track .... and these guys were going all over England [and Europe]
Some of them were really nice guys .....others had an an attitude problem ..... and both myself and my "stockman" [the guy on the floor who told me what to load] could'nt do a thing right for them
Working nights was good .....in the early evenings we would get a lorry come in for loading and the driver would let us know he was "over his hours" and promptly either go to sleep or go to the nesarest pub,asking us to waken him at a certain time [or when the "morning shift" arrived for work]......this would be done with the offer of a cuppa if we knew the driver concerned was a good bloke ...

So as an ex FLT/Crane driver ....the best advice I can give is to be OK with them,and they'll be OK with you ......I cant speak for the Security Staff ......they hated us too ....
]
]best regards
T.

I'd love to drive an HGV and wished I'd gone for the test years ago when it was relatively cheap to get - however, on the experience of the HGV drivers in my business, I would have to take lessons in being a whinging, grumpy bastard first...

We used to take the P. out of the "whinging,grumpy b*st*rds" something rotten .....just for starters we'd keep him waiting .....my stockman would tell him that his load was behind/under the load the lorry behind him in queue wanted [that way,he got "queue jumped"] .....and then I would deliberately take my time and ensure that he was'nt satisfied with the way I was loading the steel onto his lorry .....[that was amazing ..... some of the stupid b*st*rds used to think that they could actually control 10 to 15 tons of steel which was being loaded onto their trailer by pulling on it with all their weight .....all I had to do was move my crane a coupla inches and they were fubar'd ] ..... the final trick would be for my "stockman" to put the wrong weight on the "shipping note" [just slightly overweight ......by doing this,when the said "grumpy b*st*rd" got back to the weighbridge [all lorries were weighed going in & out of our factory] .....the "Security" would think he was nicking something .....and then they would send him back to us .....after searching his lorry] .....all we would do then was take the last "lift" off'n his lorry and re-weigh it .....and then send him on way [with a thinly veiled sarcastic "apology" ].

There was no wonder the security staff hated us ....or the grumpy b*st*rds

And then again .....we'd get good drivers who were doing the "continental run" ....they would stroll into our mess-room,ask if "there was a brew going" & throw a pack of duty free ciggies on the table,and sit and have a tea/coffee/smoke with us .....its all about attitude.

best regards
T.

Get a job at customs and immigration, they spend a lot of time looking into haulage.

Some lorry drivers are their own worst enemies. As someone who's always been reasonably laid back and able to see that if you hand out attitude to those with the power to piss you about, you'll usually get pissed about, I've never understood the guys who go in all guns blazing at the smallest opportunity. You'll be pleased to know I'm usually as nice as I can possibly be to FLT drivers and their ilk. Mind you, if I get attitude from them ... well, it works both ways.

I've acquired a Citroen thermal roof liner for the 2cv... Not looked at it yet - how hard are they to fit? Just weighing up whether or not I can be arsed to do it tonight!