News

TruckNet UK community manager Rikki Chequer learns that truck driving is more appealing when the economy is appalling...

Despite the dark economic clouds, there seems to be no drop-off in the number of people interested in obtaining vocational licences – and in those using the New and Wannabe forum to  gain insight into the industry and the training.

In fact the number of people currently outside the industry taking an interest seems to be increasing. Could this be a result of nervousness in other professions and the feeling that essential goods will always need to be moved?

Contrary to the optimism in the New and Wannabe forum, the Professional Drivers forum is filling up with news and comments about short-time working, trucks being parked up/sent back off lease and a saddening number of drivers facing redundancies.

So it seems that, in practice, driving is not a safe bolt hole in difficult times. A lot of experienced drivers are out there looking for work, and new entrants are going to find it increasingly difficult to get a start.

The owner-drivers are also contemplating the current state  of the economy. An ongoing discussion concerns fuel card weekly rates, and one owner-driver is less than pleased that last week he was offered 95.74p/lit from one card and 96.24p/lit from another, while other owner-drivers report prices as low as 87p/lit from the same companies.

As he says: "Looks like I'm being royally ripped off. Not that it matters I don't think I'll be using any this week. In fact I can see the half tank I've got left lasting me till Christmas at this rate!"

It's a common theme running through that forum at the moment, with owners in all sectors reporting a massive drop in the decent work available. It's normally at this point in my column that I point out something more cheerful, and I'm usually helped by posts from the Old Time forum.

This week, however, even there things have taken a turn for the worse. A plea for info on the Seddon Atkinson 401 and 411 (A truck model I hate with a vengeance, having driven one for a number of years) has turned up some positive comments about the thing... are they all raving mad?