It's still a job worth doing
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I read Will Shiers' comment with interest (CM 28 November). I was one of those child truck enthusiasts! I have finally made it behind the wheel of my own lorry, but it has taken 30 years — most of which have been spent working on
other jobs offering greater financial reward. Coming to the industry as late as I have, it's not the low pay or long hours that have surprised me the most. The lack of any public
awareness, appreciation or understanding of trucks is startling.
I have been amazed at the risks that motorists and other road users are prepared to take around LGVs, and yet it is always the lorry driver who is to blame.
The recent debate over cyclists in London has been characterised by one-sided commentators pillorying LGVs from all angles without any mention of the need for road transport or even a thought that most LGV operators would avoid entering city centres if they could — if only the residents would stop ordering the goods that need transporting! And I couldn't agree more with the "secondclass citizen" point. The one thing that gets me after all the overwhelming regulation, unpopularity, poverty, unfair foreign competition, massive running costs, Vosa and spurious road closures is having to deal with your average RDC security guard on a
power trip! Still, driving crossing the Pennines at dawn
to the tune of a Scania V8 is worth it! George Brewis MD DLS Plastics