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TruckNet UK's Rikki Chequer finds out what drives truck drivers to get behind the wheel each day...
Page 9
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The drivers using the TruckNet UK forums were set a challenge: describe why they do a job that is undervalued, looked down at by the general public, over-regulated and highly disruptive to family life.
As you might expect, the answers were many and varied. One driver writes: "Despite what everyone says, it's still the best job in the world for me," Another says: "After spending my youth in the passenger seat of a truck, it was a natural progression. Best move I ever made."
A different point of view is also expressed: "I couldn't imagine being anywhere else, seeing different places and different people every day, so I must do it for love, because I certainly don't do it for the money... at least, not yet."
A few respondents say they do the job because it's the only or the best way of earning money in their area. But most show a passion for our industry.
Despite being barred from parking overnight anywhere near civilisation, being blamed for every traffic problem that ever happened and being stereotyped over and over again as thundering, speeding, juggernauts, there are still people that love the freedom of the road, the challenge of being their own manager in a small mobile office and having responsibility for more than £100,000 of truck and load.
There is no doubt that the squeeze is really starting to bite hauliers, with major names almost daily announcing more driver redundancies and smaller companies quietly shutting their doors and selling off their fleets. Agencies have little work, and the work they do have frequently pays pitifully.
However, it is passion for our industry and a belief in our professionalism that will pull us through this recession. The drivers who do it for the love of the job are the ones that will carry on until they are forced out. As an industry, we are losing committed people — the very people needed to carry road transport forward when the upswing in the economy occurs.
The worst asset to lose is people with a passion for their work, but unless we find a way to stop the worrying spiral of job losses, that is exactly what we will find a shortage of.