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TruckNet UK...
Page 13
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Rikki Chequer, community manager for TruckNet UK reports on the past week's hot topics of discussion among members of the UK's leading internet forum for professional drivers.
I open this week's column with good news (for TruckNet UK at least). To mark its entrance into higher weight brackets in the UK, Isuzu has decided to sponsor our New and Wannabes forum. Our sponsors ensure that TruckNet UK remains the biggest discussion website for the UK transport industry, so many thanks I suzu and welcome!
Just how many of us are decrepit and knackered is a question posed in the Professional Drivers forum. Worryingly, only 32% of respondents claim to be fit and healthy while 19% claim to be "knackered really genuinely limited in what I can do. but still driving". While the subject is being dealt with in a lighthearted fashion, it is a sad indictment of drivers' health.
The Tesco drivers' strike receives a fair amount of discussion; one bizarre comment is from a driver with a Corgi Tesco model truck for sale on eBay who received an e-mail "hoping he did not upset the striking drivers by selling it', With the current debate on Longer Heavier Vehicles (LHVs) raging here in the UK, an interesting perspective on these vehicles comes in a topic called "First Week'', posted by a TruckNet UK member in Finland. He gives us an insight into driving these ultraheavies in words and photos.
Owners and fleet operators are discussing the depressing subject of payment terms. Some are working on 30 days from invoice; some allow clients 60 days: and a few are allowing 90 days. But sometimes the terms don't seem to mean much one former owner-driver sums up the industry by revealing: "My customers didn't want to pay at all."
A sign of the times or a step back to the 1980s? A number of TruckNet UK members have been enquiring via the Euro Drivers forum whether Dutch companies still hire UK drivers.
With many UK firms no longer running abroad, will this really become the only real option for UK drivers who want to experience tramping across Europe?
As always these are only a few of the hundreds of discussions going on at TruckNet UK. The website is free to join and use and everyone is welcome. So drop by and have your say next week you might see your comments highlighted in this column.