Whatever happened to................

[Rocket88]

Those blokes you used to see at busy road junctions, trade plates under one arm, holding up a piece of cardboard with their destination scrawled on it? They all seem to have disappeared, is this way of making a living gone forever, and has anyone on here ever tried it?

[Guest]

They're still about, saw couple in last few days but admittedly not seen them for yonks prev.

All 'my' now cars are delivered by 'em. self employed gadges who deliver them with fumeage left in the tank

 

Think many now just train it back to base as the worlds turned into a trust no-one environment they'd be years hitching a lift

[dollywobbler]

Saw one only last week. Idiot was standing on a blind bend so by the time you'd recognised that there was someone there, you were 200m down the road.

[Rocket88]

Always looked like a precarious way to make a living, and the blokes who did it always looked like they leaved in a seedy bed sit somewhere, with a one bar electric fire, and just a mangy old cat for company.

[worldofceri]

You still see them occasionally, but I expect it's getting harder and harder to get a lift. A lot of companies expressly forbid carrying 'unauthorised' passengers; I don't know what they think might happen. I expect it stems from the terms of insurance policies as much as anything - that and the fear and mistrust of strangers we all seem to suffer from.

 

I've only picked someone up once. He was outside the Toyota factory at Burnaston, so presumably he'd just delivered something there, and his next job was from Barnsley. I was heading for Bradford, so he was well chuffed that I was able to drop him just a couple of miles from where he needed to be.

 

Virtual pint to the first Autoshiteist who hitch-hikes to collect his next bit of Ebay tat!

[pompei]

A friend of Mrs P's husband was made redundant last year and did this for a couple of weeks. He said it was the worst fortnight of his life.

[sporty-shite]

Didn't lankytim of this parish do it for a short while?

 

Don't seem to remember hearing of him "loving it", though.

[Vinylseats]

Whatever happened to.... Those blokes you used to see at busy road junctions, trade plates under one arm, holding up a piece of cardboard with their destination scrawled on it?

 

Also known as hitchhikers.

[catsinthewelder]

A few years back I hitch-hiked to work for a couple of weeks after the engine detonated on our Renault. It was good fun and fairly efficient, I only left the house half an hour earlier than normal and was late once. I needed to get taxis home though, people seem happier to give lifts in the sticks but not at 10pm

[Split_Pin]

I see them on the train from time to time but I don't recall seeing one thumbing a lift

[Lankytim]

Yeah, I used to do it!

 

TBH it was great fun, and the people who picked you up were always very nice. I usually only had to wait a maximum of 20 mins or so, often I got picked up within seconds!

 

Money was terrible though as I had to pay for train tickets e.t.c out of my own money (hence the hitchhiking) Often id make a tenner for a 15 hour day, or even end up losing money!

 

I never damaged any vehicles, but if I did the insurance excess was £500, something which would wipe me out for a month or so. I had to be very careful when checking cars over i'd collected and make sure id noted any dents or scratches as i'd be liable for any damage that was present when I delvered the car. Many drivers got caught out that way.

 

Basically, it was a shit job, but I still loved it!

[CreepingJesus]

My dad did it for a few years. He was S/E, so claimed train tickets etc., back at the end of the year. He still hitched tho', and sometimes phoned me up if he was nearby! It wasn't a great living, but he reckoned that knowing how to thumb a lift, and looking clean and presentable made all the difference.

He would tramp a long trip over a couple of days; work from Glasgow up to say, Aberdeen or Inverness, for a pickup. Perfect places, he reckoned - they weren't too big, and you could always hitch to the outlying areas. Get pickup back down south (quite a few companies he worked for had yards in the Thames Valley, plenty were in places like Peterboro' or MK), take anything northbound again, and chain jobs and hitches 'til he arrived back in Glasgow again.

The work kinda dried up at the same time as his health started to go. The problem was that (iirc) the end of the WTD exemption for S/E drivers was on the horizon, and most of those guys worked mega-hours, by the WTD definition anyway. We worked on a business model/plan that would involve keeping the trips (and therefore hours) short, storing the cars centrally and taking them down south on a transporter. Never came to fruition tho'; but he always did tell me to be kind to hitchers, especially platers. And I have - I've picked up a few, despite most haulage companies expressly forbidding it.

But hey, I'm a truck driver. It's my duty to kill a hitcher or two, right? Nearly did it once as well...

[warren t claim]

Tim, was it Uniloads you were working for?

[Lankytim]

No, it was a company called Central England Vehicle Logistics. Coxy from the Audi forum owns the firm, thats how I got the job in the first place.

 

Hitchiking in Scotland is now BANNED as its classed as vagrancy!

[CreepingJesus]

Hitchiking in Scotland is now BANNED as its classed as vagrancy!

 

No, it's banned in all of the UK in places which you shouldn't be on foot anyhow, i.e., motorways. Given that we've got very little actual motorway up here, and that the M74 has a good number of services on it, where it is perfectly legal to thumb a lift, it's easy!

In fact, the last hitcher I picked up was a student, heading for Glasgow. Picked him up at Johstonebridge, dropped him at Hamilton. Not quite there, but a good bit nearer!

[Lankytim]

Dunno why that site has a guide to Scotland, as hitching is deffo banned!

 

Its so banned that my employers would pay for a train back to the first stop in England, and i'd have to hitch back from there. My employers were VERY tight indeed and there was no way they would pay for anything if there was any way they could get out of it.

 

*edit* can't find anything relating to hitching being banned in Scotchland, so maybe its not!

[oman5]

I still see trade platers quite regularly on the coldra roundabout, J24 M4. Carcraft or whatever they're called these days are just down the road along with several other non-shite car dealers.

I'm a wagon driver and while its good to have company it'd be instant dismissal for picking up passengers. not insured, and this is the case with pretty much every haulage firm

[greengartside]

I saw one just now coming home, trying to thumb a lift to somewhere. Tooted my horn at him of course! He wasn't too pleased at that

[AnthonyG]

Seen them about the train station, haven't seen one on the side of the road for ages.

[Lankytim]

Hey everyone, just pick them up! It will REALLY make their day!

 

Its nice to be nice.

[scooters]

Nope hitching is legal in scotland.......help with what politicians have done to local bus services in the mountains it has to be legal! As if you don't have a car you would be screwed

[AnthonyG]

Don't worry Scoot, soon you'll be independent and live in a progressive paradise where the SNP and Scottish Labour take turns to piss away what oil money is left....

[eddyramrod]

I used to pick up platers as much as possible. Yes, it is nice to have company for a few miles, and I understand it makes their day easier, so it's win-win, I say. Of course I was often not going far enough to make it worthwhile stopping, but there you are. I very rarely picked up anyone without a plate though.

[scooters]

Don't worry Scoot, soon you'll be independent and live in a progressive paradise where the SNP and Scottish Labour take turns to piss away what oil money is left....

 

don't remind me!

 

I find it all rather depressing

[oman5]

I can't see the whole scottish devolution thing coming off tbh. They've said it costs £9 BILLION to run the country and their income is £6 billion.

 

As a welshman part of me is in favour BUT...the time to do it was scotland was reaping the benefits of north sea oil and when wales still had a mahoosive coal and steel industry. in this day and age it would be financial suicide.

Isn't it strange that only now, when the UK government is in deep shit and is desperately trying to cut its expenditure that all of a sudden they are embracing the devolution debate with open arms?

[gricer]

I deal with delivery drivers every week - sometimes come in pairs, with another car to pick them up, but usually take the train. I suspect it's down to company accounting policy of making them claim exes and present receipts rather than paying a cash allowance that they can trouser if they hitch.