The grumpy thread

[retrogeezer]

Theres still plenty of UK registered lorries travel abroad though - maybe not as numerous as the foreign ones coming here but they do exist.

 

yeh, and they pay for it as would you or I driving through europe - toll roads everywhere.

[dollywobbler]

That makes it look like road pricing is the answer (ie tolls). Scary. Do not like!

 

In theory, road pricing is a great idea and the DVLA bods who currently deal with tax can still be employed administering it - whereas just adding the tax to fuel leaves most of Swansea on the dole.

 

My biggest arguement against road pricing is that it'll cost a fortune to implement, with another money-wasting, budget exceeding central government project. The overspend on IT projects is terrifying enough at a business level, but it could easily eat up billions putting road pricing into effect.

[Mr Lobster]

Theres still plenty of UK registered lorries travel abroad though - maybe not as numerous as the foreign ones coming here but they do exist.

 

yeh, and they pay for it as would you or I driving through europe - toll roads everywhere.

 

Not everywhere and you can avoid the toll roads. In the last week I've done over 1000 miles in France, a fair part of which was on motorways and haven't been on any part of a toll road.

[retrogeezer]

But lorries, which do the most amount of damage would probably not go off the beaten track and would use the quickest a to b route.

 

I'm not trying to have an argument about this, I just don't think it's right that all these lorries wreck our roads and contribute massively to our pollution yet pay nothing to do so......do you think it's right?

[chaseracer]

But lorries, which do the most amount of damage would probably not go off the beaten track

Tell that to the sat-nav manufacturers... sorry.

 

 

Bugger.

 

[dollywobbler]

Talking of lorries - time to re-air this one (as I'm sure it's been covered before). HORSEBOXES.

 

Are they always driven by idiots? Have you EVER seen one pull over to let the inevitable queue of traffic past? No, because poor Dobbin probably wouldn't like it. I did see one get overtaken by an artic today and even though the artic shouldn't have been travelling at more than 40mph anyway, and almost caused a pile-up, I could understand the frustration.

 

If your horse doesn't like being driven around in a lorry, here's an idea. Don't put it in an asthmatic old lorry!! What do you think they did before lorries were invented? Yes, you can ride a horse to places! Even better, you get to play on your very own bridlepaths so you can stay out of my bloody way!!

[whitevanman]

/\ with you on that one

[Claypole]

Dobbin's never been in a horsebox thank you.

 

[Lankytim]

Some of the female horse-box drivers are very hot though....

[Tayne]

.

[dollywobbler]

Some of the female horse-box drivers are very hot though....

 

Aye, but sadly the majority make the horse seem attractive...

[Pete-M]

Bollocks to that, just ban them all from the roads.

 

Put the truck drivers into a circus.

 

"Roll up, roll up, watch the fat men juggle egg butties"

[trigger]

I love the stupidity of the average lorry driver, I have the joy of dealing with these on a daily basis, I swear that some get thicker every week..

 

I've seen them tip the lorries over (this happened today), Drive off whist still attached to crane frames, Drive into containers, allsorts, It's quite scary that some of them even have a license at all.

 

[Pillock]

I'm in the "hot chicks driving horseboxes" camp here.... just something about a lass in jodhpurs and riding boots, with an LGV licence and a riding crop. Now there's a fetish you (probably) won't find pictures for online!

[Lankytim]

I can assure you the average lorry driver is far from stupid.

[Guest]

It's very simple, just limit the usage of left hand drive commercial HGVs from using our roads on safety grounds. They can be permitted to drive to a depot near the port and exchange the trailer onto a right hand drive cab for the remainder of the journey. I would have no issue with mainland Europe doing the same (in reverse). On a vehicle with massive power/weight and limited visibility, it makes total sense to me.

 

As for road pricing, it can sod off. I quite like the tax disc system, I just don't like the way it is administered (6 or 12 months only, no option to pay instalments). The idea of toll boxes or mandatory GPS absolutely fills me with dread.

[trigger]

I can assure you the average lorry driver is far from stupid.

 

I'm sure they are not really but there are a large number who do seem to struggle at the port were i work, The worse ones are the Polish drivers(which there are lots of off) as you can't even explain what they are doing is wrong to them as they don't understand English.

[55bloke]

I'm in the "hot chicks driving horseboxes" camp here.... just something about a lass in jodhpurs and riding boots, with an LGV licence and a riding crop. Now there's a fetish you (probably) won't find pictures for online!

 

Some time ago, I passed a horse box, on the M1, which was painted pink, and carried slogans such as "Naughty Horses," and, "caution, chicks with whips." Sent my imagination into overdrive!

[Cavcraft]

I'm in the "hot chicks driving horseboxes" camp here.... just something about a lass in jodhpurs and riding boots, with an LGV licence and a riding crop. Now there's a fetish you (probably) won't find pictures for online!

 

Trouble is from the cab window they may look ok but when they get out more often than not they're 19 stone mingers in filthy trousers and stinking of piss.

 

Tim's right, most drivers aren't stupid. But the ones who are more than make up for it.

[brammy777]

Waiting for the bus, hey its a 56 plate Dart instead of the normal N plate Dart Dash, great! Not really, I sit down and find that the bus seems to want to vibrate me to death whenever it stops. Basically leaves me with a huge headache, why do they vibrate that much!??!

[retrogeezer]

something else I do on the roads...give left hand drive trucks a very wide berth...

 

retrogeezer - If its about continental trucks, then we should manufacture goods and export them to europe. And beyond!

 

Ah yes, those were the days....

 

 

 

That'd show Johnny Foreigner-Lorry-Driver, coming over here, transporting our goods, killing our prostitutes...

 

[gearoil]

Heres the letter i'm firing off to the DOOVLA tomorrow (as they dont allow you to scrap cars anymore) explaining that I really have scrapped my Maestro.

 

Feel free to make any amendments you think appropriate!

 

To who it may concern,

 

I recently purchased the Austin Maestro to which this V5C relates (B332 PVT) for spares and it was reduced to parts and the remainder sold to a scrap metal dealer before the "new style" V5C was posted to me. When the V5C arrived I was disappointed to see there is no provision for scrapping a vehicle yourself and that a certificate of destruction must be obtained from the scrap metal dealer first. As the vehicle has already been disposed of as scrap metal and processed as such I am unable to comply with the demand for either a signature from the scrap dealer concerned or a certificate of destruction. Please accept this letter as notifiction that the vehicle has been destroyed and is no longer owned by me and therefore release me of my legal obligations regarding road TAX and SORN.

 

Regards, Lankytim

 

I have to do the same, I was thinking about just dating the V5 sometime in July and posting it off.

 

Blissful ignorance...? Might work....

[dollywobbler]

There are some stupid truckers out there. There was one in Huntingdon today that had fallen over. I think the speed these modern trucks can accelerate fools some drivers into thinking they're driving an upsized Mini Cooper. Lorries seem to fall over all the time at the A1/A605 interchange - usually carrying spuds. Smash and mash.

[retrogeezer]

quick google found this article.....

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 76680.html

 

More than 80% of trucks on UK roads are foreign and paying for 0% of the roads upkeep....and then there are the safety issues.

 

MPs today called for the agency that carries out safety checks on lorries on Britain's roads to be given more powers after a high proportion of unsafe vehicles were found to be foreign-owned.

 

 

A report by the House of Commons Transport Committee found almost half of vehicles examined in Britain and registered overseas were unroadworthy or deficient in some way, compared with 38 percent of UK vehicles.

 

Foreign-registered vehicles account for more than 80 percent of heavy goods traffic in Britain.

"Britain has some of the safest roads in Europe but more must be done to ensure compliance with our safety standards for lorries, buses and coaches," said the committee's chairman Louise Ellman.

 

The worst offenders were Czech-registered Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) drivers, 60 percent of whose trucks failed roadworthiness tests in 2007--2008, the report said.

 

Polish and Hungarian vehicles failed more than 50 percent of safety checks, while German and Italian lorries had serious safety flaws in more than 40 percent of cases.

 

By comparison the number of UK-registered vehicles failing safety tests was 37.5 percent.

 

The committee was reporting back on its investigation into the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA), charged with safety-testing lorries, buses and coaches.

 

The report concluded that the agency must be given additional powers and resources to get dangerous vehicles and drivers off the road.

 

It said the lack of access to ports to carry out inspections before dangerous trucks get onto UK roads and the sharing of information with other agencies both at UK and EU levels was a particular concern.

 

MPs also said that current data protection legislation was a hindrance to successful targeting of foreign-registered vehicles.

 

"The work of VOSA is also hampered by some of the data-sharing regulations. It is clear that with many unsafe foreign-registered lorries and drivers entering the UK, it is crucial that VOSA can share information with colleagues in other European countries to bring cowboy operators to book," Ellman said.

 

"Better arrangements are needed so that the tracking methods used so effectively to nail non-compliant British vehicles can be employed to target foreign-registered lorries and coaches also," she added.

 

The Information Commissioner's Office, which regulates the Data Protection Act, denied claims of deficiencies in current data-sharing legislation. "We are surprised that it has been suggested that data protection legislation might prevent VOSA from sharing information with its European colleagues", a spokesperson for the ICO commented.

 

"The Data Protection Act plays a very important role in protecting our personal information and justifiable reason would always be required before personal information is shared. However, data protection does not prevent sensible information sharing with appropriate safeguards. Therefore, it would not prevent VOSA sharing relevant information with similar authorities in Europe in order to identify unsafe lorries and drivers."

[retrogeezer]

as for horses....on the A51 heading towards Eccleshall yesterday, a fairly narrow A road with a 50mph limit. I go over the brow of a hill with a bend in the road at 40-45ish to meet a horse on my side of the road doing 2mph........hard to believe the stupidity of some people.

[Tayne]

.

[trigger]

We had a lorry loaded up with ale once crash into a tree in the very tiny village i grew up in whist on the way to the local pub, He managed to tip lots of bottles of Courage ale in the field, Me and my mate loaded our pockets up and got pissed.

[Pillock]

 

Trouble is from the cab window they may look ok but when they get out more often than not they're 19 stone mingers in filthy trousers and stinking of piss.

 

 

Well.... I've been single a while........

[Albert Ross]

Pony girls?

 

http://fetishmorpho.free.fr/wit-icons/P ... S%2014.gif

[warren t claim]

I can assure you the average lorry driver is far from stupid.

 

Wrong! I'm as thick as pig shit!