40 replies to this topic

[AVV IT]

I thought Eddie Stobart were supposed to be a breath of fresh air in the haulage business and that they were all about breaking the trucker stereotype. (i.e. they didn't employ obese, fry up swilling blokes with poor personal hygiene and instead insisted on all their staff being presentable, non smoking professionals, that wear a shirt and tie at all times). But having watched the series and regularly seen Stobarts fleet of overweight middle aged truckers in their garish polo shirts, they certainly don't seem to be as far from the stereotype these days as they once were. So what's gone wrong? Have they had to drop their standards, as the Stobart empire has now got so big that their simply aren't enough truckers with a squeaky clean image on the employment market??

[stevede]

Is that Eddie spotter Debbie a He She?Looks well weird!
Its a good programme all the same.

I'd have a small wager that Debbie used to be a "Dave" (or similar) if you get my drift !

[yousmeg]

Oh god i couldnt stop laughing whenever the official watcher guy and girl (very questionable) were on... interesting prog though.

[danrock101]

I watched it once as there wasn't anything else to watch out of all the channels as usual, it's a bit over dramatic, that failed drummer who kept taking his hands of the wheel to play to the drums, and making funny noises. Then when he went to collect some strawberrys and he had to go over a bridge that had a "2" " gap either side of the lorry, more like 2 foot, you should see the manurve our drivers have to make to get the rear end of the trailer onto the service road and then they have to reverse all the way up it, 400m, about same width as the bridge

[minidream94]

Gott give it to them and all truckers for that matter, they have got some skills in controlling, driving and manouvering these huge beasts.

Is there acctually anybody on the forum that drivers trucks?

[trinnythemini]

I drive a 40 foot rigid lorry for a local house removal company!!!

The country lanes of Devon and Cornwall are a very interesting place to be with a lorry that size,
ive even had my porter sat on the roof of the lorry once with a chain saw as i drove down a lane.

[stevede]

ive even had my porter sat on the roof of the lorry once with a chain saw as i drove down a lane.

I can hear the gnashing teeth of the H & S brigade from here............... Love it. Just love it!!

[minidream94]

H & S biggest load of rubbish about. lol can also imagin someone sat on the lorry with a chainsaw i imagin lorry driving as being boring work, sat in the lorry all day :/

[Jacko-lah]

H & S biggest load of rubbish about.

Is it ?


It's all about risks and being seen to manage the risks. Working in factories I've seen people take short cuts and witnessed near misses, but worst of all witnessed the absolute stupidity of people. I see BOTH sides

Have you lost three fingers when you fell from a shelving unit and your fingers were trapped during your fall ? All because you didn't use the stairs provided ? And you want to sue because : THEY DID NOT TELL YOU NOT TO ?

Have you provided a machine in which the operator is required to get inside a press once every 8 hours which is running at 120 degrees C, but which will take 8 hours to cool down and heat back up again, and you don't want to loose production, so providing kevlar sleeves and gloves is your brilliant idea ? Rather than a) A second machine costing £35K or b) a robotic arm to remove the parts ?

Or You've bought a company in Scotland, transferred the machinery you want to Skelmersdale, and sold the company on with the remaining equipment still in scotland, but you think that you don't need the equipment to be CE marked, as you aren't going to sell it. (BUT you did move it, and it should have been CE marked before an operator was allowed near it) But you've just had a near miss, and certain equipment to allow it to be cleaned safely does not work, but you'll make the Manufacturing Engineer redudant just after he points out your deficiences and requests 20K to bring it up to scratch.

By the way, If someone dies then corporate manslaughter might now be the crime. And the MD could go to prison (cause clearly killing an employee is just an inconvience?)

On the other side I had a health and safety director telling me the trailing cable under my desk to my mobile phone was a hazard because I could trip in a fire, but hey at least it had been PAT tested. (in 2006 !!!) - get a life !!!

[Jacko-lah]

ive even had my porter sat on the roof of the lorry once with a chain saw as i drove down a lane.

I can hear the gnashing teeth of the H & S brigade from here............... Love it. Just love it!!

Not so much gnashing of teeth, more thinking how it could be made safe. Cause it sounds like fun.

Magnetic Boots to stop him falling off ?

[trinnythemini]

Long distance is a bit boring, you get to know every mile of the motorways, i do a lot of work to Scotland and Ireland.

If H & S spent a day on removals they would have a field day with all the American fridge freezers and panio's.

[minidream94]

H & S biggest load of rubbish about.

Is it ?


It's all about risks and being seen to manage the risks. Working in factories I've seen people take short cuts and witnessed near misses, but worst of all witnessed the absolute stupidity of people. I see BOTH sides

Have you lost three fingers when you fell from a shelving unit and your fingers were trapped during your fall ? All because you didn't use the stairs provided ? And you want to sue because : THEY DID NOT TELL YOU NOT TO ?

Have you provided a machine in which the operator is required to get inside a press once every 8 hours which is running at 120 degrees C, but which will take 8 hours to cool down and heat back up again, and you don't want to loose production, so providing kevlar sleeves and gloves is your brilliant idea ? Rather than a) A second machine costing £35K or b) a robotic arm to remove the parts ?

Or You've bought a company in Scotland, transferred the machinery you want to Skelmersdale, and sold the company on with the remaining equipment still in scotland, but you think that you don't need the equipment to be CE marked, as you aren't going to sell it. (BUT you did move it, and it should have been CE marked before an operator was allowed near it) But you've just had a near miss, and certain equipment to allow it to be cleaned safely does not work, but you'll make the Manufacturing Engineer redudant just after he points out your deficiences and requests 20K to bring it up to scratch.

By the way, If someone dies then corporate manslaughter might now be the crime. And the MD could go to prison (cause clearly killing an employee is just an inconvience?)

On the other side I had a health and safety director telling me the trailing cable under my desk to my mobile phone was a hazard because I could trip in a fire, but hey at least it had been PAT tested. (in 2006 !!!) - get a life !!!

Yeah fair enough, appreciate what you are saying about majour H & S concerns like the oven and stuff, and thus sound have worded my post according. The bit that gets me tho is all the tiny little bits such as being trained to use a ladder. As well as this, its more common sense with most of the small incidents such as the one about the stairs, if your going to be silly enough to not use the bits provided then serves u right for being an idiot.

[mini93]

haha if someone doesnt know how to use a ladder ah dear something much be rather wrong

[stevede]

ive even had my porter sat on the roof of the lorry once with a chain saw as i drove down a lane.

I can hear the gnashing teeth of the H & S brigade from here............... Love it. Just love it!!

Not so much gnashing of teeth, more thinking how it could be made safe. Cause it sounds like fun.

Magnetic Boots to stop him falling off ?

My comment was not trying to make light of H & S. I just had this amazing vision of a removal van driving down a wooded lane whilst a maverick like figure stood on top wielding a chainsaw with Indiana Jones type music blaring in the background!

I'm all for H & S in the workplace, or anywhere for that matter and having been a management H & S rep in the past, Iknow what a thankless task it can be. I always remember our H & S manager (who was a proper anorak) saying his job was 50% keeping the workforce safe and 50% keeping the management out of court!

Now to get back on topic, is there only 4 of us that think "Debbie" wasn't always a "Debbie"?

[AVV IT]

H & S biggest load of rubbish about.

UK Health & Safety Law has saved millions of people in this country from preventable death, disability and serious injury, it protects the working mans health and well being from being exploited by the rich for profit. Without it we would all still be forced to work an 80 hour week in heavy industry, with poor tools, inappropriate clothing and nothing to look forward to but premature death and chronic lung disease! It's actually one of the few laws that this country has to be proud of. Unfortunately what gives it a bad name is clueless Health & Safety managers going completely overboard, because they have no clue of how to apply it.

The best example I ever heard was:

A branch fell off a tree in a public park injuring a child, so the local council appointed a professional health & safety consultant to advise them. The adviser recommended that each tree be inspected by a tree surgeon on a yearly basis so that any potential/ dangerous or branches could be lopped before they fell off, thus avoiding anymore injured children. The head of Health & Safety for the council ignored the recommendation and instead ordered every tree to be cut down in every park in the county!!


....... and more importantly that makes 5 of us who think that "Debbie" actually used to be "Bernard"!!

Edited by AVV IT, 18 October 2010 - 07:00 PM.