TruckNet UK users discuss job security

Lucy Radley reports on the latest views on job security, the smallest loads and tacho interpretation on TruckNet UK. Job security is high on the agenda on TruckNet UK this week, with the credit crunch up for discussion. Does it really exist or are we all just reading too much into the usual summer shutdowns and the lack of work they cause?

Opinions are divided. Agency drivers and those involved in construction-related areas are sure we are on the way down, while those on import/export work are a little more pragmatic and, perhaps, world aware. One poster brings us all up short, telling how he has lost his job in IT and is selling his flat to fund his LGV training, proving that for all the concerns, this industry is suffering far less than some.

On a lighter note, the smallest loads are being compared further down the Professional Drivers' Forum, including 20 washers on a 40ft flat; a 17-tonner going from Mansfield to Leicester with an A4 envelope; and a 45ft tautliner from Manchester to Switzerland with one pallet. As one driver points out, at least the fuel figures looked good!

In the Safety, Law and Working Time Directive Forum the excitement is hotting up with three tachograph experts going head to head over the interpretation of the rules relating to compensation for a reduced weekly rest. Yet again, it is clearly shown that the law is complicated only if you try and make it that way, and another driver is dispatched with the relevant documents to prove his case. Don't think this is an opportunity to gang up on his employers, however - he's actually looking to do more work for them in a given period!

Meanwhile, in the Health and Family Forum, topics are diverse. At one end of the scale there are pictures of a shiny new grandchild, while at the other there is a wonderful display of home-reared pork with the caption 'The pigs are looking well'. Here is the place for truckers' widows to get support when they find out their driver is playing away, but also for the drivers themselves when they learn of a medical problem and need reassurance as to how it may affect their livelihood, as well as sharing the frustrations of having teenage kids and elderly parents.

For all aspects of transport life, you really needn't look any further than TruckNet UK.