Tanker Drivers

lostinrates

kabayiri wrote: »

A slightly different point. Have you noticed how easy it is to create panic buying conditions across the nations' forecourts? This won't have gone unnoticed by campaign groups.

I find that interesting but not surprising too.

I mean, look at the way supermarket shelves are empties before christmas.....,as if people intent to eat four loaves of bread extra a day for the two days(?) the shop is closed. I
Ike to be well stocked up and shop infrequently, but the christmas shalf clear is very odd!

Butterfly_Brain

ILW wrote: »

How many tanker drivers have been blown up in the UK in the last 10 years?

I am old enough to remember a tanker taking out the whole of Westoning high street in 1976 and how devastating it was.


It happened on 11 September 1976 at 07:10, a Texaco petrol tanker overturned in the High Street, caught fire and exploded. Eight houses also caught fire, 21 people were made homeless and 100 more evacuated for ten hours. (The only injuries were to firemen attending the blaze - their fire engine overturned.) Petrol entered the drains and cast iron inspection covers were blown high into the air when the spreading fire ignited the vapour.

Then there was this recent one in the USA
http://statter911.com/2011/07/26/must-see-video-tanker-explosion-in-sawyer-michigan/

Oh and not to mention the Buncefield depot fire near Hemel Hempstead in 2005 strangely enough that was on a Sunday too.

The drivers are striking because they are being pushed to the limit and are worried that safety is being compromised by greedy companies, plus pension cuts, that a lot of people in all sorts of jobs have worries about as well.

Believe it or not tankers are as dangerous when empty because they are filled with fumes and highly flammable.

I fully back them even if we are inconvenienced for a few days.

As for the crooked Olympics I don't give a fig about that grotesque waste of tax payers money.

pararct

ess0two wrote: »

Quite a few if you include RTA.

Part of the argument of these drivers is the Globalisation angle and the fact that some of the Eastern block drivers cannot attain the same safe standards through training due to the language barrier. Of course the employers will look to employ these people as they will do the job for less, unsocial hours and all, and keep their fingers crossed they don't incinerate anyone in the course of their duties.
The employers are happy to give non English speakers on the job training and tick a few boxes to say they have been trained as things have been explained to them but have they really understood it?

You may or may not agree with that but it is what it is, a race to the bottom and eventually come to all job roles in the UK. It seems the inability to speak or understand good English is not a critical requirement of a 'technical' job in the UK.

There is a hell of a difference between pulling these tankers around the roads of the UK where the driver needs to completely understand his/her job role (yes there are women who do this) and be able to react to any situation or the implicit instructions of the emergency services and pulling carrots from a field.

They don't want experiences like this on UK roads.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/07/03/us-congo-democratic-explosion-idUSTRE6620H220100703

Only a few days ago a Polish driver got a wagon stuck in a narrow street in Bristol because he relied too heavily on his sat nav and probably didn't understand the 'Unsuitable for Large Vehicles' sign.

Imagine this had been a fuel tanker!! And that you and your kids lived here!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-17530125

ess0two

Theres been 2 RTA's on the M56 in the last 10 yrs,one tanker ended up on a railway line.
Once you leave the road in one of these things,next stop is heaven.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1421722/Driver-dies-in-tanker-crash.html

sheffield_lad

Len just causing trouble ususal UNITE = SCUM message

What makes me laugh is the BBC blaming it all on the Gov, Len gets off scott free

sheffield_lad

ess0two wrote: »

Theres been 2 RTA's on the M56 in the last 10 yrs,one tanker ended up on a railway line.
Once you leave the road in one of these things,next stop is heaven.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1421722/Driver-dies-in-tanker-crash.html

Bet the odds are better than going to Afghanistan though and do we pay them £45k? !!

ess0two

howee wrote: »

Bet the odds are better than going to Afghanistan though and do we pay them £45k? !!

Its a life choice.

sheffield_lad

Indeed £45k for driving a tanker is to me a good deal in comparison.

BBC still reporting panic since the minister mentioned Jerry cans funny that the panic was reported 24hrs before his remarks. Good old lefty BBC

aliasojo

howee wrote: »

Bet the odds are better than going to Afghanistan though and do we pay them £45k? !!

Course not. Nor do we supply them with top of the range fully functioning kit or look after them well when they return to civvy street. We use them up and look the other way when they return home traumatised or with strange unexplained symptoms which some attribute to the multi jabs they have to endure.

None of it is relevant to the drivers issues though.

RUN_RABBIT_RUN

bugslet wrote: »

Copied and pasted from trucknet ILW:

(cut)

thanks, i think that gives a good overview of what theyre striking about. this is a natural consequence of the nature of the business they are in though, i.e. hauliers trying to win contracts and squeezing their overheads to be competitive and make money.

pay peanuts, get monkeys - and that is a very dangerous practice in this line of work

on the other hand, improved conditions and pensions have to be paid for.