There has been a shortage of drivers for many many years now , the number most regularly toted around was 70,000 at least as far back as 10 years ago , some bright spark in power(probably the same one who took away bursaries for trainee nursing students , sold of the student accomodations and then started recruiting nurses ready trained from oversea's) intoduced a formal qualification that has to be continually updated periodically and a more intrusive method of driver hours monitoring(the driver has to pay towards in the shape of a digicard) thereby putting off a number of potential trainee drivers with the added costs and complexity and then using economic migrants to fill the shortfall which in turn at the very least caused wages and conditions to stagnate and in real terms reduce , it's a tough job involving sacrifices to family and health/wellbeing , lots of facilities have been lost year on year due to the high cost of rents the high value of land(many traditional truckstops have disappeared/knocked down to redevelop to more lucrative uses , traditional roadside cafes have dissapeared in droves , truckers are pissing in empty pop bottles , living of junk food and having a wash with wet wipes , it's grim out there nowadays, and that's without the extra congestion , declining driving standards of the public and increased incidents of road rage!.....come back and drive trucks says the baroness , there are loads of wonderfull opportunities!....fek off says i !
The goverment fucks up everything it sticks its nose into. This is just another.
Don't worry though they will blame it on Brexit. Scum bags the lot of them.
Another thing overlooked is the decline in Petrol Stations. In the past we had dozens in the general area but over the last 20 years the majority have slowly disappeared. This is not normal an issue as modern stations can have more cars at the pump and a higher throughput with pay at the pump etc but the big issue is we have less fuel in the town and I suspect this could be the case nationwide.
try living in a rural area! once I leave my small local filling station the next one is 13 miles in any direction.
(4 October 2021, 09:55)bigpaul Wrote: [ -> ]try living in a rural area! once I leave my small local filling station the next one is 13 miles in any direction.
BP may I suggest if you do decide to fill a couple of jerrycans you do it out of your area where you may be too well known.
with my current lifestyle I only top up(from half) every 2 weeks so its not a problem, so far, but most people drive on empty normally which is why we see the panic buying.
I take it you’ve no generator or chainsaw then.
Eventually long term we may well be back to a good saw ( i have many and fit for purpose ) also a few good axes and a few hatchets with some cast steel star wedges .......having the strength to use them would be good ....delegation of use sometimes offends wild child .
(4 October 2021, 11:48)Pete Grey Wrote: [ -> ]I take it you’ve no generator or chainsaw then.
you take it correctly, I have plenty of hand tools including saws though.
we've all been spoiled by modern technology , drill drivers , jigsaws , grinders , brushcutters , chainsaws we none of us are getting any younger it's tougher using manual mean's than you may remember , i recently felled and processed 10 tree's in my rear garden with only hand tools , it took ages and damn near finished me off