What job pays more. Lorry driving or Taxi ?

[[TW]Fox]

Had you decided to report them, the incident would be investigated and the drivers would be in hot water.

You don't even need to give a reg number, the trucks are live tracked and it would take a matter of minutes to identify the vehicles involved.

The trucks (assuming they are 08 or newer reg Scanias) , have telemetry that will tell the "office" how the trucks being driven, right down to braking, throttle use etc etc.

Many other hauliers would not give a toss and thats the difference imo.

There's every possibility they were "agency drivers" and possibly foreign ones at that!

You always get bad apples..

Wow - had no idea they took it that seriously. They were both PX08 registered Scanias. 15 miles of Roadworks with a 50 limit and narrow lanes but these clowns decided to go through them presumably on the speed limiter. Which would be fine, but everyone else was doing 50 so they were undertaking, overtaking and continually switching lanes.

It stood out because they were Stobart trucks which I guess demonstrates how well they are usually driven if you notice the badly driven ones so easily. Can't remember the last badly driven Audi for example

 

[BigglesPiP]

Being a Taxi driver very much depends on a lot of things, area, private hire or black cab, your creditability.

At home, there are only private hire taxis, and there is a scale of drivers, ranging from the ones who are too lazy to be reliable enough to do school runs, who can only afford to buy a 10 year old Vectra which spends too much time off the road, and who live in a council house. To the ones who have a good credit rating, have a new car on a lease agreement with maintenance, get all the good jobs and the school runs, and have a mortgage.

 

[Scania]

Wow - had no idea they took it that seriously. They were both PX08 registered Scanias. 15 miles of Roadworks with a 50 limit and narrow lanes but these clowns decided to go through them presumably on the speed limiter. Which would be fine, but everyone else was doing 50 so they were undertaking, overtaking and continually switching lanes.

It stood out because they were Stobart trucks which I guess demonstrates how well they are usually driven if you notice the badly driven ones so easily. Can't remember the last badly driven Audi for example

I'd hazzard a guess that they were going along at or very near to 50MPH, the trouble is (and I find this myself a lot) the trucks tachograph is calibrated, and 50MPH on the speedo is what the truck will be travelling at. Cars tend to not be so accurate and they tend to go a little slower.

Thats not to excuse the behaviour mind you which in itself surprises me, they would be on an hourly rate and have no incentive to speed.....

Were they be involved in an accident or incident, they leave themselves open to the "High Jump" by having that spy in the cab.

To elaborate on my earlier post, had there been a bump, the driver would get suspended pending an investigation. The truck and its Tachograph and Tracking system would be checked to establish how it was being driven and the matter would be taken further if it was deemed appropriate.

The Stobart group operates 1,850 trucks and about double that in drivers (many trucks are "double shifted") so "Bad apples" are sadly pretty much un-avoidable.

Imo, Given the striking livery and the companys profile, the trucks do tend to stick out and get noticed, all the more reason to drive one sensibly,another issue, we have to behave ourselves as we have hoardes of "Spotters" who pop up in all sorts of places trying to take photo's of the truck or its driver, a few drivers have fallen foul of the Smoking ban for example by a "Spotter" spotting him smoking in the cab (which is illegal as the vehicle is a place of work) and reporting it to the company....

I was cut up by a car a few nights ago and decided to refrain from showing my appreciation of his driver skills via my horn once I spotted the "I'm an Eddie Spotter" sticker in the back window!!

 

[apatia77]

Black Cab drivers can earn a lot in London but Private Hire driving, gold years of it are all gone now, prepare for looooooong hours if you want to make a living of it.


Then becoming a private hire drivers is very easy and requires almost no training or skills where becoming a black cab driver requires years of studying and dedication.

 

[[TW]Fox]

I'd hazzard a guess that they were going along at or very near to 50MPH, the trouble is (and I find this myself a lot) the trucks tachograph is calibrated, and 50MPH on the speedo is what the truck will be travelling at. Cars tend to not be so accurate and they tend to go a little slower.

Afraid not - I was travelling at a GPS verified 50mph not an indicated 50mph.

 

[Yamahahahahaha]

London currently has a massive over supply of black cab drivers.

So at the moment I would say lorry driving would be more profitable.

Lots of long-term cabbies have done well out of it, though the barrier to entry is so low that I feel the earnings from today onwards would not be so great.

 

[Greebo]

I'd hazzard a guess that they were going along at or very near to 50MPH, the trouble is (and I find this myself a lot) the trucks tachograph is calibrated, and 50MPH on the speedo is what the truck will be travelling at. Cars tend to not be so accurate and they tend to go a little slower.

!!

Although your point about that if they were going faster than 50mph, the digital tachograph and on board telematics would show they were speeding if there was an incident, it is not true that a trucks speedo is any more accurate than a cars.

If it was, you would not be able to see trucks overtaking each other on dual carriageways and motorways.

With truck speed limiters they actually should be set to 53mph (+-5%) but what tends to happen is that everybody "asks" for it to be set to 56mph.

Of course there are tollerences with the testing/setting equipment as well. The last trick is to then go for your speed limiter/tachograph calibration with almost worn tyres as speed is measured by the rotation of the wheels not true actual speed. Then one you put new tyres on, although the speedo/speed limiter/tacho will be measuring the same amount of rotations for 56mph, you will have travelled much further.

This will gain you up to another 4mph so 60mph max. All your speedos/speed limiters/tachos etc will still be registering that you are going 56mph when in real life eg gps you will be doing 60mph.

It is for these reasons that the max speed limit for hgv's in this country is 60mph and not 56mph. There is a tolerance in there for inaccurate readings and no way would a prosecution stand up for say 58mph if the speed limit was 56mph as all the evidence would show the driver was only doing 56mph.

So in summary, a truck speedo is no more accurate than a car's speedo. In actually fact because a car speedo will always show that you are going faster than you are in real life, it makes it worst. In your scenario your speedo in your car may say 50mph when you are only doing 47mph and the truck will say 50mph but in real life they are doing 53mph.

 

[Scania]

Afraid not - I was travelling at a GPS verified 50mph not an indicated 50mph.

More fool the two drivers in question then.