What does it actually take to drive one of these?

Well, if you listen to the old timers, they would tell you when trucks were made of wood, men were made of steel... or some other such cliche

But let's talk about the actual driving licence. Bet you have never been told this🧵 The driving licence in the UK wasn't introduced until 1935, and at that time there was no specific driving licence for HGVs.

In fact, in the early days of lorries, the hard part was finding anyone who could actually drive them with any mechanical sympathy, they were unrefined!

Let's have a look at this, I am reminded so often that most people don't necessarily understand what they are looking at with this industry, so it might be quite interesting to dissect.

We call this a Bridge Strike, when you understand a bit more you can see why they happen 🧵

https://twitter.com/guywalters/status/1786352450829438991

We can start with the lorry, UK registration, Belgian plates on the trailer, already dodgy yes?

No, the container belongs to ECS, a Belgian shipping company, in this case they also own the trailer, but they have nothing to do with the incident.

So why is the trailer here?

How does this happen? Well it's far easier than you think.

Shall we start with how many times? Put "lorry hits bridge" into google and see what you get for 2023 alone.

Network rail who own a majority of the low road bridges in the UK estimate 5 bridges per day are struck by HGV We, as 'professional drivers' are supposed to know the height of our vehicle at all times.

Brings a challenge of it's own. Because in the UK we only have to mark bridges in imperial. But we often measure vehicles, particularly trailers, in metric.

So you have to do the maths

I realise talking about not drinking is about as popular in the UK as a fart in a lift, particularly at this time of year

However, it is a very popular time to consider it, for obvious reasons, so here goes: 5 years ago today I stopped drinking

Here are some things I learned Before I say anything else. It's a very difficult thing to discuss with people, still, even though it shouldn't really be.

You can see evidence of peoples reactions to such topics all over twitter today.

Normal. If you decide to stop you WILL bump up against this stuff.

So how does it happen?

Maybe I can be of some use explaining, people seem to enjoy these threads, so...

Heavy Goods Vehicles Braking Systems 101.

A thread. What you see there is two vehicles, each with a separate braking system.

Drivers need to understand how these brakes work so they don't kill themselves (or anyone else).

Heavy trucks brakes are pneumatic (worked by air) rather than hydraulic (worked by fluid) like in your car

EXHIBIT A

https://twitter.com/Davidpr52119342/status/1451285171848810496

EXHIBIT B

Naive, at best.

I am all for the rehabilitation of offenders.

However, once more for those at the back: 👏 HGV 👏 driving 👏 is not 👏 unskilled 👏

It's complex, stressful, highly regulated, difficult, heavy, dirty, unsupervised, high responsibility.

https://twitter.com/dannywallace/status/1451257027657928705

You don't 'tempt' ex-offenders by offering the very worst of jobs available and expect them to bite your arm off, because it's somehow suddenly more tempting than a life of crime.

What colour is the sky on the planet these MPs are from? They are so detached it is beyond farce

Have we all been here? I bet we have. Infuriating isn't it?

So what is going on here? Why does it happen? And why won't you get the hell out of my way so I can get home. Or at least why don't you get on with it!

Let's unpick this a bit, maybe I can shed some light... Firstly, we are all speed limited, by law. All lorries over a certain weight are speed restricted, no exceptions (or very few).

At 56mph (90kmh) the engine cuts the fuelling and no more power is available, so that is where you stay.

56mph for endless miles. That's your lot.

What goes into an average shift driving a lorry?

Thought I would live tweet about my shift tonight. Might be interesting, or not, either way I have few remaining opportunities to show you into a world you may not otherwise ever see.

Feel free to share if you wish 🚛 2350 Saturday night, I am due to start at 0115 Sunday and the depot is an hour drive from my house.

This is not unusual in that a depot is often in the middle of nowhere, but an hour is more than far enough

Either way, long day ahead. Coffee. Won't be back here until gone 5pm

I arrived to work today to discover a £7 per hour pay rise. A 40% increase... almost overnight.

There are no drivers, things are about to get a bit tasty.

Completely unsustainable, of course, so guess what happens to prices next?

All your shit comes by lorry. All of it. You might be asking what happened? Where have all the drivers gone and why?

Please check out my thread on my profile or below and it will help to explain.

Please also retweet and share it if you wish.

https://twitter.com/thelorryist/status/1409887566753566730?s=19

Seeing news reports of a shortage of lorry drivers and a worry of empty shelves? You might be asking why.

I will try and explain a bit. Broadly, since as long as I can remember, there has been a shortage of lorry drivers. This is not a job people in the 21st century, want 1/ It's hard work, the hours are long
It can be dirty, heavy manual work
It's dangerous
It's complex and highly regulated
It's bad for your health and your diet
It's bad for your family and social life
It is poorly paid, per hour, on average
The cost of entry is high

2/