Meet today’s trucker
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The average trucker isn’t who you’d think. Our research – in association with TrucknetUK.com – shows a softer side to those behind the wheel Words: Chris Druce
KEEPING IN THE spirit of our summer sizzler issue, we thought it high time we got to the heart of things and identiied the true modern trucker, a seemingly endangered beast given ever-rising fuel prices, onerous CPC training requirements, and customers’ apparent disregard for the hauliers’ plight.
So, thanks to our online truckers forum www.trucknetUK.com, we asked users some searching and highly scientiic questions (with tongue irmly in cheek) to better understand what makes them tick and discover their fears, hopes and apparent dislike of politicians. Ladies and gentleman, CM reveals the modern trucker.
A man for all seasons?
Given the anarchy that recently gripped our streets, with work-shy hoodies smashing windows and making off with the latest trainers (note chains such as Waterstones were untouched), our question of who should be prime minister was timely, but highlighted a general disregard for the political elite.
Current Number 10 incumbent David Cameron won just 16% of the vote, suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson – that’s right, the man who joked about truck driv
ers murdering prostitutes just a few years ago. Deputy PM Nick Clegg’s proile has clearly risen as part of the current coalition (1% of the vote) and Ed Miliband has some work to do on 3%. Whether elements of our society are sick or not, we’re with one respondent who reasoned they should be PM as “it seems to be the only job that requires no NVQ, no Driver CPC, and the wages are good too!”
Job satisfaction?
Despite a lack of faith in our political masters, the modern trucker is a positive employee, with 65% agreeing that they like working for their company and just 11% saying they don’t. However, the user that replied: “I put yes, because I’m re tired and work for the wife,” was not typical, but will likely strike a chord with many.
Running lean
While pies are surely the stereotypical food that springs immediately to mind when asked what drivers’ diets consist of, our poll suggests that busy lives and straitened economic times mean that for most truckers (46%) it’s a packed lunch.
With 21% of you watching the calories, it’s perhaps not a surprise that just 10% opt for a fry-up or burger when working, with a shopbought sandwich (17%) the more likely option. “I like fast food and a good fry-up, but they don’t like me anymore,” one user replies. “I have size 12 feet and had to lean forward so far that I fell lat on my face when I tried to look at them, so now I mostly live on veg and chicken or ish.”
Check out my wheels
Alas, we can’t drive trucks (or even vans) all of the time. For most of us, it’s a family hatch or estate when not in work (40%), although 35% of respondents claim they drive something sporty. The user that asks whether their ive-door, mid-1990s Escort GTI qualiies is, in our humble opinion, right to do so.
Spare time: if only
Social media such as Facebook and suring the internet appear – as for so many of us these days – very much part of day-to-day life for the modern trucker, with more than half (52%) indulging in their spare time (and no doubt visiting trucknetUK.com). About 20% of you sit down to watch the telly with your other half, while 9% turn on the games console, 9% go for a drink in the pub with mates and 9% resort to exercise. Certainly one of you at least sounds like he needs emergency assistance, replying: “What is this ‘spare time’ that you speak of? Does this belong in the drivers’ myths thread?”.
No doubt soon-to-be PM Clarkson would make his own suggestion of what truckers do in their spare time, but then, he doesn’t truly understand the modern trucker revealed on these pages. ■