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TruckNetUK's Rikki Chequer talks about respect, or rather the lack of it, at RDCs.
Page 9
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One topic that has generated a number of comments on the forums is the way drivers are treated at RDCs: from being treated with contempt and being totally ignored to be being dealt with like children.
One poster sums it up like this: "It seems as though everybody is so angry nowadays. I know the odd driver who is a bit bolshy, maybe because they're destined to spend a night out or a day without dinner because they've been held up at the delivery point, but that's a different story. Most drivers are a decent enough sort. but get treated like crap. From the time you pull up at the gate until you leave, there is somebody trying to antagonise you. What's that all about? Not all places are like this, but they are in the minority. It doesn't matter how civil and polite you are, they talk to you like you had just mugged their granny."
Drivers have tales of standing at goods-in windows for more than a quarter of an hour while, just inches away, the clerk ignores them, preferring to chat to other team members. Others recall being forced to sit on uncomfortable plastic chairs in waiting rooms for hours on end, getting small loads tipped within minutes of arriving and then waiting hours for the proof of delivery to be signed.
And when, after all this, the driver finally snaps at the jobsworth on the exit gate, the driver gets banned and the haulier they work for receives a complaint.
Not all RDCs treat drivers like this, although it seems that many do, including those run by some of our major logistics companies. If our own industry treats drivers in this way, how can we expect those outside to do any different?
We expect drivers of goods vehicles to act in a professional adult manner, so it's about time they got treated as such. If you keep treating people like oafish imbeciles who don't deserve the same respect as your own colleagues, then don't be surprised when they finally give up and act like one.