sean43

I was working at my local Supermarket Warehouse this evening when I got talking to a female truck driver. She was telling me the in's and out of the job and what to expect etc. So we moved onto the topic of Polish lorry drivers.

She said that they were "bloody awful, most of them cannnot reverse the lorry. They will get ou and hand the keys to you for you to try" Now I simply asked why they were so awful. She explained that upon entering the UK to work, they will tell the Polish Embassy that they want to be a lorry driver or drive a bus. The Embassy will then "give them a licence" no test or anything, just away you go and work.

I couldnt believe my ears, if this is true then the country is in a worse mess than I had already thought.

Any insights?

Kenty

Surely not? :shock:

The tabloids would have a field day!

__________________
UKIP Swale, Kent

sean43

I know. I cant believe it but when I think about it yes I can.

NickIrons

I'm sure I saw somewhere on here
that a bus company from the north
of England were activley recruiting
Polish drivers as there was an apparent
shortage..
Shortage+Available Polish Drivers=Fastrack Licences
anyone?

sean43

If we can get some proof behind this you reckon this could make national news?

cookie65

Complete b****x. I have two Polish drivers in a workforce of 15, they are highly skilled (I have taken them out on Driver assessments).
They Pass a full test in Poland and are as good as British drivers , they need to acclimatise but tend to do things slower in order to achieve this.
Before I get any comments about exploitation. They are on the same pay-rates as our other drivers(good money).
I believe we need less people in this country, perhaps we should get rid of some of the scroungers before hard working foreigners. I feel that we should do something about the 5 million unemployed people we already pay for in our taxes, but please realise that this will not happen over night and in the meantime we need to keep the country moving.

sean43

Im sure there are plenty of perfectly skilled Polish drivers however, I just cannot let this issue go on that basis.

Richard Allen

This is completely and utterly false. Polish lorry drivers require a HGV license just like the rest of us and have to pass a test in order to get one.

cookie65

I agree. However please look at the facts, Foreign born drivers have a higher accident rate than British drivers, but the highest accident rates are from foreign registered vehicles with foreign drivers, ie left hand drive lorries with loads of blind spots. Foreign drivers in British trucks have less accident per million KMS(yuk) than British licence holders in British trucks.
A modern British Arctic costs between £100,000 and 150,000 empty, add a cargo which is around £100,000+ and you have .25 million pounds. Do you really believe that any company would allow a driver with less than 2 years experience( issue date of licence and driving assessment plus references) loose with that sort of investment.
I would not employ a Polish driver if I could get the same standard of work from a British driver, our glorious Government has not invested in HGV training for many years, if they had we might be be giving jobs to long term unemployed Brits instead of economic refugees from the other side of the Continent.
Please do not believe every thing Truckers tell you, I think you have just had the ASDA equivalent of being sent for Tartan paint or a long stand.

Aardvark

Why Polish? Some of them are Lithuanian, Latvian, Czech, Slovak etc.

The problem with these stories is that they are apocryphal. There would have to be very serious proof before the newspapers would touch this. To allege that an EU embassy would collaborate in fraudulent behaviour without proof would see the end of any journalist's career.

I have worked with a number of Poles, Czechs, Latvians, Lithuanians etc etc. The individuals are generally fine, are not the problem and should not be targetted. The policy of uncontrolled immigration is the problem and its effects should be calculated and explained over time. Reacting to unprovable allegations is going to get us nowhere.

Coventry and Nottingham both have large numbers of Polish/East European bus drivers. I doubt if they are the only cities. The problem is that, at the wages offered, they cannot recruit from the indigenous population. Half our young people now go on to university and would not be willing to take a HGV. The armed forces used to put large numbers of young men and women through bus and lorry driver training (they were allowed to get their licences early). The reduction in the numbers of service personnel and civilianisation of driving jobs mean they have less need for such numbers. Consequently the steady flow of young, experienced and well qualified ex-servicemen has almost dried up.