Oh what fun yesterday was, firstly I went to a job and it wasn't there and then I got a call to go and do a job at Saints. Thought that it would be around the airport but oh how wrong I was. Manchester airport is where you're going said the supervisor. Picked up a unit (MAN TGA 26.440) went to get the trailer and off Iwent. Things weren’t so bad till I got to M6 and roadwork city just leapt out of the blue. Never seen so many cones in my life, looks like they took all the cones in the world and stuck them on the damn road. Almost nose to tail roadwork’s, add the pouring rain and an amber ABS light that just wouldn't go away just made things so much better. Finally finished @6am this morning, absolutely knackered.

Hacked off this morning, had a booking for today & tomorrow along with all of next week but when i turned up at the clients this morning. Don't need you, you were overbooked, might as well go home. Before I went he checked with his boss and it was confirmed. Hacked off as I turned down another job for this morning. Have to admit that getting there @ 6am was interesting as the satnav firstly couldn't find the place and then it picked up the road I needed to be on.

I love these last minute jobs, on our way to do some shopping one of the agencies rang. Need a class1 driver ASAP, you available. Quick chat with the wife and we were on our way to the clients site. Nice and easy job, take a unit and trailer to Dartford, drop the trailer and come back. Need you to be there as fast as possible, said the transport chappie. Fair do but limited to 56mph & afternoon traffic there's not that much I can do. Took almost two hours to get there and then the bouncy trip back. 4.5 hours work and that was it, it was the wife's first time in an Artic and she was impressed.

Strange day today, had been booked in to do a day as a White Van man so thought it might be fun to drive something smaller. First thing was to fill up, this is getting to be daily occurrence no matter where i drive as some drivers are getting a bit lazy and not bothering to juice up at the end of the day. Off to the darkest Oxfordshire for 2 drops. Lots of lovely villages to drive through, have to admit that its not a bad county. Last drop in Hook and back home, timesheet signed and told that was it for the day, great early finish. Driving home the phone goes of, the agency asking where I am. Told her that the client told me all was finished and then the bombshell drops. There is another drop to Waterlooville, trouble is I need to do some urgent things at home so can't do it. Would have been good if the client checked before telling me to go home.

It’s so nice to get one of those days when everything just slots into place. Today I had a job for a regular client and this time I had an Artic (Merc Actros) instead of the usual Rigid. Down to Gatwick and onto a bay, offload and back to the depot. The usual M25 escapade of an accident slowed things down a bit. Unfortunate bus had some sort of a problem and ended up facing the wrong way on a carriageway. Unloaded and fuelled up and straight onto a bay, then home. Got to admit that today the driving and reversing was just a pleasure, everything just went along smoothly.

Forgive me if I'm wrong but I get the feeling that some companies do really need to get their act together. Since handing in my resignation I've tried to contact the office to ask if my 'Garden' notice is on or not. Need to know if they want me to work the week, been told that I'd be called and someone would let me know. No calls, texed one of the office wallahs yesterday afternoon as he was driving in my place and no answer. Hoping that they would call this morning, still nothing. Get the feeling that nobody gives a sh#t over there. Looks like a trip out there on Monday morning to sort it out.

Well today was the day, last night after coming home after working another 13 hour day I did some rethinking of my position with DHL. This morning I drove in to work and unfortunately handed in my resignation. I can't work the way they want me to work and can't sacrifice family life for them. I raslise work is work but so is family and why should I put my family on the back burner for the sake of a 3 month contract.

This will surely take the biscuit, yesterday we started off and had about 14 drops. The problem was that it was Redhil, Brighton followed by Redhill again. The lorrry wouldn't start so we spent an hour trying to find jump leads and get the thing going. Left Reading about an hour late and then it just got worse. Ended up being a 15 hour day with a promisse of an easier day today (20/01). I suppose I should have known better, today Redhill, Brighton & guildford. Similar amount of drops and another 13 hour day. Don't mind working longer but three things spring to mind and all are different.

• Interview details of the job were totally different
• Actual job being done is yet again different
• Contract totally one sided with Company interest being the main priorities

This makes the job a total farse, nothing matches and nobody seems to give a damn about us, need to do some serious thinking as what I need to do next.

Oh yes, the white stuff is melting away. This will make my job a whole lot easier, no more looking over my shoulder and hoping thst the back of the lorry will not try to become the front and that slush will not be a damning problem. Don't mind the cold but driving on solid ice is something that I can do but not on a regular basis. The best thing is that I'll be able to drive on roads without the threat of getting jammed in a drift or stuck on ice. Honestly speaking I have to admit that driving these small 8T lorrys is not my idea of LGV.
Now for a well earned 2 day rest and recovery.

Oh what fun is to slide on a slippery drive. Today was fun, well it was for me and not for the other driver who decided to drive for the first part of the day. Slush everywhere and when we got to our second drop we had trouble finding it so he decided to turn around and that was it. He drove into a track and duly became stuck, front wheels sunk into the soft earth and the rear just kept spinning on 2in thick ice. No matter how much I dug and tried to get the wagon moving it remained well and truly stuck. Tried the grit, branches under the tyres and nothing worked. The farmer to whom we were delivering came down with his tractor and even he couldn't budge us. Had to wait for a recovery lorry, about 2 hours till we were free. Then it was my turn to drive. Yet another long day, 13.5hrs to be exact.

Slightly better day, except the snow this morning. Took 1 hour to cover 15 miles to work. A van and a lorry were stuck on the B3095, couldn't get up the hill. Roads covered with packed snow, thought I’d never get to work. Not many drops but a few huge ones, one for instance was 2 pallets and the powers to be gave us 10 minutes to unload it by hand. Somebody needs a kick up the back side and needs to come out on a delivery to see the reality of it all. Back in the depot by 4pm and then home. To be honest the main roads are OK but the vast majority of the side roads are still very bad. As much as I like the snow I have to admit that I’ll be glad when it all melts and we can get back to normal driving conditions.

Today I thought might be a better day but I suppose I shouldn't have held my hopes up. My boss had a word with me as to why I came back yesterday with half the load. Told him that I have other things that require my attention after work and i can't do overtime every single day, what he requires is a daily 12-14 hour day and no outside interests. He then stated that he didn't tell me that I had to work those hours but 'I expect all drivers to complete all the deliveries for that day and drive for your maximum allowed hours'. This sounds like a prelude to a 15 hours day, he also asked me if I'm stating that I can't work past 5pm. Didn't reply to that. This is another 'just do it and don't argue' syndrome, having been there a mere 2 weeks I've realised that the goods matter, staff don't.

I for one do have interests outside work and will not allow people who just live for the job to dictate to me and no matter how much I need the job I do have a say. The contract (when it arrives) states as did the interview that 40 hours per week are the standard norm. Overtime is not and cannot be forced on the employee, anyone who tries is breaking the Law. It really gets my sh## when management try to force overtime and don't give a damn about the employees.

On a different side the photo is of the West Sussex countryside under the white stuff.

Oh yes, things can get worse

Just when I was beginning to get that comfortable sense things started to go ballistic yet again. This morning when doing the vehicle checks I found the 'O' license had expired in September 2009. That was it I'm not driving this till I get a clarification from VOSA and they don't open till 07:30. Informed my manager and was told to wait in the canteen. Sat around and dozed till 10:00 when told that the 'O' License was OK, which was verified by VOSA and I had to go out on a run. 14 drops in the RH & TN postcode.

Got to the first one at around 11:40 and then had fun trying to get to others as the side roads were absolutely covered in hard packed snow. Number of times I had to park up and walk to see if I could actually get the lorry up the hill, most times the answer was a resounding NO. One customer insisted that I go through this sign and deliver to his front door. I don't think so. Somehow we managed to do about 7 drops and then it was time to come home. On the way back a call from the office came and a question 'why are you coming back' was asked.

I don't mind doing overtime now and then but when I'm expected to do it everyday it is a bit much as I do have other things to do apart from work. Back at the depot and home by 17:00, yet another 11-hour day and I'll almost guarantee that we're expected to do the same thing tomorrow.

Been looking at the local roads when driving about in my motor. The main one (Yorktown Rd) is about 80% clear but still could do with gritting, the A30 was unploughed and un gritted as of yesterday and the main road to Bracknell (B3095) is the same. What has our Council done to improve the roads, absolutely nothing. The roads and side roads are in dire need of some salt/grit but why spend out Council Tax on grit when it can be misspent on other things. After all there are much more pressing things that the Council needs to spend money on but still manages to blame the lorry drivers if something’s goes wrong. There were 3 Waitrose lorries stuck on the B3095 a few days ago, so why bother to grit, just let them sit there and get Waitrose to do the job of recovering them and gritting the road. Cracking money saving scheme.

Unreal, just unreal today I went out on one run as the original lorry was overloaded. In the deepest Surrey on some nice and ungritted roads. The delivery was something else as the person was not home and had to leave the stuff in the empty house (told where to look for keys). Nice house when it will be finished. Not impressed with the IVECO lorry, specially the rigids. The steering wheel adjustment is just not up to scratch, the wheel just doesn't tilt forward enough to get a comfortable driving position. The gear stick is again in an awkward place, not where it should be but on the column, which makes for awkward gear changes. Somebody needs to redesign the cab.

Still coming down thick and fast, roads are slippery and the snow is hard packed. Just walking is almost impossible, the slush is slowly freezing and tomorrow morning it will be most interesting to see how the driving conditions are. The boss told me that if i can make it in tomorrow then it would be good but don't do anything silly. Got to climb 2 hills to get to a decent road and that might prove to be almost impossible. Looks like tomorrow will have to start with a short walk to see how bad things are before i attempt to have a exploratory drive to see if I can get to work.

Loads of snow, nothing moving, call from work last night to stay home and await developenemts.................

Oh joy, a 7.5T extended lorry. That's what we have to drive to do the deliveries. Today it was in the SO post code area. To be honest it's not something that I would consider doing for a long term job. Slightly erratic route planing as we seem to be going past the same places, someone needs to look at a map instead of a computer planing software. Bloody knackered after today, feel like I've been on the go for 24 hours instead of the 10 that we actually did.

Day 1 at DHL, exciting stuff. Turned up and had to get seen through security. Induction took 3 hours and then a possibility of a single rip was mentioned. Sat in the canteen and sat some more, had a chat with others who started today and at 1pm was told to go home as there were no vehicles that could be used, no Tax on them. Tomorrow is another day, start at 6am and we'll see what happens.