Woo hoo!

The roads will be safer, not because speeding vehicles are slowing but because at last we are going to have the existing policies on dangerous driving implemented.

• Tail-gating is out
• Undertaking
• Driving and talking on your mobile

Undertaking is a big driving no-no yet if you spent 15 minutes observing a busy A-road or motorway you will see several incidences of it. It’s good to see tail gating being tackled, there will be a few white van drivers that won’t like that. Tough. Use the van for what it was manufactured for – transporting goods, it’s time to stop people using vans as weapons and to intimidate other drivers.

I was in the car once with Sarah and a van hared right up behind us braked sharply and then hung on our tail for several miles. We were in the slow lane and Sarah found the whole experience rather scary. The van revved and moved forward and we were reluctant to break the speed limit (and where could we go? there were cars all around us) the van driver could see this but it didn’t stop them from being so close to us that I thought he was trying to breed our vehicles!

There are people that go to fast, but there are far more idiots on the road and I applaud this effort to get people driving as they should – safely and considerately.

Will the enforcement of the laws change your driving patterns?

Kev

No, not one of our drivers

Our drivers love summer driving and who can blame them, the roads seem nicer, the scenery is glorious and the breeze rare.
Summer driving  always starts a series of conversations that start with “Put your shirt on please” and finishes with “Yes ma’am”, sometimes with a salute just to wind me up.

Vans get hot in the summer, and naturally the driver wishes to remove his shirt. I say “his” as for some strange reason the female drivers are happy to keep their clothes on…

Now all of our drivers look smart, but they do like to try it on. It’s human nature I suppose and trying to get them to see it from the customers perspective is quite tough at times. In fact one of them challenged me on it just the other morning.

“Maybe you are going for the wrong customers Sarah” came the response (we aren’t quite at the “yes ma’am stage, but we are getting closer). And I thought for a moment; what if Joe is right, what if I am going after the wrong customers.

For a start my marketing message would change a lot

“Hot in the City? You will be when one of our Hot n Hunky drivers deliver, please tell operator at time of booking you require a hot looking shirtless driver…” and of course the small print would read that we had to charge a premium for this service as the chaps would need time off to dye their hair, keep fit and apply their fake tan…

It would get a lot of talking and word of mouth and perhaps an increase in business. Maybe we could charge extra for “preferred” drivers?  But what happens in the winter? The work wouldn’t be as lucrative for the driver, and they wouldn’t be able to get away with being 10 minutes late if they didn’t look like the guy from the Diet Coke advert.

So I explain this to Joe, who is mortified that I suggest he uses fake tan, his sadly is 100% real and there is no convincing of it otherwise. In fact I am on the verge of losing this argument to keep your clothes on whilst on the job. I could fall back on good old you are contractually obligated to keep your clothes on and you are not as fit as you would like to think mister but that seems a bit mean, after all the sun is shining and everyone is in a good mood.

Petra kills the shirtless driving dead in it’s tracks though, with another one of those urban van myths which I swear she invents on the spot. But I can’t prove she doesn’t.  ”ewwww” she exclaims rather loudly and grabs all of their attention “I’d put your shirts on guys a bloke of Laindon way caught his nipple on a pallet and had to go to hospital to have a 3 inch splinter removed.” she pauses for a moment and winks at me “there was blood everywhere….”

I give her the look, and maybe the drivers don’t see it but the shirts are back on swiftly, and so far they have stayed on! Thanks Petra, a good old urban van myth beats safety at work any day of the week

Sarah