Warning to truckers & truckers family

[FairytalesAreBullshit]

My Dad was targeted by an outfit as he slept on a popular HGV spot near Newcastle (Tyne)

They stole his fuel which was discovered at 5:30am. Police came and told him that it was a 'thing' on this A road. Then in the afternoon recovery people came to say nothing could be done, so had to wait for a pick up by the truck manufacturer, who dropped him on the Newcastle Metro. Being old having no idea how to get a ticket after hours, the name of the town was redeemed slightly, with the help he got. Eventually getting on a train where he was accosted by the loveliest Geordie gay guy, that's my favourite part of. A very kind man travelling Newcastle to Bristol who helped my stressed out Dad, making his journey home somewhat entertaining.

All I can say is buy knock off diesel in the Newcastle area I curse you. My Dad would have been very stressed and it's not what you need as you're knocking off, to have a 14 hour day on a Friday, it has made me upset for his welfare. They cut the fuel line, the imbeciles, but the more professional ones do what these idiots ended up doing eventually.

Is it worth the misery of truck drivers and companies that also get affected, so you can get cut price diesel?

So please warn any trucker relatives who do nights out who might be affected by this.

I appreciate that it wasn't the nicest thing to happen and caused your dad a lot of inconvenience, but perhaps you need to put it into proportion. No one clubbed him to death as you mentioned in a previous post and he wasn't personally targeted.

The people who robbed the few didn't cosh him over the head or force him to drive somewhere at gunpoint, they emptied the tank as he slept. Being melodramatic and the lashing out at posters for not having the same over the top reaction won't win you many friends or much sympathy.

OP this sounds like a terrible thing but you must stop infantasizing your Dad

Eeew, do you mean infantilising? Infantasizing sounds kind of pervy.

Either way, the OP was just concerned about her father being robbed whilst he slept and then having to make his way home out of hours without the means to purchase a ticket. Sounds like a normal reaction to me, I'd feel the same if it was my Dad it happened to.

Totally agree with LordAnthony - it's a shame it happened, but your response to some fuel being nicked, so quietly that your dad didn't even notice, is massively disproportionate.

Steady on with the catastrophizing - you are overreacting, to the point where you are being more dramatic and angsty than I was when DH was an HGV driver... in Afghanistan. Being shot at and having people trying to blow him up with IEDs... Grip shop?

Awful 😡😡😡😡😡

((((((((((Hugs))))))) for your dad

you are being more dramatic and angsty than I was when DH was an HGV driver... in Afghanistan. Being shot at and having people trying to blow him up with IEDs... Grip shop?

I knew it wouldn't be long before there was a competitive 'job danger' comment. Good old Mumsnet never fails to deliver.

Anyone want to up the ante with a DH in bomb disposal

Can't we just appreciate that the OP and her Dad have been shaken up by this experience and extend a bit of understanding?

Agree.. you have blown it up a bit. No one got hurt. A lot worse happens to people.

Ah, poor guy, that must have been terrifying xx

Sorry I think I didn't explain.

He was able to sort everything from the police, to recovery who said that they couldn't do a roadside repair, to the manufacturers who came and collected everything, thankfully dropping him off in the town centre. So he had his pack up and everything was fine.

The only part alien was getting a train ticket. As even when I last used a train, you had a service desk where you said ok I'm going from here to here, they would tell you exactly what you needed to do.

Medical school all fine nothing at all wrong.

Maybe it's just me with this vision of big burly thugs up to no good. I would worry for any trucker in that situation.

He's a lorry driver. Or an HGV driver. We are British.
Glad your Dad is fine, and that he has a daughter who loves him. (Even if you do think he is verging on senility)

WinBigly

Win Sorry didn't mean to gross you out! Yes...I must mean Infantalising.

1. Glad your Dad is ok.
2. Next time use the word Bump to see if people will response. Giving us all a row because we weren't online when you posted is fecking rude.
3. Journey planning - key survival skill. Had a brief job once delivering cars from finance companies to their homes. I knew my route and how to deal with getting home. This includes using ticket machines in railway stations which have been a feature in stations for at least a decade or more. Also, since smart phones are also quite useful, perhaps lessons in how to use the various travel apps available for free.

I'm sorry I got upset, yes I over thought the what ifs. But I'd apply the same annoyance if another person had posted that the same had happened to someone they love.

I'm glad there are nice people out there, that help others when they going FFS how does this work. If you've no reason to get a train I can't see why it would be a 'what' moment, when there was no way of speaking to station staff that existed in the good old days.

My Dad really isn't that old, he handled the situation amazingly, apart from the alien situation of getting a ticket.

In a way as much as there were OMG moments, there were funny ones too.

Im struggling with pain and sleep, I'd just woke up, I was bombarded with a lot at once and felt overwhelmed. I can't be the only person who wakes up to whatever and felt overwhelmed.

For me it's warning other truckers of what's going on 'in this area' and please be safe. I hold the safety of others in high regard.

ScottishDiem - apologies to all for being so crass

Sorry just to add, in all the years of being in such a job, a lifetime or more, I don't think this has ever been an issue. But it's something you learn every day.

S'okay User I will survive

My mother isn't a truck driver, but she has been driving cars for years capably and well. She's also dyslexic. If something like this happened to her, she would have no idea how to get public transport home, a) because she very rarely has occasion to do so, and b) because timetables and the like are very hard for her to read. I would have got a call from her, and a picture of the timetable so I could read it for her and tell her where to go!

So there are reasons why a perfectly capable driver might struggle doing something they are unfamiliar with and ill equipped to do.