For drivers who go tramping all week, missing out on family life is one of the many sacrifices they have to make – but what is it like for those who are left behind?
Operators who need people to go out all week are struggling more and more to find drivers, and one reason cited for this is the unwillingness of women to put up with being left at home to bring up the kids without the support of their partners.
We found one such woman who, given anonymity, was prepared to tell us how it really is for her. Names have been changed but imagine a smile in her voice when you read this, as there was when she spoke to us!
“Greg wasn’t away as much as he is now when we first met 10 years ago; he was sometimes but not that often. He started being away properly when our first son was born, six years ago.
Culture shock
“I was 24 at the time. What made it particularly hard on me was I was still at university – I graduated when Oscar was two months old – [and] I lost touch with most of my friends as they were nowhere near settling down, so they moved on into their jobs and I moved into looking after the baby. It was definitely a culture shock!
“It was a change of job that triggered Greg being away. He’s always been involved with lorries – his dad was as well – but obviously there’s lorry driving and there’s big lorry driving. He’d always wanted to get into heavy haulage, so when he was offered the chance that was it. I wasn’t very happy about it because I had this tiny baby, but I knew it was something he’d been longing to do so I agreed.
“He’s normally away Monday to Friday but sometimes he does weekends as well, so it can be a couple of weeks. I’m quite used to it now but to start with I hated it.
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