1: New Beginnings with Jim Barker

12:47Jim Barker:The guy I'm working for now. Really? Yeah yeah the guy I'm working for now his father running business in Harpenden. I don't think many people have heard of that town between Luton and Snowburn. And, yeah, he's got a guy called Brian. He's not with us anymore, unfortunately. Yeah, I got back from the test centre in the morning after literally speaking to my dad. My dad was in bits. I was in bits. Just take a breath. Right. And, yeah, he said, oh, well done, Jim boy. And he threw me a keys to a Ford Cargo. 38, 28. and I did have what did he I know yeah and off I went and I remember I went as well I went to Boots in order shop right with a full with a full load of it was a company called Allagan that used to make optician stuff and off I went there mate with a tip I remember it being a TIP trailer as well yeah tandem axle no I think it was a triaxle oh really yeah it would have been yeah triaxle

13:48Mat Ireland:and then

13:49Jim Barker:yeah and then I don't remember the next day literally next well next week or whatever it was uh i was in a mercedes one of the um one of the first well it wasn't one of the first eps boxes but i remember it being a bit bit tricky to drive and i had to go to somewhere in walthamstow and oh it was horrendous i got i got really panicked but but yeah and then just sort of progress i had some time off when my mum and dad had a taxi company in harpen then they run that for 30 years i then did that for a while yeah and and then basically yeah dhl and tnt and all sorts mate yeah so you've done a bit of european as well i have yeah yeah i've done a bit of that yeah who's your uh who's the first european trip for is that dhl or dhl uh from london coney yeah but yeah that was that was 2003 so right there's a bit of a gap between i i work for a company called sydney j edwards as well in late in buzzard i think anyway we won't speak too much about them um and just done odd bits but yeah and then i did a lot of agency work and uh i just sort of said to i'd had no no european experience since 2003 and i said to a guy who david hoffler was the manager have you got any jobs going because i was there for an agency said well have you ever been to europe i said no i said on a plane or whatever and uh yeah he uh he said oh we'll give you a start and the rest is history EY03 JVC was my Scania my 124 with the bed over the roof fantastic truck spotless

15:15Mat Ireland:was it something that you always wanted to do the European or were you just not that bothered

15:18Jim Barker:I wasn't bothered I just literally just fell into it you just want a job

15:25Mat Ireland:and that was the job going

15:26Jim Barker:just fabulous the first trip I actually did was to Dublin I've done three Dublins three Dublins in a week because you could do it because you've got three hours on the boat from Ollyhead. And then next week, we used to go to two deliveries in Cologne. There was one near Eiffel tour, a place called Hurt, or Hurt, I should say. And then the main DH of one of them at Cologne was actually at Eiffel tour with the truck stop being there. It was just brilliant. And then we had Eidhoven, Utrecht, Paris, and somewhere else we used to go as well.

15:59Mat Ireland:But yeah, it's absolutely lovely, mate.

16:01Jim Barker:Yeah, it's so weird. But, I mean, to say that I was the big European tramper like you were, mate, putting your arm on the Chinese sign of the Chinese border in Russia, I wasn't doing it. I followed somebody basically to a German post office, you know, to cut my teeth. But, yeah, I remember the first time I was going to Paris. That was horrendous, you know. But, yeah, it was good. I really got the bug for it. But then I worked for a guy out of – I'd done Spain for a little while,

16:29Mat Ireland:double man with my mate Bob Anderson.

16:31Jim Barker:Yeah. A great mate of mine, Bob. But being there, Bob, I mean, crikey. He's got a – he could write a book and all sorts of stuff. The stories used to come – you know, some of them might have been a bit more colourful than what happened. But, yeah, it was still really good, really good value. And we'd done a – it worked for a double man down to Barcelona in Spain. And then I worked for another guy driving a Renault Magnum. He's the only driver. Only lasted two weeks. He's done that because he only paid me£300 a week. Yeah, it was just – yeah. But, yeah, I've had some fun.

17:00Mat Ireland:What do you think of the Magna then? Because that truck is iconic, and it really is, to me, probably the biggest Marmite truck out there, I would say.

17:09Jim Barker:I don't like Marmite, mate. So, yeah, it was a no from me. It was an eight-speed manual as well. Yeah. So it couldn't split any of the gears. And everywhere we went, we'd load out a Berries and Edmunds animal feed and take it down to Calla Marconi in – what am I remembering that? In Coslada. I'd done two or three trips for him. and then loading back out of Pamplona and then coming back and then with Tesco, these big fridges that you see in Tesco's. Yeah, that was a good load back. That was nice and light, but yeah, I didn't like it. That Magnum, it was not for me. Do you know what? Even because when you sat there, the seatbelt was like you sat in a passenger seat.

17:51Jim Barker:I know that sounds really weird. They never swapped it over for a right-hand drive. Even that clipping in made me feel a bit like, oh, I don't know. I don't know this. and yeah, but still a great experience.

18:02Mat Ireland:Yeah, sort of a bit different, isn't it? Mm. Yeah, absolutely. So when DHL finished, would you keep going?

18:09Jim Barker:Yeah, I sort of, I left there for a bit, and then I worked for, I went to TNT, doing the same sort of thing. Yeah. Fantastic money, 40 days holiday a year.

18:20Mat Ireland:Wow.

18:21Jim Barker:Yeah, literally double man into Paris, and then lucky enough, I was getting my best mate, Colin Scotland, onto it. He's still there now. we used to double man to Paris and stuff and then we single man to other trips as well but TNT back in the day were a good firm to work for really really good firm really looks after you, great union great money need your time off, not a problem great trucks always looked after

18:47Mat Ireland:the FH version 4 I think no 3

18:55Jim Barker:3

18:55Mat Ireland:The 4 came out in 2013 I went to the launch in 2013 So I don't know if they actually released them in 2013 or 14 I remember a guy I know did have a 14 plate So it must have been a very early version

19:14Jim Barker:So was that doing parcels then for TNT? Just parcel general stuff But on one particular occasion Colin and I arrived to do a driver exchange programme where we swapped over with the Romanians. So Colin and I, we did a trip to Sofia in Bulgaria in the summer of 2014, 2013.

19:39Mat Ireland:That was a real eye-opener. I bet it was.

19:42Jim Barker:The daytime was lovely. I didn't mind that, but the nighttime, driving through Romania and Bulgaria is not for the faint of hide.

19:48Mat Ireland:It's hard work, isn't it? It's hard work.

19:51Jim Barker:I really did struggle. but oh this thing just so different we drove we went first of all we went to left Northampton and then straight down to Milan time off left Milan went to Vienna yeah then to Timisoara Timisoara went through Hungary and the thing is the border there the trucks were lining up to get through and we've got one of the Romanian drivers sort of with us and he's saying Jimmy go go go I went he said yeah it's fine it's posta posta post. He's made up this sign with a ballpoint pen and a bit of cardboard, stuck it in the window, and we'd overtake him like 200 trucks to get through this border.

20:33Jim Barker:And we get to the thing, and the guy's going, baggage, which baggage, I think, is what you're carrying.

20:39Mat Ireland:Posta, pasta. Okay, boss. Away we went.

20:41Jim Barker:It's mad, but we've so looked at one of the most memorable trips I've got. I've taken hundreds of photographs of that trip.

20:49Mat Ireland:As you know, I'm into photography

20:50Jim Barker:as well.

20:51Mat Ireland:Yeah, and the roads, well, I think they finally got a motorway now from the border just north of Arad down to Bucharest. The last time I went through, which was five or six years ago now, the last went to Sofia, it was still a hard, long slog all over the hills. And there's only little bits of motorway finished. That's right, yeah.

21:16Jim Barker:Sorry, Matt, go on.

21:17Mat Ireland:I was going to say, it's just you sit on a motorway in the UK and you think, it'd be nice to do some actual driving, but when you're out there, it's eventually just like, I'm fed up with this. I just want to put the cruise control on and just relax. Exactly, yeah, exactly.

21:32Jim Barker:You know, you're swerving out of the way of stuff. You know, there's a lot of, unfortunately, there's a lot of dead animals in the road as well.

21:38Mat Ireland:Yeah, awesome cars. You know, lights on.

21:41Jim Barker:Yeah. Frightening. Colleen was just laughing every time. Ha, ha, Jesus, Colleen. But just the fact, the road from Arad, when you go over the train tracks and stuff like that where people selling stuff for truck drivers.

21:53Mat Ireland:Oh, yeah, yeah. It's just amazing. Yeah.

21:55Jim Barker:Yeah, little tables and, you know, all sorts of – Yeah, little stools. Little stools to sit on and stuff. And then all of a sudden you put the indicator on, you're on a three-lane motorway. Yeah. It's just crazy. Yeah. And then when you get there, it's open arms and all. It's just absolutely – So different. A mind-blame. Yeah, that's – So different.

22:14Mat Ireland:And that's what I used to love about going east. It was just – As soon as you sort of got out of Germany, it just started to change and it just made it that much more enjoyable to me anyway.

22:25Jim Barker:It really did. It really did. And, you know, we followed a Bulgarian driver down there who, I think he forgot he had someone following him because he drove like the wind.

22:35Mat Ireland:He was on his way home, wasn't he?

22:36Jim Barker:He did, yeah. I'll have to share you the videos of Colin laughing.

22:41Mat Ireland:Yeah.

22:42Jim Barker:Going for a little village called Vratza, I think it's called, which is just over the border at Califat. I don't know whether you went over the Danube that way. Yeah, did you go on the ferry? No, we didn't. We went on the... It was a proper bridge. Yeah. A place called Califat. I remember that.

22:57Mat Ireland:Yeah. The ferry you use, well, inverted commas, of this ancient old barge with a hell of a slope down to it, onto it, and then up the other side. We got told to use it once. I do not know why. And it just took all day for us to get across. Just like, why can't we just use that bridge? I know there's a big queue at the bridge as well but now I'm sure a friend of mine told me now that Bulgaria and Romania are part of Schengen and all the queues have gone I think it's now straight from

23:28Jim Barker:we didn't queue at that part that's because you had your poster with a poster thing

23:34Mat Ireland:TNT poster mate

23:36Jim Barker:do you know what I must share you the album I've got it in one of my galleries you can have a little thumb through it light and yeah I saw a witness somebody jumpstart his FH by lifting up the front grille and then some kind of point underneath jumpstart another vehicle and he had like 50 foot jump leads okay boss you go now just like not care when we come back lucky enough it was daylight and I wasn't driving, Colin was driving and we saw this sign, obviously it's in Cyrillic, we couldn't understand a word what it was like and Now, this lorry is flashing us doing the old spin round. Yeah. For what that means.

24:16Jim Barker:Obviously, I think the road's closed. But anyway, we sort of pulled over, and this DSV truck from Poland come past, like the wind.

24:23Mat Ireland:Yeah.

24:24Jim Barker:Okay, let's follow in. We got to this town. Rats are coming back. And it just said diversion, right? And it was just a heap of mud on the floor. Big old heap. Like a loading shovel had dropped like 10 tonne of sand there.

24:38Mat Ireland:Yeah, that'll block it.

24:39Jim Barker:But anyway, this turning right had like a weight limit on it.

24:43Mat Ireland:I can't remember.

24:44Jim Barker:Anyway, DSV thought nothing of it. He went for it. So we followed him. It was literally, Matt, I swear on my kid's life, it was a graveyard.

24:51Mat Ireland:Yeah. Right?

24:52Jim Barker:With this road going through it. Then to pull back out onto the road, it was really steep and hard right. And we thought, oh, God, this is going to be a nightmare. So anyway, we got out. We give both each other a big fist pump. Oh, my God, what I think you remember. Heading down to the border, DSV gets pulled by the customs. so we whistled past him.

25:10Mat Ireland:Beep, beep.

25:12Jim Barker:But yeah, yeah, that was... I mean, I've skipped loads of stuff of my trip. You know, I've got so many Dutch friends. I've got so many... I mean, a German guy, he used to drive for a company called Colner Flitzer. He's actually a godfather to my daughter, Mabel.

25:27Mat Ireland:Right.

25:28Jim Barker:And yeah, he's not driving to me. He's not very well, but some of the stuff in that Eiffel Tour truck stop.

25:35Mat Ireland:Yeah.

25:36Jim Barker:I mean, even like one night over, obviously a few beers might have been had the old Kolsch beer that was the area and I was with a lot of Dutch guys who I was still friends with now a guy called Hoob Knowles who's got his own truck and a couple of others a guy called Martin Schneider and I put a high vis on and when lorries were coming in I was pretending to charge him for it to park up Jimmy you're mad and then yeah and then as you know yourself you've been to I-Hotel there's a lot of caravans about isn't there

26:07Mat Ireland:There is.

26:09Jim Barker:And these caravans are not really for holiday people. They're for people to go and visit and pay the 50 euro and stuff like that. And one night there was a case of onions. Somebody had left in the little truck parking, because we used to park it with the cars. And, yeah, we thought it would be a laugh to deliver them to one of these ladies. And she took umbrage of it and literally started throwing onions back at us. and we were throwing them back at her. Then she'd get, it was the summertime as well, it was daylight and she'd get one of her mates that was hardly wearing anything out and we're just literally throwing onions at each other at Eiffel Tour.

26:52Jim Barker:Just a great man. Then getting up in the morning, you know, honestly, if there would have been a control, there would have been a problem. But yeah, just some great time. I remember, there was one time and there was a guy called Steve Lyons and if he's listening to this, please reach out. Right. he was an owner driver of martin and he had a 143 450 black one left hand drive what a motor and he used to drive for uh like a company out perfectly on something like star transport he used to pull something and they used to load this is when he was doing italy because i've done a trip to italy when my mate was a teenager but that's another day right and uh i heard this voice in eiffel tour and it was a bank orderly i think it was father's day or something like that

27:33Mat Ireland:I thought, I know that voice.

27:35Jim Barker:And I stood in front of this bloke, and I've not seen him for 25 years. And he looked at me, and he put his phone in. He said, all right. I said, all right, mate. I said, you don't know me, do you? He said, no. Who's Jimmy Barker? Oh, my God. I said, and then the whole day progressed, going through Cologne, on the river boats in Rhine, into the Irish bars, because that's where you go, isn't it? Of course, yeah. You know what I mean? Barneys in the old town. But some drivers might know it, because it's a fantastic place.

28:03Mat Ireland:Yeah.

28:03Jim Barker:And, yeah, just, you know, we might have ended up at Pasha. I mean, that's just a little bar on Hornstrasse in Cologne, if you know it. People are going to be Googling that.

28:13Mat Ireland:And we had just the most fantastic, fantastic couple of days together. Yeah.

28:18Jim Barker:You know, just out of the blue. And then, you know, we swapped phone numbers. And then, you know, I speak to him sort of, you know, every year maybe. But I'd love to reach out. I'd love to reach out again. I've not spoken to him for a while. But, yeah, Steve Lyons. What a bloke. Is he still driving? I don't know. He did move. I know he was doing a bit for Gordon Gilders. I don't know whether it was at Chooksbury or the other one. But, yeah, he had a massive, great, big Tom Selleck moustache. Right. He's a big fella and I've got six foot five.

28:49Mat Ireland:Yeah.

28:49Jim Barker:Really important. A good-looking fella. You know. I say that. We'll see that with it. But, yeah, he's good times with Steve, yeah. But I've spent most of my – I've met some fantastic friends along the way.

29:02Mat Ireland:Yeah.

29:02Jim Barker:especially after the last week of dad dying last Thursday the amount of drivers have had a similar situation because unfortunately dad died when I was up the road I don't know whether that's another podcast or not

29:18Mat Ireland:am I talking too much?

29:20Jim Barker:no you're fine that's good I have listened to podcasts before would you shut up I want to hear Matt I won't mention any names when is Ben Sheldrake on? I love Ben. He's a lovely bloke. Ben's one of my favourite men on the planet. I love him to bits. Has he brought up a good buy for that?

29:42Mat Ireland:Not that I'm aware of, but you've raised Ben's name, raising a question I was going to ask towards the end, actually. Not of yourself, but of the listener. So because I've had Ben on before, he's a previous guest. however that's on a different platform so what i was wondering to the dear listener would they like me to reach out to people who i've previously spoken to and redo their stories again or just carry on as normal as if people can listen to what i've previously done because at some point ben's podcast will disappear along with people like chris parris he's already reached out to me he's now an owner driver over here and i'm really looking forward to speaking to him again and various others obviously if if people if people are a new listener and i get chatting to say chris parris and talking about him being an owner driver here they're gonna have no real idea of his background of of canada of doing a european for matt campbell and so on and so forth so i would love to hear from you dear listener what you think about me basically recovering old ground although it won't be word for word it will be along a similar line would you like to hear it again or would you rather me not bother so if you can reach out reach out to me on the socials however you can um please do because the more feedback they get i get the better so uh yeah i

31:07Jim Barker:i think on that matter when you're going to do people again i think they're going to remember more stuff yeah they probably will and they're probably in the last one they might listen but i wish i said this to matt i wish i said that to matt you know like the simon wasp story and and Ben and other guys, Ben Mitchell and stuff. There's loads more stories in these guys. Oh,

31:25Mat Ireland:there really is.

31:26Jim Barker:Oh yeah. And, uh, yeah. And I'm pretty sure the listeners would like, would love that.

31:30Mat Ireland:Yeah. I mean,

31:31Jim Barker:I really want to meet, well, we'll meet whittling on about rubbish, but, but yeah, it's, there's, I mean, we've got a few ideas that we'd like to do and how we met and how, how, how we talked to each other on a daily basis on a different platform.

31:44Mat Ireland:Yeah.

31:44Jim Barker:You know, that could be done. Uh, yeah, just, I'm looking forward to it, mate. I really am.

31:48Mat Ireland:Yeah.

31:50Jim Barker:I really am, mate. I think it's a fabulous idea. And then people could contribute to the Patreon thing as well. I mean, like you say, for a pint or a cup of coffee or even a Greg's sausage roll and a steak bake, you could help you out and do some great content. Because I don't know of any other podcast that I know of. I know there's one or two, but I just don't listen to them. I've listened to them. I'm not going old school, ever, because it'd be great to get new drivers on, wouldn't it? And that's a whole new, you know, the new drivers versus the old guys and stuff. You know, can drivers move on with technology that are old school?

32:24Jim Barker:I mean, I'd like to think I'm in that bracket. I absolutely love the new technology.

32:27Mat Ireland:So your truck now, so your work for PW Gates.

32:32Jim Barker:Yeah.

32:32Mat Ireland:You've got a version 5 FH, is that right?

32:35Jim Barker:Version 5 460, yeah. Oh, she's a flyer. No, she's not, no.

32:42Mat Ireland:No, that'll be down for the emissions and whatnot. Yeah, exactly. so do you have mirror cam or are you traditional I don't

32:49Jim Barker:I don't have mirror cam on this but however a good mate of mine Vinnie Lapworth you know Vinnie he has it and I have driven it for three or four days and I'm really on the fence with it mate to be honest but I did reach out to Volvo UK because I've had some dealings with them with social media stuff and they've actually offered me a day in Warwick half a day in Warwick to drive with Martin is it Martin Tomlinson

33:12Mat Ireland:yeah Martin Tomlinson yeah

33:13Jim Barker:they've offered me they're going to try and change my mind now before i do i think i need my eyes tested also new glasses because the problem the the real problem i had with it i great i love the technology i think it's good it's going to be in every truck soon later we're going to have to suck it i think anyway um the problem i had because i i need glasses for reading that the monitor that's near me on the camera monitoring system i can't focus yes i can't get a clear image yeah and this is a common thing

33:40Mat Ireland:for people of sort of your generation and older is because naturally your eyes deteriorate. And so another good friend of mine, Rob, he had the same thing. Their company bought brand new DAF with Miracam and he can't drive it because he has to wear his glasses. He can't then see the screens because he just can't focus on them. So he's kind of stuffed. But again, with technology, technology evolves. So whether there'll be some way of focusing that screen perhaps, a bit like how you tune a TV and you might be able to focus it in

34:14Jim Barker:to your own eyesight, possibly. I don't know. Exactly. You've got your own camera, Matt. I'm well into photography. I've done over 200 weddings and stuff. And focus is critical. Yes. Focus is absolutely critical. But camera manufacturers, like I use a Sony system, they actually have what they call a diopter.

34:34Mat Ireland:I don't know.

34:36Jim Barker:Because I can look through the camera and look at live view. So basically, it's a video image. It's literally live video.

34:42Mat Ireland:Yeah.

34:42Jim Barker:And if it's blurry, I could use my thumb and turn this wheel.

34:46Mat Ireland:Yeah.

34:47Jim Barker:So I could lock focus. It's crystal clear to my eye.

34:50Mat Ireland:Yeah.

34:51Jim Barker:And I don't know what sensors they have in them, what kind of lenses they use. But if they could just put a diopter, you know, for drivers in the, you know, especially for the near side. But maybe someone on the near side, a camera monitoring system or whatever, you could do it on that as well you could tune it to your own eyes yeah which would be perfect

35:14Mat Ireland:yes 100 and not say i dare say that will evolve in time because that's how i mean if you had said to me or anyone 20 years ago you know your mirrors are going to be replaced with a system of cameras i think i would have just laughed what on earth are you talking about but but then 20 years ago we're all still driving manual gearboxes autos were terrible they weren't taken up they weren't taken over and now yeah yeah now we're here all driving auto exactly i think i think the monitor

35:42Jim Barker:as well could could be better i don't know what pixels has got in it whether it's 1080 or the 2440 or whatever but that that could all be that could all be uprated easily yeah but but what but i do think though some of the manifest all the manifest are hiding behind fuel economy and i think that's a bit of a i don't know what i don't know the right word i don't know um i mean I've had this argument with my brother because he's adamant that it will make no difference to fuel efficiency.

36:11Mat Ireland:But all you've got to do is look at the size of a mirror compared with a camera. And it will make a difference. It might only be a very small amount, but it is going to make a difference. But then if you've got a bad driver in a truck, it's kind of…

36:26Jim Barker:Yeah, exactly. If you've got a bad pilot on board, that ain't going to matter. Toss, is it? No, exactly. yeah you know wind you know you've got to make sure your tyre pressure is right the gap between the cab and the unit particularly the trailer that you've got on this yeah in a wind tunnel in Sweden in Gothenburg where they make them yeah it's lovely isn't it of course it's going to do it but

36:45Mat Ireland:yeah

36:45Jim Barker:real world conditions yeah real world mate yeah

36:48Mat Ireland:I mean I've only driven the Volvo system once or twice and that was my good friend Richard Warren's which was solo that's four by two left hand drive which was quite unnerving and the lanes are Kent, especially as it's brand new. Because drivers also – because mirrors are kind of like cat's whiskers. You gauge the size of your truck with your mirrors without really realising it. So when you don't have them, it's a bit – you're a bit more – am I a bit too close?

37:16Jim Barker:Exactly, yeah. And then it folds in, and then you've got to stop to fold it out.

37:21Mat Ireland:Yeah.

37:22Jim Barker:I did that in a – because I've driven the DAF system as well. And if I was to pair them together, I would say I would go with DAF. Oh, really? And I know that's a bit, yeah, because I know the Volvo have got the,

37:34Mat Ireland:because the picture is, to me personally, the picture on the monitor is sharper.

37:39Jim Barker:Right, okay. Now, it might not be, I didn't really drive it at night or drive it in rain or fog or snow.

37:46Mat Ireland:Yeah.

37:47Jim Barker:I had it on a nice summer's day.

37:48Mat Ireland:Yeah.

37:49Jim Barker:And it was lovely. But when I drove Vinnie's Volvo, it had the night mode and it had the, you know, you could extend the length for the thing. But the one thing, the other thing as well, I found as well, I couldn't get used to, if you're changing lanes for it, the speed of the vehicle that would be coming in lane two or lane three. I couldn't judge that.

38:11Mat Ireland:Yeah.

38:11Jim Barker:And I'd find myself really hesitating. in. Now, whether they could put a green, red or amber dot to say that you put your indicator on and don't go out as a red because he's approaching fast, maybe that's a thing they could do. Our friend Squeaky, who's coming, he's going to be part of this hopefully as well. He's not a fan and he drives a proper show truck for Harrison Salt Lake. He's not a fan and he sent pictures of... But yeah, I don't know. Hopefully, when I get the invite with mine, because I've actually been screen grabbing stuff on Facebook as well, that people have got the CMS or the camera systems or whatever.

38:57Mat Ireland:But again, if you get a new driver, say someone who's 21 or 18, they pass their test and they go straight out in one and they don't know a truck with mirrors, they're going to be...

39:09Jim Barker:They're going to love them.

39:09Mat Ireland:Yeah, they are. And if you put them in a truck with mirrors, they're going to be like, what on earth is all this? exactly why is this sticking out like shrek yeah yeah i get it i get it mate it's it's a really

39:18Jim Barker:it's a great talking point yeah because you know a vinnie loves them he absolutely

39:23Mat Ireland:i would i would have them if i could but i can't so i don't no no no mate no no that'll skip wagon

39:31Jim Barker:smashed off yes yeah but uh but yeah uh it's i don't know oh you have to drive i think i think you have to try it like when i go to see volvo in warwick hopefully it's got to be under proper conditions as well isn't it you know it's got to be at night it's got but you're not going to get four seasons in one day are you to give me a proper test no you see but you know i want to i want to come away going do you know what you convinced me but it's gonna it's gonna it's gonna

39:58Mat Ireland:really take some convincing yeah it really is because i mean as well i don't want to talk about

40:03Jim Barker:my disabilities matt but you know me i i've got a very stiff neck anyway yes and uh and i i cannot it's impossible for me to actually look out the window and look back down the trailer to back in yeah i literally for the last 20 years i think i've just reversed on the mirrors everywhere i've gone yeah but yeah uh that's probably my fault for driving all the you know this you know when you're doing line haul work to germany you're sitting on your on your backside for you know just straight to cologne you're not moving about you're going to get a bit seized up but you are yeah but i don't think you know i i you know somebody somebody on there would come on and advocate for them and make me change my life.

40:41Jim Barker:I think like yourself, Matt, you'd get used to them really quickly.

40:44Mat Ireland:Yeah.

40:45Jim Barker:And you'd know if you could reach out and wipe the lens. Perhaps a little air, as Ronnie was saying about this, little air puffer instead of heat or whatever on the lens to prevent it fogging up. There's loads of stuff, mate. Oh, yeah.

41:01Mat Ireland:And I guess again, with time, these things will develop and evolve. And as will more seats.

41:08Jim Barker:It'll be foolproof.

41:09Mat Ireland:Yeah,

41:10Jim Barker:hopefully. It'll be foolproof. But I mean, the Volvo that I drive now, I mean, lucky enough, my dad did sit in it and he went, I won't swear, but he was, he said, Jesus, boy, it's like a bloody spaceship in here, you know, all the screens and everything. But yeah, it's, I mean, I've never really been, I've driven Scandies, you know, I drove Scandies for a plant-eye company. I didn't like it. It was too big for the job anyway, but I've always been Volvo. I mean, I've still got my dad's original f10 badge from 1985 you know i've still got that yeah uh if you've seen it so and uh i've always been a volvo man i just love them they're really comfortable they're easy to drive the steering's positive the brakes are fabulous you know the visibility is great and yeah just i

41:51Mat Ireland:absolutely love it but the only thing the only thing i've ever found with a volvo is the bunk is nowhere near as big as other manufacturers no it's not that's the biggest downside to me when I've been doing a night out.

42:04Jim Barker:Sure, yeah.

42:05Mat Ireland:But, you know.

42:07Jim Barker:I mean, you know trouble. I'm a sufferer with that condition called ankylosing spondylitis. And the bunk in here, I'm looking at it now, it's got like a mattress topper on it. I just find it fabulous. Yeah. Because I've not got like an electronic tilt bed, but it is a tilty bed.

42:22Mat Ireland:Yeah.

42:23Jim Barker:I can tilt it up. But it's really weird, this one, because it's so basic. You know, they've got the back wall control for the night here. Well, that didn't come with that.

42:32Mat Ireland:Oh, right.

42:34Jim Barker:And what are these things on the side of the door where you have to wind them, do the window go up and down? I mean, it's just...

42:40Mat Ireland:It's unbelievable. That's to give you a bit of exercise. That's what they're for.

42:45Jim Barker:Yeah, exactly. While we're on the subject, another critical thing with this battery, my lovely Volvo, bloody Volvo, I've had a lot of trouble with a night heater. And if anybody's got a version 5 night heater that's not working, hook me up and I'll tell you how to fix it. Right. I tell you, but no, I needed a glow plug. but there's a reset thing that you can do. So when you start these things up,

43:07Mat Ireland:I think I'm going to bed at Lake and Eve. Yeah.

43:11Jim Barker:The howl. You know, you're laying in bed, you've got it on 21 degrees, of course. And all of a sudden, it just wakes you up. Why they've not done the DAF or the MAN or the Mercedes or Scania version, I don't know, with the water pump or the cooling system. I've no idea. But yeah, I'm warming in now, mate. That's the main thing.

43:34Mat Ireland:It is a bit cool outside, isn't it?

43:37Jim Barker:It is. It's been a frosty night.

43:39Mat Ireland:Yeah, I reckon so. And it's been a pretty terrible day all around, weather-wise. It's been blooming awful.

43:43Jim Barker:Sure, yeah.

43:44Mat Ireland:Yeah, I got soaked through a couple of times having to get out. For the first time, about three or four months, I've had to operate the sheet on the skips. I've had an open-top one. So, of course it's going to be raining today, isn't it? Because I'm doing that. Of course it's going to be.

43:59Jim Barker:Blowing a hoolie. Of course it is, mate. Exactly. You're not doing it up at the Stainmore Caff at the minute, are you? No, no, exactly. You're in the lowest part of the England, mate. That's it. I'm more likely to flood. Do you know what? Talking of the Stainmore Caff, I just – if anybody – I don't know if we're allowed to promote other things there, but Switass Truckers is one of the things that I – with a guy called Steve Sandall that runs it. He's a fabulous bloke, by the way. I love his content. He's really, really funny. They put something like a Romanian guy that was up there. He was the only one that got up the hill.

44:31Jim Barker:because he put his chains on.

44:32Mat Ireland:Right. Now, I'm not being funny, mate. I wouldn't have a clue.

44:36Jim Barker:I wouldn't know where to start. Well, I'd just leave them on the bunk and warm them up. I wouldn't have a clue.

44:42Mat Ireland:I'd be more surprised if any British people were carrying chains in the first place.

44:46Jim Barker:Well, yeah. Exactly, yeah. I mean, we don't even have winter tyres, do we? No. I mean, Germany is law. Yeah. Of course it is. But some companies put winter tyres on and run them all year than they use in the winter. Yeah.

44:58Mat Ireland:I know a firm that does that. I should wear main mainlabs.

45:00Jim Barker:But, yeah, just, I tell you, mate, winter driving is another whole subject, isn't it?

45:06Mat Ireland:It certainly is, yeah.

45:08Jim Barker:Isn't it funny when you're driving in the snow that anyone slower than you is an idiot? And anyone that's faster than you is an absolute knobhead. Yes. But you're the only one doing the right speed. Yeah. Yeah, definitely.

45:23Mat Ireland:And it's not like we can just have a day at home instead. Oh, it's snowing. We'll just stay in there. Oh, exactly, yeah. Our entry doesn't quite work like that, does it?

45:32Jim Barker:The guys from the office, you know, exactly, yeah. But they all did their best, but all good, mate, yeah.

45:38Mat Ireland:But at least we're heading towards summer. That's the main thing.

45:41Jim Barker:Exactly, mate, yeah. I can't wait for it. I can't wait for summer to get out of this lorry and play some golf. I love me golf.

45:47Mat Ireland:Well, you know, we've all got a cross to bear, I guess, haven't we?

45:50Jim Barker:Oh, well, you do the weirdest. We were talking about this today on the CB app, by the way. That's another subject we'd like to talk about, maybe get people involved with that and we could have a community on there as well yeah you know we were talking about uh one of the guys was gonna say is matt okay why does he want to spend half his life underwater looking at stuff that's been dropped in there is he okay you know so it was uh it was quite good and you can guess who that might have been but if he if he get hopefully hopefully you'll get ronnie on and ronnie is absolute value for money he's yeah

46:22Mat Ireland:one of the funniest guys i know we might need a bit of google translator being you will you

46:27Jim Barker:people will have to... You know them headphones that you can buy that translate immediately apparently you get them on TikTok for two quid? Right. They're no good but they might be funny. They might do, yeah.

46:35Mat Ireland:They might break his accent down slightly. Exactly, mate.

46:38Jim Barker:He's proper broad Geordie, isn't he, yeah? He certainly is, yeah. He proper is, mate. Yeah, he's proper photocopier. Can he? Tarramus, Tarramus, like, I couldn't call a gold. Yeah, he's proper job, mate. I love him, mate.

46:50Mat Ireland:Readiator.

46:51Jim Barker:Yeah, he really hit. Photocopier. I know, mate, but, you know, guys that I've only known for the last five years after my dad's passed it. The outpouring of love and messages and we are a great community on that CB app. Just like the old days on the old CB. You do have to invest to do it properly, obviously, by buying a microphone. But yeah, it's illegal.

47:16Mat Ireland:It's not a massive investment. And we'll certainly be talking more in depth with that once we've got Squeaky introduced. Absolutely.

47:23Jim Barker:Just give people a taster of it.

47:25Mat Ireland:like because I mean you might

47:27Jim Barker:have some fanboys out there there's another guy called David Crossley he's a great bloke he makes me he's so funny he actually got me on the app and he has his own channel when people go search him for it Matt so maybe

47:41Mat Ireland:you'll be the same is that my island I can't believe it

47:45Jim Barker:yeah with my intimate

47:47Mat Ireland:signal as I trundle up towards Kings Lynn

47:49Jim Barker:and back literally right you know just going through Thetford Forest gym boy all right Speak in 20 minutes.

47:56Mat Ireland:Yeah, see you tomorrow. Yes.

47:59Jim Barker:Yeah, mate. Yeah, it's good, though. It's good, yeah.

48:02Mat Ireland:Oh, yeah. Yeah, definitely. So just before we wrap up, I was just going to ask, with regards to your dad sadly passed away, were Gates really good with you?

48:12Jim Barker:Oh, do you know, not only Gates, we're just, you know, thinking back to last Thursday, when I literally, I don't think I can go past RF Wittering now with the same not giving a care, you know what I mean?

48:28Mat Ireland:Yeah, yeah.

48:29Jim Barker:So my sister phoned me and told me that my dad had been poorly for a long time. He had a fall in the garden and he broke his neck. And he'd been in care ever since, really. And, yeah, so he's poorly to terrain. And my sister rang me early in the day, my other sister, and said, Dad's really bad. Can you get home? And I was coming back from Newcastle. I couldn't get back. And I said, let me speak to Dad.

48:51Mat Ireland:Yeah.

48:52Jim Barker:It's going to be tough, man. I want to say it. I said, all right, mate. Oh, mate, you know, all right, boy. He just called me boy, as you know. You spoke to him on the CB. All right, boy. I'll come and see you at the weekend, mate. All right, mate. He said, Jim, boy, drive careful, son. And then two hours later, he'd gone. So, yeah, sad times, mate. Yeah. Anyway, I think I don't, I think I should feel sadder at the moment than what I do. I don't think it's hit me I don't think it's hit me So It hit me on the night And Obviously I realised That I might be talking To a few hundred people now Hopefully And Yeah But So I was going to park in Peterborough And I was at Wittering So I was just saying Dad get me home Get me home Yeah So I parked up Made Made the phone calls to the boss Told him what happened Right Stayed out Obviously It wasn't as short as that.

49:54Mat Ireland:No.

49:55Jim Barker:It was like, oh my God, Jim is really sorry. And then the phone rang. I see the director's ringing me. What do you want to do, Jim? What do you want us to happen? I said, I'm not going anywhere. I want to stay here. I'm going to have a couple of beers. Right. And I'm going to leave here in the morning and I'm going to drive back home. Right. Okay. Next thing I know, the transport manager ringing up. Right. Bill's off tomorrow. Your mate, Bill, he's going to come and get you. and then he'll drive the lorry you are not to drive that lorry you are not driving that lorry home

50:28Mat Ireland:I said alright

50:31Jim Barker:so yeah Bill come up, massive hugs loads of tears, coffee, tea drinking you know and he'd drive home and then back in the office everybody was sort of stood up and give me a big hug and I used to talk dad used to go over the yard every now and then you know big hugs and all that, take as much time as you need and they gave me obviously some time off from work plus a bit more as well.

50:57Mat Ireland:Yeah.

50:57Jim Barker:Because unfortunately, the director knew my dad personally as well.

51:01Mat Ireland:Yeah, yeah.

51:02Jim Barker:And dad, he was a good word for dad and dad did him and he understood. And yeah, honestly, I dread to think if I was in a bigger company because I can tell you when my mum died, I was working for a company in Hemel Hempstead who were, I'm not going to name the name, who were connected to a company in Ireland.

51:24Mat Ireland:Right.

51:25Jim Barker:And the planners, I used to plan from Ireland. And I was in Tamworth and my dad rang me and said, Jimbo, your mum's gone.

51:33Mat Ireland:Yeah.

51:33Jim Barker:And I was just like, do you know what? Card in. I didn't care. I didn't drive with a card out. Just drive home. Just drive home to be there for dad and his sisters.

51:43Mat Ireland:Yeah.

51:44Jim Barker:And I went in the next day and there was an envelope for me and they gave me a final written warning. which you know i think i think that's i think that's probably standard to protect them to say that they've taken active stuff of you know me driving illegally because i didn't i didn't have nowhere near my bloody rest period but yeah i needed to get home yeah but they they were like and then i went in the following day and handed my notice in and well you can't do that well i can well there it is and um and then about literally about six weeks after they folded but right i I don't know why I did that job.

52:17But PW Gates were just good and still great now.

52:22Jim Barker:Yeah. You know, they're like, on Saturday, Cliff, my boss, Rami Cliff, said, what time do you want to start Monday, mate? So I said, normal, Cliff. Just normal, mate. Whatever I'm doing. Are you OK to do this, mate? Would it be all right if you did that? I went, mate, I'm happy with that. He said, yeah, you get on with that, mate. And then he said, unfortunately, mate, you've got to do this collection. I said, wait, it's a normal day, mate. It's absolutely fine. And then I've got the director in me. Are you okay, mate? Are you sure you're all right? I don't want to blow it. He's probably looking after his asset as well as me.

52:56Jim Barker:I get that. It's not all about me, but they've got a lot of money involved in the truck trailer and load and stuff.

53:04Mat Ireland:Yeah, but they have, but it also pays dividends to look after your workforce.

53:10Jim Barker:It really does, mate. I think I've always shown a sunshine up my own boss name, Matt, but good, decent drivers are hard to find. No, they are. I'm not up the higher echelons of being a great, fantastic driver because I've made mistakes. I mean, I hit... Oh, we all do. Lorry was two weeks old. I hit a container lorry up the arse in the yard, but it's caused 10 grand's worth of damage.

53:35Mat Ireland:But that's another story.

53:37Jim Barker:Do you know what? I parked the ride right up behind him, and he was a skelly, right up behind him because I wanted to clear the gate to make sure everybody get to come out. Bloke come out. Yeah, Bay 5 because I've got my name in the window. Bay 5, Jim Wright, I might put in gear. Drove off, bang, straight into the back of his skelly. Because it wasn't my fault. It wasn't my fault though. It wasn't my fault.

53:56Mat Ireland:It was his fault

53:58Jim Barker:because he didn't move. No, exactly. Until he hit him. So this massive, great big bright orange or pink, I think it might be the pink. Is it one? Yeah, one.

54:08Mat Ireland:Ocean Network Express. Yeah.

54:10Jim Barker:Oh, in here you're whatever. So this driver, this driver, right, which is just ridiculous what he decided to do was put his 25 20 foot container loaded with 25 tonne of stuff right in the middle position of his trailer shocking, shocking you put that at the back you put that right at the back honestly, these people are just ridiculous, shocking so I had about four foot to move, I just turned the serial right and bang, straight into the back of him.

54:44Mat Ireland:My head was in my hands.

54:46Jim Barker:I was distraught. And I got out. I put my head on my hands. And the driver was in the cab. And he got out. I sweat. I've got this on dash cam, right? He said, I'll be with you in a minute, mate. I need a poo.

55:00Mat Ireland:And then come back.

55:02Jim Barker:Honestly, mate. It was the funniest bloke. Come back. And he was putting his hand in proper London and all, proper East End London. and he was he was proper like cockney swearing and all that he said you really mate what's the name of that mate yeah thanks for

55:17Mat Ireland:reminding me

55:18Jim Barker:he's like he said you must be 50 years old stop crying man

55:21Mat Ireland:but he's two weeks old I'm gonna get the sack off oh literally mate

55:26Jim Barker:it was so funny I come back at the M25 oh I was sobbing like a baby got smashed the new lorry up

55:33Mat Ireland:yeah but yeah

55:35Jim Barker:it was all done it was all fixed you know no I'm done I've got a bit of a bollocking at work you know obviously they've got their procedures in but yeah again you know you spend your time with a little bit of a warning that's gone nothing's

55:45Mat Ireland:happened since touch wood touching me yeah they are they are a good firm they are a good firm to

55:51Jim Barker:work for at the minute i've got no intention of leaving them um they look after me i look after them some days you have you have to question why you're doing certain things but then again you don't know the big picture do you i'm not sat in the office controlling 60 drive this is the thing with people with slags off planners all the time. You do have to think, but you're not sat there. You are not, you don't know what the picture is. Oh, no, he's got me going over there to pick one pallet up.

56:16Mat Ireland:Well, don't pick it up. Yeah, and this is why with this podcast, I want to involve not just drivers, but everybody from across the board, whether it be planners, managers, fitters, anybody from any facet of road haulage who's an interesting person to chat to. I'd love to chat to them.

56:38Jim Barker:I might be able to get you get some TikTok people on if you like. Well, possibly.

56:44Mat Ireland:We'll see.

56:45Jim Barker:We'll talk about that. But yeah, he's got a big president on TikTok. Yeah, young fella. Yeah, good.

56:50Mat Ireland:Yeah, we'll see how it goes. Well, I think we're just about out of time now, Jim. All right, mate. No worries.

56:56Jim Barker:I dare say you've got to go to bed. Yeah, not long, mate. Yeah, I'm going to be going in a minute. Fair enough.

57:02Mat Ireland:Yeah, no problem. Well, thank you very much for joining me and introducing us. No, you're welcome, Matt. We shall be talking again in a few weeks' time, no doubt, for a little catch-up.

57:11Jim Barker:I hope everybody's not got too bored of me, but there's going to be some more. Obviously, I'm still not 100 % Jim Boy yet. You're leasing. You're leasing. You will get him. Yeah, you will get him. Absolutely. Especially a retro truck show. We need to get Lee on again. Oh, yes. Lee, right? Yeah. Because Lee is my man. Lee and Josh are just... Oh, I love it.

57:38Mat Ireland:Oh, yeah. We'll get Lee on. Not a problem.

57:40Jim Barker:Not a problem. Yeah, good. Good. Yeah.

57:42Mat Ireland:So just a quick word to the listener. Thank you ever so much for listening to the first one. I hope you've enjoyed it with me and Jim. Once again, I have set up a Patreon, which I don't quite understand Patreon just yet because I've only just started it, but I think you just search on there for Matt's Trucking Great Podcast. I'll put a link on the various socials. again the socials are there Instagram, TikTok, Facebook to be added to at some point as well so please reach out good or bad I want to hear what you're thinking what you like what you don't like and also as we get going you know we'd like to even perhaps include like product reviews and things like that so if you work for a company that has a trucking related product that you'd like us to have a look at please get in touch if you work for a company that might be interested and sponsorship again please get in touch and um let's get this thing off the ground so uh anyway we're going to sign off now thank you very much jim you're welcome buddy anytime yeah thank you and thank you for listening and we'll see you on the next one cheers