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- Title
Lorries and Lorry Driving in Britain 1948-1968: The End of an Era.
- Authors
Cooper, Howard
- Abstract
During the period between 1948 and 1968, long distance haulage in Great Britain was that of involving journeys of over approximately one hundred miles, with the drivers spending frequent nights away from home in various types of bed-and-breakfast accommodations. In heavy good vehicles driving, commonly known as lorry driving, combines the discomfort and danger of a working life. The loneliness of long hours in the high cab, being directly linked to the comradeship and to the communication systems was only understood within the profession. Using written and oral histories, this article explored the working experiences and perceptions of lorry drivers on long-distance general haulage. In view of long distance haulage, getting to a destination was both a pleasure and a challenge for a driver. For lorry drivers, long-distance driving represented something which took it far beyond its functional use, it gave identity and conferred status and it was something for which one could developed great affection. During the 1970s and 1980s, the lorries became mechanically highly sophisticated and capable of motor-way running fully loaded at sustained high speed, but as years pass by, changes in lorry driving evolved and have influenced the way long-distance haulage is viewed.
- Subjects
UNITED Kingdom; TRUCK driving; QUALITY of work life; TRUCK drivers; BED &; breakfast accommodations; VOYAGES &; travels
- Publication
Journal of Popular Culture, 1996, Vol 29, Issue 4, p69
- ISSN
1540-5931
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.0022-3840.1996.695464.x