I suppose getting this sign could be a start...’No Carjacking’ (c) 2006 Greg Scales. Used under a Creative Commons license.

Hello, my dears!

I’m afraid today I will have to stand on my soapbox. I know some of you don’t like when old Aunt Gertie gets all preachy, but there is an important subject I want to discuss.

Recently, I was appalled when one of my regulars came into the cafe shaking like a leaf. After providing him with a nice soothing cup of tea (on the house, of course), I asked him what had happened and why he was so nervous. He then explained to me that someone had stolen a load of things from the back of his van while he was on his lunch break! Apparently, he had forgotten to lock up his van as he went to the sandwich bar, and because he had had to park around the corner, he didn't see who did it. "If I did, I would have knocked his teeth in", he growled. I tried to calm him down, but I sympathised completely. Poor dear! Those weren’t even his things that were stolen – he had quite a few jobs to see through that day, and he ended up taking a loss!

Now, this got me thinking. I know a lot of you out there do owner driver jobs, and I’m sure you’ve either been involved in or heard about something similar to what happened to my customer. So I thought that for today’s post, I would address the dangers of owner driver jobs, and the ways in which you can keep safe doing them.

But right after I had made this bold decision, I realised: I’m a cafe owner. What little I know about owner driver jobs I have gleaned from my nephew Stevie, and I certainly don’t know enough to advise anyone on how to keep safe while doing them. I could give you general advice (such as ‘don’t do what my friend did and remember to check if your vehicle’s locked’), but I think anyone who drives a van for a living would know about this sort of thing – I would feel quite silly preaching to the choir!

So instead of pretending to know what I am talking about (it works for a lot of people, but I personally don’t like it), I thought I would let you, my readers, tell me (and each other) what to do. You’re the ones with the owner driver jobs after all, aren’t you? So as of right now, this space is open to you. Share your advice, tips, tricks, what works, what doesn’t, even something you may have heard or seen on the telly – nobody’s going to judge or make fun (well...I shan’t, at least.) Go ahead and fill up my mailbox – my favourite entries will be featured in next week’s post. You know how this works by now, surely?!

I look forward to your suggestions!

Ta-ra!

Gertie
x