GWO BTT: The big industry problem that nobody's talking about
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My first trip away with the job. My first time heading to a real wind farm.
First time staying in a hotel for work. First time trying not to forget anything important while packing. So obviously, I packed like I was going to Antarctica for a month.
We were only going for 7 days, but I had about three weeks' worth of stuff in the boot.
On the road (just about)
I was heading to Scotland with one of the lads from the course - he’d booked the hire car, so he was driving. We debated for far too long about whether our bags were supposed to be in the boot or if they could go on the back seat. It was all a bit daft; the boot was rammed anyway, we each had two or three massive bags.
We arrived at the hotel and had our little chat about breakfast times and what time to leave in the morning. All very professional. Had a pint in the hotel bar. I remember looking around at all the other blokes in work gear, sitting on their own or in twos — clearly just passing through.
And I remember thinking:
“I’m one of them now.”
Travelling to work. Living out of a bag. Earning a wage.
Like my dad did. He was probably in Aberdeen himself at the time.
First site visit: all the gear, no idea
We left way too early the next morning, just to be safe.
Stopped before the site to take in the view and it was incredible. Wide open hills, proper remote. I wanted to send a photo to my family, just to show them where I was and what I was doing. It all felt like a big deal.
Still does sometimes.
We turned up at the site office, and everyone looked busy. The kind of busy that says “don’t ask me anything.”
We stood awkwardly, nudging each other to speak first.
Eventually someone goes,
“Can I help you, pal?”
We both replied at the same time:
“We’re the new apprentices. We’ve been told to come here for 8.”
Turns out… no one was expecting us.
Classic.
So we sat there, waiting, not quite sure what we were waiting for.
The grand tour (sort of)
After a couple of hours, we got site inductions and were taken around by the site HSE rep, a cheerful woman who clearly got lumped with us. She drove me to one turbine where some lads were “stretching” the base bolts.
At the time I thought, what do you mean stretching bolts?
One bloke was just kicking rubber covers on them, apparently to loosen them.
We didn’t stay long. You could tell we weren’t exactly welcome. I get it now - nobody likes being watched while they work, especially when health and safety’s looming over their shoulder with an apprentice in tow.
We went to another turbine. I climbed up slowly and clumsily, bumping elbows, knees, helmet…
That first climb felt like a full workout. PPE on, radios clipped, tools rattling. A blur of ladders, lifts and swearing quietly to myself.
We were there two minutes.
Hire car chaos
Later that day, someone on site said technically I was allowed to drive the hire car since I was an employee and it was a company booking.Game on.
My car at home at the time was a 20-year-old Nissan Micra. This was a shiny new Vauxhall Astra GTC. Different world.
Clutch felt completely alien. Acceleration was wild. Brakes actually worked.
We decided to go spend some of the money we hadn’t been paid yet, classic apprentice behaviour. Found a shopping centre. I spotted a parking space.
That’s where it went wrong.
I misjudged the size of the car completely.
Pulled in slowly… and then bang. We stopped dead.
My stomach dropped.
I honestly thought I’d crashed into a parked car.
I had this flood of thoughts: I’ve lost my licence, I’ve lost my job, I’ve ruined everything.
My mate turned to me:
“What have you done!?”
I didn’t know what to say. It all happened so fast.
An old couple came out. The guy looked at the car, looked at me, and said,
“Give us a tenner for some paint.”
I handed it over. Shaking. Convinced I was about to be reported to Siemens and sent packing.
The panic and the plan (sort of)
On the way back to the hotel, we panicked. Proper panicked.
We talked about lying. Saying it happened while the car was parked.
Even, and I still laugh about this, crashing the car into a wall so we could say it was a bigger accident and not our fault. We were 18/19. Full of bright ideas.
Next morning, in the daylight, we checked the car.
There was no damage. None.
I’d paid ten quid to a guy for absolutely nothing.
Just a bit of mild trauma and a mate who didn’t trust me to drive again for the next six months.
Lessons learned:
Astras are wider than Micras
People will take your money if you panic
And small dents are fine on hire cars anyway (they actually have a whole guide for it)
Next week: What it’s like when you finally get out on site and realise no one has time for you, you don’t know how to help, and you can’t feel your hands.
