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Ray Luxury-Yacht
6,374 posts
85 months
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lgw said: I am employed at one of the London Airports as a Senior Engineer on vehicle maintenace repairing Fire Engines, Coaches, Standby Generators Snow Clearing Equipment and Agricultural plant
Done my class 2 when I was 21 to drive our 6x6's then 8 years later passed my class 1 as we started using artic units for towing the snow brushes
I am so jealous of your job it's unreal. You lucky b'stard  Any chance of some pics of all that kit please?
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lgw
305 posts
79 months
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We're recruiting if your interested, I will sort out some pictures over the next week
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chilistrucker
1,492 posts
20 months
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i've been driving for a living 21 years now always wanted to drive lorries, so passed my test in 1993 at the tender age of 23  done abit of everything really, general haulage in the uk and europe, containers, flats, boxes, delivered tractors for a while, plant and access machines, (cherry pickers etc) but i have never done roping and sheeting, its an art form and i take my hat off to those that can do it. my current job is moving the gear around on music tours for bands, i quite like it
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Turn7
9,341 posts
90 months
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Currently drive a 3.5 tonne curtain sider for a small timber firm. Dull as ditchwater work but stress free and no tacho/stress/cpc crap to worry about.
Have driven artics and rigids, but not legally. Worked for Cavewood as a machinery handlers mate as well.
Prior to that worked on the farm, so driven all sorts of big/heavy stuff.
Actually looking to get out of the game altogether.
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ctsdave
490 posts
43 months
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I now run family business supplying spares and consumables to haulage companies and garages etc. Tok it over from dad just before he passed... Going ok at present, though could always be better lol... Mainly around the Sunderland and Durham area though we do post further afield if anyone needs parts  Website is www.comtruck.co.uk. Give me a shout if you need any parts!! Dave
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minky monkey
1,092 posts
35 months
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lgw
305 posts
79 months
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Ray Luxury-Yacht said: lgw said: I am employed at one of the London Airports as a Senior Engineer on vehicle maintenace repairing Fire Engines, Coaches, Standby Generators Snow Clearing Equipment and Agricultural plant
Done my class 2 when I was 21 to drive our 6x6's then 8 years later passed my class 1 as we started using artic units for towing the snow brushes
I am so jealous of your job it's unreal. You lucky b'stard Any chance of some pics of all that kit please? Got a few odd looks driving through Hitchin in this last week 
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Nickyboy
3,387 posts
103 months
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I drive one of these  Lovely in this weather, not so much in the snow
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leggly
440 posts
80 months
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chilistrucker said: i've been driving for a living 21 years now always wanted to drive lorries, so passed my test in 1993 at the tender age of 23 done abit of everything really, general haulage in the uk and europe, containers, flats, boxes, delivered tractors for a while, plant and access machines, (cherry pickers etc) but i have never done roping and sheeting, its an art form and i take my hat off to those that can do it. my current job is moving the gear around on music tours for bands, i quite like it My first job was roping and sheeting plywood. The only thing i learned from it (apart from the Dolly Knot) was to make sure I said I couldn't rope and sheet at the next job! It's a very steep learning curve on multidrop. 
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spike50
62 posts
23 months
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passed my test (class 1 ) in 83 god seems a long time ago now , in a tk bedford with a 20 ft trlr , week after was sent out to load a flat ( because believe it or not that was the only trlrs about then ) with waste paper , so highg you had to get the forktruck bloke to put your sheets on the top bundle then jump on top while he lifted in place then left you to roll them out , jump down soemhow and rope it all up , and it was always raining/windy .
moved on a bit since then , i did steel for a long time , great , 2 chains and as fast as you can due to being paid percentage .
bought mine own then and did a bit of everything before the fwits in charge of the country bust everybody AGAIN . so sold up and moved to EIRE .
did hanging beef to spain ans southern france for a couple of years before moving back to uk and doing European work for a couple of companies , forgot some where in that lot i worked for a german firm fo a couple for months , not good irish was better,
bought my own again about 10 yeard ago , sold last 1 feb last year , now doing part time on float liners , nice and easy work and 2-3 days a week ,
jeez how old do i feel just going thru that , and yes i went from car licence to class 1 with 1 test as there was an arguement somewhere that you couldnt do this
then again reading it , it doesnt seem that much but boy it feels as if ive never stopped and there is a lot of stuff that i just havent covered , like being up aberdeen 1 day after doing a full shift and loading for skem with frozen chickens then being told , " by the way they want that first thing in the morning " cue on tacho out the window, of course this was a long time ago and that firm has long since gone
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v8will
2,527 posts
65 months
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Passed my C test 3 years ago, work at that time wasn't looking too clever so I thought it's be handy for courier work or temp work. Of course with fanny all experience...
Ended up getting to drive a road gritter on what was the worst winter for 30 years or so, the day job stayed the same, office work for a web retailer. Got the phone call to drive for the roads service the following winter and jumped at it.
Currently working for a large bakery in Belfast. Relief driver covering sales routes. Drive anything from 7.5T to 18T and the fleet is Daf or Iveco. The work is very heavy, very fast paced and the hours are silly. Usually start at around 3am. Good steady money though which is handy but nothing to what was paid 10-15 years ago. Alot of the guys were clearing 1000 per week back then.
Plan to do my C+E next year, probably on my own, the bakery does operate trunkers but unless it's required for operational reasons, they have no need to train me up to drive them.
After that, well thinking about progressing in transport and logistics or a complete change. Coded welder looks interesting ATM or possibly something relevant in power and utilities.
Oh, have been on a waiting list for a Paramedic in Training course with the ambulance service for almost 2 years but that looks increasingly unlikely now.
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sirrahjay
67 posts
41 months
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Own and drive these two, one for a living and one for fun!  
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Paddy_N_Murphy
15,143 posts
53 months
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You make a living out of driving a Horsebox?
Ours costs me £50 every time I look / think of it !
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sirrahjay
67 posts
41 months
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If only! The artic brings home the funds that then get used to subsidise the horsebox/horses that both demand what seems like a bottomless pit of money. Pretty expensive hobby, as you know! Love my haulage work with the artic, though it only leaves me two days a week to play horses.
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soda
1,080 posts
30 months
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v8will said: Currently working for a large bakery in Belfast. Relief driver covering sales routes. Drive anything from 7.5T to 18T and the fleet is Daf or Iveco. The work is very heavy, very fast paced and the hours are silly. Usually start at around 3am. Good steady money though which is handy but nothing to what was paid 10-15 years ago. Alot of the guys were clearing 1000 per week back then. AIB I'm guessing? I'm working up in Hendersons in Mallusk. No money in it for the drivers now, think most of my team in the warehouse are earning more. I'd always fancied getting out on the road but it's never going to happen, stuck with the odd day of shunting here and there.
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chilistrucker
1,492 posts
20 months
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leggly said: My first job was roping and sheeting plywood. The only thing i learned from it (apart from the Dolly Knot) was to make sure I said I couldn't rope and sheet at the next job! It's a very steep learning curve on multidrop. ha,ha, nice 1, i have used the same tactic with tilts 
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Plastic chicken
130 posts
73 months
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After doing a dozen or so jobs, mainly repping (& getting fired from most of them!) I found myself unemployed in '92 & attending 'job club'. One day the team leader asked if anybody was interested in going for their truck licence courtesy of the government, & my hand shot up. In those days you could go straight to a class 1 without having to do it in stages, & I was lucky enough to pass first time. A friend of mine was a boss at Farmfoods Cumbernauld, & I got driving work there, through an agency, for several months, doing frozen, chilled & ambient food to the stores. The agency also gave me work at Gloystarne, Cumbernauld, and Harris Logistics (part of TDG). A full-time job came up at Gloystarne & I was offered it. Gloystarne went bust in '03, & the remains of the company were adopted by New Wave Logistics, who became NYK Logistics, & who are now Yusen Logistics. I drive 18-tonners & artics out of the Glasgow yard. Just got a new toy: 12-plate Scania R320! 
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v8will
2,527 posts
65 months
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soda said: AIB I'm guessing? I'm working up in Hendersons in Mallusk. No money in it for the drivers now, think most of my team in the warehouse are earning more. I'd always fancied getting out on the road but it's never going to happen, stuck with the odd day of shunting here and there. Yep, working for Allied. Keeps me out of trouble Perhaps it'd be better if my username was Soda... Anyway, bedtime soon. Back in at 2.30am
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philmots
2,502 posts
129 months
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sirrahjay said: Own and drive these two, one for a living and one for fun! You'll probably have the same issues as me... Every now and then i have to take a rigid out. I find myself turning the wrong way when backing up! Just as i did when started out in artics. lol
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sirrahjay
67 posts
41 months
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Very true!, spending most of my time driving the artic I never give a second thought about reversing it, then as you say I can be reversing the horsebox wondering why it is so slow to go where I want it to until I notice I'm steering on the wrong lock! Thank goodness the old Scania is really light on the steering so I can usually correct it without shunting so no one notices that I've been a muppet!
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