Working for as HGV driver.. and hopefully eddie Stobart
Discussion
truck71 said:
The comments are rather damning of how drivers feel. So chaps (and chappeses), what three things could a business do to improve the life of a truck driver?
Ask drivers & they're going to tell you better trucks, shorter days, more money.Ask the owner of the business & they're going to say higher rates, more work, less red tape. It's all a matter of perspective but the reality is in general haulage at least that in this country we operate in a ferociously competitive market for all sorts of reasons & that means at the sharp end of things there is always some toss pot who will undercut you & put your work at risk. And by Toss pot I mean anyone from Arkwright down the road to DHL & NFT, both of whom have pinched significant chunks of work from me in the past year.
I have a customer in Peterborough for whom we take full loads to Bradford. I charge them £330 for this. NFT have a contract in Bradford all set up & costed out & part of that operation has them running a double decker trailer.
They've got into my customer & are now doing that work at £300 a load on this (free to them) trailer. That's £30 cheaper than me & they get 40 pallets on that trailer compared to 26 with me.
Now, I can't compete with that because double decker trailers aren't much used in general haulage for the simple reason that they don't fit on loading bays. Nothing in my business justifies acquiring one, not even this work & we've found no one who runs them regularly enough to to sub into my work & compete. So the upshot is £20-£30k straight off my bottom line as the big boy kicks the little boy.
Yet ask a driver & he's going to demand a pay rise, a new Mercedes & a five pm finish. It's a grunty old business & drivers unfortunately for them are right at the sharp end of things. And you can't blame customers - in their position, I'd do exactly the same thing. Business is business & there's no sentiment or loyalty anywhere in the picture, nor should there be. If you want loyalty, buy a dog.
I couldn't care less what I drive or have to do when I'm at work, all that I want is for the pay to reflect the work load, for it to be mostly the right side of legal and not have to do nights out. I'll work my b
ks off if you're paying for it, so would most of the people around me.
The majority of the places around here have the overtime rate the same as normal time and then wonder why no one wants to do the extra hours/weekends, so instead they try to double the daily workload and start sulking when you stop to buy a sandwich.
ks off if you're paying for it, so would most of the people around me.The majority of the places around here have the overtime rate the same as normal time and then wonder why no one wants to do the extra hours/weekends, so instead they try to double the daily workload and start sulking when you stop to buy a sandwich.
s p a c e m a n said:
I couldn't care less what I drive or have to do when I'm at work, all that I want is for the pay to reflect the work load, for it to be mostly the right side of legal and not have to do nights out. I'll work my bks off if you're paying for it, so would most of the people around me.
The majority of the places around here have the overtime rate the same as normal time and then wonder why no one wants to do the extra hours/weekends, so instead they try to double the daily workload and start sulking when you stop to buy a sandwich.
All very true, I don't think the basic at my place is bad tbh.. The regular night lads are on about 32k basic with opportunity to earn maybe an extra £480-500 doing two sixth shifts per month.ks off if you're paying for it, so would most of the people around me.The majority of the places around here have the overtime rate the same as normal time and then wonder why no one wants to do the extra hours/weekends, so instead they try to double the daily workload and start sulking when you stop to buy a sandwich.
The biggest gripe is the slowing down of the trucks and the increasing of the work load. The stupidity around the end of the WTD period getting hours down to 48 average. Slow trucks more work means bigger hours ffs lol.
It wasn't rocket science for me to move sideways onto yard loading and take a £3.11 per week salary cut. I'd had enough of the bulls
t that comes with going down the road. I was never suited to sitting around for hours, drove me fugging nuts. Especially when the sitting around stuck somewhere for hours isn't taken into consideration and you are still expected to carry on the days/nights work ( hours permitting) not for me.Edited by Panda76 on Monday 30th December 11:48
3 things.
Companies only to employ drivers who have been trained to C or C+E in Britain.
Have a thorough sort through of the tacho system.. Everyone knows what needs to be done there.
50mph limit on single roads. 56 everywhere else.
Whatever I say I will sound like a daily mail reading thug, unfortunately the only way to ensure the future of the British transport industry is safe is to value the drivers, get rid of some unnecessary red tape and get with the modern times. Turn it back in to a profession to be proud of.
Companies only to employ drivers who have been trained to C or C+E in Britain.
Have a thorough sort through of the tacho system.. Everyone knows what needs to be done there.
50mph limit on single roads. 56 everywhere else.
Whatever I say I will sound like a daily mail reading thug, unfortunately the only way to ensure the future of the British transport industry is safe is to value the drivers, get rid of some unnecessary red tape and get with the modern times. Turn it back in to a profession to be proud of.
chilistrucker said:
Justin Cyder said:
This thread is a great reminder of how glad I am I no longer have to deal with drivers. Such a happy bunch. 
We were born to whine 
I do it to anyone who'll listen and some that don't...
Justin Cyder said:
In the traffic office, you get it in the neck from the drivers, the customers, the depot manager, the fitters, the accounts girl, the POD clerk...
The accounts girl you say And Christmas/sale shoppers, ban them!!! A combination of these half wits and the qe2 bridge being shut meant it just took 2 and a half hours to get from j3 of the m25 to j30 roundabout, which was gridlocked the whole way round
Aaarrrgggghhhhhh!
chilistrucker said:
And Christmas/sale shoppers, ban them!!! A combination of these half wits and the qe2 bridge being shut meant it just took 2 and a half hours to get from j3 of the m25 to j30 roundabout, which was gridlocked the whole way round
Aaarrrgggghhhhhh!
Did I mention I'm off for the fortnight......... Aaarrrgggghhhhhh!
Apologies for bringing up and old thread, but i feel it needs some balance.
Am i the only person who likes this job?
Granted i only got into it as a route into leaving this country for canada, and haven't been doing it long but still, i enjoy it. I think a lot of the people who complain here remember "the good old days", well the fact is, most jobs are crap nowadays, and trust me, i've done a lot of jobs.
I do mainly agricultural work, so dodge the RDC's, but still have to run to potato factories, sometimes with a wait that goes on forever. Well, i chill out, get on my phone, surf the net, listen to some podcasts, have a nap, all whilst being paid £8/hr - which in this day in age isn't bad for a job which i'd describe as semi skilled at best. I also do tipper work, fast paced, but we're limited to 56, we cant do much about that, and once you've done as much as you can, you tell your boss thats it, and instead of grunting at him, you USE YOUR WORDS, and articulate to him/her that you've had x and y problem, and that why you didn't get that 5th or 6th run done that day. Easy. You can't get fired for not breaking the law, employers know this, they know that they can't unfairly dismiss people either these days.
The last factory i worked for was better than most, i got paid £6.70/hr, had to stand in the same spot all day, head to toe in health and safety garb, bending bits of tube, we weren't allowed the radio on because they said we wouldn't be able to hear the fire alarm and we had to wear ear plugs. I've had office jobs, pure misery. Now, i spend all day listening to the radio/podcasts/streaming something interesting into the speakers, looking out the windows at what people from other parts of the world would consider some of the most interesting countryside in the world, safe in the knowledge that i can work a MAXIMUM of 15 hours a day, and drive for a MAXIMUM of 10 hours a day, not like our trucker colleagues in the states/canada who get paid similar to us, and the aussies who earn more than us, but otherwise share similar negative points like having to work crazy hours, run at much higher speeds, and if my experience says anything (i've spent a fair bit of time in those countries) run with equipment that might not be as safe as ours - the standards the farm trucks i worked with in aus are maintained to are appaling.
It might not be a good job, but there aren't many good jobs any more! I quite like it.
Maybe i wont do it forever, but hey, i've never done a job more than 4 years. It's 2014, you dont need to do the same job for the rest of your life.
Edit to add - I'm 28 years old, and i earn a similar amount to the bulk of my mates who are graduates. some earn more, some less. It's a stty world out there, things aren't what they used to be.
Am i the only person who likes this job?
Granted i only got into it as a route into leaving this country for canada, and haven't been doing it long but still, i enjoy it. I think a lot of the people who complain here remember "the good old days", well the fact is, most jobs are crap nowadays, and trust me, i've done a lot of jobs.
I do mainly agricultural work, so dodge the RDC's, but still have to run to potato factories, sometimes with a wait that goes on forever. Well, i chill out, get on my phone, surf the net, listen to some podcasts, have a nap, all whilst being paid £8/hr - which in this day in age isn't bad for a job which i'd describe as semi skilled at best. I also do tipper work, fast paced, but we're limited to 56, we cant do much about that, and once you've done as much as you can, you tell your boss thats it, and instead of grunting at him, you USE YOUR WORDS, and articulate to him/her that you've had x and y problem, and that why you didn't get that 5th or 6th run done that day. Easy. You can't get fired for not breaking the law, employers know this, they know that they can't unfairly dismiss people either these days.
The last factory i worked for was better than most, i got paid £6.70/hr, had to stand in the same spot all day, head to toe in health and safety garb, bending bits of tube, we weren't allowed the radio on because they said we wouldn't be able to hear the fire alarm and we had to wear ear plugs. I've had office jobs, pure misery. Now, i spend all day listening to the radio/podcasts/streaming something interesting into the speakers, looking out the windows at what people from other parts of the world would consider some of the most interesting countryside in the world, safe in the knowledge that i can work a MAXIMUM of 15 hours a day, and drive for a MAXIMUM of 10 hours a day, not like our trucker colleagues in the states/canada who get paid similar to us, and the aussies who earn more than us, but otherwise share similar negative points like having to work crazy hours, run at much higher speeds, and if my experience says anything (i've spent a fair bit of time in those countries) run with equipment that might not be as safe as ours - the standards the farm trucks i worked with in aus are maintained to are appaling.
It might not be a good job, but there aren't many good jobs any more! I quite like it.
Maybe i wont do it forever, but hey, i've never done a job more than 4 years. It's 2014, you dont need to do the same job for the rest of your life.
Edit to add - I'm 28 years old, and i earn a similar amount to the bulk of my mates who are graduates. some earn more, some less. It's a s
tty world out there, things aren't what they used to be.Edited by bigfatnick on Saturday 18th January 23:46
The Main problem with driving heavy goods in this country is.........
We are treated like the Horses back end when we arrive somewhere.
We accept the role of a third class citizen,
If we don't do the job one of our (MATES) will!
If it shines. You will find a fool to drive it for fk all.
Unless you have a bullst absorbtion gland the size of France, walk away now as this job isn't for you.
We are treated like the Horses back end when we arrive somewhere.
We accept the role of a third class citizen,
If we don't do the job one of our (MATES) will!
If it shines. You will find a fool to drive it for f
k all.Unless you have a bulls
t absorbtion gland the size of France, walk away now as this job isn't for you. Edited by leggly on Sunday 19th January 04:01
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