Do you pick up hitchhikers carrying trade plates

[HOGEPH]

Gave a lift to an old chap back to a car PDI place local to me last week.

Doubt I would have stopped if he hadn't been carrying trade plates.

Anyone else routinely give lifts to these chaps and you're not in the trade?

[The original Nick the Greek]

No.

I used to be an axe welding homicidal maniac, so you never can be too careful.

[wack]

I used to when I was driving, most are nice guys just trying to make a living, it's a very hard job where you can end up earning next to nothing if you can't thumb a lift home

I did have one guy that said he was wary of getting in arctics after one driver made it plain he wanted to shag him

[m3jappa]

I have done before, it's a pretty st living so if I'm going on a motorway or a fair distance on a roads and I see them I will.

[bobtail4x4]

I was on my way back from deer stalking in Scotland a few years ago,
it was pissing down with the type of rain only the Scots have,

I took pity on a hitch hiker as I was coming 200 or so miles down the A1, after about 5 miles he starts lecturing me about it being wrong to kill animals, (ok there was one in the back of the car but covered) I stopped the car and kicked him out, as the rain suddenly got heavier.

where I dropped him was a long straight, where nobody would stop, due to it being the only passing place for miles.

Karma

[Impasse]

Have done in the past, but rarely see a trade plater these days.

[Ari]

wack said:

I used to when I was driving, most are nice guys just trying to make a living, it's a very hard job where you can end up earning next to nothing if you can't thumb a lift home

Do these guys really not get travel expenses? I'd have thought that there would be 'duty of care' issues about employers expecting them to hitchhike back.

[Axionknight]

Never done it for anyone in that situation, in fact I'm not sure if I have ever seen anyone in that situation, tbh.

I once picked a couple of hitchhikers up on the M1 J37 Southbound slip road on my way to Download Festival, they were heading there too. They were broke and trying to do the weekend on a shoe string so I helped 'em out - they were a great laugh and we had a decent sized estate car and room to spare. I met up with them on the Monday morning and gave them and their camping gear a lift back to the centre of Barnsley too.

[Cupramax]

wack said:

I did have one guy that said he was wary of getting in arctics after one driver made it plain he wanted to shag him

was that before or after freezing

[Cupramax]

Ari said:

wack said:

I used to when I was driving, most are nice guys just trying to make a living, it's a very hard job where you can end up earning next to nothing if you can't thumb a lift home

Do these guys really not get travel expenses? I'd have thought that there would be 'duty of care' issues about employers expecting them to hitchhike back.

I'd guess theyre not employees, just freelance or self employed

[Ari]

Cupramax said:

I'd guess theyre not employees, just freelance or self employed

They're still employed by someone to do a job.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Ari said:

Do these guys really not get travel expenses? I'd have thought that there would be 'duty of care' issues about employers expecting them to hitchhike back.

They do, so by hitching instead they can still claim their train fare and it's tax free. That's how my mate who delivers LGVs, turns an average paid job into a very well paid job.

[KungFuPanda]

Personally never seen a trade plater but I suppose I would stop and offer them a lift if I saw one.

[Corpulent Tosser]

Ari said:

Cupramax said:

I'd guess theyre not employees, just freelance or self employed

They're still employed by someone to do a job.

I would suspect they are contracted to deliver a car/truck/bus from A to B how they get from home to A and home from B would be their own responsibility.

[JimmyConwayNW]

Does anyone stop for them, slow down and then just as they are about to get into your vehicle drive off quickly?

I have seen a powerfully built director so that leaving a service station and it did make me laugh.

[DickyC]

Corpulent Tosser said:

I would suspect they are contracted to deliver a car/truck/bus from A to B how they get from home to A and home from B would be their own responsibility.

Depends on who they work for. Some companies do refund travel, some don't. The rate for the job would probably be different though making it end up much the same at the end of the week.

I've just finished trade plating after six months. It's dreadful. Don't do it. Don't ever be tempted. As well as being astoundingly badly paid, with long uncomfortable hours, often in the middle of nowhere, you are also the bottom of the heap. Quite a high proportion of the people you deliver to or pick up from consider drivers to be scum. Whether it's blokes scratching a living, retired chaps getting out from under their wives' feet or ex-coppers, it doesn't matter, you are scum. Not everywhere, some people are fine of course, but in a lot of situations. One young car salesman I had to deal with several times affected to not hear you and you had to say everything twice. "Hello, I've come to pick up a car." Nothing. "Hello, I've come to pick up a car." The second time might gain you a disinterested, "Yeah?" (I did try him once with changing the repeat and saying I'd come to fix the coffee machine but he just got stroppy.)

So, yes, I stop to pick up trade plate drivers. If they are not driving, they are not earning. It is often quicker to hitch hike than use public transport. A lot of car distribution centres are on disused Second War airfields in the sticks with a bus every third Wednesday so their options are limited. I also found that the majority of people who stopped for me were either connected with the second hand car business, have been trade platers or knew someone who was. They know the difficulties.

You also have to learn quickly. Last summer, early on in my inauspicious career, I dropped off in East London with a pick up in Kings Lynn. I knew this would blow a big hole in the day - if the wheels aren't turning, you're not earning - but hoped the long drive from Kings Lynn would compensate. There was no contact number or company name on my notes and I assumed everything was okay. Everything was not okay. I travelled back into London, took the train to Kings Lynn, walked to the post code, asked around, found the company and was told, "Well done, you're at the right place at the right time. Unfortunately, the van is in Liverpool." You are entitled to an abort fee but you don't have the opportunity to make up money with the "per mile" rate paid after so many miles. Mine was after 70 miles ie flat rate of £18 for the move plus 27p a mile afterwards. So much time wasted.

Like so much of the retail car business the trade relies on volume; making a bit of money frequently. The office of the vehicle movements companies who bid on line to move cars are so busy they give drivers the least amount of information they can. It's just another obstacle for the drivers.

Going to one of the docks in Bristol for the first time all I had was a post code. That was all. It was a cold, wet day in November and the light was poor. The bus driver did his best and dropped me where he thought was right. I was on a single carriageway road that fed the M5. There was no footpath and traffic was going past at 80. It was hopeless, so I called the office for more information. "Can you give me the full address and the company name?" "We emailed it to your phone." "I didn't get it. Can you text it to me?" The guy on the other end said, "No," and put the phone down. Lovely. Warm, dry and safe, are you? I'm not.

Many of the trade plate drivers have little choice in what they do and are lucky if they earn £350 a week gross. And to do that they are probably working 60, 70 or 80 hours. Twice I got home at 1am. My worst day was 4.30 am to 11.30 pm. Drivers are mostly self employed and have to do paperwork and returns to HMRC on top of their awful jobs. And smart! For gawd's sake, the firms you work for say you are their representative and have to be smart.

Lots of people who come into the trade leave very quickly. It is quite usual for drivers to give up after a few days. Some give up after their first day. One chap at the company I was with famously gave up during his first job.

My worst week, admittedly early on, was more than 60 hours and I earned £89 gross with a promise from the office that this was unusually bad and would improve. In two weeks out of my six months I earned a bit over £500.

I started because I have 40 years experience in a skill no one wants at present and a clean driving licence. My options are few. I'm now a gopher in a small garage doing a bit of everything. The hours are regular, the money is poor but predictable, the people are nice and I still get to drive the odd interesting car.

Back to the OP's question, yes, I pick up hitch hikers carrying trade plates. I think they are the unsung heroes of the car trade.

[pad58]

Good insight into the trade DC .

[jogger1976]

I've often thought about picking them up, as I'm sure there decent blokes.

The only issue is that they are normally stood near junctions / slip roads. I'm pretty sure you aren't allowed to do this?

I remember years ago I got a massive bking and the threat of a fine from a Trafpol because I'd stopped on the slip road hard shoulder when my engine sounded like it was about to go bang.

Surely stopping to pick up passengers would get equally short thrift?

[DickyC]

jogger1976 said:

The only issue is that they are normally stood near junctions / slip roads. I'm pretty sure you aren't allowed to do this?

Rock and hard place. If you stand where the traffic is moving quickly they are less likely to stop. So you stand where traffic is moving slower and, if you can, by a layby or somewhere a car can pull in. The reason some stand on slip roads is to make clear exactly where they are aiming for. You can write your destination on a white board but again traffic would have to be slow to make it readable.

[ApOrbital]

Mate use to do it for VW he hated it being stuck 100s of miles away from home crap weather no toilets.