Whirlwind:
As a driver for Alfreton depot i don’t reconise some of these comments…
High turnover of drivers ? ■■■■■■■■
Occasionally you may have to wait for a run (natural in a business that changes hourly) but you wouldn’t be expected to do a 13 hr run after 3 hrs wait as that is illegal , You are expected to manage your hours so if you can’t do a run you tell them and they will accommodate that
Company advises you to use POA, i think whoever told you that dvsa will fine you is talking some "waiting room " bull
Office staff ignorant? well some are some aren’t same as most companies iv’e worked for .
Long hours ? it can be , you tell them at transport 13 or 15 when you arrive , I know drivers that never do 15’s and also we all know them that max hours every week.
Holidays are paid on your average p46 and an excellent pension scheme where employer matches up to 8%
There are 2 unions which it is advisable to join one , The cameras Inward facing and outward have been removed from cabs (thanks to unions they were never allowed to be used) and also yearly pay rises
I work a steady 55 - 60 hr week and take around 34K a year , job is one of easiest in industry rarely are you in back of truck , mainly back onto a bay and chillax , i’m about to hit 45 yrs i certainly hope i’m still here at 67 yrs
Sounds about right from my experience of them over the years, not been if for a couple of years but have worked there on and off since 1997, and its one of the firms that I would be applying to if I went back on the road.
I only did agency for them, but never had any issues. Yeah, you sat in the canteen sometimes waiting for a truck or the load to be ready but was never given a run that I couldn’t do in my hours and they changed it if you had been waiting and the run would put you over. 4 on 4 off would be great for me, and when I was on agency I was able to pick and choose when I worked (I worked for a decent agency who worked with me on that). The majority of the loads I did were loaded and unloaded by others, you just sat in the cab/waiting room. The only high turnover I saw was agency drivers who couldn’t string the job out and toss it off due to the runs ( i did the Alfreton, Grantham, Fav, Alfreton run sometimes and a guy who ran along side me one day needed rescuing one night as he had ran out of duty hours yet I got back, on checking why it was because he booked poa whilst tipping then had his break up the road where as I booked it whilst they were loading me at Grantham and then the 2nd one whilst they were tipping me at Fav both times with me in the cab doing sod all and at Fav having an hours kip lol)
The office staff can be abrupt but once they get to know you they’re ok, better than some I’ve worked for on that type of work, and generally leave you alone to get on with it, you ring in if you’re delayed, then ring in when tipped for reload instructions, then ring in when reloaded with what you have on and give them an ETA back into the yard. The kits decent, some trailers are a bit battered.
The only runs I didn’t like were the night out ones (not sure if they still do these)Start at 0600 ran to say Faversham and tipped then to Paddock wood dropped trailer and parked up for ‘night out’ around 1400 have 9 off and get the loaded trailer back to Alfreton for the early deliveries, and then do an early COOP Alfreton delivery and finish at about 8. So 2 days work and a night out for 16hrs pay when you could have had 2 normal days and got 24hrs pay. I only did one then kicked it into touch.