First assignment!

Hi all, just popping back in with an update.

Joined here last year (I think) and absorbed lots of good advice. Eventually decided to do my Class 2 training with Peter Smythe.
Jumped through all the million theory hoops and then headed up to the midlands in May for my training. Was instilled with confidence in myself throughout (many thanks to the brilliant Paul!) and passed first time. I fully intend returning to them for my Class 1.

Spent a few weeks marvelling at what I’d achieved, whilst finishing up all the landscaping jobs I had on the go. Throughout this time I was registered with indeed.co.uk and was keeping a careful eye on all driving jobs which may be suitable for me, a newbie 45year old 5’2 female stranded in central Somerset!

Last Wednesday I spotted something eyecatching, which meant registering with an agency. She sent me the forms by email, but before I’d had the chance to print them I received a phone call asking if I was available on Monday for at least a week, possibly running onwards. Of course, I said.
So sent paperwork, and today received confirmation of at least a weeks work, starting Monday.
I feel incredibly lucky. This is the first job I have applied for, I had put so many psychological barriers in my own way, my age, my gender, my fresh licence, and more, but I was wrong to do that it seems. I just needed to remain focussed and remember that my licence is a commodity.

I’m going to be working for Palletline via Gregory’s in my home town, I’ve no idea what to expect but I’ll go at it the same way I have everything else, knowing that as long as I am prepared to listen and learn and never get too complacent there’s no reason why I can’t do ok!

(Anyone have any experience of working the Palletline network?!)

Your truck may be loaded for you by night staff, or you report for duty in the morning and each truck is allocated a queue slot, depending on delivery times .
You may have to locate each pallet from which night trunk trailer brought it from the main hub in London or Birmingham back to Shepton Mallet.

The list will indicate the position on the night trailer where your pallet is, show the fork lift driver where the pallet is to load it on yours.
Or the fork lift driver will locate all your pallets and load you.

Customers pay more for pre 9 am or pre midday delivery times, penalties apply for late delivery which Gregory pay.
Some pallets can be over sized or heavy, up to a ton, for stone slabs, compost, turf or bricks.
Customers may demand heavy pallets to pump trucked over a slope ,shingle stone drives, cracked and uneven paving, which is not good, as the small wheel gets trapped.

Some expect pallets to broken down on the high street to be taken down a cellar or stairs or up stairs, restaurants with food and drink deliveries do this.
Your routes will involve rural areas with narrow lanes, trees and branches will cut the curtain and damage the mirrors.
Handball drop, is small packages unloaded by hand.
Collections are made on the way back to Shepton, revise the working time directive rules for your break times.

Great post and it sounds like a good start. Gregorys is very well respected in the industry so that is also good. I’m sure with you’re approach you’ll be fine. Pallet work can involve some interesting reversing. Always be prepared to get out and look. Never risk it.

Hopefully you’ll be back for CE. Have you noticed the competition in the Sponsor Thread?

All the best with it, Pete

A tip for unloading heavy pallets is to raise the air suspension on the vehicle and use gravity to pull out the pallet, but be careful not to let it roll away on the pump truck and it could push you off the tail lift or crush you inside the lorry while unloading .
If in doubt with any delivery where the vehicle will not fit down a narrow lane or awkward access, ring up the farmer or customer for the best advice to find the location.

The best thing is to walk down the lane, and look for places to reverse and turn around, the few minutes doing this saves the hassle of being stuck and a tow crane to get you out .

In the Winter there is ice and snow to battle with in rural untreated roads, with some steep hills, cars will not slow down and expect you to give way when it is your right of way .Some lanes are rat runs for commuters and Mums on the school runs and there are school buses .

Some customers will try and push your buttons and annoy you, if you bite and react, as soon as you leave, they are on the phone to your manager or emailing to complain how abusive you were, their ploy tactic is to get a free or a discount on their delivery, do not fall for it.
Give them a smile and be polite , and any problems ring your planner to speak to the customer to sort out the problem .

Most delivery are kerb side deliveries, or drop and run, they have paid just for that and not paid for additional manual handling.
They have paid a cheap price for any pallet to be delivered anywhere in the UK at a set price, it is a bit like buying a cheap flight in economy seating and expect a first class service on the flight .
If you get a regular run, you will work out the best places for your tacho and WTD breaks, for example a garden centre will have a good cafe for a meal and coffee once tipped, they do not mind the lorry parked there .
Never rush the round, if you are late, so be it, never go over the speed limits, the lorries have Gps monitoring, and trackers to show speed .
The hand held scanner is used when you load up in the morning, and a signature is required on the hand held device, this will show proof of delivery electronically direct to the pallet hub and the office .

Some drivers may try and jump the queue to load up.

Thanks for the responses, wow, sounds like I’m about to be chucked in at the deep end! Although there was mention of ‘hub to hub fork on fork off’ so maybe it’ll be an easier introduction. Well whatever, I guess the best thing I can do is to take it all one step at a time and learn from everything.

Thanks for the tips, especially on the pump trucks, I know they can be dangerous things when not respected.

Indigo:
Thanks for the responses, wow, sounds like I’m about to be chucked in at the deep end! Although there was mention of ‘hub to hub fork on fork off’ so maybe it’ll be an easier introduction. Well whatever, I guess the best thing I can do is to take it all one step at a time and learn from everything.

Thanks for the tips, especially on the pump trucks, I know they can be dangerous things when not respected.

Congratulations! Best of luck and I’m Pleased for you. I was in the hotel next to you who did his class 1.

Ah yes I remember! I see you’re about to commence your new career also next week, it’s taken us virtually exactly the same amount of time to put our licences into action! Good luck to you also!

Just a quick one with regards to the suggestion of adjusting the suspension to help the pallet roll, that’s ridiculous and could lead to serious injury. Only adjust the suspension to level the truck which will help moving heavy pallets, do not create a slope.

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My advice would to leave home a bit earlier to allow for unforeseen delays to the work place.
On arrival, make yourself known to the manager that you have arrived, there will be many drivers waiting around and it can get noisy, you will then fill out agency forms, and the license is checked.
Get talking to them, the route you have been given, will be one that the others have done, and will give tips and advice, such as Joe Bloggs ltd shuts for lunch break.
Pack some lunch in a Tupperware box in case no place to eat on your lunch break, a Thermos for tea and coffee, some loo paper.
If in the Dorchester area, ignore the 7.5 ton weight limits to Poundbury , a posh housing estate with connection to Prince Charles, follow your nose to the garden center, good coffee there, I park the artic down there and never had a problem.
South of Yeovil on the Dorchester road , there is a cracking little farm shop, once see the sign for the garage, exit the main road, park by the garage, or the shop car park.
Its near Rhyme Intreseca.
Cartgate services and Podimore on the A303 are ideal tacho stops.

The rigids do not go hub to hub, only the artics.
The only issue that is a pain is not knowing the area and where to find the drops.
You may have to work out the route from a manifest with the addresses on it, lets say there are 15 deliveries, you may have to go past a few to make a deadline drop.
Then go back to the drops missed out.
Working out the best route can all change when a few collections are thrown in the mix to scuttle the carefully planned delivery planning .

Well I have to say that I thought Toby was being a bit of a doom merchant, but in actual fact his advice has turned out to be entirely accurate!

I turned up on Monday, was asked about experience (none at C but lots of van and trailer long distance stuff)

I was given the keys to a 26 tonne Scania, and an apprentice to accompany me who had achieved licence but was not yet able to drive legally yet, but did have some multidrop experience and sent off into the wilderness! His calmness actually saved my sanity!

Single track lanes, near impossible reverses, stupid tight spots and crazy hill starts, well pretty much everything Toby mentioned, and that was just the first day! But got 17 out of 19 drops done (somehow!) and no ■■■■■, although I did strip a tree of all its apples in some god forsaken village somewhere!

Today I had the same truck, and a nice lad who has been driving a 12 t for a couple of years there, but basically pretty much refused to drive the Scania because he’s not keen on the size! Another nuts day, but back two hours earlier having achieved all drops plus two collections.

I never expected to hike straight up to such a beast on my first job, if I’d have known I’d have bricked myself, but being chucked in like this has made me just get on with it.

Hopefully the stress will lessen and the job become easier as the week goes by, it’s been a proper baptism of fire!

I’ve been on pallet multi drop although for the TPN network for getting on 18 months now and must say I’d never raise / lower the air suspension to create a slope to aid unloading. I’d certainly not suggest a newbie do it anyway. Most I’ve ever done is level the vehicle off which is a massive help. The class 2 work can be very stressful and hard work but it doesn’t take long to pick up hints and tips to help you get along easier. Always ask the experienced drivers if you have a query as 9/10 are more then happy to help. I’m on class 1 multi drop now where the work I’m doing is generally better but the reversing and manoeuvres are just as interesting [emoji51][emoji51] good luck with the rest of it and wish you all the best.

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Sounds like you are doing well and It definitely gets easier after a few weeks. At the moment everywhere you go is a new (to you) drop but within a couple of weeks you will start to get drops that you have already done or at least you will have done a drop nearby.

Do try and make sure you have a proper break during the day instead of putting it on break while unloading. I know the angelic drivers on Trucknet would never unload on a break but I found it to be common on multidrop, especially if it was job and knock not hourly pay.

I started on Class 2 multidrop and managed to demolish a metal bollard in the middle of a busy city centre on my first day, and had a audience of maybe 50 people laughing at the clueless idiot driving the truck. Thank ■■■■ it was in the days before youtube and camera phones

joeyd:
Sounds like you are doing well and It definitely gets easier after a few weeks. At the moment everywhere you go is a new (to you) drop but within a couple of weeks you will start to get drops that you have already done or at least you will have done a drop nearby.

Do try and make sure you have a proper break during the day instead of putting it on break while unloading. I know the angelic drivers on Trucknet would never unload on a break but I found it to be common on multidrop, especially if it was job and knock not hourly pay.

I started on Class 2 multidrop and managed to demolish a metal bollard in the middle of a busy city centre on my first day, and had a audience of maybe 50 people laughing at the clueless idiot driving the truck. Thank [zb] it was in the days before youtube and camera phones

I’ve not been filmed demolishing anything but I have been filmed making an arse of a class 1 manoeuvre when I first started out!

That is a very good point about the break, it is very common place on multi drop but as advised do make sure you give yourself the proper rest breaks. [emoji846]

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Good advice about the breaks, I’m really struggling to fit them in, I’m putting myself under pressure to not fall behind because I’m the newbie, and spend breaks drumming my fingers and wanting to get on. I should be planning them better and not just taking them when the tacho tells me to I guess!

You will do at first, especially being a newbie it’s par for the course and learning the ropes, finding out the best way to fit breaks in and so on is all done with experience. I’d expect Gregory taking you on as a newbie would allow you time to adjust and get used to it though and aren’t expecting miracles. I’ve known a couple lads who have gone on with them in Cullompton and Willand and have had only good things to say about them. I found when I first started out because you didn’t know your drops, collections or general route well at all that I rushed like mad to get as much as I could done before having to take any break and that I’d push my 1st 4 1/2 as far as I could before resetting… but have faith it will change and you’ll soon get to know when you’ve got an easy day or a hard one wether you can chill a bit or have to push a bit harder to get it all done. Just one thing I always tell the new lads I used to take on and train is never stress and never rush this is a perfect recipe for accidents and miss haps. Take it a pace that is comfortable for you and get as much as you can do, done. That’s all any1 can ask of you. Best wishes. [emoji846]

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Hi Lola, I hope you enjoy your time with Gregory, if you want to get your artic licence,ADR, Dcpc,Manual handling and fork lift licence, they will pay all that if you go full time .
Nights out artic drivers can.gross £900 a week, plenty of weekend work .