Job offer/ too low?

i applied a firm yesterday on indeed, uk tramping, without any rate advertised on indeed job offer. Today got a call, and here is the offer, 105£ a day + 25£ night out + 5£ meal allowance. 2 weeks tramp 4 nights a week, 2 weeks tramp 5 nights a week, and about 65 hours per week. So 650£ - 675£ gross with allowances. Have higher rates on weekends and 45£ bonuses weekly if achieve good fuel efficiency etc. He said half of the driver get this every week. Seems a small firm, not recent review on trucknet, Facebook, have twitter icon on their website but nothing comes up.

What do you guys think about this offer? Also, when companies advertise jobs 600-700£ / week. This means without any tax free allowances or everything included in this rate?

Ignore every figure apart from this one…£105 per day,now if they only plan you for 9hrs a day it’s an ok rate of £11.60ph,if they plan you for 15hrs a day it’s £7ph which is actually illegal but somehow companies around it by paying “day rate” as opposed to an hourly rate.

xichrisxi:
Ignore every figure apart from this one…£105 per day,now if they only plan you for 9hrs a day it’s an ok rate of £11.60ph,if they plan you for 15hrs a day it’s £7ph which is actually illegal but somehow companies around it by paying “day rate” as opposed to an hourly rate.

I’m abit confused about how they calculate hourly rate. 105 a day 525 a week 65 hours works out 8.07£. But gross 650 ( with all the allowances) works out 10£/ hour.

I checked Eddie Stobart, Hourly Rate Average £10.44-£11.68 equivalent; inc. tax free allowances
Hours Guaranteed 45 per week, Average 50-60 per week
So, hourly rate ; includes tax free allowances inside?

Another firm, the swain group , advertise on their website; Average earnings are approximately £575 per week gross for 5 days dependent on workload, PLUS Night Out Subsistence and overtime paid. Potential earnings are in excess of £700 per week including overtime.

If can make this clear, would be really helpful. Thanks.

I’ve done day-rate work in the past and I’ve usually found that it’s firms who know very well that you’ll be kept waiting a lot and they avoid paying you for it in this way.
For instance, I drove a van to north London from Stoke for a hundred quid which seems fine as it’s only approx 7-8 hrs driving. I was waiting for over two hours to get loaded and over two to get unloaded which put me right in the bad traffic coming home so the whole day ended up being fourteen hours which works out at about seven quid an hour. I’ll never fall for that bullshine again.

The words “day rate” as used in driving job offers are as old as the hills.

The rate is specified in this instance as “£105 a day”.

This means that the amount of money to be paid is fixed AND known in advance, so it appears fair enough, and so we’re OK so far.

Now we come to the “a day” part of it… Have you noticed that there’s nothing fixed or known about that in advance?

xichrisxi makes an excellent point IMHO.

Transporting stuff around is fickle and contains a number of unknowns such as, forkies and queues (at both ends of a journey) traffic, roadworks, traffic accidents, weather etc, all of which can add significantly to the length of time needed to do a job.

Doing a job for “day rate” isn’t going to work out very well for a driver, unless the word “day” has a defined meaning in the offer.

dieseldave:
The words “day rate” as used in driving job offers are as old as the hills.

The rate is specified in this instance as “£105 a day”.

This means that the amount of money to be paid is fixed AND known in advance, so it appears fair enough, and so we’re OK so far.

Now we come to the “a day” part of it… Have you noticed that there’s nothing fixed or known about that in advance?

xichrisxi makes an excellent point IMHO.

Transporting stuff around is fickle and contains a number of unknowns such as, forkies and queues (at both ends of a journey) traffic, roadworks, traffic accidents, weather etc, all of which can add significantly to the length of time needed to do a job.

Doing a job for “day rate” isn’t going to work out very well for a driver, unless the word “day” has a defined meaning in the offer.

The guy on the phone said, it’s about 65 hours, can be less. So before any allowances it’s 8.07 £/ h . With allowances gross 650£, so its 10£/h. Before, I checked Eddie Stobart offer 10.44/h , I thought there will be allowances add on top of hourly rate, then re read the offer, hourly rate included allowances.

There’s AKW Global near me, 29900£ for distance driver, and they write ; Please note, your salary is paid in 12 equal, monthly instalments, regardless of how many hours you work per month. R.T keedwell advertise 600-700£/ week, seems both offers are quite similar. Many negative reviews for akw, some for Eddie Stobart on tnuk, also some for r t keedwell. But no review for this company here. I found info , they got about 100 units, do both container and curtainsider transport, and much closer to my home. Might be not a bad place to gain some experience, and move on better paid jobs or Euro work after sometime. Anyway will find out more at interview/assessment day after get back my licences.

worked for a manufacturing company on a set weekly wage. Delivering there goods. Warehouse hours was 8 to 4 30. I used start around 4 or 5 do delivers back yard job done. Usually about 2. Was all good. Then got called into office we’ve had complaints you finishing early. Said yes but start early. Was told you have to stay to 4 30 . Help in the warehouse etc if need be .can’t go home. So I said that’s means I’m doing 3 hours or so a day extra making 12 13 hours a day instead of 10. Was.told it’s ok we’re giving you a pay rise to make up for it. £5 a week I just walked out .and I noticed a lot of jobs I applied to after leaving were set day rates .forget that I waited managed find one paid hourly

How can you work 65 hours a week? Legal limit is 60 or am i missing a clue?

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Andrey1:
… Might be not a bad place to gain some experience, and move on better paid jobs or Euro work after sometime. Anyway will find out more at interview/assessment day after get back my licences.

Hi Andrey1,

The blue part is the way to go…

IronEddie:
How can you work 65 hours a week? Legal limit is 60 or am i missing a clue?

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So far I know, 60hrs maximum working time which includes driving and waiting times at loading and unloading. Brakes aren’t count as working time. 9 hrs drive, 3 hrs loading/unloading, 1 hr break daily, gives you easily 65 hours in total. Maiximum shifts, 15hr3days and 13hr2 days, gives you 71hrs total legal wtd. If I’m wrong, please someone correct me. Thank you. Is it true that some companies don’t pay this break times?

dieseldave:

Andrey1:
… Might be not a bad place to gain some experience, and move on better paid jobs or Euro work after sometime. Anyway will find out more at interview/assessment day after get back my licences.

Hi Andrey1,

The blue part is the way to go…

Thank you, I also thought so. Just curious, is it better to go with big names like Eddie Stobart etc, or with much smaller family-owned type of companies where get treated as human other than “just another driver”…

Big company or Small company?
There are good and bad examples of both. And what you think is good another driver may consider bad, and what you are looking for may change at differing points in your career.
Not much of an answer, but look for a job that suits you rather than rule out any section of employers.

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Andrey1:

IronEddie:
How can you work 65 hours a week? Legal limit is 60 or am i missing a clue?

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So far I know, 60hrs maximum working time which includes driving and waiting times at loading and unloading. Brakes aren’t count as working time. 9 hrs drive, 3 hrs loading/unloading, 1 hr break daily, gives you easily 65 hours in total. Maiximum shifts, 15hr3days and 13hr2 days, gives you 71hrs total legal wtd. If I’m wrong, please someone correct me. Thank you. Is it true that some companies don’t pay this break times?

Waiting time is not counted if break or POA is recorded

Andrey1:

IronEddie:
How can you work 65 hours a week? Legal limit is 60 or am i missing a clue?

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So far I know, 60hrs maximum working time which includes driving and waiting times at loading and unloading. Brakes aren’t count as working time. 9 hrs drive, 3 hrs loading/unloading, 1 hr break daily, gives you easily 65 hours in total. Maiximum shifts, 15hr3days and 13hr2 days, gives you 71hrs total legal wtd. If I’m wrong, please someone correct me. Thank you. Is it true that some companies don’t pay this break times?

Oh so they’re saying 65 hours inclusive of breaks etc. You’ll deffinately be actually working a lot less then, especially to get down to a 48 average.

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Forget everything else… can you live on the guaranteed wages?

That’s £525 per week, gross.

Though for me, I’d be out immediately at the mention of 6 days every second week as standard. ■■■■ that.

slowlane:
Forget everything else… can you live on the guaranteed wages?

That’s £525 per week, gross.

Though for me, I’d be out immediately at the mention of 6 days every second week as standard. [zb] that.

Plus 5£ meal allowances,and 25£ night out. Also, bonuses on fuel efficiency.
So gross 650£+ week. Take home after tax is 550£+, it is not bad for a newbie class 1 driver. Well paid jobs requires more experience. I checked downton 9.25£ mon-fri, 19£ night out, 5£ meal allowances. Companies who take newbies seems like low payers.

Yep, the big players are usually the low payers!

I worked for Downton for a year, now am at WST, so I’m not approaching this from a “I wouldn’t get out of bed for less than £25ph” type attitude!

What I mean is that your nights out and meal allowance aren’t guaranteed- you should get 4 nights out, but you might not. You might get your fuel bonus, or you might spend too much time being run into big cities.

You’ll find that you come across plenty of drivers who absolutely need all the additions to the basic wage, and that route is very stressful.

If I end up, via some bad luck, spending all week on locals and home every night, it’s not a problem - I don’t need the night out money. I want it, but I don’t have to stress about whether I need to pick up a days overtime etc etc.

The expectation of a 6th day every second week is the killer for me in your example. That’s completely unreasonable to my mind. Everyone has their own line in the sand, and that one is mine. I don’t mind long hours during the week, but I want my two days off.

So, had interview with them yesterday in Bolton office. Numbers are changed(lowered). Few weeks ago, (he knew I’m a new driver) on the phone offer 25£ night out, and yesterday been told 20£. I asked why, he’s like I offer you before 25 ,thought you had experience. 105£ a day, 525£ a week for 60-65 hrs, and 5£ meal allowances. Then, been told to have 3 days training, full day… unpaid… normal■■? Their trucks are Volvo FH 2007 to 2013, but as I’m New driver, will start with oldest unit, without fridge, probably million kms on clock, and low condition… I live in Manchester and their depot in Liverpool, though it’s 4 nights out. Today supposed to start my training, and earliest train got cancelled. Is this a sign for me to give a miss this company?

Don’t understand how inexperience affects night out allowance.

Gav

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Andrey1:
oday supposed to start my training, and earliest train got cancelled. Is this a sign for me to give a miss this company?

100% YES!!!
3 full days unpaid training…did you ask what part of the job required 27hrs training (presuming your looking at 9hrs per day)