As most of you know, this has been set at £26.20 for at least the last twelve years, and possibly more than that.
One small way to encourage more drivers back might be to increase it to thirty quid. It’s not as if the price of an evening meal has stood still all that time; it would make calculation a lot easier and I very much doubt if it would make much of a dent in tax receipts.
Your thoughts?
Excellent idea.
I don’t believe it will necessarily encourage people to return to the industry, but it could help persuade ‘days only’ drivers to consider tramping.
I suspect new young drivers tempted in by money will be less likely to want to do tramping than previous generations of young drivers, who joined with a genuine desire to do the job, therefore it may help there too.
£30 sounds a lot better than £26.20, despite being a modest increase.
Getting even that will be difficult, but I would still prefer it to be closer to £40 to a least give drivers a reasonable chance of covering the cost of a room if preferred.
Should be £40, even I would do nights out for £40.
Our place currently pay £36 for night out,but part of the the pay rise offer are upping it to £42 they pay the tax so you get it all.
I dunno, more cash in always a good thing but I never tramped for the night out money, then again I often spent it on a meal and a pint or two and never ever included it in my wages like some do these days.
For me tramping was about getting out and about, seeing new places and having that bit more freedom. But its become such a slugfest with very few positives that i stopped full tramping when my old firm stopped the EU work. Facilities was a big factor in that.
Been there and done it and got the t shirt from all around the UK and Europe and now I’m happy being a supermarket plobber and being in my own house every day after work. An extra few quid a week won’t change that for me.
ScaniaUltimate:
Getting even that will be difficult, but I would still prefer it to be closer to £40 to a least give drivers a reasonable chance of covering the cost of a room if preferred.
I think the £26.20 (maximum) applies to an overnight stay in a sleeper cab. Otherwise it is £34.90 or something, presumably to reflect seeking a room.
Whether employers would be willing to up to an increased maximum is another matter.
What example expenses would total £30-£40 for one night? Dinner, breakfast, a pint? A shower? Game of pool, couple of bets? What exactly?
Noremac:
ScaniaUltimate:
Getting even that will be difficult, but I would still prefer it to be closer to £40 to a least give drivers a reasonable chance of covering the cost of a room if preferred.I think the £26.20 (maximum) applies to an overnight stay in a sleeper cab. Otherwise it is £34.90 or something, presumably to reflect seeking a room.
Whether employers would be willing to up to an increased maximum is another matter.
What example expenses would total £30-£40 for one night? Dinner, breakfast, a pint? A shower? Game of pool, couple of bets? What exactly?
You are quite right, there are a few companies who do go over the proscribed limit and fair play to them for that. Compare it though to what salesmen, engineers and other tradesmen who stay away from home get in their allowances, and all of a sudden even thirty quid ain’t a great deal.
I have a good ex-Army friend who travels round the country fixing stuff in hospitals; if I remember right he has a budget limit per night but it more than covers the cost of a two to three star hotel room, evening meal, breakfast and stuff like coffees on the road. He is occasionally down my way and we try to meet up if we can for a chat in town; I never pay for the couple of pints we have together as he insists on putting it on the firm’s tab. His is not a high-flying job by any means, salary not much more than I earn driving an artic.
Reason I mentioned thirty quid is, it’s a logical increase and avoids looking greedy. Ask for more and you can bet that parking fees will all of a sudden come out of our pocket.
A fortnight ago our lot increased our N/O to £30 from £26.20. We receive the full £30. How does that work then? Are they paying us more than that and then subtracting the tax leaving us with £30 or are they ignoring the tax completely or perhaps they have a local agreement with the taxman?
I genuinely have no idea.
Just as a comparison from France, i get 68.9356 euros per night. £58.16 at current exchange rate . Deduction free.
OwenMoney:
Just as a comparison from France, i get 68.9356 euros per night. £58.16 at current exchange rate . Deduction free.
Thanks. That’s a very useful comparison. Might I ask if your company covers any parking charges or does that come out of your allowance? I note you said deduction free but assume that means tax.
the maoster:
A fortnight ago our lot increased our N/O to £30 from £26.20. We receive the full £30. How does that work then? Are they paying us more than that and then subtracting the tax leaving us with £30 or are they ignoring the tax completely or perhaps they have a local agreement with the taxman?I genuinely have no idea.
I would suspect that a slight adjustment is made to your income tax, if they’re doing things correctly. I’d also suspect that it would be so slight (at maximum 20 per cent of £3.80) that you would be unlikely to notice.
Sidevalve:
OwenMoney:
Just as a comparison from France, i get 68.9356 euros per night. £58.16 at current exchange rate . Deduction free.
Thanks. That’s a very useful comparison. Might I ask if your company covers any parking charges or does that come out of your allowance? I note you said deduction free but assume that means tax.
Parking in France and Europe generally is free. The night out money is paid without deduction of any sort.
It used to be considered as a bonus by the lads I worked with - happy to do a night out for the chance to pick up an extra £26.
The company changed this a year or two ago; realising part of the parking fee often included a meal voucher for the driver, they began reimbursing the driver for parking less meal voucher value.
£26 really doesn’t go a long way considering when you’re away from home you pay for breakfast, lunch, evening meal and a shower.
I get 22 euros a day meal allowance every worked day. The night out money of 68.9356 is on top.
Last week I did 4 nights out.
A good evening can be had in a Routier for around 13 euros.
We get £45 per night out plus £25 food allowance plus all parking paid for.
If you park at services that do £10 food vouchers you then have £35 food allowance.
Forgot to mention in my last post that if you work out of another depot you will get a hotel paid for and a hire car on top of the other money.
HB1:
It used to be considered as a bonus by the lads I worked with - happy to do a night out for the chance to pick up an extra £26.The company changed this a year or two ago; realising part of the parking fee often included a meal voucher for the driver, they began reimbursing the driver for parking less meal voucher value.
£26 really doesn’t go a long way considering when you’re away from home you pay for breakfast, lunch, evening meal and a shower.
I tend not to claim the extra meal voucher charge. My boss pays me 4 nights out a week at the full tax-free limit, and I get this even if I park up in the yard at night and go home; though this is very rare as I currently live an hour’s drive away. So I’m minded to think that asking him to pay extra for the parking just so that I can blag a cheap McDonalds is going a bit too far; furthermore, if the MSA’s can afford to give you a tenner’s worth of food for two quid it goes to prove how much they’re making on the parking.
LisasGuy:
We get £45 per night out plus £25 food allowance plus all parking paid for.
If you park at services that do £10 food vouchers you then have £35 food allowance.
Why is Trucknet full of* posts like this? To be of any use it could say:- At Stobarts, we get…etc. Then we could go and work at Stobarts, or at least say to our boss, look this £20 a night you pay doesn’t match against Stobart’s rather than “doesn’t match against someone I once heard of claiming to get more”
*full of - so not just you, Mr Lisa
ScaniaUltimate:
Excellent idea.
I don’t believe it will necessarily encourage people to return to the industry, but it could help persuade ‘days only’ drivers to consider tramping.
It won’t. Those of us who don’t do tramping aren’t interested in being at work from early Monday to Friday night/Saturday night, barely seeing our home and our friends and families and maxing out the hours, often for lower pay, playing the daily “am I going to be able to find somewhere to park with toilets that isn’t full or where I’m going to wake up with no diesel, cut curtains or both” game of night out roulette. Don’t want it, not interested in it. And the numbers interested in doing it are getting less and less every year. Odd night out now and again, fair enough but that’s it. It’s just another in a long line of things in haulage that have outstayed their welcome and need to come to an end.
Sidevalve:
Compare it though to what salesmen, engineers and other tradesmen who stay away from home get in their allowances, and all of a sudden even thirty quid ain’t a great deal.I have a good ex-Army friend who travels round the country fixing stuff in hospitals; if I remember right he has a budget limit per night but it more than covers the cost of a two to three star hotel room, evening meal, breakfast and stuff like coffees on the road. He is occasionally down my way and we try to meet up if we can for a chat in town; I never pay for the couple of pints we have together as he insists on putting it on the firm’s tab. His is not a high-flying job by any means, salary not much more than I earn driving an artic.
This. 2017 when I took a break from haulage I worked at a software/engineering company and ended up being sent to do installs down south from time to time. Company booked individual rooms at Premier Inn, my place of choice, with meals paid often costing well over £100 a night per room and gave us £200 in petty cash to use to buy our meals which we could also use for buying drinks on the night and if we burned through that, say we had to buy tools/parts, we could submit receipts and be reimbursed in our wages. If the job over-ran and it needed another night we booked another Premier Inn or wherever. Didn’t argue, didn’t give a toss, no debating anything and this was in a job at a small company where I took a quite noticeable pay cut from what I was getting driving lorries on agency.
Complete different world to nighting out in haulage where they’re like Scrooge complaining because you spent £12 on parking.
stu675:
LisasGuy:
We get £45 per night out plus £25 food allowance plus all parking paid for.
If you park at services that do £10 food vouchers you then have £35 food allowance.Why is Trucknet full of* posts like this? To be of any use it could say:- At Stobarts, we get…etc. Then we could go and work at Stobarts, or at least say to our boss, look this £20 a night you pay doesn’t match against Stobart’s rather than “doesn’t match against someone I once heard of claiming to get more”
*full of - so not just you, Mr Lisa
It can’t be helped. Discretion and keeping our company’s name off public forums is part of life.
However, both Mr Lisa and I have been honest about what we get.
OwenMoney:
stu675:
LisasGuy:
We get £45 per night out plus £25 food allowance plus all parking paid for.
If you park at services that do £10 food vouchers you then have £35 food allowance.Why is Trucknet full of* posts like this? To be of any use it could say:- At Stobarts, we get…etc. Then we could go and work at Stobarts, or at least say to our boss, look this £20 a night you pay doesn’t match against Stobart’s rather than “doesn’t match against someone I once heard of claiming to get more”
*full of - so not just you, Mr Lisa
It can’t be helped. Discretion and keeping our company’s name off public forums is part of life.
However, both Mr Lisa and I have been honest about what we get.
Im sure youre paid loads more than me for expenses, but you still cadge coffees!