Is it me or the planners

[cooper1203]

Over the last couple of weeks i have done 4 jobs for 2 different companies. 1st days work at the first company went ok i was back to the yard about an hour or 2 later than planned. Next day im told i have an over night to newcastle that as i have said before turned out to be wakefield and doncaster etc. ended up getting stuck at cambridge as i didnt have enough time to get back to the yard.

this week i was sent on a round to essexwas told it was a possible 2 day butthe route was a 15 hour 1 day. It tooke me a full 2 days left yard 5:30 wed got back yesterday 17.15.

the second company was only a 1 day job 6 drops around northampton (daventry corby kettering etc) ended up going 15 mins over my 15 hours. I know i had 2 hours at one of the drops waiting to be tipped etc andit was the first time i drove a rigid in anger but im sure i was supposed to be back well with in my hours.

so in essance is it me being crap or is there another issue.

[lolipop]

Hard to tell you if its planners or you being too slow,as your not saying what area your running from.

[cooper1203]

Hard to tell you if its planners or you being too slow,as your not saying what area your running from.

sorry medway

[robthedog]

so in essance is it me being crap

YES

[Juddian]

Job takes as long as it takes, you cannot operate lorries on anything other than direct trunking work to any sort of meaningful timetable, you can plan for an ideal journey or second runs but once a delay happens all bets are off.

This is why your often see parcel and pallet multi droppers give up after a very short wait and clear off without delivering...they don't usually get messed about at collections for obvious reasons.

[Tarmaceater]

Probably the pointy shoe is using a computer to calculate times and distance or the blue eyed driver did it ok last time .
I told my planner six times I would not make the collection time but she refused to listen to me .
She kept ringing up asking what time will I get there to inform her customer who is waiting for me .
Obviously I didn’t make it so it’s overnight in Hull and load up in the morning so at least I could unwind with a pint and a Chinese takeout number 69 Fung Yoo .

[JeffA]

at least I could unwind with a pint and a Chinese takeout number 69 Fung Yoo .

With egg roll?

[Tarmaceater]

And crispy fried noodles!

[Conor]

Job takes as long as it takes, you cannot operate lorries on anything other than direct trunking work to any sort of meaningful timetable

You can't even do that. Doing a changeover at Ecclefechan I can get there at any time between 11pm and midnight. My return trailer might be there when I get there, it might be after 2am when it turns up.

The only thing that's guaranteed in this job is the start time of day 1.

[Noremac]

It is impossible to know cooper1203. The only thing I would say is that if you are doing 6 drops in a rigid, a two hour wait anywhere isn't good. Maybe you need to go in with more of an attitude, like saying you are looking to get these off quickly because you are on multidrop. If that doesn't work, phone it in for someone to call in from your base. If you wait around, other places might start to shut and then you are into another day just like that. You should be looking to get in and out of locations and preferably be on the home straight well before rush hour.

[Socketset]

It is impossible to know cooper1203. The only thing I would say is that if you are doing 6 drops in a rigid, a two hour wait anywhere isn't good. Maybe you need to go in with more of an attitude, like saying you are looking to get these off quickly because you are on multidrop. If that doesn't work, phone it in for someone to call in from your base. If you wait around, other places might start to shut and then you are into another day just like that. You should be looking to get in and out of locations and preferably be on the home straight well before rush hour.

I used to give them 15 minutes - if no action by then it's phone call time. Tell the handler in the office. Got to crack on - no time for messing around on pallet multidrop.

[cav551]

I couldn't give a flying how long a job is "supposed" to take or took last week/yesterday, it takes as long as it takes today. This looks like you are working for an agency so their client should not be assuming that you know where every delivery of theirs is in the country. The only thing you can do is to ring their office on the phone THEY have provided (and only on one provided) if it looks like being a long wait, it is the company's job to sort out any issues not yours. NEVER give any agency client your personal mobile number and have a right go at the agency if they pass it on. Only answer a cab phone when you have parked in a layby or the next services to ring back.

Don't go over your 15 again, park up early if necessary don't attempt the drive to the delivery point stop work at however many hours and remember 13 hrs and one minute is an extended day counting as "a 15". If you are on a local run around for a pallet company just bring the stuff back, don't expect anyone to be open for deliveries after 5pm.

[DCPCFML]

Job takes as long as it takes, you cannot operate lorries on anything other than direct trunking work to any sort of meaningful timetable

You can't even do that. Doing a changeover at Ecclefechan I can get there at any time between 11pm and midnight. My return trailer might be there when I get there, it might be after 2am when it turns up.

The only thing that's guaranteed in this job is the start time of day 1.

11pm to midnight? I'd call that a good night with that level of precision. I was doing the trunks when the A1 was shut at Ripon for widening and it was a complete lottery whether I'd even get to Scotland with the 100 mile diversion via the A19 up to Newcastle or somewhere dumb then back down the A1 to Scotch Corner. Of course they'd close the A69 on the same nights. Because reasons. Same as they do with the 42 and 38 closed on the same weeks.

Been trunking air freight to Stansted airport and that's completely [zb]ed as well as they decide to close the entire length of the A14 through Cambs and send you on a 100 mile hour long diversion because some nob wants to do a bit of grass strimming on the central resy around Godmanchster . [zb] the grass. No-one cares. Probably do us night lads a favour if the [zb]ing stuff grows - at least it will block out the light from the nobs coming in the other direction with their high beam on. Just cut the [zb]ing grass on the approach to roundabouts so we can see what's coming without having to come a complete stop and job's a good 'un.

[peirre]

The only thing you can do is to ring their office on the phone THEY have provided (and only on one provided) if it looks like being a long wait, it is the company's job to sort out any issues not yours. NEVER give any agency client your personal mobile number and have a right go at the agency if they pass it on.

Unfortunately company cab phones seem to be coming rarer these days.
My solution is to have a 2nd phone (nothing spectacular) with a cheap £6/month sim only deal that gives me minimal data, and unlimited calls/txt. The agency/client all have this number, it’s even on the online company database that agency/client used for job booking, timesheets and payroll, but non of them have the number of my other personal phone, and for the £6/month it works for me as a work phone. I can choose when to use/answer/ignore it, and it gets switched off in the evening and weekends. iirc only 1 person at the agency has my personal number and they don’t have any frontline connection with day to day work, so only uses it for personal chats and has been told under no circumstances that they are to share it with the other staff

[robroy]

It's your own fault mate sorry.
If you are daft enough to try and achieve tasks set to you where you have to go either flat out, over your time, or both, wtf do you expect?
They only push you if/when YOU allow them to.
Is it worth getting a fine abd risking your hard earned licence for some incompetent f/whit in an office??....... and think of the [zb] storm that will fall around your lugs if you're involved in an accident within that 15 minute period over your time....AND they take a very dim view over going over 15 more than they do a 13.

As somebody just said, some yesman/arse crawler has probably set that pace and achieved it whilst trying to impress their boss, we all have these dicks in our firms, don't even TRY to compete with them, let them run themselves ragged towards their first heart attack....don't you end up a one of them.
Good advice take it or ignore it.

[peirre]

Unfortunately they will always set an impossible task for agency drivers, but the result is that they burn them out and cast them aside. Because they think there’s a never ending line of drivers lined up to fill the seat, and those drivers are naive enough to try it, some are just desperate for the money/experience, the rest have an eye on potentially being set on as a full time driver

[DCPCFML]

The only thing you can do is to ring their office on the phone THEY have provided (and only on one provided) if it looks like being a long wait, it is the company's job to sort out any issues not yours. NEVER give any agency client your personal mobile number and have a right go at the agency if they pass it on.

Unfortunately company cab phones seem to be coming rarer these days.
My solution is to have a 2nd phone (nothing spectacular) with a cheap £6/month sim only deal that gives me minimal data, and unlimited calls/txt. The agency/client all have this number, it’s even on the online company database that agency/client used for job booking, timesheets and payroll, but non of them have the number of my other personal phone, and for the £6/month it works for me as a work phone. I can choose when to use/answer/ignore it, and it gets switched off in the evening and weekends. iirc only 1 person at the agency has my personal number and they don’t have any frontline connection with day to day work, so only uses it for personal chats and has been told under no circumstances that they are to share it with the other staff

Why go through all this hassle when it takes a couple of minutes to set up a work group in your phone contacts and dump all 'work' related stuff in there? Soon as you leave work, switch off the group and no-one can contact you via phone or text until you turn the group back on. If your phone doesn't have it by default, there are about a million apps that cater for this.

[Roymondo]

Why go through all this hassle when it takes a couple of minutes to set up a work group in your phone contacts and dump all 'work' related stuff in there? Soon as you leave work, switch off the group and no-one can contact you via phone or text until you turn the group back on. If your phone doesn't have it by default, there are about a million apps that cater for this.

Problem with this approach being that you can only "dump" them when you already know their number. I don't have all the numbers of all the phones in use at our place and I've been there ten years! It would be impossible for an agency driver to have them all on his contacts list.


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[peirre]

Why go through all this hassle when it takes a couple of minutes to set up a work group in your phone contacts and dump all 'work' related stuff in there? Soon as you leave work, switch off the group and no-one can contact you via phone or text until you turn the group back on. If your phone doesn't have it by default, there are about a million apps that cater for this.

For £6/month it isn’t worth the hassle, the nature of agency work is that people are never going to be there long enough to get pally with them. As an agency driver I tend not to get involved with company social media groups, group chats or anything related to work. As more often than not joining these groups will bite you in the backside, & as proof of this there are currently two core drivers suspended from work at the depot I’m assigned to for comments posted online. Fools them for saying they are milking the company sick pay scheme by claiming that they have been pinged by the app and having to isolate for 10 days, only for them to post online pictures of themselves on holiday during the recent heatwave.
The majority of companies have a social media policy and comments posted online could get you the sack. This is also why I use an alias online, so if anyone at work decides to search for me online they won’t find me, or any comments that I might make.