Was talking to a HGV 1 driver yesterday who told me he was on guaranteed 70 hours basic plus overtime
is this the norm or is this a company thats in a good position
Tbh if its 70 basic + overtime he won’t be on that high of a wage depending on what the basic rate is.
Im on 40 guaranteed + overtime but regularly work 70+ hours a week
30 hours of which are on time and a half
70 hours a week!! No thanks. 
He would be worse off than most I’d say.
He has to work 70 hours before he earns any overtime. A typical driver in my experience is on a 40 hour contract with an overtime rate after that.
So after 60 hours a week a typical driver has basic + 20 hours overtime, whilst the chap in your post has basic only and 10 hours left to work.
70 hours is a fairly long shift.
It does mean he gets 70hr holiday pay too though 
And, surely whether he’s better or worse off depends on the rate, not the number of guaranteed hours
I see your point Wayne, but he’d have to be on a decent rate. If you take £10.00 per hour over both options and add a fairly standard time and a half (150%) as an overtime rate.
40x£10= £400
30x£15 = £450.
Total £850.00
Against
70x£10 = £700.00
Total £700.00
To gross more on a basic week the OP’s driver would have to be on a rate of £12.15 per hour or the average driver would have to be on an agency rate.
I
who in there right mind would want to do 70 hours a week .my father in law used to everyweek, and it nearly killed him he had a stroke its not worth working yourself into an early grave
Tipper Tom:
I see your point Wayne, but he’d have to be on a decent rate. If you take £10.00 per hour over both options and add a fairly standard time and a half (150%) as an overtime rate.40x£10= £400
30x£15 = £450.
Total £850.00Against
70x£10 = £700.00
Total £700.00To gross more on a basic week the OP’s driver would have to be on a rate of £12.15 per hour or the average driver would have to be on an agency rate.
I
I know what you’re saying, but around here the rate is around £8 per hour with time and half after 40, so if he’s on say £9 for the 70, then take into account the extra he’ll get on holiday because if you get 40hrs then overtime, your holidays will be 40hrs
wish I got overtime rate. Just a day rate and a daily bonus for me, although I only lose the bonus out my holiday pay
I do 8hrs, anything else every day is overtime. Long gone are the time and a half days of overtime but I do okay.
So how does that all fit in with an average 48 hour week - not to mention the possibility that it may well be overnighting as well!
I’ve always argued that if we choose to adopt bent practices in the name of “Times are 'ard”, then it will become the industry standard expected of all of us. Wot is anyone doing that kind of hours for anyway? - Low pay that pays minimum debt interest?
Just go low-field, and use the low basic pay to walk away from all of that. Better to default debts owed to a bunch of millionaires than kill someone next Friday morning rush hour…
…Running half asleep over a cyclist near you!..
The only other industry I know of that involves abusing their staff in this way is Junior Doctors in the NHS… How many have died, and have yet to die because of half-asleep doctors on 80+ hour weeks?
When someone dies, no one in authority at said firm goes to jail. THAT’S the problem with any bent system, and the reason there’s nothing to stop it carrying on being bent. Legal murder, incorporated into the system. Only the fool on the ground who’s been pushed into aiding and abetting the company gets to take the fall… 
Winseer:
So how does that all fit in with an average 48 hour week
This week I’ve been paid for 52 hours but only booked 41 hours for the WTD. I spent 14.75 hours on break so was well under the 48 hour average.
This 60 hour maximum week and keeping within the W.T.D 17 or 26 weeks is another of those well known myths of trucking in the 21st century.
by the time my boss takes off breaks and poa there is rarely an occasion i have WORKED!! over 60 hours. as far as i am concerned when i am in work it IS work not any of this other bull.
Terry T:
Winseer:
So how does that all fit in with an average 48 hour weekThis week I’ve been paid for 52 hours but only booked 41 hours for the WTD. I spent 14.75 hours on break so was well under the 48 hour average.
Do you get to leave the premises, get something to eat, have a kip, etc when on these “breaks” that sound like “uninsured time on duty” to me. 
…If company wants to pay for it’s drivers to be sitting at home, then that’s great - stick with that firm, as they are obviously looking after you. 
If you’re still at the wheel, parked in a layby, eating your packed lunch, then guess what? - You’re still considered to be “in charge of the truck”, and if breathalysed in a state of inebriation by a passing plod, you’ll get busted for it - ie you’re not off duty as far as they are concerned, just “drunk in charge”.
I see a lot of truck drivers in laybys sticking empty beer cans into the bin that most laybys seem to have in the middle nowdays… Don’t tell me therefore that none of us have a bevvy or two when they consider themselves to be “off duty”… 
What’s that funny smell
Winseer:
Do you get to leave the premises, get something to eat, have a kip, etc when on these “breaks”
I did the same run every day last week. Took a loaded trailer to my first drop and brought an empty back to the yard. Wait for 4 hours then take an empty trailer to another drop and bring a loaded one back.
I spent the 4 hours waiting time either in the canteen eating and chatting with the other drivers, or on my bunk having a lie down, chatting to the missus or playing on my phone. If any of that sounds like other work then VOSA can come and arrest me 
Terry T:
Winseer:
Do you get to leave the premises, get something to eat, have a kip, etc when on these “breaks”I did the same run every day last week. Took a loaded trailer to my first drop and brought an empty back to the yard. Wait for 4 hours then take an empty trailer to another drop and bring a loaded one back.
I spent the 4 hours waiting time either in the canteen eating and chatting with the other drivers, or on my bunk having a lie down, chatting to the missus or playing on my phone. If any of that sounds like other work then VOSA can come and arrest me
Sounds like a proper break then!
…You’re not in a tip queue, waiting in the cab for someone to say “Hey bud, not there!”, or otherwise on a moment’s standby to go somewhere else, as you would be if on POA rather than proper break. 
SHYTOT:
Was talking to a HGV 1 driver yesterday who told me he was on guaranteed 70 hours basic plus overtime
is this the norm or is this a company thats in a good position
Its the norm. You never knew this ?
NewLad:
wish I got overtime rate. Just a day rate and a daily bonus for me, although I only lose the bonus out my holiday pay
Day rate only here, whether it be 7 hours or 15.
No bonus either.
Overtime was knocked on the head due to people taking the ■■■■ and sitting in laybys/at home etc.
(Courier/ technical courier company work that became home delivery work).
Oh, and time off in lieu when the averaged hours gets too near the magical 48hrs.
60+ hours were common for home delivery at one point.
Day rate is great if you get a run into london every day that takes the timer all day, whilst you can do it in 5-6 hours… I had such a run in the early 90’s - perhaps the golden age of driving, albeit me being on 17tonners at the time… (couldn’t get the C+E job for myself as yet, only on overtime!)
Start 17:00 load for London railway stations, depart 18:30, paid until 01:00, but usually home with my feet up by 11pm… Loved that job!
Turn up at a yard to be told “Ok, your first run is to the other end of the country, then if you could just wait in a tip queue there for a backload, you’ll be able to drop that off in Lowestoft on the way back again… Right? I’m looking to employ a proper professional here, who sees 15 hour shifts as a mere bagatelle, and knowns how to use a magnet or two…”