Has anybody worked for A Plant?
Usual stuff, what are they like to work for, terms and conditions, pay etc?
A mate is thinking of applying for a job at the Bridgwater depot.
Any info would be great. Cheers guys.
Nick
…If you have a problem, if no one else can help and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the A ■■■■ it wrong one.
Beef:
Has anybody worked for A Plant?
No, but I’ve worked for a few vegetables!! Boom tish. 
Surely someone must have worked for this company? On their website they claim to be one of the UK’s leading equipment hire companies with over 2700 staff!
Ok, so if no one on here has worked for them, what is plant hire work like generally?
The job advertised is class 2 delivering and collecting small plant and lifting equipment. Whats the pay and conditions like generally for this type of work, are the hours long and do you get messed about as much as you do on general haulage.
My mate is currently doing class 2 fridge work with a large well known company but has had enough of being messed about all the time, and fancies trying something different.
Any help guys would be great.
cupidstunt:
Beef:
Has anybody worked for A Plant?No, but I’ve worked for a few vegetables!! Boom tish.
Am quite sure a certain poster on here smokes plants 
Working times are similar to builders merchants so around the 7-5 mark. You’ll be shown how to drive mini diggers, rollers etc to get them on and off the truck
If delivering or collecting mini excavators then check what buckets they’re required with or came with. There’re more than just the one on the actual digger. You’ll probably have to record the engine hours on delivery and at collection as many companies charge extra if they’ve averaged more than 50/week.
A bit like a pre start truck check, check the condition of the plant being delivered and collected as plant companies like to charge for stuff like damage and an empty diesel tank or lack of grease.
Plant hire is a bit marmite, you either love it or hate it. Nothing worse than chaining down muddy equipment in the ■■■■■■■ rain and freezing cold. But the variety is good, and it’s different places the majority of the time so every day is different. I worked with speedy on plant, then moved onto power for a short time, I’d still be there if the money wasn’t shockingly poor.
Anything you want to know, I’ll try help you out!
An old mate of mine works for Charles Wilson who do plant etc. He’s been there 8-10years, money was ok when I last spoke to him, I remember him saying he’s always covered in mud or dust when on site, (some of the reasons that I didn’t fancy it) the two weeks before xmas he was running around collecting equipment as sites were closing down until new year and so they don’t have to pay hire fees, and then in first week of January, he was re delivering same plant to same sites
Rob9b:
An old mate of mine works for Charles Wilson who do plant etc. He’s been there 8-10years, money was ok when I last spoke to him, I remember him saying he’s always covered in mud or dust when on site, (some of the reasons that I didn’t fancy it) the two weeks before xmas he was running around collecting equipment as sites were closing down until new year and so they don’t have to pay hire fees, and then in first week of January, he was re delivering same plant to same sites
You got that right about Christmas
we move flt’s and are still mad busy, that said we have a few big contracts renewed and that’s our 4 wagons running flat out moving 300 new flt’s on top of our normal hire jobs.
The job is all or nothing, get a rate where you do not depend on over time as it may dip occasionly, but busy 80% of the time.
15-20 years ago A plant was the Stobbart of the hire plant world… They literally halved the hire rates on there kit… Which in turn put many companies under. You could hire a machine from them for the same price as there competitors were paying in finance on there own machines which they hired out !
Back then they had a high turnover of staff who where poorly paid…
Who knows things may have changed!
Thanks for the replies guys. I’ll pass on the information and then let you know how he gets on with the application.
If anyone has any more information then it will be greatly appreciated.
I have worked for A plant for about 12 years on and off as a self employed driver
I founds hem good to work for, usually 8 o’clock start and 6 o’clock finish
There very strict on daily checks and compliance on driving hours
Steady as you go, I prefer the plant job to general haulage, less hassle from the planners
Thats good to know, thank you.
It says in the advert that it is desirable for the candidate to have IOSH and CSCS qualifications. What are these, and do you think they are the type of company that would provide the necessary training to obtain these qualifications?
Like I’ve said, my mate currently drives class 2 fridges so would need training.
We are gonna do his application tonight. It says on the website you can submit your cv online. We will do this but I’m going to recommend he does a covering letter and prints it off along with his cv and then actually goes in person to the company and ask to see who ever is on charge and give it to him/her. I recon that way it will show he’s keen plus they get to put a face to the application. Best case senario would be that they invite him for a chat.
CSCS Is the construction site card which is multi choice answers ,is common sense
The IOSH you can do online that’s a health and safety card both can be done under £200
I don’t have IOSH at the moment better look into doing that myself
Well just incase anyone is interested, my mate didn’t hear back about the job.
Beef:
Well just incase anyone is interested, my mate didn’t hear back about the job.
Shame for him. Keep on trying is the only way forward.
Beef:
Well just incase anyone is interested, my mate didn’t hear back about the job.
They are hard to get in with tbh, I did a good spell with HSS which is actually the leader in plant hire… The branch in Hull is very much “if you know someone”
Depends on if you get to load first thing in the morning or last thing at night before driving home.
Loading in morning means 5am to 6am start, load night before and its 6am I would say.
Typically work you 10 hours a day, they will putbyou through all your tickets and pay is way above average driving jobs. Hewdens are better, 24k for a 4 day week, with a fifth day at o.t you will get over 32k across the year.
A plant like all plant companies work as follows.
Mon to Fri, Sats are optional as are bank holidays but bank holidaysl working is very rare. Festive period off for sure. O.t paid at time and a third or time and a half. No nights out, they need you back to turn the machine around and go back out. Career prospects are hig wuth A Plant due to size of company. Guarantee you will be treated better at a plant company than any standard haulage business.
Variety of work and actually getting to do something over than drive or wait, its nice to play around on the machines and you will have far more laughs. Days fly by and weekends seem to approach quickly.
Beats sitting on some bay or in a queue to load a box. ■■■■ that game, thats for the sleepwalkers en route to a grave.
Take care
widget:
15-20 years ago A plant was the Stobbart of the hire plant world… They literally halved the hire rates on there kit… Which in turn put many companies under. You could hire a machine from them for the same price as there competitors were paying in finance on there own machines which they hired out !Back then they had a high turnover of staff who where poorly paid…
Who knows things may have changed!
They have got better since, A Plant were poorly managed due to being a giant of the plant world. Wincanton nearky folded them with their hilarious planning of Paragon and Elvis which dont function together correctly. Nationwide Platforms made the same mistake too.
Best plant companies to work for are Summit and Hewdens
Don’t know if I should say this, but you could try Nixon Hire… 
But be VERY wary of the ‘middle management’…