It strikes me that every time I open up an industry press publication it is full of doom and gloom. Mostly harping on about the WTD, employing foreign drivers and foreign hauliers.
IMHO I reckon it is about time this industry and our beloved Government stopped blamming other people and looked closer to home for the root cause of our down troddden industry.
Foreign hauliers…surely they are allowed as are UK hauliers when they go ontothe continent to look for back loads!
Foreign drivers…good luck to them. If no one else wants to do it for the pay and conditions here, then well I am affraid someone has to do it.
WTD…biggest IMHO infringement on my human rights. Again EU dictating not only what size and shape bananas we eat but how many hours a week we work.
All the above are just a cop out. For years the big boys have been under cutting each other to get another major contract for their fleets. When they eventually find the pots are running dry they try and blame the above for their demise.
It is about time the UK haulage sector as a whole stopped moaning about the problems which they have created over the years and worked on ways to sort the current disastrous state of the industry.
After all in one industry magazine two of the major big boys reported MASSIVE profits for last year! Are things really that bad, or is the image they wish to portray to the driver!!!
I have been saying for quite a while that they is money to be made in transport even in this day and age!
You only have to read TruckNet to see that drivers and Derv are wasted in this country because of the incompetence of Drivers, TM,s clerks, buyers Etc.
Good transport professionals are still making a good living in our industry, but it can only be done if we are all pulling in the same direction. And part of that direction is the pay structure, drivers are a hugely important part of transport and if we are paid and treat right then propper professional drivers will reward their respective companies with savings that even they would not believe!
Instead of putting the blame on everyone and his dog, these companies should realise that their success or downfall is due to a team effort by everyone.
There are also too many new drivers with attitudes that suggest they do not want to do the job, There are a lot of people making high wages and working hard in the transport industry, but get dragged down because others will not work, weekends, overtime, drive trucks more than a couple of years old or from a particular manufacturer.
All the manufacturing and engineering industry has gone from Britain and has been turned into service industries and many other jobs have been changed into callcentre employment.
The world is changing, we have to adapt, but lets keep Road Transport, something to be proud of.
i agree with you Liam when you say "Are things really that bad, or is the image they wish to portray to the driver!!! "
there is money to be made in the transport industry,but unfortunately its not by the drivers. the only ones making big bucks are the haulage firms themselves,if they paid the drivers a wage that reflects there "proffesionalism" (as plumbers are paid for instance) they would get "proffesional" drivers,they would also get drivers that dont mind working weekends,overtime ect.
wheel nut,i`m sorry mate but i doubt very strongly that any haulage firm would over stretch the budget and risk their profit to buy vehicles that are less than a few years old or of a specific manufacture purely to keep drivers happy mate.
IMHO there is no driver shortage,there is however a vast amount of unused HGV licences due to the poor pay and long,unsociable hours we have to do.
its been said on other threads that drivers should be prepared to work sundays and have for example wednesdays off because there is no difference,as long as you get your time off.....well if thats true it means we are officialy at the beck and call of employers,even less home life and to me personaly id rather have time off on sundays when my family are all off and spend the day together,which shouldnt be a problem for my employer cos i will do the load on wednesday as there is no difference.
the only people that could possibly benefit from sunday working is TM`s and owner drivers.
Alot of the decent firms now are speccing their vehicles higher. This is due in part (thanks) to the manufacturers listening to drivers and offering all th ebells and whistles at the prices the hauliers are prepared to pay.
I know guys (as I am sure we all do) and read of firms in the industry press’ who work for small firms. They do not get paid the earth, but they get treated well, they have input into the business, they look after their trucks and are generaly the success of the company.
The comments about Sunday working…yep total tosh, unless you really want to work it. Off topic slightly. The WTD IMHO if I stayed where I am now in the UK would actually ruin my social life more than my existing job does now. The flexibility will be removed completely from my current job…no early starts for an early finish. No optional Sat working, it is now going to become compulsory. If I didnt fancy an early start I could come in later as long as the work was completed…but with this WTD stuff my firm are double manning meaning stricter working rules.
When I first started out in this game I used to listen to guys telling me about the days of BRS and union cards, ques at docks and how it all used to work. They stated it was the good old days. I could not see this as being a youngie I had never sampled this.
I am affraid to say I can see me turning into my colleagues…the freedom of the road is no more.
Beck and call of the University graduate who will send you to the same town as one of your esteemed colleagues both with one pallet for the same company, because he said so!! LOL
I dont mind working sundays, its mostly religious & my religion is saturday afternoon.
What really gets me is agency pay (I work for 1) Im working for someone who has offered me full time, it is salaried £16000 + £1500 company profit bonus. But Im on better money with the agency. How come firms are more than happy to pay agencies extortonate amounts per hour yet refuse to offer drivers an equivelent amount?
Because they dont have to pay into a pension, NI, insurance etc etc for an employee. Also if work dries up they can park the truck up without having to pay the second highest commodity in road haulage, wages
Also the flexibility is greater. They can make a call and say I want x at x time. Where as with an employee there could be terms to the contract and the employee could say stuff that I aint starting at x time.
Also good drivers are hard to retain. By the time you add in the advertising and down time caused through interviewing etc etc you have to admit in the making life easier stakes agency drivers do make sense…not that I am one LOL
You have to have a 45 hour break, ok it can be reduced for the moment, but the time must be made up at some point. If the Weekend is special to you then have a weekend, but really when you have that break is between you, your boss and the Tacho regs. Many people in many industries now work weekends, why are we different?
Many companies and businesses have to work on weekends now, because the general public expectt it.
Supermarkets, car showrooms, quick fit garages, hospitals and high street stores. Most of them want supplies because the customer wants freshly delivered products.
Me being a Europhile think that they have a lot better system. Trucks are banned off the road on Sundays and certain times on Saturdays and holidays. If you have a delivery to make, more than 12 hours driving away, you need to work a weekend, or be prepared to stay in the truck over the weekend at the delivery point.
Supermarkets only open once a month at weekends. many restaurants, bars and shops are closed.
English Jock. I’m all in favour of working to live, but weekends aren’t much different than weekdays now except maybe children being off school. I’m not saying work all hours, but the choice of what days you get off is down to you and your boss and how it fits in with your lifestyle and thier work load, not just because it the Weekend. If its the weekends that you want off then it not a problem, but for people like me it really doesn’t matter when I take the time off as long as I get the time off.
Wheel Nut, If everthing closes down on the weekend whats the point of having the time off?
think that they have a lot better system. Trucks are banned off the road on Sundays and certain times on Saturdays and holidays. If you have a delivery to make, more than 12 hours driving away, you need to work a weekend, or be prepared to stay in the truck over the weekend at the delivery point.