Seen a job for a Water company doing regular nights on the Vacuum tankers shifting sludge and slurry etc…training provided etc…any pros & cons to it ? Any tips for the application ? I did this years ago with a tractor & bowser on a smaller scale but it was only a once a fortnight jobby.
nah no problems if they teach you 
take it yes ive done that job as well
Did it myself thru agency, no-one else would do it cos it involved ■■■
nice easy number, no handball (unless you cocked up)
you soon switch off to the smell.
just make sure you get you’re jabs up to date (company should pay for these, agy paid for mine!!! hep B and hep C)
tobytyke:
but it was only a once a fortnight jobby.
Interesting choice of words for the type of employment
tobytyke:
Seen a job for a Water company doing regular nights on the Vacuum tankers shifting sludge and slurry etc…training provided etc…any pros & cons to it ? Any tips for the application ? I did this years ago with a tractor & bowser on a smaller scale but it was only a once a fortnight jobby.
ive done a bit of vacuum tanker work, mainly into severn trent works,
pros: usually staight forward easy work, usually no delivery times etc, plenty of time to stand about chatting/ have cup of tea while tank is emptying / filling 
cons: If a pipe comes off, you get covered in sewage sludge 
part of the learning process alot of the sewage works are in hard to find / awkward places.
processed sewage sludge doesnt really have any smell to it, Its the raw sewage that smells slightly…
kls:
cons: If a pipe comes off, you get covered in sewage sludgeprocessed sewage sludge doesnt really have any smell to it, Its the raw sewage that smells slightly…
it’s a crap job 
Denis F:
kls:
cons: If a pipe comes off, you get covered in sewage sludgeprocessed sewage sludge doesnt really have any smell to it, Its the raw sewage that smells slightly…
it’s a crap job
wheres ther’s muck there’s brass, so they say,dont want to find out?.
Well im going to apply for it as theres scope for upgrading me to Class1 altho its regular nights too the moneys good and pension etc…so i’m being sensible - they can only turn me down.
In your shoes, with a brand shiney new licence, I’d be trying it regardless - on the grounds that you need any experience you can get your hands on whether it’s what you want to do in the long term or not. Right now, you can’t really be picky, and all time served adds up.
I did it for Severn Trent out of Wanlip (Leics), mostly weekends while I was still in the army. 12 hours shifts, ‘Domestic’ tacho regs (although I think I heard that that has changed) and an easy straightforward job . . . . . unless, as the others have mentioned, a pipe comes off!!!
BTW, out of Wanlip it was top-loaded i.e. gravity fed. Some of the full-timers knew (almost to the second) how long the tank took to fill and would climb back on top with 30 secs or so to spare, after having had a brew etc in the cab. One of the funniest days of my life was watching said full-timer (who didn’t know a new and consequently faster pump had been fitted!) scrambling up the ladder which was something akin to a waterfall of ■■■■, to hit the stop button!!! Best of all, there was an emergency stop button at ground level but he forgot about that one!!!
All in all it was ok. A good learning curve for driving a liquid tanker without baffles!!!
ive been on vacuum tankers for a few months now, mainly blood & slurry from abbatoirs, i really enjoy it, it breaks the day up when u spend 30-45 mins to load or tip instead of driving all shift. 1st thing 2 remember is whenever u disconnect your pipes make sure u let the pressure out!! once u know what yr doing ull be fine, it helps to understand how the tank actually works, then it all makes sense lol. btw, u WILL get covered at least once!! but u will remember why, & u wont do it again! lol
paul
Lol i can remember my foreman telling me to empty the tank in a local field next to our building site, i just left a couple of lengths of pipe on and blasted it out lol into the long grass, was the biggest crap i ever had. Mind you i was only 18 then and just did as i was told.
remember a draw back to the job n the winter time the load has a habit of freezing and generally cutting 5 loads a day to nil and remember on the narrow country roads stay on the hard stuff stay off the green and make otheir traffic go of road you stay on the tarmac at all costs