2 applications just sealed in envelope to go back on the buses 
Harry Monk:
xfmatt:
Ill be staying put for sure. Done just over a year as an owner driver and having just sat down with my accountant to discuss my year end, Iām pleased to say Iāve made a tidy looking profit and long may it continue!!Butā¦butā¦ butā¦ that isnāt possible, RobK told me!
thetastytrucker:
2 applications just sealed in envelope to go back on the buses
Poor sod
I`m changing jobs and changing country, off to Canada in March
Harry Monk:
xfmatt:
Ill be staying put for sure. Done just over a year as an owner driver and having just sat down with my accountant to discuss my year end, Iām pleased to say Iāve made a tidy looking profit and long may it continue!!Butā¦butā¦ butā¦ that isnāt possible, RobK told me!
Lol I seem to remember him saying something similar when I asked for advice in the operators forum. He wasnāt on his own mind you! Never mind eh!!
Chewyboy:
Will be doing my class one end of January so I can hang up my rigger boots and get to see a bit more of the world than London
Fingers crossed with my current work holding out just 10 more months. Then its the ābig push to quitā and I can safely do the exact same above towards Autumn time though (not soon enough) 
Time to hang up the construction hat and tape me thinks.
So it is kind of moving on in 2013ā¦technically I think?
C
russjp:
thetastytrucker:
2 applications just sealed in envelope to go back on the busesPoor sod
More secure work than trucking
russjp:
I`m changing jobs and changing country, off to Canada in March
Whats ya new job ?
I have 10 years in come Jan 20th, and as much as we all moan, I think our place is hard to beat.
althoughā¦a close friend is management at the local Stagecoachā¦ A drop in wages, but maybe the change that might tempt meā¦
I dunno, sometime I love the job, other time I wished i tried harder at school. Still, at 34, I have time to make a change. Itās just ādoing itāā¦
Lee George @ ASDA:
I have 10 years in come Jan 20th, and as much as we all moan, I think our place is hard to beat.althoughā¦a close friend is management at the local Stagecoachā¦
I dunno, sometime I love the job, other time I wished i tried harder at school. Still, at 34, I have time to make a change. Itās just ādoing itāā¦
Is that stagecoach bus in Northampton ?
Chewyboy:
Will be doing my class one end of January so I can hang up my rigger boots and get to see a bit more of the world than London
Donāt tell the other Londoners that there is another existing world outside of London.
Have my test at the end of this month, Hopefully if I pass it it will open a lot of doors. But itās all hanging on ifs and buts at the moment 
One things for certain though, I shanāt be working in a warehouse next year 
Was nice to have the chance and experience but it certainly isnāt what Iād want to do for life but whilst it brings money in I canāt complain. Better than having nothing at all.
Cheers
Jonny 
thetastytrucker:
russjp:
I`m changing jobs and changing country, off to Canada in MarchWhats ya new job ?
Still trucking, going to Saskatchewan to pull pikes, been offered the chance and this country can provide me and my family with no inspiration to stay 
2 thingsā¦
Good luck to those looking to break into truck drivingā¦personally i think you will have a shock when you realise the reality of itā¦but if you have your heart set on itā¦
The wannabe bus driversā¦donāt do it. Bus driving, much like truck driving, is ā ā ā ā ā ā as a job now. But much more ā ā ā ā ā ā IMHO than truck driving.
If you want to be monitored for just about every minute of your working dayā¦be it by the CCTV, the ticket machine or the ādriver improvementā devices like Greenroads, then you will be fine. If however you wish to be left alone to get on with the jobā¦forget it.
Greenroads, for those that donāt know, is a GPS tracking system which also measures the way in which you driveā¦brake a little too sharply, corner a little bit faster than the system thinks is safe and you will trigger an āeventāā¦too many events and you may face a warning letter, āretrainingā, or even the sack.
Of course, it all depends on how well it has been set up as to how sensitive it isā¦the company i worked for, got it a little wrong which meant that in order to deliver a āgreenā drive you were 15-20 mins late everywhere because you had to drive that gently not to trigger it!
So then you had lots of unhappy passengers, who gave you grief when you eventually turned up.
Oh, and because it is also a GPS tracker, they can do you for running early without ever leaving their seat.
And all that is before i even mention the passengersā¦
DonutUK:
Greenroads, for those that donāt know, is a GPS tracking system which also measures the way in which you driveā¦brake a little too sharply, corner a little bit faster than the system thinks is safe and you will trigger an āeventāā¦too many events and you may face a warning letter, āretrainingā, or even the sack.
Weāve got Navman Wireless trackers fitted to our trucks and they record events exactly as you describe Greenroads doing. Nobody has been threatened with the bump though. It just comes out of our bonus if events become a habit.
DonutUK:
2 thingsā¦Good luck to those looking to break into truck drivingā¦personally i think you will have a shock when you realise the reality of itā¦but if you have your heart set on itā¦
The wannabe bus driversā¦donāt do it. Bus driving, much like truck driving, is [zb] as a job now. But much more [zb] IMHO than truck driving.
If you want to be monitored for just about every minute of your working dayā¦be it by the CCTV, the ticket machine or the ādriver improvementā devices like Greenroads, then you will be fine. If however you wish to be left alone to get on with the jobā¦forget it.
Greenroads, for those that donāt know, is a GPS tracking system which also measures the way in which you driveā¦brake a little too sharply, corner a little bit faster than the system thinks is safe and you will trigger an āeventāā¦too many events and you may face a warning letter, āretrainingā, or even the sack.
Of course, it all depends on how well it has been set up as to how sensitive it isā¦the company i worked for, got it a little wrong which meant that in order to deliver a āgreenā drive you were 15-20 mins late everywhere because you had to drive that gently not to trigger it!
So then you had lots of unhappy passengers, who gave you grief when you eventually turned up.
Oh, and because it is also a GPS tracker, they can do you for running early without ever leaving their seat.And all that is before i even mention the passengersā¦
Things have changed from when i last drove them in 1999 then ā¦ what area and company are we talking about ? you can pm me if you want
xfmatt:
Harry Monk:
xfmatt:
Ill be staying put for sure. Done just over a year as an owner driver and having just sat down with my accountant to discuss my year end, Iām pleased to say Iāve made a tidy looking profit and long may it continue!!Butā¦butā¦ butā¦ that isnāt possible, RobK told me!
Lol I seem to remember him saying something similar when I asked for advice in the operators forum. He wasnāt on his own mind you! Never mind eh!!
Canāt be sure mate but maybe I was one of them who tried to discourage you, I was once an o/d, (Miss it like I miss toothache 
) and I have a lot of mates who were, and one or two who still are o/ds, they all say the same doom and gloom thing, but if somebody today who is an o/d is genuinely, as you say, making a ātidy looking profitā despite all the crap that you face today fair play and good on yer mate!
Iām staying put for now, the job is easy enough and the take home is ok at the end of the week.
There are better employers out there and also a lot worse however where I live, there is practically no c+e jobs that pay as well as where I am.
Iāve been here 18 months after a couple of years of many jobs and lay offs/redundancy so need to stay as long as possible as well to shorten my cv down from far too many employers!
thetastytrucker:
russjp:
thetastytrucker:
2 applications just sealed in envelope to go back on the busesPoor sod
More secure work than trucking
Thatās cos itās a rubbish job and you can always get a foot in the door due to the high staff turnover, I did 6 years of it and hated it as did most of my colleagues but the majority of them were blokes close ish to retirement and just putting up with the crap rather than moving on - wish you all the luck though mate
robroy:
xfmatt:
Harry Monk:
xfmatt:
Ill be staying put for sure. Done just over a year as an owner driver and having just sat down with my accountant to discuss my year end, Iām pleased to say Iāve made a tidy looking profit and long may it continue!!Butā¦butā¦ butā¦ that isnāt possible, RobK told me!
Lol I seem to remember him saying something similar when I asked for advice in the operators forum. He wasnāt on his own mind you! Never mind eh!!
Canāt be sure mate but maybe I was one of them who tried to discourage you, I was once an o/d, (Miss it like I miss toothache
To be fair it is really hardwork and I could earn more as an employed driver shirt term but if I stick at it as an OD and have a bit if luck on my side then it should get easier with time?! Iām not sure if ROBK has ever been an OD but it always seems the same argument from him!!