Artic work

I’ve not updated my status in a while, nothing really has been going on to be fair, however, for the last week I’ve been out on a trial with roadways containers to see whether I was suitable etc. and about half an hour after arriving back at their depot this evening, I was offered the job.

To put it out there, 3 months of holding C+E (never used)
11 months cat C with 8 months using it.
19 years old

For those that are struggling in getting started and in a similar situation, I hope it gives you some light at the end of the tunnel.

I didn’t get a huge amount of opportunities for picture taking, however, I did get a couple, not that they really show very much.


40ft container on day 2.


After arriving it was a tight 90 degree reverse onto a dock

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Tiny trailer on day 3

Did you say 19 yrs of age ? if so fair play to you . :sunglasses: :sunglasses:

Nice one bud, well done to you :sunglasses:

Well done mate. I wanted to be a truck driver since the age of 6 and passed my class 1 aged 32. When I think of the years I wasted :unamused:

Well done you, just shows , if you have the grit you will make it :smiley:

Congratulations mate… :smiley:

Well done and good luck.Boxes are Marmite.Hate them or love them.You get to go all over with them.Farms,depots in the middle of nowhere.
Hope you can get a gas cooker to brew up or some tins from Aldi/Lidl to save some money.
Give anyone a shout on here to help with the Vbs at Southampton.First time at Felixstowe is daunting at first.Map when checking in.
Nobody can cut open the container unlike a taut trailer.Mind top heavy loads that may tip you over if unaware.

Thanks all, not had that many opportunities to respond back here. However, it’s been 4 days and I’ve done all sorts of things already.

Turned up on the first day at 7am expecting to have the day spent with another driver learned the ropes. Instead, I was told that since they didn’t have the time to go out and do it, I’d be going on my own… :open_mouth: Turns out I was delivering right next to the yard where I used to work, so I knew the industrial estate quite well, actually quite an uneventful day.

Second day, I was sent up to an industrial unit on East Midlands airport and had a drop and swap in Corby, getting into Corby I was sent onto the wrong road by my sat nav, the actual road was fine, but I ran into (not literally) a road closed sign, so I was forced onto a minor road leading from it. Just my luck that another sign accompanied it mentioning a 12’ 9" bridge 3 miles down the road. I must’ve driven 3 miles on that road looking for a place to turn road when I reached a town, a town I wouldn’t even want to bring a rigid since it had many tight turns with adjacent buildings. I managed to find it later on google maps, so there’s a few views of it here, here and here. After finally managing to turn around, I got back on track and found the collection point which all went fine, but running back to Southampton fully freighted in the dark. :confused: All went fine but parked up for the night at Cherwell Valley.

Day 3, I left Cherwell Valley at just after 5, arrived at Southampton for roughly half 7, did a quick trailer swap and headed off to Pentalvers where I had an empty fridge to lift off and an empty 20’ to put on. Thankfully no queue and I was out of there at about half 9. I was headed up to Basingstoke for personal effects, I was given an address to a farm but with no road name. Given the type of load, I assumed it would’ve been a home that was on a farm (this is going somewhere). I drove past the entrance a few times and maneuvered my way in, by this point it was roughly 11. I arrived in a courtyard/driveway type deal. A few moments later, the owner appeared and was livid because I ended up on his driveway, giving me all sorts of abuse and telling me I should never have a license, that I should’ve been there at 7 and putting all the blame on me for it etc etc… I’m sure that some people would’ve put him on the floor for what he was saying. A few helpers he’d hired then turned up and helped me get out of the driveway, at least they weren’t in a rage… I managed to slide the trailer to the loading position for the 20’ box and turn around in the driveway. I was then told how to get in properly which was through a few small lanes (maybe put a road name on the address in future and I might not end up in your front garden? :unamused: ). After that was behind me, I just got back to the yard, dropped the trailer and headed home, by this point it was about 7.

Day 4, today. I started early and was told to pick up a trailer as I’d be going down to the docks to pick up a box. I walked around the yard a couple of times before coming to the conclusion that said trailer wasn’t there, there were no other empty trailer either. So queue me and the planner traipsing around the yard writing down box & trailer numbers to find out which we’d be able to take to the docks. Found one and off I popped to take this box off and have another one put on. My destination was Magna Park Costco, I was advised beforehand by other drivers not to be late or it’ll get refused. Thanks to the trailer [zb] up I ended up arriving 45 minutes late, thankfully it wasn’t refused and I was quickly assigned a bay. I got to the bay and was given a bolt cutter to get the seal off, to much embarrassment I couldn’t actually break the seal so they had to do it for me. :blush: :blush: It wasn’t a seal that was encased in plastic like all others i’d seen as the pin was entirely metal, I don’t know if that affects the strength of it but the bloke who cut it dropped the cutters as it went through so I image it was quite strong. Only one other driver there apart from me and that was another driver from felixstowe, really helpful and showed me a few things I could learn about containers.

Anyway, that’s been my first 4 days… Whew!

Brilliant little summary there mate.

Enjoyed reading the update mate, keep them coming :slight_smile:

Good to read this. will be looking into getting into containers once am qualified. :smiley:

Goldstar in Felixstowe are after artic drivers for container drivers.
As said before boxes are ok.You get to go all over.
Does anyone remember Brian Rayner from Frome.?

Today I had a short run to Reading. I went to get rid of my empty container into empty park 2 then into Pentalvers, luckily very little queuing and I was out in good time. Punched the postcode of the place I was going to called VES Padworth Material Recovery. I was warned of a restriction so I checked it out on google maps and found there was a 6’ 6" restriction. Rang the office to mention I may have an issue getting in. Couldn’t get any results for the name so I assumed it was a tiny place. Got into the road and followed it down looking frantically for signs for my collection when I got a multitude of signs and it finally clicked… VES stood for veolia environmental services… :unamused: :blush: :angry: Panic over! :smiley:

Despite the setbacks and abuse it’s been a good week and I’m looking forward to next week where I’m off to Purfleet!

I have a few more pictures to show now too. :slight_smile:


Waiting for a lift off at the empty park.


Waitinf for another lift off but this time in transfer area 2.


Some dock cranes and a view of the fridge points.


In for the kill.


… and off!


When you’re all finished (!)


Here’s me this evening, trailer swapped and set for Monday. I’m easily spotted as It’s missing an ‘n’ from the front! :laughing: Picturing a scene from the two ronnies… Got any n’s ? :stuck_out_tongue:

Nice updates you have got there mate. I sometimes think that it is not a bad thing if things dont always go to plan when you first start out as it knocks the potential for over confidence. Onwards and upwards though and I hope you will post some more.

Nice one mate and well done, Roadways was back in the day P&O roadways, i used see them a lot when i worked for Ferrymasters, Tauts and Tilts out of Dover , i was gonna jump ship and do the containers until i found out they had been sold so i ended up doing Geest boxes that was okay i never had 20ft boxes only 40ft &45ft used to be a laugh, so i here the hole container game is done by Polish and Romanians drivers so you have done well to get in there.

Well done on the placement fella. Just goes to show all the neigh Sayers are wrong. D if you put the effort in you’ll get on.

I have a question now that you’re a seasoned container bloke. How the ■■■■ do you put a container on a Skelly?

I try to treat everything as a learning experience, in my previous job we were allowed to just pull out of a job if the customers were getting abusive, thankfully never had to though. Not quite sure what the score is here, since the people who ordered the container go through the shipping line, we’re working for the shipping line, not the people we’re actually talking to. Not quite sure what else I can post though that I haven’t already.

I’m not of the generation to have known P&O Roadways, so I couldn’t really tell you whether it’s different, I like the company though :slight_smile: As for foreign drivers, I’d say it’s no different from any other sector of haulage.

Tipper Tom:
Well done on the placement fella. Just goes to show all the neigh Sayers are wrong. D if you put the effort in you’ll get on.

I have a question now that you’re a seasoned container bloke. How the [zb] do you put a container on a Skelly?

It’s something I’ve said before & I’ll say it in future, work is there, you just have to find it. Lucky on the time of year, but if people don’t persist, they’re not going to get very far. I wouldn’t go as far to say I’m seasoned since I’ve only been at it a week, but to put a container on it’s really as simple as putting the container on via a straddle carrier or anything else that can lift a container and then just rotating the twist locks. :slight_smile:

Bloody hell sounds like work than tippers

Tipper Tom:
Bloody hell sounds like work than tippers

It’s the sliding & the fact you can’t see how it’s loaded that makes it more complicated haha :wink:

So I thought I’d give a little update, things are going well but today has been a long one.

My first experience of a 45ft box, I arrived in the morning to an empty air tank since i drained them on Friday evening and decided it would be a smart idea if I checked that the locking pins would withdraw since I was ditching the 40 I had for a 45. Trailer brake out… locking pin handle in and… nothing. Glad I checked (I hadn’t figured why at this point). Tried it several more times until I had to ask somebody to help.

Quickly figured it was because my air tanks were empty… ah well I’ll know for the future and it worked fine from then on.

Time to get moving… parking brake off and it wasn’t budging. Jumped out and realised I left the trailer brake on, whoops! Went to go again and the same happened. Faffed about for 5 minutes trying to figure out why until (remember I drained the tanks) realising there was a lever I had to push in on the dash to release brakes instead of automatic release in other vehicles.

Right, faffing about over, off to the docks. Area 2 for my lift off and area 3 for my lift on. Got outof area 2 and slid the trailer fine and pulled out the bar on the trailer for the airlines. It pulled out rather far I thought, there was only about a foot between the unit connections and the trailer connections. Who am I to judge if it’s too close, I’ve never pulled a 45 before!

Got to area 3 and had it lifted on, all fine but it looked a bit close to the unit so I thought I’d ask before pulling off just in case it was. Spoke to 2 drivers and they both commented it looked quite close but had never had a 45 themselves. Since I had nothing solid I just had to get on with it, pulled left out the slot nice and smoothly, felt okay. I guess I was overreacting after all. Then for the sharp right turn to the seal check area and CRUNCH… [zb]

Got out expecting to find all the lines ripped out and a giant scrape & dent in the back of the unit but luckily it had only got into a fight with the firebox, which seemed not to have a scratch on it. :open_mouth: Luckily one of the drivers I asked followed me and saw what happened and helped me slide the 5th wheel back (all this in the middle of transfer area 3!)

Needless to say I was late… the amount of things that went wrong today!! :laughing: