Coffeeholic:
jj72:
Coffeeholic:
I don’t think it will be that long before I am driving a truck off a ferry into the UK for the last time.
is that out of choice neil? i have often wondered about your lot, don’t get me wrong i’ve had some great work off them over the years (quarter of a £mil in 2003 alone) but they do own a huge polish operation and the temptation must be there for them - even if the service did inevitably drop through the floor 
It wouldn’t be my choice, I just think it is inevitable given the way things are going in general. They have owned the Polish operation for years and that isn’t an issue. Like I say I think it is just something that will happen, given the way costs are going, but there is no sign of it yet and I hope there isn’t for a while.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not full of doom and gloom, things are going well but there is always that little thought that it can’t last forever.
I wouldn’t like to predict what will happen as I’d only start getting prescimistic but I think a lot will depend on wether the EU carries on its reckless process of constant enlargement so that as one country, say for example Poland has its standards, cost of living etc etc go up, another country such as Bulgaria or Croatia joins and means that there is always a source of cheap labour, transportation and manufacturing so then the freight leaving or entering Britain doesn’t head back to more evenly priced British trucks but straight off the back of a Polish truck and onto a Bulgarian truck. We’ve seen this with the shipping industry, something I hark on about a lot, its definetly one of the most cut-throat industries in the world and just by its nature, is almost entirely out of the sight of the public eye and vessels that where British crewed up until the early 90s, then got Polish crews, their wages went up, they were booted off, then came the Filipinos, who’s wages went up, they got booted off, so then came the Russians, yep you guessed it, and now you’ve got Burmese crew who will soon be replaced by Chinese crew. Thankfully road transport takes place on dry land where such things would be public knowledge and much less acceptable and I would like to think (or dream) that one day when things have evened out a bit, Poland will climb up and we’ll no doubt fall down a little, and then things will be more even and it will be economically viable to live in a place called Britain and drive a vehicle with a GB sticker on it. Signs of this are already taking place, Polsteam the former Polish state shipping company now has no ships under the Polish flag as its too expensive in todays world, Polish seamen since joining the EU are becoming uneconomic to the accountants of the big companies in western Europe and are being replaced at quite a rate and the list goes on, all that matters from our point of view is when this happens in the transport industry, will it be to our eventual benefit or will it be to Romania and Bulgaria’s benefit the day they join the EU.
robinhood_1984:
Coffeeholic:
jj72:
Coffeeholic:
I don’t think it will be that long before I am driving a truck off a ferry into the UK for the last time.
is that out of choice neil? i have often wondered about your lot, don’t get me wrong i’ve had some great work off them over the years (quarter of a £mil in 2003 alone) but they do own a huge polish operation and the temptation must be there for them - even if the service did inevitably drop through the floor
It wouldn’t be my choice, I just think it is inevitable given the way things are going in general. They have owned the Polish operation for years and that isn’t an issue. Like I say I think it is just something that will happen, given the way costs are going, but there is no sign of it yet and I hope there isn’t for a while.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not full of doom and gloom, things are going well but there is always that little thought that it can’t last forever.
I wouldn’t like to predict what will happen as I’d only start getting prescimistic but I think a lot will depend on wether the EU carries on its reckless process of constant enlargement so that as one country, say for example Poland has its standards, cost of living etc etc go up, another country such as Bulgaria or Croatia joins and means that there is always a source of cheap labour, transportation and manufacturing so then the freight leaving or entering Britain doesn’t head back to more evenly priced British trucks but straight off the back of a Polish truck and onto a Bulgarian truck. We’ve seen this with the shipping industry, something I hark on about a lot, its definetly one of the most cut-throat industries in the world and just by its nature, is almost entirely out of the sight of the public eye and vessels that where British crewed up until the early 90s, then got Polish crews, their wages went up, they were booted off, then came the Filipinos, who’s wages went up, they got booted off, so then came the Russians, yep you guessed it, and now you’ve got Burmese crew who will soon be replaced by Chinese crew. Thankfully road transport takes place on dry land where such things would be public knowledge and much less acceptable and I would like to think (or dream) that one day when things have evened out a bit, Poland will climb up and we’ll no doubt fall down a little, and then things will be more even and it will be economically viable to live in a place called Britain and drive a vehicle with a GB sticker on it. Signs of this are already taking place, Polsteam the former Polish state shipping company now has no ships under the Polish flag as its too expensive in todays world, Polish seamen since joining the EU are becoming uneconomic to the accountants of the big companies in western Europe and are being replaced at quite a rate and the list goes on, all that matters from our point of view is when this happens in the transport industry, will it be to our eventual benefit or will it be to Romania and Bulgaria’s benefit the day they join the EU.
Errr, ok…so, anyway…about these belly tanks!! 
bullitt:
Cheers for the replies lads, thought they might be out of favour nowadays.
A mate of mine used to run down to Turkey for a short while for a fella off the A13 (Egg on Legs and Truckyboy know him I think) and he used to have a belly tank…apparently the dodge was to get it sealed at Dover with the delivery valve open 
Dont quite know how you would do that and not have 1000 LTS of red run out all over the car deck 
Bullitt.
Sealing the tank open was no problem, (unless you had a clear delivery pipe like some I have seen 
You can only transfer the fuel with the tank under pressure.
My money saving tip was to seal the tank in Dover and then fill it up in Wingene because red was even cheaper in Belgium 
BULLITT…i worked for the same guy…named ROY BRADFORD…the firm was called…LAWRABIAN FREIGHT…so i probably know your mate…
BELLY TANKS…although there was an outlet pipe…like a tap…the valve that closed or opened the flow was one of those wheel types…but whether the tap was opened or closed…the fuel would not flow…till it had air pumped into it…
so what we would do…is close the valve after filling up…when we got to dover …the customs guy didnt want to get himself dirty…so would give us the seal…and the sealing gun…and watched as we then undid the wheel…and sealed it …thereby…being able to fill up before we got out of germany…but being legal on the border…mind you…those germans are grassing b`stards
so one had to be careful…only fill up in the dark…not always a guaranteee though…as i did find out…
truckyboy:
BULLITT…i worked for the same guy…named ROY BRADFORD…the firm was called…LAWRABIAN FREIGHT…so i probably know your mate…
Trucky…im sure it was kenny (egg on legs) who put my mate onto him in the first place. I think he only lasted 4 or 5 trips though…wheels falling of trailers in Hungary or Austria was one problem he had to deal with
Went with him over to the yard on his very first trip to pick the trailer up, a step frame tilt with belly tank and the trailer number didnt match what he had been given, it was saturday afternoon and he couldnt get hold of anyone for ages, a bit of a minor panic set in, being as it was his first run etc…sort of set the tone of things to come i think!!
You might know my mate, I wont name him on here but will send you a PM…hes a charlton lad too. Not seen him for a few years now...last I heard he was driving for Fords Truck fleet.(loads omoney!!)
Cheers, bullitt.