I’m considering taking a job with a food company delivering their products to restaurants in and around London. I don’t have much London driving experience in a car, let alone 7.5t, but I’m usually pretty good with navigating and finding my way around places.
I was wondering what navigation is best to find my way around? Was thinking combination of sat nav and road maps - but what would be the best maps for central London?
Any advice (even if it’s to avoid the job altogether) is very welcome
My advice would be to avoid london full stop!! Can’t think of much worse to be fair!!! However, try this one on amazon;
amazon.co.uk/London-Premier- … r+Truckers
Should be good enough I would have thought!!
If you prefer sat navs then if you have a smart phone use the sat nav on there if not i would think a basic tom tom would be enough but to be honest with you london is a nightmare. Plenty of cyclists/ mopeds comming up either side of you not having a care in the world. !! And then the endless traffic your sat in everywhere in london. If it was me i would be looking for a delivery job outside of london. I try avoid the place as much as i can.
the London a to z is a good map get the big size so you can follow it with not to much trouble sat navs alright some times ? the traffic does not go very fast so you will have time to follow your map route plan your first drop and so on an old boy told me many years ago London is no different than any were else it just bigger and yes I have drove a artic around London for 20 ish years do not let it worry you so big London a2z map you will be fine ps and a big flask of coffee
If you don’t want to fork out serious money for a full-on truck satnav, when I started out doing London, I used a Navman unit which had a built in truck mode. Worked ok for me. A car satnav isn’t too bad for London, as there aren’t all that many weight limits below 7.5t.
It’s a big learning curve though, until you know your drops, you’ll find that a satnav will take you perfectly to the postal address for the delivery point, but you’re hardly going to be delivering to the letter box. Sometimes the back door is down the little side street before you got to the entrance, and it can sometimes take half an hour to go around a ruck of one way streets to get back to it.
I cut my teeth in 7.5s/12s/18s in London, and I’m glad I don’t do it anymore. You may have palletised loads and a lovely shiny pump truck, but when the door you go in through is 2ft wide, with up to half a dozen flights of stairs the other side of it, that’s not much comfort. Lay your hands on a magliner sack truck. Tubular steel ones fail at the worst possible moments.
Ask around on the yard if there’s a drop you’re unsure of, many lads will know the name of the street or back alley where the back door is, even the colour of said door can sometimes be a massive bonus.
I used to deliver to similar sorts of places, but non food, bog rolls, cleaning chemicals, crockery and glassware etc, it’s not for the faint hearted. The staff you’re delivering to will give you zero help, and probably zero English. Sometimes it will take an hour just to find a person that is able to sign for the delivery. Expect many parking tickets and carry deodorant. You’re going to be doing some sweating.
Well I’ve been in the job a week and so far haven’t had to go to London. I’ve done Kent, South Coast areas, Cardiff, Bristol and Bath. Had a go using my car Garmin and Google Nav on my phone - both served me well so far without any major hassles.
Drops we do are all boxes (food products), often through the front door of city centre/high street cafe-type places and restaurants. Some are big deliveries to rear loading bays, but not that many.
I expect that now they’ve given me a week to ‘settle in’ I’ll be in at the deep end next week. Knowing the different drops, locations and parking arrangements is the hardest part of the job (Bristol City Centre in particular) - but as pointed out, once you know them, the job is pretty simple.
I ache all over today, but I’m thoroughly enjoying it. Quite happy with my little 7.5t wagon so looks like my Cat C licence (when I finally get to do my training) will be a nice bonus to have, especially since the company are buying a rigid unit next year
Thanks for all your input - much appreciated
cupcake1973:
Well I’ve been in the job a week and so far haven’t had to go to London. I’ve done Kent, South Coast areas, Cardiff, Bristol and Bath. Had a go using my car Garmin and Google Nav on my phone - both served me well so far without any major hassles.Drops we do are all boxes (food products), often through the front door of city centre/high street cafe-type places and restaurants. Some are big deliveries to rear loading bays, but not that many.
I expect that now they’ve given me a week to ‘settle in’ I’ll be in at the deep end next week. Knowing the different drops, locations and parking arrangements is the hardest part of the job (Bristol City Centre in particular) - but as pointed out, once you know them, the job is pretty simple.
I ache all over today, but I’m thoroughly enjoying it. Quite happy with my little 7.5t wagon so looks like my Cat C licence (when I finally get to do my training) will be a nice bonus to have, especially since the company are buying a rigid unit next year
Thanks for all your input - much appreciated
Cracking on ! Good on ya cupcake 