I got talking to an artic driver yesterday at one of my drops near tooting. he had to tip 6 or 7 pallets there then go to erith to be fully loaded then be at wrexham for 7 in the morning. bearing in mind that it was just gone midday when we were talking i felt bad for the guy. I thought I had it hard when i had to do just under 300 km the other day in my (planned) 10 hour shift
is this the sort of time constraints and distances regularly faced when tramping
Can’t see the problem.
Punchy Dan:
Can’t see the problem.
No this is not normal. Most artic drivers just shunt stuff between roundabouts.
What sort of question is that? Moronic.
Only eye opening I did when I read the opening post was to raise my eyebrows.
I guess this Cooper character was either still drunk or bored at half three this morning when he logged in.
cooper1203:
I got talking to an artic driver yesterday at one of my drops near tooting. he had to tip 6 or 7 pallets there then go to erith to be fully loaded then be at wrexham for 7 in the morning. bearing in mind that it was just gone midday when we were talking i felt bad for the guy. I thought I had it hard when i had to do just under 300 km the other day in my (planned) 10 hour shiftis this the sort of time constraints and distances regularly faced when tramping
There are still a few of us who still do a days work , and most days some other drivers work as well !!!
I think we are jumping the gun here and looking at it through planners’ eyes where everything goes swimmingly. The guy has had to get to Tooting from outside London presumably. I am going to make some quite reasonable assumptions since we know no different. He has a curtainsider and he is going to secure his load properly, we are not overnighting him without toilets, he is not taking a 9 hr rest and Carlos Fandango is not driving the forklift in Tooting or Erith and it is 12.15. Tipped and ready to roll at 12.45. It is an hour and 15 to 30 mins from Tooting to Erith whichever way you go. 2.00 to 2.15. The load is coming out of the warehouse it is not sitting out in the yard ready and the lorry in front is just finishing off 2.30, Load 26 pallets through the side and secure 1 hour at least so 3.30 It is 20 mins to 30 minutes to Thurrock Services from Erith. 4 pm. It is 4 hrs at 50 mph average speed to Wrexham. It doesn’t matter what happens after 4pm, at some point either an overnight a necessary break or both are coming. Whether the overnight is at Thurrock or elsewhere, 7 am at Wrexham is a just.
Things get there where they get there. As long as it’s safe and legal booking times come second.
Dan says ‘No problem’ but Dan’s an owner driver so fair play to him…nothing was a problem when I was an o/d either. 
Dozy’s idea of a ‘days work’ is running around like his arse is on fire working to last second until he finds some unsuitable lay by to park in… so no problem to him either. :
Can’t speak for the others, but I’m with cav and …shock horror 
Dicky.
Would have to work the times out myself (if I was interested enough ) to make a strong argument, but on the face of it, maybe it does look a bit iffy…especially when the words ‘London’ and ‘Kent’ are used, if it is possible…then I’m wrong, who knows, who cares.
I had an impossible task set for me this morning, be at Wishaw for 0800 from SW England, …I even maxed a 15 yesterday to prove it could not be done, got to Carnforth at 2100.
Not carrying human organs or blood, so nobody died and the world did not end when I got here 15 mins ago at 1020am…and I had a 15 min break this morning.
You can only do what you can do, we ain’t in the 80s anymore, so anybody who teararses and bends to achieve an impossible task set by office ■■■■■, is a ■■■■ idiot in my book.
Blimey, is it any wonder company’s struggle to find decent drivers when some think that is a hard day!
What doesn’t get done today, gets done tomorrow, and if they don’t want it tomorrow, re+book it, or sign the paperwork I’ll take it back.
Had the driver just started his shift?
Or started in Aberdeen that morning?
Is he planning loading Erith and running M25 that afternoon, or load, park and early start?
Looks like a do-able run, but I wouldn’t be happy with it.
(But then I wouldn’t want to go to Tooting, Erith, nor Wrexham!)
Well good luck to all the heroes in avoiding intestinal, bowel and urinary problems through not giving themselves time to sit down properly and eat at a sensible regular time of day every day. Keep chucking it down your throat while on the move so that the boss can get the last mile out of the lorry every day.
cav551:
Well good luck to all the heroes in avoiding intestinal, bowel and urinary problems through not giving themselves time to sit down properly and eat at a sensible regular time of day every day. Keep chucking it down your throat while on the move so that the boss can get the last mile out of the lorry every day.
This couldn’t be much further from the truth if you tried in respect of me…
cgscott:
Moronic.
That’s ironic coming from one of the forums chief morons
cooper1203:
I got talking to an artic driver yesterday at one of my drops near tooting. he had to tip 6 or 7 pallets there then go to erith to be fully loaded then be at wrexham for 7 in the morning. bearing in mind that it was just gone midday when we were talking i felt bad for the guy. I thought I had it hard when i had to do just under 300 km the other day in my (planned) 10 hour shiftis this the sort of time constraints and distances regularly faced when tramping
Let’s just say I’d rather try that than 7 different drops in London and then 7 collections same.Let alone 100 +.Load up midday will get you well along the road there before parking up.Early start job done.Just make sure the early start is then followed by an early finish.
Distance bulk/full loads is as good as it gets.That’s why people do class 1 not vans and 7.5 tonners.
I often did 600 kms + in a shift on trunking.
cav551:
I think we are jumping the gun here and looking at it through planners’ eyes where everything goes swimmingly. The guy has had to get to Tooting from outside London presumably. I am going to make some quite reasonable assumptions since we know no different. He has a curtainsider and he is going to secure his load properly, we are not overnighting him without toilets, he is not taking a 9 hr rest and Carlos Fandango is not driving the forklift in Tooting or Erith and it is 12.15. Tipped and ready to roll at 12.45. It is an hour and 15 to 30 mins from Tooting to Erith whichever way you go. 2.00 to 2.15. The load is coming out of the warehouse it is not sitting out in the yard ready and the lorry in front is just finishing off 2.30, Load 26 pallets through the side and secure 1 hour at least so 3.30 It is 20 mins to 30 minutes to Thurrock Services from Erith. 4 pm. It is 4 hrs at 50 mph average speed to Wrexham. It doesn’t matter what happens after 4pm, at some point either an overnight a necessary break or both are coming. Whether the overnight is at Thurrock or elsewhere, 7 am at Wrexham is a just.
In an ideal world it would be day driver does the deliveries/collections and night driver gets it where it’s going ready for day driver morning delivery.
I did the night part of that type of full load paper contract from Scotland every night for years.
We’ll have to give the planner the benefit of the doubt on this one.Hopefully it was a late start bulk drop followed by a late finish drive and an early start.At face value it sounds like a decent job.In fact a very decent job the type that many will be wanting to jump into if the driver can’t hack it. 
switchlogic:
Blimey, is it any wonder company’s struggle to find decent drivers when some think that is a hard day!
cav551:
Well good luck to all the heroes in avoiding intestinal, bowel and urinary problems through not giving themselves time to sit down properly and eat at a sensible regular time of day every day. Keep chucking it down your throat while on the move so that the boss can get the last mile out of the lorry every day.
Its virtually impossible to take a dump in a tesco bag without pulling over, plan route accordingly.
cav551:
Well good luck to all the heroes in avoiding intestinal, bowel and urinary problems through not giving themselves time to sit down properly and eat at a sensible regular time of day every day. Keep chucking it down your throat while on the move so that the boss can get the last mile out of the lorry every day.
To be fair there’s more chance of an hour off for lunch somewhere before pointing its nose North Westward and then 12 hours off for the night doing that run than umpteen London local multi drops/collections and a commute in and home through the traffic.
( I’m going with best case South East based wagon or at least a local late start here ).Either way it has to be 45 minutes off and minimum 9 hour daily rest.
Probably easily doable with 12 hours off without needing the silly EU kraut slave labour hours regime.
As for my constitution it’s fine after years of eating my main meal of the day a few hours after getting up and then typically eating ham sandwiches and applie pie and ice cream in large quantities when I got home in the morning just before going to bed.