Harry that is very nice to know, I have one thing in life, to treat people the way, I would like to be treated myself, I have been taken for a mug several times in my life, but I still carry on thinking everyone is good, until proven otherwise, and friends of mine know they can rely on me. Sandman Norman
hiya,
Was talking to a guy the other day, pushing pension age he told me, was driving a 6 wheeler for a firm in Sheffield, there was no name on the motor it was just blue and well used, anyway he said he was an ex-BRS man but had only managed a couple of years before his depot shut shop,started talking wages and he told me that money the BRS was paying in the 70s was nearly double % more than his present wages, and when he mentioned a figure of £6.10 pence per hour and time and a quarter for all overtime that he worked, i told him that when i was doing his job there would have been plenty of drivers required the guys in my era would’t have done the job, i had no reason to disbelieve the driver, but thought no’one should have all that responsibility for that pittance.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi Harry,
That chap was telling the truth, there are a lot of drivers working for £7 an hour straight through,no overtime rate. The job has gone backwards,some this way get £7.50 or at most £8. In real terms they are miles behind what was earned in the seventies,posh moters and crap money.
Cheers Dave.
Dave the Renegade:
Hi Harry,
That chap was telling the truth, there are a lot of drivers working for £7 an hour straight through,no overtime rate. The job has gone backwards,some this way get £7.50 or at most £8. In real terms they are miles behind what was earned in the seventies,posh moters and crap money.
Cheers Dave.
You are spot on there Dave.I was earning more in the late 80s for 42 and half hours than I was 10 years later for 50 hours.Wincanton had different pay scales for each depot,Milton Keynes,Chippenham and Uttoxeter were on better money than Trafford Park,Maltby and Scotland.They took advantage of the unemployment rate in South Yorks when the pits closed and paid peanuts,take it or leave it,and they never had posh motors either.You were better off on the agency in some cases.There was no time and a half,only time and a quarter and the shift premium was crap.Glass Glover paid 22% for nights and 20% for afternoons,Wincanton paid nowhere near that.I suspect some drivers are still on less than £6 per hour in some places.
Even ■■■■ Turpin wore a mask. 
Chris Webb:
Dave the Renegade:
Hi Harry,
That chap was telling the truth, there are a lot of drivers working for £7 an hour straight through,no overtime rate. The job has gone backwards,some this way get £7.50 or at most £8. In real terms they are miles behind what was earned in the seventies,posh moters and crap money.
Cheers Dave.You are spot on there Dave.I was earning more in the late 80s for 42 and half hours than I was 10 years later for 50 hours.Wincanton had different pay scales for each depot,Milton Keynes,Chippenham and Uttoxeter were on better money than Trafford Park,Maltby and Scotland.They took advantage of the unemployment rate in South Yorks when the pits closed and paid peanuts,take it or leave it,and they never had posh motors either.You were better off on the agency in some cases.There was no time and a half,only time and a quarter and the shift premium was crap.Glass Glover paid 22% for nights and 20% for afternoons,Wincanton paid nowhere near that.I suspect some drivers are still on less than £6 per hour in some places.
Even ■■■■ Turpin wore a mask.
Yes Chris,there is a firm this way only pay their drivers just over £6 a hour,but pay time and a half over forty hours,but years ago we all got overtime rate over forty hours,thats what made the job reasonably paid. Its a mad world. 
hiya,
It does seem the chap i spoke to was genuine, he did sound genuine, i’ve got to admit i was a bit sceptical when he told me his earnings and thought he was after a sympathy vote,but you guys seem to agree with what he told me, i’m just pleased i don’t have to get up in the morning to have to do his job anymore.
thanks harry long retired.
Well lads, when I finished with BRS overlands, I worked temp for Wim Bosman, and my rate was 7to 5 = £1 per hour, anything before or after was £1.50, the man himself ask me if I wanted the job permanent, I said no, I would be in the poor house, but I would stay if he paid me what he paid his dutch drivers, but I think I upset him, for he never said a word. Lucky for me I started on Bulwalks pulling for Carlsberg, and got a good wage. Sandman Norman. Ps the rate in our town is £11
Hi Harry Norman & Co,
The way things are looking down this way,I think there are a good many that won’t be getting up early for a while. The lorry work is drying up,also the big quarry outfits that they run for are cutting the rates, also winter is looming. As we have said before,the best times have long gone Harry,keep the duvet on a bit later in the day.
Cheers Dave.
Dave, I have not missed the job, since I left in 1999, I knew then the work was changing, and the last few years it was becomming a chore, before I would look forward to go to work, and doing long distance, but I was forced to take volentry redundancy three years before I was due to retire, because I was not going to let a snotty nose kids working for Wincanton, ruin my life, I was shop steward, and I warned them they would lose the contract after four years, they said never, ha ha ha I found out later they did, and transport was given to BOC, they ran Swan valley Depot next to Rotherthorpe sevices, I bet they wished they had took notice of me. Sandman Norman
hiya,
Well chaps i reckon us oldies are united in our views regarding modern day transport, fancy motors and peanuts for wages, it’s a bit like a few maidens i’ve come across, all fur coats and no drawers would’nt touch either with a bargepole.
thanks harry long retired.
Harry, is that the fur coats, or the draws ha ha ha, or the jobs.
hiya,
Norm, thankfully i don’t need any of the above, and had there been no BRS my lorry driving career would have been very short lived.
thanks harry long retired.
harry_gill:
hiya,
Was talking to a guy the other day, pushing pension age he told me, was driving a 6 wheeler for a firm in Sheffield, there was no name on the motor it was just blue and well used, anyway he said he was an ex-BRS man but had only managed a couple of years before his depot shut shop,started talking wages and he told me that money the BRS was paying in the 70s was nearly double % more than his present wages, and when he mentioned a figure of £6.10 pence per hour and time and a quarter for all overtime that he worked, i told him that when i was doing his job there would have been plenty of drivers required the guys in my era would’t have done the job, i had no reason to disbelieve the driver, but thought no’one should have all that responsibility for that pittance.
thanks harry long retired.
The problem today is that most of the money earnt by the wagon has to go straight back to the government in fuel and road tax before covering the overheads.Then the driver has to pay income tax on his share of what’s left over.I went off my job in 1999 (not BRS) .When I went I was getting £7.50 per hour to drive artics and six wheeler prime mover two axle trailer A frame/turntable type wagon and drags for 11 hours per night.
One of the reasons that this country imports so much goods,is that haulage is to cheap,most of the goods is coming in on lorries from all over europe via the ferries,tunnel etc, also in containers up until the recession. Therefore the poor old drivers get poor pay, because the hauliers aren’t getting the proper rate for the job. Never mind,general election next year,everthing will be wonderful again,sweep the chimneys father christmas will be back. 
Cheers Dave.
Dave and lads, I do not think lorry driving will ever get back to what it used to be, if they can cut out the human element, they can save on wages, they have cut down on dockers, also sailors, miners, dustmen, railway workers, ship builders, engineers, farmworkers, so why not drivers?, next thing some think tank will come up with, is have no pensioners, and think of the money they could save!. The new era, work all your life, then qualify for the rainbow pill, you say goodbye to your family, and go to never never land. Glad we were born in the time, where people were more important than profit. Sandman Norman
Norman Ingram:
Dave and lads, I do not think lorry driving will ever get back to what it used to be, if they can cut out the human element, they can save on wages, they have cut down on dockers, also sailors, miners, dustmen, railway workers, ship builders, engineers, farmworkers, so why not drivers?, next thing some think tank will come up with, is have no pensioners, and think of the money they could save!. The new era, work all your life, then qualify for the rainbow pill, you say goodbye to your family, and go to never never land. Glad we were born in the time, where people were more important than profit. Sandman Norman
Well said Norman,and because you and Harry are of the old school can you go over to India and sort this out,it shouldn’t be such a hard task for you two to solve.With all that cash in yer pockets you could climb up the tank ladder,onto the front and down she’d come .
I notice she’s got “suicide doors” like some of the old MK5 AEC Mammoth Majors.
hiya,
Norm, do you remember when we was asked to do things in a nice manner this was’nt only the BRS private firms also treated their staff with respect and any who did’nt had a bit of a task getting staff and quite rightly so, after reading some of the stories on here with few exceptions not many firms are playing the game with their staff, if i had my time over again it would’nt be spent pulling my pluck out for the taskmasters of today.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi Norman Hary and co,
Agree with what you say about the so called modern transport industry. Its accountants calling the shots today,years ago you had to keep books and stay in the black,but now its about percentages. The hauliers can have so many %,the driver gets a fraction of that,and so it goes on.AS they say in the army ■■■■■■■■ baffles brains,but then I don’t know. 
Cheers Dave.
Dave, chris has put up a tanker, who thinks it is a elephant, chris all harrys money & mine together, would not weigh that down, if you can find what it contains, if it is deisel, a 303 bullit in the right place, it would slowly plonk down, and we could make a few bob out of the leakage.
Norman, I think its your’s Harry’s and Chris money at the back,mine and Keith’s at the front,we never earned the big dosh like you fella’s did at the red and rust. 
Cheers Dave.