Ref those of you who work on the tippers/quarries etc on construction work England/Scotland/ Wales:
Do you have “set type” statutory holidays like here in NI??
I.E.
Here we have 2weeks July and 2weeks Xmas and maybe 2days to max 1week Easter that basically uses up 20/25 days of your min 28days year!!!
Talk of Building Federation changing to “flexi” type but only talk.[emoji52]
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In my previous job working for a landscapers we had the Christmas shutdown which counted as five days of your annual holiday allowance, giving you 15 plus the bank holidays for the rest of the year.
Always knew about the Christmas shutdown with construction type work but never heard of having set time off in July or whenever first on me! Only similar thing i can think of is years ago when large factories or business’s shutdown for a week so
employee’s family’s all went for their jolly’s to Pontin’s, Butlin’s or the like!?
Christmas shutdown, normally around 20th to Jan 5th. The recycling firms may run skeleton staff to take shop waste in between Xmas and new year.
There used to be a thing called Quarry Fortnight when some quarries closed down during summer, a bit like the Wakes weeks in the North. Some of the older workers at our quarry (Ballidon in Derbyshire) used to have the same two weeks off every year even though it wasn’t really in general use by that time. As Muckaway said we usually shut down between Christmas and New Year, just the powders side of things was kept going through the holiday
Pete.
Muckaway is right about the waste/recycling firms as I remember seeing a Biffa RORO working (well unless it had been nicked) on boxing day a few years ago!
Do quarries shutdown in July throughout Ireland or just the north? I’d have thought the summer months would have been a good time to stay open as less chance of builders/ groundworkers being rained off?
Funnily enough you can have the quietest time of year (aside from inclement weather) during the summer months. Groundworkers and landscapers don’t use a lot of topsoil this time of year as planting has been done by spring, and as one customer told me “people want patios done ready for summer not done in the summer.”
We’re quiet at the moment, but most of our customers are small one or two man firms who are on holiday with their families this time of year.
RB84:
Muckaway is right about the waste/recycling firms as I remember seeing a Biffa RORO working (well unless it had been nicked) on boxing day a few years ago!Do quarries shutdown in July throughout Ireland or just the north? I’d have thought the summer months would have been a good time to stay open as less chance of builders/ groundworkers being rained off?
Just in Northern Ireland around the “festivities” that involve the 12th July.[emoji6]
Most will close for a fortnight although some bigger outfits like “Northstone” have just taken a week past few yrs.
They all will take the 2weeks at Xmas and most will take couple of days@ Easter too.
(2weeks lying about home middle of Winter and crap/cold weather would do my nut in!!!)
McQuillans Quarries here in NI are VERY keen for drivers atm and I know the TM for them and did quite abit of work for them when I was an O/D 10yrs ago.
They are paying good money with time and half after 40hrs/Sats and nightshifts plus “double bubble” on Sun.
The stat set holidays would really put a killer on a start there for me though!!![emoji52]
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Actually Muckaway what you say does ring true maintenance work, mowing etc, was always in full swing but they did usually put a few people on watering freshly planted jobs hiring in a couple of 7.5 ton bowser lorries. So they were probably quiet enough to spare them.
Big Truck i see why it happens now with the “festivities” had no idea sorry 
I never really liked the long break over Christmas really, might be different if you’ve got kids of course, really wouldn’t like having to take most of your holiday when told to either.