3300John:
hiya…i certainly worked for a couple…i must say although been ripped off on rates(20%days)
these firms was much more fun than your hoyty toyty outfits that are around today.
one time i saw boss and driver having a real fisty cuffs fight in the yard one had bleeding nose
the other had a swollen eye. plenty of steam let off then back to work. no grudge. work to do.
i would think you get a written warning today with suspension without pay…yawn!!!
one outfit i knew of(chap across the road drove for)had two identical lorries parked up both had the
same number plate, scam was you taxed one lorry, then you contact dvla say you had a windscreen go
(they used to shatter) the tax disc was lost. when you get a replacement disc you have one for each lorry.
dose that qualify for cowboy…another chap i know had a DAF 33 car, he also had a DAF 3300 lorry with some
neat pen work the lorry was taxed for the price of a car, the car was only ever parked in a shed…(never seen).
wud not have needed the other car as you used to be able to tax a truck ‘‘unit only’’ at the car rate years ago. most euro boys used to do this until dvla cottoned on to people coming back in with a trailer
Hiya this was a 44 tonner running on 6 axles. the car was tax exempt…the chap a pal of mine has long passed away
over 10 years ago, he never made retirement age…have a rest mate.
hiya. years ago i’d done a fair day but had a blow out that put me back 4 hours…that ment at 4pm i was four
hours from home (only 12 and half hour days then)i phone in and said i’d have to have a night out.
the boss said NIGHT OUT ITS NOT DARK YET, you,ve got a loaded trailer for tomorrow and its urgent.
that boss has passed on now but what a joke to work with…can’t moan about the pay that was spot on…
this boss always collared me for dodgy jobs and stuck trailers anything up to the axle in s…t.
one Sunday he collared me he said get a chain we’ve one stuck (double drive Albion) on a farm.
we’er going down this lane past these big houses in a Volvo car at 70 mph, the lane is a lorry wide, i said
(holding on tight) there might be something coming the other way (name) he said no there all in church its Sunday.
there i was bricking it.
One rogue operator thought the 36 hour weekly rest period was still in use.
The amount of time i said it is 45 now.While on nights and asleep in the day he would ring me up to arrange the next jobs.He then gets funny when my phone is off and he was trying to get hold of me.
His truck paperwork did not match up.
All different names on them.!
Getting paid in cash.No O licence maintenance done on the truck or trailer.
Running on kersosene or parafin.
Bizare deliveries.
A household affects drop in the mountains of Andulucia for a wealthy English retired Surgeon.
Collecting household goods from a man with a Ferrari to deliver to their appartment near Marbella.Dropping off jet skis near Puerto Banus.A drop near Gib,furniture.The English lady offered me a shower and her hubby was out all day.
Hiya…NOW LISTEN YOU YOUNG DRIVERS (yes i am shouting) you say we were cowboys.HOW COME.
we only did 12 hours days and 30 mins for lunch… you upstarts are doing 15 hour days now come on
who really are the cowboys,we didn’t have big 5/600 ponies we had only 150 of them, and many of them was ready
for the knackers yard…LOL. i said before you can do more nowadays legally than we did with a spare book.
(i wasn’t shouting on the last line by the way).
john
Choice one in Europe,driving time.Park up legaly.9 or 10 hours driving done.
But your time has run out in the middle of nowhere,nearest town is a 7 km walk.
The cab cooking provisions are getting low.
There is a four day truck ban the next day.
So you are stuck by a field with no loo or place to eat and wash.
Second choice,drive over the tacho hours to park up where your mates are.Hot food and showers.Have a good craic and laugh on the vin rouge.
What would you do.Second choice is running on the fuse or wire.If got caught, coffee money was offered to look the other way.No harm done.No drivers fell asleep at the wheel.Nobody crashed and died.
milkchurns:
I work mostly for cowboys, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Bad cards,washed fuel or red fuel. Never a dull day and u learn things very fast.
You forgot to mention probably ending up in the nick
First job I had was for a well known local firm who were tarred with the name of ‘cowboy hauliers’. I still maintain that it was the best job I ever had. The lads who worked there were amongst the best you could ever wish to work with. Mixed work, UK, France and Benelux, Tilts boxes and flats, Vehicles ranging from Atki Borderers, ERF’s Volvo F88’s and F10’s through to Scania 140 series and 113’s. Having worked there for 19 years, I wish I could turn the clock back and be back there today. Those days were indeed ‘Happy days’
milkchurns:
I work mostly for cowboys, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Bad cards,washed fuel or red fuel. Never a dull day and u learn things very fast.
You forgot to mention probably ending up in the nick
I’ve been stopped 5 or6 Times with red or kerosene and never got nicked its down to the owner.
Worked for loads of cowboy firms when I first started driving. Learned lots very quickly and seemed better than going down the agency scraps route to get experience and they all paid well.
Hiya one chap i worked for( when you phoned in with you work at night, he would always say .
.well done how do you fit it in) it was BS but it made you feel good. anyhow he,s well retired but claiming
pension credit…until the dhss found out he was the director of 11 companies and still claiming (30,000 credit)
he just can’t give up fiddling someone, well he got away with transport but gone to jail for the Dhss false claim.
no names but someone will know of him.LOL
John
The problem I have with some of these cowboy outfits is that they are trying to undercut the legitiment companies and therefore the legitiment companies will pay their drivers less in order to be competitive.
robroy:
I was a bigger cowboy than John Wayne as an owner driver in the 80s , you name the scam and I have most likely done it but at that time everybody was, as you got away with it mostly then.
was a known fact that most of the work got done after the days work was done lol
jay0:
The problem I have with some of these cowboy outfits is that they are trying to undercut the legitiment companies and therefore the legitiment companies will pay their drivers less in order to be competitive.
Hiya not sure all that,s true remember stobby saying he’d load london to scotch for free if you used his storage
for a period. a company come to the firm i worked for(19 years) promised them the earth on rates and delivers,
our firm sold everything got rid of transport manager, this large company said they’d under estimated the cost,
our firm had nowhere to run no lorries the subbies had been thrown out, our firm was forced to do a rate increase,
then Wincanton took that outfit over and screwed everything up. 8 years ago 200 workers today all gone.
our firm would have been better keeping their own transport and the subbies…
Left hand down!:
Albion will be having kittens reading this thread.
I reckon him being old school, that he may surprise you on that if he is honest, reckon he comes from the 2 logbook generation
I had about 2or3yrs on logbooks when I first started, pre tachos until about 1982, they were the sort of books that today would have been in the Fiction category of books
Ican remember my dad sat filling his logbook in watchin thats life with me and me mam on a sunday night and pestering for the next day off school so i could go with him,didnt happen
jay0:
The problem I have with some of these cowboy outfits is that they are trying to undercut the legitiment companies and therefore the legitiment companies will pay their drivers less in order to be competitive.
Hiya not sure all that,s true remember stobby saying he’d load london to scotch for free if you used his storage
for a period. a company come to the firm i worked for(19 years) promised them the earth on rates and delivers,
our firm sold everything got rid of transport manager, this large company said they’d under estimated the cost,
our firm had nowhere to run no lorries the subbies had been thrown out, our firm was forced to do a rate increase,
then Wincanton took that outfit over and screwed everything up. 8 years ago 200 workers today all gone.
our firm would have been better keeping their own transport and the subbies…
Personnely I think thats where all the crap wage rates started, when firms gave up their own transport and the use of subbies for busy periods.
, you name the scam and I have most likely done it but at that time everybody was, as you got away with it mostly then.
