Has anyone got any insider info on Cranleigh Freight Services?
I know it’s mainly European work, but I’m not interested in any of that now and they seem a decent company!
Do they have any drivers on the Artics just doing local or distance runs ( that get them home every night ) or is
that only for the Rigids? I’m getting back into haulage again but I’m no longer interested in staying out all week!
I know of quite a few well known haulage companies around Sussex / Surrey, but has anyone got any suggestions
of less well known small hauliers or owner/drivers of which I may not be aware?
I might have got it wrong but if I’ve got it right CFS are more often involved in uk work often specialising in local/medium distance airfreight work in recent times ?.
As for Surrey in general it’s historically at best always been a ‘difficult’ place to be based in terms of a decent choice of work.In which case ironically,unless something has changed radically,the choice is mainly at best bulk waste/tipper type work or to a lesser extent the type of local/medium distance haulage work that you seem to be looking for.Or more often at worse London multi drop or local building trade deliveries.With airfreight work being somewhere in the middle of those two extremes depending on whether it’s trunking from/to Heathrow/Gatwick and the National regional airports or local shunting between those local airports and/or local airfreight warehouses/customers.
I know a couple of guys who work for cfs on uk work, one does a daily trunk to ashby d-l-z
He seems to enjoy it,
The other works on the pallet network side, varied 12 hour shifts, 6:30 one week, 7:30 the next and lastly 8:30, then rinse and repeat.
Transport manager is will porter from memory, average money from what I’ve heard, decent enough tackle,
I work round the corner from prestige, and through a previous employer, did some subbing on their pallet network. Mix and match motors, Volvo and merc, some old 2008, others 1 or 2 years old. Owner is steve, nice guy, still gets his hands dirty and jumps behind the wheel. Again mostly pallet network, they belong to two, and run a few dd trailers per night. They do some disibution work too, but don’t know busy that side is.
I’ve seen Plummer vehicles out and about, but I don’t know anything about them, although the volvos ive seen do look well kept.
Rob9b:
I know a couple of guys who work for cfs on uk work, one does a daily trunk to ashby d-l-z
He seems to enjoy it
Thanks for the info Rob9b. I’ve done plenty of trunking over the years… APC, Pallet Network, City Link & Amtrak ( Remember them? ) so that sort of thing would definitely be suitable
I’m waiting on my licence back from DVLA as I’ve moved address, and of course I’m just getting
back into haulage after a six year gap ( driving vans! ) so I guess that’ll make it harder to get back
in somewhere these days
Carryfast:
I might have got it wrong but if I’ve got it right CFS are more often involved in uk
work often specialising in local/medium distance airfreight work in recent times ?.
As for Surrey in general it’s historically at best always been a ‘difficult’ place to be based in terms of a
decent choice of work.
Good info… cheers Carryfast
So CFS are more engaged on UK stuff now? I thought they were exclusively European, but I guess the inbound
freight still needs delivering here too. That’s good to know and Cranleigh is local to me but since I’m not interested
in European I never even thought to try them
You’re right about Surrey being difficult for decent choice in work, and it raises an interesting question… If Surrey
is the worst place to live, I wonder which area of the UK is best for access to lots of transport & haulage firms
for potential job seekers?
Carryfast:
I might have got it wrong but if I’ve got it right CFS are more often involved in uk
work often specialising in local/medium distance airfreight work in recent times ?.
As for Surrey in general it’s historically at best always been a ‘difficult’ place to be based in terms of a
decent choice of work.
Good info… cheers Carryfast
So CFS are more engaged on UK stuff now? I thought they were exclusively European, but I guess the inbound
freight still needs delivering here too. That’s good to know and Cranleigh is local to me but since I’m not interested
in European I never even thought to try them
You’re right about Surrey being difficult for decent choice in work, and it raises an interesting question… If Surrey
is the worst place to live, I wonder which area of the UK is best for access to lots of transport & haulage firms
for potential job seekers?
I know from my own point of view in actually looking for distance/international in the day CFS certainly was a big player in that scene and as such,like Kellys at Guildford,were one of the very few employers locally in that line and therefore dead man’s shoes to get on at least during the 1980’s/early 90’s.But as far as I know they then gradually moved more into uk work and away from international at which point I lost interest in trying to get on there anyway.
As for opportunities in other parts of the country I’ve always lived on the Surrey/Greater London border area and the only job I had locally was 5 years on Surrey County Council as a Class 2 driver when they employed their own workforce and some agency work which was mostly London multi drop or local building trade deliveries.While most opportunities anywhere near here were/are probably to be found in the Heathrow or Slough areas with most of my time in the job being based in Feltham on night trunking having virtually given up trying for international.While ironically I often found myself applying for numerous jobs based in the Midlands or sometimes the North as part of that and for some reason often being told I lived too far away even in the case of jobs involving days if not weeks away,among other obstacles. Which just left parts of Kent and Essex being the other main areas of opportunity in the South East but deffo never Surrey.So I’d guess as always Kent/Thames Estuary or the Midlands,or at least Heathrow/Slough if based locally here,probably being relatively the best areas for job opportunities.While generally there’s probably more opportunities for anyone looking for uk distribution or trunking work now and even less for international regardless of area.
Carryfast:
I might have got it wrong but if I’ve got it right CFS are more often involved in uk
work often specialising in local/medium distance airfreight work in recent times ?.
As for Surrey in general it’s historically at best always been a ‘difficult’ place to be based in terms of a
decent choice of work.
Good info… cheers Carryfast
So CFS are more engaged on UK stuff now? I thought they were exclusively European, but I guess the inbound
freight still needs delivering here too. That’s good to know and Cranleigh is local to me but since I’m not interested
in European I never even thought to try them
You’re right about Surrey being difficult for decent choice in work, and it raises an interesting question… If Surrey
is the worst place to live, I wonder which area of the UK is best for access to lots of transport & haulage firms
for potential job seekers?
I know from my own point of view in actually looking for distance/international in the day CFS certainly was a big player in that scene and as such,like Kellys at Guildford,were one of the very few employers locally in that line and therefore dead man’s shoes to get on at least during the 1980’s/early 90’s.But as far as I know they then gradually moved more into uk work and away from international at which point I lost interest in trying to get on there anyway.
As for opportunities in other parts of the country I’ve always lived on the Surrey/Greater London border area and the only job I had locally was 5 years on Surrey County Council as a Class 2 driver when they employed their own workforce and some agency work which was mostly London multi drop or local building trade deliveries.While most opportunities anywhere near here were/are probably to be found in the Heathrow or Slough areas with most of my time in the job being based in Feltham on night trunking having virtually given up trying for international.While ironically I often found myself applying for numerous jobs based in the Midlands or sometimes the North as part of that and for some reason often being told I lived too far away even in the case of jobs involving days if not weeks away,among other obstacles. Which just left parts of Kent and Essex being the other main areas of opportunity in the South East but deffo never Surrey.So I’d guess as always Kent/Thames Estuary or the Midlands,or at least Heathrow/Slough if based locally here,probably being relatively the best areas for job opportunities.While generally there’s probably more opportunities for anyone looking for uk distribution or trunking work now and even less for international regardless of area.
TBH I’ve done most types of haulage over the years and now I can’t be bothered with all the hassle of tramping, general haulage, nights out, etc… years ago one of the best jobs I really enjoyed was on the agency driving for Sainsburys at Hackbridge ( Remember that depot? ) I don’t want to commute 50 miles every day to Dartford or the other RDC’s in Kent… but if a major supermarket opened an RDC in Sussex and advertised for drivers, I’d apply for a job and stick it out until I retire?
Lennoxtown:
I wonder which area of the UK is best for access to lots of transport & haulage firms
for potential job seekers?
I would say Warrington, local enough to Ellesmere Port, Manchester Airport pretty much on your door set, which will out grow LHR in a few years. And everything else in between.
tommymanc:
I would say Warrington, local enough to Ellesmere Port, Manchester Airport pretty much on your door set, which will out grow LHR in a few years. And everything else in between.
Lennoxtown:
I wonder which area of the UK is best for access to lots of transport & haulage firms
for potential job seekers?
I would say Warrington, local enough to Ellesmere Port, Manchester Airport pretty much on your door set, which will out grow LHR in a few years. And everything else in between.
Really Manchester airport will out grow the 3rd busiest airport on the planet in a few years . Manchester is only the 3rd busiest in the U.K. And stanstead has its eyes on that spot
don’t know now as not seen them for a while. European was good too but you don’t want that. Give 'em a ring. 
Which just left parts of Kent and Essex being the other main areas of opportunity in the South East but deffo never Surrey.So I’d guess as always Kent/Thames Estuary or the Midlands,or at least Heathrow/Slough if based locally here,probably being relatively the best areas for job opportunities.While generally there’s probably more opportunities for anyone looking for uk distribution or trunking work now and even less for international regardless of area. 