A friend of mine has recently passed his CE and is touting the idea of going double manning. I’d be interested in doing it with him if the money was good as I know Id have no problem passing the time with him but I wouldn’t want to be paired up with anyone I don’t know. I’ve no experience of double manning and don’t know anyone who does it so I’m basically looking for some info about the gig from anyone who’s done it or has a bit of knowledge about it…
What type of work is available?
What sort of hours are you looking at in a shift?
Are agencies or firms happy to take two men as a team or will they pair you up with others?
Is it generally Mon-Fri work or are there other shift options available like 4/4 or 4/3?
What sort of weekly take home is achievable?
N.B Based in West of Scotland can work out of anywhere in West or South Scotland or M8 corridor.
Jobs which require 2 people like furniture delivery which dont always need two drivers. Very hard work but hours are within the 13 / 15 hours.
Jobs where you run on the true double manning like Sports Direct and can run for (from memory) 30 hours between you. Usually very good money but not good if you cant sleep sitting up. Can sometimes be nights out but thats mostly Euro.
Personally I wouldn’t do it again although only done the first one on agency. Luckily had decent people to drive with, but only takes one to be an ahole, stink, smoker, hates your driving etc to make it horrific.
Personally I don’t think you’ll make anymore doing the first one and they are often low paid. Know one place on class 2 was on £8 hour doing furniture and that wasn’t unusual. Crap for 15 hour days.
Shifts - same as you can get on other jobs.
Money - varies just like other jobs. No more for double manning unless doing those stupid 30 hour shifts sonce you’re paid for the whole time.
Any of the Scottish hauliers doing chilled/frozen to London markets doing it? I know there’s a few of the pallet network depots that do for night trunks from the more northern depots.
Was under the impression the maximum spreadover was 21 hours not 30!!!
Have often wondered how these would be paid perhap both drivers would agree to be paid (for example) 11 hours each at an above average rate, given they are likely to be doing up to 10 hours of nothing (other than sitting in a moving vehicle).
Otherwise I wouldn’t mind being paid for 21 hours 4 or 5 times a week for a while provided the money was reasonable/ok/barely above minimum wage… getting fed up of January now…
trevHCS:
Double manning seems to be split into 2 types.
Jobs which require 2 people like furniture delivery which dont always need two drivers. Very hard work but hours are within the 13 / 15 hours.
Jobs where you run on the true double manning like Sports Direct and can run for (from memory) 30 hours between you. Usually very good money but not good if you cant sleep sitting up. Can sometimes be nights out but thats mostly Euro.
Personally I wouldn’t do it again although only done the first one on agency. Luckily had decent people to drive with, but only takes one to be an ahole, stink, smoker, hates your driving etc to make it horrific.
Personally I don’t think you’ll make anymore doing the first one and they are often low paid. Know one place on class 2 was on £8 hour doing furniture and that wasn’t unusual. Crap for 15 hour days.
Shifts - same as you can get on other jobs.
Money - varies just like other jobs. No more for double manning unless doing those stupid 30 hour shifts sonce you’re paid for the whole time.
Thanks for that. That’s a decent answer. Was definitely the second category we were thinking about. I.e cram in as many hours into 4 days as we can was the thinking. Quite fancy running for big Mike as he doesn’t half get it up the huns and the Geordies!
trevHCS:
Double manning seems to be split into 2 types.
Jobs which require 2 people like furniture delivery which dont always need two drivers. Very hard work but hours are within the 13 / 15 hours.
Jobs where you run on the true double manning like Sports Direct and can run for (from memory) 30 hours between you. Usually very good money but not good if you cant sleep sitting up. Can sometimes be nights out but thats mostly Euro.
Personally I wouldn’t do it again although only done the first one on agency. Luckily had decent people to drive with, but only takes one to be an ahole, stink, smoker, hates your driving etc to make it horrific.
Personally I don’t think you’ll make anymore doing the first one and they are often low paid. Know one place on class 2 was on £8 hour doing furniture and that wasn’t unusual. Crap for 15 hour days.
Shifts - same as you can get on other jobs.
Money - varies just like other jobs. No more for double manning unless doing those stupid 30 hour shifts sonce you’re paid for the whole time.
Thanks for that. That’s a decent answer. Was definitely the second category we were thinking about. I.e cram in as many hours into 4 days as we can was the thinking. Quite fancy running for big Mike as he doesn’t half get it up the huns and the Geordies!
Aye he’s well known for his fantastic treatment of the work force
trevHCS:
Double manning seems to be split into 2 types.
Jobs which require 2 people like furniture delivery which dont always need two drivers. Very hard work but hours are within the 13 / 15 hours.
Jobs where you run on the true double manning like Sports Direct and can run for (from memory) 30 hours between you. Usually very good money but not good if you cant sleep sitting up. Can sometimes be nights out but thats mostly Euro.
Personally I wouldn’t do it again although only done the first one on agency. Luckily had decent people to drive with, but only takes one to be an ahole, stink, smoker, hates your driving etc to make it horrific.
Personally I don’t think you’ll make anymore doing the first one and they are often low paid. Know one place on class 2 was on £8 hour doing furniture and that wasn’t unusual. Crap for 15 hour days.
Shifts - same as you can get on other jobs.
Money - varies just like other jobs. No more for double manning unless doing those stupid 30 hour shifts sonce you’re paid for the whole time.
Thanks for that. That’s a decent answer. Was definitely the second category we were thinking about. I.e cram in as many hours into 4 days as we can was the thinking. Quite fancy running for big Mike as he doesn’t half get it up the huns and the Geordies!
Aye he’s well known for his fantastic treatment of the work force
If he was a bit tougher he could almost make an average transport manager himself.
About 75% of our work is double manned and that’s because it’s a high value load as opposed to either needing two men to lift stuff or because we want to max hours.
The total hours are 21 for driving/working and then 9 hours break which is where Trev was getting his 30 from.
Because we probably only max hours about once or twice a month when we need to run non stop, it wouldn’t fulfill your criteria of maxing money. We pay £12.25, but that is right through, breaks, POA, the lot. It’s not unusual in our game to get a time sheet with 60 hours on it, but around 30-35 hours combined driving and working. Never come close to the 48 hours average. It always depends on the overall package and how people pay that counts but ours gross out at around 42 - 54k p.a. depending really on how much they want to do. There’s a fair bit of abroad for the higher earners.
I have four people that have been with me 20+ years, so they aren’t that fussed about double manning, around 25% of the time they are on their own. If people get on well and are happy to crew together, then they generally stick as a crew most of the time, rather than mixing it up.
I’ve never taken two people on as a crew, but that’s because I’ve only ever had a vacancy for one at a time. The downside from an employers perspective I would imagine, would be say that one of you is really good and the other is really rubbish, then when you come to get rid of the ‘bad’ driver, the other may jump ship at the same time out of solidarity, leaving two vacancies to fill at once, which would be a bit of a nightmare for us.
Nothing like the sound of somebody else snoring to focus the mimd, whilst your in the passenger seat…
This was on the French autoroute.
Some people just aren’t cut out for the hours.
albion:
About 75% of our work is double manned and that’s because it’s a high value load as opposed to either needing two men to lift stuff or because we want to max hours.
The total hours are 21 for driving/working and then 9 hours break which is where Trev was getting his 30 from.
Because we probably only max hours about once or twice a month when we need to run non stop, it wouldn’t fulfill your criteria of maxing money. We pay £12.25, but that is right through, breaks, POA, the lot. It’s not unusual in our game to get a time sheet with 60 hours on it, but around 30-35 hours combined driving and working. Never come close to the 48 hours average. It always depends on the overall package and how people pay that counts but ours gross out at around 42 - 54k p.a. depending really on how much they want to do. There’s a fair bit of abroad for the higher earners.
I have four people that have been with me 20+ years, so they aren’t that fussed about double manning, around 25% of the time they are on their own. If people get on well and are happy to crew together, then they generally stick as a crew most of the time, rather than mixing it up.
I’ve never taken two people on as a crew, but that’s because I’ve only ever had a vacancy for one at a time. The downside from an employers perspective I would imagine, would be say that one of you is really good and the other is really rubbish, then when you come to get rid of the ‘bad’ driver, the other may jump ship at the same time out of solidarity, leaving two vacancies to fill at once, which would be a bit of a nightmare for us.
When I first passed my test I did the odd week double manning with my brother, for me it was a great way of getting experience working alongside a driver with a few years experience, not sure what my brother got out of it except premature ageing, and a few extra quid as we got a few more jobs in. They were the good old days low cab, No night heater and I slept across the seats with a couple of cushions on the engine to make up a mattress, young and keen (or stupid) enough to put up with it in those days.
I have double manned a truck many times since then, but even then we only maxed out the hours when it was really necessary to get the truck back and I’ve never shared a cab, at least one of us stayed in a hotel and normally both of us.
trevHCS:
Double manning seems to be split into 2 types.
Jobs which require 2 people like furniture delivery which dont always need two drivers. Very hard work but hours are within the 13 / 15 hours.
Jobs where you run on the true double manning like Sports Direct and can run for (from memory) 30 hours between you. Usually very good money but not good if you cant sleep sitting up. Can sometimes be nights out but thats mostly Euro.
Personally I wouldn’t do it again although only done the first one on agency. Luckily had decent people to drive with, but only takes one to be an ahole, stink, smoker, hates your driving etc to make it horrific.
Personally I don’t think you’ll make anymore doing the first one and they are often low paid. Know one place on class 2 was on £8 hour doing furniture and that wasn’t unusual. Crap for 15 hour days.
Shifts - same as you can get on other jobs.
Money - varies just like other jobs. No more for double manning unless doing those stupid 30 hour shifts sonce you’re paid for the whole time.
Harveys do need 2 drivers, and if you’re lucky you’ll get back in 15hrs. If there isn’t 2 drivers, you could be in a b and b/hotel for the night.
It’s not per hour pay either. It’s day rate, unless you’re agency, then you can drag it out till hotel time, as some did.
And I’ve double manned to Livingston, in an artic on day rate (it was a rare occurrence)
15hrs when the trailer was preloaded, 20 when it wasn’t.
The home delivery guys could achieve £25k, and if you were pig ignorant of customers requests, and regularly told the office where to shove stuff, you could get done in around 8-10hrs.
Conor:
Any of the Scottish hauliers doing chilled/frozen to London markets doing it? I know there’s a few of the pallet network depots that do for night trunks from the more northern depots.
Jesus wept, only a clueless shift donkey could think Smithfield is a double manned run
Drempels:
If I valued him as a friend, I wouldn’t do it
It’s ok spending time with a friend for a few hours while socialising, but much like sharing a room while on holiday, double manning with a mate will soon put a strain on you friendship
and a few extra quid as we got a few more jobs in. They were the good old days low cab, No night heater and I slept across the seats with a couple of cushions on the engine to make up a mattress, young and keen (or stupid) enough to put up with it in those days. 