Hi had any one on here done dray work? Ive been offered 3 days training and lots if work by an agency i use normally i do primery work to rdcs and wholesalers but this is one them dinky toy arctics lots lifting thats ok by me rather do summit then sit about also days mon fri and better pay reason been the lifting just thing worries me the drops tight pubs middle villages and town centres ill keep u posted 
slackeye:
Hi had any one on here done dray work? Ive been offered 3 days training and lots if work by an agency i use normally i do primery work to rdcs and wholesalers but this is one them dinky toy arctics lots lifting thats ok by me rather do summit then sit about also days mon fri and better pay reason been the lifting just thing worries me the drops tight pubs middle villages and town centres ill keep u posted
Mate of mine did it for years, mind yourself being offered free drinks by the landlords if you do it as it could land you in trouble. Best to take soft drinks or bottles to have at home after you’re done for the day, something my mate didn’t do and ended up in a ditch once. He’s grown up since.
Make sure you gota big pair of guns, it can be hard graft!
I did dray work for tenants and Scottish brewers through an agency.
It was indeed hard graft. On a city route you do your share of handballing 20 tonnes of beer off a wagon and empties back on, in 2 trips. A country route you’ll only do one trip, so about 12 tonne between you.
You’ll probably start out as the extra body on a 3 man load while they check you out n get you up to proper working speed. Then be second man in a 2 man crew. Then you might get to drive sometimes. Avoid driving if you can.you get recovery time between drops as 2nd man. Not as the driver though.
Drinks, we used to be offered drinks all the time, I had 5 pints in my first shift, in 1/2 pints. The two full time guys both had a pint for each of my halves. There was a sea change and we started being offered a can to take away or a bar meal or a soft drink.
I was doing this work through the 90s, a lot of things have changed in the years between then and now. One thing hasn’t, its bloody hard graft. You sleep like a baby and ache all over, till you get used to it.
I used to do maintenance for a S&N depot. It used to drive me nuts, three men on a vehicle and still it comes back with the wing and step hanging off on Monday and the new one again on Tuesday.
So watch out as things must have changed. There is absolutely no excuse for hitting something while manoeuvering with two banksmen available. Insist they get out and watch you in and out. One driver had his way of dealing with the lazy so and so’s if they refused to get out. So did he and left them to it - to load and unload.
Used to work for websters, best job I ever had. Money for old rope. At first it’s knackering but once you get the knack of moving kegs it gets easier. These days the biggest kegs you get are 22 gallons, when I did it we had 36’s now they where heavy. The driver had the easiest job,
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It’s not theirs anymore,
This is our England now.
Paaaaarrrrrrttttttttyyyyyyyy
Like with all handball jobs there is a knack and a rythm to it. It’s a bit like starting at the gym where you wake up next morning feeling like someone has used you for a punchbag. It gets easier though.
Okey D D did 36 gallon barrels - at the pub where I was cellarman we used hogsheads which are 72 gallons. They were lowered through a trapdoor in the pavement, down ramps and wrestled onto stillages. bottled beer came in wooden crates of a dozen each - 100 on a dray - the draymen would slide them down the ramp and I had to catch them and stack them up. After they left I would re-stack them where they were stored in the cellar.
When I started I could hardly even move the things, but I grew some muscles and learned the technique, and I was soon doing it myself. Later, when I worked on the drays (all rigids then with some chinese sixes) it was a piece of cake.
It’s not a job for everyone, but it’s a good craic and I remember it fondly.
Take it! Summer’s coming, lots of laydeez in short skirts and plenty of cellars below the pavement. I did it for a summer back in the nineties as a 2nd man and throughly enjoyed it. But only after I got used to it. As has been said it’s bloody hard graft
yes i am quite strong really even at 41 was doing manual work civil engineering laboring mind u i was in my 20s then lol,i have done a bit just fancy a change really nothing to lose ,err maybe my back
Take it and try it - its a great job when you get used to the graft 
A lot of the drays I see around here now are single man, which I guess would be bloody hard work but if you’re part of a two-man crew, the best aid to the job you will ever have is a good mate. It will take a month for you both to get used to each others way of working but then it will just flow - you will know exactly what he is doing and vice versa…
I was always told to never refuse a drink because if you do, chances are you won’t get offered again. In the summer you need as many fluids as you can get… We only ever had soft drinks though and never took any off site at the end of shift - instant dismissal because it could be misconstrued as thieving. There was never a problem with leaving a couple of soft drinks in the cab though…
Just before christmas is manic - the workload used to treble overnight about three weeks before. Consequently we had to work christmas eve until 6 or 7pm. Back to it the day after Boxing day too. No holidays or time off in December at all - only a problem if you want time with your family… January just means collecting all the empties - its a flat as a witches ■■■for a month or two…
Its a job that I really enjoyed and only left because I had a better offer…
Good luck with whatever you decide 
Used to do a bit for Carlsberg Tetley a few years back now.Our main job was delivering kitchens all handballed off and usually up a few flights of stairs so I was used to a bit of graft and still found dray work hard work for the first few weeks. Mind you after a few weeks on the beer I struggled with the kitchens till I got back in to the swing of things, you will get used to it but jeez it’s hard on the back till you get the knack.
I did it and enjoyed it until they ■■■■■■me about with the money. Doesn’t pay enough these days for the work.
It’s good if you’re young enough to endure the pain. I did it for a while but not on dray. I worked for a company in Bicester often delivering kegs alone. It was a mix between big and small companies. Most of the lads i knew who did dray did’nt see themselves doing it long term. Give it a go for a while then think what state your back will be in in 20 years time. Worth doin for the experience, i enjoyed it.
Campbell:
It’s good if you’re young enough to endure the pain. I did it for a while but not on dray. I worked for a company in Bicester often delivering kegs alone. It was a mix between big and small companies. Most of the lads i knew who did dray did’nt see themselves doing it long term. Give it a go for a while then think what state your back will be in in 20 years time. Worth doin for the experience, i enjoyed it.
I did it regularly for quite a few years, I thought I might have trouble from my back because I’ve got a form of arthritis in it. It turned out to have the opposite effect.
What I was doing, as I said above, was my share of handballing 20 tonnes of beer a day. Then it was 36 gallon barrels, mainly 11 gallon kegs although we handled every size down to 9 gal firkins. Now think about it, an 11 gallon barrel has 110lbs of beer in it plus the weight of the keg. We didn’t have tail lifts, everything came off the wagon onto a pad, then dropped into the cellar the same way. Some had to go up stairs into the cellar, then we’d stack it 2 high and take the empties away
If you don’t handle weights like that properly you will definitely knacker your back. Do it the right way, you’ll build up the strength of your back muscles, which then support your spine better. I’ve had less trouble from my back since then than I did before.
Go for it!