midlifetrucker:
There is a shortage of [zb] prepared to work for diddly for greedy companies and agencies. End of
just wondering what you mean by greedy companies and agencies? what do you class as a good wage?
why do drivers expect the people who go and find the work and set a company up with all the associated risks to make money are classed as greedy?
just look at stobarts one of the biggest paying a shade over £8 basic but a good few on here are happy as once everything else is added on it becomes a decent wage apparently, I assume you think they are being done as the owners don’t pay them £21 an hour and make no money.
What a patronizing reply. I am my own agency. I choose who I work for and do a good job. I look for work. I get paid what I ask. If I think I am being abused I dont work for them.
I have seen on a spread sheet what agency’s pay drivers and charge out to companies. I accept not all agencys are the same. I would rather eat my own eyeballs than work for one.
My argument is for those drivers who would in the old days worked for a company and would have done a good steady job. They would have job security. Known their customers and built up a rapport.
They now have no idea where or when they work. Treated like idiots ( look at the flack they get on here)
As for the £21 an hour etc etc. If drivers were paid the money agency’s charged most would be happy. Personally I think £12-£15 an hour should be where a good hgv driver should be. A newly qualified driver on a tenner. More specialist drivers more commensurate with skills. ADR heavy haulage etc. if the industry can’t afford that, then the industry needs to tell customers the price has to go up. Unfortunately this country is obsessed with a race to the bottom. Someone will cut the job up to get the work. Of course normally they survive a year or two then go belly up.
The problem is the world is run by accountants.
hardly patronising, it was a question simple as. why do drivers think they are some skilled worker who has trained for years to get the prestigious licence?
yes I fully agree about days gone past and decent drivers being kept on in a secure environment, but these guys took pride and learned skills that made them secure (roping and sheeting, navigation to name a couple). now we have drivers asking on a public forum how to get from a to b rather than look at a map.
we have people getting stuck left right and centre because they blindly follow a sat nav. to pay a driver £15 is a cost of roughly £18, not many ‘for profit’ hauliers could get this.
haulage is possible on of the worst industries for the race to the bottom and is part and parcel of the job and has been for years (look at how some large firms run).
I don’t want to sound wrong as I am a driver myself and know the job isn’t as easy as some think, but either way its not classed rightly or wrongly as skilled and a licence can be gained in a matter of days. all of this plus a pathetic dcpc makes wages what they are.
bubsy06:
Number 1 is the biggest factor.
They have to get a job in the first place to earn money, they are more than likely going to be in a low paid job when they get one, there is no way they would be capable of saving 2-3k for a C+E licence with the other prioties they have, if they own a car then that is a large chunk gone, might have rent, gas,electric, council tax, phone, bill ■■■■ up on the weekend etc etc. If more companies start offering free training to get a C or C+E then more youngsters might consider driving for a living.
We’d probably expect to see firms starting up their own in house driver training departments if there was a real driver shortage.In my case my employer paid for my class 2 but that was just a bonus being that I could have afforded it easily anyway.The difference now being that de industrialisation and immigration has cut the job opportunities and earnings potential of young workers.While the costs of driver training seem to suggest a much higher real rate of inflation since the days when doing both a class 2 and a class 1 only cost hundreds not thousands.In my case I’d guess that figure would have equated to around two months wages and even less in the case of going from car direct to class 1.
bubsy06:
Number 1 is the biggest factor.
They have to get a job in the first place to earn money, they are more than likely going to be in a low paid job when they get one, there is no way they would be capable of saving 2-3k for a C+E licence with the other prioties they have, if they own a car then that is a large chunk gone, might have rent, gas,electric, council tax, phone, bill ■■■■ up on the weekend etc etc. If more companies start offering free training to get a C or C+E then more youngsters might consider driving for a living.
We’d probably expect to see firms starting up their own in house driver training departments if there was a real driver shortage.In my case my employer paid for my class 2 but that was just a bonus being that I could have afforded it easily anyway.The difference now being that de industrialisation and immigration has cut the job opportunities and earnings potential of young workers.While the costs of driver training seem to suggest a much higher real rate of inflation since the days when doing both a class 2 and a class 1 only cost hundreds not thousands.In my case I’d guess that figure would have equated to around two months wages and even less in the case of going from car direct to class 1.
I’ve never understood why you have to do the class 2 to get a class 1, it would make the test a lot cheaper if you did either class 1 or class 2 depending on which one you wanted
If you pay peanuts you get monkies. And in defence of the drivers being paid peanuts why should they do a brilliant job when they are being mugged off… I’ve just finished for the week. Just phoned in to see if anything else needs doing. I’m not an employee but I was asked what shifts I want next week and it ended with “thanks for your work. You do a good job and I’m grateful”. That’s worth more than money. He pays well. Pays on time and appreciates my work. Shame other companies don’t do the same
midlifetrucker:
If you pay peanuts you get monkies. And in defence of the drivers being paid peanuts why should they do a brilliant job when they are being mugged off… I’ve just finished for the week. Just phoned in to see if anything else needs doing. I’m not an employee but I was asked what shifts I want next week and it ended with “thanks for your work. You do a good job and I’m grateful”. That’s worth more than money. He pays well. Pays on time and appreciates my work. Shame other companies don’t do the same
totally agree, however like you said you do a good job. too many will crack a lens, scrape something and think sod it its not my truck. I have always found that even when not paid great if you do a good job you get recognised and can progress to the better companies, but again it goes down to what you class as a good vs crap wage.
Big Roy:
I’ve never understood why you have to do the class 2 to get a class 1, it would make the test a lot cheaper if you did either class 1 or class 2 depending on which one you wanted
You answered your own question there, Roy. “it would make the test a lot cheaper” sums it up nicely.
For every class 1 entrant, theyve screwed another grand or more out of the hapless aspirant. Its all about the money grubbing and little else.
Big Roy:
I’ve never understood why you have to do the class 2 to get a class 1, it would make the test a lot cheaper if you did either class 1 or class 2 depending on which one you wanted
In my case I had the choice of paid for class 2 training and test because my employers had no need for class 1 so I took their offer.This was at a time when the general prejudice against employing young drivers was a lot worse than now and trying to find class 1 work under 25 was virtually pointless anyway and the job I had at the time was well paid and interesting.But at the time there was no reason why anyone couldn’t just go for a class 1 direct from a car licence.So what changed,why and exactly when,is anyone’s guess.Maybe ROG could provide some answers in that regard.
Big Roy:
I’ve never understood why you have to do the class 2 to get a class 1, it would make the test a lot cheaper if you did either class 1 or class 2 depending on which one you wanted
You answered your own question there, Roy. “it would make the test a lot cheaper” sums it up nicely.
For every class 1 entrant, theyve screwed another grand or more out of the hapless aspirant. Its all about the money grubbing and little else.
Agreed, how much does it cost to get your class 2 these days? I’m guessing about a grand, which is a lot of cash to pay out for a license that you don’t need or want
Edited to add you have told me how much it costs in your post, I knew I saw it somewhere
2-2.5k for C, add another 1k to upgrade to C+E, all to earn the whopping sum of £7.20 to be worked like a dog and treated like ■■■■ at some places. Hardly surprising youngsters aren’t exactly beating down the doors to join the industry.
But can you put list of companies where truck not work long time,company lost contract due drivers shortage???Please put city ,region where to many shortgate???I want to see this list???I can see who all big companies get drivers as much as need.May be some shortage in companie where drivers need for 30 hours per week and with old crap truck.
Daz1970:
For various reasons the sector/industry does not appeal to young people as a career.
Those of you that are on for ‘large’ fleets…What’s your driver groups average age?? 50-55 years of age perhaps??
If we don’t already have a problem we sure as hell will do in the next 5 years or so.
Why don’t young men or women want to do the job (apart from a few die hard exceptions) ?
Cost of LGV licence aquisition
Length of time to get from car licence to C+E with full DCPC qual.
Number of tests/exams/assessments to get from car licence to C+E & DCPC
Early starts…“get to the yard for 4.30 a.m.”
Reply: “I don’t get off my Playstation (or similar) til 2.30 a.m!!!”.
Nights out with or without early starts (usually with)…they don’t want to leave home comforts ‘at home’.
Traffic jams/volume of traffic/accidents/roadworks/general hold-ups.
It’s just not X-Factor or glamorous enough.
Poor wages - even after overcoming points 1) & 2) at great personal expense
Treated badly by all sorts of other people: Transport office/fellow road-users/colleagues/customers/(some) gaffers
Legislative considerations: Drivers Hours rules/DCPC/overloading/roadworthiness/speeding tickets etc.
Fear of involvement in: hijacking load/stealing fuel/stowaways/violence (as advertised on News at Ten live from Calais/Sangatte)
General reluctance to graft - not all youngsters suffer from this but when you consider the above points many do. And who can blame them!!
Apart from all the above it’s a great career choice and the vehicles are far superior than 25 years ago.
Ask yourself, if you are ‘old school’ - would you go through it all again to be a trucker■■?
I personally can’t see a quick fix for the situation. Unless we keep on truckin’ until we’re 75 years old■■?
Full correct just number 4.
About another
1.Cost not small but for another job sometime must spend more.
2.Some training for some job can taked much longer.Sometime up to 2-3 years
3.To many tests not just for LGV drivers.
4.i accept full.
5 .I think not bigest problem for drivers.
6.More traffic more money for drivers.Slow down and all can be good.
7.not sure what you mean.
9.At all job will be to many bosses,CCTV ,rulles,compalin.
10.dcpc cost not big just 50 quid per years…Don t do speeding and no tickets.Buty VOSA not give tickets for small think. 11.Uk drivers not go to Dover and over so much.
.What need change ■■?
Remove fixed penalty for car drivers .
Remove insurance restriction to new drivers and give properly driving assestment simply.
If do this will be for some 10-20 percent British drivers more.
Daz1970:
Ask yourself, if you are ‘old school’ - would you go through it all again to be a trucker■■?
I personally can’t see a quick fix for the situation. Unless we keep on truckin’ until we’re 75 years old■■?
I think a lot of truckers are finding they may need to work past retirement age due to pension shortfalls and the rubbish interest rates on savings etc and that is one of the reasons there is not ‘official intervention’ to sort out the ‘driver shortage’ in the immediate future.
Personally I think hauliers will struggle to fill some of the vacancies out there. Yep the East Europeans may do the crud stuff as a short term fix, but most have higher aspirations than to spend their entire careers in some muppet role.
A major shortage of lorry drivers could pose a threat to the British economy and put Christmas deliveries at risk, the Road Haulage Association (RHA) has warned.
The industry is tens of thousands of drivers short of the number that is needed, according to the organisation, which represents more than 8,000 haulage companies.
Has anyone considered that when you get ONE fill @ £8.20ph - this is considered “proof” that there is no shortage.
When you have 10,000 jobs at that rate and only ONE gets filled - It’s exactly the same thing, and apparently “proves” the same thing too.
Wot a load of ■■■■■■■■. What’s really happening is the same as what’s happening in the housing market. We’re told that house prices “need to crash” like yards want to see wages crash.
Trouble is, if house prices fall - the speculators leave the market, and a big drop occurs.
Meanwhile, the market can never rise again - because no one can get a residential first-time mortgage south of watford gap these days.
If a house is £350,000 just for a 3-bedroomed semi where the work is - Mr & Mrs newlyweds need to be coining it in on salaries of £50k EACH to get the mortgage.
So… No one turns up to view the house. The seller thinks there is a shortage of buyers as a result. Not true! - It’s the opposite: There are so few SELLERS that no one wants to be the first out there to flog that house for £249k and qualify the buyers to the lower tier of stamp duty - another thing that’s stagnated rather than moved the market.
Refusal of yards to significantly improve T&Cs then - has now stagnated the jobs market in the transport sector. We are fast reaching the point where even the most lickcock firm’s boy out there - cannot afford to pay to go to work for such a paltry package. There are only so many yards that can open up with abundant drivers on their doorstep to fill the jobs.
Hauliers need to break into the commodities business more. Transport is paid for at a premium in this line of work - but you need staff with some knowledge of economics to make such a department of a transport yard work when diversified in this manner…
Dolph:
A major shortage of lorry drivers could pose a threat to the British economy and put Christmas deliveries at risk, the Road Haulage Association (RHA) has warned.
The industry is tens of thousands of drivers short of the number that is needed, according to the organisation, which represents more than 8,000 haulage companies.
This Guy simsworldwide.com/contact/job-opps
was on yawping on Greater Manchester Radio about the “driver shortage” or more to the point he had to pay agency drivers 40-60% more than his own staff (i wonder if he factored in why it cost more, no hol pay, sick, cpc etc).
Wanting Dept of Business, innovation and skills to bale out the industry.
Apart from whining about driver cost he never mentioned facilities which usually gets mentioned, the only salient point is due to very high average age of drivers now we will be fooooked in 10 years.
But as noticed by the SMMR there is a huge increase in the sale of vans. Although I’m licenced and ready to go again i CBA with the mither of my own truck and vosa again so I’ll try and stick to small tacho free work in future.
i can just see it taking 30 vans on the road to do the work of 1 artic, but heyho the cyclists may be happy the big nasty trucks are of the road but they have a lot more commercial vehicles paid by the drop/load dashing about.
Poor wages - even after overcoming points 1) & 2) at great personal expense
