there was a job advertised on the job centre website today,and in 2 1/2 hrs they filled all the interview slots for tommorow.when i foned up he said he had been inundated with calls and to phone him after 5 pm tommorow to see if hes filled the position.theres no driver shortage at all.
clarkyboy:
driver shortage…dont think so
That’s the conclusion I’m coming to 
If there was a shortage the bosses would not treat us as expendables.
I.E. There are plenty more where he came from!!
There never was a driver shortage, anyone who believed that was duped. there was only ever a shortage of rivers willing to do crap jobs for several reasons.
Driver shortage was and is a total myth, wind up and ■■■■■■■■.
The only shortage is good drivers with an ability to do a proffesional job.
Tonyb
this isnt being big headed but i will be a bloody good employee and no employer will ever regret the day they took me on.im punctuall, honest,reliable and being a newbie im very keen,i would be a good representitive for any company but i just need a lucky break to finalise the last part of my dream.ive done the training,ive passed cat c,cat c+e and my adr all first time,a job is just the missing part of the jigsaw puzzle.
tonyb70:
The only shortage is good drivers with an ability to do a proffesional job.Tonyb
True. Add to that the flexibility and willingness. Clarkyboy; your willingness cannot be questioned, but I noted on another post that you are limited as to your working week. If that’s an ongoing and insurmountable problem (and I appreciate that it’s not your fault BTW) then you’ve really got to consider whether haulage IS the right career path, lifetime ambition or not.
In the good times, you’ll no doubt get plenty of work doing odd shifts, and it’s to your credit that you’re up for it; trouble is the laws of supply and demand mean that the guys who are available 24/7 will pip you to the post every time. The concept of “flexible hours to suit the family” hasn’t quite hit home in road haulage yet; a great pity but I think most of us can see why.
clarkyboy:
this isnt being big headed but i will be a bloody good employee and no employer will ever regret the day they took me on.im punctuall, honest,reliable and being a newbie im very keen,i would be a good representitive for any company but i just need a lucky break to finalise the last part of my dream.ive done the training,ive passed cat c,cat c+e and my adr all first time,a job is just the missing part of the jigsaw puzzle.
Have you tried here?
F T S Hatswell
Deeside Industrial Estate, Welsh Road, Deeside, Clwyd, CH5 2LR, UK
Telephone: 01244 288413
TM was Jack, best you go in and see them rather than ring.
gnasty gnome:
tonyb70:
The only shortage is good drivers with an ability to do a proffesional job.Tonyb
True. Add to that the flexibility and willingness. Clarkyboy; your willingness cannot be questioned, but I noted on another post that you are limited as to your working week. If that’s an ongoing and insurmountable problem (and I appreciate that it’s not your fault BTW) then you’ve really got to consider whether haulage IS the right career path, lifetime ambition or not.
In the good times, you’ll no doubt get plenty of work doing odd shifts, and it’s to your credit that you’re up for it; trouble is the laws of supply and demand mean that the guys who are available 24/7 will pip you to the post every time. The concept of “flexible hours to suit the family” hasn’t quite hit home in road haulage yet; a great pity but I think most of us can see why.
Yet some agency type organisations?,will use the ploy,“work flexible hours” which may be misleading advertising.
tonyb70:
The only shortage is good drivers with an ability to do a proffesional job.Tonyb
You’re probably right Tony. But you wrote this in July…
I’m shunting at kingspan,and were down to 40 loads some days,it should be a 100 everyday this time of year.
Kingspan are after 64 redundancies,and i can see my nightshift shunting being knocked on the head aswell.
I might be lucky and get offered driving(but the money is crap) or i might be made redundant aswell.
Anyone know of any jobs in the south shropshire area■■?
I’m thinking like you, the only drivers they’re getting rid of are crap ones. You still looking for work or are you ok for now?
I think there was indeed a driver shortage maybe 6 - 8 years ago. Pay rates virtually doubled within 18 months. (Am i dreaming this or can somebody back me here?). But this was before our Eastern European brethren arrived, since when rates have never increased again.
Around the same time, USA haulage companies were offering new cars as incentives to drivers to go work for them. They had trucks stood up loaded with no drivers.
Driveroneuk:
I think there was indeed a driver shortage maybe 6 - 8 years ago. Pay rates virtually doubled within 18 months. (Am i dreaming this or can somebody back me here?). But this was before our Eastern European brethren arrived, since when rates have never increased again.Around the same time, USA haulage companies were offering new cars as incentives to drivers to go work for them. They had trucks stood up loaded with no drivers.
Just pulled out some old pay slips from about 1987. As a Class 3 I was on £2.42 per hour, and that particular firm weren’t reknowned as good payers.
About 10 years later, the going rate for agency Class 2 was around £5 per hour basic; this is all in the Derby/Nottingham areas BTW. The agency I worked for then (Initial, one of the bigger ones) paid a minimum £6.00 per hour for Class 1 work.
I seem to remember a hike in agency rates around then, but they certainly didn’t double; this was about the time when the standard 8-hour day and time + a half after started to disappear, Hayes for one did ten hours at basic. I have a feeling that on balance it was a case of giving with one hand and taking with t’other, possibly had much to do with the minimum wage which kicked in around that time.
Further to that; it’s worth noting that the minimum wage itself has pretty much doubled since this lot came into power; no doubt they’ll use that as a bragging point when they’re sitting on the opposition benches dreaming up their next chance to screw this country up.
gnasty gnome:
Further to that; it’s worth noting that the minimum wage itself has pretty much doubled since this lot came into power; no doubt they’ll use that as a bragging point when they’re sitting on the opposition benches dreaming up their next chance to screw this country up.
One of the few things I give the present incumbents credit for,The N.M.W.(Investment in Public Services being the other).
Have you seen the opinion polls recently,Tory Boy?
Think the Eton Toff is going blow it,he doesn’t have a clue.
gsm31:
One of the few things I give the present incumbents credit for,The N.M.W.(Investment in Public Services being the other).
.
The initial premise of the NMW was long overdue, I’ll give you that. Problem is that it’s eroded pay differentials by virtue of the rates being increased every time there’s a budget or an impending by-election. As I mentioned above, there is also a clear correlation between the advent of the minimum wage and the decline of worthwhile overtime rates.
You,of course, being a good socialist, are quite happy to work for the same wage as everyone else I presume? 
Investment in public serVANTS is closer to the truth, BTW. It’s called buying votes. If it had resulted in an improvement in efficiency I’d have welcomed it, but as usual it’s a half-baked mish-mash of “outreach workers” and “widget advisors” whose index-linked and bomb-proof pensions you are, of course, happy to pay for?
My guess is that Brown and his cronies created a good few of these “non-jobs” in the certain knowledge that the Tories will have no option other than to scrap them, given the parlous financial position young Gordon has left us in. Funny how, eleven years into this mess, we’re STILL hearing Labour blaming it all on the previous administration, despite having been elected with the biggest majority they’d enjoyed since 1945.
What was the outcome with Sunhill Transport clarkyboy 
Did you go for a few days to learn the ropes there
the driver shortage ended when the easterns came in droves
pre that wages did shoot up rightly too
but now rates have not increased
some agency rates have gone down
flexible employees are ones who tip on breaks put the card in late and pull it early 
a good employer is one that pays above average wages
o/t at time and half …double for sunday
eu polititions knew what they were doing when they invited east eu to join the west,our wages were ok before that,so to get them down they open up the east boarders knowing the desperate people would flood the west with cheap labour,nonsense i here you say but take a good look around,why are east drivers working when there are plenty of good uk drivers around? 
how do they prove their experience ?where do they get references from? how many managers understand polish etc? i have met some drivers who dont speak hardly any english,how do they get the jobs? there is no loyalty to uk workers from the bosses and agencies just want bums on seats.we are being shafted its as simple as that,i have had to sign on with 5 agencies have got lots of experience uk/eec and yet east drivers seem to be kept going more than me,i do alsorts of shifts can drive alsorts of trucks on different types of work,so what has an east driver got that me and other uk drivers hasnt■■?
ken57:
eu polititions knew what they were doing when they invited east eu to join the west,our wages were ok before that,so to get them down they open up the east boarders knowing the desperate people would flood the west with cheap labour,nonsense i here you say but take a good look around,why are east drivers working when there are plenty of good uk drivers around?
HE IS AS CHEAP AS CHIPS!!!
Can you imagine what would have happened to wages when the eastern europeans came if there hadn’t been a minimum wage?
We would have been working for £2.50 an hour. If we were lucky.
ken57:
eu polititions knew what they were doing when they invited east eu to join the west,our wages were ok before that,so to get them down they open up the east boarders knowing the desperate people would flood the west with cheap labour,nonsense i here you say but take a good look around,why are east drivers working when there are plenty of good uk drivers around?
Very true, glad you made that post.