Talking recently to a mate of mine who maybe looking to go the agency route (r.e my other thread)
It came up that we remember around 10-12 year ago we knew quite a few lads that traveled to work down there,daventry/rugby etc and either got digs or rented a house beetween them…
Even knew one lad with a caravan that worked out of walkers crisps and slept in his caravan beetween shifts…
Knew one lad that rented a bed sit and worked out if Sainsbury’s then home for weekend
Is the money still good down there and do lads still travel■■?
No I don’t think it has I worked for Stirlands of Nottingham on class 1 tramping work
I left in 2003 and I was on £10 an hour
I got a job at Imperial Tobacco in Nottingham as a yard Shunter and was made redundant in April 2016
I then got a job through a mate driving a skip lorry for Wastecycle
Has I didn’t want to go back tramping
The starting pay was £9.70 an hour this rose to £10 an hour after 6 months
A vacancy came up at Wastecycle to drive an artic with a walking floor trailer the pay was £10 an hour plus an extra 50p an for pulling a trailer
I applied and got the job
You had to work 9 hours before you got any overtime pay and this was at a time and a third
I don’t know any driving jobs in or around Nottingham that pays decent money
Yes it is around Rugby/Daventry for sure. The work market for HGV work is strong for a few reasons.
1 - The location. Bottom of the M6, Middle of the M1 you can cover virtually all of England and Wales in a single shift though there’s obviously exceptions.
2 - The above has led to many logistics parks opening up. DIRFT, Magna Park, Crick, Rugby itself are home to many many blue chip companies. All the major supermarkets have RDCs here for example which has created a workers economy because there’s so much to cover.
3 - The London effect is alive and well here in Rugby. Ever since the West Coast Mainline got upgraded it’s become a property hotspot as now London Euston is only 50 minutes by train. Thin of it as London Weighting.
The result is there’s had to be an uplift in wages to attract and retain people because if people can earn more jumping in a train to work then they will.
On the coaches we had people travelling from places such as Exeter, Glasgow, South Wales because they could earn more money in Rugby.
Currently I do Class 1 Monday to Friday with odd nights out if needed and averaging about 50hrs weekly and I’m on 35k a year which does for me with every weekend off, plus I’m employed - I could earn more on agency but don’t like the risk of having no work at points.
toonsy:
Currently I do Class 1 Monday to Friday with odd nights out if needed and averaging about 50hrs weekly and I’m on 35k a year which does for me with every weekend off, plus I’m employed - I could earn more on agency but don’t like the risk of having no work at points.
Class 2 here (with one or two Class 1 runs each week). Mon-Fri, No nights out. Averaging around 35 hours a week but only on £28k…
yes loads of work in East Mids. you mention Rugby…plenty of jobs at the new KFC depot i would imagine 
I think that the Southern end of the East Midlands is better served for work than places like Nottingham, Mansfield, Derbyshire etc. Not a great deal of work around the Matlock area worth travelling for now all the industry has gone but things may be better in Derby itself?
Pete.
There’s plenty of work but the money isn’t brilliant, £10-12 per hour on agency for weekday day shifts. Don’t think it’s any better anywhere else but the extra couple of pound or two an hour probably wouldn’t make it worth renting a flat or house unless there were four or five of you in it together.
yorkshire terrier:
Talking recently to a mate of mine who maybe looking to go the agency route (r.e my other thread)
It came up that we remember around 10-12 year ago we knew quite a few lads that traveled to work down there,daventry/rugby etc and either got digs or rented a house beetween them…
Even knew one lad with a caravan that worked out of walkers crisps and slept in his caravan beetween shifts…
Knew one lad that rented a bed sit and worked out if Sainsbury’s then home for weekend
Is the money still good down there and do lads still travel■■?
I would have thought the number of Drivers that are prepared to lodge away from home working in the golden triangle and other decent areas will have dropped dramatically for Ltd Co Drivers since the Government/HMRC put paid to claiming expenses for living/travel claims. Who is going to pay for travel from say Newcastle Upon Tyne to say Northampton, pay to stay in digs all week/fortnight for the sake of £3 or £4 an hour more than they can get back home? Going back to the 80’s “get on your bike” was the popular quote of the day, that physical exertion didn’t cost the government a penny. Seems if tax revenues fall the government don’t want people to try and better their lives.
I think Avonmouth is a bit of a ‘hot spot’ as more supermarket depots are built.
I can remember when agencies used to rent houses in the east Midlands and have four or five drivers from say, Glasgow, staying in them but I don’t think any of them do that any more, the area is fairly flooded with eastern Europeans now who tend to make their own living arrangements, often in very sub-standard but cheap accommodation.
There used to be a large disparity in wages between east Kent, where I lived, and the east Midlands, where I live now, but nowadays it’s a pound or two an hour at most. I live here because my boat is moored here and it costs me virtually nothing to live on it compared to £550+ a month for renting a flat in Thanet, but the maths wouldn’t stack up if I had to rent a similar flat here as well as paying for accommodation there.
you’re right about the EE’s,Harry. every time someone leaves/gets sacked from our place,a rubber head replaces him 
May be here more job but one one problem in some company-to many short shift.
EE’s have helped to ruin rates in all industry .Not just hgv driving .And what Harry said is spot on .
£10 paye for most firms
Dpd xpo £11 Hinkley /Crick
Dpd still pay good night and over time rates .As do RM .
Everywhere else (Crap firms) is £8.50 -£9.45 pish …
Beetlejuice:
EE’s have helped to ruin rates in all industry .Not just hgv driving .And what Harry said is spot on .
£10 paye for most firms
Dpd xpo £11 Hinkley /Crick
Dpd still pay good night and over time rates .As do RM .
Everywhere else (Crap firms) is £8.50 -£9.45 pish …
DPd one from crap.pay for 1 quid extra per hour but absolutely crap hours.And if drivers want go to tualets what must report.At Stobart,NFT can earn total much more that DPD,Royal mail.
Most of the agencies I work for round the east mids pay me £12-13hr, plenty of work about. Don’t think it be worth travelling and living in digs now days. I blame the EE drivers aswell
Andrejs:
Beetlejuice:
EE’s have helped to ruin rates in all industry .Not just hgv driving .And what Harry said is spot on .
£10 paye for most firms
Dpd xpo £11 Hinkley /Crick
Dpd still pay good night and over time rates .As do RM .
Everywhere else (Crap firms) is £8.50 -£9.45 pish …DPd one from crap.pay for 1 quid extra per hour but absolutely crap hours.And if drivers want go to tualets what must report.At Stobart,NFT can earn total much more that DPD,Royal mail.
My head hurts trying to work this reply out .Try writing in your language in google translate bud .Then reply again?
mrginge:
I think Avonmouth is a bit of a ‘hot spot’ as more supermarket depots are built.
I would agree £12 rising to £21 for night shift O/T on the weekends and still no takers.
Try KNDL derby, nice people and 11 an hour nights
indeed.co.uk/cmp/Alliance-P … tio93p4cpo
Nice rates if they are true 
