kr79:
It doesn’t matter what’s up front pulling it you need to be ruining on fresh air to make it pay at the moment
No doubt it’s similar to the Maritime deal, £1.15 a mile when it costs 75p a mile in diesel, leaving a whopping £80 for doing a 200 mile trip and all you have to do is pay the truck finance, O licence, insurance, tax, maintenance, parking and tyres out of that £80 and the rest is all yours to do whatever you want with!
Venezuela,Botswana or Angola might be a good place to emigrate to for Brit owner drivers seeking a better life.
Monday to Thursday: Felixstowe to London with 4 or 5 drops, or Felixstowe to Northampton, back empty…
Friday: (when the regular drivers have done their bit) how many Bristols, Cardiffs, Liverpools, Prestons, Newcastles, Glasgows, etc, etc, do you want■■?
kr79:
It doesn’t matter what’s up front pulling it you need to be ruining on fresh air to make it pay at the moment
No doubt it’s similar to the Maritime deal, £1.15 a mile when it costs 75p a mile in diesel, leaving a whopping £80 for doing a 200 mile trip and all you have to do is pay the truck finance, O licence, insurance, tax, maintenance, parking and tyres out of that £80 and the rest is all yours to do whatever you want with!
My Background: I am currently in the Armed Forces, well Royal Navy to be exact and I am due to leave in November this year having served 22 years. My trade is within HR and I basically sit behind a desk shuffling paperwork and to be honest with you, I hate it!
So I have decided to use my resettlement grants and re-train as a LGV C+E Driver. I am taking may Class C next month followed by Class C+E in April. Once passed (fingers crossed) I will hopefully do some agency work to gain some experince before leaving the Navy in Nov 12.
I must admit I have noticed that the majority of Haulage comapanies only accept drivers with two years experience (for insurance purposes) with one exception being Eddie Stobarts, so with that in mind I called them and without me even asking about the Franchise they have just advertised in The Sun newspaper they said i would be an ideal candidate (presuming they know i have a £48k lump sum coming to me) to take up a Franchise with them.
This is where it gets all a bit sticky! Not one of there recruitment staff knew anything about what was on offer, all they knew was what was detailed in the advert, however what they did say was that you could attend the seminar in February, brilliant i said, when is it and where is it? I could not believe what i was hearing when they didnt even know where or when the seminar was, so i took it upon myself to google it and found that they are doing a seminar at the NEC on 24-25 Feb.
So then i deceided to register with this site to see if i could find out more about it and listen to you guys who have tonnes of experience in the Haulage Industry. After reading this thread i am not at all suprised that this franchise with ESL seems a bit ridiculous, how on earth do you make your money?
So my question to you all is this, do i risk going with ESL as a franchisee or possibly leasing my own vehicle and work for myself, the only stumbling block there is as a new driver how on earth do you get your customers or contacts?
My Background: I am currently in the Armed Forces, well Royal Navy to be exact and I am due to leave in November this year having served 22 years. My trade is within HR and I basically sit behind a desk shuffling paperwork and to be honest with you, I hate it!
So I have decided to use my resettlement grants and re-train as a LGV C+E Driver. I am taking may Class C next month followed by Class C+E in April. Once passed (fingers crossed) I will hopefully do some agency work to gain some experince before leaving the Navy in Nov 12.
I must admit I have noticed that the majority of Haulage comapanies only accept drivers with two years experience (for insurance purposes) with one exception being Eddie Stobarts, so with that in mind I called them and without me even asking about the Franchise they have just advertised in The Sun newspaper they said i would be an ideal candidate (presuming they know i have a £48k lump sum coming to me) to take up a Franchise with them.
This is where it gets all a bit sticky! Not one of there recruitment staff knew anything about what was on offer, all they knew was what was detailed in the advert, however what they did say was that you could attend the seminar in February, brilliant i said, when is it and where is it? I could not believe what i was hearing when they didnt even know where or when the seminar was, so i took it upon myself to google it and found that they are doing a seminar at the NEC on 24-25 Feb.
So then i deceided to register with this site to see if i could find out more about it and listen to you guys who have tonnes of experience in the Haulage Industry. After reading this thread i am not at all suprised that this franchise with ESL seems a bit ridiculous, how on earth do you make your money?
So my question to you all is this, do i risk going with ESL as a franchisee or possibly leasing my own vehicle and work for myself, the only stumbling block there is as a new driver how on earth do you get your customers or contacts?
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Best Regards
Jason
So you’ve been in the navy working behind a desk for 22 years and now suddenly after all that you’ve decided to be an HGV driver instead.Meanwhile there’s HGV drivers out there who started out from day 1 on their 21 st birthday and before that probably driving vans etc who’ve been in the industry for 22 years but can’t find a job,let alone the new drivers who’ve just got their licence but who also knew what they wanted to do from day 1,who are probably being advised by the job centre to re train and get a job working in an office instead or lose their dole money.
Welcome Jason. You can read many threads on this forum if you type owner driver in to the search function.
My specific advice to you is by all means get your HGV licences & then you can sign up with an agency (many agencies have no work/rubbish work but you may get lucky) preferably a couple of months before Christmas and although you have no experience, that goes out the window when firms are screaming for drivers to move the Crimbo stock. Or you may be lucky & get employed by someone direct. HGV jobs vary widely in quality, just because one is good, many are rubbish.
You may well be happy with the Stobart franchise scheme, horses for courses. If you a regimented chap who is ok following orders then it may be for you but I wouldn’t advise you get involved unless you had been driving a HGV for at least 2 years full time to see if you even like the work. If you get tacho infringements working for someone else you won’t have your operator’s licence revoked which you may do if you are the owner operator.
As i’ve said elswhere the Stobart franchise scheme will not make you a rich man but will probably provide a decent wage, up to you if you want to put £12k odd up for security and be signing a contract for a certain number of years that you won’t be able to get out of if you don’t like it/bit like the forces.
jasonlowe7:
however what they did say was that you could attend the seminar in February, brilliant i said, when is it and where is it? I could not believe what i was hearing when they didnt even know where or when the seminar was, so i took it upon myself to google it and found that they are doing a seminar at the NEC on 24-25 Feb.
You going then Bewick? carry the fight forward and all that
I have some concerns about this scheme, I know SFA about it, but alarm bells are ringing. In the USA there’s a whole bunch of companies that operate a lease scheme, over there you don’t have O licence requirements like in Britain, so if you buy a lorry you can run under someone else’s authority all legal like, anyway these firms (big household names…see a pattern?) buy thousands of lorries each year at heavily discounted prices, they lease them out at top dollar to people who don’t see further than the brand new lorry and once they’ve had enough in payments that they get their money back the work dries up, the lorry gets snatched back and another mug signs on the dotted line.
If I was to consider this Stobart lease at all, the first thing I would do would be to let a solicitor read through it so I was fully aware of every aspect of the fine print, then and only then would I be able to make a considered decision
jasonlowe7:
however what they did say was that you could attend the seminar in February, brilliant i said, when is it and where is it? I could not believe what i was hearing when they didnt even know where or when the seminar was, so i took it upon myself to google it and found that they are doing a seminar at the NEC on 24-25 Feb.
You going then Bewick? carry the fight forward and all that
Can just imagine him at the NEC gate crashing the party dressed like that fellow out of 300 and shouting, “This is Sparta” whilst pelting William & Tink with rotten eggs.
hammer:
Jason, firstly welcome and good luck no matter what you decide to do.
Ignore Carryfast, you’re as entitled to be on the road as anyone regardless of what jobs/s you’ve done previously.
I wasn’t trying to say that anyone isn’t as entitled to anything as anyone else.I was actually pointing out the irony in which the MOD is using taxpayers money to turn office workers into HGV drivers while at the same time the DWP want out of work HGV drivers,who knew that’s what they wanted to do from day 1,to re train as office workers and/or whatever other job is available.
Because as everyone knows dole money doesn’t cover the job that you actually do and as far as I know there’s more existing HGV drivers who are already unemployed,or facing redundancy in the medium term,than there are vacancies .
Although I wouldn’t be surprised if the MOD were also handing out start up capital too for all every redundant MOD/forces employee to take up the Stobart offer.
What the guy does with his resettlement package is up to him. He can become a lorry driver set up as an owner driver or open up a shop selling square footballs if he so wishes.
There is jobs out there just maybe not your dream job. You slated a multiple drop job on another thread as as it’s not long distance class 1work but some people like the cut and thrust of multiple drops and regular hours of local work doesn’t make them better or worse as a lorry driver.
If you want to be an owner driver get your o licence get a truck and knock on doors. The Stobart brand offers no more security as they will park you up before one of there own.
kr79:
some people like the cut and thrust of multiple drops.
If you want to be an owner driver get your o licence get a truck and knock on doors. The Stobart brand offers no more security as they will park you up before one of there own.
I think that’s all sorted then.
All those ex forces lot can get down to the job centre and take on all those zb local multi drop jobs that’s always been the main feature of most,if not all,of the jobs that will be available there if there are any at all.
Or they can take up Stobart’s offer.But if it was me I’d be telling Stobart’s lot that it’s traction only using the oldest,cheapest,but best wagon I can find and it ain’t going to be painted green and they’ve got to pay me for pulling their trailers not me pay them for the privilege.Take it or leave it.
I’d say they will leave it but if you want to put your money where your mouth is I can get you in where I am any motor you want at 44 ton local or distance. First 10 pints on Friday on you with all your swag
hammer:
Jason, firstly welcome and good luck no matter what you decide to do.
Ignore Carryfast, you’re as entitled to be on the road as anyone regardless of what jobs/s you’ve done previously.
I wasn’t trying to say that anyone isn’t as entitled to anything as anyone else.I was actually pointing out the irony in which the MOD is using taxpayers money to turn office workers into HGV drivers while at the same time the DWP want out of work HGV drivers,who knew that’s what they wanted to do from day 1,to re train as office workers and/or whatever other job is available.
Because as everyone knows dole money doesn’t cover the job that you actually do and as far as I know there’s more existing HGV drivers who are already unemployed,or facing redundancy in the medium term,than there are vacancies .
Although I wouldn’t be surprised if the MOD were also handing out start up capital too for all every redundant MOD/forces employee to take up the Stobart offer.
The taxpayers owe our ex servicemen a great deal, so it’s only right that they get help when they re enter society as civilians
hammer:
Jason, firstly welcome and good luck no matter what you decide to do.
Ignore Carryfast, you’re as entitled to be on the road as anyone regardless of what jobs/s you’ve done previously.
I wasn’t trying to say that anyone isn’t as entitled to anything as anyone else.I was actually pointing out the irony in which the MOD is using taxpayers money to turn office workers into HGV drivers while at the same time the DWP want out of work HGV drivers,who knew that’s what they wanted to do from day 1,to re train as office workers and/or whatever other job is available.
Because as everyone knows dole money doesn’t cover the job that you actually do and as far as I know there’s more existing HGV drivers who are already unemployed,or facing redundancy in the medium term,than there are vacancies .
Although I wouldn’t be surprised if the MOD were also handing out start up capital too for all every redundant MOD/forces employee to take up the Stobart offer.
The taxpayers owe our ex servicemen a great deal, so it’s only right that they get help when they re enter society as civilians
How does any of that help in the case of paying them less wages than they are worth when they are in the job and then making services personnel redundant and then advising them and re training them to enter into an already oversubscribed industry in terms of supply and demand,for it’s and it’s employees services,especially when they’ve chosen a different career path at the start of their working life anyway .
They need training to do something, not a lot of call for Military experience in civilian life, only the lower ranks will need it anyway, officers and engineers etc will likely go onto bigger and better things, but regular military folk can only hope for the dole queue, at least with a licence they have a chance
. 
