Hi to Everyone,
I don’t think I’ve ever posted on this forum, but I find it very informative to read.
I have started working as an external TM and I hoped to make a living out of it, but it doesn’t seem very profitable in my opinion. I know being able to work from home is the main advantage, but what’s the point if it doesn’t even pay the minimum wage? A simple ‘transport admin’ job pays better, £15-£20k/year with ‘zero’ responsibility.
I have a few questions I don’t seem to be able to find answers for:
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Since the external TM’s are expected to ‘effectively and continuously manage the transport activities of the undertaking’:
a. How often are they actually expected to visit the Operating Centre? Somebody told me weekly, but I would prefer monthly i.e. every 27-28 days to coincide with the driver’s card download?
b. Can the Operator get all the walkaround checks, inspection reports etc scanned over to me by email? (I would get daily NIL reports scanned in bunches evey 7 days, inspection reports immediately)
c. Is the owner-driver supposed to discuss every job with me to make sure he won’t exceed his hours? …Some drivers won’t need reminding about the tacho and WTD rules at all and others will have to be told every day! And, if they employ more drivers, these may have to be told even more often? What’s the best (and least time consuming) I can do to protect my good repute?
d. With current technology it takes just a few minutes to download the tacho data, the infrigements report is generated at the touch of a button, checking and saving NIL/inspection reports scanned with a smartphone emailed by the driver to my PC takes 5 minutes a week - would this convince the TC that I can spend less time on an owner-driver and still get my job done properly? -
If you have to visit the Operating Centre weekly, how can you physically commit 8 hours to this job, charge £300 a month (£3600 a year) and make a living wage if it causes £1300 a year travel expenses to cover? A calculation based on 50 weeks/year, travelling 58 miles/week round trip @£0.45/mile leaves you with £5.75/hr - which is below the min wage…
How do people make money on it? Or do they just do it as a hobby in their spare time?
The purpose of this post is to establish what is the minimum I have to do to stay legal in and not to be sued by the Operator in case he gets fined!