muckles:
But it becomes a drivers problem when they are put under considerable pressure
To get a load somewhere on time.
I know the response to the company should be it gets there when it gets there, but still there are rules about payments to drivers shouldn’t put them under pressure to break the law, maybe there should be one stating tranport contracts shouldn’t do the same.
And then of course we have the you got to get it there, and turn up and find out nobody’s interested in unloading the truck, so why the big panic?
I agree, but again it comes down to the unfortunate fact that there are too many companies in the game that are willing to work under these terms, and to work for rates where one of these laughable ‘fines’ from Travis Perkins or whoever has the potential to wipe out that truck’s profit for the whole week, never mind just the job that incurred it…
I read on here that some companies now attempt to recover the money for repairing damage from drivers rather than their insurance companies. If that is how it works, sadly I can see a time where Gordon 50’s suggestion that drivers will be held liable for ‘fines’ from customers by some outfits becomes reality. And if that isn’t an indication that the whole industry is ■■■■■■, I don’t know what will be.
It’s also the driver that ends up getting the hassle at security or goods in when some jobs worth is making a big deal out of it. Sometimes I make more of an effort to get there just to avoid that. But if I’m in the mood sometimes I don’t care and I just say please sign there and write a reason for refusal next to it please and I’ll turn round and go.
And it will be difficult to prove it wasn’t your fault sometimes. In the office they know a to b is 4 hours 25. You know at said site you won’t be able to get a full break in while waiting and 5 mins isn’t enough to manoeuvre around the site and then get out to suitable parking. So you take a 45 before arriving. This makes you half an hour late for example. All SOME office staff will say is well it’s driver fault because actual driving time to get there is less than 4 hours 30 and that’s how we planned it. So driver fault, not planning fault.
If this happens then yes a lot of companies will lose drivers fast!
The above happened to me. Depot to delivery point was 4hours 28 driving. So I had a 45 on the way. This made me 45 mins late which meant they kept be waiting 5 hours before tipping me.
Don’t see the issue tbh,if a RDC has say 300 wagons coming in over 8 hours then they need some sort of order and a late delivery will have a knock on for everyone else coming in,this is likely to be why your held up at RDCs so hopefully those complaining about the fines ain’t also the ones complaining about waiting times too
Well as has already been stated, b&m Speke seem to have it spot on. You turn up within a half hour window either side and your straight on a bay. No waiting, tipped and your gone. I’ve never been late there but I imagine they just turn you away if you are which is why there is no back log and you get tipped straight away. Maybe that’s a better way, no fines but they just refuse it. That means the ones who are on time get tipped efficiently, and the ones who are late are still hit financially in wasted fuel etc. Seems a fairer system overall for everyone.
raymundo:
When I first started at the sea (in wooden boats with men of iron) we loaded a cargo in what used to be the Felixstowe dock for discharge on the Thames by Canvey Island but when we arrived couldn’t discharge the cargo due to adverse weather conditions.
Cliffe Jetty?
Everytime I read threads like this, it makes me grateful I don’t touch general haulage. My customers have a time in mind and we work to it, but if something goes wrong we let them know what the delay is and that’s the end of that. Certainly not putting up with fines for stuff out of my control.
Had two loads last week that were both more than 24 hours late, but if the boat isn’t sailing due to bad weather, not much I can do and yes, I do charge the waiting. Not my fault if you pick somewhere awkward to deliver stuff to.
i’v on 2 separate occasions been pulled out of travis perkins yards with the load still on after having arrived on time but have not been unloaded with in the 2 hours that is specified on the contract, when that happens they are charged a wasted journey charge ( unless there is a q to get in then it goes back at customers expense).
albion:
Everytime I read threads like this, it makes me grateful I don’t touch general haulage. My customers have a time in mind and we work to it, but if something goes wrong we let them know what the delay is and that’s the end of that. Certainly not putting up with fines for stuff out of my control.
It’s not as drastic as it is being made out to be. We have a few regular deliveries that impose fines for late deliveries, but if we are running late for whatever reason then we inform the customer we are working for who then informs the RDC and there has never been a problem or a fine imposed. It depends upon the driver keeping the traffic office informed of delays, and also the traffic office monitoring the truck with tracking. We don’t pester the driver but then again we have a traffic office with planners who have been drivers and know the job and how long to allow to get there. If you miss the booking time and have not informed anyone of a potential delay then you will be fined. I’ve no problem with RDCs imposing fines for lateness if by keeping to times it gives a smoother running job and reasonable lengths of time for tipping. Like many aspects of transport it’s how you manage it.
Rowley010:
I was tipping at travis Perkins rdc this morning and noticed on my paperwork there was a note that my company had written saying there were fines if late.
How’s it come to that? You get fined for speeding, get fined for breaking the law, and the companies fine each other if the driver is a bit late. It’s pathetic.
But for as long as haulage companies roll over and take it then it won’t change. When this fining thing got brought in every single haulage company should have just got together and said well sod your load then we won’t bring it if we get fined for being stuck in traffic because someone else has crashed. Then if no haulage company would deliver their stuff then they would be screwed as they wouldn’t got products into their stores for people to buy.
I was on time by the way. I’m just saying I think it’s pathetic.
When I worked for stobarts doing aggregate work they would put the delivery times down ( including travis Perkins ) at say 8 am, you’d ring up driver line and tell them your eta and they’d ring back saying it’s fine you’ve a window of say 8 am- 16.00 ( already knew that as on consignment details , there were just trying to rush you along , like tip Bradford 15.00 ( Sherburn 15.00 )tip Wakefield 15.00 , ring planner 15.00 etc , etc ,
Often couldn’t make it for 16.00 so would get it booked in morn , builders merchant were fine with it , they just got ■■■■■■ off being told you would be there for 16.00 and waiting for you until 17.00 when the driver had told the planner / d/l he was hours away and wouldn’t be there till 19.00
albion:
Everytime I read threads like this, it makes me grateful I don’t touch general haulage. My customers have a time in mind and we work to it, but if something goes wrong we let them know what the delay is and that’s the end of that. Certainly not putting up with fines for stuff out of my control.
It’s not as drastic as it is being made out to be. We have a few regular deliveries that impose fines for late deliveries, but if we are running late for whatever reason then we inform the customer we are working for who then informs the RDC and there has never been a problem or a fine imposed. It depends upon the driver keeping the traffic office informed of delays, and also the traffic office monitoring the truck with tracking. We don’t pester the driver but then again we have a traffic office with planners who have been drivers and know the job and how long to allow to get there. If you miss the booking time and have not informed anyone of a potential delay then you will be fined. I’ve no problem with RDCs imposing fines for lateness if by keeping to times it gives a smoother running job and reasonable lengths of time for tipping. Like many aspects of transport it’s how you manage it.
In fairness, we manage to deliver most things when we say we will, even the foreign stuff, we are within an hour or ETA. Delays are automatically advised to the customer. But it’s still nice to work for a client that doesn’t have the notion of a fine
Rowley010:
Well as has already been stated, b&m Speke seem to have it spot on. You turn up within a half hour window either side and your straight on a bay. No waiting, tipped and your gone. I’ve never been late there but I imagine they just turn you away if you are which is why there is no back log and you get tipped straight away. Maybe that’s a better way, no fines but they just refuse it. That means the ones who are on time get tipped efficiently, and the ones who are late are still hit financially in wasted fuel etc. Seems a fairer system overall for everyone.
Yea, if your late you have to rebook the delivery. Could be lucky and get a slot later on/tomorrow if they want the gear, but we have had loads sat in our yard for a week waiting for redeiivery. So it’s a trailer ■■■■■■■ too. It’s the same with TJ Morris in Liverpool.
Of course, not as easy to do that for places that deal with perishable stuff.
Fined for being late? Fine. UK hauliers should have a clause that fines companies for unnecessary delay by the warehouse/ fork cabbages when re loading/tipping…
We used to do mult drop deliveries to B&Q with flowerpots all over the country, usually 2 day runs with up to 12 drops on so every drop never really had more than 3 pallets for them on the 2 day runs.
A lot of the stores were booked in at certain times which is understandable considering the amount of deliveries they would get in a day. However when we was late we would be finned by B&Q trouble is nearly 100% of the time it was down to having to wait whilst one of their own DD loads was being tipped at a store where they have a 2 hour turnaround time, so obviously this would set you back for all the other drops.
Even though we’d only have one or at the most 3 pallets to tip the foods in would refuse to tip us which would take the whole of 5 mins and we would then be out of the way. Our gaffer had, had enough of being fined for late deliveries due to us being held up by B&Q own delivered to the stores so bought in a 15 min window were basically we’d get to a drop on time they would then have 15 mins to tip us if they had not we were to pull out and B&Q would be charged for the delivery, re-delivery and loss of backload due to the fact we were bringing pallets back
Trouble is with these stores they’d book just too much deliveries in for the amount of staff able to tip them. B&Q did not like it one bit but they found it ok to fine us
Fines started way back,when the Japanese car companies came here.
They introduced the time critical method which involved delivery window times, the same method they had in Japan,it cut out carrying huge stocks of parts sitting in their warehouses doing nothing,(something British companies where guilty of)which made the business more cost effective.
Suppliers had or have to have parts “trackside” or in the warehouse on time to enable continued production,hence they have a clause in their contacts that effectively fines them if they default and production comes to a stop.
