Got some nice news today, went in to see one of the agencies im with as they wanted to update my file, and was offered a tramping job in a class 2. I’ve got to go for an assessment drive first, though the client’s idea of that is to send me out with their other driver (but he’s only got a C1/7.5 ton licence, and apparently is a master of b/s!) so I will be doing the driving from Tuesday to Friday. Normally when I do an assessment its over in an hour, but they want to see how I cope with a proper working week so that should be fun.
I’ll be delivering things like fridges, cookers, etc to restaurants, pubs, schools and so on, mainly up north.
Really looking forward to it as I love doing long runs and this is one of my goals achieved now, though never expected to be tramping until I had C+E on my licence.
yes they are paying properly for this. £8 p/h between 6am and 6pm, £9.50 p/h 6pm to 6am, £30 per night out plus some meal allowances where applicable. So not a bad one I think. Haven’t seen the truck yet, though as far as I’m aware theres only one cat C vehicle in their fleet, the rest are 7.5 tonners from what I’m told.
yes they are paying properly for this. £8 p/h between 6am and 6pm, £9.50 p/h 6pm to 6am, £30 per night out plus some meal allowances where applicable
Snap their hand off!! There’s Class 1 drivers not earning that. Maybe this is just a slight glimmer of hope that job opportunities are picking up together with wages creeping up.
If you work it out (and I’m sure you have) you can get a good week’s wage out of this if you get the hours.
yes they are paying properly for this. £8 p/h between 6am and 6pm, £9.50 p/h 6pm to 6am, £30 per night out plus some meal allowances where applicable
Snap their hand off!! There’s Class 1 drivers not earning that. Maybe this is just a slight glimmer of hope that job opportunities are picking up together with wages creeping up.
If you work it out (and I’m sure you have) you can get a good week’s wage out of this if you get the hours.
well done mate, but one small point to note one of my pet hates over the years was/is double manning, more so with someone thats full of crap and if your on a night out cross your fingers he dos,nt snore. that aside i hope it works out and leads on to a full time job good luck with it.
weewulliewinkie:
well done mate, but one small point to note one of my pet hates over the years was/is double manning, more so with someone thats full of crap and if your on a night out cross your fingers he dos,nt snore. that aside i hope it works out and leads on to a full time job good luck with it.
not fussed if he snores. i snore loudly and fall asleep within minutes of getting in bed anyway. Longer I keep him awake at night the quieter the days will be . Have been double manning on my last few agency jobs and I quite liked it, although we did split the driving so was essentially half a day each.
charliebear:
not fussed if he snores. i snore loudly and fall asleep within minutes of getting in bed anyway. Longer I keep him awake at night the quieter the days will be …
charliebear:
not fussed if he snores. i snore loudly and fall asleep within minutes of getting in bed anyway. Longer I keep him awake at night the quieter the days will be …
LOL! Nice one charliebear!
Good luck with the new job there mate.
Thanks. Went to pick up the rental truck today as the one they originally ordered was a curtainsider, which isn’t secure enough for the job, so went down to Ryders in Portsmouth to collect an 07 plate Daf CF with a box body on. Result is a single bunk (although a low roof cab but im not fussed, its only for 3 nights), so don’t have to put up with snoring/■■■■■■■ during the night, but I will have to drop him off at a b+b each night, then go and park up. Apparently the curtainsider had a double bunk and a taller cab, but the load would have been easier to steal from it.
Anyway, got paid 4hrs for 2 and a half hours work this morning which is a result, plus I’ll have £100 float to cover expenses like parking and tolls for the remainder of the week. Only downside is having to use a Sainsbury’s fuel card (didn’t even know you could get one) so can only fuel up at Sainsburys petrol stations, luckily they have given me a book of locations. At least I can get some decent grub while im there.
Got a few of drops to do tomorrow, starting at 4am. I forget the name of the first drop, but the second one is in Leeds, then a collection from somewhere else, then get as close to the next day’s drop as possible while trying to avoid an area where one of the company’s 7.5 tonners was torched .
Got my bag packed with a stove, kettle, coffee, food, clothes, wash kit, some books and bedding, and not forgetting the sat nav and a few maps. Most of our work is equipment for KFC’s, which is great because I like a good KFC, so hopefully get a free one or two.
lol you wouldnt want to eat it after you’ve seen what i’ve seen this week. I’m not sure if Ryder will appreciate our efforts at waterproofing the wooden floor of the truck!
Anyway, I have enjoyed the work and the experience, Gary (the second man) was a proper decent guy to work with but I couldn’t put up with the staff back at the yard (incompetent planning, silly deadlines and cancelling jobs etc). Im back home tonight, and got 1 day to do tomorrow. Its hard graft shifting fryers, freezers, extractors and tables into and out of very small kitchens, and I like the job but unfortunately the office don’t seem to have a clue about the job outside of the office, i.e need to park overnight at leicester services on the way back due to driving hours (done it in 9 which was enough in a 13 1/2 hour day) but they didnt book a room at the travelodge for gary to sleep in! So managed to get him a room booked at the one in Market Harborough which was a further half hour away, then I had to park up in a Sainsburys car park, luckily I didnt get any tickets for staying there! We were supposed to be in Woking for 8am this morning, however this was impossible as I couldnt finish an 11 hour break let alone a 9 hour before then! So halfway down to Woking we get a call saying to do it on friday, and head back to the yard instead.
dar1976:
It’s a shame that the planners are thick as [zb] as it seemed like you were doing alright.
So is it back to the drawing board or are you going to take the weekend to think things over?
Back to the drawing board on this one I reckon. They just really don’t seem organised, we even ended up buying straps as the ones that were used when they loaded it looked like they had been made from several others .
At least I’ve got next week booked up with another agency, and 3 weeks booked up at the end of March for another company.
Yeah, I fully understand your situation there mate. Well at least it is all good experience, and when you get better jobs you will appreciate it all the more then as well. All the best with it!
LJA:
Yeah, I fully understand your situation there mate. Well at least it is all good experience, and when you get better jobs you will appreciate it all the more then as well. All the best with it!
Yesterday was fun, 5:30am start, so left home about 4:30. Got the keys etc and headed off to Woking, arrived at KFC hq to pick up a 3 metre long fridge unit to be scrapped (there was nothing wrong with it) and replaced it with a 1.5 metre fridge which is too tall to fit under the shelves, so they will have to sort that out.
After that we headed to what looked like a set from eastenders, but was actually a company specialising in ice machines, they had 52 scrap ice machines from KFC’s all over the country to be collected, so loaded those on by hand. My drivers mate bought a bicycle off one of the lads in the yard, well he did give the guy £20 but his boss made him give it back as he said you have enough bikes in this place, so give one away! There must have been a dozen bikes in their yard, think you could guess where they come from…
Next stop was a scrap recycling site near Lewes, to get rid of the ice machines and the fridge, took about an hour to unload 4 tons of stuff. Then it was back to our yard to unload the stands for the ice machines, which will be cleaned up and re sold. Had a cup of tea then took the truck back to Ryders in Portsmouth, filled up at Sainsburys (why they insist on having a Sainsburys only fuel card is beyond me as half of those places you can’t get into in the truck, but 200+ nectar points per fill helps. and I got 100 vouchers for school stuff so I’ve covered the so-called professional drivers rule of thinking about the children). Drpped the truck at Portsmouth, and got in the company’s Transit connect for the 20 miles or so back t the yard. It made it as far as Emsworth services before losing all power, so called the RAC out, and got it towed back. Think it was a mix of throttle position sensors and EGR faults. It would have been easier to set it alight. Got back eventually, and called one of the office staff so they had to come in, get the keys and paperwork off me and download my tacho card. Think I got there at 11pm, I dropped a few hints about her ■■■■ poor planning but I don’t think she got them, so will wait for a call next week.
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