Fleets - One Man One Wagon or Musical Chairs?

[parkroyal2100]

I’m interested in which tack fleet owners and managers took - did you adopt a “one man for one wagon” policy, or was that too inflexible and you allotted whoever to whatever? Did you find you got better results out of your drivers and wagons if you let one driver think of it as “his”?

I’m also interested in what drivers preferred - did you take a bit of pride in “your” wagon, or would you rather the variety of not knowing what you’d be working with from one day to the next? Did you, like me, get the irrits when you were put in someone else’s lorry when yours was off the road only to find it was a filthy fleapit?

For myself, I’ve worked for numerous employers over the years and I would still on balance prefer the “one man one vehicle” approach. Sure there are some drivers who can turn a new vehicle into a beaten-up wreck with a cab like a doss house, but at all of the places I’ve worked at that put anyone in any vehicle, the entire fleet seems to deteriorate to a lowest-common-denominator level. Because there’s no “ownership” and thus no care (let alone pride), anything that gets bent, broken or dirty gets left as it is cos “it’s not my wagon” and “I’ll probably be in something else tomorrow so why should I fix it?”

[paulnowak]

My boss tries to keep us all on the same motors. That way he can attempt to limit damage by the cgaf boys.

I keep my motor mint, fueled and Adblu’d up, but I do need holidays. That’s when the damage begins.

To add insult to injury, I had to do a day on the yard a bit back. After running a hire truck back as my first job, phone went off to fetch one back from the bodyshop.

Mine. New front end!

I must admit, I do struggle to find the motivation to keep a wagon mint, one some numpty has put a gouge or a few dings in it.

It’s worse now, as I have to share my motor with another guy, I have to take his out two days a week, while he’s on mine. Don’t get me wrong, if I’ve got to share with anyone, he’s no worse than anyone else, non-smoker, no damage etc.

But will he leave it brimmed with fuel and AdBlu? Will he beaularks.

I even changed the banner on my cab phone to read “FUEL / ADBLU”

He deleted it and changed my dashboard language to German!

Good job I know German to change it back.

I wouldn’t mind, but it’d probably taken him less time to brim the tanks.

[desperate]

We cab hop as we don’t go out for the week, just the odd night out. The majority of vehicles in a morning are filthy, damaged and as we have 3 big raw meat contracts, the backs are often left stinking and in rivers of blood. To be honest it’s the only thing I can slate the firm for, we’ve tried asking for 1 unit/rigid/van per 2 drivers, one on days and one on nights but it doesn’t happen, the TM is always putting notices up to wash, fuel, adblu and red diesel trucks before shift end, it works for a couple of weeks then back to square one. It’s a case of ‘well it’s already dirty so why should I clean it’

I’d just like to say aswell, I’m not one that can sit in filth just because I didn’t do it

[spud1960]

I think that any transport manager / traffic planner who knows what they’re doing would allocate one truck / trailer per driver, as the benefits of that are well know, damage, cleanliness defect reporting are all well known, however at the end of they day the fleets have to earn a profit and that’s not always possible.

The issue is knowing your fleet, the last one that I ran I used to keep an eye on the condition of the trucks and trailers and take to task those drivers who did n’t care that way the drivers who did look after their equipment could see that it was worthwhile.

[retired_old_fart]

Throughout my 50 year driving career I always insisted on having “my own” vehicle. I like to keep everything clean and tidy, while there have been colleagues who do not subscribe to the same standards- how’s that for politeness?!?!
The only downside to taking a holiday, or even a day off, is coming back to find the cab filthy, greasy hand- and footprints everywhere and obvious signs of rooting around looking for things to half inch. Outside it was a similar story, the vehicle certainly hadn’t been washed since I left it, there would be grease all over the catwalk, chassis & rear mudwings and it was guaranteed that there would be scratches and an empty fuel tank. The worst scenario was if the unit had been used as a yard shunter.
One of my bosses saw fit to lend “my” unit to one of his mates for a weekend. In just two days the numpty managed to bend the bumper, burn out the clutch and knacker the gearbox’s baulk rings, besides thinking it was necessary to take a wheel brace to the throttle stop- obviously 65 mph wasn’t enough for him.
One driver- One vehicle. It’s the only way to go if you want your vehicles to stay in one piece. And if there’s obvious abuse of the equipment you know who’s first in line for the blame.

[jmc_jnr]

My father was a transport manager. The new boys started on old heaps and progressed up to better and better motors according to how they looked after them. When the driver of a well-kept wagon went on holiday it was usually stood up or somebody respectfull took it out. He was a total bxxxxxd to work for but if you did the job right he was good to you. If anybody remembers Fridged Freight of Diss they will remember most of their lorries looking good - even the old AECs. Proof that it was the way to go. Jim

[muckaway]

Earthline are one man one truck. Problem is they get through so many drivers the wagons are in a “why bother?” state. The trampers ones are in the best condition. My mate has a 12 plate MAN which he got as a shed, mine above average.

[windrush]

At TILCON we kept to one man one truck, generally they were worked until they were six years old and then changed. However if another new truck arrived then it could be given to one of the old hands and his would then be passed on to a fresh starter. I had the one in my avatar for nearly eleven years as by that time the trucks had been sold off by Tillings to our TM and new vehicles were then thin on the ground, though I did get one more new one before I left.

Pete.

[retired_old_fart]

After seeing how some blokes kept their lorries I did wonder if their homes were in the same state.

[adr]

I think this is something that has changed a lot over the last 30 years because of the many changes that have taken place in Transport in that time!
Employers have had to change their attitude to the “1 man 1 wagon policy”, which no doubt improves the chances of keeping up the appearance of the fleet, but as we all know doesn’t guarantee it as some blokes will never give a toss, I have even met some who think it is their employers job to have the vehicle washed & cleaned for them , sorry don’t get that 1 . But with the rising costs of Transport over the years Hauliers have had to utilise the wagons far more eg 24 hr running/weekend work, & at 1 time when drivers had a holiday their wagon would be parked in the corner & not used while they were off, lovely as that was it just became for Hauliers a totally impracticle tradition to maintain, hence other men being put in it, including much to the disgust of many, Agency drivers, some good some bad , but in lots of cases it had to be done! Plus as a lot of us know there has been a massive change in Transport Office Staff over the years, sadly the days of drivers being promoted into the Office is very much a thing of the past . There are I think various reasons for this, Transport Bosses like Bewick who started out with 1 wagon & in his case built up a very large/professional/respected firm through hard work & wise decisions are now a thing of the past, a lot have been bought out by the big multi-nationals, here is where I think the rot sets in for the “Drivers”, because in most cases these big companies are not run by Transport men, they are run by Business men & accountants & University Graduates (This I hasten to add before I have to hide behind the settee, does not mean that the likes of Bewick are not Business men, & his like certainly know how much it costs to run a lorry, otherwise they wouldn’t have built what they had!) But men like Bewick are “Transport men”, so he will see a Wagon in his yard & know immediately by a small piece of personalisation or maybe simply by the Reg.no who the regular driver is , modern day “Transport Management” sadly in most cases neither know nor care, it will simply be a Fleet No. on the running sheet, & the driver often will just be a Driver No. on the same sheet.
Also there has in my opinion been a massive change in the type of “Driver” out there now, & I use the term loosely, having interviewed many over the last few years I have come to realise there are a lot out there with HGV Licenses, but there is a gap 1000 miles wide between them & decent “Lorry Drivers” . Transport blokes like myself, & there are many on this forum who were born into Transport families or were bought up around Wagons & Lorry drivers are, mainly thanks to Health & Safety/ & Insurance Companies, becoming rare as “Rocking Horse Pooh”, & although this up-bringing is no guarantee of a good Transport man, in my opinion it definitely helps & gives a lot of us a totally different attitude & out-look to the job, as although at times we all moan about it, it isn’t just a job it’s a way of life, so this brings a very different attitude towards the Wagons themselves! My Dad was a Lorry Driver all his working life, other than a spell on Oxford Buses, he wasn’t a big washer & polisher of his wagons, when it was dirty he gave it a wash & that was it, but everything on his wagon’s worked, it was always equipped with everything he needed to do his job I get amazed looks by our younger drivers at the amount of kit I carry, for both myself & my wagon, but I like to think that no matter what I come across during my days work I will be able to deal with it, they just throw their bag on the bed, stick the “Twot-Nav” in the screen & that’s it, foot down & they want to go home before they’ve even left the Yard, no interest what-so-ever in the vehicle or the job , to me it’s a shame! We run Scania/DAF/Mercedes out of our Depot, I sometimes think that if you snuck out & took the badges off the grilles they would all charge out in the morning & get in the wrong wagons because to them they are all the same, so they don’t care which 1 they are in!
Just my opinions, Regards Chris