without exaggerating it’s almost once a week I have to basically stand by the side of the truck and instruct them how to put a pallet on the trailer. Last week I had a Romanian in one of those big fork trucks that reaches over to load the far side of the trailer. After about 5 minutes ■■■■■■ about he gets the the first pallet in position a foot from the headboard and asks “is that ok boss?” This week had a Norman Bates type - quiet chap you wouldn’t mess with as he was the sort who’d come in the next day with a sub machine gun and shoot everyone - he’d start off slow then get in a knot and end up slamming into the trailer whilst simultaneously being lined up wrong and with his forks tilted wrong. He then comes to a double stacked pallet and somehow manages get the top one to fall off.
To be fair, could be said for a lot of drivers mate. Making a mess of reversing into bays, smashing into low bridges bringing a town/village to a stand still, falling asleep at the wheel. Unfortunately their are numb skills in every profession but hopefully with time and experience all of the above (including ■■■■ fork truck drivers) will be short term or not as major. Did you never ■■■■ it up when you first passed for a few week/months? I know I certainly did! And still do…
htfc1984:
To be fair, could be said for a lot of drivers mate. Making a mess of reversing into bays, smashing into low bridges bringing a town/village to a stand still, falling asleep at the wheel. Unfortunately their are numb skills in every profession but hopefully with time and experience all of the above (including [zb] fork truck drivers) will be short term or not as major. Did you never [zb] it up when you first passed for a few week/months? I know I certainly did! And still do…
Not on a fork truck, no. They’re a piece of ■■■■ to drive. That said the large heavy lifting ones I can’t speak for as I’ve never driven one - I expect they are more difficult to master.
Tris:
htfc1984:
To be fair, could be said for a lot of drivers mate. Making a mess of reversing into bays, smashing into low bridges bringing a town/village to a stand still, falling asleep at the wheel. Unfortunately their are numb skills in every profession but hopefully with time and experience all of the above (including [zb] fork truck drivers) will be short term or not as major. Did you never [zb] it up when you first passed for a few week/months? I know I certainly did! And still do…Not on a fork truck, no. They’re a piece of ■■■■ to drive. That said the large heavy lifting ones I can’t speak for as I’ve never driven one - I expect they are more difficult to master.
I take it that your a forklift expert then ■■? with them being a piece of ■■■■ to drive ■■
That’s probably because there’s no legal requirement to hold any official licence to drive one.
The official term is to have been instructed by a competent person 
Now where’s Dozy 
Took my FLT and Moffett tests just over a week ago. The yardies make it look easy, cos they’re 1) Good and 2) Experienced. Having a good example to work with is key, imo. So I just concentrate on not damaging stuff or people. TM wants the stuff delivered first. Speed comes with practice and commitment to the job. If a forkie asks if “that’s ok boss?” he’s done what he thought was the right thing, it’s up to the driver to tell him no and if necessary where (and how) to put it where he/she wants it. At least the forkie was asking - demonstrates a willingness to please, didn’t just chuck it on as if to say “well it’s on, that’s me done”. In a few months time, he’ll be a driving God.
They are all a piece of ■■■■ to drive big, small, electric, gas, diesel. Bendy ones in very narrow aisles are a bit more tricky.
If it’s got sideshift and you can’t put a pallet where you want it you’re possibly a borderline ■■■■■■.
Driving them is relatively easy; it’s the art of putting a load of pallets on quickly and straight which seems to faze many. All too often, they don’t use the tilt and side-shift correctly and end up dragging the end of the pallet along the bed, then wondering why the load ends up looking like it’s been put on by a blind drunk.
I can forgive this with a guy who only loads stuff occasionally but there are far too many who appear to be better suited to driving a loading shovel than a fork lift; and yes I do appreciate that there’s a lot of skill involved in that too. Back in the day, I used to do a lot of FLT jobs and one of my regulars was Tradeteam at Hilton, where they used to do all of the Carling/Worthington cans and bottles. Double handlers, and the old Brewliner trailers; you either got to be good very quickly or you left. You may trust me that dropping a pallet of bottled Carling makes one hell of a mess!
Thing is, no FLT training course teaches you to load and unload lorries properly. It is a major failing of the training schemes.
Likewise anyone who gets a HGV license, is not taught how to use straps, rope and sheet, distribute loads etc.
Sadly experience only comes with practise.
LIBERTY_GUY:
Thing is, no FLT training course teaches you to load and unload lorries properly. It is a major failing of the training schemes.Likewise anyone who gets a HGV license, is not taught how to use straps, rope and sheet, distribute loads etc.
Sadly experience only comes with practise.
Agreed. As with HGV’s (or even cars) you train to pass your test, then learn how to drive. If we all drove lorries and fork lifts as we were originally taught to, I suspect that RDC queues would be ten times longer than they are now!
I’ve had forkies just bung it all on then bugger off. The ones that take their time and ask you if its right are a god send!
I deal with them all day long, ranging from the well experienced where i can stand right back have a cig and let them get on with it. To the clueless who i have to help.
The inexperienced ones i tell them to slow down and not feel pressured. I’d rather it came on safely slowly than a pallet smashed on the ground because that’s when the cameras have to come out, the reports and management a right ball ache and will take forever. Where as some will harass them to do it faster, i,m paid by the hour and rather get it done without any hassles or grieve.
I never get too close tho always behind them back a bit, really don’t want heavy pallet on my head.
Does annoy me when they are clueless not because they are clueless because we have all been clueless at one point, more the that someone more experienced in their depot should be showing them what to do rather than waiting for them to make a mistake and drag them into the office.
a forkie can sometimes make or break your day.
anyone on here remember the forkies at grand met Isleworth in the 90’s, 24 pallets loaded in 10 minutes, you couldn’t move the curtains quick enough.
Go to a place at Knottingley CT Transoprt to load glass bottles the lads there are top drawer !!
BIG AW:
Tris:
htfc1984:
To be fair, could be said for a lot of drivers mate. Making a mess of reversing into bays, smashing into low bridges bringing a town/village to a stand still, falling asleep at the wheel. Unfortunately their are numb skills in every profession but hopefully with time and experience all of the above (including [zb] fork truck drivers) will be short term or not as major. Did you never [zb] it up when you first passed for a few week/months? I know I certainly did! And still do…Not on a fork truck, no. They’re a piece of ■■■■ to drive. That said the large heavy lifting ones I can’t speak for as I’ve never driven one - I expect they are more difficult to master.
I take it that your a forklift expert then ■■? with them being a piece of ■■■■ to drive ■■
I can drive one but I’d hardly call it a job that requires expertise. Backwards, forwards, lift tines, lower tines, side shift, swivel, tilt. It’s not rocket science.
BIG AW:
Go to a place at Knottingley CT Transoprt to load glass bottles the lads there are top drawer !!
The lads at ■■■■■■■ at Ramsgate are spot on. They drive the monster fork lifts and there’s no messing about. Bang it straight on, and take them straight two deep at a time. There’s a lot of really good drivers, but there’s also far too many utter retards.
Tris:
BIG AW:
Tris:
htfc1984:
To be fair, could be said for a lot of drivers mate. Making a mess of reversing into bays, smashing into low bridges bringing a town/village to a stand still, falling asleep at the wheel. Unfortunately their are numb skills in every profession but hopefully with time and experience all of the above (including [zb] fork truck drivers) will be short term or not as major. Did you never [zb] it up when you first passed for a few week/months? I know I certainly did! And still do…Not on a fork truck, no. They’re a piece of ■■■■ to drive. That said the large heavy lifting ones I can’t speak for as I’ve never driven one - I expect they are more difficult to master.
I take it that your a forklift expert then ■■? with them being a piece of ■■■■ to drive ■■
I can drive one but I’d hardly call it a job that requires expertise. Backwards, forwards, lift tines, lower tines, side shift, swivel, tilt. It’s not rocket science.
Ya its that simple heard it all before !
To ba fair once you get the hang of it…counterbalance is a piece of cake. A closed cab tilt back reach truck when you go 12-14 high, is slightly different story.
One I had loading me summed his mentality up with and I quote “supposing I come flying round the corner and don’t see you”.
Driving a forklift is easy.
The art of loading a lorry, swiftly, efficiently and correctly, is hard.
In that respect it’s a lot like driving a truck. Perhaps that’s why the pay scales aren’t to dissimilar… who knew??