Anyone able to give me any info on fracks / stiller in Newton Aycliffe?
Cheers
Hey,
I can certainly help with the latter… and know a little about the former.
What do you want to know?
Jon
Just general stuff, type of loads, hours start times , rate, how drivers are treated.
And vacancies
Fracks owner Stan is abit of a character…
BeakFreak81:
Fracks owner Stan is abit of a character…
A diplomatic, yet not untrue way of putting it.
As this is the one I know least about and the best I can offer is I get the distinct impression that you are more likely to get a job the more ‘old school’ you come across to Stan - ie hard work, graft and some ‘genuine’ reason for being involved in trucking is going to stand you in good stead when you speak to him.
As for Stiller, it’s basically like the ‘palletized’ version of the post.
Give Palletline the pound notes and they will deliver whatever you want, wherever you want, as long as it is on a pallet.
They run a whole mixed fleet from vans, 7.5ter’s, Class 2’s and 1’s.
The smaller vehicles can be literally anywhere. As you move up then of course you tend to do more bulk/weight stuff in the bigger vehicles - but ALL vehicles have tail lifts and pallet trucks and you CAN expect to use them (more so Class 2 and lower as there are a decent number of residential deliveries).
Trunks run through the night bringing in the stuff that needs to be delivered.
Driver + warehouse staff get loads/routes sorted first thing on a morning - deliveries are then made based on a job list from the office and once done you pick up collections based on what is booked in/comes in through the day.
These are then returned and spat back into the trunks to be repeated next day.
There is also a bit of general haulage and specialist work that runs alongside the main business, but this tends to be already covered by the longer-serving guys.
Not sure what experience you have already, but Palletline work is quite a bit different from ‘regular’ haulage where you get 1, 2 or maybe 3 drops a day and pound the Motorways in between.
Our day is moments of running round like a madman, interspersed with periods sat on your ■■■ driving to the next drop - but that will be max. usually only an hour or so. Then it’s get into and out of the place as soon as you can and on to the next drop.
The bonus is that your maneuvering abilities tend to come on pretty quick - and, in my situation, that’s a plus.
In terms of pay, you get a daily rate that is paid weekly.
This is based on a 10hr work day… so yeah, go over that and your equivalent hourly rate starts nose-diving.
Also means no real opportunity to earn more as such.
As for how you are treated - well it’s a very subjective thing at best and I have already picked up that driver’s will always whinge about something. Also, as I am very new to the game and this is my first gig, I have no real reference for comparison so will genuinely not be able to say anymore than that.
In terms of vacancies I reckon anyone will confirm the idea that virtually ALL firms are on the lookout for ‘good’ drivers - irrespective of when someone might apply.
Feel free to ask any more questions here… or drop me a PM if it’s something which would be better said there.
Same applies if you want details of who to speak to for a job etc.
Good luck.
Jon
Jon has very nicely summed up pretty much any pallet company. I’ve seen about 6 steel beams, about 6 meters long, banded together, wrapped with a little black plastic sitting on a pallet. Not even tied to it, just resting there… 
They’ll ship anything if you pay the weird load fee.
Worst pallet company I’ve done was Palletways. But that one was the real deal, not a subsidiary “Shareholder Member”. 31 pages of double sided H&S, sign and date every page please mate… Then the ridiculousness of sending a 26t through central Birmingham (Alum Rock. Zbing awful)…
Pallettrack (through a “Shareholder Member”) was one of the better ones. Sane drops, usually near each other, and okay collections. Though at one place (the orange trucks, palletforce?) they had very new kit. I asked the girl about fuel and she said “We won’t bother you with that.” 