Freightliner .....

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

Ok, so anyone on boxes (and some who aren’t) know who Freightliner are and what they’re like (mostly).

So, my question is, why are they like they are, and why do they get away with it…

I don’t mean the truck drivers here, I mean mainly the gate staff and some of the loaders.

When we enter there, we are the customers, I’ve never known anywhere that’d treat customers the way they do and still have a business a week later.

So, what’s the crack?

Oh, reason for story / question is, last week, towards end of 15hr shift, planner decides this box MUST be on train, so I go in there, make it clear that I’m getting towards end of my 15, gets sent round, no queue (for a change), gets to front, sits there for 40 mins, then tells lifter driver that I’m really running out of time, he shrugs his shoulders, I takes box with me to park up for the night.

A few days later, almost exactly the same thing, even down to the conversation at the exit gate, them saying but it needs to be on the train, me saying it’s too late now.

Today, I’m there, 1hr allocated to get box on before I’d be late for job, so cutting it close, 45 mins in queue, 5 mins for him to find and put box on, gets to exit gate, nobody manning it, a guy stood at side having a ■■■, 2 guys having a chat in middle of room, nobody dealing with trucks leaving.
Oh, and this is around 7am, so a really busy time too.
So, I throws gate pass through window and drives out (barrier was up).

Gets a phone call later in the day, a complaint has been made about me (fair enough, you are supposed to wait etc) for throwing paperwork on the floor and ‘nudging barrier’■■? Obviously I said, yep, paperwork was thrown through the window in dispute to the bad attitude of the place, but I never touched the barrier. :imp:

Comments? (Oh, and before I hear it, I know I’ve got a bit of a temper…)

2

One sat morning I was in Manchester depot, it was about 5 am and I was waiting for a box lifting on by the big lifter, anyway he is fast asleep in his cab. I blasted and blasted the horn no action so in the end I went up onto the lifter banged on the cab and woke him up. I got a bollocking of management for waking the lifter driver up… And I worked for them!!! I’ve got loads of these stories.

3

jessicas dad:
One sat morning I was in Manchester depot, it was about 5 am and I was waiting for a box lifting on by the big lifter, anyway he is fast asleep in his cab. I blasted and blasted the horn no action so in the end I went up onto the lifter banged on the cab and woke him up. I got a bollocking of management for waking the lifter driver up… And I worked for them!!! I’ve got loads of these stories.

Everybody has I think, what I want to know is why they get away with it :question:

4

Its all to do with history/Industry and market.
Freightliner was part of British Rail, and I suspect they still have employees on BR Ts&Cs.
Being part of the rail industry there will be staff in RMT Union, and management would not want to upset Mr Crow over anything.
Finally they dominate certain routes - rail wise. This is not uncommon in rail industry, as if there is a market for a train from A to B, generally there is not enough for a second, thus if you want to put your container on a train from A to B, its Freightliner or road.
The rail industry is fragmenting, and new operators are breaking into Freightliners market, but they need terminals, and Freightliner has a lot of these that they can dominate.

5

there the little version of ESL.

have i started another 6 page topic up about the mighty green machine

6

Lost an hour at freightliner Tilbury this morning, ended up being the difference in getting home for the weekend, thanks freightliner

7

Matty72:
Lost an hour at freightliner Tilbury this morning, ended up being the difference in getting home for the weekend, thanks freightliner

if i was only an hour from home and i was out of time i wouldn’t stay there for the whole weekend :exclamation: :exclamation: :exclamation: :exclamation: :exclamation: [zb] that drive on just write on card why over run on time as long as you don’t make a habbit of it, and you were starting your weekly rest vosa wouldn’t do a thing :blush: :blush: :blush: :blush: :blush:

8

Some good advice :smiley: allways allow more than enouth time to go into a freightliner depot :confused: If you are running short of time dont even bother :smiley: tell the boss there will be another train tomorrow :smiley: and its no good telling the freightliner staff about your tacho hours as they dont give a toss its not there problem and they will take longer :confused:

9

When you go in you can never tell when your gonna leave, even when quite. Hate the place myself. Theres a guy on the hatch at Coatbridge calls every driver “Captain”. :imp: :laughing:

10

I,m glad to say I mostly get sent to F/L Doncaster and they seem to have a better attitude and are mostly friendly and helpful.
At Leeds I was once escorted off the premises and had to stand outside the gate because my truck broke down while queuing for the crane

11

Freightliner ■■■■ me off because they hold me up at level crossings :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

12

knight:
I,m glad to say I mostly get sent to F/L Doncaster and they seem to have a better attitude and are mostly friendly and helpful.
At Leeds I was once escorted off the premises and had to stand outside the gate because my truck broke down while queuing for the crane

ahhhh but there you donny wasnt originally a freightliner depot, thier yardmen are on a lot less than other f/l depots due to british rail contracts.

13

Doncaster is not an historic Freightliner site, it is still staffed by the former Tibbett & Britten / Exel / DHL staff, as they originally owned it and sold it to Freightliner some years ago.

14

pavaroti:
When you go in you can never tell when your gonna leave, even when quite. Hate the place myself. Theres a guy on the hatch at Coatbridge calls every driver “Captain”. :imp: :laughing:

The guy with the glasses or the black hair? One of them always says sir but if your ever round at the drivers reception they ALWAYS close the little window even to sign something then open it again!

The girls in there are class and the crane lads, can’t really complain.

15

its stories like these that are the reason i will never ever in my life be a box jockey, thou the 4-5hr wait to get the box unloaded massively appeals to me.

16

kindle530:
its stories like these that are the reason i will never ever in my life be a box jockey, thou the 4-5hr wait to get the box unloaded massively appeals to me.

You see the appeal is sat watching films or reading books for a few hours, now the downside is when you shopping for weeks food for work… You might as well buy double, while your there pick up some new clothes a size bigger as well.

17

jessicas dad:

kindle530:
its stories like these that are the reason i will never ever in my life be a box jockey, thou the 4-5hr wait to get the box unloaded massively appeals to me.

You see the appeal is sat watching films or reading books for a few hours, now the downside is when you shopping for weeks food for work… You might as well buy double, while your there pick up some new clothes a size bigger as well.

^^^ +1 to this ^^^

Never had trouble at Birmingham or Garston. Manchester can be hit or miss the the attitude. However, if busy as we pulled for them direct we could also get preference so we could make our booking times by jumping the queue.
Leeds is useless to say it politely. We used to sub direct for Logico (Frieghtliners road haul side). We could go up with their own correct paperwork, emails from themselves with the box number, our reg, the correct release number. We would be told to … go forth and multiply (or words to that effect) and told to get off the terminal. Probably the worst terminal we went to.

18

jessicas dad:

kindle530:
its stories like these that are the reason i will never ever in my life be a box jockey, thou the 4-5hr wait to get the box unloaded massively appeals to me.

You see the appeal is sat watching films or reading books for a few hours, now the downside is when you shopping for weeks food for work… You might as well buy double, while your there pick up some new clothes a size bigger as well.

but from what i hear about you Alex, the new clothes thing doesnt apply to you as you’ve stopped wearing them! :laughing: :blush: :open_mouth: :open_mouth: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink:

19

pavaroti:
When you go in you can never tell when your gonna leave, even when quite. Hate the place myself. Theres a guy on the hatch at Coatbridge calls every driver “Captain”. :imp: :laughing:

Theres another older guy on the hatch in there who’s so ■■■■■ slow you could nearly squeze in a 15 while he books you in, but there is a couple of decent lads on the fork lifts but mostly the place is full of tossers.

20

tonka236:

jessicas dad:

kindle530:
its stories like these that are the reason i will never ever in my life be a box jockey, thou the 4-5hr wait to get the box unloaded massively appeals to me.

You see the appeal is sat watching films or reading books for a few hours, now the downside is when you shopping for weeks food for work… You might as well buy double, while your there pick up some new clothes a size bigger as well.

^^^ +1 to this ^^^

Never had trouble at Birmingham or Garston. Manchester can be hit or miss the the attitude. However, if busy as we pulled for them direct we could also get preference so we could make our booking times by jumping the queue.
Leeds is useless to say it politely. We used to sub direct for Logico (Frieghtliners road haul side). We could go up with their own correct paperwork, emails from themselves with the box number, our reg, the correct release number. We would be told to … go forth and multiply (or words to that effect) and told to get off the terminal. Probably the worst terminal we went to.

Yeah, Leeds is the worst I’ve dealt with, followed closely by Manchester and Garston.

Donny is ok, but that’s been explained, and Southampton was great, told me exaclty what to do, where to go and didn’t arse about, just put the box on, and I was off.