We had heard in Salop that Hanson hauliers In S Wales went on strike last Thursday. We have our hi PSV chippings from down there and today a manager asked if my night driver could come in early to fetch some up,he couldnt. I said you have plenty of trucks in wales to which he replied that they are not at work and have been given notice due to breach of contract. Anyone know anything
About time they told Hanson to do one, fair play to them.
Silver_Surfer:
About time they told Hanson to do one, fair play to them.
This ^ and the rest of the QPA cartel too.
they are having our pants down on the west midlands too on some jobs we are looseing over £12 a load with this new system 
all owner drivers gone back to work today after a meeting with one of the directors and his team of experts.Anyone want to buy a truck?
Which Director is that,Dave Store? He stood up at the West Mids meeting about this SAPs introduction and said he wouldn’t rip us off.
We had some S Wales trucks up here today to bring chips they didnt seem keen to rush back.
Dave store,Phil Redman, Bob Collet, Nick Salisbury, all sat in front of us like judges on the X factor
Had to go in front of a bit of a panel 2 years ago due to my driver being involved in an accident in some road works. Phil Redman was in charge with 2 more directors, my wife had come for the ride with me but sat in the car. I wish she had come in with me as as an ex WPC she used to dealing with tossers.
We expressed our concerns,quite a few of them,all of which they “took on board” and promised us they would meet us again in two weeks time to discuss their findings.
The SAP system has been in use down here for a while now and in the beginning it was a disaster for everyone - the people who designed it, the weighbridge staff who had to try and use it, and for the hauliers who were being paid by it…
Apparently we were one of the first places to roll it out so they were expecting big problems and they weren’t wrong!! Because it is soo complicated some of the trucks were only doing a couple of locals because they were spending half of the day queueing for allocation and the other half queueing for dispatch… It was a bloody shambles!
Having said that, all or the hauliers grievances were listened too and acted on. Now a lot of the unnecessary gumpf has been taken out of the process it is working quite well and is as quick as the old system, although still more complicated to use. The majority of hauliers here seem relatively happy with it now but, obviously, could do with a bit more work…
Most of the problems now come from the transport and work allocation based in Kent! Nothing wrong with Kent but what a ridiculous place to allocate from, when you’re hundreds of miles away…how can they possibly have local knowledge?
tippergripper:
Dave store,Phil Redman, Bob Collet, Nick
Salisbury, all sat in front of us like judges on the X factor
Can’t speak for the others cos I don’t know them but Phil Redmond ain’t a nice fella. Trust your instincts is all I will say…
The whole quarry game is a simple job ruined by people who wouldn’t know a lorry from a bog brush.
The work should be simple - Fill it up, take it there, tip it off.
The trucks should be simple - Its a big wheelbarrow ffs!
The drivers are simple (in a good way! 
)- They want to earn a living and do it fairly.
The customers are simple (not always in a good way!) - they want what they ordered, when they ordered it for.
In my experience, the management of these big firms try every which way to make the jobs as complicated as can possibly be imagined. Usually by spending ludicrous amounts of cash on layer upon layer of extra management and more departments.
Fancy computer systems that do the same work as a weighbridgeman but a lot slower and less effectively, work arranged by people in offices miles from quarries, satellite tracking systems, one office for orders, one for distribution, one for quotes, extra beacons, air tailboards, bigger Highway Maintenance boards, auto sheets, additional catches on the tailboards, more and more hi-viz clothing, overly-complicated rate structures, Health & Safety rules that apply to hauliers but not ■■■■■■ with ■■■■■■ vans and a childish culture of inter-departmental rivalry leading to unhappy hauliers and unhappy customers.
IMO of course. 