bigvern1:
I just resigned from a crowd that didn’t give a ■■■■■■■■ to the drivers. Screwed every hour for sod all that they could from you. Gave ridiculously tight delivery schedules. eg…leave Devon 1430 one afternoon. Deliver Rome about 36 hrs later. Do-able, but not much scope for rest en-route.
Whinged about penny pinching, but spend money on new office chairs (Bless their poor backs. )
Knobhead owner changes cars more than I changed my pants. On his 3rd in 12 months as I left.
The company I worked for in Rugby were brilliant. Brand new kit every 3 years (8 months for me once!)
Paid weekly, paid parking, meal allowance, night out money weekly. No hassle whatsoever from traffic office.
■■■■■■■■…I’ll name 'em….Panic Transport. Brilliant boss.
Worked for them for a long time, on and off. agree there vern, top boss, regret leaving sometimes. Firm i’m at now are crap, but its a job. Hopefully get back to the smaller firms this year if i can.
yep very happy with my job , but i don’t let the ■■■■■■■■ behind the counter (planners) know that. if i work nights, which we have to do on a rota you’ve had a bad shift if you do more than 9 hours. days is ok ■■■■ booking times on multi drop but learn’t to live with the fact i ain’t going to make it so they either take it or i bring it back, either way i get paid. trucks are no older then 4 years old. been there 6 years and im still cab hopping, but due to a massive new contract we have got theres two new trucks on there way and one of them is mine. apart from the 4 new drivers were taking on its deadmans shoes really
Old school company that only employs old school drivers (age not being a necessary requirement for old school attitude and pride in the job), excellent salary and rightly expect good work and reliability, and they get it with rare exceptions.
Company including admin treat all manual staff with respect, guess what?, drivers and other staff treat company well and the make sure the job runs right with the customers often sudden demands always met with a smile, the good drivers know this is one of the last company’s anywhere run like this and have every intention of doing their bit to ensure it’s continued success.
The minute you step through the gate you turn the clock back 40 years, lovely.
■■■■ easy job, decent wage , good holidays , good benefits , fairly secure peace of mind
CONS
Boring as [zb] , lot of red tape with health and safety etc , lost our sharepower scheme boring as [zb] wait ive said that already. oh and a daf cf
This was the reason I left Tesco’s employment and went to work for a show company when I lived in the UK, I was so bored it was beyond belief. On my very last day, which was a saturday I had 3 Kiln Farm change overs from Brackmills and instead of sticking to the union rules of taking hours to do each trip I used a rented Merc and drove like hell, ignored the rules about not going through the back roads and through a certain viliage we were banned from. On the last change over Kiln Farm gave me an empty trailer to take back and the cable on the electronic seal was a bit long which allowed play in the door handle, the security guard told me to go back and get it re-set, I told him that thsi was my last ever run for Tesco and it was an empty friggn’ trailer and if he didn’t put the barrier up I would drive through it… He opened the gate and I drove back a double Tesco’s limit through every Tesco bared road I could find.
I joined Concord road shows next monday, worked like a dog but enjoyed every second of it.
bigvern1:
I just resigned from a crowd that didn’t give a ■■■■■■■■ to the drivers. Screwed every hour for sod all that they could from you. Gave ridiculously tight delivery schedules. eg…leave Devon 1430 one afternoon. Deliver Rome about 36 hrs later. Do-able, but not much scope for rest en-route.
Whinged about penny pinching, but spend money on new office chairs (Bless their poor backs. )
Knobhead owner changes cars more than I changed my pants. On his 3rd in 12 months as I left.
The company I worked for in Rugby were brilliant. Brand new kit every 3 years (8 months for me once!)
Paid weekly, paid parking, meal allowance, night out money weekly. No hassle whatsoever from traffic office.
■■■■■■■■…I’ll name 'em….Panic Transport. Brilliant boss.
Worked for them for a long time, on and off. agree there vern, top boss, regret leaving sometimes. Firm i’m at now are crap, but its a job. Hopefully get back to the smaller firms this year if i can.
Do we know each other? I can’t pm you as I’m out of favour with the mods!
Smiths has it’s faults but it’s probably the best quarry/tipper operator to work for (apologies to Huntsmans’ and Cullimores, ).
I’ve been around their wagons all my life so I’ve been trained “their way”. Money’s pretty good I can cycle to work (quarry extension means 15 to 20 years work there) the directors are sound (not so some others but that happens everywhere) and work is varied for the job we do. A combination of local ags and muck plus long distance which isn’t far enough to night out. They do operate a load bonus scheme which brings out the hell driver in some but many drivers are dyed in the wool and have been there 25+years. I’ve been on the road for 11years and I’m still the youngest driver
We should thank Santa for his very informative history lesson.I remember the Winter of Discontent very well, but for the young guns it was a long time ago. Lets hope that we never see inflation like that again.
our places is not bad to work for.they had a bit of a reputation but since a visit from vosa a few years back they are getting their act together when it comes to drivers hours and elf n safety
not to bad on my job as its now gone on to 4on/off so plenty of time for other stuff, newish motors allround as they have just put and order in for 3 daf 105’s and 3 scanny units and another big hiab for me
and since ive been there theyve put me through my allmi instructors course for hiabs, slinger /signallers course, and just before crimbo the appointed persons course,my epic card, aswell as paying for my pts and cpcs renewalsand forklift certs
moneys a bit naff but beggers cant be choosers in the current climate
Im happy. A cushy number and well paid. No red tape or bull, but very relaxed on legal issues. Just hope it lasts a while yet, till bored or next job takes my fancy.
Probably go back to working on the whisky when I get bored of my current wee number.
Not happy at all but then again, the only people happy at my place are the yes men . Thanks to these idiots not wanting any sort of home life(even at weekends)we are now gonna end up working most of the day on a saturday too. On the plus side, I get to start later on a monday morning when the child is at school and the wife is at work - why bother ■■ Not prepared to add anymore on a public forum - so in summary the answer is a definite no
Bit like Russjp we have the yes men the happy knackers the gimps you name it.Run by muppets who havent got a clue not even sure they know what trucks are.The top boys dont even have an HGV license so that says it all.5 over 7 nearly every weekend working.The money is good just because its the same every month but kit is crap and the way you are treated.
muckles:
Happy with mine, a few downsides to the job, mainly it being in Tunbridge Wells and having to commute and pay for lodgings, but then I lodge in a pub do not all bad
But good job, treated well, paid well and have a bit of fun as well.
To be honest worked with several in the area, they were ok, but £7.50 an hour, some earn slightly less than that and tramp Mon to Fri to make a decent wage.With another firm its now £12.59 an hour and £18.20 after 48 hours, most weeks its a decent wage.
Rooster:
To be honest worked with several in the area, they were ok, but £7.50 an hour, got with another firm its now £12.59 an hour and £18.20 after 48 hours, most weeks I,m earning £950 a week plus a second income of £125 a week so before tax £1075, its not bad for a council brat (scum).
When I tell folk I,m a lorry driver, and my joint income is over a £1000 a week they just look at me in disbelief, and I love it, LOFL
Rooster:
To be honest worked with several in the area, they were ok, but £7.50 an hour, got with another firm its now £12.59 an hour and £18.20 after 48 hours, most weeks I,m earning £950 a week plus a second income of £125 a week so before tax £1075, its not bad for a council brat (scum).
When I tell folk I,m a lorry driver, and my joint income is over a £1000 a week they just look at me in disbelief, and I love it, LOFL
)
if i work nights, which we have to do on a rota you’ve had a bad shift if you do more than 9 hours. days is ok ■■■■ booking times on multi drop but learn’t to live with the fact i ain’t going to make it so they either take it or i bring it back, either way i get paid. 
trucks are no older then 4 years old. been there 6 years and im still cab hopping, but due to a massive new contract we have got theres two new trucks on there way and one of them is mine. apart from the 4 new drivers were taking on its deadmans shoes really
).
