Hi all, just an enquiry as to how different firms deal with holidays. At our place we are only allowed one night driver off at a time, there are four night drivers, we are all fathers of school-age children so, here’s the nub, last week I tried to book off the summer half term holiday and was turned down as another bloke had got in first, I then looked at the holiday planner and found that just about all the six weeks summer holiday was booked. As one might imagine, I was pretty miffed to say the least, and remonstrated with the manager with no success. I’m very tempted to vote with my feet, but would be very reluctant 'cos in most other respects the job ticks all the boxes.
What ■■■■■■ me off too is the fact that the day drivers can have two off at once, and seem to get better treated altogether, which is a major bone of contention for all of us.
So, let’s hear all of your holiday triumphs and failures…
When planning holidays when you have kids, you have to be on the ball and plan way, way ahead.
I know guys who plan 12-18 months in advance.
Tbh admit you’ve been slow off the mark. Take it on the chin, and remind them & the boss that in fairness you should have 1st dibs at the prime weeks next year. So get in touch with the school and ask them the school holiday dates for 2012
Also It’s the single guys & gals who suffer at the hands of the drivers with families.
3 maximum off from 19 of us,15 drivers and 4 mates, 1st come 1st served.
papermonkey:
What ■■■■■■ me off too is the fact that the day drivers can have two off at once, and seem to get better treated altogether, which is a major bone of contention for all of us.
but how many day drivers are there? if there are 4 then fair enough its a bit unfair, but there must be a reason for the difference. but if there are 8 then they have the same odds as you at getting time off.
stevie
Well my companies main base is in birmingham but me & 2 other drivers work from an outbase in bristol. We were told only one of us could be off at any one time & that included all drivers in birmingham. We politely told them we didnt agree & said if our holiday was refused we would take it anyway & it was upto them if they arranged cover or not. After all that is what agency drivers are for.
Now us 3 drivers can take the same time off. You need to stick together & put your foot down. Ive always done the same thing, if holiday is refused i take it anyway 
Never had a problem
we;re allowed 3 off at a time ,but theres 22 of us.
All I can say is you’ve got to be on the ball at our place , ive got christmas 2011 and 20012 booked already plus last week in july n first 2 in august this year and next year booked for canada hols . Its first come first served and believe me I’m first 
just have a couple of weeks on the sick. 
then phone them while your off and say " look i know im off sick but i cant afford it, can you use some of my holidays on this sick period. "
Were allowed 12% of the driving workforce,so monday to thursday were allowed 8 off and on a Fri/sat and sun were allowed 5 off as most of the livehaul drivers are either mon-fri days or sun-thurs nights with the fridge boys working either sun-thurs or tues-sat or thurs-mon 
there are 7 drivers at our place and i’m the only one with school age children. my boss moans if i ask for single days to look after the kids during the school holidays, he says it’s not fair on the other drivers! WTF! they can have holidays at any time they want, i can’t leave my kids alone while my wife and i, and all the babysitters/grandparents, are at work! so i just tell him that he has a choice: either i have the day off, or i bring the kids to work! 
cambridgeshire.gov.uk/educat … 201112.htm
There ya go, all the school term dates for 2012.
Now ya can get ya holiday booked for next year. If you have the hols available take it all in August, if nothing else it’ll ■■■■ off the people that ■■■■■■ you off this year
CRISPY:
ive got christmas 20012 booked already
Now thats what I call forward planning !! 