Franglais:
If you click on Pierrot’s link and cry, you’re screwed. If you laugh you may survive and become a driver.!
Passing the test is the start. Get through the first shift. Ask questions of other people there, and BE HONEST tell them you’re a new start and the vast majority will help. Sure, some will roll their eyes, but most will be on your side. Even if you don’t fegss up to any managers talk to other drivers.
If you’re getting grief here it’s because we don’t like bullcrap. (I’m not a spokesman though).
Pierrot’s link had me in stitches, maybe I’ll be a trucker one day?
sammym:
I’m genuinely impressed how helpful so many members have been. I’ve got two offers of blokes willing to help me on the phone. One after 5am and one who starts his shift at midnight. Top top blokes. I won’t mention them - but I think it’s great that someone is willing to help a new pass.
One final question.
Tomorrow I’m going to have to broach this umbrella company thing. It’s just not in my interests. My ‘main job’ is a PhD student - and my ‘salary’ is tax free. So I have the full tax allowance to use for part-time hours. I’m unlikely to earn more than £10k a year driving a couple of days a week.
So should I just straight up call them tomorrow and say NO to the umbrella. Or take it for this shift and pay the £11 fee for paying me my wages. They did give me a start - and I’m grateful for that. Most on the phones wouldn’t even let me register. And I genuinely don’t mind them earning a crisp. But the umbrella fee is £11/hour. I’d rather earn £8/hour PAYE. So how should I approach this?
You would rather take £8 over £11 ?Are you an agency owner on the wind up or what pal ?
sammym:
I’m genuinely impressed how helpful so many members have been. I’ve got two offers of blokes willing to help me on the phone. One after 5am and one who starts his shift at midnight. Top top blokes. I won’t mention them - but I think it’s great that someone is willing to help a new pass.
One final question.
Tomorrow I’m going to have to broach this umbrella company thing. It’s just not in my interests. My ‘main job’ is a PhD student - and my ‘salary’ is tax free. So I have the full tax allowance to use for part-time hours. I’m unlikely to earn more than £10k a year driving a couple of days a week.
So should I just straight up call them tomorrow and say NO to the umbrella. Or take it for this shift and pay the £11 fee for paying me my wages. They did give me a start - and I’m grateful for that. Most on the phones wouldn’t even let me register. And I genuinely don’t mind them earning a crisp. But the umbrella fee is £11/hour. I’d rather earn £8/hour PAYE. So how should I approach this?
You would rather take £8 over £11 ?Are you an agency owner on the wind up or what pal ?
No…
If I work 2 days a week for 8 hours with the umbrella I have to pay fees, plus two sets of NI contributions. Plus the ‘benefits’ are not there for me - as I won’t pay any income tax anyway. On a good week I will pay more national insurance. And I won’t get any holiday pay. Effectively on PAYE I’ll pay next to no tax and I won’t have fees. Those fees are weekly… Even on weeks, I can’t work.
I just want an easy life without the hassle. And I don’t like the idea of these umbrella companies. If I wanted to be self employed I should be properly self employed.
adam277:
We can’t really help because your not telling us what the work is or what company your working for so have really no idea what you are doing.
I’ll try though.
1# you need safety boots, most training companies even insist on this even when training; most drivers don’t bother with them but some sites will send you home if you don’t have them especially the larger firms. Personally, I’ve had heavy stuff fall on my feet and even a fork from a forklift and it really hurt and I learnt my lesson about not wearing safety boots.
2# Is it a rigid or artic? I’m gonna assume a rigid.
3# curtains are easy to use just watch a Youtube video.
4# straps again are easy to use. You may struggle keeping them neat and in a bundle like the other drivers but that doesn’t really matter.
5# Tail lifts - here you have to be careful there are so many different types and some are harder use then others. I must of spent 30 mins trying to work out how to use an unfamiliar tail lift before. So if you have a tail lift try and get another driver or warehouse bod to show you how to use it and make sure you have the key if it requires one.
So here is what you should do once you start your shift and on your way to the truck.
Put card in truck. It will probably ask if you want to do a manual entry select yes then choose the bed option then select yes again. It should now be all set make sure its on other work (the two hammers intercrossed) and start the engine. Also make sure you have enough adblue and diesel.
Do you vehicle checks doing the obvious things but make sure the door runners are working fine many people neglect it. Also if you have pallets make sure you have a pump up.
Set up your sat nav and make sure your fully aware what order your doing the drops in. Put your first drop in and sat nav and off you go.
Now for tacho breaks keep it simple. Take your first 16 minute break as early as possible i.e the 1st 2/3 hours and take your 2nd no later then the 6th hour of your shift. I’m assume your gonna be doing multi drop so you will not be near the 4h 30m driving but if your just doing a trunking run then you just need to keep an eye on driving time.
That’s it really. Just remember you need a 30 minute break before you do 6 hours working time. for example if you start at 7:00 am then you need a 31 minute break before you hit 1:00PM.
^ I’m sure many people can quick faults with this but I just tried to keep it as simple as possible.
Edit:
Guys he posted on the new driver forum a lot and passed recently so I doubt he is trolling.
Drivers hrs, must have taken at least 45 mins break after driving for no longer than 4:30 mins driving which can be split into to 2 segments the 1st being a minimum of 15mins, and the 2nd part has to be at least 30 mins, or just one continuous break of 45mins at least drivers hours are the rules that matter if you value your licence,
Ah well. You will laugh about it eventually.
Probably didn’t help that you was on this forum until 10:00pm since u had to start at 3:00am. I
Can’t blame you that much though I had no sleep on my first shift.
With the next job you should look for a place that will train you up.
I know you only want to do about 10 hours a week but you should look to do some temporary full time work until you get comfortable with the truck.
sammym:
Well it looks like I’m already shafted anyway.
I’m getting calls from an umbrella company now. I didn’t know it was an umbrella company… And I’d rather be paye or self employed. I don’t want to pay a fee for the pleasure of being paid.
I’m going to do the job as I’ve agreed. If I get sent home I don’t care - as I wouldn’t have agreed if I knew it was umbrella. After I’ll say I don’t want umbrella.
On the off chance anyone wants to help, but thinks I’m on a windup. Please PM me. I’m not going to get any kicks out of wasting your time especially if no one else will see. I want to know if I have to accept this umbrella nonesense.
nothing wrong with umbrella company, i work for one, works easy, get all summer off, back for the winter months,
adam277:
We can’t really help because your not telling us what the work is or what company your working for so have really no idea what you are doing.
I’ll try though.
1# you need safety boots, most training companies even insist on this even when training; most drivers don’t bother with them but some sites will send you home if you don’t have them especially the larger firms. Personally, I’ve had heavy stuff fall on my feet and even a fork from a forklift and it really hurt and I learnt my lesson about not wearing safety boots.
2# Is it a rigid or artic? I’m gonna assume a rigid.
3# curtains are easy to use just watch a Youtube video.
4# straps again are easy to use. You may struggle keeping them neat and in a bundle like the other drivers but that doesn’t really matter.
5# Tail lifts - here you have to be careful there are so many different types and some are harder use then others. I must of spent 30 mins trying to work out how to use an unfamiliar tail lift before. So if you have a tail lift try and get another driver or warehouse bod to show you how to use it and make sure you have the key if it requires one.
So here is what you should do once you start your shift and on your way to the truck.
Put card in truck. It will probably ask if you want to do a manual entry select yes then choose the bed option then select yes again. It should now be all set make sure its on other work (the two hammers intercrossed) and start the engine. Also make sure you have enough adblue and diesel.
Do you vehicle checks doing the obvious things but make sure the door runners are working fine many people neglect it. Also if you have pallets make sure you have a pump up.
Set up your sat nav and make sure your fully aware what order your doing the drops in. Put your first drop in and sat nav and off you go.
Now for tacho breaks keep it simple. Take your first 16 minute break as early as possible i.e the 1st 2/3 hours and take your 2nd no later then the 6th hour of your shift. I’m assume your gonna be doing multi drop so you will not be near the 4h 30m driving but if your just doing a trunking run then you just need to keep an eye on driving time.
That’s it really. Just remember you need a 30 minute break before you do 6 hours working time. for example if you start at 7:00 am then you need a 31 minute break before you hit 1:00PM.
^ I’m sure many people can quick faults with this but I just tried to keep it as simple as possible.
Edit:
Guys he posted on the new driver forum a lot and passed recently so I doubt he is trolling.
truckman020:
is sammym on a wind up,sounds like it to me
No I’m not.
Imagine this. I did the same test you all did. And I have learnt nothing about the things I have asked about. I have never worked as a driver before. Why would I know about curtains? When was I shown how to use a tacho?
It’s easy to take the ■■■■. And I probably deserve a lot of it. But I’m trying to not mess up tomorrow and make a ■■■ of myself. I’m sure it would be far more amusing for everyone on here (and my friends) if I did. But for me I’d actually like to learn some stuff.
Obviously, this is all ridiculously easy and obvious to you guys. But would it be to your wife/son/daughter who had never driven a truck professionally?
I’m taking the ribbing with a smile - but I’d love for someone to tell me where I’m meant to learn this stuff as an agency driver… You are all complaining that there are too many foreign drivers. But how does a UK based driver learn about curtains and this stuff? I suppose I could pay for CPC days… But I don’t want to spend more money on this before I’ve even done a days work.
Anyone who really think I’m taking the ■■■■ can PM me and I’ll send my number. I just want some ‘silly’ questions answering so I have a clue about this stuff.
Oh… and [zb] ups or not I’ll post my honest review of myself tomorrow. It will either cause extreme hilarity for most, or give a bit of confidence to another new pass.
If you really are that clueless and naive and have zero experience, I would ask my agency to send me out on a job for one day, unpaid, with another driver to learn the ropes. It would be worth the one day of no pay to get most of your questions answered, and the other driver would probably let you unstrap his curtain for him
