desypete:
i totaly agree the minimum wage is to much for these drivers these days the good guys have given up with the industry only the new guys or the imports are left doing the job. it will end up like the nhs has gone, hardly anyone english doing that job anymore as the pay is crap so let the imports do it
Why do you hang around this forum like a bad smell constantly criticising us drivers? surely you have something better to do than keep posting on here “I am a good driver, but I wont work anymore because all the drivers are now stupid and full of self importance”, It winds me up, I may not earn as much as you did, I may not be as good as you make out to be, but I enjoy my job and I get a lot of good feedback from customers. My management are happy with me, and I don’t care if I’m important or not.
My perception of you is… dont worry, …
Just lay off the new driver’s and current drivers that are trying to earn a living like our farther’s and grand farther’s, not every ones got years and the money to retrade.
desypete:
i totaly agree the minimum wage is to much for these drivers these days the good guys have given up with the industry only the new guys or the imports are left doing the job. it will end up like the nhs has gone, hardly anyone english doing that job anymore as the pay is crap so let the imports do it
Why do you hang around this forum like a bad smell constantly criticising us drivers? surely you have something better to do than keep posting on here “I am a good driver, but I wont work anymore because all the drivers are now stupid and full of self importance”, It winds me up, I may not earn as much as you did, I may not be as good as you make out to be, but I enjoy my job and I get a lot of good feedback from customers. My management are happy with me, and I don’t care if I’m important or not.
My perception of you is… dont worry, …
Just lay off the new driver’s and current drivers that are trying to earn a living like our farther’s and grand farther’s, not every ones got years and the money to retrade.
Carl
+1
He only comes on here to run other drivers down and either ■■■■■ about the CPC or mention it sarcastically whenever anyone asks a question or admits to a mistake. Ive no idea why someone with such a hatred for the industry keeps frequenting an HGV forum
hedg70:
Why do you hang around this forum like a bad smell constantly criticising us drivers? surely you have something better to do than keep posting on here “I am a good driver, but I wont work anymore because all the drivers are now stupid and full of self importance”
You are annoyed about a person on the internet criticising drivers?
Although you think ALL drivers are stupid!
The-Snowman:
Well anytime anyone on this forum tries to talk up the job they get subjected to plenty of other members getting indignant and apoplectic and giving it the usual speel of “our jobs not that important” or “The country will survive perfectly well without us” or “a trained monkey can do it” or "its an unskilled job,nowhere near as important as an electrictian or plumber". With people like that in the job,why would anyone offer decent wages?
And when you answer back that you need to spend £2.5K to get the license,you get hit with “anyone can get a license.its not hard” or their favourite go to quote “it hardly makes the job skilled,its not exactly a qualification”.
So with THAT attitude in the industry by its drivers,why does anything think we are worth more than minimum wage?
hmm lets compare… driving, anyone can get the licence/qualification in a week, 2 max if you’re doing class 1 and 2.
plumbers and electricians on the other hand go to college and work through apprenticeships for upto 5 years!
i think I know which one should be paid more…
Theory versus practical. Both are in roughly the same time scale to be comparatively competent
Sometimes what you get paid is not what you earn, if you claim benefits you could double NMW and companies know this. Why pay a high wage when you can let the government pay your staff there was something on tv a while back that one of the supermarkets staff got back in benefits 75% of the tax the supermarket paid. I would get nothing so have to work for a higher wage.
mac12:
Sometimes what you get paid is not what you earn, if you claim benefits you could double NMW and companies know this. Why pay a high wage when you can let the government pay your staff there was something on tv a while back that one of the supermarkets staff got back in benefits 75% of the tax the supermarket paid. I would get nothing so have to work for a higher wage.
This ■■■■■■ me off.
I don’t think these tax credits and child support ■■■■■ is fair.
Me n my misses have no kids and have worked for the past 10 years full time.
We haven’t had one penny of the government and paid God knows how much tax over the years.
I use to move around in the army.
When we first got a new post my misses didn’t have once for 6 weeks and we still weren’t entilited to one penny.
Yet people have kids through choice.
They never work and get everything paid for.
I just don’t see how it’s fair
been driving for over 25yrs job not got any better WTD came in what did drivers do NOTHING .CPC came in what did drivers do NOTHING .drivers will never stick together or stand up for them self .
crannman:
been driving for over 25yrs job not got any better WTD came in what did drivers do NOTHING .CPC came in what did drivers do NOTHING .drivers will never stick together or stand up for them self .
I completely agree. Drivers are paid poor hourly rates by operators to ensure they work 60 hour weeks to make a living wage. It’s draconian to expect people to work these hours. When the WTD came in I had high hopes that things would change but sadly nothing has changed and it never will.
Unfortunately there is a never ending supply of drivers from the UK and eastern Europe prepared to work these pathetic long unsociable hours.
mac12:
Sometimes what you get paid is not what you earn, if you claim benefits you could double NMW and companies know this. Why pay a high wage when you can let the government pay your staff there was something on tv a while back that one of the supermarkets staff got back in benefits 75% of the tax the supermarket paid. I would get nothing so have to work for a higher wage.
This ■■■■■■ me off.
I don’t think these tax credits and child support [zb] is fair.
Me n my misses have no kids and have worked for the past 10 years full time.
We haven’t had one penny of the government and paid God knows how much tax over the years.
I use to move around in the army.
When we first got a new post my misses didn’t have once for 6 weeks and we still weren’t entilited to one penny.
Yet people have kids through choice.
They never work and get everything paid for.
I just don’t see how it’s fair
Could not agree more. Its abused by people who choose to live off benefits and those who need a little help for a short time cant get anything, especially ex forces who will have problems in civvy street and should be top of the list for help. Once you are out they no longer want anything from you so they drop you and leave you to it
plumbers and electricians on the other hand go to college and work through apprenticeships for upto 5 years!
not sure that is the case anymore.
son in law left the army last year and is gas safe registered for central heating etc now
so I don’t think that the apprenticeship scheme seems to be needed now.
Just for your knowledge, to become a fully qualified plumber / heating engineer it is still a minimum 3 year apprenticeship, the gas safe course is not run by any government training body, and is not recognised until you have worked as a trainee and learnt the ropes.
Although this is a very emotive subject you have to look a bit more behind the scenes to get a real answer. I know a lot of drivers go on about taking action, not working for the low wages on offer ect ect . But the fact remains that wages are directly related to what the truck can earn against what it costs to run, and as we all know haulage rates are as bad as they were thirty years ago in relation to costs. And as some other people have already stated put up rates and then the consumer will have to pay more, and that includes yourself. As I have stated before I have worked on both sides of the fence and I know that the majority of companies would like to pay more, BUT transport costs against transport rates are very very lean giving a very low profit margin. And regardless of some of the comments blaming cheaper EU labour that has nothing to do with wage rates for uk drivers as you do not get a higher rate for having foreign drivers, and in most cases foreign drivers are on the same wage rates as UK drivers. The real problem is low rates and nothing else, and the fact that Drivers are classed as manual labour without the need for any higher education or life skills above a Tesco shelf stacker then that is the level of wages that will be on offer. Its not fair and really is unacceptable but that is life.
[/quote]
Just for your knowledge, to become a fully qualified plumber / heating engineer it is still a minimum 3 year apprenticeship, the gas safe course is not run by any government training body, and is not recognised until you have worked as a trainee and learnt the ropes.
[/quote]
no you dont. i did a 1 year nvq level 2 course followed by my ACS exams. once you pass the ACS exams all you have to do is registar with Gas Safe and you can go work self employed as a heating engineer.
In my view,there are a couple of pertinent points already mentioned.
Firstly,it is I think well established that Eastern Europeans will accept any wage offered(equal to or above NMW). In fairness,we don’t have any choice in who we are when we are born. The vast majority of us would jump at the chance to go and earn 4x what we would in our given country in order to look after our loved ones. Especially when its only a 2 or 3 hour flight away.
Obviously this has not helped us Brits as employers just want to make money ultimately, and if your workforce will work hard for little money then this has a positive affect on the bottom line. Its previous governments fault not the fault of immigrants.
Another issue is one with I have experienced recently. I passed my class 1 in Feb and immediately encountered the well documented issue of finding a job driving artics difficult with no experience.
I got lucky with a decent company locally who gave me a shot based on my experience on class 2 combined with a good attitude.
However I WOULD have taken ANY wage with ANY company offering me a class 1 drive. Although I understand that this is not ideal,and I further understand that this in itself undermines some drivers attempts at improving pay,what choice would I have?
I needed a break to get my artic driving career started and SOME employers are well aware of this catch 22 situation and exploit it.
Its not that I would not stick together with my fellow drivers,its more of a case of getting my career going in order to give my family a decent life. Beggars cant be choosers.
hedg70:
Why do you hang around this forum like a bad smell constantly criticising us drivers? surely you have something better to do than keep posting on here “I am a good driver, but I wont work anymore because all the drivers are now stupid and full of self importance”
You are annoyed about a person on the internet criticising drivers?
Although you think ALL drivers are stupid!
It was a quote - not a personal opinion. Are you still busy looking down on everybody from your lofty social pedestal btw?
We are probably worth a lot less. Look at the facts:
Government floods the UK with very cheap labour
Every time there is a cut in Staff by MOD they issue a HGV licence (cheap and easy “we have retrained you for civvy street”)
Fireman, Policeman, Ambulance drivers and toilet attendants do HGV to supplement their wages/pensions
Age lowered to 18
Females now having a go
Trucks much easier to drive; Automatic an far less complicated (no splitters or technical knowledge required)
No roping and sheeting in most cases
Sat navs eliminate need to know the road network
In essence a child could drive the trucks today and they probably would if the electric vehicles were not on the way. Soon the whole show will be fully automated and we can all move over to the “OLD TIME LORRIES, COMPANIES AND DRIVERS (INTERACTIVE)” thread.
Just for your knowledge, to become a fully qualified plumber / heating engineer it is still a minimum 3 year apprenticeship, the gas safe course is not run by any government training body, and is not recognised until you have worked as a trainee and learnt the ropes.
[/quote]
no you dont. i did a 1 year nvq level 2 course followed by my ACS exams. once you pass the ACS exams all you have to do is registar with Gas Safe and you can go work self employed as a heating engineer.
[/quote]
Not so you can only register with gas safe Once you have undertaken on the job work assessments and been passed as fit to work on gas appliances, this still means having to do on the job training plus you still do not get city and guilds certificates as you would having done a full apprenticeship.
eagerbeaver:
Firstly,it is I think well established that Eastern Europeans will accept any wage offered(equal to or above NMW).
However I WOULD have taken ANY wage with ANY company offering me a class 1 drive.
So from that score there is no difference.
Another issue is one with I have experienced recently. I passed my class 1 in Feb and immediately encountered the well documented issue of finding a job driving artics difficult with no experience.
I wonder how many firms taking on the EEs even bothered trying to check to see if the person applying for a job that they can’t communicate with has any actual experience rather than a nice CV that someone else wrote for them?
Just for your knowledge, to become a fully qualified plumber / heating engineer it is still a minimum 3 year apprenticeship, the gas safe course is not run by any government training body, and is not recognised until you have worked as a trainee and learnt the ropes.
no you dont. i did a 1 year nvq level 2 course followed by my ACS exams. once you pass the ACS exams all you have to do is registar with Gas Safe and you can go work self employed as a heating engineer.
[/quote]
Not so you can only register with gas safe Once you have undertaken on the job work assessments and been passed as fit to work on gas appliances, this still means having to do on the job training plus you still do not get city and guilds certificates as you would having done a full apprenticeship.
[/quote]
nope the only thing gas safe are interested in is the pass certificate from the ACS exams, dont forget gas safe has nothing to do with training its registration scheme! the colleges arent soft there are ways round the system the majority of the lads in my college went to a mates house and got pictures taken so it looked like they were working but really just posing for the camera. and you dont need a city and guilds certificate you get a nvq one instead which is just as good!
The issue with the “pay carp wages and claim tax credits” idea isn’t just for us childless folk but for everyone. All the tax credit money comes from tax therefore we’re all subsidising low payers whether a haulage company or a supermarket. Feel the pride next time you look at haulage boss Mr XYZs house as you helped pay for it!
