Does Toby not say they pay £69 plus n/o money. so surely before you put him and his family firm down shouldn’t you get all the facts so you know what your saying is fact. he may for example pay very god n/o money thus helping the driver paying huge tax on their wage, (wouldn’t all you doubters look silly then). Is it not what goes in the bank at the end of the week that’s important? they obviously are’nt that bad given the number of trucks and amount of years they have been running.
Well said Greg, at last someone with a bit of common sense commenting.
Would it also be plus o/t? Just wondered! If i was in the area and needed a job i’d jump at it i think…
Can only comment on what he put in print? 
LRM:
44 tonne, by editing my text you have summed up in one stupid ignorant self obbsessed premadonna action what is wrong with a certain element of drivers in this country, no wonder the good people of the eu are coming over here and lapping up whats left of this industry, may i personally thank you for single handedly showing where we are lacking, i could not of expressed it better myself, you Mr 44 tonne are exactly the kind of driver i am talking about, its just a shame there is more like you. once again thankyou for taking the time to confirm all my previous comments in one easy action, well done to you my friend and those like you… Without you all this would be a truly great proffession…No further qeustions or comments your honour for i feel my work here is complete…
Lrm
Oooh…get her!
Greg:
Does Toby not say they pay £69 plus n/o money. so surely before you put him and his family firm down shouldn’t you get all the facts so you know what your saying is fact. he may for example pay very god n/o money thus helping the driver paying huge tax on their wage, (wouldn’t all you doubters look silly then). Is it not what goes in the bank at the end of the week that’s important? they obviously are’nt that bad given the number of trucks and amount of years they have been running.
Good point Greg! Until you apply for a mortgage, the bloke who has just spent 2K to get his prized driving licence has now to convince Santander or the Bank of Mumbai that he can keep up the payments on his £150,000 luxury pad.
Mortgage lenders have in the past offered to lend a sum based on a multiple of your salary (before tax).
If you have other money coming in, such as bonuses, overtime or commission, lenders may take account of only half of this because it isn’t guaranteed income.
A sneering comment from a self important egotistical back slapping primadonna driver! £2070 per month less tax. Oh Please sir, please give me a job. Cap doff, doff, doff!
LRM:
“sounds like matthews is a great job”, yet another sneering comment, a job is a job, take it or leave it, its about personal choice, why oh why do self important egotistical back slapping premadonna drivers feel the need to run down a job because it doesnt suit them, how many times have we been in places where you hear drivers running down there colleauges, such as, “give it to him, he will do it”, “that bloody idiot running around carving the job up”, “look at that clown with the lights and curtains”, come on chaps, we have all heard it, it borders on bullying, just the same as running down a job with sneering comments and borderline tasteless comments… if these blokes were on the dole with six kids living of the state then perhaps such sneering would be justifiable but there not, they are doing it as they see fit and well done to mr eat more chips for stating his wage structure on here, im sure many men would jump at the chance of such an interesting and varied position…Regards
Lrm
OK…Put it to the vote…Who would drive all those hours in an artic for that money?
As a perfect gentleman i would never question what another driver earns or boast at bout my own earnings, however in MY opinion your comment was sneering, however if perhaps my judgement was incorrect then my may i sincerely apoligise.
With regards to credit applications i suspect a driver taking a job with a wage structure such as the one mentioned would have thought about this before commencing employment. A driver seeking a mortgage or access to other credit would surely look for gainfull employment elsewhere, for example a driver can earn as much as £2070 a month these days although i suspect these jobs are only available to the elite among us…
Kind Regards
Lrm
Just a couple of observations. I worked for a great company who packed up european work because they couldn’t get decent drivers for the money the job allowed them to pay. We were earning £70 a day in 1995. I would love to go back to european work, but not for that money. £69 a day is £4.60 an hour on a 15 hour day or £5.75 on a “normal” 12 hour day. No thanks. Also £2000 a month isn’t good money, doing agency work i work at several places where they are on salaries of 28 to 32,000 a year. A couple of places a good a good bit more than that as well. I was offered a full time job last week at £29k, £69 a day on five days a week comes to £17,940. I don’t think so.
Office of National Statistics November 2009
Tables of salaries for UK jobs
Heavy goods vehicle drivers £24,851
If you work 360 days at £69 you will just about reach the average above
The occupation which saw the biggest rise in pay, according to the ONS ranking, was roundsmen/van salespersons (those selling from vans), with a 32% rise to £22,671 per year.
Eat Less Chips
But why, just because a job doesnt suit you, would you want to knock it, surely “live and let live” is the best way forward.
If you dont like chips dont eat them.
LRM:
But why, just because a job doesnt suit you, would you want to knock it, surely “live and let live” is the best way forward.If you dont like chips dont eat them.
But this is a forum, a place for open discussion and the exchange of opinions. I think anybody is entitled to the opinion that £69 is on the low side for a day rate.
If I was running my own company I would be embarrassed to offer a rate like that.
44 Tonne Ton:
If I was running my own company I would be embarrassed to offer a rate like that.
Most people I know who have run their own International transport companies have jacked in by now due to former commie block hauliers cutting rates. I packed in euro work some time before packing in haulage all together due totally to the ‘quaint old fashioned notion’ that I run my business to make money but the way rates were going (DOWN) I said enough was enough, and left it to the rate cutters and those who could make money on lower rates.
My point is, IF!!! Mortimers are to survive in this business they must compete for work against foreign hauliers with lower overheads and I’d bet god money they’re paying more than many (if not all?) eastern european operators.
I’d also like to say that if I was in my late twenties, single & looking for my first taste of Europe I’d have a go, in fact, if your desperate for the international experience had better get a go soon as the way the job is going there wont be any British international hauliers soon.
Ross.
bigr250:
44 Tonne Ton:
If I was running my own company I would be embarrassed to offer a rate like that.Most people I know who have run their own International transport companies have jacked in by now due to former commie block hauliers cutting rates. I packed in euro work some time before packing in haulage all together due totally to the ‘quaint old fashioned notion’ that I run my business to make money but the way rates were going (DOWN) I said enough was enough, and left it to the rate cutters and those who could make money on lower rates.
My point is, IF!!! Mortimers are to survive in this business they must compete for work against foreign hauliers with lower overheads and I’d bet god money they’re paying more than many (if not all?) eastern european operators.
I’d also like to say that if I was in my late twenties, single & looking for my first taste of Europe I’d have a go, in fact, if your desperate for the international experience had better get a go soon as the way the job is going there wont be any British international hauliers soon.
Ross.
My experience entirely, I clung on to continental work almost until the end and accepted for many years that it was better to do a job I loved for less money.
However, I finally gave it up and went onto Benefits when the rate fell below £90 a day, which was less than I was earning in 1994.
Good luck to anyone who wants this job and is prepared to work 15 hours for £69 a day, personally I don’t love truck driving enough to do a day’s work for less than I could earn stacking shelves in Lidl and doing half as many hours.
I don’t think it’s a very robust business that is dependent on finding enough people to drive your trucks who are stupid enough to work for less than the legal minimum wage. It’s meant to be a business for the company and a job for the driver, if you want a hobby take up stamp collecting.
I think the one thing this thread has done for LRM, Tobys Chips and Matthews International is given them a list of new drivers who will spend weeks away from home, not care about a big wage because they wont be home to spend it anyway.
£69 per day equates to £8.62 per hour. My mate said he would jump at it because he only earns £60 “for 8 hours work”
Ex Haulier:
I don’t think it’s a very robust business that is dependent on finding enough people to drive your trucks who are stupid enough to work for less than the legal minimum wage. It’s meant to be a business for the company and a job for the driver, if you want a hobby take up stamp collecting.
There are a few companies, who have been doing International work for a very long time and want to stay in it. They are trying to hang on against the Eastern European competition, hoping rates will level out across Europe and so pick back up on this side of Europe too. Hoping that they can hang on long enough for that to happen before they’re forced to give it up.
If they fail to keep a presence in the European market, even when/if the rates do improve they’d then struggle to get the European work back again.
They have to charge competitive rates in comparison to the competition they have, which is Eastern European companies.
£69 a day, less taxes etc isn’t very good, but o/n money might make it more reasonable. They may have a bonus scheme as well, for eg. keeping your truck clean or clean tacho’s for a week or fuel milage at a certain level ? I don’t know because Toby didn’t say, neither do you or anyone else, other than Mortimers and their employees. How they do their wage structure is their business.
All Toby mentioned was their basic daily rate and that o/n money was over and above that.
I see Mortimers drivers now and then, my company is in a different sector so I wouldn’t see them frequently. Any I’ve spoken to seem happy enough with their job, they didn’t seem soft in the head or anything else they’ve had levelled at them. Just another truck driver, happy enough with the job.
Quite possibly happy enough to have A job which covers the bills and which they like doing. There appears to be plenty of others, who may or may not be paid more, who hate their job and are miserable as sin as a result. I know which I’d prefer of those two options.
Wheel Nut:
Office of National Statistics November 2009
Tables of salaries for UK jobs
Heavy goods vehicle drivers £24,851If you work 360 days at £69 you will just about reach the average above
The occupation which saw the biggest rise in pay, according to the ONS ranking, was roundsmen/van salespersons (those selling from vans), with a 32% rise to £22,671 per year.
Eat Less Chips
So despite a quite substantial increase roundsmen/van salespersons still earn less than Mortimers drivers?
The year before they must have almost been paying to do the job 
Simon:
Ex Haulier:
I don’t think it’s a very robust business that is dependent on finding enough people to drive your trucks who are stupid enough to work for less than the legal minimum wage. It’s meant to be a business for the company and a job for the driver, if you want a hobby take up stamp collecting.There are a few companies, who have been doing International work for a very long time and want to stay in it. They are trying to hang on against the Eastern European competition, hoping rates will level out across Europe and so pick back up on this side of Europe too. Hoping that they can hang on long enough for that to happen before they’re forced to give it up.
If they fail to keep a presence in the European market, even when/if the rates do improve they’d then struggle to get the European work back again.
They have to charge competitive rates in comparison to the competition they have, which is Eastern European companies.
£69 a day, less taxes etc isn’t very good, but o/n money might make it more reasonable. They may have a bonus scheme as well, for eg. keeping your truck clean or clean tacho’s for a week or fuel milage at a certain level ? I don’t know because Toby didn’t say, neither do you or anyone else, other than Mortimers and their employees. How they do their wage structure is their business.All Toby mentioned was their basic daily rate and that o/n money was over and above that.
I see Mortimers drivers now and then, my company is in a different sector so I wouldn’t see them frequently. Any I’ve spoken to seem happy enough with their job, they didn’t seem soft in the head or anything else they’ve had levelled at them. Just another truck driver, happy enough with the job.
Quite possibly happy enough to have A job which covers the bills and which they like doing. There appears to be plenty of others, who may or may not be paid more, who hate their job and are miserable as sin as a result. I know which I’d prefer of those two options.
Is it not also the business of those who MIGHT be interested in the job? People such as the members of this board? I don’t know about you but the first things I want to know about a job are the money and the hours!