If it were not for differing levels of driver satisfaction with whatever their local job happens to be - there would not be differing wages even in the same neighbourhood.
I know that around Ayelsford where I work for example, the low payers like PolyPipe are WAY below at £8ph what you can get just across the road on the same estate…
It’s no accident that the lower-paying firms tend to congregate at, let’s say, the agencies of lesser repute that find “that’s the only work they can get” because of (in Aylesford at least) a pretty saturated jobs market and too many agencies supplying it.
I’d not recommend anyone even LOOKING at an agency that isn’t “driver specialist” in nature.
Even my old Agency bosses laugh at the mere mention of names like “Berry Recruitment” for example.
One could just as validly say “Earl Street area in general” if I were to be a wee bit less biased against this firm Berry that I never did a single shift for…
Bearing in mind that your average immigrant requires Tax Credits to top up their wages to “get by” levels like anyone else - not much has been said about the reluctance or non-bothering of local talent to take the crappy paid job, and get that tax credit claim form in… If we all threw our hands up and said “f— that!” every time we saw yet another subsistence-waged job - then it’s hardly any surprise that ALL such jobs end up going to those who end up being the ONLY ones turning up to take them…
At the employer end, some pressure should be brought to bear upon those skinflints who argue that to pay a penny more than minimum wage is “to go bust and lay off everyone else” - “so don’t ask for a rise, as you’ll be sacking my entire workforce if you do!” kind of argument…
Your post reminded me of a article I read yesterday. I don’t understand people like this, had the money and the time for HGV for example, young and fit 29 years old with family he have to provide. Still he is slacking and doing nothing, waiting on mom and on benefits.
How was the saying: you reap what you saw.
Was speaking to a young lady with child about benifits etc worked out she gets nearly 1200 a month for doing exactly naff all you tell me who the mugs here .
I have nothing against EE said when joined was worst mistake from day one .
Just think… The main reason so many resent those claiming every benefit they can get - is they KNOW that they are doing it…
Wouldn’t it make more sense for those living it large on benefits - to keep their heads down, and stay out of sight?
There are whole families around here, no one working - and yet they’ve always had a big CHristmas, and always seem to have at least one group foreign holiday every year.
I have not been on a plane since 9/11 FFS. Can’t afford the air fares that failed to drop significantly in price in the aftermath!
I refuse to pay full asking prices for all the bull one has to go through at airports these days…
Dolph:
(…)Wages are low because British employers are greedy and don’t care about their employees.(…)
Hi Dolph,and All
first of all, I am not British, and I can’t agree with you. Wages are low becouse there is too many people and there is no scarcity of HGV PSV etc… drivers at the moment. Very likely becouse the lot of EE driver came over(like you and me). If the UK quit the EU this would very likely fix the problem, stop the flow. People from outside the EU not have an EU compatible driving license,and they won’t bother to go for it.Cos it’s not worth it to pay 3000-4000 quid for a C+E. EE drivers got their license in the military for FREE, and this is why so many of us have a license. Most of them never driven in their native country, cos over there not worth it to spend 4-5 weeks away from home, and make a cr@p every morning under the trailer(cos no WC in lay-bys). I never driven any kind of HGV outside the UK. Got the license in the military, and drove half a day on a field .
So back to your post:“Wages are low because British employers are greedy and don’t care about their employees”
Around the world companies are never care about their employees,this not an ‘only’ British behaviour.They are profit oriented organizations. If they would care, they would be named as ‘charities’ There are no charities at the moment in the UK transport sector. Companies are doing this, to allow more money to be siphoned out of it by the owner as profit.
If they can not find enough workers they will raise the wages, otherwise they will have no workers, and out of business.
In the future, I would say within 25 years, there will be no HGV or PSV drivers.All of us will be laid off cos self driving vehicles will transcend human drivers. Companies won’t need us, cos there will be a cheaper, more realible way of drive their trucks. Same happend with the ‘Elevator man’ ‘Lamplighter’ ‘Switchboard Operator’ etc… our job will be listed in a ‘Jobs That No Longer Exist’ article.
Notimetoulouse:
Trouble is everytime the minimum wage / living wage goes up it devalues our hard earned skills and experience also the fact that most drivers were self motivated enough to go out and get their H.G.V. /L.G.V. licence in the first place is another kick in the ribs in essance why bother being on the road with all the long hours the stress and having to take responceabillity for a 40 ton vehicle etc etc when you can get more or less the same hourly rate stacking shelves in tesco.
I think the minimum/living wage is getting too high to be quite honest.
£9ph is a £18,720 salary for a 40 hour week. No way should cleaners & other non skilled/menial jobs be attracting that money. It’ll all just spiral out of control, businesses will put the costs of their products up to pay for it, then in a few years time the govt will want the living wage up to £10ph… Where does it end?
Notimetoulouse:
Trouble is everytime the minimum wage / living wage goes up it devalues our hard earned skills and experience also the fact that most drivers were self motivated enough to go out and get their H.G.V. /L.G.V. licence in the first place is another kick in the ribs in essance why bother being on the road with all the long hours the stress and having to take responceabillity for a 40 ton vehicle etc etc when you can get more or less the same hourly rate stacking shelves in tesco.
I think the minimum/living wage is getting too high to be quite honest.
£9ph is a £18,720 salary for a 40 hour week. No way should cleaners & other non skilled/menial jobs be attracting that money. It’ll all just spiral out of control, businesses will put the costs of their products up to pay for it, then in a few years time the govt will want the living wage up to £10ph… Where does it end?
But this is the problem.
10p/b for 40h week is £400 wk = £1700 a month give or take. Roughly £1300 month after tax.
Rent £800 council tax £130 car and fuel £150 gas £60 elec £50 food £400 phone net tv £50 water £30. Total £1570
If got couple kids and your wife works part time due to kids ect it ain’t easy living on £10 p/h.
But when you got 300000 EE young workers immigrants coming in. six immigrants in a two or three bed flat then it’s reasonable pay.
Brings tears to you eyes Moocher when you list your monthly outgoings. And that’s without extra’s such as buying people birthday presents, having your hair cut (women’s is bloody extortionate), replacing clothing, etc etc…
eagerbeaver:
Brings tears to you eyes Moocher when you list your monthly outgoings. And that’s without extra’s such as buying people birthday presents, having your hair cut (women’s is bloody extortionate), replacing clothing, etc etc…
I don’t buy any Xmas or birthday presents at all. You can save a lot on that. Bought a hair clipper around 6 years ago for 30 quid and I paid once in my life for hair cut in the UK.Absolutely no ‘going outs’ spending noting over the weekend.Going to work instead.
Going to work on my pushbike, cos I bought my house just 1 km within my workplace.
Having a 13 yrs old car, insurance 220 quid/year 130 tax/year, 1 tank of fuel lasts 3 months, cost me 60 quid/fuel up. I am not traveling on every weekend from the Midlands to Cornwall during school brake, towing a caravan down and up for 2 days .
Food delivered to my door via ASDA home delivery. Mortgage repaid.Car bought for cash.
I’m not travelling to Thailand, or Australia(or abroad at all-except funerals) twice a year, instead of stay at home,and having a 52 km ride on my bicycle if it’s dry. Spending no money on 11 speed new stylish bikes, instead of having an old 8 speed ‘banger’.Just keep replace the chain,casette, etc for reasonable money.
It’s being made to sound as if “Thrift” itself is punished by the low pay - acceptable to someone thrifty, but rejected by someone better off working longer shifts over less days per week.
Such people (that include myself in that way of thinking) are NOT scroungers if we choose to work 2-4 shifts of 10-15 hours in length rather than walk across the road to our workplace for a 5-6-5-6.
Of course, a tramper would not gain from living across the road from the yard - if you think about it.
I applied for a job once at Staplehurst Transits doing Tramping… 25 miles away from where I live, but with only one round trip to do per week - I could wear.
Darn sarth here, all the work is in surrounding towns like Maidstone, Dartford, SIttingbourne… There’s very little in Medway apart from council workers, benefit claimants, and clothing shops for those groups of people to spend their wages. SIttingbourne had a lot of money spent on it during the Labour years, and Maidstone has always considered itself a cut above the rest…
Thing is, house prices in those areas are the big high ones that the rest of the country thinks we ALL have down south.
Not true. I looked at the possibility of moving north to the Golden Triangle area - only to find that a 3 bedroomed semi up there is dearer than what I can sell my same for down in Chatham!
If I lived in MAIDSTONE and could get double for the same sized house - then maybe I could move on… But instead, I try and save money by commuting to less, but longer shifts to cut my number of actual journeys down. Even now, I’m doing a round trip of around 25 miles a day to work - but at least I get Fridays and Saturdays off on a regular basis now, sometimes Tuesdays and Wednesdays as well, when I’m withdrawn to be put on holiday cover. It suits me for the situation I find myself in - which, at the end of the day - is what we all have to do to make ends meet surely?
eagerbeaver:
Brings tears to you eyes Moocher when you list your monthly outgoings. And that’s without extra’s such as buying people birthday presents, having your hair cut (women’s is bloody extortionate), replacing clothing, etc etc…
That’s not my situation by the way I’m just giving an example of young family on 10p/h as lads are moaning saying its to much. At the minute I think it’s £6.50 I believe is minimum wage. How can a young family survive on that. It’s a joke.
Then they wonder why everyone in this situation is on the social.
It’s impossible to live off unless your one of EE sharing a flat with no other out goings.
It’s getting that bad they have built POD type army accommodation down the Dockyard to house 100s of immigrants workers in the yard. All these jobs were well paid jobs in 90s and 00s. The Same as being a Hgv driver was a well paid job in the past.
The country is ruined.
eagerbeaver:
Dolph. Could you please provide me with a link to any supermarket shelf stacking jobs in the North West area, that are paying £9 per hour.
We are talking about 2020, when minimum wage will be raised to 9p/h, then might be pointless to drive truck for 9-10p/h when you can make the same money by stacking shelves(figuratively speaking).
eagerbeaver:
Brings tears to you eyes Moocher when you list your monthly outgoings. And that’s without extra’s such as buying people birthday presents, having your hair cut (women’s is bloody extortionate), replacing clothing, etc etc…
That’s not my situation by the way I’m just giving an example of young family on 10p/h as lads are moaning saying its to much. At the minute I think it’s £6.50 I believe is minimum wage. How can a young family survive on that. It’s a joke.
Then they wonder why everyone in this situation is on the social.
It’s impossible to live off unless your one of EE sharing a flat with no other out goings.
It’s getting that bad they have built POD type army accommodation down the Dockyard to house 100s of immigrants workers in the yard. All these jobs were well paid jobs in 90s and 00s. The Same as being a Hgv driver was a well paid job in the past. The country is ruined.
You are nowhere near ruined.
Well the West and NATO destroyed Warsaw pact, now you get all the EE immigrants, again your fault
just kidding.
Dolph:
(…)Wages are low because British employers are greedy and don’t care about their employees.(…)
Hi Dolph,and All
first of all, I am not British, and I can’t agree with you. Wages are low becouse there is too many people and there is no scarcity of HGV PSV etc… drivers at the moment. Very likely becouse the lot of EE driver came over(like you and me). If the UK quit the EU this would very likely fix the problem, stop the flow. People from outside the EU not have an EU compatible driving license,and they won’t bother to go for it.Cos it’s not worth it to pay 3000-4000 quid for a C+E. EE drivers got their license in the military for FREE, and this is why so many of us have a license. Most of them never driven in their native country, cos over there not worth it to spend 4-5 weeks away from home, and make a cr@p every morning under the trailer(cos no WC in lay-bys). I never driven any kind of HGV outside the UK. Got the license in the military, and drove half a day on a field .
So back to your post:“Wages are low because British employers are greedy and don’t care about their employees”
Around the world companies are never care about their employees,this not an ‘only’ British behaviour.They are profit oriented organizations. If they would care, they would be named as ‘charities’ There are no charities at the moment in the UK transport sector. Companies are doing this, to allow more money to be siphoned out of it by the owner as profit.
If they can not find enough workers they will raise the wages, otherwise they will have no workers, and out of business.
In the future, I would say within 25 years, there will be no HGV or PSV drivers.All of us will be laid off cos self driving vehicles will transcend human drivers. Companies won’t need us, cos there will be a cheaper, more realible way of drive their trucks. Same happend with the ‘Elevator man’ ‘Lamplighter’ ‘Switchboard Operator’ etc… our job will be listed in a ‘Jobs That No Longer Exist’ article.
Hi N0rbert, we are all entitled to opinion
If there is so many EE drivers in UK, why there is constant need of more, 50 000+. What we see is shortage of drivers and in the same time low wages, as many pointed out. Something is wrong here!
May be some people forget that transportation add big coast to the price of goods, lowering the profit. The British pound is strong does making export a bit low and making it more expensive to move things. I don’t know, but its ridiculous to blame EE drivers for all the problems in UK trucking industry.
Speaking about employers, do you remember 2-3 months ago the sandwich plant where illegals were arrested, are we going to blame only them, or the employer that knowingly hire them and is paying minimum wage. If they can do it and get away with it, they will do it with EE as they have done it before. We have seen employees being abused by Sport Depot -Polish workers, Romanians abused by FW Mansfiled&Son etc.
And don’t tell me if EE are all gone, we are not gonna be replaces by immigrants from other countries to do this job for less, we will. I don’t believe that this companies will hire British.
Regarding C and C+E licences it depends, some people get them at 18 on a small truck and then never drive. Others make it a profession and drive all their life. Many Bulgarians prefer to drive for Italian or Spanish companies, make 2-3 000 euros and be home 10 days a month, instead of moving to UK. Many good EE drivers are driving all over Europe, Russia, Middle East etc.
Im following a youtube channel of Bulgarian, who is driving all over Europe and mostly Scandinavia(Norway). He explain in the videos, that he drives for EU company across Europe for 3-4 weeks, then leave the truck at the yard(Norway,Holland) gets on the plane and is in Sofia after 2hrs for a week or 10 days off. Believe me, he drives good.
People must not judge all EE drivers by some EE schmucks who never sat behind the wheel of 18-wheeler/lorry. The same way I can’t and won’t judge all Brits, by their alcoholic youth at Bulgaria Black sea resorts.
eagerbeaver:
Bloody hell NOrbert, you sound like a barrel of laughs.
It’s fine for me, I’m happy with it. I work very little, and have time for other things,cos if you keep working too much, by the age of 55-65 the risk to get cancer is getting higher and higher.
I do just 2x7 hrs/week: Sat,Sun(8hrs minimum guaranteed), and that’s it.I can cover all of my expenses.I live in my own propery. Monday to Friday is the weekend for me. I can do 2 hrs ride on 5+ days a week.Sleeping till 10-11am every day.
So I have time to do DIY: I’ve replaced the engine water cooling radiator myself,and I’m not a car mechanic. Manual found it on the internet.Never repaired anything on a car before.Got the new radiator from Ebay for 45 quid.
Not watching TV since 2001,don’t have a TV, so no TV license to pay. I keep my desktop PCs, laptops,netbooks maintained,and using free Linux distributions(don’t get viruses) .
Reparing my bicycles myself too.
On my house the central heating diverter valve failed. Looked on the internet, and asked others. Ordered new diverted valve on Ebay, got it for 12 quid. Replaced myself.
If you add all of this multipled by years, you can save a lot money, and the time, to not going to work to earn money.
Dolph:
(…)If there is so many EE drivers in UK, why there is constant need of more, 50 000+. What we see is shortage of drivers and in the same time low wages, as many pointed out. Something is wrong here!(…)
This magical “50 000 driver” statement keeps returning, as an urban legend. Some news outlet picked up from some not accurate report which was based on a wrong estimate.
As others already said here:there is demand-and-supply. If the wages are low, the obvious thing that comes from is: there is NO driver shortage.
Few weeks before this Xmas Class1 drivers at the Midlands got 3 days no work over one week. Others got 6-7 hrs shifts mid December. Others got no overtime in this December.
This short shifts confirms the fact that there is NO driver shortage.
A new Class2 driver can not find job cos he are sent away from every comapany with no experience.(see Truckmag)
In 2013 a friend of mine got an offer from an agency about 3 x150 quid extra on the top of the normal rate for Dec 22-23-24.He coudn’t accept it cos he was working for a comapany as an employee. Next year, I told the same agency that, I willing to work on Boxing day for 175 quid extra on the top of the normal rate. Got back the answer: “That is a bit too steep” it was like LOL, and he didn’t even try to offer less for that day.
This year was even worst,and it’s getting worst and worst.
Drivers should same money, but their own place, get the mortgage paid off, then stop working for ‘peanuts’.Like I did.
I work with loads of EE drivsrs, great bunch of lads although a bit ignorant in groups as they converse in their own language till enough english folk arrive and tell em to do one.
One on one though I have all the time in the world for em, they aint on less money as they have come round to our way of thinking albeit not quite as good at tossing it off as us english just yet.
@Norbert. I havent read all your posts as I was reaching for the arsenic one paragraph in but the power to make your life better is in your hands, the world doesnt owe you or anyone a living.
Stop blaming your life on others and take ownership for it.
eagerbeaver:
Brings tears to you eyes Moocher when you list your monthly outgoings. And that’s without extra’s such as buying people birthday presents, having your hair cut (women’s is bloody extortionate), replacing clothing, etc etc…
That’s not my situation by the way I’m just giving an example of young family on 10p/h as lads are moaning saying its to much. At the minute I think it’s £6.50 I believe is minimum wage. How can a young family survive on that. It’s a joke.
No, it isn’t a “joke” at all. It’s a perfectly reasonable comfort blanket for those people that can’t be arsed to better their lot. It’s not designed to support people who go out making babies and then wonder they haven’t got two halfpennies to rub together. If you want to go starting families then you make sure you have the financial security and safeguards in place BEFORE you start getting jiggy. Basic common sense. Although unfortunately common sense isn’t common anymore.
It suits me for the situation I find myself in - which, at the end of the day - is what we all have to do to make ends meet surely?
