Anyone ever done any work for ND on the rockware contract, I hear it’s delivering beer bottles to Budweiser in London. Might be doin a bit for them soon and I was just wondering how easy the bottles are to transport. I hear they can be tricky and a few loads have been lost/smashed. Lookin for info on how the bottles are stacked and also what on??
Bottles are not bad depends how well they are shrink wrapped or stacked, they can be heavy depending on customer, trailers will be too high so it’s high stack & high risk for rollovers & bridge strikes. If you are going on driving assessment then can be funny about setting off too quick or braking. Money was good during salvesen days don’t know about now, don’t like French motors so I wouldn’t work for them if I had a choice…
Pimpdaddy:
Bottles are not bad depends how well they are shrink wrapped or stacked, they can be heavy depending on customer, trailers will be too high so it’s high stack & high risk for rollovers & bridge strikes. If you are going on driving assessment then can be funny about setting off too quick or braking. Money was good during salvesen days don’t know about now, don’t like French motors so I wouldn’t work for them if I had a choice…
I’m working (agency)on another ND contract at the mo and we been told we could be going to do some work for the rockware contract as and when required. Have noticed the rockware trailers are taller(15ft??), is it stacked from floor to roof?? As for customers, I understand it’s Budweiser and a jam maker as its also jam jars.
We are currently using merc actros so hopefully won’t have to use the premiums they use on that contract.
Thanks for your info
Salvesen days were good, they used FM Volvo, daf & rental tg-a all limited to 56 for runs down south overnight…
Dont know about carrying them in t/liners but used to load out of sheffield 2 high for marstons at burton under r/s used to love em square load,easy to sheet and rope never had one move,even brought them from lohre a maine [d]to burton in a tilt with the back 4 strapped,no probs.
regards dave.
Some time ago (during one of the new year slack periods) I did the induction at ND rockware Donaster, but eventually didnt get any shifts. Before that several tears ago I did similar work on agy for a subby (A+E) running loads out of the Rotherham, Barnsley & pontefract bottle factories. The doncaster site run truck to various Uk wide locations besides London, depending upon the product container. These could be beer or alcopops bottles to various breweries, pickle and pasta jars to places such as Hazelwood foods at Barlby (Selby). Pill & potion bottles to Manchester (T/park) and reckett Benckieser at Hull. most of the glassware loads can be classed into either bulkpacks that are shrinkwrapped (usually 52 pallets on the trailer), and compression packed, these are the type that have plastic dividers between each layer, and have strapping wrapped vertically to compress them and hold them in place. These do [u]NOT[/u] have shrinkwrap around them. The comp packs are tall equal to a double stacked bulk pack. Which ever type, strapping thru the block/pallet every row of pallets, or every 2 rows is essensial, as well as cross strapping the back pallets. Some advocate standing a couple of chep pallets up on their end at the back and putting a ratchet strap thru the middle and tightening it up to stop the pallets sliding back. This isnt something ND rockware advocate. but it is what we used to do pulling out of Barnsley, especially when we ran out of carlton or Tank row and we had to drive up the hill past the asda towards town.
With both types of load care must be taken not to bounce these around through potholes etc, and you have to drive like the proverbial nun. Because it won`t take much for the glass containers ar the bottom of the pallet to shatter under the weight and the whole pallet will be rejected, or worse still (especially with comp packs) the pallet may collapse or shift its weight causing the trailer to roll over. Something a mate of mine found out last summer when he rolled over on the bend near the stockyard blocking the road on a friday night.
Once you get used to how its done, its quiet a good job. But beware, ND make the safety nazis look like ■■■■■■■, and won`t think twice about banning you off site for breaking simple H&S rules
I used to pull out of Budweiser at Mortlake for Bibby at Bicester,Salvessen used to bring the bottles in then and they were just held together with bands and they must have been over 9ft tall 
Used to see the odd shot load but most were spot on,they used to have more trouble with them on the line when they cut the bands
washy jnr:
they were just held together with bands and they must have been over 9ft tall
Theyre the compression packs. Theyre forklifted straight off the trailer and onto the bottling production line, the plastic sheets between the layers allow the bottles to slide off
Did glass bottles and glass jars out of Quinn Glass for Irlams a few years back, they used to double stack them but every other pallet was strapped with final strapping across the back. In the beginning there was lots of damage and loads refused this seemed to reduce after they started putting big inflatable sacks in-between the last pallets and the back doors. Luckily I never had a load refused but it was due to driving so ruddy carefully, avoid sharp braking and harsh acceleration and take it easy round roundabouts / corners - good luck with it!!
Really helpful advice lads, thanks a lot.
Pierre, a lot of what you say is exactly how I had been given the gist of it earlier today. Got told to tip toe about and just take my time.
I know what you mean about the ND H&S madness, been working on one of their sites since jan 2011, some of it is comical.
washy jnr:
I used to pull out of Budweiser at Mortlake for Bibby at Bicester,Salvessen used to bring the bottles in then and they were just held together with bands and they must have been over 9ft tall
Mortlake is one of the places we been told we’ll be going, gonna try and stay off the glass contract though, sounds like aggro
If Norbert are using the same systems as Salvesen did in Ardagh, there is no problem, the packs are all shrinkwrapped tight, they are easily strapped and loaded well. We were doing 3 or 4 load per week to Nescafe in France. They were a cracking set of lads in Wheatley.
Malcolms were also in the place too
I used to pull loads out of Rockware in Doncaster when I worked for Swifts, when we were real lorry drivers, we had flatbeds with loads up to 15’6" high to rope and sheet, none of yer soft poofy tautliners I can tell you… Never lost even one bottle 
I have loaded out of Wheatley a few times, no problems I explained it was my first trip and they were very helpful. 52 pallets on a curtansider, around 26 tonnes, careful driving is essential because one cracked jar and it would probably start an avalanche.