Hi everyone, I’m a new poster and would appreciate some advice/feedback please.
After 25 years working in an industry unconnected with haulage I was recently made redundant.
Driving for a living is all I want to do now and I’ve obtained my class 2 and have banked a few DCPC hours.
Anyway, there’s a company fairly local who have advertised for work on tippers and are willing to take on newly qualified drivers.
I suspect it would it be a case of ‘in at the deep end’. If true how deep would it be?
Can anyone advise me on pros and cons please? What would I be letting myself in for as someone whose only experience is 20 hours in a rigid?
Thanks.
Thanks Rog, why does that thread remind me of an old black and white film starring Sid James and Sean Connery and has lots of speeded-up footage in it? A classic.
Given proper induction, it’s a good starting point. Like any driving, it has it’s hazards and pitfalls; you should be trained to avoid them or deal with them. One of my early jobs was driving tippers and my induction was all of 10 minutes! And I survived.
It’s normally relatively local which means probably no nights out. Great on one hand - but no night out money either.
Can be dirty. You can learn ways to keep yourself and your cab reasonably clean and dust-free.
Can be extremely dangerous. You must have the courage to refuse to tip if you deem it to be unsafe. (But in the early days it’d be a good plan to take advice from an experienced driver if possible). Before now, I’ve asked someone to tip in front of me so I can see how it’s done. Looses a few minutes - - but I’ve never had one over so it’s worth it.
Sounds like this employer is happy with new drivers so hopefully he has a good training plan in place.
All the best with it - if you go for it. Pete 
Go on YouTube and search for hell drivers. It’s a good idea of how it is. Watching it counts to your cpc.
If your on tar it’s ■■■■ easy.
You have two controls, the tipping body and the sheet.
Sheet covered when driving loaded or empty.
Just ask any questions as you go, most tar tippers run together.
Tippers are fairly simple.
Depending on what you’re doing obviously.
My advice.
Flick the sheet over!
Make sure the lorry as level as possible when you tip else while it’s going over.
Check overhead for stuff the body could hit, power lines etc.
Clean off the tailboard after you’ve tipped
Take it quietly in tips as it’s quicker, easier and cheaper than replacing a spring
Don’t forget the release agent if you’re on Tarmac
If you’re not going to clean it every week at least give the lights a wipe off.
Keep the windows shut off road as the dust gets everywhere.
Move forward 5-10 feet after you’ve tipped but n further and then put the body down otherwise you’ll knacker the rams.
Do your paperwork properly else you’d just as well not do it at all
Hold the steering wheel away from the spokes when you’re off road else you’ll end up with sore thumbs
Hope that helps
Cheers
BB
If you’re tipping waste/muck or whatever you call it at someone elses tip, make sure you fill the waste transfer note in correctly. Different materials are charged different rates per ton or load. For example, clean broken concrete is quite often tipped for free, mixed rubble like concrete/brick/tiles a few £ per ton and inert like clay/subsoil a bit more as it’s not normally recycled (although with inert waste wash plants being more common it’s usually just clay that is dumped). Don’t allow tree roots and general builders waste like plastic and wood to be mixed up with the muck- inert tips are normally not licensed to accept it and if they do will charge a fortune due to landfill tax regulations.
Be careful when carrying muck or rubble if your truck has an alloy aggregate body; These are easily damaged hence why firms like Earthline, McGraths etc use steel bodies.
Also alloy aggregate bodies tend to be deeper than muckshifting ones and as such are
easy to overload (the reason why muckshifting firms bodies are very shallow).
Lots of drivers cut their teeth on skips or tippers.If you could tell us more about the firm that you would be on with we could give tips and advice that are relevent for your type of work.
Thanks for the replies/advice, I wasn’t expecting any more after the link to a previous thread.
Sorry, I haven’t a clue what type of work they do, it’s hard to work out who it is from the ad 
As a matter of interest though what’s the deal with hiab courses?
I’ve seen different accreditations, hours of training and of course different prices.
What’s that all about because I’ve been told that some types may need to be steered clear of? I wasn’t advised which ones though - probably the ones my ‘advisor’ doesn’t offer??
If you are using your own money for a HI-AB course then find out for certain that its JAUPT approved then the training will count for your DCPC ,those courses are a bit more expensive but they kill two birds with one stone.
where is the tipper company taking on new drivers?
I did one day through an agency doing tipping and would like to do it full time. I have wrote to local companies but they said they are not recruiting 
chrisil:
where is the tipper company taking on new drivers?I did one day through an agency doing tipping and would like to do it full time. I have wrote to local companies but they said they are not recruiting
Where are based? Then we might be able to suggest some places.
I am based in chorley.
Tippers, hook loaders & tipper/grabs are booming in the Notts/Derbys area at the mo’.
I’ve had 3x phone calls from ex-employers & 2 facefook messages from old mates in the past few weeks asking me if I’m looking to go back.
The types that run this sort of Co’ are usually oldskool drivers themselves, they’ll never again place a vacancy with the Jobcentre & most don’t know what t’internet is, so don’t expect jobs to be magically appearing on Jobsite, Indeed, Totaljobs etc.
If you have the will to knock on doors & present yourself in person then this will go a long way towards getting you started.
I’ve NEVER known a respected muckshifting Co’ that will use agency drivers other than the ones that nobody wants to work for !
chrisil:
where is the tipper company taking on new drivers?I did one day through an agency doing tipping and would like to do it full time. I have wrote to local companies but they said they are not recruiting
It’s on the Notts/Derbyshire border