FH Hammy:
So you’ll be lucky to find a decent company in Ireland to work for.
Sorry but thats rubbish! There are loads, Dixon, Maguire, Caffery, Tierney, Virginia etc etc. If anything its easier to find a decent job with a decent company where you are treated like a human and not a number than it is in the UK imo. Do you yourself have experience of working for Irish companies or are you just taking the usual Trucknet view?
Oh & no, O’Leary hasn’t changed much. Give a wide berth unless needing experience
I’m going off seeing the amount of Irish registered lorries with funny nameplates in the windscreen and conversations with Irish drivers saying that their firm is hiring more Taliban and cutting the rest of their wages. I’m not disagreeing with you about finding firms in the UK to work for, probably is easier to work for an Irish or Scottish firm than a British one, especially with all these large firms monopolising the Industry.
A company isn’t crap just because it employs foreigners. Dont forget Brits are foreigners too
FH Hammy:
So you’ll be lucky to find a decent company in Ireland to work for.
Sorry but thats rubbish! There are loads, Dixon, Maguire, Caffery, Tierney, Virginia etc etc. If anything its easier to find a decent job with a decent company where you are treated like a human and not a number than it is in the UK imo. Do you yourself have experience of working for Irish companies or are you just taking the usual Trucknet view?
Oh & no, O’Leary hasn’t changed much. Give a wide berth unless needing experience
I’m going off seeing the amount of Irish registered lorries with funny nameplates in the windscreen and conversations with Irish drivers saying that their firm is hiring more Taliban and cutting the rest of their wages. I’m not disagreeing with you about finding firms in the UK to work for, probably is easier to work for an Irish or Scottish firm than a British one, especially with all these large firms monopolising the Industry.
A company isn’t crap just because it employs foreigners. Dont forget Brits are foreigners too
Well said Luke, bloody foreign Brits stealing all our bloody jobs lol
If the Eastern Europeans are Taliban, a term which I hate by the way as I’ve worked with some very decent, hard working polish drivers, what are all the other drivers called?
As the above is JUST A JOKE,
Some very decent irish firms still doing Europe. It’s still possible to be a person rather than a numbe over here. Lots of hauliers in the 5 to 20 trucks category where you can do well. O neills in kilkenny is one I’ve heard good reports from. Lea trans are a pretty big outfit running lhd dafs, some on Dutch plates I think. Protrans, mcguires, carna, Virginia, Sean Delaney, john tierney, cafferys, Bradley, McClernon, there are literally loads of them.
Some have good reps, others not so much but if you’re an experienced driver, you’ll know that most driver talk I ■■■■■■■■ and you’d do better to give it a go yourself and see how you personally get on there.
Also don expect it all to be blinged up toplines. That day is gone in lots of firms and more importance placed on fuel economy, dealer back up and a tool to do the job. Best of luck with it
Yes that’s a good tip. Ignore what drivers say. My whole career I’ve had people telling me not to take jobs at this that and the other place. Had loads of my fellow drivers telling me not to touch Virginia with a bargepole! 7 years later and it turned into my dream job. Also while the bling is gone at a lot of companies over here many still spec them better. They’ll often have fitted fridges and air con pods etc. And the other bonus is most Irish cos go on merit, not length of service. So if you’re good, get your head down, do your job and just generally get on with things you’ll be getting one of the better trucks before you know it.
there is one company i see all the time doing changeovers in castets, o’learyinternational based about 2 miles from nolans from memory.
they do a lot for primark into spain but you need to speak fluent flipflop and socks if you want to work for them, nearly all the drivers i’ve met for them have that distinct accent and dyslexic number plate in the window
welshboyinspain:
there is one company i see all the time doing changeovers in castets, o’learyinternational based about 2 miles from nolans from memory.
they do a lot for primark into spain but you need to speak fluent flipflop and socks if you want to work for them, nearly all the drivers i’ve met for them have that distinct accent and dyslexic number plate in the window
What people don’t relies is that in Ireland you would be lucky to one driver to do the Europe.Look at the situation he is in 70 trucks and on the same road as Nolan,Breen,NVD,Billy Dillon well over 600 trucks in a small village in Wexford.Word around the camp fire is that he would gladly take Uk drivers if you can put up with 3 weeks on 1 week off
i posted that i knew from memory he was close to nolan because i used to work for them however i was replaced by a double man team who were willing to work for less money between them than i was on so its hardly surprising that certain firms find it hard to find drivers
I was talking to one of Willy Olearys drivers on the Santander boat last weekend and he was telling me that most of the drivers are looking for new jobs - largely due to not being paid when waiting for loads and the wages have been cut again. He told me that the most he can expect for six cards is about 350 euros per week.
when i was on for nolan back in 2002 we were paid £100 per day after tax into uk bank account for every day we were in truck, even waiting for work or weekended.
then he realised he could save a fortune by employing the flipflop and sock brigade and they were paid 70euros a day but only if they were driving so we were on on £700 a week in the bank they were on a max of 350 euros a week which if you remember the good old days of 1.5 euro to the pound was awful pay, not sure if they get any better now though?
Form what I was told they tend to work in 3 truck double manned teams, away for 6-8 weeks then a couple of weeks off with basic pay. Apparently OLearys arent too bothered about driver creature comforts such as night heaters and fridges not working - if it breaks down then tough.