Palmer and Harvey (Haydock)

NEW AND WANNABE DRIVERS (INTERACTIVE)
1

Alright, so my girlfriends brother decided to go for his HGV class 2 last month, thinking he would jump straight into a well paid job like me (I only got that chance because my dad worked for a company willing to pay my ADR) and all he has had up to now is 7.5 tonne work.

Anyway, I sent him in the direction of an agency I had seen advertising for class 2 drivers at Palmer and Harvey and they have got back to him, so this will be his first class 2 job since passing his test. I keep trying to get him on here to check reviews and opinions, but he’s a bit of a technophobe, and he refuses to do his own research, so I said I would put the feelers out there for him and let him know what kind of responses I get.

I’ve already told him, from what I have gathered, that P&H seems to involve a lot of lugging stuff around, which he seems quite content about. I’ve only ever driven 1 class 2 vehicle outside of my rigid training, so I don’t have any grounds for comparison.

So, now we’ve established the job involves alot of horse work, what are the pro’s and con’s? Are there any pro’s? Lol. Is the job straight forward? Is the paperwork excessive (he’s not dyslexic, but he’s not far off) is there any training? Is the work double manned all the time or just when you first start out? How many hours per week are you usually expected to do, etc etc.

Sorry for the multiple questions guys, but I’m just trying to get as much of a heads up for him as possible. My first (and only) class 2 job shattered the image I had in my head of what truck driving entailed. It was a miserable experience, that made me determined to get my class 1 licence done as soon as humanly possible and I don’t want him to go into a job with high expectations when the reality is it’s probably going to DRIVE him (see what I did there) to the brink of insanity!

2

A mate of mine worked there last year,his first Class 2 job and he lasted 3 months then went for his Class 1.

Lots of loading/unloading by the driver,tight places to get in & out of,but he got 3 months good experience under his belt.

And getting that experience is the main thing !

Tell your girls brother to get his ar$e into gear & give it a go,what’s he got to lose ? :wink:

3

Well, I’ve told him he’s gonna be working for his money, from what I’ve heard.

It’s his first class 2 job though, so he’s just made up about that, he’s been itching to get his hands on something bigger than a 7.5!

4

sod the agency send him to palmer and harvey direct they have a sign outside looking for drivers. and he will probably get trained properly if hes one of there own!

5

What’s the training like Deltawing? Is there actually a training program there for new drivers or do they just throw you out with somebody else and have you pick it up from watching the other guy?

He said he starts on Friday (bit of an off day to start somebody I thought) and he reckons the agency was a bit sketchy on how he is trained. Surely they offer some kind of training?

6

The training involves having the ability to catch the keys of a stinking,filthy wrecked DAF LF or a slightly less stinking,filthy Axor.

If you are really lucky,you might get a Merc Antos which sometimes loses its head when you pull off from roundabouts and strands you.

7

eagerbeaver:
The training involves having the ability to catch the keys of a stinking,filthy wrecked DAF LF or a slightly less stinking,filthy Axor.

If you are really lucky,you might get a Merc Antos which sometimes loses its head when you pull off from roundabouts and strands you.

Was you based out of haydock, beaver? I don’t think he’s arsed what kind of truck he gets as long as it’s bigger than a 7.5 and he can take a picture of it and shiw everybody on facebook what he’s driving (he’s sad like that)

I once took him for a ride in my big new Renault (empty run) and he was dead set on getting his hands on something bigger. I can see where he’s coming from. I never felt like a “proper” trucker when I was trundling around in a class 2 (training) so he must feel the same when he’s in his 7.5!

8

Yeah-did 12 months out of there mate.

Im still taking medication.

9

eagerbeaver:
Yeah-did 12 months out of there mate.

Im still taking medication.

Lol, that bad? I’ll tell him to get his DR on speed dial.

10

You start off with a drivers mate. Usually another agency lad, although there are 2 permanent drivers mates. Both good lads.

After a week or two, if you are any good you end up on your own. Anything from 10-20 drops a day. Chilled or ambient. Shop staff treat you like [zb]. Wages are 19,000 for 40 hrs, time and a half after that. Mon-Fri days or Tues-Sat days. Expect to work nearly every bank holiday as its integral in your (cough) wages.

11

eagerbeaver:
You start off with a drivers mate. Usually another agency lad, although there are 2 permanent drivers mates. Both good lads.

After a week or two, if you are any good you end up on your own. Anything from 10-20 drops a day. Chilled or ambient. Shop staff treat you like [zb]. Wages are 19,000 for 40 hrs, time and a half after that. Mon-Fri days or Tues-Sat days. Expect to work nearly every bank holiday as its integral in your (cough) wages.

Aye, they told him he’s with a drivers mate, but he wasn’t sure whether that was because he’s on training/new, or whether it’s a permanent thing to have a drivers mate. They get £10 p/h now (apparently) which isn’t too bad for class 2 multi drop. I went to the effort of checking out employee reviews on Indeed and most of the driver reviews said the company has a high turn over of staff, which would explain the decent pay.

Anyway, I have relayed the information back to him, trying to blag him to sign up to this site so he can ask questions himself.

Thanks for the info fellas.

12

You get a permant 2nd man if you are agency. If you’re perm you don’t get a 2nd man.

Keys chucked at you with paper work. Off you sod.

Regular lads have it Down to a tee. I used to work 12 hours a day.

Its all experience Cus some of the places you go are shocking.

13

I’m a little late in replying to this post but maybe able to shed a little light on the delights of P&H. The job does indeed require a lot of effort with ambient being by far the hardest between it and frozen/chilled. You’ll be dragging cages loaded full of alcohol or soft drinks over uneven ground into corner shops who’s owners barely grunt at you.

You are then expected to unload the cages onto the floor where the shop keeper will count the items. If it is short (and it usually is when dealing with corner shops) you’ll be expected to individually check off each item which will put you behind

The plus side of doing ambient is that you (usually) benefit from a drivers mate who can help you pick up the stock that will fall out of the cages that will inevitably fall over in the middle of a busy street.

Frozen is a little different and involves deliveries into tescos express stores. With these you’ll collect cages from the tescos store and unload it from pallets on the back of your truck. You will receive zero help from the tescos staff and spend an inordinate amount of time finding someone that will take responsibility for the delivery and sign for it.

As a general rule the permanent staff tend to be done and dusted within 8 hours as their driving hours are obviously a consideration. As an agency driver you’ll probably be routed to do 11 hours. It’s inevitable that you’ll go over this time because The delivery timescales are so unrealistic.

Having said that the transport managers seem to be happy when you come back with an empty lorry regardless of how long it took. It’s also worth remembering that you are paid hourly.

Do expect to take your break unloading in the back of your vehicle.
Do expect to be spoken to like a piece of ■■■ by Tescos staff
Do expect to return to the depot with undelivered items on your first few days/weeks
Do expect to work 14/15 hour days on your first few days
Do expect corner shop owners to try and deceive you into thinking they haven’t received the correct amount of goods

I work part time for P&H and absolutely refuse to spend any money in tescos because of it. However, It fits in with my family life which is why I stick with it and I’m a pretty relaxed type of person so sitting in traffic or running late does not faze me.

Because of the high turnover of staff I know I can pick and choose the days I want and work a considerable amount of hours in those days. On top of this the TM are aware that the majority of drivers that walk through the door are new and are a little more understanding of what would perhaps be deemed silly questions/actions.

When I first started I treated it as a free driving lesson. The lorries tend to have seen better days so you can get away with scraping the odd wall here and there and after a few months of squeezing an 18 tonne lorry into a tescos loading bay that has been risk assessed for a 7 1/2 tonne you’ll have bags of confidence.

You won’t be a better driver but you’ll just drive badly with more confidence!

They also pay parking tickets with no questions asked

On the whole it’s a good place to start work, they take new drivers, they are forgiving of minor bumps and scraps (I’ve heard) and you’ll soon learn how to reverse.

Best of luck

14

I cam back with a load of frozen stuff that me and the 2nd man couldn’t find. It was in the side door.

“idiot, still alright to come in tomorrow?”