I’ll say the same to you as I say to everyone Vern, if you see me parked up anywhere then stop by and say Hi, if I’ve got time I’ll grab a coffee with you.
Good man. 
When are you crossing the bridge into my territory Harry? I’ve been keeping an eye out when I’m heading in and out of magor but no sign of you yet!
Harry Monk:
kr79:
NO phone number or email adressMy ex-boss had his phone number on all of the trucks, eight at maximum, for ten years. When I was thinking about design I asked him “Have you ever got any work from having the phone numbers on the trucks?” and he said “No, only grief”
Mate of mine runs one of the biggest tipper firms in the S/East London&Kent area he tells me all you get is bell ends ringing with dodgy claims for damage/bad driving etc 
newmercman:
Harry Monk:
This is Madge the Magnum.
Owing to its french origins you could’ve gone with Monk European Regional Distribution Enterprises, or MERDE for short
How old is that truck Harry, and have you had any problems with it yet since you started?
It’s an 08-reg, and it’s basically good although I have had an alternator fail, and since the tensioners were due for replacement I had them done too. I also had a disastrous day today when I had a drive axle blowout which took the rear wings, lights etc with it, although that can happen of any make of truck and of any age. £950 for two tyres and the call-out (it’s a false economy mixing a new tyre with a part worn so I got two) and a £1300 bill from Renault hasn’t made today the best ever! 
You need to do a diary from the day you started.
I’m going to do a post at the end of this month, which will be when I first get paid for work I’ve done so far and I should have a reasonable idea of whether it’s working out or not although on the maths so far it does seem to be, obviously incidents like today’s don’t help.
I used to be a taxi owner-driver and this, as I knew it would be, is similar. You have a couple of good weeks and it looks like you are getting somewhere, and then you have a breakdown or some other expense which puts you back to Square One…
I need my VAT refund to come through a bit sharpish really, I have remoulds on the other side of the drive axle (the tyre that blew out today was a Bandag- a “Bang-dag”, the tyre fitter told me they are known as in the trade 
), I’ve never liked remoulds, and want to replace them with new, and save the two part-worn remoulds for the mid-lift axle where they won’t do so much damage if they go “Pop”.
I knew I would have higher-than-average costs in the first few months, and did factor that in accordingly, and I’m not really expecting to show a profit for six months or so.
Still, I’m having fun and you can’t put a price on that, and if I was just sat at home then eventually I would burn through all of my savings anyway so I really don’t have anything to lose. And at least I have a decent boss.
Harry Monk:
I’m going to do a post at the end of this month, which will be when I first get paid for work I’ve done so far and I should have a reasonable idea of whether it’s working out or not although on the maths so far it does seem to be, obviously incidents like today’s don’t help.I used to be a taxi owner-driver and this, as I knew it would be, is similar. You have a couple of good weeks and it looks like you are getting somewhere, and then you have a breakdown or some other expense which puts you back to Square One…
I need my VAT refund to come through a bit sharpish really, I have remoulds on the other side of the drive axle (the tyre that blew out today was a Bandag- a “Bang-dag”, the tyre fitter told me they are known as in the trade
I knew I would have higher-than-average costs in the first few months, and did factor that in accordingly, and I’m not really expecting to show a profit for six months or so.
Still, I’m having fun and you can’t put a price on that, and if I was just sat at home then eventually I would burn through all of my savings anyway so I really don’t have anything to lose. And at least I have a decent boss.
Looking forward to the update post at the end of the month Harry.
I keep looking out for your motor. Not passed you yet
dar1976:
Looking forward to the update post at the end of the month Harry.
Well, that’s assuming the Bankruptcy Court will let me keep my laptop.
dar1976:
I keep looking out for your motor. Not passed you yet
You will pass me sooner or later, paying for the diesel yourself does tend to make you knock the cruise control back by a few clicks!
Harry Monk:
Well, that’s assuming the Bankruptcy Court will let me keep my laptop.
You’re a limited company so you’ll keep everything unless you sign any director’s guarantees 
You could always weigh those Ikea cupboards in if you want to save some fuel, they must weigh a ton, ally prices are good too at the moment, so a double whammy 
The nice girl at the accountants has just phoned and told me that HMRC want to give me £7,000 so that should tide me over for a week or two.
Good stuff. Coffee is on you then. Get a lot of remoulds for that as well!
turnbull2012:
0
seen on the M5 southbound yesterday afternoon around Worcester
MIKE P:
0
NICE!
Have to agree, fantastic fleet of trucks you have there Mike!
Harry Monk:
It’s an 08-reg, and it’s basically good although I have had an alternator fail, and since the tensioners were due for replacement I had them done too. I also had a disastrous day today when I had a drive axle blowout which took the rear wings, lights etc with it, although that can happen of any make of truck and of any age. £950 for two tyres and the call-out (it’s a false economy mixing a new tyre with a part worn so I got two) and a £1300 bill from Renault hasn’t made today the best ever!
We’ve been using these on the drive axles since 2007 … maplefleetservices.co.uk/com … l?sef=hcfp …and haven’t had a blow out or a call out since. They cost £70 per axle in 2007,but have saved us thousands in terms of tyre wear and breakdowns. Use a good brand of tyre on the drive axle and match them in evenly worn pairs.
Good luck in the haulage game Harry!
That’s interesting, not seen those before, I think I’ll look into that.