SHYTOT:
£6.71 per hour
Oh dear.
Muckspreader:
synthetic sid you have my vote
^^^^+1^^^^
i think the reason they ask people to do this free week now is that in the past drivers have turned up saying yeah i can chain loads up and rope and sheet etc etc, they obviously think they can blag there way through it and then on the 2nd day realise its not for them and rap in, doing it this way saves everyone the hassle of being chucked in at the deep end on your own and then theres no embarrasment if at the end of the free week its not for you you can just walk away, the company arent too bothered as it hasnt cost them any wages, ive seen it happen loads in the last few years, general haulage isnt for everyone and if proving you can do it (or want it) means sitting in the passenger seat for 4 or 5 days showing willing and helping the driver chain up, sheet up, winding trailer legs up/down gets you the job then i dont see what the problem is
Didn’t I say you’d get berated Sid ? Anyway are you enjoying it so far ?
Preston’s do a lot of trombone work on steel are you on that or general?
Jim
lol yeah i enjoy it,its obviously very differant from my previous employment history and the first few weeks i would say were pretty stressful both for me and the planners etc 
think ive settled in pretty well since then though and im actually not bad at going forwards,backwards still needs a bit more work 
im based out of potto so its mainly steel,they actually had me on a 17.5 meter load on my second day you can imagine how thrilled i was about that,just opening up the trailer to the correct length was a bit worrying but i got through it without damaging anything(i think)
have to admit im not overly looking forward to the winter roads though 
toby1234abc:
Do not pay for parking.So it is ■■■ and pee in a lay by then with rats for company.?
With a Snap account the firm gets a good discount off the full price .
The money saved for not paying parking and having 1200 litres of fuel stolen or the load stolen,the maths will not add up.
I have heard of firms in Devon and Cornwall adopting this no pay parking approach.
No wonder female drivers are low in the industry and new drivers too.
whats the difference between a layby and a m service car park, or majority of truck parks… seems drivers cannot be arsed to walk to a toilet anyway… i prefer to be left alone and find my own ■■■■■■■■■■■■, be surprised with the right attitude where you can park.
to some the wage isnt the end all, being left alone and not pushed or usual office crap can be worth extra…
Muckspreader:
synthetic sid you have my vote
Eh?
Is Synthetic_sid standing for parliament?
Got my vote Sid, you showed a bit of willing on your behalf and cut your teeth for a week and proved you were up to it.
Much better to work a week for free to learn the job properly, how your new company wants it done, not the way you have or have not done it in the past. Definately better than working max hours for pennies like so people have to.
Glad you are enjoying it. At the end of the day there’s very little in life worth worrying about, and work certainly isn’t one of them. Everyone deserves to be happy in their work.
F-reds
Truckulent:
Synthetic_sid:
i was a chef at the time,so i worked for them on mondays and tuesdays on my days off for like 4 weeks,the lad i trained for class 1 with also works for them,
he was unemployed at the time and he did monday to friday for a week.
it is a full working day i guess but really your just out with a day man who is showing you the ropes,so your not really doing a great deal of “work”
i viewed it as more like free training and was pretty happy to do it tbhWell done Sid…
You just proved to the management you’re the sort of bloke that doesn’t expect to be paid for working…
If there were enough blokes like you, hauliers could get away with having half the workforce on no pay at all…!!
you’re making yourself look a little silly with the above.
how exactly is, someone with no experience going out with someone to learn the ropes, working for free?
good on you sid, i also came from cheffing
Are Prestons the best wage payers in transport?- obviously not- do they pay the average for their area? yes they do, and while in other areas it would seem low, around here its about what most firms pay.
However unlike a few of the other firms in the area- they run legal, and are really on top of maintainenence. And also unlike many other firms will give a new pass a chance, however they are not going to send out a new pass with steel beams/plate/fabrication without ensuring they have an idea of how to safely secure it.
They could just take on experienced drivers and not offer new passes a chance- but they do if the new driver is willing to also give a bit of his time to learn how to carry steel, not unreasonable in my opinion
I have worked for their subsidiary twice over the years- both times was always treated well/respectfuly by the office, wether working for my home depot or Potto or St Neots,
If variety is what you want then its a good job, you could be trunking pallets of pop one day and your next load could be a 60foot long 10 foot wide weighbridge on an extender.
Enjoy the abnormal stuff there is opportunities to get into doing notifiable loads (long) and working up into the heavy haulage side- its the way I went that got me the experience to get a job with one of the best known heavy hauliers of the time, earning a lot more money and working all over Europe.
It is still family owned and from what I hear David is still very approachable.
As a way into the industry, and to gain experience in different types of loads/trailers there isnt many companies of their size that will give a newbie a chance- its gotta be worth a few days of your time.
toby1234abc:
Do not pay for parking.So it is ■■■ and pee in a lay by then with rats for company.?
With a Snap account the firm gets a good discount off the full price .
The money saved for not paying parking and having 1200 litres of fuel stolen or the load stolen,the maths will not add up.
On the topic of parking, they may have worked out that the number of claims for load & diesel theft is less than paying for parking 5 nights a week x however many trucks they run, another excellent cab accountant that can see the books, let me guess your mates with Mr Preston!!
Fuel stolen - Not the drivers problem
Load stolen - This I would love to see some ■■■■■ in a transit van trying to steal a 17.5 metre I beam!! Preston’s probably take the view if they can get it they can have it!!
Also worth bearing in mind Prestons. while being a national haulier have specialised in running the A1 and as such have depots on that route that they encourage their drivers to park up in at night, the two main ones used by night outers are St Neots and Knottingley both of which have shops/pubs/takeaways within a few minutes walk, they also used to at one time have an arrangement via the Transport Association (is that still going) where you could park in other members yards if you had high value loads on.
Worth bearing in mind that I’d have probably paid to go out with an experienced driver for a week or so to learn the ropes when I first passed. I doubt they ask you to do it unless you are newly passed. Knowledge is power and all that.
Also worth bearing in mind at least it’s a stable job & you will actually be paid, no small nuts in this day & age within the haulage industry.
If you’ve got a bit about you, you can usually find somewhere decent to park up anyway without paying & no lay by’s, I think I’d prefer the firm frowning on paying for parking & leaving it up to you if you have no choice but to pay. Let’s face it, only really London you have no choice but to pay or lay by.
As I said on a previous post, I got a call from the planner just to thank me for the day I did.
It didn’t help to pay the mortgage but I did appreciate it.
Fair play to Sid, steel can be quite a tall order for a newbie.
On Agency I get£8-50 hour then time and a half after 8. Which I considered too low for steel work so I only do curtainsiders for them now.
Good luck Sid.
when i was a stobs at sherburn, we used prestons then dunno if they still do? but we did have a few prestons using the lorry park opposite the depot at times, not sure if this was via what Rikki suggests or wether it was just a simple arrangement…
Why ask the lads to go out with another driver for a few days?
these were Prestons loads, would you? with a still wet ink licence want to be chucked the keys to a truck and told to get on with it?
Its hardly the same as 24 pallets on a curtainsider-
Even with a few years experience they were still loads that made the bum twitch
Rikki-UK:
Why ask the lads to go out with another driver for a few days?these were Prestons loads, would you? with a still wet ink licence want to be chucked the keys to a truck and told to get on with it?
Its hardly the same as 24 pallets on a curtainsider-
Even with a few years experience they were still loads that made the bum twitch
1
0
looks like that load could be loaded front and back on a 45 footer instead of all been heaped in middle…
It couldn’t, it was going to a site in central London , the dead end we unloaded in was to just long enough to back into with no room to shunt forward and back, and the gap the crane had between the buildings meant the crane could only reach the centre of the trailer.
However I do agree that other times I collected loads out of this particular fabricator I shook my head in disbelief at how they loaded it ( stand trailers- so for us drop empty and pick up pre loaded)
Rikki-UK:
It couldn’t, it was going to a site in central London , the dead end we unloaded in was to just long enough to back into with no room to shunt forward and back, and the gap the crane had between the buildings meant the crane could only reach the centre of the trailer.However I do agree that other times I collected loads out of this particular fabricator I shook my head in disbelief at how they loaded it ( stand trailers- so for us drop empty and pick up pre loaded)
sometimes we get the same problems with galv for farm buildings which I deliver so some really tight places here in devon.
tricky to carry and takes a bit of thought when you load
here are a couple of unusual loads I did a while back.
even stobarts give you 2 days paid training at widnes…which counts towards your cpc(with a night in a hotel and food and beer and a hire car to get there) and your first shift double manning …paid…and everyone slags stobarts?