harry: Bren No offence intended here but if your union has negotiated a deal where you work for six & get paid for twelve months you can understand why UK firms flag out everything & anything.
No offence taken. In fact everyone is flagging back in now.
The MSC ship on the rocks in Devon is British flagged but no Brits onboard apart from apprentices.
With the tonnage tax you donât have to employ British crews, they just have to train so many apprentices (cadets).
Iâm on British flagged ships but the amount of British crew is getting less all the time.
they are not looking for anyone at the moment, they took 2 drivers from fransen transport just before christmas and are not looking to recruit anyone just yet, they do have a list of applicants waiting employment.
they wonât usually take on a new driver - they have previously had drivers that havenât done the length of time away before and although they have stated that they want to be away for weeks at a time or donât mind being away for weeks at a time when itâs come to it they cry off and want to come home which makes things difficult for the operations.
they do have a few drivers that do only uk but even they are away for a couple of weeks at a time and i canât imagine anyone being happy about weekending in the uk.
chances are that if you donât have fridge experience or havenât done european work or havenât spent 3 to 4 weeks away from home at any time then you wonât get a look in because there are still plenty of experienced people looking for exactly that type of work with at least one or all of those qualities.
Sounds like an yank operationâŚ4/5 weeks out,4 days off if your lucky. Only difference is yank companies take novices who have no clue what theyâre in for . hence the 130% turn over rate.
I got talking to one of their drivers a while back,he was on his way back after being away three weeks,and after taking the truck back to the depot he was then going home to Grimsby for a couple of days before starting again.
He did however tell me that Pulleyns donât pay the driverâs when they are parked up on a Sunday,whether for a weekend break or due to a local driving ban,which seemed rather strange to me.
Most ânormalâ firms pay at least something for being weekended away,I certainly wouldnât do it for nothing!
Spoken to a couple of ex drivers who said much the same as already on here. Away for multiple weeks and image is everything so be ready to shine. I have an ex Pulleyn 95XF and it was invery good condition when i got it straight from them.
it seems a bit odd to me that a firm will only recruit drivers who are loyal and have a ten year history as well as being trained on fridges and used to nights away.
the point is they want you to be loyal but they wont take on newbies.
how can you be a loyal driver if you have just jacked your last job to go to them
Only difference is yank companies take novices who have no clue what theyâre in for . 
hence the 130% turn over rate.
