Hi Popeye some years ago [many more than I like to remember] I was in the roughly same position as you, I went back on the tools to the then [“Leyland Motors”] and believe me it was 6 months of pure purgatory and hell and I managed to get my job back at the firm I had left and now I only use my engineering skills to restore old buses and cars for a hobby I actually own 3 buses now which I am restoring [or trying to] and now after approx 25yrs. I am still driving for a living and have thought about hanging up the keys as driving with the minority of idiots that some companies let loose with 44 ton trucks is taking the edge of professional driving but like you my nearest and dearest says putting me in an office would be akin to giving a monkey a machine gun as I would at best last about one day of being hounded with phones and wittering managers so it looks like I will have to stay on the road a little while longer there are a lot of things wrong with transport but at least once you are out on the road you to some extent are your own boss , as for the WTD this was designed by a numbskull who knows nothing about road transport and the problems associated with it as this rates as even more stupid than putting speed limiters on trucks as any worthwhile driver realises 60mph is plenty fast enough to drive at but like all trades you will always have the stetson &six gun brigade who think speed limits are there to be ignored and treat them as a joke till something goes drastically wrong then the anti lorry brigade crawl out of the woodwork to complain well that,s got that off me chest so happy driving again!!!
kitkat:
I remember during my time on here and on the wagons that someone said about working for British Bakeries. The word was they were a good employer and good payers…any truth in that
a couple of our lads left to go to british bakeries 1 has since returned to us and 1 is till there ( only coz it suits him hours wise) but there has been at least 60 ( yes sixty) persons left since then,from drivers to warehouse staff but mostly drivers.they are on a salary and get paid 13 wages per year.any overtime you do you get days off instead of pay.the trucks are old and trl’s ain’t much better.the only advise i’d give you unless your in there through agency then do not take a full time job with them.good luck
in addition to this, in southampton, class 2 drivers are earning £375 per week. monday to saturday 330am start. i did 6 months through an agency and had enough. some drivers refuse to go there and some agencies refuse to deal with them at all.
avoid them mate 
Some of the ‘older-hands’ on here will remember me…I used to be a trucker back in the day, before I left for pastures new with Rolls Royce.
That was some 20 months ago and I have visited here very infrequently ever since - the reason being I was tending to upset myself every time I came on here and thought about the life I’d left behind.
Well, I have almost reached the end of my tether in Rolls Royce and I am ready to jump ship; hopefully back into a truck (preferably a skip wagon ).
Since I hung up my keys I haven’t gone anywhere near a truck, so a wee refresher would probably be in order. I hope to get that aspect of things covered tomorrow - I’ve taken a days leave and I intend visiting my old agency transport manager and asking him for a wee seat in one of his wagons, just to familiarise myself with things again.
The thing you lovely girls and boys can help me with is this new WTD I keep hearing about. What does it mean to me? How restrictive is this? Is it in operation? And if not, when does it come into effect? Also, are there any new tacho regulations I should know about?
As I mentioned above, I have just about come to the end of the line with RR. I am sick to the back teeth of working in a place where literally no-one has a decent or civilised word to say to each other. Every day is a constant battle of wills, whether it be work related or not. As a relative ‘newcomer’ to RR I have been viewed with constant suspicion and sometimes derision because I have had the timerity to come up with…horror of horrors…new ideas!! And I have been unafraid to voice them. I’ve even been guilty of indivudual thought and of encouraging discussion amongst team members and other sections. I am just an out and out troublemaker!!! 
So, hopefully I will be re-joining the ranks of the sainted sooner rather than later. But obviously I have to look at certain practicalities - money being the main one. I am on a pretty decent wage at the moment (£400 p/week clear with a half-days o/t on a Sunday). And as my wife doesn’t work (registered disabled) I need to earn somewhere in the region of what I am currently getting. What is the likelihood of that?
When I left the trucks 20 months ago I was told by one of the company’s I did some work for to give them a call should things with RR not work out - it was the skip company that said that 
- I plan on doing just that in the coming days and weeks, but I’d like you good people to give me some feedback on the current state of the market out there. Like I said, I’ve been out of touch for a while, so I need all the help and advice I can get.
I know you won’t let me down.
Kind Regards,
Popeye.
Firstly, nice to see you back Popeye.
Second, you can have a look here at TruckNets very own idiots guide to the WTD. (Still don’t understand it fully. Ho hum 
).
Thirdly, if that’s take home, then I’m sorry to say I don’t think you’ll get anywhere near with the WTD in force. Having said that, I’m with an agency at the mo and getting around £320 take home, but that does include Sundays.
I can see how you feel about RR. I’ve tried half a days office work since and had to walk out of it, due to the varying Cliques and generally not quite fitting in. The last straw was when they moaned about me taking 5 mins to go to the loo . The GM wasn’t too impressed when I enquired how long it took him to have a [zb] 
.
Their arn’t any new tacho regs so far, but I’m not sure about what’s in the pipeline :lol.
Let us how you go on with RR. Maybe they should install a Hill Monster for you to growl at?
Thanks Lib, it’s good to be back (sort of just now - hopefully for real soon).
I knew in my heart of hearts 20 months ago that I was making the wrong decision for all the right reasons; money, security, financial stability etc, etc, etc. What I didn’t know however, was that I would end up so bloody miserable. And that’s precisely what I am - miserable! I drove home from the plant this evening and during the journey I was sat right behind a Scania skip-wagon. He was fully laden - net fully stretched to within an inch of it’s life - and he was struggling to get above 40 on the slight incline we were driving on. I had about half a dozen or so other cars behind me, but even though I could see the road ahead was clear for about 500 or so yards with no oncoming traffic, I couldn’t bring myself to overtake him. I just sat in his wake daydreaming.
I thought of how I would have tied the net just a wee bit differently, how I would have ‘shunted’ the skip a bit more toward the cab instead of it being up tight against the rear forks. I looked at the debris strewn on the deck of the wagon itself and thought how I would have swept that off at the next visit to the landfill. I thought of how much I envied that driver.
This has been building up for some months now - me wanting out of RR. But just recently things have begun to become intolerable. The plant I am in is scheduled to move to new premises in the spring of 2006, but guess what? No official announcement has been made yet!! The first sod hasn’t been cut on the hallowed ground as they haven’t decided where that hallowed ground is actually located!! Plus, rumours abound that when and if they do get around to building the new plant, it will be two thirds of the size we currently occupy. Now maths wasn’t my favourite topic at school, but confucious used to say three thirds into two thirds just won’t go. " Too bruddy tight ", he used to say. Needless to say this has resulted in an outbreak of mass paranoia, with people running around wailing “we’re doomed, we’re doomed”. Much wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth (mainly false ones) has also ensued, which has cranked up the overall nastiness by about twenty notches. Yes, the dreaded word ‘redundancies’ is being mooted all over the shop. So it’s a good time to be thinking of re-appraising ones situation.
All being well I hope to see my mate at the agency tomorrow. If he’s not too busy we can hopefully have a wee chinwag and he can fill me in with some more details about the WTD. Following on from that I hope to maybe take a drive out to Pattersons in the not too distant future. I will certainly keep you posted on all developements.
Kind Regards,
Popeye.
i think if it’s that bad at RR i’d be out tomorrow m8.at the end of the day you need to be doing a job that you enjoy doing and as we can see RR just isn’t doing that for you is it popeye 
i’d forget about the money thing at the moment m8,just get back to the driving and then you can see what’s what from there.you have also got malcolms at linwood you could give them a try,that way its back onto A737 and home no mucking around on the M8 MOTORWAY.good luck on your decision m8.
Popeye I’m sorry I’m not able to really help out with advice, being a bit of an “alien” here anyway. but chin up mate, keep smiling!!
Mart:
Popeye I’m sorry I’m not able to really help out with advice, being a bit of an “alien” here anyway. but chin up mate, keep smiling!!
Alien why alien? 
that’s the only type we have round here!
your going to struggle to match the money Popeye but you are obviously unhappy and that has to be more important, life is too short bud!
Welcome back.
Welcome back Popeye and all the best .
Its true what every one has written if you are satisfied with your work then
also then is the following also true good health because you have less
worries and stress. personal life calm++happy, and if you are completely
happy with all the financal aspects, then ,
DON,t WORRY BE HAPPY it WILL BE ALRIGHT
Cheers folks for all your comments. They are very much appreciated and everyone of you are correct - I need to do what makes me happy.
I should have said that I fully realise that £400+ p/week in my hand would be out of the question, but what sort of wage could I expect? With all my commitments and such like I would need to clear at least £300 per week. Anything dramatically less than that and we would find ourselves in a bind financially - anything above that would be a bonus. So, would £300 be a more attainable wage? Even after the WTD kicks in next month?
Since coming on here last night I have spent a very restless night tossing and turning with a multitude of thoughts running through my head. I have more or less convinced myself - and more importantly Mrs Popeye - that the call of the road has once again awakened the diesel within my veins. My time at RR served an extremely important purpose; it got our finances sorted out and put us back on an even keel. I now have to take consideration of other matters - my personal well being paramount among them. For the sake of my sanity and overall mental health I need to move on and I can think of no better place than back out on the open road. Those of you who know me know how happy I was on the road - I waxed lyrical almost every day and loved every minute of my time behind the wheel. I especially loved the characters I came in contact with - The Hill Monster chief among them. I really have missed all that.
I have tried to contact my mate at the agency but he is off today - just my luck. But he sits two rows in front of me at Celtic Park, so I will see him at the game on Sunday and take things from there. All being well, I hope to see something concrete coming out of this in the not too distant future. God knows I need to get back to what I was happy with.
Kind Regards.
ps…in case anyone was wondering; my avatar is of my young son Shaun with his hero (and mine) Henrik Larsson, formerly of Glasgow Celtic FC and now with FCBarcelona. The photograph was taken last March on the morning of Shaun’s 6th birthday. Shaun had asked if it was possible to meet his idol and we drove up early that morning and made his dream come true. Henke was superb - he laughed and joked with Shaun, signed his autograph book, posed for photographs and then signed the number 7 on the back of wee Shaun’s Celtic shirt. A true gentleman and a thoroughly decent guy…and not too bad at football either.
Cheers.
Who knows what’s going to happen come March, each firm seem to have different policies regarding wages…
Currently I’d be very surprised if you couldn’t clear £400/week, even in Scotland… I work for a Jock firm on £6.30/hr, easy work but long hours and I can clear that.
My previous firm paid a basic £400 for 50 hours, prior to that agency work cleared £500, and on a good week £750 for not too many hours.
I find the money is there if you don’t mind what work you do, but I’d much rather enjoy my work and as such I’m like the proverbial pig on £6.30 
Some old beardy bloke once wrote; “Poor and content is rich, and rich enough.” - and how right he was!
You must do what makes you happy in this life. After all, something like a third of your life is spent working - so why spend that precious time doing something that makes you miserable?
Is it really twenty months since I last read about your adventures with the Hill Monster… Wow, time does fly - and much too fast these days! 
I remember something about Salvesens too… Any plans to continue down the class 1 route, or is life with a class 2 good enough? Whatever you decide to do I wish you all the best!
Oh, and welcome back!
Hullo Steve and Chris…yes it really was 20 months ago. I hung up my keys on the 4th of June 2003 and have regretted it many times since. None more so than now.
The Salvesen thing was a disaster from the start to the finish. The agency I had been working for got in tow with Salvesen to put some of their drivers through Class 1. At the same time the agency utilised some of Salvesens fleet to put some of their guys through Class 1 also - but at a fraction of the cost. I was chosen to go forward for this but the training wasn’t all that I thought it would be. For a start you were actually ‘working’ whilst training - and in my case the trainer wasn’t a qualified teacher!! Then during the week of my test, the area of land that the agency and Salvesen were using for reversing practice etc was closed off; they didn’t have any right to be on it. The piece of land we ended up using was like a bloody mine field; there were craters (and I mean craters) everywhere. There were no lines for the reversing exercise and about two thirds of the land was submerged in about 6 inches of water. It was a recipe for disaster. I failed my Class 1 twice and decided that sort of ‘tuition’ wasn’t for me. I was contemplating returning to it when the RR job came up. Once I started in RR I had big plans to put some money away and do my Class 1, but that plan never came to fruition. After I’d settled into the shift pattern I soon realised I wouldn’t have time for driving lessons, so put that on the back burner. Once I get back out on the road I have ambitions to get that Class 1 licence - only this time I’ll make sure it’s pukka training and that I pass the bloody thing!!
Steve…which firm do you work for (if you don’t mind me asking) and what sort of work is it - Class 2? Class 1? Local? Tramping? What■■?
I remember during my time on here and on the wagons that someone said about working for British Bakeries. The word was they were a good employer and good payers…any truth in that■■?
Kind Regards.
ps…I’ve taken to reading my old copies of ‘Driving Goods Vehicles - The Official DSA Syllabus’ and ‘The Official Theory Test For Drivers Of Large Vehicles’…bringing back lots of brilliant memories.
Cheers.
I remember during my time on here and on the wagons that someone said about working for British Bakeries. The word was they were a good employer and good payers…any truth in that
a couple of our lads left to go to british bakeries 1 has since returned to us and 1 is till there ( only coz it suits him hours wise) but there has been at least 60 ( yes sixty) persons left since then,from drivers to warehouse staff but mostly drivers.they are on a salary and get paid 13 wages per year.any overtime you do you get days off instead of pay.the trucks are old and trl’s ain’t much better.the only advise i’d give you unless your in there through agency then do not take a full time job with them.good luck
Thanks for that kitkat…I’ll certainly bear that in mind. As for W.H. Malcolm’s - I don’t fancy working there. Having grown up in and around the Johnstone area I’ve heard enough and know enough people to know to avoid working for the ‘pup’ - the young Donald Malcolm. Old Donald Malcolm, the father, was regarded as a firm but fair boss. An old school friend of mine’s dad drove Class 1’s for him and always spoke of him with a degree of respect. One story that used to do the rounds was how he would sort out some of the financial problems of his drivers - it was said that Donald cleared their debt and took fair deductions from the employees wage in order that his workers were focussed solely on the job, not fretting about money worries. My next door neighbour works at Malcolm’s - not as an HGV driver though - and he tells me the atmosphere and conditions under the ‘pup’ aren’t conducive to a good working environment. But like everything else in life, you hear good stories and you hear horror stories; both might be true, but then both might be false. Or it might be a bit of both with a sprinkling of exageration thrown in for good measure.
About a week after I started in RR I received a phone call from William Tracey’s. I’d ‘doorstepped’ them some weeks earlier and completed an application form. I’d forgotten all about them until they phoned offering me a start. They are certainly another viable option as they have a depot alongside Malcolm’s in Linwood and another just up the road from me in Lugton. The Lugton site deals with chemical waste and as I have worked in the chemical industry in the past and have chemical qualifications, that operation might well suit me. At the time of their job offer they didn’t get to the part where they told me exactly where or what the job was. I told them I was already in full-time employment, politely declined their offer and thanked them very much for getting back to me. Another iron in the fire though…
Kind Regards,
Popeye.
Welcome back, Popeye.
As a rough (very rough) guide £300 p.w. is attainable on day work - eg. waste disposal (your speciality 
) or class 2 collection / delivery within 100 mile radius and home every night.
For the £400 p.w. it would need to be something like night trunking, long distance or more specialised loads, on a class 1.
Plenty more driving vacancies everywhere after the WTD rules kick in, all companies will need extra drivers, combined with lots of vacancies already with the current 60000 (estimated) shortfall and about three drivers leaving the industry or retiring nowadays compared to every two new drivers taking the LGV test(s).
There have been no changes to the hours /Tacho rules in the last 20 months or so (that I know about )
Thanks for your posts Popeye, I’m kind of in the same boat as you. Not at all happy in my work and considering a career change. Like you I will be taking a large hit in pay on changing my career and like you I don’t know whether or not I’m doing the right thing.
I find it hard to reconcile the loss in pay to the improved working lifestyle but I can only say that as far as I’m concerned I’m not really prepared to continue putting up with the same problems which I’m dealing with now. No doubt driving will create a new set of problems but I’m figuring at least I , like you, will be able to go home at the end of the day without carrying work home.
Some people I’ve spoken to have looked at me as though I’'m nuts to be changing from accountancy to driving but when it comes down to it, we each have to choose what is likely to give us the best lifestyle overall (not just financial).
Best of luck in whatever you choose to do.