Hello to all,
I feel that this thread has deviated slightly from its intended purpose, my question was to do with the digital tacho, i feel this is partly my fault for giving out too much backround detail.
However i do feel that a driver doing european work for a small haulier earning £475 - £500 a week is a fair figure and i would be very surprised if any driver is taking home more than this, (except of course those on trip money or those pushing through the night when they should be parked up).
As this is the operators forum i am sure you are all aware by the time you pay employee tax/n.i and your contribution on top (approx 11%), then add £25pw to cover holiday pay, then pay holiday cover, possible sick pay, overtime for bank holdays, it soon adds up to a substantial sum.
In reply to the gentleman earning 2700 euros per month that is a very good wage for a driver working for a fully compliant operator,at todays rate that equates to £2438.49 (52 weeks = 562.72 take home, bloody good!). Finally in reply to the personal insult “gumpo goes international”, well done my friend, you truly are a Knight of the Road.
Kind regards… LRM
LRM:
Hello to all,
I feel that this thread has deviated slightly from its intended purpose, my question was to do with the digital tacho, i feel this is partly my fault for giving out too much backround detail.
However i do feel that a driver doing european work for a small haulier earning £475 - £500 a week is a fair figure and i would be very surprised if any driver is taking home more than this, (except of course those on trip money or those pushing through the night when they should be parked up).
As this is the operators forum i am sure you are all aware by the time you pay employee tax/n.i and your contribution on top (approx 11%), then add £25pw to cover holiday pay, then pay holiday cover, possible sick pay, overtime for bank holdays, it soon adds up to a substantial sum.
In reply to the gentleman earning 2700 euros per month that is a very good wage for a driver working for a fully compliant operator,at todays rate that equates to £2438.49 (52 weeks = 562.72 take home, bloody good!). Finally in reply to the personal insult “gumpo goes international”, well done my friend, you truly are a Knight of the Road.
Kind regards… LRM
I see the wages have increased from £475 a wk to £475 - £500 and being surprised if any drivers are “taking home” more than this. Add that to the overtime mentioned, etc etc. If that’s what the driver is taking home after stoppages, you 'ent too far off.
So what exactly are you talking about?
Six weeks away is 7days out per wk. Does the money you want to pay include weekends and night out allowance?
For a Mon/Fri job your pay is fair but a wee bit short if it’s 6 wks, 7 days a week, 100% legal but committed to get the most out of the loads/truck/time.
LRM:
Finally in reply to the personal insult “gumpo goes international”, well done my friend, you truly are a Knight of the Road.
Kind regards… LRM
Actually a personal insult would have been directed at you.
Gumbo was a wannabee operator who thought he could employ a decent driver on the minimum wage. As you have since moved the goalposts and offered another 1200 quid a year more in between your 2 posts.
As a guide, myself and many other drivers on these threads have been paid these wages plus around 30 -35 quid subsistence per night on the continent. You asked a question, you were given the right answers. That is how the forum works.
Actually i never asked any question with regards to wages, my question was aimed at other operators with regards to digital tacho,s.
However, as i said on an earlier post i may be partly to blame for giving out more information than was required.
Actually with regards to moving the goal posts, any employer would know that two drivers on the same basic salary may well take home two different amounts due to there tax codes and national insurance status, it is very difficult for an employer to tell an employee what there take home pay would be from a fixed salary.
My previous post may of been misleading and for that i actually apologise, although like i said, this was a question aimed at fellow operators with the hope of there knowledge being shared on this forum, maybe i misunderstood how these forums work, actually.
Once again i thank those who provided useful information.
Kind regards, LRM
ill work 5weeks 6days but not the full 6weeks!!! 
have you found anyone to drive yet? you may have to add on an extra £100p/w to get someone descent with experiance!!!
ive sent a PM aswell!
chappy261:
ill work 5weeks 6days but not the full 6weeks!!!have you found anyone to drive yet? you may have to add on an extra £100p/w to get someone descent with experiance!!!
ive sent a PM aswell!
I think if he wants anyone with experience, he’ll be looking for someone with the relevant experience. I’ve just read on another post of yours about you working for the same employer for 9 years sorting mail. 25 years old with 3 kids, one a 5 year old.
How long are you going to stick a job you’ve never done that keeps you away from your kids for 6 weeks at a time? I’d say you’d do the first 3 or 4 trips top’s,then walk.
theres one i dont do, and thats walk away from anything, im not a quiter!!! u sound like a absolute nightmare to work for, u could be passed off as a dodgy southern irish operator!! daf xf105, pants pay ■■■■■■■ to work for…christ on a bike are you mr breen!!! 
I think you will find i did not submit that post, however i find your comments surprising as i do not believe you have never been employed within our business.
As ■■■■■■■ is a very familiar area to me i hope you would be able to introduce me to a Compliant haulier from the area who pays a greater wage than i would be willing to offer.
Thank you for your gentlemanly conduct.
Kind Regards,
Lrm
LRM:
Looking at doing a Spanish job, it would suit us best to find a driver willing to do six weeks then a week off,
I would strongly suggest that if this is to be a permanent all year job then employing a single person or someone whos kids have left home & takes their Mrs with them might be a good idea - this was the only 2 catagories of driver that another international operator in Brum will now take on as he has seen too many relationships broken or drivers walking after a couple on months etc.
As for the pay - would it be better to give the gross annual salary including the night out monies etc - for example £24,000 PA - all in which could be done pro-rata.
Alternatively, a seven week all in gross amount could be given 
If there are specific times for deliveries and collections then ‘rushing it’ would be pointless.
As you can probably tell, I’ve never done continental so am not sure how these thing work.
Get back in your box ROG, it don’t work like that. You just get on with it, doing the best you can. You’ll be parked up all over the place at weekends, bank holidays. Getting screwed with ferries, late loading, RDC’s, groupage warehouses will be using up your driving time getting you on “their” collections when the boss has been told it’s one collection one drop. It never is. They all get you loading/tipping the base load off warehouse and getting you collecting odd pallets/boxes/bits & bobs here and there, (50 mile radius). The only way out of that on a groupage run is to turn up late. Somebody else has done all the chasing, picked up the base loads and left it in the warehouse for you.
I don’t see it as a job, I love it. It’s an adventure, a life stile.
LRM:
I think you will find i did not submit that post, however i find your comments surprising as i do not believe you have never been employed within our business.As ■■■■■■■ is a very familiar area to me i hope you would be able to introduce me to a Compliant haulier from the area who pays a greater wage than i would be willing to offer.
Thank you for your gentlemanly conduct.
Kind Regards,
Lrm
Hi lrm
I think your initial tacho question has begun into a question of your noble pay structure!! Im sure you will find some one to drive your truck for you no matter what you pay as to some the job is more a lifestyle way of life, but on the other hand maybe that extra £50-£100 a week would save you in the long run by getting the best drivers available!
reg colin
LRM:
I think you will find i did not submit that post, however i find your comments surprising as i do not believe you have never been employed within our business.As ■■■■■■■ is a very familiar area to me i hope you would be able to introduce me to a Compliant haulier from the area who pays a greater wage than i would be willing to offer.
Thank you for your gentlemanly conduct.
Kind Regards,
Lrm
ive just double checked and i apologise as that was not your post, i was a bit bleary eye’d this morning after finishing my night shift!
when it comes it comes to bieng employed in the haulage business, you are actually right on that one, all ive done is just a couple of times on the agency, im a passionate diesel head thats love’d trucks as far back as i can remember, the first trip i took was when i was 6years old when my grandad was on the reefers right across europe, i absoluty love’d it and i did for many years travelling to new and excited place’s that were just spectacular! my passion is as good as an obsession, i hopefully might have a start at stobarts carlisle next month (fingers crossed)
before my grandad took ill 2 years ago, he working for stobarts international, he was home every other weekend and he lifting a lot more than £475p/w!
chappy 261
It’s good to see your life long passion for the job has seen you experience two goes on the agency at the age of 25. That extensive experience has already helped with your decision to start up your own company giving your 5 year old son chance to work for you and your two daughters, who will obviously be working in your office complex answerable only to you, sitting in the board of directors chair.
Eddie Stobart has been sacking drivers up and down the country, according to another thread on here. Can you really see them taking on a muppet dreamer like you, when they’re getting shot of drivers, all of whom have more experience than two goes on the agency?
164/56:
chappy 261It’s good to see your life long passion for the job has seen you experience two goes on the agency at the age of 25. That extensive experience has already helped with your decision to start up your own company giving your 5 year old son chance to work for you and your two daughters, who will obviously be working in your office complex answerable only to you, sitting in the board of directors chair.
Eddie Stobart has been sacking drivers up and down the country, according to another thread on here. Can you really see them taking on a muppet dreamer like you, when they’re getting shot of drivers, all of whom have more experience than two goes on the agency?
Whats wrong with having a passion for the job?? To be honest if i had my own trucks i would take a chance with newbe driver no probs as i was giving the same chance many years ago and i havnt looked back. 
A question to LRM and any other operator…you want to send a truck out working for 6 weeks without coming back to the UK (■■) and you need a driver ,so how does it work when any “Joe bloggs” applys, turns up for the “interview with references”, then you hand him / her the keys to YOUR TRUCK AND TRAILOR, give them a fuel card(S??) and maybe a few hundred quid running money then wave them good bye as they sail off down the road with everything you own!!! 
Now that has got to be a major worry■■?
Just a question though!!! 
Nothing wrong with having the passion. I had the passion when I was a kid, I would run to the front of the bus and watch the driver steering, changing gear etc etc. I would shout back to my mum that we were just leaving the bus stop after seeing the driver put the indicator on. I did something about it. I got a job as a drivers mate when I left school and put myself through HGV school and passed my class one 3 months after my 21st birthday. I could only get a job on the agencies at first but got a job on BRS within 4 months.
This muppet is 25 and his passion for the job has secured him two goes on the agency. He’s got the neck to think that that and going with his grandad a few times during his childhood gives him the experience to take on a job tramping Europe.
I know I’m being harsh but he’s a dreamer and needs bringing into the real world. If he’s 25, his misses will be equally as young if not younger. If he gets a job that keeps him away from home for 6 weeks at a time his relationship with his wife and kids will suffer big time. Fantasising over Trucking International magazine is not what the job is about.
bullitt:
A question to LRM and any other operator…you want to send a truck out working for 6 weeks without coming back to the UK (■■) and you need a driver ,so how does it work when any “Joe bloggs” applys, turns up for the “interview with references”, then you hand him / her the keys to YOUR TRUCK AND TRAILOR, give them a fuel card(S??) and maybe a few hundred quid running money then wave them good bye as they sail off down the road with everything you own!!!Now that has got to be a major worry■■?
Just a question though!!!
You could ask the same question to your employer, or bank manager if you asked for a loan to buy your truck. The same way any operator does. Faith I guess and a copy of his drivers license, passport, NI number.
164/56:
Nothing wrong with having the passion. I had the passion when I was a kid, I would run to the front of the bus and watch the driver steering, changing gear etc etc. I would shout back to my mum that we were just leaving the bus stop after seeing the driver put the indicator on. I did something about it. I got a job as a drivers mate when I left school and put myself through HGV school and passed my class one 3 months after my 21st birthday. I could only get a job on the agencies at first but got a job on BRS within 4 months.
This muppet is 25 and his passion for the job has secured him two goes on the agency. He’s got the neck to think that that and going with his grandad a few times during his childhood gives him the experience to take on a job tramping Europe.
I know I’m being harsh but he’s a dreamer and needs bringing into the real world. If he’s 25, his misses will be equally as young if not younger. If he gets a job that keeps him away from home for 6 weeks at a time his relationship with his wife and kids will suffer big time. Fantasising over Trucking International magazine is not what the job is about.
my wife is older than me at 28year old! been married 3 years! youve had 7posts and been a member for 5days and already your acting like a complete prick, your gona get on with a lot of people on here arnt ya!!! your obvioulsly older than 25 and you sound like a know-it-all old has been, so before you start judging people, judge your self before first and look in the mirror mate, you maybe be suprised!!
i didnt have the neck to say ive got the experiance for tramping europe, i said its what i want to do!!! i aint no dreamer aswell!
I wasn’t aware that the 5 days and 7 posts counted towards my trucking experience. Silly me. 
I’ve certainly got a long way to go before I’m as experienced as you. I’m getting there though, 6 days and 8 posts already.
I would strongly suggest that if this is to be a permanent all year job then employing a single person or someone whos kids have left home & takes their Mrs with them might be a good idea - this was the only 2 catagories of driver that another international operator in Brum will now take on as he has seen too many relationships broken or drivers walking after a couple on months etc.