Our company looks like it will shortly be adopting the SNAP account system. On the face of it, it looks a great idea not having to worry about paying for parking. However, I believe it to be a scourge on the job and a further erosion on our employment conditions.
From what I can make out, if you “pay” with SNAP the vast majority of sites will not give you a shower, let alone a meal or meal voucher. We are expected to live in a lorry all week and in the vast majority of cases do not have any cooking or food storage facilities provided by the firm and now we are expected to pay massively inflated prices for food or buy our own cooking equipment.
I realise some of you will say just cook in the cab, buy yourself a fridge and stop moaning, but this situation is getting out of hand. If I’m on a 9 hour stop following a 15 hour turn, the last thing I want to be doing is breaking out a gas stove and cooking a meal, then tidying it up after. There is a basic human welfare need here that is simply not being met by our employers.
What I’m saying is, if we’re expected to live in our lorry all week, our employers ought to be obliged to provide basic things like access to washing facilities and reasonably priced food. We’re treated worse than animals, why do we put up with it?
I’m not trying to be personal, but do you really expect your boss to buy you dinner every night? If you went home every night you would have to fend for yourself. As for showers, the only one I know that charges extra is the Orwell crossing. Most have unlocked showers, ie the stockyard and Newark. Don’t know much else as I’m a creature of habit and I stay in the same places. Junction 29 charge everybody for a shower. Ignore the truckstops and stay on an msa, get your meal voucher and a shower then
OVLOV JAY:
I’m not trying to be personal, but do you really expect your boss to buy you dinner every night? If you went home every night you would have to fend for yourself. As for showers, the only one I know that charges extra is the Orwell crossing. Most have unlocked showers, ie the stockyard and Newark. Don’t know much else as I’m a creature of habit and I stay in the same places. Junction 29 charge everybody for a shower. Ignore the truckstops and stay on an msa, get your meal voucher and a shower then
No, not at all. But I don’t think we should be expected to pay outrageous prices to eat bad food either. If the company puts a manager in a hotel overnight, do you suppose they have to pay for a shower and a meal? The point I’m making is, we’re NOT at home. We’re not free to dispose of our spare time as we choose because of your employment. In other lines of work when this is the case, employers usually fully subsidise these basic needs happily.
SNAP works fine for me, better for the boss to pay than me & have to wait to claim the expenses back. Some places I’ve used snap still give food vouchers & discounts. (Red Lion, Northampton) Parking in the UK is such a rip off anyway of saving a few bob the boss is going to use.
I was under the impression that the night out / subsistence money paid by the employer to the driver pays for the shower/food while they`re away from home
OVLOV JAY:
I’m not trying to be personal, but do you really expect your boss to buy you dinner every night? If you went home every night you would have to fend for yourself. As for showers, the only one I know that charges extra is the Orwell crossing. Most have unlocked showers, ie the stockyard and Newark. Don’t know much else as I’m a creature of habit and I stay in the same places. Junction 29 charge everybody for a shower. Ignore the truckstops and stay on an msa, get your meal voucher and a shower then
No, not at all. But I don’t think we should be expected to pay outrageous prices to eat bad food either. If the company puts a manager in a hotel overnight, do you suppose they have to pay for a shower and a meal? The point I’m making is, we’re NOT at home. We’re not free to dispose of our spare time as we choose because of your employment. In other lines of work when this is the case, employers usually fully subsidise these basic needs happily.
Technically your employer does, that’s what night out money is.
claretmatt:
Our company looks like it will shortly be adopting the SNAP account system. On the face of it, it looks a great idea not having to worry about paying for parking. However, I believe it to be a scourge on the job and a further erosion on our employment conditions.
From what I can make out, if you “pay” with SNAP the vast majority of sites will not give you a shower, let alone a meal or meal voucher. We are expected to live in a lorry all week and in the vast majority of cases do not have any cooking or food storage facilities provided by the firm and now we are expected to pay massively inflated prices for food or buy our own cooking equipment.
I realise some of you will say just cook in the cab, buy yourself a fridge and stop moaning, but this situation is getting out of hand. If I’m on a 9 hour stop following a 15 hour turn, the last thing I want to be doing is breaking out a gas stove and cooking a meal, then tidying it up after. There is a basic human welfare need here that is simply not being met by our employers.
You’re wasting your time expecting most of the drivers on here to agree with you matey. What you say is true - I think it unlikely that other non-driving staff are expected to pay for their own accommodation and subsistence whilst on company business, and they certainly wouldn’t be expected to manage on a measly 25 quid odd a night. Nor would they be expected to sleep in a tin box and cook for themselves whilst working away on company business.
Trouble is, a lot of drivers think it’s ‘cool’ and perfectly acceptable to be sleeping in a truck overnight, whereas in reality, it certainly isn’t. At least, it would be if you were paid to, but you aren’t.
The real issue here is the fact that companies that wouldn’t dream of expecting other staff to ‘slum it’, take it for granted drivers will.
Leaving out the accomodation issue, if you don’t like sleeping ‘tin boxes’ then don’t, there’s no shortage of day jobs, you’re left with £25 for food. And trust me, my office working friends get a lot less than that for their evening meal when staying away. I’ve no idea what drivers think the world outside driving is like but for many it involves staying in the cheapest hotels possible and eating second rate food to keep within a budget. This ‘us poor lorry drivers, we’re so hard done by’ is getting tired. It may be news to you but for lots of people it’s hardly a bed of roses, not just drivers
No one is forced to live in a truck. There are plenty of jobs out there that don’t require nights out. The real issue is the fact that companies subsidise poor pay with night out money
With Snap i parked on an old second world war Raf and Usaf air bsse near Pershore.
Near a poultry farm that supplies Kfc.
It was Marshalls transport yard and told to park on the runway and not by their depot.
The cctv watches all night.
Nearest pub was five miles away.No visiting drivers allowed to use their shower or tea room.
It is near Pershore.
Another Snap place is in Erith.Book in as limited space.No shower but takeawys a few minutes walk.
Do not park outside.Thefts have occured.
claretmatt:
Our company looks like it will shortly be adopting the SNAP account system. On the face of it, it looks a great idea not having to worry about paying for parking. However, I believe it to be a scourge on the job and a further erosion on our employment conditions.
From what I can make out, if you “pay” with SNAP the vast majority of sites will not give you a shower, let alone a meal or meal voucher. We are expected to live in a lorry all week and in the vast majority of cases do not have any cooking or food storage facilities provided by the firm and now we are expected to pay massively inflated prices for food or buy our own cooking equipment.
I realise some of you will say just cook in the cab, buy yourself a fridge and stop moaning, but this situation is getting out of hand. If I’m on a 9 hour stop following a 15 hour turn, the last thing I want to be doing is breaking out a gas stove and cooking a meal, then tidying it up after. There is a basic human welfare need here that is simply not being met by our employers.
You’re wasting your time expecting most of the drivers on here to agree with you matey. What you say is true - I think it unlikely that other non-driving staff are expected to pay for their own accommodation and subsistence whilst on company business, and they certainly wouldn’t be expected to manage on a measly 25 quid odd a night. Nor would they be expected to sleep in a tin box and cook for themselves whilst working away on company business.
Trouble is, a lot of drivers think it’s ‘cool’ and perfectly acceptable to be sleeping in a truck overnight, whereas in reality, it certainly isn’t. At least, it would be if you were paid to, but you aren’t.
The real issue here is the fact that companies that wouldn’t dream of expecting other staff to ‘slum it’, take it for granted drivers will.
Is kipping in a modern truck slumming it? Very few drivers will pay and not get it back, to park the truck and I doubt many will agree with it. It’s certainly not the norm and expected as you make claim. I’ve a few friends who work away with their office based job, they get accommodation, a meal and maybe a beer or 2, but no night out money. Given the choice, I’d slum it in a truck, sort my own food out and pick up the tax free £25, but each to their own!
switchlogic:
Leaving out the accomodation issue, if you don’t like sleeping ‘tin boxes’ then don’t, there’s no shortage of day jobs, you’re left with £25 for food. And trust me, my office working friends get a lot less than that for their evening meal when staying away. I’ve no idea what drivers think the world outside driving is like but for many it involves staying in the cheapest hotels possible and eating second rate food to keep within a budget. This ‘us poor lorry drivers, we’re so hard done by’ is getting tired. It may be news to you but for lots of people it’s hardly a bed of roses, not just drivers
No one is forced to live in a truck. There are plenty of jobs out there that don’t require nights out. The real issue is the fact that companies subsidise poor pay with night out money
Do companies subsidise poor pay with night out money or is night out money paid at the rate of £2 per hour to get you to give up your home life to look after there truck. I know night out money ends up in your bank but it should not be called wages
