Harry Monk:
But as said earlier, we all have other things going on in life and for some of us a later start more fits in with our other life needs. Modern-day hauliers require drivers to work weekends too and while that is fine for some, I can’t imagine my kids’ headmaster agreeing to move to a rolling “four-on, four-off” school week.
So they can fit around me or they can [zb] off
Exactly. I am normally pretty flexible over start times as I have no real preference for any particular time but sometimes because of other things I don’t want to do certain times and luckily my boss is very accommodating about it. Last Saturday I went from home in Luton to Edinburgh and back in the car for football, and as I was working Sunday but not getting home until after 23:00 I asked if I could have a later start rather than a 03:00 and he obliged with a 09:00. This week he asked if I would do the 03:00 tomorrow and as he accommodated me last weekend, so I didn’t miss out on a double time shift, I was happy to say yes.
My last boss was like that but I fear my next boss would not be.
Ultimately Jack Cohen is the boss these days and he couldn’t care less if I never saw my children again and worked myself into the grave in my mid-50’s just so long as he could grab another handful of shekels.
Through the years I have had many different jobs and start times and quite enjoy the late morning or lunchtime starts, the problem you find is that when you are running abroad, the parking area is full and you end up at the tail end of a slip road trying to sleep in hot sun with trucks rocking my cab. When I worked “nights” on a trunk many years ago, my ideal start time was 1am and finishing around 10am, I stayed up then until about 4pm and then had my tea / breakfast as my mother was going to bed. It was quite nice going for a couple of pints with the great unemployed & unwashed as the pub opened in the mornings after a 9hr shift.
Apart from that my working week ended on a Saturday and started on a Tuesday, just
I am amazed that anybody would spend several thousand pounds to obtain a permit entitling them to work the worst and longest hours imaginable for little more than the minimum wage. What on earth has this job turned into?
Harry Monk:
I am amazed that anybody would spend several thousand pounds to obtain a permit entitling them to work the worst and longest hours imaginable for little more than the minimum wage. What on earth has this job turned into?
For me personally it’s turned into an easy job that earns me an amount I am more than pleased with and is better now than at any time since I started doing it over 26 years ago. But more importantly than that I’m happy doing it and there is nothing else within my skill or knowledge level that I would be happy doing.
Harry Monk:
I am amazed that anybody would spend several thousand pounds to obtain a permit entitling them to work the worst and longest hours imaginable for little more than the minimum wage. What on earth has this job turned into?
For me personally it’s turned into an easy job that earns me an amount I am more than pleased with and is better now than at any time since I started doing it over 26 years ago. But more importantly than that I’m happy doing it and there is nothing else within my skill or knowledge level that I would be happy doing.
Yes, but would you sit through the theory test, the rigid test, the artic test and lay out three times as much money to get your licence to enter the industry nowadays?
Harry Monk:
I am amazed that anybody would spend several thousand pounds to obtain a permit entitling them to work the worst and longest hours imaginable for little more than the minimum wage. What on earth has this job turned into?
For me personally it’s turned into an easy job that earns me an amount I am more than pleased with and is better now than at any time since I started doing it over 26 years ago. But more importantly than that I’m happy doing it and there is nothing else within my skill or knowledge level that I would be happy doing.
Yes, but would you sit through the theory test, the rigid test, the artic test and lay out three times as much money to get your licence to enter the industry nowadays?
EDIT Forgot the Driver CPC
Not a chance. I’ll still have to do the CPC, although not pay for it, and I am sorta looking forward to the session on Tacho and WTD rules for some reason.
Harry Monk:
I am amazed that anybody would spend several thousand pounds to obtain a permit entitling them to work the worst and longest hours imaginable for little more than the minimum wage. What on earth has this job turned into?
eh? Lorry driving has always been the worst hours as far as i can remember. Who supplied all the markets before RDC’s became the norm? How did drivers get on the doorstep of some where hundereds of miles away ready for them opening at 7am?
When you spend the first part of your working life either on the dole or in a factory pushing 2 buttons,12 hrs a day for less than £900 quid a month you tend to think that driving a truck is the easy life!! and well paid too!!
Harry Monk:
I am amazed that anybody would spend several thousand pounds to obtain a permit entitling them to work the worst and longest hours imaginable for little more than the minimum wage. What on earth has this job turned into?
eh? Lorry driving has always been the worst hours as far as i can remember. Who supplied all the markets before RDC’s became the norm? How did drivers get on the doorstep of some where hundereds of miles away ready for them opening at 7am?
When I started doing the job, supermarkets closed at night and on Sundays. Now they open then and require constant deliveries at night and on Sundays and overtime rates for weekend working are being slowly eroded and will soon disappear altogether.
Harry Monk:
When I started doing the job, supermarkets closed at night and on Sundays. Now they open then and require constant deliveries at night and on Sundays and overtime rates for weekend working are being slowly eroded and will soon disappear altogether.
That’s true: When I came back to driving in the mid 90s I could easily get £12 an hour for Sundays. That’s worth £20 today with inflation. Now I’d be lucky to get £12 anywhere round here.
My employer pays flat money for all hours on any day. (No Sundays though and we add a few extra hours on a rare Saturday to make up for it.)
fatles:
Where is this so called widnes “chill” depot…are you meaning the new tesco rdc up there? or is there another place up there■■?
Yes, the new RDC.
Its next to Stobart’s inland port - the old O’Connor site - next to the River Mersey.
As for the OP wanting specific start times, speak to a guy called Richard Farrell, he’s the Op’s manager there and the man with the yes or no ability…
probably not worth even droppping names there’s jobs advertising in the local jobby week in week out, and agencies seem to be paying more than fulltime wage, might be worth having a look about first, am sure they lost alot of drivers due to the fact there wasent enough money to be earned, i could be wrong
