Muscles can be built and, as others have said things like cages and trollies are as much about technique as much as brute strength. His attitude seemed right though, i’d rather have an enthusiastic weakling than some musclebound know-it-all who thinks work is beneath him.
Couldn’t agree more, I’m 10 stone nothing and I can shift cages easier than some of the big guys at work, it’s more determination for me, I work hard and show enthusiasm and do the best job I can.
wirralpete:
browncow2:
this eddie stobart truck and trailors tv program bashing is all wrong. i,ve had the pleasure of meeting MARK DIXON and to me he was a totally profesional driver. he was a credit to his employer eddie stobart. i think all this jealousy has been put down to that [,it,s not me on the telly, look at that idiot] to MARK and his boss MR STOBART i take my hat off to you both for a very good tv program. don,t worry about the abuse it,s only drivers of less profecionalism than your drivers.eddie fan all of a sudden?, this from the same bloke who reckoned they were being racist for not having aisan names on the truck, if your trolling at least try and remember what [zb] you posted up earlier
wirralpete-I have said this before.I reckon browncow2 is a closet Eddie spotter.His post seems to confirm it! 
Roll cages are 90% technique 10% effort. Once you know the little tricks it takes most of the effort out of it.
starfighter:
Roll cages are 90% technique 10% effort. Once you know the little tricks it takes most of the effort out of it.
I can relate to this, having worked for Waitrose when I was 16.
Can’t believe people are bashing the Apprenticeship program, as a 22 year old, I know better then most on this forum, how hard it is to find work and any company offering apprenticeships deserve a pat on the back imo. What would happen if companies like this didn’t offer these chances? Then the logistics and driver industry would suffer massively because not many young people can afford to pay their own way for a license and on top of that even if they do its hard for them to gain experience to find a job!
As for the people saying about the guy with a kid deserved it more so then the small guy, why? I watched the show and the smaller guy did a lot more, he was enthusiastic, rimmed the company brand (which in my experience always benefits your application) didn’t put a foot wrong, yeah he was a bit weak but at least he can go away and build on that as I am sure they have told him to do. Where as the guy with a kid, seemed to do badly in the simulator, badly in the interview and didn’t seem as motivated as the other one. If you are implying he deserved it more simply because he has just had a child then I question your intelligence, he shouldn’t of put himself in the situation to have a child if he was unemployed.
freddieeeee go stock shelves for a few months or serve burgers save your money pay your own money to get lessons and pay for your own test to get a licence go to agency bluff you have experience and off you go.
if that dont work and you got your licence as remember if you cant get licence on your own back u def wont get on apprenticeship then change direction as truck driving not for you
Freddie…how do you know better than most folk how hard it is to find work? we all know how hard it is to find work these days…not just because your 22.
Im only 25, been driving since i was 18, passed my HGV at 21, struggled for a bit getting a truck job, blagged my way into other jobs and well im doing fine now tbh. btw i also payed for my own licence…long hours at work and no going to the pub for about 8 months sorta helped so if you expect somebody to pay for your own licence these days…id mayby go look for another job because unless you wanna wear a green shirt all day its very unlikely anyone will pay for it for you.
nedflanders:
freddieeeee go stock shelves for a few months or serve burgers save your money pay your own money to get lessons and pay for your own test to get a licence go to agency bluff you have experience and off you go.
if that dont work and you got your licence as remember if you cant get licence on your own back u def wont get on apprenticeship then change direction as truck driving not for you
I am currently employed offshore my friend, truck driving is not for me I agree, unless I want to drop about 20+K in wages. I’m just saying not everyone has the opportunity to pay for there own license.
before I got my apprenticeship a few years ago, I was working in a co-op, doing 12 hours a week and for ages I was applying for somewhere better to get better wages to maybe get a HGV/LGV license. Except I was living with my Mam, who is a single parent and I was paying £200 lodge a month (steep I know, but it was a case of having to otherwise living in slums and my mother clearly didn’t want to do that, and not as if I could afford to live elsewhere on 12 hours a week) So how could I of payed for my own license when I had a car to run, tax, insurance which for an 18 year old is ridiculous, lodge, plus a girlfriend?
Not all is as easy as it seems some people are better off than others.
gogzy:
Freddie…how do you know better than most folk how hard it is to find work? we all know how hard it is to find work these days…not just because your 22.Im only 25, been driving since i was 18, passed my HGV at 21, struggled for a bit getting a truck job, blagged my way into other jobs and well im doing fine now tbh. btw i also payed for my own licence…long hours at work and no going to the pub for about 8 months sorta helped so if you expect somebody to pay for your own licence these days…id mayby go look for another job because unless you wanna wear a green shirt all day its very unlikely anyone will pay for it for you.
Being young (like you) and leaving school to a ■■■■ economy and in a time of recession? Unlike most on this forum, I imagine when the recession did hit most already had their license and experience, would you not agree?
As said, I don’t need my truckers license I’m just wondering how people on here can knock an apprenticeship scheme, do you not want young people in your industry? Can’t understand it, its nothing but helping.
freddieee welcome to the real world i live in london i am paying 1000 a month and 120 on top of that council tax plus bills and i consider myself lucky i have a nice enough place not a palace but google rents in london and will give u an idea for a bedsit/studio in london which is basically a room and you share a bathroom and kitchen you talking minimum 650 a month.
i arrived here after passing my test and getting my licence no experience apart from driving on my lessons and driving on my test but bragged my way through got work on and off but enough to pay the bills and have a bit of a life.
i could have gone tramping and have no rent to pay but prefer to have a base and like been home every night thats my choice
truck driving not for u if u on 20k more so i would say to u do it as a hobby on your spare time and leave the real life trucking that is pay hassles rdc s waiting bull etc we have to put up with to the guys that do it very day for a living to pay the bills and try a live a life after all that is done.
have had to add as you bet me to my post
ok we had our licence and some had experience before recession but remember recession hasnt affected us as we not have had good times we didnt suddenly make thousands let alone millions our wage s over the last years have come down not up when every ones elses wages were rising ours were staying static or falling.
yes we welcome young people the forums prove that showing when a newbie posts and ask a question the amount of replies he gets or she get s helping them out what we dont approve of is the lowering of our wages even more by these so called apprentice schemes that get people in on slave labour on the idea they are helping out when in fact they doing the opposite
Freddieeeeee:
gogzy:
Freddie…how do you know better than most folk how hard it is to find work? we all know how hard it is to find work these days…not just because your 22.Im only 25, been driving since i was 18, passed my HGV at 21, struggled for a bit getting a truck job, blagged my way into other jobs and well im doing fine now tbh. btw i also payed for my own licence…long hours at work and no going to the pub for about 8 months sorta helped so if you expect somebody to pay for your own licence these days…id mayby go look for another job because unless you wanna wear a green shirt all day its very unlikely anyone will pay for it for you.
Being young (like you) and leaving school to a [zb] economy and in a time of recession? Unlike most on this forum, I imagine when the recession did hit most already had their license and experience, would you not agree?
As said, I don’t need my truckers license I’m just wondering how people on here can knock an apprenticeship scheme, do you not want young people in your industry? Can’t understand it, its nothing but helping.
not really tbh, i got my licence and sat on it for a year, then i went looking for work just before the recession hit and i managed to do well out of it.
were not bashing these schemes…more just bashing stobarts because everyone thinks they are the best haulage firm in existance and nobody will every better them on everything…mind you if you want a ■■■■■■ and a midget to stalk you then stobarts is your company
That is fair enough Ned Flanders but unfortunately the real world also needs young people getting into vital industries like logistics.
And @ Gogzy, I wasn’t saying they are the best company, if anything I think they are so up themselves on that show that they can probably taste what they had for tea the day before. Just saying I think the apprenticeship program is a great oppertunity for those unfortunate who cannot afford their license. Would you not agree?
Freddieeeeee:
As for the people saying about the guy with a kid deserved it more so then the small guy, why? I watched the show and the smaller guy did a lot more, he was enthusiastic, rimmed the company brand
Exactly what I was thinking 
How do you know he did a lot more when we saw a tiny amount of them actually doing something? Perhaps it’d been a bit more credible if the management hadn’t made the selection process look like “Pop Idol” ie pushing photos around a table? That reminded me of swapping football stickers as a kid rather than a selection process.
Freddieeeeee:
That is fair enough Ned Flanders but unfortunately the real world also needs young people getting into vital industries like logistics
Speak English and say “road haulage.”
Muckaway:
Freddieeeeee:
As for the people saying about the guy with a kid deserved it more so then the small guy, why? I watched the show and the smaller guy did a lot more, he was enthusiastic, rimmed the company brandExactly what I was thinking
How do you know he did a lot more when we saw a tiny amount of them actually doing something? Perhaps it’d been a bit more credible if the management hadn’t made the selection process look like “Pop Idol” ie pushing photos around a table? That reminded me of swapping football stickers as a kid rather than a selection process.
Companies want you to want to work for them, they want you to be enthusiastic about working under their name do they not?
In the interview it showed the guy with a kid seemed to be “ermmmm” “uhmmm” whenever he was asked something and the answers it did show the skinny kid answered much better.
Yeah it is a la pop idol, but that is only for tv. At least they are offering apprenticeships unlike the vast majority of other haulage companies.
Besides, its not as if these lads didn’t know what they where signing up for, they could of said they didn’t wish to be on telly, or if they where really that bothered then they wouldn’t have turned up would they not?
Muckaway:
Freddieeeeee:
That is fair enough Ned Flanders but unfortunately the real world also needs young people getting into vital industries like logisticsSpeak English and say “road haulage.”
Sorry, I am not in the “road haulage” industry myself so wouldn’t know what you guys prefer being called haha.
Freddieeeeee:
Muckaway:
Freddieeeeee:
That is fair enough Ned Flanders but unfortunately the real world also needs young people getting into vital industries like logisticsSpeak English and say “road haulage.”
Sorry, I am not in the “road haulage” industry myself so wouldn’t know what you guys prefer being called haha.
Why are you on a truck drivers forum then? It’d be like me commenting on a Warcraft forum (other sad pastimes for lazy students and middle aged men with no friends are available).
So stobarts pay off there trampers and decide to start apprentices and this is good,why. As I was an apprentice for 4 years you do the same work as everyone else but get virtually nothing, oohh that’s why they made they started them sorry silly me
no stobarts take you on as an apprentice and pay you a crap wage for however long your a scallywag before you finally get to earn what one of their regular drivers earn…eg cheap labour for how ever long your a newbie probably
youd have to work for them for 2 years minimum before you could leave, if you leave early you will still end up paying for your licence anyway
Could you really do a job where your every move is watched, where if you dont wave at a spotter they will grass you up, if you do something a spotter doesnt like youll get your balls chewed, where you get some sad act spotter wanting to look in your truck when all you wanna do is sleep while on a 45.
i got into this so i wouldnt have anybody watching my every move.
Stobart is doing this as they got a mega bucks grant off the Government, I believe they got some other grant to develop the Widnes site too, due to bringing work to the area & also shipping! Pilkington also got a big wedge for some apprentice scheme …
McCulla is doing a similar scheme in Northern Ireland targeting young farmers, where you can learn through their company with a job at the end of it, McCulla is doing this with the young farmers with the company links to the farming background where I believe they started.