Rob K:
Now if we’ve all finished nit-picking then I’ll continue with Friday and Saturday
Please do! 
Rob, I enjoyed the read immensley and have actually learnt quite a bit from it. I’m not suprised you got it up the rear endon windy hill, I used to hate going up their in the rigid. The other faverouite one is your overtaking an artic, going quicker than him and the idiot pulls out in front of you without any warning at all. I’m not suprised the copper’s seen it all before working on that stretch of road. Thoroughly enjoyable read mate, keep 'em comming please, much better than a soap opera any day 
.
Silly o’clock start on Friday, up at 0415 and away from the house at 0445 
. Got up to the yard and was away from there at 0505 for Costco Oldham.
I didn’t know where this one was and “Costco Oldham” was all I had for the address 
. I managed a few words with another driver before I left and he said it was on the A627 just before it crosses the M60.
I took a wrong turning where McDonalds is with Lidl or Aldi behind it (always get those two confused) and had to turn around and come back out but another 200 yards down it’s there on the right, literally on the M60 junction. Now with the shennanigans I had with Costco Leeds last Saturday I was kind of expecting the same here but was in for a shock. A very pleasant (and cute 
) young lass called Nicola greeted me at the door and apologised that there’d be a couple of minutes delay before they could start tipping me .
“No worries, do I need to wait in here or can I sit in my cab?”
“Whichever you want!”
Crikey! Note in my diary required for when I next speak to Costco H & S woman.
I was out of there about 0700 and went to get something to eat and get my head down for an hour. Belled the office about 0800 and next job was to go to John Cotton’s at Mirfield for an Argos load for Wolverhampton.
Got in there about 0900 to find that the stuff wasn’t ready and wouldn’t be for a good while yet. I let the office know and took the opportunity to get some breakfast at my favourite burger bar in Ravensthorpe Ind Est just 5 minutes down the road. Spent an hour down there munching and talking to Lynn and Steve who are the burger van owners and then caught up with Tony who used to work for Featherstones with me. I’d been wondering why I’d only seen two of his motors since I’d left at the start of July and it turns out that the Ministry have been in for some reason or another and he’s had his fleet cut down to 6 units from 20 . No surprises there; it was only a matter of time before it happened… I then returned to Cotton’s to find the trailer still wasn’t ready.
It must have been about midday when I finally escaped from there and even though I had 32 pallets on the wagon still pulled like it was empty as Cotton’s do quilt’s and pillow’s, that kind of thing, so very little weight on.
Started heading towards Dewsbury for the M1 but as I was driving it dawned on me that for Wolverhampton I’d be much better going down the M6 from there so I turned round and got on the M62 at J25.
I think it was about 1600 when I pulled off the A449 into the slip road for Argos. I pulled up to the gate and saw two artics waiting in the yard at the barrier and a BT artic waiting outside, opposite the entrance/exit sat squarely on the KEEP CLEAR markings and lines and as there was an Argos artic trying to come out, the BT wagon was totally in the way and I had nowhere to go as the BT wagon was half blocking the road and there were a load of parked vehicles on the offside of me.
The BT artic moved forwards about 3ft - I kid you not - which changed absolutely nothing and I had to reverse back up to the junction in order to let the Argos wagon out. What a shambles 
.
The Argos driver aired his annoyance at the BT driver as he came past me which I totally agreed with and when he was clear I drove past the BT wagon up the slip road and then reversed it into an gateway to turn round and parked up on the other side of the road away from the entrance and basically out of everyone’s way, albeit still close to the gate. Why the BT driver couldn’t have done that is beyond me.
I got out and started walking down the road to book in at the gatehouse and then noticed the driver of the BT artic was a woman (sorry ladies, but need I say more… ) so I had a few choice words with her…
“Can you not read ?”
“What?”
“What does it say there on the ground? KEEP CLEAR. So why are you parked square over the top of it ?”
“What’s it got to do with you?”
“You’re meant to be a professional driver. What are doing parked on KEEP CLEAR markings in 5ft white letters, opposite the entrance so that no-one can get in or out and basically getting in everyone’s way?”
“It’s got nothing to do with you so keep your nose out. I’m sick of coming to this place”.
“Yeah, aren’t we all, but you’re not improving things by parking there are you? Why can’t you use your brain and have driven up the road, turned round and park where I am out of the way of folks trying to turn in and out of the place? Were you at the back of the queue when God was giving out common sense?”
“zebidee off”.
She was well miffed when security told me to pull in in front of her as I was just in for a trailer swap . I dropped it off, picked up another rag-sider, left the yard and then belled the office.
“What trailer have you got?”.
“400532”.
“That’s a small box isn’t it?”
“Yeah”.
“You want a big box out of there or a white one coz you’re going to Costco”.
“Right, I’ll have to go back in then and swap it over”.
“Erm, just take it to Coventry and swap it over there. Lutterworth is only up the road from there”.
After I’d swapped over at Coventry the office rang and gave me Saturday’s tip details - an 0500 tip in Oldham . Initially sounded good meaning an early finish Saturday but on calculating my hours I had used all my 9’s up but still had a 15 left, so I could work until 1945 and it was about 1630 when I was left Coventry and needed to take a 45 by time I got to Magna Park.
Whilst I was at Coventry I chased up Costco about the H & S issues at the Leeds depot and phones Sue Knowles direct and told her who I was.
“Yes, Sarah did pass on your details to me. You and I have spoken before, about 2 years ago. You’re the guy from the TUC union aren’t you?”.
“Er, no! We haven’t spoken before I can assure you. I’m a driver who has a number of H & S issues at your Leeds depot which I would like your views on, especially the one where the drivers aren’t allowed to sit in their cab whilst they’re being unloaded”.
“Yes, Sarah passed that information on. We’re having a meeting about it next week and this will be discussed I can assure you. At this moment in time I don’t know why that happens at Leeds but I will endeavour to find out and will ring you after the minutes have been written up, is that okay for you?”.
“Yes, that would be much appreciated thanks”.
“Okay, thanks for your call. Bye”, and slammed the phone down.
So let me get this right. She’s the H & S manager for Costco and doesn’t know what the H & S issue is that the drivers can’t wait in their cabs? Crazy…
Got up to Magna and connected up to the trailer I wanted. Another driver come over and asked where I was going tomorrow so I told him and also that I’d used all my 9’s but still had a 15 left.
“You can’t have. If you’ve used all your 9’s then you’ve used all your 15’s too”.
“No, you’re wrong, trust me”.
He wouldn’t have it, even after explaining it to him, so we agreed to disagree. I got away from there tipping the scales at 37040 at 1740 and as I needed to park securely for the night I either had a choice of staying there and setting off at silly o’clock in the morning, running up to the Derby depot and stopping there but it’s too far off the beaten track to be worth it or run up to Dewsbury which is ambitious on a Friday in 2hrs and 5 mins. I looked at my tacho for Thursday and did it in 2hrs dead but I was 3 tonne lighter and it wasn’t Friday.
The traffic wasn’t too bad for a change and I did it in 2hrs 10 mins, going over my time by 5 minutes 
.
Left the wagon connected to the trailer as I’d be taking it next morning, but needing 11off it would be 0700 before I could start so it would be 0800 before I got to Costco, 3 hrs late . I told the office this and they looked on in disbelief. I reminded them that I’d made Steve aware that I couldn’t reduce my rest a 4th time and he’d said okay. Anyway, the end result was to drop the trailer and someone else would take that and I had 2x Leeds to do in morning instead, an 0730 booking and the 0830 one. How I was meant to do both on time was beyond me, considering it’s half an hour from the yard to Costco Leeds each way, plus an hour’s tipping time.
I went home for the night in my van and arrived to find my wage-slip for next week waiting on the door-mat 
. Looking forward to a net figure of about £700 I stared in disbelief at a net pay of £465.71 which consisted of :
Driving Days [UNITS] 5.00 [RATE] 90.00 [AMOUNT] 450.00
Driving Sat 4.00 11.00 44.00
Night Out 1.00 100.00 100.00
Total gross pay - 594.00
Gross pay for tax - 494.00
PAYE tax 83.91
NI 44.38
Code 474L
Net 465.71
The fact that when I’d been diverted into UPS last Monday (two weeks) ago I’d confirmed with Chris that it was the same rate, ie. 8.50 and time 1.5, which he said yes to. As this had been paid on a daily rate rather than hours there was one hell of a ■■■■-up. With it being 2120 at this time it wasn’t fair to ring him at that time on a Friday night so I texted him instead, saying that I needed to speak to him before I finished on Saturday otherwise my next weeks booking was off. There’s no way I’m working 15hrs a day for £90 - that’s £6/hr all hours .
Remembering that when I worked from them through Direct Workforce last year I was on a daily rate then, didn’t inspire confidence in me that I’d be seeing the money I was due.
–
Saturday I got in for 0715 and took the 0730 Costco arriving Leeds at 0800. I didn’t kick up a fuss about the seating and not being able to sit in the cab until I had a result from their H & S. I simply moved the chair to near the door away from the fork lift’s and they had me tipped in half an hour. Belled the office and I wasn’t required to do the 0830 one but needed to drop my trailer at the J41 depot near Morrisons and pick up a loaded one to come back to the yard.
You regular drivers to J41 Ind Est will be pleased to know that they’ve resurfaced the whole of the access road up there which was like the surface of the moon beforehand and were just finishing off doing the roundabout when I came back out .
Got back to Dewsbury yard and got all my gear up, remembering to untangle the susies this time as well and handed all my paperwork in.
“I can’t say for sure that I’ll be in next week yet until I speak to the agency in a short while as they’ve totally cocked up my wage”.
“Right, I’d better take you off the list for Monday then”.
“Well, I’m hoping to get it sorted out so leave me on and I’ll phone you before midday to confirm either way so you’re not left in limbo. They’ve paid a daily rate when hours were agreed and there’s no way I’m working for 15hrs for £90”.
“I don’t blame you mate, but they pay like that because we pay the agencies like that. We pay the agency x amount for a days work but obviously for that money we’re going to give the agency drivers all the crap that our own drivers won’t do and work you to your maximum hours to get our money’s worth”.
“Well, I’ll still need to speak to the agency though”.
“Well I’ll leave you on the schedule for now but if I haven’t heard from you by midday I’ll be taking you off”.
Anyway, left it at that and another 73.25 hours for the week I went home and made some breakfast, watched a bit of telly and then phoned Chris.
“Chris, it’s Rob Knapp. You know a week last Monday when the S & C Timber job was cancelled you sent me in to UPS?”
“Yeah”.
“Right, before I went to UPS I asked you if it was the same money and you said yes. Well how come my wage slip has arrived, approximately £250 short, net?”
“Ah riiiiiiiight, yeah I’d forgotten it’s a fixed day rate there”.
“So you mean to tell me I’ve done been doing 15hr days for £6/hr ?”
“We can’t pay the drivers any more because UPS only pay us a fixed rate”.
“Well that’s music to my ears now, that is 
. I’ve just worked 12 days out of 14, doing 146 hours and now I find out I’ve been paid £6/hr for every single one of them. How much do they pay you?”.
“They agree to pay a maximum of £120 per day and we pay you £90, but out of that £90 with have to pay your tax and n.i. which leaves us making about £15 per day per driver which is nothing really”.
“Well unless you can vastly improve the money I won’t be working there again”.
“How much more do you want?”.
“Well, whatever 8x £8/hr is plus 7x £12/hr which in my reckoning is £148 per day”.
“They only pay us £120 per day though so there’s no chance of that!”.
“Well there’s no chance of me getting out of bed then! I don’t work for peanuts, you know that by now. You know I’m a good driver and will do you a good job to the best of my abilities and you’ll never get the client phoning up asking where I am. That should be worth a lot to you and deserves a decent rate accordingly. You pays peanuts, you get monkies!”.
“Yeah I know, but my hands are tied with UPS mate”.
“Have you got anything else for next week?”.
“Only some class 2 which I know you won’t do but I’ve got a double-man draw-bar job delivering to shops for Perfecta beds at Wombwell again, tramping work”.
“Nah, I don’t do double-manning if it’s night out work sorry”.
Anyway we agreed to sleep on it and see what Monday brought.
Earlier today (Sunday) the bell rang and there’s a class 1 TNT job at the Leeds depot near the south Leeds stadium on an 0600 start.
“How much is it?”
“They only pay £7.50/hr”.
“Forget it then!”.
“I suppose I could squeeze it to £8/hr and the usual time 1.5 after 8hrs”.
“That’s more like it, put me down for it, consider the job done!”.
So that’s where I’m going tomorrow…
Good read yet again Rob and thanks,looks like agencies/employers haven’t changed,let you do it and then don’t want to pay.
You’re right to stick out for agreed rates,only trouble is they always seem to find some idiot to do it.
thanks and regards derek
trucking482002:
Good read yet again Rob and thanks,looks like agencies/employers haven’t changed,let you do it and then don’t want to pay.
You’re right to stick out for agreed rates,only trouble is they always seem to find some idiot to do it.
thanks and regards derek
I agree mate, and its them idiots who spoil it for the rest of us!
I have read a few of these posts and can agree with some points, but if a driver of mine started contacting my customers about any issue, whether it is Health and Safety or anything, they wouldn’t be a driver of mine for long
I am not sticking up for UPS or Costco.
A while ago when I worked in a transport office. I had a driver with his own truck who did some sub contract work, he decided he knew better than us in the office and started shooting his mouth off in ICI.
Within a week the contract was cancelled and the company who we worked for had to finish all the drivers and office staff.
All because of a personal issue. One driver cost 50 blokes their jobs.
He may have been correct but there are ways to sort out these disputes.
That is my opinion. If I get a load of aggravation over this post. So,be it.
In my experience it caused more problems then it solved. Wilf is now an employed driver for someone because he lost his truck and house, when ICI management refused to allow him on site.
Keep the stories coming Rob
Well done, Rob.
I have read a few of these posts and can agree with some points, but if a driver of mine started contacting my customers about any issue, whether it is Health and Safety or anything, they wouldn’t be a driver of mine for long
Although I can fully understand your intention when discussing and phoning about health/security issues and something like this, I am with Wheel Nut about this. I think it’s a very dangerous thing for the companies involved, be it the transport co. or a subcontractor or even the supplier for the receiver (for example: Receiver to supplier: “Hi, there’s a driver here with a load of your product messing around. Could you please ensure that we don’t see him any more, best would be if you change your logistics supplier!” Supplier: “Errrrrrrrrrr, hmmmmmm, aaaaaahhh”). Etcetcetcetc…
This is a very sensitive issue and I more than one time had to solve problems of that kind and calm diputes with customers, when a driver was involved in a way similar to those described.
Please don’t flame me, just my 2 cents worth on this.
Anyway, a very enjoyable read again, Rob, all the best for next week. Isn’t it dangerous driving TNT (explosive and stuff… 
).
As it happens guys, I told UPS about what had happened on the first Saturday morning when I started on Monday morning and they were equally surprised at the no-sitting-in-cab rule and even said that if they’d been in my shoes they would have refused to sit on the chair given the close proximity of the fork-lifts. I even said that I was going to bell up H & S to find out the reasons why and there was no negative response to it.
I was polite and reasonable to all concerned working for Costco so there was no reason for any of them to complain. I complied with all their H & S regs on my visits. I was not asking for answers on behalf of UPS, I was asking for them for myself.
I think as a result of my actions, drivers who have to visit Costco Leeds in the future will find that drivers are allowed to wait in their cabs, which can only be a good thing and a positive outcome.
However, should I be faced with such a situation in future I would be more tactful and air my concerns to their H & S department in writing, not stating the company I was working for to cover all angles.
Whilst drivers continue to let themselves be treated like dirt at these places without complaining then nothing will change. However, that’s a topic that’s already done the rounds on many an occasion.
Nice ine Rob, enjoyed reading that. Just one thing confuses me though, and this is a genuine query not nit picking:
Another driver come over and asked where I was going tomorrow so I told him and also that I’d used all my 9’s but still had a 15 left.
“You can’t have. If you’ve used all your 9’s then you’ve used all your 15’s too”.
“No, you’re wrong, trust me”.
He wouldn’t have it, even after explaining it to him, so we agreed to disagree.
Could you explain how you’ve got a fifteen left after using all your nines? From reading your account of the week I can’t see how that can be as it doesn’t look like you have split a shift anywhere.
Yeah sure…
Monday 0700-2015
13.25hrs = extended day, 10.75hrs daily rest, 9.25hrs shift rest.
Tuesday 0630-2030
14hrs = extended day, 10hrs daily rest, 10.5hrs shift rest.
Wednesday 0700-2000
13hrs = normal day, 11hrs daily rest, 11hrs shift rest.
Thursday 0700-1945
12.75hrs = normal day, 11.25hrs daily rest, 9hrs shift rest.
Friday 0445-1945
15hrs = extended day, 9hrs daily rest, 11.5hrs shift rest.
Saturday 0715-1000
It must be late at night and my brain aint engaged, but what is that shift rest?
Gurner:
It must be late at night and my brain aint engaged, but what is that shift rest?
Tis ok now my brain has engaged.
Rob K:
Yeah sure…Monday 0700-2015
13.25hrs = extended day, 10.75hrs daily rest, 9.25hrs shift rest.
Tuesday 0630-2030
14hrs = extended day, 10hrs daily rest, 10.5hrs shift rest.
Wednesday 0700-2000
13hrs = normal day, 11hrs daily rest, 11hrs shift rest.
Thursday 0700-1945
12.75hrs = normal day, 11.25hrs daily rest, 9hrs shift rest.
Friday 0445-1945
15hrs = extended day, 9hrs daily rest, 11.5hrs shift rest.
Saturday 0715-1000
Thanks to Neil for pointing it out, but I have made an error in my hours calculations . Despite 20 minutes clarifying with a more knowledgeable friend of mine at the time, neither of us had realised beforehand that the seemingly correct 11hrs rest on Friday night is actually a fatal error. The daily rest for that day was actually only 9 hours (0000-0445 = 4hrs 45mins and 1945-0000 = 4hrs 15mins = total of 9hrs) so that makes it technically a 4th daily rest reduction . The actual shift rest (finish time to start time next day) of 11hrs is irrelevant because the total rest between midnight Thursday night and midnight Friday night was only 9hrs .
I hold my hand up and admit I’ve made a mistake. Not to worry though; at least I know that if I get prosecuted for it I’ll only receive a £20 fine…
Rob why you got it wrong is because you are counting a fixed 24 hour period, 00:00 - 24:00. This is wrong because unlike the week which is a fixed (00:00 Monday - 24:00 Sunday) the 24 hour period isn’t. It is defined as the period begining when a driver commences work after a daily or weekly rest period. So when you commence work at say 07:00 Monday, by 07:00 Tuesday you must have had 11 hours rest or a reduced rest down to a minimum of 9 hours. I’m ignoring split shifts here as that would just confuse the issue.
Just work each 24 hour period from when you start each day and not from 00:00 - 24:00 and you will be right.
You have a PM.
I hold my hand up and admit I’ve made a mistake. Not to worry though; at least I know that if I get prosecuted for it I’ll only receive a £20 fine…
Cheers for the stories… they give a great insight into what the life of a real trucker is really like especially as my job entails nothing like what you get up to.
No to mention the fact that I am new
I bumped into this bloke recently at an unexpected pick up I had to make and we got chatting. Turns out he was a temp…
‘Yeah, I don’t need to work really’ …“Oh Right!” replied I.
‘Came into a bit of money you know’ …“OH RIGHT!” replied I.
‘Just doin’ it for the hell of it’ …“Oh Right!” replied I.
‘Gets me out of the house that’s all’ …“Oh Right!” replied I.
‘Did some TNT work the other week’ …“Oh Right!” replied I.
‘Nice easy work’ …“Oh Right!” replied I.
‘Job ‘n’ Knock it was’ …“Oh Right!” replied I.
'Didn’t hang about …“Oh Right!” replied I.
‘Meant to finish at 3am but was done at 11’ …“Oh RIGHT!” replied I.
‘TM goes "Blimey! That was quick! You’ll have to hang about a bit’ …“Oh No!” replied I.
‘Come again I said’ …“Uh oh!” replied I.
‘Yes just to help out’ …“Oh 'eck!” replied I.
‘You said job ‘n’ knock and I’M ZEBBIN’ KNOCKIN’… goodnight’ …“A-l-r-i-g-h-t!” replied I.
Wonder if it’s the same depot? It could be a bumper week with the ol’ tales this week!!!
I hold my hand up and admit I’ve made a mistake. Not to worry though; at least I know that if I get prosecuted for it I’ll only receive a £20 fine…
I might have the occassional pop at you Rob, but I admire a guy that holds his paw up and admits to a mistake!!!
Making sure I wasn’t going to get skanked again, I re-clarified with Chris that the money for today was still £8/hr and £12/hr after 8hrs which he confirmed.
I turned up at TNT Leeds for 0600 (old Taylor Barnard yard (and motors)) and wandered in to the traffic office to find no-one there. Just as I’m about to walk out a guy walked in and came round the other side.
“William Kent right?”
“Er, no”.
“Oh, who are you then?”. Told him and that I was replacing aforementioned person.
“Oh right. There’s your notes and keys. Give us a ring if you have any problems”.
“Right will do. Where am I going? All I’ve got here is a run sheet and a defect sheet. There’s no notes”.
“Er, I dunno actually. Go and see the fork lift driver up the top end, he’ll know”.
So I found my unit, a Scania 114L 380 in Taylor Barnard colours, caked in grime and you couldn’t see the susies for the amount of grease on them and also the usual unkempt tangle too. The overall condition of it was appalling. The plastic visor above the windscreen had been hit at some point and was all smashed and bent upwards in a big inverted ’ v ’ shape, the nearside door had a big dent in it, the n/s vertical air kit on the back of the unit was missing and the n/s steps and battery cover were all crushed and damaged. Why I didn’t walk back into the office and give them the keys back I don’t know. Maybe I was in too good a mood .
It was rather surprising to find that it actually had some oil and water in it so I opened the door and started to climb in. A tenth of a second later, I climbed straight back down again and was glad to get a breath of fresh air. The cab interior stunk to high heaven of cig smoke. Now I’m very tolerant to cig smoke as a non-smoker myself but that smelled like 100 people had been in there with the windows closed smoking for 24hrs non-stop it was that bad. No problem, cranked it up, fan on ‘4’, knob to ‘0’ so the air comes out of the main vents and not under the dash or up the windscreen, both windows down, go for a coffee and come back in ten minutes . That just about did the trick.
Went and saw the fork lift bloke.
“Yeah you’re doing the shunting today. Go down to M Y Cartons on Hunslet Road (Leeds), pick up the trailer out of there and either bring it back here to tip for storage or take it to their other depot at the end of this road”.
Went and got the trailer and then promptly got my jeans lathered in grease from the susies which I was angry about. Took it to their other depot and asked security where it was going.
“Back it under the canopy on bay 8 and they’ll side tip you”.
Did that and had just finished unbuckling the curtains and pulling them back…
“What you doing on here, you should be on that bay down there, it’s a rear tip anyway. You want the full trailer parked at the side as well”.
Did the curtains back up and did the drop and swap and back to TNT. Bloke came running out of the office…
“Are you William Kent 
”.
“No”.
"Who are you then ".
“Rob Knapp”.
"Oh right, are you in in place of William Kent then ".
“I believe so”.
“Right, you’re doing the wrong job”.
“Oh. What am I meant to be doing then ”.
“A local run with 4 drops”.
“Oh right. No-one could tell me what I was doing when I got here at 0600 so I had to get some idea from the fork lift driver”.
“Zebideeing useless zebidee’s”.
He gave me the list of drops and I was started at Morrisons Wakefield for 0900 tip (0845 at this time), then M & S Toiletries at Normanton, NHS Supplies on the other side of the motorway next door to Asda and then the last one for Netto’s at South Elmsall.
Got to Morries at 0915 and no waiting about, straight up to the top and reversed under the canopy, curtains open, 11 pallets off, finished and parked up near the security hut to await the signed paperwork. An hour later I wandered down to find they were just completing it and then this stunning young lass sticks her head out of the side window waving my paperwork about. Turned out one of the pallets was the wrong shade of blue so they were sending it back .
“Just open your wagon up and they’ll put it in” - yeah, I was thinking along the same lines too 
So they put the pallet back and then I returned to the hut to get my notes but they’d disappeared again, presumably for some more adjusting. Never mind, go back to cab and occupy myself for a while. I went back to the hut at half hour intervals but still no sign of the paperwork hung up on the pegs. Eventually, 1245 came and it was beginning to stink so I collared the young lass and asked her where my paperwork was.
“Yeah, I’ll give you the paperwork back once you’ve got the pallet on”.
“I’ve had the pallet on for two and a half hours 
. I’ve been stood here like a lemon waiting for the paperwork to be put on the peg ”.
“Oh right, your paperwork’s here on the desk, I was waiting for you to come back and tell me you had it on”.
Out of there and round to to MST and thankfully no problems there. No problems at NHS Supplies for one pallet either.
Then it was Netto’s…
Despite the delays at Morries I wasn’t booked in at Netto’s until 1600 and got there at 1550. Straight on to bay 52. Went in and gave them my paperwork and keys. If I would like an electric pallet truck then I would need to sign but I could use a normal one without signing. As the stuff was only light I opted for a normal one but finding one is another matter so I returned and signed for an electric one instead. Found one which worked but then you need to locate the dock leveller man to lift the leveller up for you. Well, trying to locate him is like locating a needle in a haystack.
I couldn’t find him anywhere so I returned to the goods in office and told the lass there (only 2 bay spaces away from where I was). I returned back to the warehouse to find that my electric truck and key had disappeared which caused them a whole pile of problems because the drivers have to sign for the key…
Whilst all this was being sorted out the dock leveller bloke had put to the ramp on so all I needed to do now was find a pallet truck which I soon sourced from miles away. Had the 6 pallets off in a few minutes and then required the checker to check it off which coincidentally happened to also be the dock levelling bloke. I found him about 40 bays away from where I was and asked him where the rest of the checkers and dock-levelling people were.
“There’s only me to do the lot”.
Now considering there’s a wagon on EVERY bay all busy beavering away that’s gonna take a longgggggg time to get to me and it did. It was 7pm before I got out of there, after waiting for 2.5hrs doing nothing waiting for my 6 pallets to be checked and dock-leveller to be raised…
I was meant to be working there all week but considering the state of the unit I declined working on Tuesday and said I’d think about Wednesday-Friday unless something better came up in between. I put in a defect for the wagon and in the additional comments box added:
“Vehicle needs a good clean and de-greasing”.
Left there at 1930.
Would William Kent please step forward so Rob doesn’t have to go back on that job again?
Bell rang Tuesday lunch time.
“You know you wanted to get back on boxes, well I’ve got a nice little job for you for the rest of the week”.
“Oh aye . Go on”.
“It’s a night job for Roadways, 1800 start tonight and it’s for the rest of the week, £8.50/hr and time & half”.
“Credit where it’s due Chris, you’re persistant at trying to keep the money down so it’s a good job I’m equally persistant at keeping it up . Get your hand in your pocket and get it up to £9/hr and time & half or else you’ll have to get yourself on the bell to get someone to do it ”.
“ They’re only paying £11.46/hr so if I’m paying you £9 I’m only making a couple of quid”.
“Aww di-dums… ”
Anyway that was the deal and he accepted as he knows I do a sterling job and ask for me back again .
Got down there for 1800 and drove my van right up to the office and parked up.
“I think I’m meant to be doing a Southampton”.
“No that’s been cancelled, you’ll be shunting tonight. Just sit tight for now until I can get you sorted out”.
Then later,
“Here’s the keys for your unit (an S-reg Scania 94L 310 sleeper P-cab ). Grab a 40ft skelly with an ‘F’ or ‘UF’ prefix and here’s a list of the boxes on the train in Freightliner which need to come back in here to go in the stack”.
Having done plenty of container work before I knew exactly what I was doing which was a big relief and help for the guys in the office saving them explaining it all in detail.
Went and found a trailer with aforementioned prefix. Reversed under it and promptly overshot the pin . With my most recent jobs being rag-siders and fridges I’d gotten used to the pins being deep set and forgot that skelly pin-sets are nearly always short hence how I’d managed to go straight over the top of the fifth wheel still thinking I had loads to go until it located .
Anyway, the skelly was still miles away from the back of the cab and the trailer legs miles away from the unit rear light clusters so it was simply a matter of dropping the units’ suspension on its arse and pulling out. Alas, no . No air control console on the unit . Oh well, there’s nothing else for it except to wind the legs down further to lift the trailer up higher off the ground so as to be able to get the unit out. Because the skelly was a slider and in the 20ft position, plus all the axles were on the ground I was able to wind it down in high gear (coz I’m big and hard like that ) and had it high enough after a couple of rotations to get the unit out.
Pulled out far enough so that the pin was the correct side of the fifth wheel and then jumped back out and wound the legs up to drop the trailer onto the fifth wheel plate. Believe it or not, I had the legs a couple of inches clear of the ground and the front of the trailer still maintained its position - it didn’t rest on the unit at all . I can only conclude that the weight of the bunched trailer all at the back and the axles was enough to do that but I’ve never known that to happen with a slider before.
Needless to say, the trailer was still too high to connect to so what now . With it being a tri-axle slider then it should be a lift axle so if I lift the front axle then the trailer should drop onto the back of the unit enabling me to couple up. Nuff searching of the trailer only found the pin lock button, hand brake button, shunt button and another button on the far rear nearside which said “lock axle” on it. That must be it then, although why didn’t it say “lift axle” on it instead . I pulled the button out and there was a rush of air doing something but the lift axle wasn’t lifting . Hmm, maybe it’s because I’m not connected to it and there isn’t enough air in the system.
Before I connected the red line up to the trailer to put some juice in it I pulled the park brake on and that let a load of air out of the system which dropped the front of the trailer down on to the back on the unit, success . I reversed under and hooked up and then unlocked the slider pins and pulled it out to the 40ft setting. Still not knowing what the button did on the rear nearside of the skelly I collared one of the Roadways drivers and asked him.
“They don’t have a lift axle on them because they’re rear steer… 
”.
Now it all made sense. The ‘lock axle’ button is to lock the rear steering axle straight so that it doesn’t turn when the unit turns. This was all new to me so I’ve learnt something new .
I later found the unit did have air suspension but there’s a couple of rocker switches locked low down under the right of the steering column (stupid place to put them) so all the above zebideeing about wasn’t necessary at all .
The night was pretty boring but good fun because of the group of guys I was working with but basically entailed bringing full boxes off the Southampton train in Freightliner back to Roadways to be lifted off by the crane and put into the stacks and taking empty containers from Roadways to Freightliner Care for storage. We’d finished by midnight (even had an hours break about 2200 too which there was a quiet patch) and the next Southampton train wasn’t due in until 0300 so me and a couple of other drivers sat in the drivers room watching a bit of telly and threw some tales around with the added bonus of free tea & coffee as well .
Was all done for 0430. Drove up to the gatehouse :
"What have you been doing ".
“Eh . What do you mean ”.
"Well how come you’re coming out of there "
“I was the shunter for Roadways tonight”.
“Yeah I know but you’re not meant to park in there, you’re meant to park over there [pointing to the visitors spaces opposite the gatehouse]”.
“Oh right, well I’m in again tonight so I’ll remember then”, and off I went.