Hi guys,
Tomorrow night I’ve got the first of hopefully many night shifts at a TPN (The Pallet Network) outlet. I’m driving a double-decker up to Minworth, near Birmingham, and back. I’ve done a night at a PalletForce outlet in the past but this is my first for TPN.
Anyone here done that run? How long does it take to get in and out? Do you take your break while being offloaded or reloaded, or after, or on your way there or home? What are the procedures?
Thanks in advance.
IndigoJo:
Do you take your break while being offloaded or reloaded
The time that you spend in the shed being molested by a million forklifts is best measured in seconds rather than minutes.
Queuing to actually get into the shed is a different story.
It depends if you are on the fast track list mate. I think it depends on how many deckers you have go in there and how far away you have to travel to get back to your depot.
If you are on fast track then on a good day you can be in and out in an hour. If you’re not on fast track you will be parked up for 4-5 hours in the hub so get you curtains closed and bed down 
they’ll take your phone number and ring you when you’re to go in or you’ll get a nick on the door by the yard man. Good set of lads down there. When you go inside to load you will have to sit on the passenger seat or your bed when they put the signs in front of your truck otherwise you won’t get tipped or loaded.
The forkies down there are like flies around a dog turd swarming all over the place and speeding in and out of gaps so watch yourself when inside
Not sure if it’s the same place, but I remember a night double manning down to Lichfield and we drove into the shed and the forkies were like bees swarming around, I was amazed and how many near misses there was 
G6Bob:
Not sure if it’s the same place, but I remember a night double manning down to Lichfield and we drove into the shed and the forkies were like bees swarming around, I was amazed and how many near misses there was
No mate TPN is at Minworth.
IndigoJo:
Hi guys,Tomorrow night I’ve got the first of hopefully many night shifts at a TPN (The Pallet Network) outlet. I’m driving a double-decker up to Minworth, near Birmingham, and back. I’ve done a night at a PalletForce outlet in the past but this is my first for TPN.
Anyone here done that run? How long does it take to get in and out? Do you take your break while being offloaded or reloaded, or after, or on your way there or home? What are the procedures?
Thanks in advance.
I go there regularly and am there tomorrow and Wednesday. I get there, open my curtains and go on PoA. When I’ve got tipped I pull out, park up and go on break. The place seems to be quite sheltered so you won’t be struggling with your curtains in a force 9 gale.
When you turn up tell them you’re a new driver. You’ll be asked what depot, what trunk number you are (1st, 2nd, last etc) and your name and mobile phone number. You’ll be given a set of instructions and a “New Driver” card to put in the window as well as a depot number and trunk number if you don’t have one.
You go into the yard and join the queue. Basically once you’ve gone through the security gate follow your nose to the left of the first lamp post but keep your eye out for the yard man waving his arms because if you’re a fast track or he wants you tipped quick, he’ll park you against the side of the warehouse. Assuming he doesn’t do that, drive up the lane on your right between the parking spaces and join the next free space. They work from left to right so you join the next free space either behind the wagon at the front of the row or to the right of them. If all those rows are full you’ll be put in the parking spots at the back fence. Do not worry where the yard man puts you because he writes down the order trucks come in so you will not get shafted. Once parked up, open your curtains and tie them back and remove your straps.
It is typically around 1h30-1h45 before you get pulled in to tip unless you’re put at the side of the warehouse and then its around 30 minutes. When you go to tip you pull up to a stop line and a manager tells you where to go giving you a lane letter and bay number. There are four lanes labelled A, B, C and D. A and B are in the furthest door with A on the left and B on the right as you drive in. C and D are in the nearest door, C on the left, D on the right. Each lane has 8 bays with number 1 being the first when you go through the doors. So if you’re told to go to C 4 you go through the nearest door on the right and the fourth bay on the left. Once you’re in your bay you turn the engine, lights and hazards off and get out of the drivers seat. They will not tip you if you’re sat in the driver seat. Takes around 45 minutes to tip, sometimes an hour depending on how many pallets you have on. You then go back to the parking area and park up. They’ll either knock on your door or phone you to tell you to go in. I wait until around 3.30-3.45 before going in to reload so for me its about 2.5hrs. There’s 2 trunks going from the depot I do it from.
Reload is the same as tipping but when you go in the queue to the stop line DO NOT GO UP THE BACKSIDE OF THE WAGON IN FRONT. Leave yourself enough room to pull out and keep your drivers window open as the warehouse manager may pull you out of the queue to go load up if your loading bay becomes free before the wagons in front of you in the queue are pulled in. Once loaded, drive out the warehouse, either park up under the canopy or just in front of it or return to the lorry park, strap your load down, close the curtains and then out the gate remembering to hand back the new driver card and possibly the trunk number as well. You may be asked to take the post at security if you’re an early trunk.
There is plenty of parking in the place so don’t worry about it being like Palletways, APC or any of the other places which have more trucks than they’ve room for. Facilities are limited to a toilet room with shower, which is quite clean in comparison to some, and a drivers rest room. In the rest room is a snack machine, hot drinks machine - 20p a drink, a microwave and kettle. Its the best pallet network hub I’ve ever done.
There’s a canteen there as well, but check the hot drinks one is working before you put your money in, it’s not working this morning 
I forgot to mention there are two microwaves, & kettles, & snacks -cold drinks machine
Well, as it turned out I didn’t have long to wait – my run involved swapping over a trailer, not waiting to have my trailer unloaded and reloaded, and the return trailer was ready almost immediately; I had to take a break before I could hook back up so I was in there about two hours, I think. Most of the runs to Minworth the outlet I was working for (I think they do four nightly; I was on number 4), involve trailer swaps. Thanks for your help everyone.
Lucky git. I arrived at 23:15, drove out at 05:20 last night, 45 minutes later than usual.