war1974:
cant believe the op thinks you start at 9am and finish at 6pm as a tramper wow!
But the OP has already shown they don’t know about the hours, the tachograph and didn’t know about the 10 hour driving rule…
I went from 8-10 hours in call centres to 12-15 hour shifts driving. Back then I though 8 hours in a call centre was tiring!!!
Now, I prefer driving but even so. Quite a shock for indoor-based work!
"Conor So you can start at 6am, drive til 10.45am, take a 45 minute break,
No you cant
alterego:
"Conor So you can start at 6am, drive til 10.45am, take a 45 minute break,
No you cant
+1.
You can drive 4h 30 minutes of wheels turning time as a maximum before taking a 45 minute rest.
The above quoted is 4h 45 minutes. :-/
The term ‘Tramping’ is a bit out dated in the UK, it may be ok if you actually drive around Europe but when I first started in transport it refered to a driver who is out 5 or 6 days without returning to home, in the day of trunks work and change overs it seemed to have vanished.
My job involves me staying away fom home from Monday or sometimes Sunday night till Friday but in the USA it is hardly classed a ‘Tramping’, a driver who is away for 14 days or more could be classed as a tramper I suppose, Been there, done that thank you very much. I could be called on to start my working day at any time after I have had my 10 hours off, so if I just do a short day and finish at 2.00pm in NYC or some other terminal they thing nothing of requiring me to start again at midnight and work till 2.00pm again, then I mght not get my next load for 24 hours so times can vary.
This past week was like this … Start 05.00, run to NYC and preload 4 tankers, go off duty at 5.00pm, start 9.00am, deliver Lima PA and return NYC, go off duty at 6.00pm, start next day at 4.00am, load one trailer then load with mine and deliver Bordentown NJ, return NYC at noon, start 1.00am thursday deliver Brodentown NJ and return NYC at noon, start 2.00am friday, deliver St Albans VT (7 hour drive) and come home for 4.00pm. finish week. The drive to VT takes 9 hours in reality because there is no way on earth I will drive 7 hours non stop for anyone, so I have a 2 hour sleeper break half way.
What’s all this about not getting paid for POA?
Driveroneuk:
I’ve tramped. Never once started at 3 & never will. Think I once did a 05.30. Somewhere between 6.30 - 7.30 is good.
When I drove for Fed Ex /Matchbox if we started before 07.00am we got time and a half for the first 8 hours, then double time after that, we would leave our tacho’s open with the next days card inside, if we were on a night out we would set our alarms for 05.30, close the tacho then go back to bed … or in the yard we would get the security guard (who we just called Wigan) to close them at 05.30 am then come in about 07.00
Thereal-john:
danj:
dream on that shift will never happen lolI leave home bout 3-4 am mon morn, get back Friday afternoon- Saturday morning… That’s tramping mate, week in week out!
Yup…
To the OP
I usually start work on Sunday at 1500 - 1700 and then get home on Friday evening at about 1700 - 2100
I then have a 45 and it starts all over again - Oh and sometimes my break is reduced to a 24
dar1976:
alterego:
"Conor So you can start at 6am, drive til 10.45am, take a 45 minute break,
No you cant
+1.
You can drive 4h 30 minutes of wheels turning time as a maximum before taking a 45 minute rest.
The above quoted is 4h 45 minutes. :-/
Could be 15 min vehicle/paperwork check at start of shift, drive from 06:15 to 10:45 = 4.5 hours.
Pat Hasler:
Driveroneuk:
I’ve tramped. Never once started at 3 & never will. Think I once did a 05.30. Somewhere between 6.30 - 7.30 is good.
Was that the mental bloke who was always singing and playing his guitar?
I’ve finally got some Class 1 work, and it’s tramping. The rate is pretty low, it’s a per-day rate and to point out how well I’m being paid for it the Agency added in the night payments to my net wage…
Suffice to say, I’m on about £300 net a week plus the night out money. Looks like I’ve got a red 55 plate Iveco Stralis…
Repeat after me. Experience. Work. Keeps me out of mischief. Stop moaning, it’s work… 
Saratoga:
Suffice to say, I’m on about £300 net a week plus the night out money…
Really? They’re taking the ■■■■ out of you mate. You’re earning the same as someone who gets to go home and bang the wife everyday… like me. And yes, it is also my first driving job.
I really don’t understand you trampers. You spend all week in a tin box, miles away from your families, and for what? An extra £100 a week? Or in Saratoga’s case, exactly the same as someone who sleeps in his own bed all week?
Seriously guys, wake up! You only get one life. Your time is the most valuable commodity you have.
If you allow them to mug you off, it makes them think they can mug the rest of us off. If there’s enough people willing and eager to be mugged off, then they can and will mug the rest of us off.
Basically what I’m saying is; don’t let yourself be mugged off, if not for your sake, then for the sake of everybody else.
Saratoga:
I’ve finally got some Class 1 work, and it’s tramping. The rate is pretty low, it’s a per-day rate and to point out how well I’m being paid for it the Agency added in the night payments to my net wage…Suffice to say, I’m on about £300 net a week plus the night out money. Looks like I’ve got a red 55 plate Iveco Stralis…
Repeat after me. Experience. Work. Keeps me out of mischief. Stop moaning, it’s work…
Well done on getting the work. But agree that 300 inc night out allowance is just taking the buiscuit (or words to that effect).
No, the agency told me a figure, then they added that it was plus £100 night out money, assuming 5 nights out. I tried to point out it would be 4 nights but they didn’t confirm that.
Either way, I have cleared my diary and have made up the packing list of what I need 
Would be helpful if I hadn’t already volunteered my time for an event tomorrow but it gets me out in the countryside
At least next week I’ll get some practice, and it won’t be in a white lorry
Seem to spend most of my life in them 
Well, I’m getting something similar at the moment for both class 2 and class 1 work through a variety of agencies. However, without AT LEAST 60 days actual class 1 experience, most agencies won’t put me on their system for C+E. It’s not so much of a problem of being out all week, I don’t mind that as much. At least I’ll get the same wagon every day and get to see the country.
It’s not ‘just a job’ to everyone you know, we all have our different reasons
Yes, the money is pretty [zb], I do agree with that. But you can’t expect to be on £40,000 a year for a newbie driver, and it is experience I need right now…
I’ll be meeting the truck on Monday Morning at about 3am, tractor and flatbed trailer for the week…
what a load of crap , you are a qualified driver , you passed the test , you are doing the same job and should be paid the same rate as any other driver . so long as you do the job and don’t do anything silly nobody has the right to prejudge you . it’s a scam to get wages down .
SmashedCrabFace:
Saratoga:
Suffice to say, I’m on about £300 net a week plus the night out money…Really? They’re taking the ■■■■ out of you mate. You’re earning the same as someone who gets to go home and bang the wife everyday… like me. And yes, it is also my first driving job.
I really don’t understand you trampers. You spend all week in a tin box, miles away from your families, and for what? An extra £100 a week? Or in Saratoga’s case, exactly the same as someone who sleeps in his own bed all week?
Seriously guys, wake up! You only get one life. Your time is the most valuable commodity you have.
If you allow them to mug you off, it makes them think they can mug the rest of us off. If there’s enough people willing and eager to be mugged off, then they can and will mug the rest of us off.
Basically what I’m saying is; don’t let yourself be mugged off, if not for your sake, then for the sake of everybody else.
Ok, it’s only 100 quid a week in night out money (tax free), but it saves another load of money in fuel for car (and wear and tear), it also makes it a damned site easier to max out your hours, if I do 15hrs then 9 off at home, I’ll be knackered by Wednesday, doing that tramping is fine, no probs. Commuting takes an average of an hour and a half per day round trip on day work. Takes the same per WEEK on tramping.
It also means you get to go outside that 150 - 200 mile radius you’re sick of seeing.
It doesn’t suit everyone, but it suits some - until things go pete tongue at home and you’re hundreds of miles away.
How about I put it another way.
The agency I’m with put me through my ADR and as such I have to stick with them for a couple of months… So they offered me this C&E tramping work vs 7.5t for under £7ph.
Now, bearing in mind I WANT experience on Class 1 this seems a good way to do it. Also, that £300 is net ie after tax is taken off and without the night out money.
Plus I don’t have to worry about my own fuel costs and the like. I do think it is more efficient with time to be tramping. Oh, and I’m single too so I don’t need to worry about TOH, SWMBO, etc…
It just might be a bit tiring tomorrow, what with an unfamiliar vehicle, early start, larger class of vehicle and all that stuff… But it is the experience I want
Saratoga:
How about I put it another way.The agency I’m with put me through my ADR and as such I have to stick with them for a couple of months… So they offered me this C&E tramping work vs 7.5t for under £7ph.
Now, bearing in mind I WANT experience on Class 1 this seems a good way to do it. Also, that £300 is net ie after tax is taken off and without the night out money.
Plus I don’t have to worry about my own fuel costs and the like. I do think it is more efficient with time to be tramping. Oh, and I’m single too so I don’t need to worry about TOH, SWMBO, etc…
It just might be a bit tiring tomorrow, what with an unfamiliar vehicle, early start, larger class of vehicle and all that stuff… But it is the experience I want
Best of luck on your new adventures Saratoga.
Sounds like you’ve landed on your feet.
dar1976:
Best of luck on your new adventures Saratoga.Sounds like you’ve landed on your feet.
Well, we’ll see where my feet take me, and of course whilst this ADR is wonderful instruction on dangerous goods, the descriptions of some of them scare me silly… 
Still, got a month to get used to things before my licence turns up… Assuming I passed that is