hello all new member here held my class one since 1982 worked for various companies but just been offered job tanker driving on uk only work home every weekend by TRANSLACT TPT dorset read the reports on the net about the problems theyve had when i spoke to them they assured me they were now dead legal 100 per cent is there any one out there who can give me an honest opinion about this company piease
If the money’s ok these days, go for it. No-one has ever been “forced” to run bent. 
thanks for reply Lucy i take it from your comment u may have worked for them or know someone who has if so could u tell me a bit about them pls
I have worked for a company who subbed for Translact, but this was 4 years ago before the fatal accident on the A303, I gather since then they have cleaned their act up a great deal.
One thing i will say, is the big boss, a bloke called Bob, had a right bad attitude on him, maybe it was just towards me, or all drivers, but we had cross words on various occasions over the way he spoke to me. The guy who ran the Transport, a guy called Chris, nice enough bloke, but seemed to be Bob’s puppet, Some of the things he would ask you to do were comical. But as i say, we were only subbies, i couldnt comment on how he treated his own staff, other than to say the few i encountered seemed happy enough.
I did traction for translact about a year and a half ago when i was working for ptm out of reading…they seemed ok to me… until my boss told me to take a tanker i had loaded in vlissingen destend for bridgend to sainsburys at basingstoke…just so i could cover a run for them…and hey ho,he forget it was in there…well that was his excuse…i was dealing with some guy called nick…liked to ring you up a lot…or was it that he knew what ptm were like?? anyway at bridgend i met up with a guy that had been there about 4 years…said the job was good…but to make some real money the office didnt mind you putting the truck to sleep and doing a bit…or perhaps a whole shift mabe?? i was given the office number and told to ask for bob. but thought against it…
I work for Translact,though I’ve only been there a few months.
I don’t work weekends,or public holidays,its my choice,and I made that plain when I first spoke to Bob. Though I have,on occassion,shipped out from Poole to Cherbourg on a Sunday night,again,my choice.
I will not,never have,and never will run bent,for Translact or anyone else. I also made that plain from the outset.If I’m being loaded,or un-loaded at,say,5am,then thats when the card goes in,not 3 hours later,when I’m loaded/un-loaded and ready to roll!
As far as the job itself goes. I’d never done tanker work before Translact,but,everything(well,most things!)were explained/demonstrated to me by Bob. I’ve made a few ■■■■-ups(who hasn’t)like forgeting to put the handrail down before going under a rather low gantry somewhere in darkest Avonmouth! Have to say,though,that Bob was pretty laid back about it, “anybody dead” no,“better bring all that twisted metal back to the yard,then!”
Yes,he can rant and rave,and I guess, that,if you’re of a meek and mild disposition(I’m not,I’ve been in this world too long!)then you would probably feel intimidated. He knows his stuff,though,can’t take that away from him.
Most of the work is fairly clean,apart from that bloody rafinate,of which I always seem to get covered in!
All of the other drivers that I’ve come across on Translact are more than helpful( if I’m unsure of something,I ask)
Trucks,mainly Volvo FH12s are in fairly good shape,though a few trailers have seen better days.
I’m usually away all week,but home Friday night.
The money (£105 per day +£23 night-out) is better than anything else around these parts(well,I’m happy with it anyway)
Like all transport companies,you are expected to do a fair day’s work,but, at no time has any pressure ever been put on me to “bend the rules”.
I speak as I find,and the above is an honest account of what I’ve found. I cannot comment on,and it would be wrong of me to do so, the A303 incident,as I was not even working for Translact at that time,suffice to say that rumours are rumours,nothing more,and facts are facts. There is a world of difference!
Would I recommend Translact as a reasonably firm to work for? Why not?
I know of,and have worked for,far worse!
Sounds pretty much like when I was at Taymix on the General side - we used to cover Translact UK runs when we were quiet. Bob had taken over the Translact side by then, and Chris was always a good bloke - used to split his time between the office and the road back then. It was Bob who taught me to chain steel and Chris who told me that the way to get a handle on tanks was to just gentle push it until one day you crapped yourself and that was your limit! 
(Unfortunately being a shiny newbie at the time I took him seriously and discovered my limit on the first roundabout on the Blandford bypass… 
)
Sounds like the money’s gone up, so I’d say again, go for it. They’re an “old fashioned” firm, and whilst that can take a bit of getting used to if you’ve come from a “logistics” background, it has a hell of a lot to commend it. One thing’s for sure, you’ll never be a number!
Used to meet a few of their drivers when i was visiting dairies to load the cream exports, and most of them spoke highly of the firm and i met up with one of theirs on the poole/cherbourg ferry who didnt seem to have a care in the world…so if ya wanna do …what ya gotta do…dont let them force ya into doin it…do your own thing…
Just dont be like the driver who had been at Bridgend for 4 years
thanks to all who replied r e my questions about TRANSLACT ive got a start at SHIRLEYS TPT nr stoke but if it dont work out ill give happy bob a ring once again thanks a lot
you driving down to stoke every week then mate?
Lucy, I am really glad that things worked well for you at Taymix. I am glad that you managed to overcome your own scare and that the company were supportive in the “old school” way.
That said, I subbed for Translact as an O/D. There are probably a couple on here who remember me being there, to be honest. Bob and I had issues. They were serious enough for me to challenge him to a proper, unofficial, meeting on the A303 one night after I got sick and tired of his inability to tell the truth.
I hope he has changed, but I wouldn’t go back there.
It was a good 7 years ago that I was at Taymix, and he was a bit of a…lad… at the time. Bear in mind that I was under his sister, Claire, on the general side, with Rory still in ultimate command, so Bob was less of a direct issue for me.
It sounds like he’s calmed down a bit since then. As have I.
ganges boy:
thanks to all who replied r e my questions about TRANSLACT ive got a start at SHIRLEYS TPT nr stoke but if it dont work out ill give happy bob a ring once again thanks a lot
plenty of firms in west yorkshire yet you were trying for a job in dorset but took one in staffordshire. 
Know what you are saying there, Lucy. I remember Claire all too well and those skirts she wore which never really flattered her…erm…figure!! A sharp tongue, too, as I recall.
Bob simply said what he thought would keep you quiet and it was not usually entirely accurate, if you catch my drift. Rory had taken a backseat in some ways by the time I was there. I bought my own big tank in 2003 so I must have started there in 02. I did get a confession that their best company driver would have been close to my heels but I was the highest miler so I was good enough at the job but not patient enough with the office. Vic was the hardest runner they had at the time. A good guy!
Chris was better but would get really antsy sometimes and got on my tripe because, at the end of the day, Bob could overrule him.
It was the blood infection which finally finished me with them. I was in the hospital trying my best to get released and Bob was on the phone to the wife demanding to know when I would be delivering the load of cream. I was not a happy man.
I went on with H&S out of Barneveld after that. That was a good job!