having spent four hours at butlins(sorry tesco’s) at snodland can you drivers let me know , how long you wait every time you deliver to snodland,mainly on saturdays,has this seems to be the worst day of the week,hopfully by bringing it to head office notice they may do something about it. thank you. 
I once did Snodlands & arrived at Asda, Europort before my booking in time at Snodland. It was a great evenings work. i started at Somerfields, Huntingdon, then down to Tesco’s Harlow, then Tesco’s Snodland with my final drop at Asda Europort, not very typical but an easy evenings work.
I think you will find Tesco’s head office knows what a bunch of lazy zb’s they employ, I also think you will find that they don’t give a zb about it.
Tesco’s, & every other RDC operator knows thet they can get away with treating drivers & hauliers however they want, so why should they care ?.
Until drivers start to stick together nothing will ever change, I had a meeting with Tesco last year and was promised improvements.
But due to lack of feed back after the meeting have been unable to chase it up.
I had 150 e/mail complaints at the first meeting which made them listen.
Since then hardly anything,
1 driver complaining - would be laughed at.
100 drivers complaining - would make them think.
1000 drivers complaining - things might change.
Get my point 
Perhaps it is about time we drivers DID start sticking together.
At the moment we have drivers in so many different unions, so many organisations purporting to represent the haulage industry, a transport department that doesn’t give a stuff for transport.
So what we actually have is a number of very quiet whisperers, wouldn’t it be better if they all stood side by side and shouted together, wouldn’t we be heard then? They are all after the same thing, so why are they all whispering in different directions.
Tesco’s at Crick, 24 pallets of cat litter, to be pump trucked to the back end of the trailer, I dropped the suspension of the trailer, and was still pulling the ■■■■ things uphill!!!
Perkins, because they don’t load tilts throught the back(H&S don’t you know) I had to strip one side out, a completely unnessesary task, thereby putting my H&S at risk, but they load containers through the back doors on a ramp, whats the difference? I don’t know.
Come the WTD, something will have to happen at these places to make them more efficient.
or do what i do give them the 30mins that they are entitled to if not tipped then tell them that your pulling out,i have done this on many occassion,tesco’s safeways,lidl’s.i have pulled out from them all.it’s different if your an owner driver though,i just hope that you’s charge them accordingly.
i remember once there was an owner driver at safeways northampton with 11pallets on. he got tipped within 20mins of being in there,but waited 4hours for them to check the freight and return the paperwork.now between him getting tipped and getting back in his cab he had a phone call to see if he could do a run up to scotland,he said yes no probs.but due to the fact that he got held for 4hrs at safeways he had to pass the job up.
he was charging safeways 65 quid per hour after the first hour waiting time and he also informed safeways that they where getting an invoice for the job lost to scotland due to their lack of proffessionolisim(spelling).the manager was arguing with him saying that he could not charge them waiting time far less than charge us for the lost run to scotland.the driver said sorry mate but thats how it is.you lost me work,i have been tipped for 3.5hrs now and still no bloody paperwork,we are really busy at the moment he says to him,so am i but you still didn’t care as long as your ok then sod everyone else.so the driver told him you have 30mins to get my paperwork to me otherwise i’ll drive out the barrier,you won’t get out without it says the manager i’ll instruct the gatehouse not to open the barrier.is that right well let me tell you,i own this truck so i pay for any damage i do to it,but i doubt that your barrier will cause much damage to it when i remove it on my way past your guards. 
explain that to your boss,now beat it and get my paperwork time is moving on.he got his paperwork and left.
Dratsabasti:
Perkins, because they don’t load tilts throught the back(H&S don’t you know) I had to strip one side out, a completely unnessesary task, thereby putting my H&S at risk, but they load containers through the back doors on a ramp, whats the difference? I don’t know.
I guess if they were using a forklift it has a greater chance of going off the side of a tilt or cutrain than going through a container.
There are just too many stupid rules made by security men and depot managers under the guise of Health and Safety
A hi viz vest is a good idea in a dimly lit warehouse or a dark yard. Shoutdnt the dimly lit warehouse come under the health and safety rule?
A hard hat to stop god knows what falling on your head. maybe its a tonne pallet. Shouldnt health and safety have a say in pallets being stacked so high in this dimly lit warehouse?
Steel toe caps to protect you from the forklift driver crushing your toes. because he didnt have any lights on his forktruck in the dimly lit yard. If you run over a pedestrians feet on a road junction, it wouldnt be the pedestrian at fault.
As a former tanker driver, I had many sites to visit that refused access to the top of my tanker barrel without a safety harness, guard rail, safety goggles and a hard hat. Then they would pass you a bottle with a piece of string tied to it so you could get them a sample of cyanide or fuming nitric acid.
There was also the dairy in Kilmarnock who refused drivers the right to lay on their bunk or even close your eyes while waiting up to 5 hours to tip, because a driver had died in his cab and no-one noticed for a day, they thought he was asleep.
Health and Safetry is a good idea but we have to take responsibility for our own actions, A nanny state will not protect people from their own stupidity.
I ride a motorbike, I always wear a helmet, gloves and boots. I have full one piece leathers and a two piece suit. there is no law that says i am not allowed on the road in jeans, yet!!!
Where will it end?
mark croft:
having spent four hours at butlins(sorry tesco’s) at snodland can you drivers let me know , how long you wait every time you deliver to snodland,mainly on saturdays,has this seems to be the worst day of the week,hopfully by bringing it to head office notice they may do something about it. thank you.
Four hours is the norm for Snodland if you are round on the chill side (Bays 38-46) … Anything less is a bonus!!! and it is purely because they are lazy so and so’s!! I have taken frozen in there three times and been out in less than an hour each time
I made the mistake of tipping there the day England played Portugal in Euro 2004! I got there on a bay at 615pm … every bay was full. Between 615pm and the end of the match (which went to extra time and penalties) NOT ONE MOTOR was tipped!!!
Last week was a stormer! I went into Iceland, Swindon at 930pm for an 11pm tip. There was NOT one motor there waiting or on a bay. I was put on a bay at 1030pm and at 1120pm, I went in to ask if I was being tipped that night? I was told there had been a shift change at 11pm and they would tip me soon GRRRR. The woman then said that as I was not booked till 11, I had no complaint. I rarely got the hump with these people cos it is not worth it but I did this night. I told her, very politely, that I thought they were a lazy bunch of layabouts and ought to think of the guy driving the truck for a change. I refused to sit in their “drivers room” and walked back to the truck expecting to be there all night after this outburst. Luckily I got away just after midnight. What really peed me off was that this was not a mixed load! It was a straight 23 pallets of frozen chicken wings.
Hours, normaly I used to be parked up and issued with a pager.
All these complaints on this the norm.
How many have actually done anything about it
If you tell me these problems , they are logged and then presented to the Directors of such companies.
Only in numbers will anything ever change 
sounds a good idea to collate all long waits say +2 hours over a booking in time. maybe we could have a post or a forum with these details on. just need location booking time and actual time?? Though i think we should keep a record of the ‘good’ guys too. Ie those that take you in long before a booking or the like?
I do not mean to distract you from this excellent forum
But check out my www when you get time.
I notice Bazman has an article in Commercial Motor about the state of Services.
It also states that he has had only 6 replies. maybe that is saying something about the www he speaks of.
Truckersmoan. 
no one will listen to moaning of any kind
Wheel Nut:
Truckersmoan.
Shame your over a year behind the times Wheel Nut 
You sound like one of those that will always sit on the fence and hope, but nothing will change like that.
And not all facts are always as read
bazman:
Wheel Nut:
Truckersmoan.Shame your over a year behind the times Wheel Nut
You sound like one of those that will always sit on the fence and hope, but nothing will change like that.
And not all facts are always as read
Wel the blurb I read was that Barry Tozzer had spoken to the supermarket bosses and got canteens and toilet facilities for the visiting drivers and was now going to have meetings with Moto and other service area operators.
I sit on the fence and vote with my feet 
I dont use service areas in the UK and I don’t do supermarket deliveries.
I also have a choice which trucking forum I visit
No arguments in using which forum you want 
This is and will remain the NO1
As for speaking with your feet, your one of the lucky one’s that can avoid supermarket deliveries and MSAs.
But reading this and other post there are a lot that have no choice, and do not like what they get, so all I am trying to do is make things better
Where is the harm in that
If you are paid by the hour I can’t see what the problem is
Tesco Kiln Farm used to be a good earner for me before I worked there, I would drive from Rugby (Fed EX) to Mk with two drops on the trailer, one at 9.00am and one a 6.00pm, they would take the 9.00am stuff of and ■■■■■■■■■■■■ back at the next booking, I would drive home to Towcester for the day and return later, after unloading I would go back to Towcester for a night out
I would get 15 hours pay plus a night out, which even back in 1992 was 30 quid on Fed Ex just for the night out
I got to know most of the Tesco drivers who could see I didn’t give a toss This helped me when I got made redundant as they all put a word in for me and got me a job there, I was just their type
I loved it
Tesco is one shop that I refuse to go into, purely on the grounds that I have spent too many hours in the past waiting to be tipped. They think they can treat every supplier like junk, It is not just the haulage firms, Since my job change I now see them from a different direction, however, they are still throwing their weight around. I wholeheartedly agree that something needs to be done about Tesco and similar companies that cost the economy (and you and me) millions of pounds a year due their incompetance. I once a few years ago dragged a jumped up little oik through his window for refusing to give me my keys back. I had been tipped for 2 hours, was just waiting for paperwork, they had all gone for lunch (1.30am) and I said I was leaving, he refused to give me my keys, so I gave him some gentle encourgement. Hence this is where my total dislike and disgust for Tesco comes from.
Personally, I start rubbing my hands when I see a tesco or some such thing on the delivery notes. I had Asda Normanton on Thursday. Took me 3 hours just to get in their . Agency money, fantastic, but I can see where your comming form. Sat on a rock hard chair at Iceland Swindon today for an hour and a half - I wonder if I could sue them if I got a bad back from it. Having said that, I did have a new Topliner to go down in so probably not .