Hi everyone, wondered if you could give me any suggestions?
I work on a class2 multi drop job for a major distribution co in Newcastle u Lyme.
We deliver to mill shops throughout the midlands and have set routes.
The route I have just been given has 2 drops in Shrewsbury, one in Wellington - back to Newcastle, reload and then do Cannock Stafford Walsall and Wolverhampton.
the problem is that the truck is never loaded for the first part of the run. I start at 7 and rarely leave the depot before 9 as I have to load the truck myself and rarely get any help. This means that 2hours of my day have gone and I am then under pressure all day and have to chase round to get the job done.
I usually get back to the depot at about 12.30 and have to load the 2nd half of the run (again with no help) This usually takes at least an hour so I then have 2 1/2 hours to do four drops (they close at 4pm) when I get back down to West mids. This is without taking a break so another 45mins added on makes the job impossible.
If the truck was loaded with the first part of the run I would be on the road at 7 and have a fighting chance of completing the deliveries. As it is, everyday is a battle and I’m beginning to hate what could be a reasonable job. I’m not a whinger - I just get on with it, but sometimes they just won’t listen.
When I tell our TM about the problems he comes out with the old mantra - the last driver did it.
The only reason he did it was because he was speeding and never took his break. The TM knows this and still won’t accept that it can’t be done.
Any suggestions would be gratefully received.
Cheers
Dave
To be honest, it sounds like you have got the easiest job on TruckNet! 
Start bringing drops back - take your breaks and use the time to look for another job
only one option realy bring the drop,s back if u like it that much u teach them a lesson and show them the pressure u was under
what time are u puttin the tacho in the morning if your not loading
I put the tacho in as soon as i get in the truck - at 7 am.
I then back it on to the bay and start loading. The loads are mixed, pallets cages and loads of bags. There is a lot of handball as we have to break down some of the pallets to make sure all the load goes onto the truck. We then put the bags on top. Most days the truck is full from front to back and from floor to roof.
The point is that the last driver knackered the job and I’m the one who’se lumbered with it.
Tell them to shove it and find a proper job■■? 
Why do drivers put up with this [zb]? 
Do the job by the book - all breaks as per tacho and RTD and then let them see how it is. If it can’t be done it can’t be done - end of story unless you are happy to break the rules 
davidj247:
When I tell our TM about the problems he comes out with the old mantra - the last driver did it.
Wonder why he left
Do it strictly by the book and take drops back 
The last driver has just taken his class1 with the firm and has been put on artics.
He has told me himself that the first half was loaded for him everyday, but when you tell them in the office they deny it.
What I can’t understand is this - we have another rigid that goes to Coventry , Rugby Nuneaton Hinckley and Tamworth. He starts at Tamworth and they don’t open til 9. They can fit all the load on the truck so he doesn’t have to come back and reload. This wagon is loaded every night by the night shift.
99% of the time my load will not fit on and I have to do 2 runs and load it myself. I can do my first drop at 8am if i can get down there but this truck is never loaded so I have lost 2 hours before I even start.
they are making a mug of you mate.
as others have said, stop rushing round, take all your breaks and if you
cant get round all your drops legally and safely, tough, just take em back.
then they will either change things to suit you, or sack you.
but either way you will be better off cos if what youve said is true a tribunal
would find in your favour.
i dont mean any offence mate but its a case of “if your daft enough to put
up with it.they will be happy to let you”.
You’ve asked for opinions about what you should do so let me ask you why you stay in the job ?
I think you’re all right - they’re taking me for a mug!
When I first started work an old trooper told me that ‘they will always put on a willing horse’ and I’ve found that to be true on more than one occasion.
As the main part of my run is on A roads 40mph is the speed limit, we’ll see how long it takes playing it by the book!
They will have to do something if the shops aren’t getting deliveries on the week before xmas!
Bear in mind, if you speed YOU get the points and fine, and dont think your TM will back you on tacho infringements.
Its your zb thats on the line
Also if the job (no matter how concientious you are) is getting you down, for the sake of your sanity GET OUT
In reply to Tartan raider
The job isn’t too bad - it’s just this one run that the previous driver has ruined!
It’s mon - fri with a 7 am start and no nights out which suits me fine.
One thing I’ve found with driving is that if the job’s ok it won’t last forever
I used to do multi-drop years ago with about 30 drops + collections, but it started to get stupid after a couple of weeks as the 30 drops became 35, then 45 and so on. After a number of runs bringing back deliveries nothing changed, so I went out as normal one day did 6 of the 45 drops, parked up, switched phone off and had a kip. Went back to depot, handed keys back and told them to stuff it and walked out. They now had to find ways to deliver the lot I’d brought back plus the next days. Wonder if they learnt their lesson? Doubt it.
My advice mate is if the job is getting you down, jack it. It’s no good getting all stressed out about it, taking it out on family when you get home and making you a candidate for stroke/heart attack. Life’s too short.
This is just far too familiar. My first wagon job was in a 15 tonner for Pelrose Ltd, who at that time had the Nightfreight contracts for Dorset and Southampton. I was based in Ringwood.
I used to arrive at 7am, just as the 2nd trunk was (theoretically) tipped…load and route 50-drops (anything from a 10ft gate or a 1 tonne pallet to multiple pushbikes and parcels) scattered between Weymouth and Portland and the Devon border…Get to Weymouth just before 10, forcing me to run like an idiot down St Mary’s Street in the town centre before it closed to vehicles for the day…Meet a local taxi driver and off-load about 15 drops onto him…run like an idiot all around W&P in the hopes of getting to Bridport across the coast road by 3…often with random rural drops along the way, some so far North they should have been on the Dorchester run…struggle and usually fail to get another 10 or so off between Bridport, Axminster, Lyme Regis and Beaminster (have a look an the map and think about it) in time to do 3 heavy handball net collections - one up two flights of stairs, one out of a second storey hayloft, and another handball through a fire exit - plus any extras they’d got that day before making Dorchester by 5pm to load 6 pallets out of what was then Eldridge Pope before driving back to Ringwood. I generally finished about 7pm. 
It was so ridiculous that I actually had 2 loading bays for all my stuff where everyone else had one, plus a subbie van driver to back me up. The legality was tenuous to say the least. One day they announced that they were getting rid of the van to save money and giving me another 30 square miles to cover. My reaction was to go mad and then point out that a good chunk of it would be coming back - which at £50 fine to the depot for each failed delivery was going to cost them far more than the van.
Lo and behold that’s exactly what happened. Lo and behold I got fired for it. Lo and behold I took them to court for Breach of Contract with the help of Legal Aid before I started my next job (hadn’t been there long enough to go to Tribunal). Lo and behold Nightfreight Central settled out of court and took the franchise back under their own control, and sorted the whole sorry mess out.
Stand your ground, mate. They haven’t a leg to stand on, and it’s the only way anything will ever change.
The most frustrating part of it is that I’m not asking them to give me less drops or any special treatment. If the truck is loaded on nights you can do the job easily. One of the things he mentioned was for me to come in earlier - why should I when he’s got night shift loaders doing nothing between 6 and 7?
That 2 hours loading in the morning added to the time it takes to drive back to the depot, reload and get back down to Wolverhampton is mostly wasted time.
Only 10 more shifts to xmas then i’ll have a look around in the new year and see what’s about.
do like i have always done when proferred the saying ‘well so and so can do it’.
to which the reply is ‘well you had better give it to him then’.
Drive to the letter of the law. That means everything from speed limits to tacho breaks to working time directive breaks. Do not unload/load at the shop on break and also don’t park illegally to unload as well.
On the second run, this inevitably means you’re not going to have enough time to complete it so bring them back.
When the manager complains and brings out the old “The last driver did it”, ask him whether that was legally or not because you’ve just done it to the letter of the law and it’s not possible. Ask him if he’s asking you to break the law or threatening you because you can’t complete it legally. If he answers yes to any of those, tell him you are obliged by law to report him to the Traffic Commissioner as it is an offence to pressurise a driver into breaking the law to do a job.
Welcome to the world of transport…how many companies give us work we cannot do comfortably…the only way to teach them a lesson is to bring some drops back…or to spite them even more …phone them and tell them your out of hours…and to send another driver to pick up the truck…
one of our drivers was given a job last week that he told them couldnt be done legally… "oh yes it can "…the office told him…“we normally give it to a subbie who does it every day” …but now its in house…well theres your answer…the subbie runs bent …so this driver phones them up from south mimms and says hes almost out of hours…but the load hes got is for export …and its gotta be in paris the next morning…i was over that neck of the woods getting my truck fixed in daf`s atwhich he has … waltham cross…so wasnt a problem…trouble with our offices is most of the staff are only interested in moving pallets…and have no idea of transport regulations…but i have now reminded him to always call the transport manager if in trouble…and he will sort it…what annoyed me was…cos the driver had a rest day the next day …he ran back to the yard anyway …so whats the point in that…i havnt seen him since to have a go at him…but i will…