Would relly like to hear as many thoughts as possible on tipper work. I have read snippets from people on here about life on the tippers. most of it dosent sound good. like its to be avoided. if so would be good to know why it is. what are the hours like ? is the pay crap ?working condidtions ? companys ? do thay hire self employed. any insight would be great. there are afew haulage companys round my way, keyways is one, tarmac is another, also smiths have them. i heard thay are a good place to get your first driving job ? if so why ?
The pays very good, 
the faster you drive, 
the more money you get paid 
Did it years ago so wont pretend i know the score now.
My mate created new job title for us, planet relocation technicians. 
Fatboy slimslow:
The pays very good,
I gess that means you get payed by the load ? I was behind a tipper today he was foot to the floor the hole time I was following.
jrt:
Fatboy slimslow:
The pays very good,I gess that means you get payed by the load ? I was behind a tipper today he was foot to the floor the hole time I was following.
And I bet at every junction or roundabout you pulled up behind them 
.
Most firms pay by the hour. Tipper work is like any other type of road haulage work. There are good firms and others who aren’t so good.The hourly rate is lower than on artics etc, but a good way to get into LGV driving, you will hone up your driving skills in some of the tight places. Also a lot of drivers look down on tipper drivers, but half of them wouldn’t stand a chance on them if you took them off the main roads.
I take it you’re in the Gloucester area then?
I never did much muck work - always ran out of the quarries…
Basically, like most jobs, it’s got worse but it’s still a good craic if you get a good crew to work with. You’ll be expected to provide a daily pound of flesh but thats the same everywhere now…
Expect to get grubby on a good day and completely mired on a bad un…
Elf and safety is rife, stringent and sometimes petty but you have to obey the site rules or else you will be chucked out with immediate effect - especially in the quarries… You also need to be aware of all the different rules for all the different quarries and have the memory of an elephant!
I thoroughly enjoyed 17 years of it but I have been off the road for over 13 years now! 
I’m still fairly well up with the gossip tho and I haven’t heard many bad things about Smiths or Keyway but they are a little out of my area… ( Bristol )
It doesn’t suit everyone so the best thing to do is give it a whirl and make your own mind up. You’ll love it or hate it - there ain’t no middle ground with tippers!
Edit. Good comments from Dave! ^^^
Karl86:
jrt:
Fatboy slimslow:
The pays very good,I gess that means you get payed by the load ? I was behind a tipper today he was foot to the floor the hole time I was following.
And I bet at every junction or roundabout you pulled up behind them
Yer, every one of em.
Piston broke:
I take it you’re in the Gloucester area then?I never did much muck work - always ran out of the quarries…
Basically, like most jobs, it’s got worse but it’s still a good craic if you get a good crew to work with. You’ll be expected to provide a daily pound of flesh but thats the same everywhere now…
Expect to get grubby on a good day and completely mired on a bad un…
Elf and safety is rife, stringent and sometimes petty but you have to obey the site rules or else you will be chucked out with immediate effect - especially in the quarries… You also need to be aware of all the different rules for all the different quarries and have the memory of an elephant!
I thoroughly enjoyed 17 years of it but I have been off the road for over 13 years now!
It doesn’t suit everyone so the best thing to do is give it a whirl and make your own mind up. You’ll love it or hate it - there ain’t no middle ground with tippers!
Yer in glos area, sounds ok from what you all say. Was expecting some real horror storys.
Edit. Good comments from Dave! ^^^
Piston broke:
I take it you’re in the Gloucester area then?I never did much muck work - always ran out of the quarries…
Basically, like most jobs, it’s got worse but it’s still a good craic if you get a good crew to work with. You’ll be expected to provide a daily pound of flesh but thats the same everywhere now…
Expect to get grubby on a good day and completely mired on a bad un…
Elf and safety is rife, stringent and sometimes petty but you have to obey the site rules or else you will be chucked out with immediate effect - especially in the quarries… You also need to be aware of all the different rules for all the different quarries and have the memory of an elephant!
I thoroughly enjoyed 17 years of it but I have been off the road for over 13 years now!
It doesn’t suit everyone so the best thing to do is give it a whirl and make your own mind up. You’ll love it or hate it - there ain’t no middle ground with tippers!
Yer in glos area, sounds ok from what you all say. Was expecting some real horror storys.
Edit. Good comments from Dave! ^^^
Pm kr79 he does it in london so as far as im concerned is up there with the best.
If you are in the Gloucester area, sound out Cullimore’s, they should be a tidy firm to work for.
Dave the Renegade:
If you are in the Gloucester area, sound out Cullimore’s, they should be a tidy firm to work for.
That’s another one I’v seem around here. Have you worked for them or know anyone that has ?
The fact that it doesn’t take 3 hrs to get tipped (unless your doing grain) and not having to wait 2 hours for the load to be checked (RDCs) makes it a good job if ya don’t like hanging about, and not having booking times makes it even better! Work i was on was, If there open they will let ya tip/load anytime.
Muckaway and agregates work is pretty set hours and in general no nights out. Common sense realy make sure your level and no overhead obstructions before tipping.
Round here moneys not to bad firm i work for is a day rate som oercentage of earnings others lower day rate plus bonus but on average seem to work out ariund the same.
Keyway is a very modern and progressive company with loads of different business interests but all run by members of the same family. Tipper trucks are all relatively new, mostly MAN, although there may still be some Scanias. I suspect that anyone who is hard-working and willing to learn new skills/gain qualifications would get on well there.
Cullimore is more ‘traditional’: mostly old/refurbished British trucks, each one named after a Charles Dickens character. Sitting on a massive reserve of gravel so likely to be in business for the next century or so. I always had the impression that if you worked there you had to 'know your place".
Both cos are members of the RHA, and neither is what you’d call a cowboy operation. Both seem to expect a high standard of behaviour (driving and interacting with the public) from staff. Keyway is very environmentally-conscious (big on recycling and reducing waste) and also spends money on supporting school education/sports etc. Typical instance: I was driving into Gloucester recycling/dump one day when I saw a Keyway tipper driver carefully guarding a family of ducklings as they waddled across the road. Other than that, they are companies with quite different ways of going about things.
kr79:
Muckaway and agregates work is pretty set hours and in general no nights out. Common sense realy make sure your level and no overhead obstructions before tipping.
Round here moneys not to bad firm i work for is a day rate som oercentage of earnings others lower day rate plus bonus but on average seem to work out ariund the same.
Tippers are mostly ‘days’ but expect to work nightshifts if there’s a major road project that requires it. Mostly though it’s relatively short hours and back home to bed each night.
sounds all ok to me, thanks for the feed back some great insights into tipper driving. thanks. i see there a firm called eliotts over in bishops cleave cheltenham, not sure if anyone knows much about them or not ?
It all depends on your outlook some blokes take to tipping ( been doing it for 21 years I think I’ve taken to it) some blokes hate it , it can been filthy hard work or straight forward easy tips you may have to go where no man has been before and succeed , you may go where every man and his dog has been and fail , you have to watch out for overhead obstacles, soft ground be aware of sticky loads ,irate customers, ground workers asking for three halfs!!! Yes its happened more than once! But when it goes right nowt beats it.
Smiths of Gloucester are meant to be good, when I was out of work I emailed them and although they had nothing, replied within minutes. Heard nowt from Cullimores. There are several smaller outfits on the M5 corridor that work out of Cemex at Wickwar. Huntsmans at Naunton are meant to be a good firm, have their own vast stone quarry and muck washing plant so long term prospects there. Scotts at Evesham are good also I hear. Rather surprisingly, I’ve heard from a very reliable source that Earthline aren’t bad either. Hills Group at Swindon have several quarries/tips in the Glos/Wilts/Oxon area. Valley Trading run 8wheeler tippers and skip wagons out of Babdown Airfield. They had an ad for 8w drivers on their website recently-too far for me to travel though sadly (I’m looking to return to tippers). You could move to North London-Andrews and McDavids’ were everywhere on Tuesday.
Note for Piston Broke: I saw GJ Harris’ FL 6wheeler near Sodbury today, the old girl hasn’t aged!