Been on a drawbar for 7 years now, but i,m thinking it,s time for a change.
Left Southampton this morning with 1st. container to Park Royal for 0700. No problem there, tipped by 0830.
2nd. box is for N17 Tottenham. Booked for 1300 but was told " they will tip as soon as you get there cos it,s urgent "
Well i arrived at 0930 only to be told it,s not even booked at 1300 but 1330 and " we wont touch it till then "
That,s a 4 hour wait and then probably a couple of hours to tip.
I can see another 15 hour day looming, by the time i get back to Soton. and tip and re load for tomorrow, and it,s only Monday.
Trouble is, i,m not paid by the hour, am on a salary ( which is a fair bit less than a year ago )
Before someone else says it, yes i know i should be grateful to have a job, just does,nt always seem that way.
mappo:
Been on a drawbar for 7 years now, but i,m thinking it,s time for a change.
Left Southampton this morning with 1st. container to Park Royal for 0700. No problem there, tipped by 0830.
2nd. box is for N17 Tottenham. Booked for 1300 but was told " they will tip as soon as you get there cos it,s urgent "
Well i arrived at 0930 only to be told it,s not even booked at 1300 but 1330 and " we wont touch it till then "
That,s a 4 hour wait and then probably a couple of hours to tip.
I can see another 15 hour day looming, by the time i get back to Soton. and tip and re load for tomorrow, and it,s only Monday.
Trouble is, i,m not paid by the hour, am on a salary ( which is a fair bit less than a year ago )
Before someone else says it, yes i know i should be grateful to have a job, just does,nt always seem that way.
i agree with you. before i was back at freightliner i was working for a freightliner subbie and that was percentage of what lorry earnt. percentage work isnt funny when you look at the size of queues in freightliner plus i had to drop the trailer there and bob tail back to the yard which was 30 mins away.
i was right fed up of it.
Seems to me that you’re blaming the type of wagon for the type of work.I’d always prefer a drawbar outfit anytime but wether it’s containers or any other type I’d want to be running full loads long distance not using a truck to do relatively local trips which involve more time spent loading and tipping than out on the road running somewhere.But with containers it’s the rail industry that takes all the best work while trucks get what’s left.
You,re probably right Carryfast, it,s not all local work we do,although about the furthest i seem to go these days
is Manchester area across to Leeds and maybe Hull.
It just seems that some days like today, i,ll have two jobs close together but timed hours apart or two jobs
maybe 100 miles apart, one booked for say 0800 and the other 0900 as an example. One extreme or the other.
I suppose my gripe is that being on a salary and job and finish it can be a bit frustrating, days like today.
Still must,nt grumble aye, tomorrow,s another day. 
mappo:
It just seems that some days like today, i,ll have two jobs close together but timed hours apart or two jobs
maybe 100 miles apart, one booked for say 0800 and the other 0900 as an example. One extreme or the other.
But perhaps that’s indicative of the relatively low volumes, and the fact that the traffic chaps have less choice in making up effective combinations for wagon-and-drags and for the combi/splitter trailers?