I’ve read through this thread with some interest, mainly because I’ve just gone into tramping after nearly 16 years with an own-account company.
In my old job (BOCM, Carmarthen) I had pretty much my own wagon though it was used sometimes by the night men for trunking, and did nights out mainly during the game feed season when I worked out of our Radstock mill. Deliveries were either to farms or feed merchants with the occasional high street pet shop, 99.5 per cent Moffett or FLT unload; only ever had one customer I fell out with in all those years and he was a notorious arse anyway, disliked even by his fellow farmers. Most I was on first name terms with and one or two have become friends. Good crew of drivers to work with, most had been there for years; it was very much a “dead man’s shoes” job, probably the best paid in the area and I counted myself fortunate at the time to get it.
About eight years ago BOCM was bought out by ForFarmers; everything was hunky-dory for quite a while, then we noticed a gradual shift as old school managers were weeded out and a new breed came along. The wages stagnated, although to be fair the company did keep a good fleet and still does; several attempts were made to change our contracts to more “flexible” ones, the system became more bureaucratic, communication (admittedly never a strong point) worsened and the senior management seemed more remote, concerned mainly with sending out fancy diktats full of office speak and other BS.
My feet had been itching for a while; the final straw came when I got pinged by a speed camera in Hereford last December. My line manager did an investigation, as he was required to; we had a meeting, good and friendly discussion and he ended it with the opinion that I’d made a genuine mistake, he was sure I wasn’t going to do it again, and provided I didn’t he saw no reason why the matter should go any further. That was it until Christmas Eve, when I came home to find a letter on my doormat informing me that I was to undergo a disciplinary; the “trial” having been set for January 6th, the day after all the office staff came back to work. Cutting a long story short, because of a combination of Covid regulations, ineptitude on the part of our planner and the usual lack of communication, I ended up having that disciplinary via a 4 way “virtual” set-up over my phone, parked up outside Builth Wells showground! Neither I not my Unite rep were impressed (it ■■■■■■ off my line manager too) but the union rep advised me to go ahead and get it over with. Despite his best efforts and myself, I think, putting a good case, I ended up with a written warning and I strongly suspect that this was going to happen anyway regardless of what was said.
That made my mind up; I started seriously looking elsewhere and about six months later, as the current shortage was beginning to bite a bit, put my notice in and started working for a small family firm in Swansea. Good reputation, long-standing contracts, no dirty work; my “own” unit (18 plate Actros) and decent pay/conditions. Kitchen and shower, both spotlessly clean, in the yard if I happen to be parked there. Been there six weeks now and loving it. We do have trackers and phones, but so long as you’re not messing about you get left alone to get on with the job; I think mutual trust between boss and driver is a vital part of tramping. Another thing is having the right mindset; as many have said it is not a job for everyone. I’ve always maintained that lorry drivers, particularly trampers, are born rather than made.
) and all the rest if the bull crap that trampers are used to hearing.