Is Willi Betz really as hated as i’m led to believe. It seems no one has a good word to say about him. I get the feeling he is also hated in Europe to and that he will not put his trucks into Italy as they seem to ignite down there. Is this true or just a another tale i’ve been told.
they dont bother me as long as they leave the country and not try to stay … but we wont go into that area again.
i think you can safely assume they are not well liked.
mmm. i take it by the answers that “they” mean the drivers as opposed to the company.
what have the drivers everdone done to anybody.i thought this was a site for drivers 
I think it’s more the companies tactics rather than the drivers themselves.
Mind you, I did hear of a complaint at Birch E/Bd some time back that the female staff were sick of being whistled and ogled at and felt very threatened by it all.
Not saying it was W Betz, but they were E European.
I can think of many more firms than WILLY BETZS although he is huge there are other firms out there that are just as bad and some of them
are based in GB .
YES … there are firms from ,GERMANY;HOLLAND;BELGIUM:ITALY:FRANCE
SPAIN: AUSTRIA :LUXEMBERG:EIRE:DENMARK: these firms are all just as bad as one another, unfortunatly this practise will never end unless the
EU brings in a law that the drivers must get a wage the same as
the driver who comes from the land where the lorry is regerstered .
PEOPLE will try to save money and of course employing persons who will cost them less than is normal .This is happening in all EU countrys where it is possible to do,
Willi Betz has taken over the Johnson Controls Automotive contract in the UK
off Exel in Burton and the drivers have moved over under the transfer of undertakings with the job and are now on better money with Willi Betz than
Exel, so iam told by the lads in our depot in Burton(Exel)
If you spot any around that area on the A38 youll see that theres a lot of
right hand drives knocking about.
Each week I deliver into 2 or 3 places controlled by the logistics division of Willi Betz and as a result meet many of his drivers and let me tell you they are a great bunch of lads and I’ve had many interesting conversations with them. They will offer help if it is needed and their knowledge of international driving is extensive.
They are exactly the same as us doing a job that not many want to do and looking to do the best for their families. Well exactly the same is not quite true, they don’t complain anywhere near as much as British drivers do. 
There is also a driver for Willi Betz who is a regular contributor to these boards with many interesting stories and tales of days gone by and I’ve not seen any sign of hatred towards him.
i havent a problem with willi betz or his drivers as long as they all go home again and its up to the british goverment ands firms to squeeze the foreign compotion out of the market its not the willy betz’s of this world its the firms that give them the work cos if they didnt give them the work they wouldnt be here.
im fed up with firms making millions and millions looking to make more and more money why dont they put some back into society by giving the british transport industry more work instead of to all the foreign firms.
at freightliner there was a subbie who came of euro work cos of the rates he told me that in germany ( maybe pete can throw some light on this ) he went to a shippers about return loads top the uk and was told no sorry only german firms he even tryed to undercut them but was told no sorry only german firms. now if that was a uk shipper the british drivers would have been sold down the river for the sake of a couple of quid.
also on the subject of firms making millions look at tesco employing 140 polish drivers and there they are telling everyone about records profits the first supermarket to make 2 billion!!! and how patronising of sharon bloody osborne to tell me on telly that asda saves you money… saves you money i bet she dont shop at asda and was proberly paid 1/2 million quid for a 2 minute advert.
“Manpower agency” had an advert in the local free papers for class 1 drivers in the mk area to work for “willi Betz” on the said toyota contract,the money at the time of press (oct04) or (nov04) was about £500 plus per week, my point is …if Betz can afford to use uk driving agencies,why the hell cant he pay better money to the guys working abroad so there isnt such an influx eu drivers coming to the uk or ireland??
It may be that this firm has had problems before when useing a firm from
GB, but no honestley the transport firms here do use the cheapest
method when and if possible, A mate of mine has been telling me of where
he works in germany of THE many east block countries that say we
will drive the load back letus say to POLAND;CEZCH;OR HUNGARY just
for a full diesil tank, but these are slowy learning that this is not the way to run a firm,when one reflects back we used to get for a trip to MÃœNCHEN
from DORTMUND some thing like900-1200 euros and now the rates are
abouta third of that, The advent of the easeing of the transport of goods
in the EU has made it a cut -throat way of life and only those who can and do deliver the quality and service required will survive, speacialist
firms whose service is of this standard will profit ,and this in the end
means those firms whose employees weither it be the transport manager
warehouse worker, and last of all the DRIVER will need personnel that
are of this high standard to carry on and survive,and make a profit,
TO REPLY to shyfx003 post , he does pay those drivers out of the eastern block countrys a high wage ,but this is not the same as here in EUROPE because we have a higher standard of liveing, a bread in
those countrys cost less than here and withthe wages from BETZ these
drivers are considerd very well paid ,
shyfx003:
“Manpower agency” had an advert in the local free papers for class 1 drivers in the mk area to work for “willi Betz” on the said toyota contract,the money at the time of press (oct04) or (nov04) was about £500 plus per week, my point is …if Betz can afford to use uk driving agencies,why the hell cant he pay better money to the guys working abroad so there isnt such an influx eu drivers coming to the uk or ireland??
what did the toyota work involve any euro work and was you away for weeks and did the drivers have to double man in an actros.
the toyota contract involves uk and euro work i used to work for a burton firm who subbed to nyk previously known as ?.and we did changeovers with there drivers at ashford with parts for the factories in europe .betz now does this himself aswell as the uk side he also has the johnson controls contract off excel taking parts up the road to toyota.the right hand drive mercs are becoming more popular slowley replacing the dutch reg,d yellow left ■■■■■■ premiums.as for wages i think people seem to forget that back where ever these drivers come from there on a good wage.
Carl:
the toyota contract involves uk and euro work i used to work for a burton firm who subbed to nyk previously known as UCI LOGISTICS.and we did changeovers with there drivers at ashford with parts for the factories in europe .betz now does this himself aswell as the uk side he also has the johnson controls contract off excel taking parts up the road to toyota.the right hand drive mercs are becoming more popular slowley replacing the dutch reg,d yellow left ■■■■■■ premiums.as for wages i think people seem to forget that back where ever these drivers come from there on a good wage.
I can’t agree more with Neil’s post above. They are just drivers like us and should be treated the same way you’d treat any other person of ANY origin, it’s as simple as that.
I pulled in to Knutsford MSA last night to use the toilet and had a Willi Betz motor parked next to me. The (one) driver I did see greeted me in pigeon English and gave me a smile and the usual nod you get from our fellow non-English speaking European drivers and was more than happy for me to take a pic of his motor for Tnet member Betz.
There’s good and bad in every nationality/race/colour/whatever and certainly not least, our fellow Brits. 
cheers rob i had a mental block at the time. uci logistics and it was over 4 years ago 
Willi Betz drivers are as stated, exactly the same as Freighliner drivers or Exel drivers.
The reasons a lot of these contracts change hands is because of the major companies, like Tesco, Toyota and Asda, dictating low rates!
We also ran the Toyota contract down to Ashford until the contract was lost late last year.
Willi Betz are parking several trucks in our depot now, the drivers earn more than we do for 5 days
anyone got a phone number for willi betz on the toyota contract out of burton, i might need it for future refrence 
jon
The Betz driver’s where I work in Belgium are reasonably happy with their lot.
Willi-Betz pay a good rate and pay all waiting and loading hours,which isn’t always the case here in Holland and Belgium.Many firms,even big outfits like Vos Logistics,only pay the first two hours waiting or loading time,then you’re on your own time.
Betz also insist that we run legal,which again is a rarity here.
It’s just that the name Willi-Betz has a bit of a stigma attached to it.
Having said that,I am looking for pastures new
Newbie:
Is Willi Betz really as hated as i’m led to believe. It seems no one has a good word to say about him. I get the feeling he is also hated in Europe to and that he will not put his trucks into Italy as they seem to ignite down there. Is this true or just a another tale i’ve been told.
If the above is true 
cant really see a problem , if the Italians deal with it in that way its up to them , its their country.
My dad got finded £20 this week…He’d just got off the ferry in Dover and he tells me there is a sort of ramp that is two laned that goes around a corner? well this Betz truck is to his right and instead of staying in his lane, he drives straight ahead, cutting my dad up and giving the two finger hand jeasture to my dad. My dad overtakes him, drags him out of his cab and before he knows it some secrutity people are on him and fining him £20 for whatever they called it. Upon asking them what they’re going to do about Mr Bulgarian, they say nothing.
Also this week my dad reports seeing a Bulgarian registered Betz Merc, but wait for it, the driver was English and wearing an Edwards shirt and the driver told my dad that they now have to take whatever truck they’re given and he didn’t seem too happy, that wasn’t you was it KW?