BLIMEY !! 
!!
A recruitment drive dressed up as an “Open Day”
Who’d have thunk it ■■?
One of the leading providers of container road transport services in the UK with the resource and expertise to meet the growing demand for consumer goods to be sourced from a global market, dressing things up to appear as something other than the true position ■■?
A multi-national, multi-billion pound, Blue Chip company that has no trouble recruiting and retaining quality driving staff; and whose employee relations are described as “just fine” with no apparent problems ■■?
I’m truly shocked . . . . . . . . . . . . NOT
But, on a more (semi) serious note . . . . £428/55 -£7.78 is a rate I don’t recognise. Do you know if that was on the “revenue” deal ? Or maybe they’ve sneaked in a pay rise that I’m unaware of ■■?
Or if you prefer you can buy your own wagon and have container “work offered to you on a plate” for £1.14 per mile at 44 tonnes.
Hold me back, i’m frothing at the mouth and champing at the bit! 
Silver_Surfer:
Or if you prefer you can buy your own wagon and have container “work offered to you on a plate” for £1.14 per mile at 44 tonnes.
Hold me back, i’m frothing at the mouth and champing at the bit!
WTF 
Are you saying the wage is good at Wincanski?
dinosteveus1:
dambuster:
Do you know if that was on the “revenue” deal ? Or maybe they’ve sneaked in a pay rise that I’m unaware of ■■?
Soz 
I don’t understand
I can take home £100 per shift on nights with my Agency, that’s for 10.45hrs. 
that’s because you’re on agency 
and working nights !!! the trade off is the security ( 
) and regular work / income.
stevie
stevieboy308:
that’s because you’re on agency and working nights !!! the trade off is the security ( ) and regular work / income.
stevie
I see, Thanks.
Nights was only slightly more at Wincanski, he never gave a figure, just said ‘slightly better’. 
I’ll see how the assessment goes, but I don’t think so. If the Agency work picks up then no.
dinosteveus1:
dambuster:
Do you know if that was on the “revenue” deal ? Or maybe they’ve sneaked in a pay rise that I’m unaware of ■■?
Soz I don’t understand
I can take home £100 per shift on nights with my Agency, that’s for 10.45hrs.
One of the problems is that they have so many paydeals. The “revenue” usually has a low basic, based on n hours (that’s their control feature) then you’re paid a percentage of vehicle earnings - over a standing cost. The £428 mentioned seems far too high for a basic+revenue deal, but not enough for a night driver, and not enough for cab-hopping (all on hours)
My basic is £416 but I’m on hours, on a specific client contract. I generally take somewhere around £500/£550 for a full week. That includes nights out/overtime/less stoppages.
dinosteveus1:
I see, Thanks.
Nights was only slightly more at Wincanski, he never gave a figure, just said ‘slightly better’.
I think nights is worth about £50 -ish per week
He gave the impression that this is a ‘new thing’. When he mentioned £428 I said is that take home and he said no, before stoppages.
edit:-
I just spoke to a friend, if I said the pay was for 55hrs on a 5 on 3 off shift would that sound right? I may have either forgotten or not been told this ‘extra’ bit of info.
If that’s the case…
dinosteveus1:
He gave the impression that this is a ‘new thing’. When he mentioned £428 I said is that take home and he said no, before stoppages.
edit:-
I just spoke to a friend, if I said the pay was for 55hrs on a 5 on 3 off shift would that sound right? I may have either forgotten or not been told this ‘extra’ bit of info.
If that’s the case…
Ah - that does sound new.
It also sounds as though they’ve removed the Sat/Sun premium without saying so. Of course, if questioned, they’d probably say that the weekend premiums are “rolled up” into the basic
I’ll try to ask the right questions - of the right people - when I go back to work.
It does cause me a small amount of concern because they’ve been harping on recently about a (new) need to work weekends. To the point of trying to threaten the possibility of disciplinary action if (when) we refuse
dambuster:
Ah - that does sound new.
It also sounds as though they’ve removed the Sat/Sun premium without saying so. Of course, if questioned, they’d probably say that the weekend premiums are “rolled up” into the basic
I’ll try to ask the right questions - of the right people - when I go back to work.
It does cause me a small amount of concern because they’ve been harping on recently about a (new) need to work weekends. To the point of trying to threaten the possibility of disciplinary action if (when) we refuse
Are you from the Felixstowe Depot?
5 on 3 off is a bit naughty, you won’t get the same 3 days off. You could end up working 2 weekends on the trot.
He mentioned doing 2 Alconbury or 2 Greenham (?) per shift.
Hi
I’m newly passed, but £428 a week sounds quite good to me. Even before tax. For sitting behind a steering wheel and listening to the radio. I drive cat C 2 days and C1 3 days a week and I get ■■■■ all for it.
Squids
Squiddy:
Hi
I’m newly passed, but £428 a week sounds quite good to me. Even before tax. For sitting behind a steering wheel and listening to the radio. I drive cat C 2 days and C1 3 days a week and I get [zb] all for it.
Squids
You won’t getting anything easier than 2 trips from the Port to Alconbury. 90 min drive from the port to Alconbury, (or 110 mins for an Agency 
)
Most nights it’s a great drive, quite a few Roadworks atm
dinosteveus1:
Are you from the Felixstowe Depot?
5 on 3 off is a bit naughty, you won’t get the same 3 days off. You could end up working 2 weekends on the trot.
He mentioned doing 2 Alconbury or 2 Greenham (?) per shift.
No. I’m “‘out-based’” and work on a specific client-contract.
At a previous job I worked 4on/4off and loved it - once I’d got used to my “weekends” not necessarily being Sat/Sun. Personally I think all the “any 5 from 7” and 5 on/3 off type patterns are just simply a ■■■■-take designed to give employers maximum flexibility/availability at the lowest cost. That might sound like a good “business model” but often results in an almost constant turnover of staff, with the resulting additional avoidable costs and a disenfranchised workforce, again with associated added costs. OOPS 'almost got on my soapbox then
2 Alconbury per shift ■■ Consistently over a week ■■? In a perfect world, maybe - and on nights. In the real world, where the boxes aren’t always sat in the yard on wheels, where there are consistent bottlenecks at varying times of day in opposite directions, and where you’re at the mercy of other people (including Dockworkers) I think you might be needing an extra 10 hour drive - or two.
dinosteveus1:
You won’t getting anything easier than 2 trips from the Port to Alconbury. 90 min drive from the port to Alconbury,
You know Wincanton limit theirs to 52 ?
You’d be very hard pushed to do Alconbury (on-site) from the outgate, let alone going round the port first, in anything much under 2 hours. You can use anything from 20 to 50 minutes from Wincantons gate, round the port, then to Dock Gate No 2.
dambuster:
dinosteveus1:
Are you from the Felixstowe Depot?
5 on 3 off is a bit naughty, you won’t get the same 3 days off. You could end up working 2 weekends on the trot.
He mentioned doing 2 Alconbury or 2 Greenham (?) per shift.
No. I’m “‘out-based’” and work on a specific client-contract.
At a previous job I worked 4on/4off and loved it - once I’d got used to my “weekends” not necessarily being Sat/Sun. Personally I think all the “any 5 from 7” and 5 on/3 off type patterns are just simply a ■■■■-take designed to give employers maximum flexibility/availability at the lowest cost. That might sound like a good “business model” but often results in an almost constant turnover of staff, with the resulting additional avoidable costs and a disenfranchised workforce, again with associated added costs. OOPS 'almost got on my soapbox then
2 Alconbury per shift ■■ Consistently over a week ■■? In a perfect world, maybe - and on nights. In the real world, where the boxes aren’t always sat in the yard on wheels, where there are consistent bottlenecks at varying times of day in opposite directions, and where you’re at the mercy of other people (including Dockworkers) I think you might be needing an extra 10 hour drive - or two.
I’ve done quite a few ‘doubles’, starting with a drop and swap at the port, these are always a 13/15 hour shift.
dambuster:
dinosteveus1:
You won’t getting anything easier than 2 trips from the Port to Alconbury. 90 min drive from the port to Alconbury,
You know Wincanton limit theirs to 52 ?
You’d be very hard pushed to do Alconbury (on-site) from the outgate, let alone going round the port first, in anything much under 2 hours. You can use anything from 20 to 50 minutes from Wincantons gate, round the port, then to Dock Gate No 2.
That’s not nice, explains why I’ve passed a few on the A14 Could be an 11/12 hour shift 
O/T at time and a half
I was held up for over 2 hours last Month at Alconbury, apparently they had just fired two ‘lifters’.
dinosteveus1:
I’ve done quite a few ‘doubles’, starting with a drop and swap at the port, these are always a 13/15 hour shift.
No doubt.
The questions I’m raising are of consistency, in relation to driving time per day/shift
I very rarely go onto the airfield. But I account for at least 1:50 to get from the Fxo yard, clean, to the truckstop leaving around 6 or 7 pm.
Add in a tip/turn and/or into WCL’s yard and it’s not long before you’re over 2:15/2:30
4x2:30 = 10
I can’t comment about Greenham cos I’ve never been, but I would think there’s much less opportunity for a clean run there and back.
dambuster:
No doubt.
The questions I’m raising are of consistency, in relation to driving time per day/shift
I very rarely go onto the airfield. But I account for at least 1:50 to get from the Fxo yard, clean, to the truckstop leaving around 6 or 7 pm.
Add in a tip/turn and/or into WCL’s yard and it’s not long before you’re over 2:15/2:30
4x2:30 = 10
I can’t comment about Greenham cos I’ve never been, but I would think there’s much less opportunity for a clean run there and back.
Ummm, add a break or 2 into that 
Greenham, is that the old Yank Base? I remember doing Security duty there in the late 80’s if it is.
