Looking at getting into the transport industry and getting my licences etc.
What was your last shift like in terms of times getting up, setting off on the road, reaching destination, through to the end of the day, whether that’s parking up or getting home.
I’m trying to get a feel of what to expect. I’m under no illusions, its a doddle and plain sailing. So what did your last shift entail■■?
3am start
Left depot at 3.40
First store at 4.10 totes/cages delivery, food driver helped me tip and fill and I returned the favour it is a locked store so need to be there with the food driver upto him if he helps you.
Second store is pallet tail lift work so need to tip first store empties to get enough space to get to it, then reload first stores mts and second stores mts.
Back to depot 45 minute break
3rd store is another tail lift pallet one, but more time and space to pull 4th store to side and fill mts onto headboard.
4th store comes off easy as it’s not buried, collects mts
5th store all I’m doing is picking up mts
Back to depot 14.30, fuel, jet wash, paperwork
Finish 15.00, 12hours 300kms
bagz:
Looking at getting into the transport industry and getting my licences etc.What was your last shift like in terms of times getting up, setting off on the road, reaching destination, through to the end of the day, whether that’s parking up or getting home.
I’m trying to get a feel of what to expect. I’m under no illusions, its a doddle and plain sailing. So what did your last shift entail■■?
Unless your lucky to have a job that has the same times routes traffic you cant count on anything being the same…
my last shift was 22:00 start out of depot 23:10 deliver run back to 4hrs have a 45 break then back to depot and finish by 05:45 and that’s the easy shift.
7.3/4hrs 385kms 4 3/4 hrs drive
4 AM 5 AM 6 AM STARTS so your up at 3,4,5 half an hourish to get out the yard, work anything between 12-15hrs and start again next morning, itll take you a couple of weeks to get used to but after a while youll master the art of getting a quick 40 winks on the limiter over shap 
Start most days 6am, work roughly 11 hours, with roughly 7 hours driving included. But everyday is different and there are no guarantees in transport so that can all change at the drop of a hat, and my job is considered to be pretty regular!
Good luck
5am start willenhall to newton abbot in a 33ft decker parked in a bus stop in Queen Street 50 yards from poundland shop waited half hour for space outside the shop moved tipped 31 cages and half hour wait for a van to move to get out.
Then break outside newton abbot then 2 hours 40 to Bristol for second shop another 50 min break there then back to willenhall clocked out 18.45 not a bad day by poundland standards 642km.
As those who know newton abbot squeezing a decker down queen street isnt funny at 9.30am on a sunday got the usual comments “thats too big for down here” lol.
Jeff.
Friday started at 4am, cleaned me windows and mirrors (washed motor previous afternoon) drove 3 1/4 hours plus a 15 minuter on the way for a Greggs’ roll and coffee, tipped at customer (about 1 1/4 hours), drove back 3 1/2 hours, 40 mins break on the way back where i had a nice stroll, got back had a chat with a couple of the lads and went home at 2pm.
I should qualify this, it took me 35 years to find this steady job, i could regale you far more realistic 15 hour flat out days of hell just like every driver here can.
Start between 4am and 7am and finish anything from 4pm to 10pm.
Transport is very unpredictable,had two nights out last week that weren’t planned.
I pull containers and can be taking my last box of the day in to the railhead at 4pm and still be sat there waiting at 7pm and that is a frustrating part of the job but I just try and kick back and chill out.
My mrs understands the unpredictable nature of the Job and we don’t really plan stuff for week day evenings until I know for sure when I will be home.
It can be frustrating if you don’t have the right mentality for the job,if you get your head round the unpredictable nature of it you will be fine others let it get to them and end up hating the job.
Good luck
05:00 - Wake up
05:50 - Start work, 10 minute walk around checks, etc
06:00 - Drive to tipping location (building site, generally)
07:00 - Tip load
07:10 - Drive to quarry
08:10 - Load up at quarry
08:20 - Drive to tipping location
09:20 - Tip load
09:30 - Drive to quarry
(Repeat until about 16:00, taking 45 minute break for lunch after 4.5hrs driving)
16:00 - Drive to quarry to load up for next day and drive back to yard
16:30 - Arrive back at yard, fill up with fuel
16:40 - Park up and do paperwork (+ clean lorry if pressure washer available)
17:10 - End shift, hand in paperwork and ■■■■ off home.
Template of a straight forward day driving a tipper. Unless you’re on the rat race 
Starts between 6-6:30 and finishes between 16:15-17:15. Probably can be considered domestic hours compared to some driving.
In a word Bagz,you’ve gotta be FLEXIBLE.
Start times,finish times…meaningless really unless you work for a local authority or other public service.
Also,your first job will probably be your worst job as you’ll be desperate to get on the ladder,and you’ll take any old crap (like I did 
).
05.00ish woke up (no alarm) somewhere in Lincoln, drove to Leighton Buzzard 08.30ish, 2 hours to unload (15 minutes break-1 hr 15 POA-30 mins other work) drove to Luton, load, drove to Shefford, (unload/reload) 3 hours Break-POA & Other Work, back home to MK, Clocked out around 17.00. Never drove over speed limit or broke any traffic laws, was a Good Boy all day. [SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]
0630 paper work/vehicle checks
0700 leave yard drive to first drop
0700-1000 anything between 1 and 5 drops
1000-1015 break
1015-1430 between 1-3 drops
1430-1500 break (sooner depending on driving time)
1500-1600 1-2 drops
1700 arrive back at yard, paper work, load and strap for the following day.
1800 finish
Being an own account operation the amount of drops and distance varies on customer orders, weight and distance between drops.
Start time is 7am. Sometimes when i get to a job my wagon is loaded and ready to go. Other times I have to either load it myself or wait for it to be loaded by someone else. I’ve had days where I’ve been most of the morning in the break room watching the TV.
Show up on Monday, anything between 06.00 and 08.00.
Get back and park up on Friday anything between 12.00 and 22.00.
Happy days.
friday woke up at 05:45. Made a cuppa. Booked on at 6AM an did my walk around. Went to office for paperwork and brush teeth wash balls ect. collected trailer and left Tesco Goole at 06:30. 3drops around manchester and ran back to my base yard for 14:00. booked off and went home. traffic in manchester was crap as usual lol a pretty easy day
Tomorrow starting at 6AM will leave house at 4:30ish. Gotta bobtail from warrington to Mansfield to collect a brand spanking new trailer. Then pop back to latchford locks to load. probably be due a 45 by then so ill have a cuppa and brunch. then ill stomp down road as far as i can as i`ll be tipping in Nuess Germany tuesday afternoon/wednesday morning. Ring planner and see where my collection is from there. Probably somewhere in germany for somewhere in europe lol.
hopefully I`ll be parking near a beach so i can have dinner with the mayor and take his lovely buxom daughter for dancing and drinks afterwards ala toby123abc stylee haha (thats a joke btw)
There is no such thing as a typical day in my work. Some days I start early, others late and drive through the night. Some weeks I only do a handful of driving hours, others knocking on 56. Been to just about every corner of Europe this year. Seen some interesting places and some real dumps as well. One thing is certain and that is I spend a lot more nights in my cab and on ferries than I do in my bed at home!
Sunday:
Start 1415, finished 0130.
Howden to Lockerbie. Couldn’t go the quickest route because the A66 was closed to high sided vehicles because of 50MPH+ winds so chose to go the M62, M61, M6 route instead as the usual A1/A69 was likely to take longer due to traffic around the Metro centre at Newcastle. This added another 30 minutes to the normal 3h50m run making it arse nippingly tight to get there in one go without needing to take a 45 minute break. Fortunately I had one of our faster wagons limited to 56MPH unlike most of the rest of the fleet which is limited to 52MPH making a one hit run impossible if you get the slightest delay and indeed one such lorry turned up after me with 2 minutes to spare. Two others didn’t make it meaning a 45 minute stop on the way up and another on the way back.
Spent a good couple of hours being buffeted all over the M6 and M74 by the 50MPH+ gusts of wind on the way up. Once at Lockerbie truck stop I then spent an hour and a half waiting for the Scottish driver to come down with the trailer for the swap.
Going back I was going to go the usual diversion route of the A69 but that was closed as well as the A66 due to an accident so it was back the way I came, something I wasn’t looking forward to as Shap isn’t somewhere where you really want to be with an empty curtainsider and 50MPH cross winds. With an empty curtainsider boy that was interesting to say the least. I swear to god that at Carlisle I was on two wheels at one point.
Back and fuelled up but 1hr 5 minutes longer than it should have taken.
Tonight went quite well, only two road closures. Usually I have to check trafficengland website to find out what overnight road closures there are to see if its possible to do the runs I’m given and even then there’s no guarantee you won’t come across a motorway closure not listed.
Last shift…Sat in Tesco’s Feltham for 2 days waiting for a load. Finally got one on Thursday, collecting 1700 Reading for Frankfurt for an A.S.A.P delivery the next day
Delivered 0700 local time in Frankfurt, then had an instant backload from 60 miles South of Frankfurt, to be in Crewe on Saturday morning, Which was delivered at 0700. Then home for the weekend.
I’m back in tonight for tomorrow morning start.
stupidn00b:
Went to office for paperwork and brush teeth wash balls
Sounds like a laid-back office 
Started at 2330 last night and hooked into a preloaded trailer.
Headed down to the Eurotunnel and then through to Paris. Arrived in Paris at 1200 local time and pulled on the bay to get tipped.
2 hours later tip finished so parking up for the night and then get a reload in the morning.