Ive been working for G4S for 2 and a half years now on cash in transit 7.5t vans, pretty heavy work 30-50 jobs a day, lots of heavy coin handballed into customers without any aids usually, and long winded jobs in banks generally 10-12 hour shifts sometimes more wearing body armour, hat, and in a sealed box often with broken air con!
Anyway i have my class 2 which they paid for 2 years ago but have only driven a truck once whilst here. Anyway decided i have had enough of them and applied for a class 2 18t job for a small local firm, went to the depot to meet the owner and he offered me the job, but its pallet work. Im not sure if it would be a bad move?
They seem to look after drivers and organised, electric pump trucks on the truck, pre planned routes etc. He is paying £28119 with a 4% payrise coming into effect soon making it £29243. 20 days holiday plus bank holidays off, mon-fri, overtime after 45 hours and sat overtime paid at 1.25 oh and most of christmas off as he said they pretty much close down for it.
Does this sound a pretty good deal? Im a new class 2 driver so dont have high expectations!
Go for it but be warned of multi drop pallets as customers have high expectations of something they ordered cheap off the internet and expect five star service as their regular driver did that or does that on delivery.
Uneven surfaces such broken patio slabs / lawns/ steep driveways/ shingle driveways where they want six pallets of stone slabs at nearly a ton a pallet dragged up there using your MHE is pain , even worse with a pump truck with little wheels, normally broken or old.
In busy periods it’s common to do double runs, load up , tip the load, back to the yard, load up , back out and combine collections where sometimes will mean moving around your load order to pick stuff up as you are passing their door .
MHE in the truck will need to be secured, an old tyre under the wheel and a strap over it .
Internal straps can secure pallets under 400 kgs and over 400 kgs a ratchet strap is required.
Some companies don’t plan out your delivery route but after experience you will get to know the regular drops or you may have to locate your freight that arrived overnight on the trunk run and load your own truck .
Oversized pallets get their photo taken on your hand held scan gun to charge more as it’s taken more room.
Any leakers or anything broken refuse to load it .
Most likely you will be sent down lanes where not even a Ford Transit will fit so when ringing in to say it’s impossible the office insist you carry on but there is the risk of damage to the lorry especially the side mirrors which I fold in the passenger side if it’s tight then pull it back when clear.
Or they say their drivers go down there all the time .
Farmers are funny , no health and safety, no hi viz vest, he will talk for hours as is lonely all day but if you ask to help with hand ball , the back is gone or off to market.
Mind out for loose farm dogs , the small ones are the worst: Ankle biters .
They seem pretty good, all brand new electric pump trucks on board, truck loaded for you once all loaded drive to the side of loading area then check and secure load, they like the driver to stay in cab whilst they forklift it on for you. The owner seems to have strict rules, kerbside delivery means just that and any issues with the customer he said just phone through.
Sounds promising but im sure they tell you whayever you want to hear when your meeting them.
Think being a small company might be better though
Sounds ok to me , and exactly right on kerb side as customers will take advantage as chefs do by making drivers split down multiple pallets of food and drinks for hotels and restaurants with a steep cellar or down a basement or some want it hand balled up four flights of stairs.
It’s odd how anti lorry activists are quite happy to receive their delivery by lorry and there’s the NIMBY brigade to deal with by saying :
“ You are not allowed down this road , can’t you read the weight limit sign ?”
Or customers will say the milk lorry gets down the narrow lane daily and lorries too , a lorry to them is a Ford Transit van towing a trailer.
My advice would be to take a photograph of every consignment delivered on your mobile phone or other device to cover your back against damage claims that some customers try their luck with but do it discreetly when they are out of sight .
I got a formal disciplinary and money deducted from pay for something that wasn’t my fault .
I was already having a bad day , torrential rain and reversed in to railing outside an office and I know not an excuse but the truck was pre war truck with vibrating side mirrors that I should have cleaned prior to reversing.
Then the manager rings , go off the set route as there’s a lady that wants to go work even though she didn’t pay for the pre set times where collections or deliveries must arrive by a set time or the shipper of the goods may penalise the haulier .
It transpired she claimed off the insurance for an old car engine that she said I broke the components inside by dropping it .
On arrival she had the engine on the ground and I had no way of getting on the tail lift with my memory fading , we got it inside a little trolley that is used to put hay or straw bales in it and it fell over .
Another annoying collection was nobody there to help roll up a huge wet water slide or swimming pool at a holiday camp site I think I rang it in and refused to take it .
Why not give it a try and if you don’t like it you can always move on and try something else. To be honest I’d rather get stuck down a tight road than risk my life doing cash in Transit.
Atleast your family can be at ease knowing you will home safe as well.
Yeah, ive decided im goingcto give it a try. Think I have had enough of G4S and cash collections. Runs are far to heavy some days and almost not achievable. Hopefully this new job will be better, nut at least I will gain some experiance even if its not for me!
Its not all bad, they paid for me to do my class 2 etc but its changing and its a dying industry now. 45 jobs somedays over a massive area with banks that can take 40 mins each its just not realistic, 150 bags of coin with busted coin trolleys and stuff. Its depressing going to work now on rusty old heaps of vans that break down or have no air con so you slowly cook inside haha! I was off a few weeks ago with heat exhaustion and dehydration due to it. Just plain dangerous!
Anyway onwards and upwards and hopefully the new job is better!
Trucking_hell:
Its not all bad, they paid for me to do my class 2 etc but its changing and its a dying industry now. 45 jobs somedays over a massive area with banks that can take 40 mins each its just not realistic, 150 bags of coin with busted coin trolleys and stuff. Its depressing going to work now on rusty old heaps of vans that break down or have no air con so you slowly cook inside haha! I was off a few weeks ago with heat exhaustion and dehydration due to it. Just plain dangerous!
Anyway onwards and upwards and hopefully the new job is better!
Cheers
Pallet line stuff if local is usually 2 loads an an the collections,
Get up to speed you’ll be doing a 10 hour day.
