Sat watching those lads piggy backing there trucks this morning. Looks like a job where you need to know what your doing. Are they better paid than your usual taliban driver ?. They seem to be taking Dafs into Southampton docks, what would they do, about 3 round trips a week from Holland ?.
I think a lot of those lads spend most of their time in the uk.
I would guess the DAFs in question were probably built in the leyland plant and going for export. Can’t see the logic in bringing then across from holland when they’ve got europort on their doorstep unless they have come here for specialist work of some sort.
I’ve also seen them doubling the trucks up in Southampton and sometimes they’re only heading back to the CNH plant in Basildon.
I’ve also noticed that they now stack them in a manner that allows a shorter overall running length. They just used to drive them straight on with one hell of an overhang.
I was sitting in rownhams one day and they were stacking up along side me. Next thing a car pulls right in front if them and out gets vostapo with his tape measure. Next thing they were being destacked so maybe they’ve been getting some grief.
Slightly off topic but still connected to DeRooy does anybody remember those over length boxes that they used to run somehow on a drawbar chassis?. Never saw one in the uk but remember seeing then in France.
I know that DeRooy has never had the best of reputations for driver conditions but you’ve got to admire their innovation when it comes to getting the most out of the regulations.
A dutchman once joked to me that if you got a custodial sentence in holland and held an HGV licence you could choose between doing your time in choky or at DeRooy.
Cheers
Neilf
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^ I was going to mention the infringements he got, wasn’t it some like truck registration plates been swapped?
Does well on the Paris Dakar though
It was only a few years ago that a lot of De rooys drivers were Brits. Spent weekends with a few before now in years gone by.
The wagon and drags I think you are on about were car transporters that converted into normal general haulage wagon and drags. They have always been very inventive and IIRC build there own bodies. I’m sure there was an article on them in a brit truck magazine a few years back. The drivers are all polish now, who I believe are a mostly catholic country so most definately NOT taliban.
neilf:
I’ve also noticed that they now stack them in a manner that allows a shorter overall running length. They just used to drive them straight on with one hell of an overhang.
this may be due to one falling off on the m25 as well
i had a friend that worked for them. he’s not a moaner, he knows how to graft.
but he hasn’t got a good word to say about them.
The british drivers were leftover from a kent firm thay took over in early 90,s called ed- crest depot was in sittingbourne i think
Back in 2009 I spent an interesting day with Jan and Gerard De Rooy, along with a handful of British journalists, looking round his depot in Eindhoven and then having a ride in one of their then-new Dakar race trucks at a disused quarry near Maastricht.
It was a strange experience: on one hand you’ve got the incredible hands-on engineering of Jan, always working out new ways to carry cargo for maximum profit, and on the other hand you’ve got this enormous racing effort, with millions of Euros pumped into it, and Gerard trying to be the authentic Dutch everyman . . . friendly, professional, and yet a complete madman when he gets behind the wheel of the racing truck (strapped into the ■■■■■■■■■■■ of a 700hp 4x4 orange missile topping 170km/h around a rough quarry is not an easily forgotten moment).
I couldn’t help admiring them for their dedication, in an era of plain white curtainsiders and suited logistics managers, they’re old school hauliers, but neither would I want to work for them as it was clear that they had enormous expectations from their workforce (that’s about the most discreet way of describing it!).
The overriding memory for me though was riding in the passenger seat of Jan’s new top-spec Porsche Cayenne as he bumped and banged it up a boulder strewn quarry path - the kind of place you only normally go with a 40 tonne dumptruck. After a fair spell of bouncing the floorpan of various massive pieces of rock eventually one of the 20 inch low profile tyres gave up the ghost and the old man pulled it to a halt, uttered a few choice words in English, rang Gerard on his mobile and told him that he wanted to use his car to get back home (an Audi I think), and that it was up to ‘the boy’ to get the tyre fixed. Jan gave us a crafty grin, jumped into Gerard’s car and sped off, without a thought for the damage he must have inflicted on the new Porsche, or how it might look to the invited ‘guests’ from the UK. It was clear then to me that De Rooy does things his way, and don’t try to advise him otherwise!
~ Craig
bloke i worked for used to do most of the tractors from basildon.
slowly de rooy started moving and doing it aswell. most of the lads i encountered were pretty decent blokes, always said hello and give you a hand if you needed it. slowly the standards seem to go down hill, i think some of the drivers they put on that work, were quite new in the job, it showed during loading and strapping. de rooy then took over the transport office, and they stuck a dutch fella in. he was alright with us, but the way he treated the poles was a disgrace. bloke was a 24 carat ■■■■■■■■, how he never got a clump from 1 of the de rooy drivers amazed me.
1 of the poles explained, that they just put up with it, as the money they got payed was far better than anything he’d get at home.
they said they did 6 weeks at a time on the tractors, (living in some surprisingly low spec motors.) then they got to go home for 7/10 days, before starting again.
we eventually lost all the work, due to de rooys rates 
and the fact that with the right type of tractor, they could squeeze 4 on a wag and drag, as opposed the 3 we’d get on a flat.
i often wondered when you saw them piggy backing with the huge overhang, and the fact that most trucks had a light out somewhere, etc, how long it would be before vosa gave them a proper look.
I worked for Richard Lawson out of 35 berth Southampton when wallanius controlled all the export loads from Basildon. At the time a branch of P&O ran the transport office and they had 3 or 4 of there own trucks on domestic work.
Our trailers had been modified from tandems and stretched but with a little overhang we could load 4 of the smaller tractors.
I left just before we lost the work at the end of 2001 and although I had heard of DeRooy taking over all of the transport I never had cause to return until summer 2010.
Although the basic setup was the same and the loaders were good lads the guy in the transport office was possible the most ignorant ■■■■ I’ve dealt with in many a year. Mentioning it to the loaders they commented that he was like that due to his dealings with the poles. On my second visit he came on with the ignorance again and I politely read his horoscope for him. Funny but upon returning for the final time he was at least polite although I wouldn’t call it friendly.
Cheers
Neilf
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yeah when we started, it was p+o running things. good bunch, both the drivers and the office staff.
think they all lost out to de rooy. we stayed abit longer, but eventually the boss said he couldn’t compete.
the “happy chap” in the office you refer to neil, was he tall thin bloke with glasses?
just wondering if its same bloke.
I think he had glasses but couldn’t tell you about height because he never left his chair to grunt at you.
Yeah the P&O crew were good. Both drivers and in the office as you say.
Just being nosey but who did you pull for and was it export or domestic work you did?. We might have bumped into each other, you never know…
Cheers
Neilf
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At the end of British Rule in De Rooy, many of the lads went to Van den Bosch as it is just down the road. Both companies are very innovative in their equipment and build their own bodies.
neilf:
I think he had glasses but couldn’t tell you about height because he never left his chair to grunt at you.Yeah the P&O crew were good. Both drivers and in the office as you say.
Just being nosey but who did you pull for and was it export or domestic work you did?. We might have bumped into each other, you never know…
Cheers
NeilfSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
who do you remember in the p&o office? jim and brian?
i worked for rob francis, was driving a blue super space cab daf. we were doing uk stuff. purfleets, sotons and some up the road as and when required 
I remember there were 3 drivers. Two older lads and a younger one who was going out with a girl in the office. Can’t remember any of there names but I think the girl in the office was Dawn.
I used to drive for Richard Lawson in one of the scanias.
Cheers
Neilf
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the younger one is now my best mate, bri. he went from the road, to the office.
he ended up marrying the bird in the office 
Have seen some De Rooy trucks on British reg plates with Poles drivers - quite a lots
You aught to see them come into our depot with case tractors on the way they are loaded its a wonder its ever legal and what about the weight .See if i can get some pictures on here of some of the tractor loads that they bring into us.
Was this company in any way related to a Sittingbourne based haulier using identical trucks in identical colours which had its licence revoked?
Harry Monk:
Was this company in any way related to a Sittingbourne based haulier using identical trucks in identical colours which had its licence revoked?
de rooys harry?
as for the weight issue, if we had 3 of the biggest tractors on they’d weigh 7 tonne a piece.
i’ve seen trucks go out of the plant, with that type of load, with 1 ratchet strap around the back tractor for the whole load 
i used 6.