Carryfast:
International work on agencies is rarer than rocking horse crap if even that.
No ■■■■ Sherlock.
If you are looking for continental work, it’s best to go to companies which do continental work. I would imagine that the percentage of drivers on a typical agency who would want to do a run to, say, Milan would be virtually zero. You don’t do agency work if you want to do continental work.
Harry Monk:
Carryfast:
International work on agencies is rarer than rocking horse crap if even that.No [zb] Sherlock.
If you are looking for continental work, it’s best to go to companies which do continental work. I would imagine that the percentage of drivers on a typical agency who would want to do a run to, say, Milan would be virtually zero. You don’t do agency work if you want to do continental work.
That will still go straight over his head … to then be followed by an 8 paragraph “face fits” rant.
.
Carryfast:
decided to sub them out to younger less experienced drivers like Switchlogic anyway.
Compared like for like with our respective careers there is no age where you had more experience than me. Just a fact And really not a boast
Also you do know it wasn’t subbed out to me specifically right? I doubt they even knew my name. You seem a bit confused. And simple fact is after I’d done my first European run I was more experienced in international work than you’d ever be
pete smith:
HSF driver = life of reilly, were do you get your facts from Carryfast?
And regarding Switch’s first foray in to HGV driving I would suspect that Nolans was no face fit or a life of reilly but the point I’m making here is you have to start somewhere to gain experience, lower pay, lower spec vehicles etc but you are gaining experience. Did you expect to walk in to a job going over the water in a brand new V8 with only having driven a Leyland Clydesdale around Surrey or doing trailer swops on nights?
To be fair having thought about it he’s right, was like being on holiday. Shipping into Europoort, having breakfast on boat, get off 8am, doing drops then a leisurely coffee before start of collections round Holland, as many as planners could fit in, back to depot for more coffee and frites Mayo if a Friday evening. Wash truck inside and out, fuel up, Tip & reload myself then another coffee with a cake. Then run to train, be there early hours next day if I didn’t need to go to Rekkem to top up, coffee on train and breakfast if feeling brave (still did it then) then as early as possible start your drops round U.K., grabbing a coffee wherever possible. If we were still working after 36 hours, the infamous ‘day night day’ there was an agreement that we could insist we stop for nine hours off. 
So you know he has a point, clearly the life of Reilly
Something tells me he would run a mile from that sort of job then ■■■■■ and moan about being victimised.
Carryfast:
So tell us what will cut it to get that ‘start’ ?.(Unless your face fits to the point where for some a few years driving a bus will cut it ).
Just thought yesterday’s #ThrowbackThursday blog post might interest you, you being an avid fan of my bus driving career.
lorry-driver.com/2021/06/thr … rsday.html
switchlogic:
pete smith:
HSF driver = life of reilly, were do you get your facts from Carryfast?
And regarding Switch’s first foray in to HGV driving I would suspect that Nolans was no face fit or a life of reilly but the point I’m making here is you have to start somewhere to gain experience, lower pay, lower spec vehicles etc but you are gaining experience. Did you expect to walk in to a job going over the water in a brand new V8 with only having driven a Leyland Clydesdale around Surrey or doing trailer swops on nights?To be fair having thought about it he’s right, was like being on holiday. Shipping into Europoort, having breakfast on boat, get off 8am, doing drops then a leisurely coffee before start of collections round Holland, as many as planners could fit in, back to depot for more coffee and frites Mayo if a Friday evening. Wash truck inside and out, fuel up, Tip & reload myself then another coffee with a cake. Then run to train, be there early hours next day if I didn’t need to go to Rekkem to top up, coffee on train and breakfast if feeling brave (still did it then) then as early as possible start your drops round U.K., grabbing a coffee wherever possible. If we were still working after 36 hours, the infamous ‘day night day’ there was an agreement that we could insist we stop for nine hours off.
Something tells me he would run a mile from that sort of job then ■■■■■ and moan about being victimised.
Yes Luke, we can all relate to having done jobs like that to get the experience required except 1 person on here.
As for the driver shortage, how may tests were cancelled due to covid as that may explain a lack of a few new passes looking for work?
I took on 2 new passes 5 years ago and both are still with me and have proved to be great lads with no damage, incidents and I view them as friends more than people I work with.
At the minute I do struggle to obtain agency to cover holidays as I only use 1 agency with fully trained up drivers, I run wagon and drag hook loaders, as all but 1 driver have decided to stay employed as Ltd but I fall in to the category laid out by HMRC that I can only employ PAYE.
It’s understandable people being sceptical of driver shortages. For years now employers in all business have told their employees that drivers etc or others are 10 a penny, and they have had the attitude just get the work or contract we can get drivers or workers anywhere. That’s probably why nobody believe it and think that they are just crying wolf, and have very little sympathy.
I’ve also noticed wages going up, got agencies ringing me at least one a day and then had a agency offer £500 if sign up. I’ve just passed my adr and the rates going up now are equal to or more than adr work in the area.
Sent from my SM-A217F using Tapatalk
I never really post on here but I feel compelled to answer Carryfast and his constant reference to Building material/Scaffolding zb (His words).
I myself work for a builders merchant doing local stuff and wouldn’t swap it with any other driving work other than scaffolding work (shock,horror).
The thing is it suits me perfectly. I’m in the gym 4 evenings a week and I actually enjoy the physical aspect of chucking timber and bags of cement/plaster around day in day out.
I’ve done UK distance stuff and hold my C+E so it isn’t the only work I can get, I actually choose to do it.
The thought of a 4 hour drive, 2 hour wait and then pulling back a curtain (exercise for the day) is the stuff of nightmares for me but I accept it’s horses for courses.
The offshoot of this is I’m nothing like the ‘stereotypical’ lorry driver in a physical sense and most people are surprised when I tell them what I do for a living due to how I look and my fitness.
Perhaps If Carryfast had done a bit more handball and a bit less trunking/trailer swaps he wouldn’t have a lower back with the consistency of wet tissue.
A bit of physical graft is beneficial if you do it right, being completely sedentary will destroy your body far more.
44.5 hours a week is more than enough too…
Anyhow, I digress…Horses for courses…
hughgeorghan:
If Carryfast had done a bit more handball and a bit less trunking/trailer swaps he wouldn’t have a lower back with the consistency of wet tissue.
A bit of physical graft is beneficial if you do it right, being completely sedentary will destroy your body far more.
Ah, a magnificent can of worms
Even The Guardian has noticed now.
Harry Monk:
Even The Guardian has noticed now.
This link will conveniently be ignored over in the other thread by Franglais and the anti-Brexit crew. 
tmcassett:
Harry Monk:
Even The Guardian has noticed now.This link will conveniently be ignored over in the other thread by Franglais and the anti-Brexit crew.
Quote “post covid”
Quote “,global shortage”
.
And yes, quote “after Brexit”.
There is a lot going on.
It’s very…
Difficult not to associate my agency giving a £50 per shift bonus with Mathewsky, Litvyev and Adamaescu for some or other reason, no longer appearing on the roster.
I’ll say that again, £50 per shift.
Franglais:
tmcassett:
Harry Monk:
Even The Guardian has noticed now.This link will conveniently be ignored over in the other thread by Franglais and the anti-Brexit crew.
Quote “post covid”
Quote “,global shortage”
.
And yes, quote “after Brexit”
There is a lot going on.
Indeed there is a lot going on. The main one being wages up and down the country on the rise significantly, both agency and permanent since January 1st - coincidence?
Harry Monk:
Even The Guardian has noticed now.
Isn’t this exactly what happened after the Plague? Except back then there was a genuine reason (something like half the people died including those of working age/capabilities)
Regarding shortages some economists argue it’s more of an issue of and over-supply of money
Is Brexit affecting the US trucking industry?
“Truckers are getting big pay hikes, but there’s still a shortage of drivers - CNN” amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/05/29/econ … index.html
Franglais:
Is Brexit affecting the US trucking industry?
“Truckers are getting big pay hikes, but there’s still a shortage of drivers - CNN” amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/05/29/econ … index.html
I’m getting emails for £16 per hour paye non umbrella days presumably for DPD, 5 shifts per week guarantee up to 20-22 p.h. for weekend nights. Tempting but I’ll go with my hunch that this is a temp spike in demand rather than a permanent one…They need seats filled right now so they’ll promise the moon but once they no longer need them it will be ‘we’ll call you back mate’ once again I’m afraid. Also could be because core drivers booking holidays en masse or doing the sickie to extend the weekend (an epidemic of that at our place lately strangely coinciding with sunny weather and TM moaning about agency drivers being booked and not even showing up…leaving more overtime for us dedicated, hard working drivers 
)
Not gonna lie, where I am the pay used to be above average but now that the average seems to have gone up I’m all envy 
