Driving a 7.5 tonne

[rjan]

Carryfast:

muckles:
if I hadn’t done that first crap job it would have been unlikely to have got more work out of them.

Warning to new drivers do ‘not’ use that logic with agencies. They’ll see it as a sign of weakness and a mug who they can off load all the zb work on,to keep the ones who know better happy.Assuming they’ve actually got any decent work that is.

Agreed. There are no rewards for sacrifice in this industry. When you start you’re not on a career path in a job for life, and you’re not being stretched in basic training after which it all gets better. If you take crap today, they’ll serve you the same or worse crap tomorrow, and they’ll just keep on doing it until and unless you say “no more”.

It’s romantic to think that masters sometimes freed their knackered old slaves at the end of a lifetime of service, but truth be told almost all masters worked their slaves to death (and then took their children too).

[dolph]

I feel sorry for you mate, it ■■■■ to be newbie in any profession, been there done that. Don’t lose faith in trucking, find your place(class 2 or 1, tramping, tipper, grocery store delivery etc.) and you will be happy.

Few questions if you don’t mind:
Why do C1 work when you have cat.C in first place?
Why lift heavy weight when you have back problems?
Why didn’t you train in manual truck, knowing you might be given manual truck at work?

[muckles]

Carryfast:

muckles:

Carryfast:
Warning to new drivers do ‘not’ use that logic with agencies. They’ll see it as a sign of weakness and a mug who they can off load all the zb work on,to keep the ones who know better happy.Assuming they’ve actually got any decent work that is.

I’ve been on agency in the past and taken the 7.5t white good delivery jobs, even driver mate jobs when nothing else was available, the same agency placed me on one of the best and cushiest jobs I ever had, working at the local USAF airbase, spent nearly a year doing that on agency.

As I said I’m only going by my own experience of obviously being seen as too willing to put up with the zb work.Which can be the only possible explanation for being taken off of a decent job that the customer wanted me to stay on and put back on the zb.

I wouldn’t say it would work out everytime, a bit of luck helps, but that’s life, we all need a bit of luck at times, but it’s up to us to make the most of it when the opportunities that are presented to us.

Somebody once told me that opportunity is a galloping horse and you need to grab it quickly when it comes past or it will be too late, worry about where it’s going when you’re on it.

in the case of working at the Airbase they were resurfacing the runway so they’d moved the aircraft to Gloucestershire, so needed truck drivers to move kit between the bases, but they kept me on after they’d finished and offered me a full time job, but I wanted to get back into motorsport work, so turned them down.

[vesperado]

There is no set weight limit under the Manual Handling Regulations but rather an assessment under TILE - Task, Individual, Load, Environment so can vary person to person, depends what you are lifting and are you bending, twisting, stretching and carrying over distance and repetition etc…

[carryfast]

Dolph:
Why do C1 work when you have cat.C in first place

That’s the smoking gun that busts the myth of the so called ‘driver shortage’.Bearing in mind that C covers all types of multi axle rigids,while a 2 or 3 also covered drawbars when I started out.It’s also just as likely that the agencies will lumber C + E drivers with the same zb work below the licence grade because the decent jobs are all way over subscribed with too many drivers looking for them.Which is nothing new.It might also explain why so many East Euro drivers would prefer to stay at home doing better work for relatively less wages than come here where they know that things aren’t as good in that regard.

IE C or C + E drivers being lumbered with zb work isn’t generally a matter of choice it’s more often one of employers,especially agencies,saying take it or leave it because that’s mostly all they’ve got.

[socketset]

So what was your drivers mate doing whilst your bum grapes were getting ready to make an appearance?

Surely your commonsense is gonna tell you that ■■■■■■■ washing machines upstairs will do your back condition no good?

Didn’t you think to ask exactly what the days work was?

Why are you worried about the fuel consumption?

Just kinda curious.

[peterm]

Well I make no apologies for having no sympathy here. If you want to drive hgv’s for a living you need to be fit enough to do it, both mentally and physically. I know there are jobs on boxes where you do very little but drive, but that’s no good either if you’ve got a dodgy back. If I were to be sent out on my own with heavy ? gear to lift, I’d either be sure I could manage it or ask for a mate or some form of mechanical aid. Failing that, make sure there’s someone that’s handy to help at the delivery. If not, it goes back… simple.

I picked up a sodding great, solid heavy three seater settee from an overseas freight forwarder at the port of Brisbane to be delivered to a private house. It was loaded with a fork lift and I asked my boss for someone to go with me. I was told that help would be there when I arrived, the help turned out to be a girl of about thirteen. I took it back the 40 odd miles to the depot. They weren’t happy, but the last I heard of it was that it left with a courier. And I didn’t get the sack.

The moral of the story is, new driver or not, either do the job to suit yourself (within reason) or go and work in a shop or summink.

[bluey_circles]

mac12:
25kgs to heavy i must be getting old, think when i was on the farm it was 20 stone or 125kgs.
we are all crippled now but we never went on the web complaining, could be because computers had not been invented bit like colour telly

folk probably think you are taking the proverbial with the 20 stone. I remember doing farm deliveries late 70s early 80s and it was 2cwt bags of feed, delivering to upland farms who didnt have front loaders, would have to handball the stuff off, we wouldnt be lifting, it was straight onto the shoulders from a flatbed then stagger into barn and drop, farmer would always help and may be do 5 each, legs would go all of a quiver.

So anyway, back to this thread, do modern drivers not even do gears now ? do they do test in an auto or something, then can’t even drive a six speed ? can they even drive a car ?

[javiatrix]

Don’t lose faith in having done your Class 2 licence mate, it sounds like you’ve just ended up being put into a job that’s just the polar opposite of what you’re looking for. I’ve done white goods delivery (it was worse on Class 2 because they can fit more in than a 7.5!!), and even for somebody in average/good condition like me, it had me sweating my ■■■■■■■■ off. I have the odd spate of lower back pain (have to roll out of bed onto the floor sometimes when first waking up), so I always tried to avoid it…

I think the problem you’ve encountered is you’ve assumed because employers don’t seem to touch you, you’ve gone along to an agency like so many people advise. To put it into perspective, when I was looking for Class 2 work, I went to a local agency, and said I’m happy to work any hours god sends, but would really prefer trunking/pallet delivery etc. What did they give me? Three days at a ■■■■■■■ scaffolder’s! As a newbie, you don’t have much bargaining power with an agency, they will totally ignore your requests and give you whatever they have left, albeit with a false apology.

My advice is to do a Google search for all skip hire companies within a twenty mile radius, and drive round the lot of them in your car, armed with your CV and a smile. If no bites, get back on Google and search for all haulage companies in the same area, and do the same. Don’t just think about ‘x’ Transport or whatever, think about the bigger companies, the likes of Yusen/Norbert’s (XPO)/DHL, ANYWHERE that does general haulage. I know you said you haven’t had much luck with employers but how hard have you tried? It’s no good just phoning up (although this can work); it’s more reliable to go in there face to face.

The reason I’m saying this is because I totally sympathise with you feeling there’s not much help for newbies; the worst place you can be for this is with an agency, because the clients will assume you are a fully trained, fully experienced driver and just want you to get on with it. If you are taken on by a general haulage/skip hire employer, the work will be much easier (you’ll still have to lug the odd one tonne pallet with a pallet truck mind!), AND you’ll find people will be much more interested in helping you.

Funny how you’ve found work with agency but no luck with employers; I’ve ALWAYS been turned down by agencies for not having enough experience… It was the employers who I found work with because it’s easier for them to add you to their insurance.

I personally don’t believe agency is the way to go for a new starter. I think agencies are for seasoned drivers who have done the full time thing but for whatever reason later on (family, money etc) decide they need more flexibility, so go to an agency where they can say “Yup, more than 2 years exp, know what I’m doing, what you got going?”

Something else to think about; look for an employer who runs Class 2 AND Class 1 vehicles, and start saving for your Class 1. If you’re any good, they’ll probably pay for you to do the Class 1 and drive their artics, but it’s a hell of a lot easier making the transition within the same company.

Best of luck though pal, don’t be disheartened

[bigvern1]

I think the original thread IS a wind up. Having done plenty of white goods deliveries in my time, I can clearly say that it isn’t too bad with 2 of you doing it IF, you use the correct technique. The O/P reckons he wasn’t taught how…Fair enough. Our H&S officianado at work is a tool…But even he said there is no maximum weight you should be comfortable lifting. If you ain’t comfortable…Don’t attempt it.
I do pallet work in a class 2 at the mo. There is supposed to be “No handball” but occasionally there will be an element of carrying a couple of packs of flooring a few feet. Even I won’t watch a woman/ elderly person do that, and I had 2 ruptured discs repaired over 10 years ago!