Hi all, just thinking ahead really. Later in the year might look into doing ADR, tanks - petrol maybe? Basically I’d like a dayshift job that pays well (don’t we all!), No interest in doing nights out as got family at home. So are there any tanker drivers based in Essex that can offer me any advice, I’m in Colchester btw - nowhere near any oil refineries, or whatever they are down in Stanford le hope area.
Is it predominantly day shift work? Early starts etc?
Is it worth taking a punt and going down the ADR route?
I’d be grateful for comments from anyone however relevant they are,
Got a couple of mates working out of the Essex terminals both do four on four off. One permenant nights the other on 12 on 11 off days.
Good money but both seem as miserable as sin and look permantly tired.
If you are on Facebook there is a tanker group that has a lot of info but tanker driving seems to attract bigger morons with an either higher opinion of there self than normal lorry drivers so a lot of bs to sift through
Been involved in tankers over 20 years (liquid and powder) and if you look for a day shift only you need to look at fuel or any other tanker work where the vehicles are double shifted.
The problem with tankers is that you can hang around for hours and hours if there is no space in the recipients.
This means many times a night out.
You could look at trunking for the dairies, but even than there are no guarantees that you are home every night.
A lot of this work is run 24/7 365 days a year, so you can imagine what you can come across
The best option is probably to look at “tanker companies” who run with day cabs, e.g. Heating fuel suppliers, certain dairy products etc.
It’s not always the best job and not as easy as it looks, you need a lot of patience, waiting on a sample, or a load which off-load for hours and hours (and no you can’t lay on your bed while you are off-loading.
Many places where you load/tip you stand out in the open, nice in the summer, not so nice when it blows a Gail, with freezing winds, and you are wet to the bone.
Once you get on tanks, you will be hooked
I spent from 1975 to 2007 on flat beds, box vans and tautiners before switching to tankers. I never want to go back, I just do liquids in baffle free tanks, each takes about 30 minutes to unload and I return empty even from Nova Scotia to NYC. Easiest driving job on the planet.
DB, looking at your signature you have only been driving for less than a year, not many if any will touch you with less than 2 or 3 years. Some of the home heating oil may on class II, but at least you get a foot in the door.
There isn’t a huge turnover in tanker drivers but contracts always change hands so there are always new hires to start when a new contract changes. The last big one was BP moving over to Hoyer and they are still struggling filling the seats.
Yes, it is predominantly early starts, 0400 and yes it is mostly shift work with late starts starting at 1600 or so, everybody has a different shift pattern. Once you are in and established you can try to get a days only fixed pattern something that may suit you better.
The money is good and with the bigger operators you never do a night out, most have day cabs. There aren’t many small operators left.
The main terminals for you are down in Grays/Purfleet, which is quite the commute from Colchester.
I’ve been on tanks for around 3 months now and really enjoy it, I’d be gutted if I had to go back to taughtliner work! No two days are ever the same, majority of the time I’m on ADR for GCA and sometimes it’s non haz work for mckeefry, yesterday was on a powder tank, today I was due to tip a load of Neodol in Thurrock but as the customers tank level is too high I’m having to park up for the night at Waltham abbey and tip in the morning.
I tend to get 1-3 nights out a week but as I’m saving for a mortgage I don’t mind it to be honest. I like the fact you know what you have to do for the day and no rushing round being pushed to the limit. If you don’t mind waiting round then go for it (queues and long discharge times can be a ball ache)
When I first started off I was slightly overwhelmed at how much there was to take in and was unsure weather I could stick it out, but after a few weeks on my own things slowly start to click into place!
Everywhere I go I let people know I’m still new to tanks, and weather it be operators or other drivers everyone has been really helpful.
