H & R Transport Diary

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS EX-PAT BRITISH TRUCKERS (INTERACTIVE)
381

My chains are still in the bags, brand new and unused, they’ll stay that way too with a bit of luck, the only reason I carry them is to comply with the law :sunglasses:

I think that most firms have a do not run policy if conditions are bad, those that want you to keep running at all costs are places best avoided :bulb:

I’ve been at my place 4yrs this week, in that time I’ve carried on when others have stopped and I’ve stopped when others have carried on, my judgement has never been questioned. Last Thanksgiving I started the day from Dad’s Truckstop in Idaho Falls and I parked for the day two junctions north as the roads were sheet ice and the snow was flying big time, dispatch never raised an eyebrow, they just asked me to let them know when I was rolling and they would rebook my delivery.

I’ve called in and said I’m going the long way around to avoid a storm, like avoiding Colorado and the bottom of Wyoming when running to Texas from Alberta and running across South Dakota then heading straight south and been given the green light and even been paid the extra miles.

The firms up here are well used to it, they’ve all had trucks pulled out of ditches, so they know what can happen when it gets bad :wink:

382

I crossed the Cascades a few times in heavy snow, I am not dumb enough to fit them, It’s only law that you carry them in such area’s you don’t have to fit them, if you have good drive tyres it’s all you need.

383

flat to the mat:
Taff,a sadist does it to others where as masochist does it to themselves so unless you’re really looking forward to seeing other drivers hit the ditch I’d say you were the latter regards the oncoming season :laughing: :laughing: Not meaning to be pedantic of course :wink:
Just take your time,drive to the conditions and when you don’t feel comfortable park it,oh and don’t listen to the pricks on the chicken box who want to drive at 120 in a blizzard :unamused:
My company has an unwritten rule (but adhered to ) that when we can only average 60kph over a relatively short period of time due to road conditions that we can park and still be paid hourly ,it’s our choice,there again they have a policy of two preventable incidents of any significance in 24 months and we’re out the door.They’d rather pay me a few bucks to eat/sleep/rest a while than have to recover and repair a damaged truck trailer combo . Have personally only parked twice,both times running empty,and dispatch never questioned my decision.
That’s irrelevant really,it’s your job and you’re the captain of your ship .Just remember that when the brown stuff happens it only flows one way ,and that’s always downhill towards you :exclamation: :exclamation:

GOOD GREIF, well i never :exclamation: What would my hero Hugh (the polar bear) Roland from Ice Road Truckers say about you lot :question: He never shuts down, just throw them chains on and keep going :laughing:
I don’t have any chains, the company won’t say anything if i stop due to the weather but if i keep going and jack-knife they have plenty to say then :unamused:

Charles

384

LOL,read my second sentence re the pricks ( Hugh and Rick for example ) on the CB :laughing:
Had a memo from HQ today saying our request for chains for the new trucks in Regina has been turned down ,guess we won’t be running into BC this winter :smiley: .

385

I’m the same a Charles in that my company require us to just shut down if the snow is unsafe to drive on, so long as we let them know, an accident in snow is in their eyes a preventable one… ‘You should have stopped’ is what they tell us.

386

I see that H&R are now hauling cattle! A few trucks parked at Coutes the other day and some liners in their Lethbridge yard. I wonder what they are getting paid per mile, and if they have had their limiters knocked off?
A mate of mine tried to ask in their facebook bulletin board but his posts (a bit critical of the company) don’t appear.

387

Just back fromtaking a guy to CA on refresher run that turned into more like a mentor run as his previous mentors didn’t show him much at all. All aside he a sweaty sock we had a good week and managed to get a night in Vegas :slight_smile: pics to follow on FB when I can be arse lol. Got to drop 15 hrs early so park up drive o well happens I guess. Dropped following morning back up to good old Oxnard CA to reload bananas for Calgary. They really need to sort act out there took all day to get loaded so made it back far as Barstow CA as running super single not team load back 2 days early = reset for me so happy days was hard work bless him but a nice bloke in all. Turned round n told me I taught him more in one trip then his previous 2 trips nice compliment.

As for the chain matter I hope not to use them. I was offered running the northen routes but politly turned it down lol just looking forward to new experiences.

As for the cattle trailers its to do with XL they still have the cattle coming in but gotta haul elsewhere to get it slaughtered so that’s what we doing. One of the guys I know told me they on same money and no the truck limiters not turned off, despite what may have happened in the past H&R are very much towards safety nowadays and always say if that bad then stop if not feels safe so can’t see the trucks flying down the road. Infact they were getting passed when I saw them today heading south

388

taffytrucker:
Just back fromtaking a guy to CA on refresher run that turned into more like a mentor run as his previous mentors didn’t show him much at all. All aside he a sweaty sock we had a good week and managed to get a night in Vegas :slight_smile: pics to follow on FB when I can be arse lol. Got to drop 15 hrs early so park up drive o well happens I guess. Dropped following morning back up to good old Oxnard CA to reload bananas for Calgary. They really need to sort act out there took all day to get loaded so made it back far as Barstow CA as running super single not team load back 2 days early = reset for me so happy days was hard work bless him but a nice bloke in all. Turned round n told me I taught him more in one trip then his previous 2 trips nice compliment.

As for the chain matter I hope not to use them. I was offered running the northen routes but politly turned it down lol just looking forward to new experiences.

As for the cattle trailers its to do with XL they still have the cattle coming in but gotta haul elsewhere to get it slaughtered so that’s what we doing. One of the guys I know told me they on same money and no the truck limiters not turned off, despite what may have happened in the past H&R are very much towards safety nowadays and always say if that bad then stop if not feels safe so can’t see the trucks flying down the road. Infact they were getting passed when I saw them today heading south

My question about limiters was because (as we all know) the cattle boys go like the clappers, so i was wondering how they could compete at 62mph, theoretically they should also be on a higher rate as it will take them longer to do the job than the 75mph lads.

389

I know what you saying there mick but I know they sticking to 62 as for the cash ill see if I can find out more but far as I’m aware they on the same money

390

Where is the best place to look about doing this move to canada im feeling this nd would like to do it in a few years and would like to know where to get the best info to read and show my wife as she would like to know more aswell… tried google but maybe im not looking for the right stuff so as as you have just dont it this yearcan i ask where you got your info from.

Many thanks dan :smiley:

391

The forum British expats is quite helpful with lots of things not just trucking but day to day life stuff. Also on here there are some very helpful people.

392

Hey dan. The best info you can get is by talking to the guys who have made the move as you get a no BS answer of how they find it. Make your mind up where you wanna go and take it from there.

O well not get my reset in off to CA instead

393

I find this mentoring thing a little disturbing :open_mouth: I know from other sources that you (Taffy) have taken to this like a Duck to water, but let’s be honest, you’re still learning yourself, how do they expect you to pass on tips and the like if you don’t really know what you’re doing yourself yet :open_mouth:

99% of us over here had a decent bit of experience under our belt before we came over (except nianiamh, who drove a Sprinter van delivering male ■■■ aids back door to back door for Alan Summers :laughing: ) but even so, the conditions, the laws and the general way of doing things over here are very very different to what any of us encountered in Europe, for me it was a huge learning curve, not a difficult one by any means, but there was still a lot to learn :bulb:

The way they do things over here with training and mentoring is a total joke, H&R are by no means alone in this. I’ve seen driver trainers with less than 6 months experience training new drivers, talk about the blind leading the blind :unamused: I watched one bloke really struggling to back into a very easy ■■■■■■■■■■■■, he was shunting back and forth, going from lock to lock and getting in a right old mess, the second driver had jumped out and was guiding him in, I asked the second bloke how the trainee was doing (obviously taking the ■■■■) he replied that he was the trainee, it was the trainer that couldn’t reverse FFS :unamused:

My own experience at BFS was similar, although it was only training for the test and not on the road training. The trainer and I use that term sarcastically, was not even a driver, he was a vicar/preacher who had driven a milk tanker part time and once went all the way to Calgary to recover a truck that had been dumped :open_mouth: His idea of training was to dump me in the yard with a print out of the air brake and pre trip instructions and sit on his fat arse sleeping in the passenger seat of the training truck while the other driver went joy riding around town all morning, in the afternoon it was my turn to listen to him snoring while the other bloke was in the yard, funnily enough, not one driver had previously passed their test first time under his training regime :unamused:

Being the big mouthed militant prick that I am, that was about to change as the other driver and I refused to go out joy riding, we both knew how to drive, having 20yrs + experience, but the air brake in my case and the pre trip for the other bloke were giving us problems, that’s where we needed training, we got that and I got my ticket first time, but I know I would’ve [zb]ed it up without the extra practice in the area that I needed it. Again the milkman was about as much use as a mudflap on a tortoise and the other bloke and I ended up training each other, the situation was ridiculous :unamused:

The way I see it, no matter how long you’ve been driving or how many miles you’ve done, there’s always something to learn, each and every job is different, so any training should be done by people who have been trained to be trainers, this way standards can be raised :bulb: Look at some of the antics you see out on the roads, the blind leading the blind clearly does not work :unamused:

394

newmercman:
I find this mentoring thing a little disturbing :open_mouth: I know from other sources that you (Taffy) have taken to this like a Duck to water, but let’s be honest, you’re still learning yourself, how do they expect you to pass on tips and the like if you don’t really know what you’re doing yourself yet :open_mouth:

Very disturbing Mark, unfortunately, H&R (and probably others) still use the mentor trip to get a team job done on the cheap, whilst each one takes turn to sleep. They tried it with me, but my mentor refused to comply and we both slept well each night in the parked truck, although I did all of the driving after the first half day it meant that he could actually stay awake and pass on his knowledge though the drive.

395

I know that taffy was doing similar, they ran super single, so at least they did it properly, but that was probably not what the orifice bods were expecting :unamused:

396

I am glad someone else mentioned it because I couldn’t get head around the idea of a newly qualified guy already being a mentor for other newly qualified guys after a couple of trips.
To be honest I have not heard one thing that I did like yet about H&R’s methods since the beginning of Taff’s diary.

397

Guys I’m not saying agree with me taking someone out on a run at all. The first guy had been over here for a short spell and needed a refresher so he already had an idea but from he told me his previous mentors didn’t show him a great deal at all and on one run he didn’t get behind the wheel for 2 days or so. He found himself on the outskirts of a major city and given the keys!!! He wasn’t shown the qualcom or anything so let him do everything from the start while I checked it all behind him. Both trips I have done have been as super single and yes some of it we was expected to run as a team to which I said no.

I started this thread coz I was fed up of all the ■■■■■■■■ you read so other guys thinking about coming out can see how I found it instead of MMTM over a pint if that have offended some people then sorry and if some of you think I have a cocky attitude then you don’t know me at all. There have been quite a few occasions I have phoned or spoken to other drivers on the phone for advise I don’t pretend I know the job or that I will know everything about the job in 20 yrs time, back home I got my class 1 in 95 and was still learning more when I left to come over here

On the plus side thought I have had some positive feedback from this thread and have got to chat to some great guys who have helped me hell of a lot so thanx to those few

398

Don’t think no one Is having a pop at you personally mate as Newmercman has said you seem to be doing ok but you to admit it does seem bad that a company expects you to teach drivers especially this time of year when you are still learning your self. As you say a good driver admits he doesn’t know everything but realistically if your training someone you want someone who has a couple of years under there belt.
Keep up the diary I’m finding it very helpful.

399

Nobody is questioning your ability Taff, and you must be quite well thought of at H&R to get to be a mentor so fast, so it’s an accolade to you, but it is worrying that they have drivers that they feel need a mentor in the first place and secondly that when they are mentored it is not done properly. As you yourself admit, you still have a lot to learn (we all do) so surely the mentoring should be done by been there, done that drivers, rather than those that still have a lot to learn :bulb:

Keep up the posting though, this is a very informative thread, those of us that have been through the first year can look back with fond memories at your enthusiasm and those that are thinking of making the move can learn a lot from your experiences :wink:

400

Probably been a godsend to a lot of folks your posting this up has, I myself think its bollox that your expected to be twoed up in a motor but as for mentoring them too its a joke, I wonder if you didnt have this thread would you have been asked, I dont think anyones having a pop btw for all us on here know you may be a born natural .at mentoring, your braver than me anyway I dont want no ■■■■■■ in here with me full stop…keep it up Chap you may soon be in the boardroom…

Where I am incidentally we dont have that we do 2 days in the city with an old hand to see the routine at the loading points as we are expected to be able to do everything else, hence they dont bring folks over like your crowd do they just had me because id been here before or they where desperate that week!!!