Hi all,
I am going for an interview on Friday,the position on offer will involve driving to Italy and Sweden,it’s also a multi manning position.
If any of you on here don’t mind please could you give me some do’s and dont’s of the mentioned above…?
Thanks
Who for GBA? What do you want to know specifically?
bigvern1:
Who for GBA? What do you want to know specifically?
Hello bigvern1,basically anything.! I’ve no experience at all doing euro work.!or multi manning but that’s self explanatory really.
Cheers
Hi NKH22.It’s not really the best time of year to be starting to drive from Europe to Scandinavia,especially if you have no experience.Make sure you find out as much as you can from the '‘prospective’'employer about the equipment they have for Winter driving,where they are going to[remember the further north,the worse it gets]and if multi manning,what sort of experience the other drivers have,its your life in their hands.Good luck.Mike
Hi, One question remains unanswered,Who for,? who?, would take on an inexperienced euro driver,especially for sweden in winter conditions. But best of luck…regards …Tony.
From my experience of double manning, all be it quite a few years ago, I wouldn’t do it again. It is most definitely not every drivers cup of tea. As drivers, we inherently like our own company, we don’t need to be around people, in fact being around people can really (zb) us off so we choose an occupation that allows for a bit of solitude and independence!
You will soon learn to have to be VERY tolerant of your co driver. We all have different quirks, preferences, likes and dislikes. When you are cooped up in a small metal box for days on end, tired, hungry, irritable etc, these little differences can become major problems. A classic case in point…do you smoke? If you don’t and the other driver does or visa versa that will be a problem. Air-Con? I hate it and never used it, the hotter the better, windows down all day, everyday, but what about your mate? Does he or she prefer an air conditioned, cool cab? Music preferences, ■■■■■■■, who takes responsibility for the load, paper work, customers etc, these are all minor issues that can become major hurdles if you don’t or cant get on with your co-driver.
And you will be tired, very tired. The whole purpose of double manning is to shift the load as far as possible, as quickly (and legally 
) as possible in the maximum amount of time allowed. Minimum breaks and maximum hours, that’s what its all about.
Things may have changed since I last did it, late 80s early 90s, but I doubt it. If its Euro driving experience that wish to gain then maybe try another route, you will find an opening somewhere. Think long and hard about double manning and whether its right for YOU. Good luck.
Edit…If you are going up into Scandinavia in the winter then I would also be asking some questions about the kit you will be using and driving. Does the truck have winter tyres fitted? Will you be carrying snow chains? Who is going to train you as to how and when to put the chains on? How many will you be carrying? Just two for the drive axle? You may need at least one extra for the steering axle in really bad conditions.
I was going to say that you should be sure that the vehicle is a double sleeper, but then again, you wont be doing to much sleeping though will you?? 
Tony R:
Hi, One question remains unanswered,Who for,? who?, would take on an inexperienced euro driver,especially for sweden in winter conditions. But best of luck…regards …Tony.
Hahaha,sorry mate not willing to say at the moment… 
hutpik:
Hi NKH22.It’s not really the best time of year to be starting to drive from Europe to Scandinavia,especially if you have no experience.Make sure you find out as much as you can from the '‘prospective’'employer about the equipment they have for Winter driving,where they are going to[remember the further north,the worse it gets]and if multi manning,what sort of experience the other drivers have,its your life in their hands.Good luck.Mike
Thanks for the info mate,some interesting stuff to think about…
bullitt:
From my experience of double manning, all be it quite a few years ago, I wouldn’t do it again. It is most definitely not every drivers cup of tea. As drivers, we inherently like our own company, we don’t need to be around people, in fact being around people can really (zb) us off so we choose an occupation that allows for a bit of solitude and independence!
You will soon learn to have to be VERY tolerant of your co driver. We all have different quirks, preferences, likes and dislikes. When you are cooped up in a small metal box for days on end, tired, hungry, irritable etc, these little differences can become major problems. A classic case in point…do you smoke? If you don’t and the other driver does or visa versa that will be a problem. Air-Con? I hate it and never used it, the hotter the better, windows down all day, everyday, but what about your mate? Does he or she prefer an air conditioned, cool cab? Music preferences, ■■■■■■■, who takes responsibility for the load, paper work, customers etc, these are all minor issues that can become major hurdles if you don’t or cant get on with your co-driver.
And you will be tired, very tired. The whole purpose of double manning is to shift the load as far as possible, as quickly (and legally
Things may have changed since I last did it, late 80s early 90s, but I doubt it. If its Euro driving experience that wish to gain then maybe try another route, you will find an opening somewhere. Think long and hard about double manning and whether its right for YOU. Good luck.Edit…If you are going up into Scandinavia in the winter then I would also be asking some questions about the kit you will be using and driving. Does the truck have winter tyres fitted? Will you be carrying snow chains? Who is going to train you as to how and when to put the chains on? How many will you be carrying? Just two for the drive axle? You may need at least one for the steering axle in really bad conditions.
I was going to say that you should be sure that the vehicle is a double sleeper, but then again, you wont be doing to much sleeping though will you??
Very detailed reply there mate,with some excellent bits for me to think about…
why do the phrases…walk before you run,recipie for disaster,and lamb to the slaughter seem to spring to mind now? 
bullitt:
From my experience of double manning, all be it quite a few years ago, I wouldn’t do it again. It is most definitely not every drivers cup of tea. As drivers, we inherently like our own company, we don’t need to be around people, in fact being around people can really (zb) us off so we choose an occupation that allows for a bit of solitude and independence!
You will soon learn to have to be VERY tolerant of your co driver. We all have different quirks, preferences, likes and dislikes. When you are cooped up in a small metal box for days on end, tired, hungry, irritable etc, these little differences can become major problems. A classic case in point…do you smoke? If you don’t and the other driver does or visa versa that will be a problem. Air-Con? I hate it and never used it, the hotter the better, windows down all day, everyday, but what about your mate? Does he or she prefer an air conditioned, cool cab? Music preferences, ■■■■■■■, who takes responsibility for the load, paper work, customers etc, these are all minor issues that can become major hurdles if you don’t or cant get on with your co-driver.
And you will be tired, very tired. The whole purpose of double manning is to shift the load as far as possible, as quickly (and legally
Things may have changed since I last did it, late 80s early 90s, but I doubt it. If its Euro driving experience that wish to gain then maybe try another route, you will find an opening somewhere. Think long and hard about double manning and whether its right for YOU. Good luck.Edit…If you are going up into Scandinavia in the winter then I would also be asking some questions about the kit you will be using and driving. Does the truck have winter tyres fitted? Will you be carrying snow chains? Who is going to train you as to how and when to put the chains on? How many will you be carrying? Just two for the drive axle? You may need at least one extra for the steering axle in really bad conditions.
I was going to say that you should be sure that the vehicle is a double sleeper, but then again, you wont be doing to much sleeping though will you??
Pretty much agree with your sowing up of double manning Bulitt, but with these days of very few opputunities for UK driver to do Europe if it’s what you want then it might be worth taking it gets you the experience to look around for something better.
The best case scenario is you’re with an decent chap whose an old hand who knows the job and you can learn, Worst case a complete ■■■■■■ on an ego trip.
I did a bit of double manning, some people I hated the sight of, other I got on ok, but we all have our bad days where we’d like our own company. The bloke I got on the best with some days we would hardly say a word to each other, nothing to say so why bother, we both understood and it didn’t bother us. Other times though we did have a good laugh at things. iPod were another great thing, basically the driver decides on the music and if the co driver didn’t like it the put your iPod on.
The biggest thing for me is trusting the other driver so you can feel safe enough to sleep, having said that I’d still prefer to be on my own.
yeah I’d hate to be double manning as well but Sweden in the winter is not such a big deal, considering I haven’t seen GBA further north than Stockholm.
Wonder how he got on? Come on chap, so what happened then? Did you get the job and who`s it for??
bullitt:
who`s it for??
Check Big Verns post, 2nd one down.
the maoster:
…Check Big Verns post, 2nd one down.
Yes, I saw that but the O/P never confirmed who it was.
I did Europe double manning for twelve years, with various partners, some good some not so, Italy was always a good run mostly warm and good food, roads getting better with the huge building program, Sweden a very nice place that changes by the hour, still a good drive and food, slightly more expensive, take warm clothes, plus a way of heating things by gas or microwave (remember no battery or running engine NO heat, so have gas back up, while its lovely and warm in the cab whilst moving when it all goes wrong and you need to get out the cold will get hold of you in seconds, the local plod will park you up for simple things like screen wash freezing so don’t rely on uk rubbish. well I enjoyed it very much and would say give it a go.