just wondering anybody on round trip work for walters, say uk- france does it pay?
The company I used to work for until 09 did a lot of ferry work for them, trailers out of the dock etc which paid well enough. 6 of us used to do our own work to Germany and Switzerland so the boss decided to try us on a few round trips for Walters, so instead of delivering the trailer to Immingham, we’d run down to Ramsgate, get the ferry to Ostend and then deliver in Germany and come back etc. No, it did not pay and soon came to an end. The France work may be different, I did meet an English truck in Ostend once who does Walters work to Belgium from the UK every week so it must pay at least enough for someone to be doing it but when you look at 99% of LKW Walters trailers, with the exception of the UK ferry freight side, its all being pulled by LT, PL, RO, BG trucks. They were one of the pioneers of rate cutting and using eastern traction to undercut their competition so opportunities for western European trucks to make a living working for them are always going to be extremely limited, at best, in my opinion.
Just on a side note: LKW being AUSTRIAN company is as much Eastern as Czech Republic or Slovenia. Vienna is almost 200 km east from Prague. So technically speaking if LKW Walter (HQ in Vienna) takes subcontractor from Zielona Góra (PL) it is technically speaking Western subcontractor for them 
Except we all know, including you Orys that “Western Europe” and “Eastern Europe” are well known cultural reference points referring to countries to the west of, and to the east of the former iron curtain. Just as Australia and New Zealand are called “Western” countries, despite being as far east as is almost possible in geographical terms from the Greenwich meridian. The fact remains though that LKW Walter pay crap rates and as such you will hardly ever, if ever at all, see an Austrian truck with Austrian driver pulling their trailers on international work, regardless of the fact that Wiener Neudorf is east of Zielona Gora.
robinhood_1984:
Except we all know, including you Orys that “Western Europe” and “Eastern Europe” are well known cultural reference points referring to countries to the west of, and to the east of the former iron curtain. Just as Australia and New Zealand are called “Western” countries, despite being as far east as is almost possible in geographical terms from the Greenwich meridian. The fact remains though that LKW Walter pay crap rates and as such you will hardly ever, if ever at all, see an Austrian truck with Austrian driver pulling their trailers on international work, regardless of the fact that Wiener Neudorf is east of Zielona Gora.
Except that obviously not all of us know that it’s nearly a quarter of the century since Iron Wall dissapeared… I saw a Portugese truck pulling LKW Trailer last week when I was in Belgium. Things are changing, and especially the financial crisis made a big changes when it comes to European economy…
Anyway my comment was just a toungue in cheek one, so I think we can just leave it here
orys:
Except that obviously not all of us know that it’s nearly a quarter of the century since Iron Wall dissapeared… I saw a Portugese truck pulling LKW Trailer last week when I was in Belgium. Things are changing, and especially the financial crisis made a big changes when it comes to European economy…
Portugal is a former communist country and they have always worked cheap.
I make more than twice the wage of a portuguese truck driver while home every night here in estonia, so the wages there are pretty dim. as for walters, they regularly find new countries and subbies to scam. it was estonia in 2008, everyone and their grandmother was pulling for them. a year later, some had found better work, very few were still trying to make it work, many had ended in tears. apart from a few big german traction companies, it’s a revolving door of subbies over ther.
I wouldn’t bother, helped them out in April with 2 trailers ex Purfleet to tip Leicester, don’t get me I got a decent rate from them and I reloaded the things with domestic loads that tipped locally (which I always try to do as long as the trailer owner agrees). Anyway, long story short etc, got paid for these 2 jobs this week! Nearly 5 sodding months after the job, hence I haven’t and wont do anything for them again.
Rant over, at ease all 
robinhood_1984:
Just as Australia and New Zealand are called “Western” countries, despite being as far east as is almost possible in geographical terms from the Greenwich meridian
Surely they’re as far West as is possible, in geographical terms, of the Greenwich Meridian 
Simon:
robinhood_1984:
Just as Australia and New Zealand are called “Western” countries, despite being as far east as is almost possible in geographical terms from the Greenwich meridianSurely they’re as far West as is possible, in geographical terms, of the Greenwich Meridian
Its my understanding that they’re east of the Greenwich meridian as they lay before the International date line, and thus ahead of us in time measured from GMT. Wellington, the capital of New Zealand has coordinates of 41°17′20″S 174°46′38″**E**.
a mate of mine gave it a go with them a couple of years ago think he lasted about 6 weeks miles of empty running and then the final straw being expected to bounce from Belgium to Dublin told em to stuff it
Walters always paid me the same wether empty or loaded so i prefered to run empty
the last I heard, on sweden-europe work they were paying €0.50 for empty kilometres after the first 100kms, as those are free. which usually meant that after tipping in lübeck, you were reloading hamburg.
thats not so good. Ive only worked for them on an all miles paid basis and to be honest I can’t really fault them, They have even paid for me to come home empty in the past when Ive needed to get back, mileage and ferry. At that time I had been with them for around 5 years so maybe that makes a difference.
milodon:
they regularly find new countries and subbies to scam.
I’d like to see how you explain that one, how do they “scam” subbies? They have clearly defined conditions which are given in writing so if you don’t like what you read in those conditions, don’t work for them. Simple.
I worked for Walters off & on for years only doing their work when my own customers were quiet & as fill in loads between decent paying work. You need to know how to ‘work’ their system, but a living could be earned from their work by ‘jumping between desks’!! (anyone who’s worked for them should understand that comment)
Ross.
bigr250:
I’d like to see how you explain that one, how do they “scam” subbies? They have clearly defined conditions which are given in writing so if you don’t like what you read in those conditions, don’t work for them. Simple.
those “conditions” usually work only one way, so if walter wants to cut mileage or pay much later than agreed, they will. A subby with three trucks is not going to sue them and their army of lawyers.
milodon:
those “conditions” usually work only one way, so if walter wants to cut mileage or pay much later than agreed, they will. A subby with three trucks is not going to sue them and their army of lawyers.
I’m only going by what was told to me by the company I used to work for, but the reason they stopped doing LKW Walter trailers to and from Germany, only a month or two after starting was because the agreed upon rates always turned out to be quite different to what they then wanted to pay after the work was done. Apparently, after much fighting we got what was agreed but it was too much bother and the rates in the first place weren’t that good as it was.
We never had problems loading back loads with them on our own trailers ex Swiss to the UK, it was only when we did full return journeys from GB-D-GB with their trailers that there were issues.