Where In Scotland were they working from?
Has anyone here ever done that own car courier , saw some advert for it on a goberment website ,you have to buy the " Courier book" for £46 and then £3 a week thereafter. Was looking into it 
No, but anything you pay up front to earn from, must be iffy! I think they give you a list of courier companies as “leads” for work. I may be wrong.
madguy:
There is a company in Birmingham that advertise these jobs regularly, i looked into it a few months ago as i was interested, it is running between Coventry and Scotland in a Merc Sprinter.You have to lease the van through them at around £250 per week and you are expected to do approx 5 nights minimum.
You collect the excess parcels out of Cov and run to Scotland through the night delivering around 5 am, then wait untill the evening and run back to Cov, you get a fuel card but have to pay for the fuel and you have to pay for maintenance of the van etc.
To make it pay you need to do 6 nights a week and you would earn approx £650 but as your self employed you also have to pay your own tax etc.
The contract is terrible for the driver, you have to give 2 months notice for any time off, then it is without pay but you still have to pay for the van lease etc, if you leave you have to give a full month notice and you still have to pay for the van lease untill they find a replacement driver.
As you would expect staff turnover is very high, not something that i personally was interested in in the end but some might like it.
Madguy
Company is called Nighttrunker Ltd, You would run to scotland and be expected to run to scotland around 5 to 6 times a week and were paid for each return trip. One invoice they showed me had an Cov-Aberdeen_Cov and you got £405 before fuel for the return trip, they gave u a fuel card but charged you for fuel used.
samwilson1:
Where In Scotland were they working from?
Nighttrunker work for a number of companys but do alot for Royal Mail I believe.
glen958:
madguy:
There is a company in Birmingham that advertise these jobs regularly, i looked into it a few months ago as i was interested, it is running between Coventry and Scotland in a Merc Sprinter.You have to lease the van through them at around £250 per week and you are expected to do approx 5 nights minimum.
You collect the excess parcels out of Cov and run to Scotland through the night delivering around 5 am, then wait untill the evening and run back to Cov, you get a fuel card but have to pay for the fuel and you have to pay for maintenance of the van etc.
To make it pay you need to do 6 nights a week and you would earn approx £650 but as your self employed you also have to pay your own tax etc.
The contract is terrible for the driver, you have to give 2 months notice for any time off, then it is without pay but you still have to pay for the van lease etc, if you leave you have to give a full month notice and you still have to pay for the van lease untill they find a replacement driver.
As you would expect staff turnover is very high, not something that i personally was interested in in the end but some might like it.
Madguy
Company is called Nighttrunker Ltd, You would run to scotland and be expected to run to scotland around 5 to 6 times a week and were paid for each return trip. One invoice they showed me had an Cov-Aberdeen_Cov and you got £405 before fuel for the return trip, they gave u a fuel card but charged you for fuel used.
That’s 45p a mile!
But presumably that isn’t just one nights work? Presumably that is Cov-Aberdeen, sleep during the day, then Aberdeen-Cov the next night?
Fuel would be around £200…leaving you with £205. Work 6 nights and get £615 then lose £250 for the lease van, giving you £365 for the week?
Work on 9 hrs each way, making 54 hrs a week…you’re earning around £6.75 an hour.
Of course if you were able to turn straight round and do the return journey in one hit, you would earn a lot more.
Not convinced so far!
Every man and his dog is at it, and the rates per mile are even worse than most LGV rates even when you take into account the lesser overheads and expenses, DO not buy a book that tells you how make it a courier, It wont tell you anything that common sense wont tell you - and certainly wont give you guarenteed work at a decent rate. Some guys DO make a decent living, but they do becuase they have gone and knocked on doors, sold themselves and got work direct, at a decent rate - in that its no different than running a truck.
Work via a broker or 3rd party and only one person is going to make a profit, and it isnt you
Suedehead:
Correct me if i am wrong(probably am)but arent van drivers governed by some kind of drivers regs … log book style ?
They are covered by Domestic Driving hours
Found in here
dft.gov.uk/vosa/repository/R … Europe.pdf
Each country has there own so should be running to them if abroad
DonutUK:
glen958:
madguy:
There is a company in Birmingham that advertise these jobs regularly, i looked into it a few months ago as i was interested, it is running between Coventry and Scotland in a Merc Sprinter.You have to lease the van through them at around £250 per week and you are expected to do approx 5 nights minimum.
You collect the excess parcels out of Cov and run to Scotland through the night delivering around 5 am, then wait untill the evening and run back to Cov, you get a fuel card but have to pay for the fuel and you have to pay for maintenance of the van etc.
To make it pay you need to do 6 nights a week and you would earn approx £650 but as your self employed you also have to pay your own tax etc.
The contract is terrible for the driver, you have to give 2 months notice for any time off, then it is without pay but you still have to pay for the van lease etc, if you leave you have to give a full month notice and you still have to pay for the van lease untill they find a replacement driver.
As you would expect staff turnover is very high, not something that i personally was interested in in the end but some might like it.
Madguy
Company is called Nighttrunker Ltd, You would run to scotland and be expected to run to scotland around 5 to 6 times a week and were paid for each return trip. One invoice they showed me had an Cov-Aberdeen_Cov and you got £405 before fuel for the return trip, they gave u a fuel card but charged you for fuel used.
That’s 45p a mile!
But presumably that isn’t just one nights work? Presumably that is Cov-Aberdeen, sleep during the day, then Aberdeen-Cov the next night?
Fuel would be around £200…leaving you with £205. Work 6 nights and get £615 then lose £250 for the lease van, giving you £365 for the week?
Work on 9 hrs each way, making 54 hrs a week…you’re earning around £6.75 an hour.Of course if you were able to turn straight round and do the return journey in one hit, you would earn a lot more.
Not convinced so far!
You can’t turn and burn as you have to wait for the return load in the evening , so it’s kip in the back of the van in the day and drive at night.
Madguy 
Rikki-UK:
Every man and his dog is at it, and the rates per mile are even worse than most LGV rates even when you take into account the lesser overheads and expenses, DO not buy a book that tells you how make it a courier, It wont tell you anything that common sense wont tell you - and certainly wont give you guarenteed work at a decent rate. Some guys DO make a decent living, but they do becuase they have gone and knocked on doors, sold themselves and got work direct, at a decent rate - in that its no different than running a truck.Work via a broker or 3rd party and only one person is going to make a profit, and it isnt you
+1
knocking on doors is the way to do it, to make a decent living you need to find your own customers.
Nightrunker is the new name of several companies run by a bloke called Raymond, all work carried out by this company is for UK Express, mainly Parcelfore & City Link Hubs at Bagington, Coventry.
DonutUK:
Seen a couple of these type of jobs advertised lately.Anyone actually know what they are all about? They advertise “nights away”…is this kipping in the van or do they actually provide accommodation?
Just been made redundant so need something to get me through Xmas.
This thread below is over 4 years old but still…
obviously the tacho/van part was urban myth/rdc waiting room fodder
there is a lot o sprinters with sleeper pods on the roofs with curtain sides all round here.A lot go into landrover solihull and then kip in the works or local laybys till there return trip is ready,most seem to be polish or lithuanion registered used to see loads going in and out of harwich port…