I should think almost half our fleet are 6wheelers but we keep them busy as 1 batching plant has a bridge to the agg silo that can’t take more than 28ton on it and another is bad for access when there’s a cement tanker there-the feed hopper also struggles to take more than 15 ton at a time see pic below of what happens when you try putting 19 tonnes in it 
Our 6wheelers are popular with local builders for muckshifting on small builds etc and many subbies and 1 truck operators around here have changed to running 8wheelers. More tonnage but they’re competing for work with so many others.
As far as I know I have the last Hanson Franchised 6w in the Midlands,and I am not boasting about it either. When I asked for a bit of a rise last year I was told that they manage without 6ws in most of the pits/quarries. My truck is paid for and I dont want to really get into hock on an 8w at the moment so I will try and stick it out through the recession. Besides when we had the snow a few weeks ago the 8ws were just a bit better at getting about than the artics but my 6w was a king,they in my opinion are the ideal truck for the quarry job.
hammer:
pursy:
Hanson charge the smaller customers extra to have a 6w load delivered but do not pass this on to the haulier.This ^ =
What a bunch of utter [zb] these big firms are. Why does the 6 have to have a premium applied? Its all just crap, stupid rules made up by people who’ve never done the job and who think it looks good on their computers. The quarry firm i work for sent some bod down from head office “what are all these 6-wheelers doing here?” he said. Clearly he’s never seen the roads of rural North Wales. Fact is, sometimes, 8-wheelers just don’t fit but you can’t tell them.
When I’m in a position to do so i will be out. If I could find another (decent) job to go to now I’d be gone.
my dad was on the tarmac
it wasn’t all ways like that my dad ran a 6wheeler in the 80/90’s and the pay/rates were no were near that of the 8wheelers why he never got an 8 i dont know 
but i know the 4wheelers were on a fixed rate i.e they got paid for a full load no matter if they had half a ton or 14ton tarmac changed it as all 4wheeler drivers used to moan about not getting any decent runs or rates 
the 6wheeler all ways strikes me as a bit of a nomans land
but there are 2 O/D hauliers that are running 13 wagons each with a mixture of artics and 8wheelers
that have been going for 20years +
dont ask me how they are making it pay in these times i dont know but i have heard they under cut everyone but are still making it pay and the lads are on a good rate as well 
When we had ex drivers on the weighbridges the 8ws did the longer runs and the 4ws and 6ws stopped a bit more local so it worked out ok for the smaller trucks,now they just get anyone who can tap a keyboard but don’t really understand how it all works.
Hanson are meant to be getting a new routing scheme from Oz,as I understand it all orders and transport is operated from an office in Sydney,so it will be sub base on the back trailer,base course tarmac on the middle and toppings on the front LOL.
Back to the original theme of this topic though,I think if you can get into a good reliable coating plant to work and they do a few anti social hours[better rates] it might be ok,even better if they have some dry stone going to regular drops like concrete plants just to fill in. Our place tends to have the odd week of nights so its difficult to find a good driver for just perhaps 20 or 30 nights a year.
I know a couple of ODs that have some relief drivers in reserve so their trucks can work nights if needed on blacktop. If customers specify 4wheelers there’s normally a waiting list of a day or so to get the load delivered, whereas a part load on a 6 can get done within a couple of hours; normally sent on a truck running empty to a muckshift. I’ve noticed though that despite being a dying breed, 6wheelers get a more varied working week.
Re Mixer franchises, how about going freelance? I know someone that does, and he charges travelling time plus a minimum number of work hours regardless of the loads/meterage carried in that day…
Beware Hanson concrete “franchises”…they have now decided that it is cheaper to run a truck when it is out of contract and drop the rate by almost £10 a load…if you do 4/5 loads a day that can be £200/£250 a week!!! Also they charge customers £65 per hour waiting time and we get £22 out of that…they pocket the rest for doing nothing!! As said before get a solicitor to cast an eye over the contract…they have all the guarantees…the franchisee nothing…leave well alone
whybother:
Beware Hanson concrete “franchises”…they have now decided that it is cheaper to run a truck when it is out of contract and drop the rate by almost £10 a load…if you do 4/5 loads a day that can be £200/£250 a week!!! Also they charge customers £65 per hour waiting time and we get £22 out of that…they pocket the rest for doing nothing!! As said before get a solicitor to cast an eye over the contract…they have all the guarantees…the franchisee nothing…leave well alone
Tarmac pulled that one on my last but one truck , as for the last truck i jumped out 1/2 way through the contact with £28k still owing and sold it on to a wannabee empire builder like the rest , as stated before about others he’s now back to one truck and nowt to show for it but a load of ballache and mither 
pursy:
Hanson are meant to be getting a new routing scheme from Oz,as I understand it all orders and transport is operated from an office in Sydney,
You couldn’t make it up! It would be funny if it wasn’t something that will severly damage you’re living.
whybother:
Beware Hanson concrete “franchises”…they have now decided that it is cheaper to run a truck when it is out of contract and drop the rate by almost £10 a load…if you do 4/5 loads a day that can be £200/£250 a week!!! Also they charge customers £65 per hour waiting time and we get £22 out of that…they pocket the rest for doing nothing!! As said before get a solicitor to cast an eye over the contract…they have all the guarantees…the franchisee nothing…leave well alone
I’ve heard that loads from one Hanson pit to another are done by independants and not franchises because of this…
Yep the old man is a wage earner on the semi trailers back in Oz with Hanson still. He’s based south of Wollongong (about 100kms south of Sydney) and about 5 years back they introduced the new computerised allocations system where Sydney routes trucks everywhere within Idon’t know what radius. Was a shambles, trucks getting sent back south empty and then re-routed half way to go out west to load when one of the other Wollongong trucks was closer etc etc… Not sure what it’s like now, maybe the bugs are ironed out but doubt it…
pursy:
When we had ex drivers on the weighbridges the 8ws did the longer runs and the 4ws and 6ws stopped a bit more local so it worked out ok for the smaller trucks,now they just get anyone who can tap a keyboard but don’t really understand how it all works.
Hanson are meant to be getting a new routing scheme from Oz,as I understand it all orders and transport is operated from an office in Sydney,so it will be sub base on the back trailer,base course tarmac on the middle and toppings on the front LOL.
Back to the original theme of this topic though,I think if you can get into a good reliable coating plant to work and they do a few anti social hours[better rates] it might be ok,even better if they have some dry stone going to regular drops like concrete plants just to fill in. Our place tends to have the odd week of nights so its difficult to find a good driver for just perhaps 20 or 30 nights a year.