Robin_A:
Well done , your just in time, think the trailers are almost new.If you hear they want class 2, give me a shout.
Will do, hope you don’t mind lugging tyres about though- looks like there’s a fair bit of that with the rigids. They had a class 1 driver quit on Friday if that’s any help to anyone.
Thanks again for the heads up Robin.
GAZLEEDS:
darkseeker:
:shock: is that some tax dodge or something then!? they’re 6X2 units, didn’t notice whether the trailers were two or three axles though.Any advice regarding MAN units? I don’t know if they’re auto or manual but seem to remember reading/hearing they sometimes have wierd and wonderful gearboxes? mine’s a 56plate if that makes any difference.
i used to work for nightfreight at birstall depot
the older units ie 05 was manual but the 55 plate onwards was all auto boxes
so would pretty much certainly say that it will be auto box mate
as for trailers majority of them are twin axle all though some are tri axle
and majority are in bad condition body wise scraped n bashed to high heaven
Didn’t Nightfreight used to be at Stanningley in that industrial estate on the left? Pretty sure it was them who I used to do a lot for on agency, black ERF EC10s with skirts and black twin axle trailers? Am I thinking of the same outfit? Used to go to Coventry somewhere and another place on SW side of Birmingham off the M5 before the services. Was a pretty cushy job from what I remember and the tackle was battered but roadworthy and a decent enough drive.
Black trucks sounds like lynx to me, haven’t seen them about for a few years now though…
Rob K:
GAZLEEDS:
darkseeker:
:shock: is that some tax dodge or something then!? they’re 6X2 units, didn’t notice whether the trailers were two or three axles though.Any advice regarding MAN units? I don’t know if they’re auto or manual but seem to remember reading/hearing they sometimes have wierd and wonderful gearboxes? mine’s a 56plate if that makes any difference.
i used to work for nightfreight at birstall depot
the older units ie 05 was manual but the 55 plate onwards was all auto boxes
so would pretty much certainly say that it will be auto box mate
as for trailers majority of them are twin axle all though some are tri axle
and majority are in bad condition body wise scraped n bashed to high heaven
Didn’t Nightfreight used to be at Stanningley in that industrial estate on the left? Pretty sure it was them who I used to do a lot for on agency, black ERF EC10s with skirts and black twin axle trailers? Am I thinking of the same outfit? Used to go to Coventry somewhere and another place on SW side of Birmingham off the M5 before the services. Was a pretty cushy job from what I remember and the tackle was battered but roadworthy and a decent enough drive.
no your thinking of the lynx on grangefield industrial estate
which was bought out by ups a couple years ago and now rebranded ups
darkseeker:
Got the job!!Just out of curiosity though, is it common to be offered the job with no formal interview!? I went to fetch an application form the other day and spoke to them for 5mins but nowhere near an interview.
Just hope I can handle doing the same thing every night…
I’m guessing from your location that you’re working for Rainbow Nightfreight. Did six years with them from 1987 to 1993, started as a driver and ended up as Ops Manager at Stevenage. Andy Rainbow is one of the founders of Nightfreight, and his family own a fair chunk of it, including depots in Notts, Lincoln, Kidderminster and Gloucester. I was at school with Andy, if you ever meet him and want to ■■■■ him off call him “Chub”, that was his nickname! 
If it’s anything like it was then, do the job, don’t moan and it’ll be yours for life. Rainbows’ kit was always a bit better looked after than other depots 'cos they owned most of it rather than leased, but that may have changed.
not quite mate, it’s nightfreight but they’ve got a contract with vacu-lug in grantham. Seperate staff, office etc as far as I can see.
I’ve got a choice now; Bristol every night or a day shift Monday then Glasgow tuesday and Thursday nights (night out).
Gotta admit, even though Glasgow’s probably nearly twice as far, it seems less boring! I may well take that instead.
darkseeker:
Gotta admit, even though Glasgow’s probably nearly twice as far, it seems less boring! I may well take that instead.
Two weeks of the M6/M74 and I’ll wager you’ll be regretting that choice!
Glad it’s worked out for you mate, good luck with the job.
fingermissing:
That unit sounds like its on hire the one i was in was a man in blue 340 .The trailer could be anything 2 or 3 axles
but in crap condition. You quite oftern get lots of warning lights on the dash board about AbS i have been told this
is because the trailers come from Belguim what that has do with anything beats me. Tractor unit comes from Germany
They are autos every one i have ever drove .
all the trailers at the livingston depot were in bad condition, a couple of ex tip trailers etc. they had 1 good trailer and it was the double decker which was always stored indoors every night and never went much further than the otherside of livingston twice a day.
gnasty gnome:
darkseeker:
Gotta admit, even though Glasgow’s probably nearly twice as far, it seems less boring! I may well take that instead.Two weeks of the M6/M74 and I’ll wager you’ll be regretting that choice!
Glad it’s worked out for you mate, good luck with the job.
Cant be much worse than M42 and M5 every night… 
Thanks by the way, we’ll see how it goes.
gogzy:
fingermissing:
That unit sounds like its on hire the one i was in was a man in blue 340 .The trailer could be anything 2 or 3 axles
but in crap condition. You quite oftern get lots of warning lights on the dash board about AbS i have been told this
is because the trailers come from Belguim what that has do with anything beats me
They are autos every one i have ever drove .all the trailers at the livingston depot were in bad condition, a couple of ex tip trailers etc. they had 1 good trailer and it was the double decker which was always stored indoors every night and never went much further than the otherside of livingston twice a day.
I got the units wrong, they’re 4X2 and plated at 34t, mine seems to have had a heavy handed driver though; anything that opens (except the doors, sunroof and bonnet) is broken 
The vaculug trailers are all brand new so no problems so far.
darkseeker:
gogzy:
fingermissing:
That unit sounds like its on hire the one i was in was a man in blue 340 .The trailer could be anything 2 or 3 axles
but in crap condition. You quite oftern get lots of warning lights on the dash board about AbS i have been told this
is because the trailers come from Belguim what that has do with anything beats me
They are autos every one i have ever drove .all the trailers at the livingston depot were in bad condition, a couple of ex tip trailers etc. they had 1 good trailer and it was the double decker which was always stored indoors every night and never went much further than the otherside of livingston twice a day.
I got the units wrong, they’re 4X2 and plated at 34t, mine seems to have had a heavy handed driver though; anything that opens (except the doors, sunroof and bonnet) is broken
yea their own unit was soo dirty it was unreal, i spent half an hour untangling the suzies then noticed how dirty i was, the cab was manky inside aswell so i managed to get the hire truck from them (as i did the further away work 
) which was clean as hell inside and bits wernt falling off
darkseeker:
gogzy:
fingermissing:
That unit sounds like its on hire the one i was in was a man in blue 340 .The trailer could be anything 2 or 3 axles
but in crap condition. You quite oftern get lots of warning lights on the dash board about AbS i have been told this
is because the trailers come from Belguim what that has do with anything beats me
They are autos every one i have ever drove .all the trailers at the livingston depot were in bad condition, a couple of ex tip trailers etc. they had 1 good trailer and it was the double decker which was always stored indoors every night and never went much further than the otherside of livingston twice a day.
I got the units wrong, they’re 4X2 and plated at 34t, mine seems to have had a heavy handed driver though; anything that opens (except the doors, sunroof and bonnet) is broken
if you get zxg that was my unit,had it from new and it was mint when i left, always had it down irlams old yard on harlaxton road washing it,i was forever polishing the inside, but in them days other than holidays it was your unit only.
as for jobs the scotch one was the run to have, gio up on a tues 4.30 p.m,night out,run back wednesday, run up thurs ,night out,run back fri,it was better as you were finished fri afternoon at 2/3 p.m rather than 11/12 p.m at night[but at one time you did lodge tires brum on a mon] 
yep, zxg!! ash tray, cubby hole thing under middle of bunk, side locker - all broken. Not 100% clean inside but could be a lot worse, I’m working on it though. Seems to drink fuel compared to the manual axors I’ve been driving.
I was told I’d be doing a “day shift” on monday then tues and thurs as you said was gonna ask about this “day shift” tomorow 
Did you find a good, free place to stop for the night on the glasgow run?
darkseeker:
:shock: yep, zxg!! ash tray, cubby hole thing under middle of bunk, side locker - all broken. Not 100% clean inside but could be a lot worse, I’m working on it though. Seems to drink fuel compared to the manual axors I’ve been driving.I was told I’d be doing a “day shift” on monday then tues and thurs as you said
Did you find a good, free place to stop for the night on the glasgow run?
i never got to do it, brian used to do it regular,john-basildon,mark/me-heywood-glous,there was talk of alternating all thr runs as me and mark did with glous/heywood but john didnt want to so never happened, brian was still on it when i left,dont get too worried about mon/lodge tyres as i left 4 yrs ago so that run may have long gone.there was no bristol when i was there it was downtons yard at glous.
shame about zxg as i really looked after it,as brian did his[can remember no], john saw it as a truck so didnt take as much care.
best of luck, and as i say at least you finish fri 2/3 p.m instead of midnight ish
darkseeker:
:shock: yep, zxg!! ash tray, cubby hole thing under middle of bunk, side locker - all broken. Not 100% clean inside but could be a lot worse, I’m working on it though. Seems to drink fuel compared to the manual axors I’ve been driving.I was told I’d be doing a “day shift” on monday then tues and thurs as you said
Did you find a good, free place to stop for the night on the glasgow run?
using fuel, we used a fair bit as it was job and finish so we were on a mission to get back a.s.a.p 
gnasty gnome:
darkseeker:
Got the job!!Just out of curiosity though, is it common to be offered the job with no formal interview!? I went to fetch an application form the other day and spoke to them for 5mins but nowhere near an interview.
Just hope I can handle doing the same thing every night…
I’m guessing from your location that you’re working for Rainbow Nightfreight. Did six years with them from 1987 to 1993, started as a driver and ended up as Ops Manager at Stevenage. Andy Rainbow is one of the founders of Nightfreight, and his family own a fair chunk of it, including depots in Notts, Lincoln, Kidderminster and Gloucester. I was at school with Andy, if you ever meet him and want to ■■■■ him off call him “Chub”, that was his nickname!
If it’s anything like it was then, do the job, don’t moan and it’ll be yours for life. Rainbows’ kit was always a bit better looked after than other depots 'cos they owned most of it rather than leased, but that may have changed.
Had certainly changed by 2005, i worked for Rainbow’s in Glos and most of the trailers dated back to the 80’s. Doors were always breaking and at one collection i did totally collapsed down to the last board, when i rang the depot to tell them i was told to borrow some tools from a client and fix it. Two weeks later had another door break and jam at the start of a busy shift so drove it back to the yard and left
gnasty gnome:
darkseeker:
Got the job!!Just out of curiosity though, is it common to be offered the job with no formal interview!? I went to fetch an application form the other day and spoke to them for 5mins but nowhere near an interview.
Just hope I can handle doing the same thing every night…
I’m guessing from your location that you’re working for Rainbow Nightfreight. Did six years with them from 1987 to 1993, started as a driver and ended up as Ops Manager at Stevenage. Andy Rainbow is one of the founders of Nightfreight, and his family own a fair chunk of it, including depots in Notts, Lincoln, Kidderminster and Gloucester. I was at school with Andy, if you ever meet him and want to ■■■■ him off call him “Chub”, that was his nickname!
If it’s anything like it was then, do the job, don’t moan and it’ll be yours for life. Rainbows’ kit was always a bit better looked after than other depots 'cos they owned most of it rather than leased, but that may have changed.
Had certainly changed by 2005, i worked for Rainbow’s in Glos and most of the trailers dated back to the 80’s. Doors were always breaking and at one collection i did totally collapsed down to the last board, when i rang the depot to tell them i was told to borrow some tools from a client and fix it. Two weeks later had another door break and jam at the start of a busy shift so drove it back to the yard and left
Sorry for double post.
Sound like fun.
there rigids look like nice motors too, i wish id taken the job they had, rather than go the route i did, if mark ever has a class 2 job come up again, id deffo take it,
theres an aold guy called joe, works as handy man in the yard, nice guy.
darkseeker:
Got the job!!
Just hope I can handle doing the same thing every night…
How’s it going? 
Could be worse but in all honesty I don’t intend to stay long, if I sit and think pro’s and con’s they’re about 7bad to 1 good. Ive even started to wonder about training for some different profession.
I get left alone though and have a steady income, beats 3am phone calls from agencies wanting me to do jobs I’ve asked never to do again - followed by a quiet week for telling them (as politely as possible given the circumstances) no thankyou.