You can judge how well the drivers are treated by the cars in the staff car park.If it is full if 20 year old Mot failures old bangers but another firm the drivers have modern and new cars or newish.
Why do most of ye go off the basic point, if you worked the hours you worked in trucking anywhere else you would get more money FACT.
Now I know there are drivers who get paid for every hour they work, but we don’t get paid for sleeping in the cab, and if you have to do 12 to 14 hours to get a living its hard going for people on a daily rate.
How can you do 15 hours everyday anyway you walley. Unless you have split daily rests every day which I doubt.
toby1234abc:
You can judge how well the drivers are treated by the cars in the staff car park.If it is full if 20 year old Mot failures old bangers but another firm the drivers have modern and new cars or newish.
I sort of know what you are saying but everyone’s situation is different.
I got rid of my BMW 325c and bought a battered ford focus because I will be off to pastures new at the end of the year.
If job is so well paided like some think why do majority of drivers live in less desirable areas and seem to think its their truck then get into a rust bucket of a car to go home.
In the 90’s the row of flash sports cars outside the office of GBE in Bournemouth was quite impressive.It looked like a new car show rom.It was the managers cars.
My brother works in a school full time and my sister-in-law is a a healthcare worker.
I earn the same driving as they do combined and I don’t have to put up with arrogant kids or clean peoples arises for a living.
So no the money in driving is not as much as I would like and the hours are sometimes long but if I got a proper job I would earn a lot less and be bloody miserable too.
I love being a lorry driver how many people can honestly say they love doing what they do?
What does the type of car you drive have to do with anything?
Why have a brand new car just to park it at work, is it a status thing?
Look at me I earn so much I can afford this big piece of metal!!
I drive my car for 30 mins in a morning and 30 mins at night, why the hell would I spend 20k+ on that.
My old banger has 150,000 miles on the clock and still going well.
hook:
If job is so well paided like some think why do majority of drivers live in less desirable areas and seem to think its their truck then get into a rust bucket of a car to go home.
Where do you expect them to live, Buckingham Palace? 
You cannot possibly work out if a firm pays well by the apparent living standards of its workers, because what they do with the money they earn is their concern.
For all you know, the reason they drive a rust-bucket could well be because the other half has the decent car for her job; or they’re more concerned with paying the mortgage off than having a new motor. Likewise that brand spanking people carrier might well belong to someone who still rents a council house, or the bloke with the sports car might have no dependent kids; but they all earn pretty much the same.
toby1234abc:
You can judge how well the drivers are treated by the cars in the staff car park.If it is full if 20 year old Mot failures old bangers but another firm the drivers have modern and new cars or newish.
my godeth you have read my mind 
no ■■■■ i’ve worked for a lot of companies on agency and seen nice cars in the car parks (stobarts and such) then worked for longs of leeds on a lot less money and seen all the old bangers and thought exactly the same thing.
I’ve read through this and some of it is rubbish. I’m a qualified truck mechanic who now drives and earns the the same money for 20 hours a month more. Happy to do it as I enjoy driving way more than the spanners.
The stacking shelves thing, you will get minimum wage but you will never have more than 30 hours so therefore never be made full time so never have the chance to earn a decent wage.
The car thing, my wife drives a new mondeo, I drive a 12 year old Peugeot van as I travel 7 miles each way to work and its parked all day so no need for anything better.
My work time ends up at 90 hours a month. I’m at containers, home every night and average between 5 and 8 hours driving a day, the rest is waiting around. Hardly a tough day. And just to add, I was working a 9 to 6 day as a mechanic which is 45 hours a week but we weren’t paid for lunch hour so paid for a 40 hour week. Paid for breaks is not the norm.
I love my job, I knew when I took it I’d never be a millionaire but hey ho, I’m happy. I don’t know what I earn per hour because I’ve never worked it out but I’m happy with the lodgement every week so there we go.
But the moment I’m not happy, ill find another job, not come on to trucknet and moan and whine like some do. If you don’t like the job, change.
money is’nt everything,being happy is,you aint gonna take it with ya
i miss driving class 1 and if i could do it for the same toss off hours i’m doing now i’d be gone tommorow,you can’t have everything,everything in life is a trade off 
if you left your driving job tomorrow and got a job stacking shelves eventually after a few years you would miss it,it gets in your blood,how do i know 
hook:
If job is so well paided like some think why do majority of drivers live in less desirable areas and seem to think its their truck then get into a rust bucket of a car to go home.
my wife has the decent car…I run to work in a pile of ■■■■■ deisel vectra,cos I dont take me kawasaki zrx1200 or Harley dyna glide to work
and i live in a nice area,mind the morgage has finished now
robroy:
Just skimmed through this cack as I’ve heard it all before, but some of you lot on here just kill me, absolutely priceless. If somebody dares to come on here and point out the FACT that the job is crap and could be a lot better he’s a whinger, then surprise surprise we get the shelf stacking scenario/ what did you expect when you started/ you are in the wrong job/ do you think we should get … per wk (fill in the gap with some ridiculous amount)… and so on and [zb] so forth
Some of us on here have done the job longer than 5minutes and can remember when you got a fair (or even good) rate for a weeks work driving a truck.
What is wrong with making a point…not whinging ffs… about how conditions, and especially pay, have deteriorated over the years. So to some of you on here, sat behind the wheel, wearing your rosey glasses, of your top spec motor, with spots and lit up name boards are happy to accept that as compensation for a crap wage then ok, get on with it, but some of us AREN’T so deal with it. As much as I would like that fantastic wage it aint gonna happen and I aint asking for it, what I am asking for is a LIVING wage with REASONABLE long hours that you admittedly need to do the job, not a ■■■■■■■■ wage where you HAVE to do EXCESS hours to maintain a living, but if some driver’s attitudes of acceptance and subserviance on here are an indication of the majority then God help us!
Seriously then what do you class as a living wage? I’m sure that the government said it’s £8.??ph do you consider that to be a living wage? I wouldn’t work for £6.19ph but I’m not expecting £15ph either for basically sitting on my arse for 13-15 hrs a day. The only problem with this job is the outlay for the licence. The wage doesn’t reflect the investment I was on £8ph class 2 weekdays and £10 weekends now I’m on £10 weekdays class 1 and £12 weekends which I think is fair paid straight through no break deducted.
The rate that you are on sounds fair, I was on an equivalent or comparable wage 10 to 12 yrs ago taking inflation into account, where as today in real terms my pay is a lot worse, I’m on more than the 6.19 you mention, but also less than the 8.00
I suppose I have been spoiled on previous jobs, including a couple of Foreign co.s where the money was good, but after redundancy, reality kicked in, where all that was available were average jobs for lower quality firms, I took a job with a view to moving but the only ones available are for similar types of firms with same or even worse wages, so I’m still in same job.
Hope that answers your question.
nightline:
Why do most of ye go off the basic point, if you worked the hours you worked in trucking anywhere else you would get more money FACT.
Now I know there are drivers who get paid for every hour they work, but we don’t get paid for sleeping in the cab, and if you have to do 12 to 14 hours to get a living its hard going for people on a daily rate.
WTF are you on about? You must have the [zb]tiest paying driving job ever. If I worked the same hours stacking shelves in Tesco, for example, I would be taking a 50% pay cut on my basic hourly rate.
robroy:
The rate that you are on sounds fair, I was on an equivalent or comparable wage 10 to 12 yrs ago taking inflation into account, where as today in real terms my pay is a lot worse, I’m on more than the 6.19 you mention, but also less than the 8.00
I suppose I have been spoiled on previous jobs, including a couple of Foreign co.s where the money was good, but after redundancy, reality kicked in, where all that was available were average jobs for lower quality firms, I took a job with a view to moving but the only ones available are for similar types of firms with same or even worse wages, so I’m still in same job.
Hope that answers your question.
That’s fair enough buddy. I know there are some companies out there asking drivers to work for minimum wage which isn’t a fair wage for the job even at 7.5tonne driving. However some people make it out to be the most difficult job in the world and granted some types of driving are difficult wide loads etc but for what I’m on now (fridge work) if I don’t spend 1,5hrs on the bed + breaks I have had a difficult day and when paid straight through its money for playing with my phone/tablet reading paper or phoning wife/friends when I worked in the warehouse before we had targets to hit that were only achievable if you worked none stop flat out or cut corners looking at the same massive tin shed for 8-12 sometimes even 16hrs a day now every day is different.
toby1234abc:
You can judge how well the drivers are treated by the cars in the staff car park.If it is full if 20 year old Mot failures old bangers but another firm the drivers have modern and new cars or newish.
My mountain bike cost over ten times what my car did, my helmet cam cost more than my car did!! My motorbike half as much again.
I prefer to spend my money on toys, not depreciation!
toby1234abc:
You can judge how well the drivers are treated by the cars in the staff car park.If it is full if 20 year old Mot failures old bangers but another firm the drivers have modern and new cars or newish.
Your tablets run out again Tobe?
The OP was arguing with his own post earlier ffs.
Even trolling requires a small amount of brains…
FAIL…