The other day I parked next to an interesting truck in the queue at Dover the Truck was a Rhd Renault premium what was strange was that it was on LT Lithuania plate on the front of the tractor has a SK Slovakia plate on the rear of the tractor and a cardboard number plate on the trailer.
Now what shocked me was condition of the truck wasn’t great i.e missing a rear lens tape around the mirror and one mudflap looked to held on with garden twine, the most anoying thing was VOSA make us uk based operators jump hoops and this thing is running in the uk - but what really a p…s take was that it was pulling a newish trailer of a large ish and to many well respected Dover based fridge operator who to my knowledge doesn’t do eastern europe. So should i just go and reg my trucks in one of these former eastern euopean states. I mean does it have a real mot, insurance, i really think we are sometimes operating on a different planet
Yeh that well known Dover fridge company are using a few like that now. Bulgarians seem to be the most popular. And the boss of said company visits these forums. Wonder if he’d like to respond ■■?
the man your thinking of has sold out to his former partner. The problem is they cant get british subbies to do it at the rates they are offering and if they go to their customers and ask for more money they will be told that they can get it covered by an eastern based company for less. Look at the likes of sitra etc. All lt plates. Jobs bolloxed now. We were offered 900 euro ex pontefract to valencia last week and told it was a good rate. I really dont know where it will end. . .Good service goes a long way but good work is getting harder to find. . .
900 euro i can do a drop in london and return to mansfield with a load on for my company at them rates,these eastern europeans should be limited to how many jobs they can do a week in mainland uk
How about British companies shouldn’t be allowed to use foreign subbies, that would stuff up rh freight, curries European, heritage and sealane just to Start with.
Sit at Dover and pick them off,my guess is their idea cabotage is different as is preventative maintainance but more importantly family I love share the roads with those whose idea of a weekly rest period is waiting at tesco snodland
May be i should just join a new church and pray my trucks dont kill someone
LRM:
the man your thinking of has sold out to his former partner. The problem is they cant get british subbies to do it at the rates they are offering and if they go to their customers and ask for more money they will be told that they can get it covered by an eastern based company for less. Look at the likes of sitra etc. All lt plates. Jobs bolloxed now. We were offered 900 euro ex pontefract to valencia last week and told it was a good rate. I really dont know where it will end. . .Good service goes a long way but good work is getting harder to find. . .
They cant get British subbies to do the work cos that said Company has obviously undercut everybody else to get the work and hence now have no choice but to use the Eastern Europeans. They have quoted Eastern European rates to begin with!
The likes of this Company and others who do it have screwed this industry to the core. Its all about ££££s and Greed.
Nextdrop:
The other day I parked next to an interesting truck in the queue at Dover the Truck was a Rhd Renault premium what was strange was that it was on LT Lithuania plate on the front of the tractor has a SK Slovakia plate on the rear of the tractor and a cardboard number plate on the trailer.
Now what shocked me was condition of the truck wasn’t great i.e missing a rear lens tape around the mirror and one mudflap looked to held on with garden twine, the most anoying thing was VOSA make us uk based operators jump hoops and this thing is running in the uk - but what really a p…s take was that it was pulling a newish trailer of a large ish and to many well respected Dover based fridge operator who to my knowledge doesn’t do eastern europe. So should i just go and reg my trucks in one of these former eastern euopean states. I mean does it have a real mot, insurance, i really think we are sometimes operating on a different planet
Maybe everything is in order though, insurance, permits wages and maintenance.
LRM:
the man your thinking of has sold out to his former partner. The problem is they cant get british subbies to do it at the rates they are offering and if they go to their customers and ask for more money they will be told that they can get it covered by an eastern based company for less. Look at the likes of sitra etc. All lt plates. Jobs bolloxed now. We were offered 900 euro ex pontefract to valencia last week and told it was a good rate. I really dont know where it will end. . .Good service goes a long way but good work is getting harder to find. . .
They cant get British subbies to do the work cos that said Company has obviously undercut everybody else to get the work and hence now have no choice but to use the Eastern Europeans. They have quoted Eastern European rates to begin with!
The likes of this Company and others who do it have screwed this industry to the core. Its all about ££££s and Greed.
Agreed !
And the said company go on making a handsome profit whilst the haulier ( wherever he/she may come from ) is on the skids.
Nextdrop:
I mean does it have a real mot, insurance, i really think we are sometimes operating on a different planet
No, it does not. There are no MOTs and insurances in Lithuania. Thats why they can drive dodgy trucks. Its not like in Britain, where MOT is perfect and therefore there is no British trucks that have some minor issues on the road. Absolute and never…
ramsgate has plenty of these motors running out of this port, all right hand drive motors on all kinds of non eu plates pulling for Continental Cargo Carriers.
i have seen better looking motors in the scrap yard.
LRM:
We were offered 900 euro ex pontefract to valencia last week and told it was a good rate. I really dont know where it will end. . .Good service goes a long way but good work is getting harder to find. . .
@ 53p per mile making a profit won’t depend on whether a ferry is included in the e900 cos you won’t be making anything either way!!
A couple of years ago I was offered some realy good paying work from Eastern Spain and was giving some thought to putting a couple of trucks on the road, that was until I started looking for work going out & the best I was being offered was NW England to Barcelona area @ £900 & pay your own ferry. With the rates I was being offered for the homebound leg I would have made some money but couldn’t even think about setting up in business again & sending truck’s 1,200 miles for a little over £700!!
So it seems the job really has got worse, glad I’m out & I doubt I’ll be renewing my O licence again when it runs out in 3 years!!
Some years ago Clarkson had this bit on truckers (quoted here several times) where he says IIRC that some small problem like fuel usage in a traffic jam can eat away all profit you made on your trip to Italy and back…
Everyone seems to think that this particular bit is actual unusually good and true as for Clarkson.
And it looks to me as it was made in 1990s.
Today we are back in the same situation: the rates are so low, that you can barely make any profit…
So I am curious: who was to blame for the situation back in 1990 when Eastern Europe was still outside the EU?
orys:
Today we are back in the same situation: the rates are so low, that you can barely make any profit…
So I am curious: who was to blame for the situation back in 1990 when Eastern Europe was still outside the EU?
I made very good money doing International haulage up to & including 1990.
I stopped doing full time Euro work in 1998 when we lost our 2 a week (every week) groupage loads to Spain, we’d already lost the full loads from this exporter to an Eastern European haulier & the rates being offered from other sources didn’t make any sense. I made the decision only to go to Europe when I was offered a decent rate for the job, this I did up to 2006 when I ‘jacked’ completely!! (best decision ever!!)
Orys !
Your defence of all things eastern European and in particular the haulage industry are commendable. But to suggest that the large influx of eastern euro haulage companies has not affected western hauliers is delusional !
Some people such as industry bosses and I would suggest some politicians are very happy with the fact that transportation costs have been driven lower. In 1990 you would hardly ever see a truck from east of the Oder in western Europe, now every second truck is sporting plates from pl, ro, Bg, etc.
So I have a question for you orys. How can this large fleet of eastern euro trucks not make a difference ■■
