yorkshireborn:
i never ask any driver to pay for parking, i pay when the load dictates its required,i do ask they park where ever is safe and suitable when empty,and if they choose secure parking they pay,
So basically if your drivers want to park up where they can have the use of a shower or toilet facilities they are expected to pay for parking■■?
Are you for real? or just winding folk up?
If you have 2 trucks on the road your costs surely include an average parking cost? which of course you would obviously include in your pallet or tonnage rate
Is it any wonder the transport industry is in the state it’s in if employers are choppping the rates by cutting out neccessary costs?
Well said Davey. Surely this guy can’t be for real and it is another in the recent spate of wound up posts, at least I really hope it is.
What is the use of overnight parking facilities anyhow? My gaffer does not like paying for parking, so i normally end up in a layby somewhere. But during my shift i will take a break before parking up, which will allow me a shower, a dump and food if possible.
Then park up free for the night, then away.
Now there is folks posting on here, that have the overnight parking paid for, but still choose to wazz in lenor bottles. (cant wait to hear what he does in the cab for a dump)
Maybe these service companies have got wise and really do see the average driver as nothing more then an unwashed, uneducated pig?
ironstipper:
Now there is folks posting on here, that have the overnight parking paid for, but still choose to wazz in lenor bottles. (cant wait to hear what he does in the cab for a dump) Replied on original post
Maybe these service companies have got wise and really do see the average driver as nothing more then an unwashed, uneducated pig?
PMSL Loved that post, fortunately Lenor bottle not being used at that precise time Bottle is eaier to use than getting dressed and walking 200 yards or even further in some cases and like I said I never leave any trace - I’m a tidy trucker…what could also be defined as a professional. Seriously, I do take pride in what is a hard job under strict regimes chill my friend, it will benefit you
ironstipper:
Just reading some other posts in this forum.
What is the use of overnight parking facilities anyhow? My gaffer does not like paying for parking, so i normally end up in a layby somewhere. But during my shift i will take a break before parking up, which will allow me a shower, a dump and food if possible.
Then park up free for the night, then away.
Now there is folks posting on here, that have the overnight parking paid for, but still choose to wazz in lenor bottles. (cant wait to hear what he does in the cab for a dump)
Maybe these service companies have got wise and really do see the average driver as nothing more then an unwashed, uneducated pig?
You want to try running with nights out in cornwall. There are no service areas with showers and loos and cafes. Oh sorry, one just over the bridge, with no showers. So you end up poncing use of the loos from whoever you deliver to. And I can’t help it, but for some reason, my routine in the morning requires a coffee and a dump. I’m not right all day without that. But there is nowhere to take a dump at 4am. I can get cleaned up ok coz I’ve got a good supply of water with me and heat it up on the stove, but lack of toilets is a pain. Does a bear ■■■■ in the woods ? You bet he does.
ive never paid for parking and never will 1 a patch of urine riddled tarmac on the side of the moterway is not secure 2,the two showerers they supply are normaly a health hazzard and put the old saying take a cold shower into a new light 3 u cant sleep proparly cos mr night trunker all ways parks up next to u for his 45 n leaves the engine running ,so i normally go for the nearest large town find ind est wallk to the local weather spoons (ham egg n chiips three quid) toilets free to use,beer 130 a pint,then take a stroll bake to me moter (cos after sitting all day the exercise will do me good)and grab some shut eye if i awke in the morning and feel the urge for a dump isimply get my buckt from my side bin insert a carrier and ■■■ away wiping my rear end with the bog roll i borrowed from mr wetherspoon,then depositing the said carrier bag in the nearest skip,on the ind est theres a credit crunch on u no
it seems that the new owner of the alconbury truckstop is saying the same thing in the interview with commercial motor mag this week, i showed this and the other article to my gaffer and he said same as phil and the rest of you guys that your allowance money is not for paying too park but for food and inconviance of being away from home. i for one wont be visiting the new alconbury truckstop or orwell again in protest
scotstrucker:
it seems that the new owner of the alconbury truckstop is saying the same thing in the interview with commercial motor mag this week, i showed this and the other article to my gaffer and he said same as phil and the rest of you guys that your allowance money is not for paying too park but for food and inconviance of being away from home. i for one wont be visiting the new alconbury truckstop or orwell again in protest
that’s exactly my point. why do some people think that we get money for parking, when we don’t? it’s an extra expense.
it’s mad, when i go to a restaurant, i don’t pay to park in their car park. i buy food and fuel at lymm, then they have the cheek to charge for parking, when i’ve just spent over £800.
All drivers should have float monies i think!!!, why should they fork out of there own pocket to pay parking ,tolls,we give our drivers a float of £80, ok its not much i guess, but it helps instead of the drivers having to fork out of there own pocket. this is for I.E,truck parking, tolls, cleaningthe truck inside or out,maps if needed, but they are supply"d with sat navs anyway unless it breaks then its down to them to replace it for there own, it just helps having it i think and the lads dont fell to much out of pocket if they have to nip in there pockets near the end of the week say for a extra toll or something,
plus they carnt say i carnt go away or have a night out,i have no money can they !!!
longs of leeds are weekly paid and on your first weeks pay you get £150 float for parking tolls whatever. on your last week with them you are minus £150. dont get me wrong in that time your float is topped up everytime you stick a receipt in.
now my toilet habits are pretty regular… ie. i dump at roughley the same time each day so when im on a night out i make sure apart from a ■■■■ im pretty much sorted out. there is ample time in the day for a good crap and shower at the services and then at night i point percy towards the sky and let it go. i aint ■■■■■■■ in a bottle and i aint staggering towards the kaazee at 2 am either.
I dont pay drivers for parking. IF the vehicle is going out loaded we will route so that the driver can stop at one of our depots or a customer site over night - most are 24 hour so have canteen facilities etc.
If the truck is empty, the driver is free to stop at what ever services he wants for meals etc as he is give £24 night out allowance to cover this, however if he wants to park up our advice is to park on ind est with rear doors open.
I cant understand people on here saying how parking on services keeps vehicle safe… when the simple fact is it DOESNT!
Over the years I have operated my own vehicles, and have had various instances of break ins, strangely all of these happened on the supposedly secure parking next to the motorways. In my opinion all secure parking just makes trucks a target as there is a lot of them in once place, where mr nasty can come a long and keep searching until he finds a cargo he fancies nicking.
Also what gets my goat when a driver asks for parking allowance is when he gives in a reciept which clearly shows a £10 meal allowance included in the £25 cost of parking, but he still wants his £24 night out monies too. Surely that is trying to screw me over?
welltin:
If the truck is empty, the driver is free to stop at what ever services he wants for meals etc as he is give £24 night out allowance to cover this,
Night out allowance is not to cover parking, it is for personal expenses incurred by the driver in connection with his employers business. If you are paying that amount tax free, as is permitted by the revenue, then your drivers could be liable to pay tax on the part used for parking due to it not being a personal expense
welltin:
however if he wants to park up our advice is to park on ind est with rear doors open.
So your advice is - sod you driver, we aren’t paying to park our truck so you will have to do without facilities? That seems a bit harsh.
welltin:
Also what gets my goat when a driver asks for parking allowance is when he gives in a reciept which clearly shows a £10 meal allowance included in the £25 cost of parking, but he still wants his £24 night out monies too. Surely that is trying to screw me over?
Seems so, but if you pay the £15 parking and he pays the £10 meal out of his night out money, which is what night out money is for, that would seem a fair solution.
when i was on general i got £24 night out money AND on top of that they paid my parking. I got the £24 in two smaller installments - someway of keeping it tax free.
I get £23 a night overnight money,the company pay for my parking and we also get an extra £14 a week on our wages for meals etc. We get issued with a £50 float and then we are reimbursed for expenses back up to the fifty quid on production of our parking receipts and then the overnight allowance is paid to us in cash on top of that.
welltin:
If the truck is empty, the driver is free to stop at what ever services he wants for meals etc as he is give £24 night out allowance to cover this,
Night out allowance is not to cover parking, it is for personal expenses incurred by the driver in connection with his employers business. If you are paying that amount tax free, as is permitted by the revenue, then your drivers could be liable to pay tax on the part used for parking due to it not being a personal expense
welltin:
however if he wants to park up our advice is to park on ind est with rear doors open.
So your advice is - sod you driver, we aren’t paying to park our truck so you will have to do without facilities? That seems a bit harsh.
welltin:
Also what gets my goat when a driver asks for parking allowance is when he gives in a reciept which clearly shows a £10 meal allowance included in the £25 cost of parking, but he still wants his £24 night out monies too. Surely that is trying to screw me over?
Seems so, but if you pay the £15 parking and he pays the £10 meal out of his night out money, which is what night out money is for, that would seem a fair solution.
Coffeeholic, The driver is free to use the services for meals etc, however if he would like to park on the services that is his own choice, we do not pay for services parking. As per my previous post when the vehicles are loaded we route them to over night at one of our sites which all have facilities.
I think the irony of this thread is that we are all saying how dead the haulage industry is at the moment and how difficult it is to make a living, yet we have drivers here saying they should get £40 plus for night outs? £40 is easily 10% of the charges for an average run, and the average margin on a run is 20% (if your lucky). Its easy to understand why so many hauliers are going to wall at the moment when you look at figures like that.
welltin:
I think the irony of this thread is that we are all saying how dead the haulage industry is at the moment and how difficult it is to make a living, yet we have drivers here saying they should get £40 plus for night outs?
I haven’t seen a single driver on this thread saying that. You are reaching that figure by counting two different things, night out allowance and parking charges as the same thing. If a driver gets £25 night out allowance and it also costs £15 to park the truck one night and nothing the next that doesn’t mean the driver is getting £25 night out money one night and £40 the next. He gets £25 for both nights but on one of those nights the company has to pay to park their vehicle. The driver isn’t getting that money, the company are paying it to whoever runs the parking area. Most drivers on here seem quite happy with the agreed amount of around £29 with 75% of that paid tax free for those with sleeper cabs.
welltin:
£40 is easily 10% of the charges for an average run, and the average margin on a run is 20% (if your lucky). Its easy to understand why so many hauliers are going to wall at the moment when you look at figures like that.
So you are saying because companies are failing to take into account all their costs when costing out a job, and as a result are quoting an inadequate rate, drivers should subsidise the running of the company out of their own pocket?
Will you be paying the drivers a share of the profits if they have contributed to the running costs of the company in this way? When fuel goes up again will you be asking drivers to stick 20 litres a day in the tank from their pocket to help out? What about maintenance and tyres? That can be quite pricey, maybe a driver should buy one tyre a year from his money to help out? Parking is as much a necessary evil as fuel or tyres when it comes to running vehicles and should be accounted for and costed in the same way.
If a manager or sales person from your company goes to see a client or attend some kind of meeting, during which they have to pay to park their company car, are they expected to pay for that from their own pocket? That was a rhetorical question by the way, we all know the answer to that.
MSA’s can charge the astronomical prices they do because for years companies have got gullible drivers to pay the charge for them and they aren’t going to do anything about the high cost of parking as long as this continues. Why would the hauliers try to campaign to get the charges lowered, or even abolished, when it might just draw attention to the fact they have been getting away with making drivers contribute to the running costs of their businesses. Wouldn’t want to rock that boat now would they? Just imagine if drivers started making claims against the companies for a share of the profits for all the years they have been subsidising the running costs. That would send a few to the wall because over the years it amounts to millions of pounds drivers have been paying from their own pocket for company expenses. Not to mention the fact the trouble the companies could get into with the revenue when they have been paying drivers night out allowance tax free for personal expenses, when it isn’t being used for such and shouldn’t have been paid tax free. Someone owes the revenue a good few quid.
OK Im not going to continue with this, as obviously in your opinion you are right, and I have a different view point.
My company doesnt pay drivers for services parking, we have an continue to have drivers happy to park up at our other depots or to park on industrial estates, without damage being done to either driver or vehicle. If a driver chooses to park his vehicle on the services to take advantage of the services on offer and the meal vouchers then that is there choice, they still recieve the same £24 a night allowance.
welltin:
OK Im not going to continue with this, as obviously in your opinion you are right, and I have a different view point.
My company doesnt pay drivers for services parking, we have an continue to have drivers happy to park up at our other depots or to park on industrial estates, without damage being done to either driver or vehicle. If a driver chooses to park his vehicle on the services to take advantage of the services on offer and the meal vouchers then that is there choice, they still recieve the same £24 a night allowance.
I presume that there is no comeback on your drivers if the load/vehicle is damaged/lost due to them parking in unsavoury areas to avoid being out of pocket ■■?
we get £20-50 a nite at our place… and can park at moto and road chef with the vouchers we get or a few other TA members or pallet force depots round the country.
as for craping in the lorry stuff that.
does my head in the state of the showers at some places… thats if they are working… take hilton park last week no showers working so shouldnt they knock money off the parkin charge??
welltin:
OK Im not going to continue with this, as obviously in your opinion you are right, and I have a different view point.
My company doesnt pay drivers for services parking, we have an continue to have drivers happy to park up at our other depots or to park on industrial estates, without damage being done to either driver or vehicle. If a driver chooses to park his vehicle on the services to take advantage of the services on offer and the meal vouchers then that is there choice, they still recieve the same £24 a night allowance.
I presume that there is no comeback on your drivers if the load/vehicle is damaged/lost due to them parking in unsavoury areas to avoid being out of pocket ■■?
Russjp, We always try and get the vehicles in to our own depots where they are safe, we will never allow a loaded vehicle to park anywhere but on one of our own sites. I have never had a vehicle done over anywhere other than on Motorway services so the instances of a driver parking in an unsavoury area has never arisen. But I guess the driver doesnt want to park himself in an unsavoury area anymore than I want him to park the vehicle there.
I saw a notice in Frankley the other day saying “as from the 1 August, food vouchers from parking and fuel will no longer be valid in any Moto Burger King site”. So what are the food vouchers for then ? The food they serve in those cafes is uniformly ■■■■, and that’s if they are even open after 8pm. So I won’t be paying for the food voucher on top of parking, and the parking isn’t worth the money on its own.
Bottle is eaier to use than getting dressed and walking 200 yards or even further in some cases and like I said I never leave any trace - I’m a tidy trucker…what could also be defined as a professional. Seriously, I do take pride in what is a hard job under strict regimes 
chill my friend, it will benefit you 
