Good morning all!
I’m a recent pass and have a good possibility of a start on the fuel tankers. My driving so far has been mostly either carting stone/tar or winter gritting for the local council.
The money seems good, certainly far better than what I’m getting right now. Company has said all training and ADR certs would be paid for by them. Their lorries are all mostly ~2yr old Scania P3x0 XT’s, 6 wheelers and I’m assuming will likely have rear steer axles.
My main questions are whether the tankers are a good steady job with decent job stability? This is an important one for me as I’ve a young family and the job is in an area we’re moving to. Are tankers any better or worse to drive than a regular fully laden 6 wheeler? Are there any benefits to the certs you’ll receive driving tankers if I were to go for another job later on?
Many thanks,
Michael
doesnt hurt to try although it depends what you mean by fuel. if petrol / diesel I am assuming its the likes of hoyer you may want to search on here as from what i understand they have a horrible shift pattern with swapping between mornings afternoons and nights. if its propaine or the like it will be small hard to get to places with upperty people that want it now! but mind the begonias and all the other crap in the way.
as to qualifications ask if they pay for the full adr not just the class you need for their job that way you will have the full qualification and can go anywhere with it. If they dont they might let you pay for the other classes out of your own pocket.
Various fuels, think they’re mainly diesel, marine diesel, kero/heating oil and the odd petrol delivery. They did say during a chat that they’re usually domestic deliveries of kero or diesel, the others are less common but still happen relatively regularly. The area is relatively remote, lots of single tracks etc but that isn’t much of a worry to me, it won’t be much worse than the gritting route I’m on just now as a lot of that is single track.
I’m completely new to the concept of ADR though, I think the training and certification comes through their in-house assessor alongside other courses that count towards your CPC. I think the ADR they offer is everything barring nuclear and explosives, which is fine as we have very little of that in the north of Scotland (unless you count Dounreay, but their convoys are handled by folk down South so) so not something I really have to worry about.
sorry when i said full adr i meant everything but class 1 and 7 (explosive and nuclear)
you mentioned stone and tar which tend to be to places that have reasonable accsess in the sense that other vehicles are going their regulary. private addresses is another thing altogether.
The biggest difference you’ll find is the liquid load sloshing side to side and back and forth. On country lanes and farm tracks that can be squeaky bum time.
But they know you are new to it and should give you time to settle in-take it they are a upfront firm?
If it is domestic heating oil it can be seasonal by nature, if its rebated or road fuel, it maybe farms, smallholdings and factories. Most fuel station deliveries will be in articulated trucks.
I’m already in quite a remote region so turning in driveways and reversing up country lanes for a half mile or so isn’t too much of a problem, the rest I’m sure will come with time.
I did think that may have been a big difference, I’m sure it’ll be a fair bit farther away than what I’m already used to. I can’t imagine it’ll be much fun if it’s slippy out, it’s not great in a fully laden 6 wheeler gritter as it is so can imagine it being not very fun with a liquid load on. The company seem very up front and honest about it to be fair, they said they reckon it would be a week or two as a passenger getting to know the meters and such and then a role reversal to give me some driving time with a more experienced boy beside me. It’s a remote island community the job is in so they know it’ll be a good bit tighter than most will be used to and seem fine with the extra time needed to train.
Just go for it. Don’t over think it, it’s not rocket science.
Grab it with both hands.
AS for the training, grab that as well and say ‘thank you’.
On fuel tankers get as much training as you can, and if somebody else is paying…happy days. 
The fuel tanks I’ve seen on deliveries are multi pots, so the load shifting shouldn’t be too much of an issue. It is something to keep in mind though.
I once got pulled on the A/M 74 weighbridge at Carlisle (part load to BP at Grangemouth). I knew I wasn’t overweight so I (very naughty) got the load swilling/sloshing about a bit…“slowly driver, one axle at a time” The poor man couldn’t understand it, the digital readout weight was up and down like a brides nightie, the whole tanker was rocking on the suspension. He eventually gave up, “on your way driver”. 
2 Likes
I think that’s the plan! Any training is good training as far as I’m concerned, and will likely do me well in the future too.
Aye it’s the same idea with these, internally baffled and separate compartments for multi-fuel deliveries. Can’t see it being too bad, just wondered if there were any quirks of driving tankers was all!
You’ll get used to the load (part load) swilling about a bit very quickly. Full load ?? not a problem.
If as you say you’ve been offered a chance with training paid for etc etc, it’s the chance of a lifetime because offers like that are very very very rare.
Just make sure you keep tight hold of the brake at traffic lights etc if the load gets a bit ‘agitated’ 
Well, I must have interviewed well as I got the call today saying the job’s mine 
I must admit I’m very surprised at this, I’ve only had my HGV license for a few months but if they’re accepting that I’m not gonna argue! Looking forward to starting and getting some proper driving hours under my belt!
1 Like
A word of caution, take it steady, check EVERYTHING (twice), and remember, you are NOT gods gift to fuel tanker driving…and good luck.
one important point…ALWAYS make sure there is enough room in the customers storage tank to accommodate the amount you are about to put in.
So says GOM who had the odd spillage 
during a long and illustrious career.
1 Like
I never had a spillage but on more than one occasion had a few incidents (less than ten litres) in rapid succession. 
As GOM said, don’t rush and check everything twice. The fuel industry is very unforgiving when it comes to stuff ups.
Never trust that the customer knows how much they need. Dip the tank yourself (a legal requirement here) and do the calculations on paper.
Congratulations on scoring the job, look after it.
I’m thinking of adding ADR and looking at a few adverts noticed an apparent discrepancy wot companies were saying, and what DVSA say about CPC hours.
I finally got a sensible reply from them:
Apparently if the ADR course isn’t registered as a dual CPC course then only up to 14 hours can be counted towards your next CPC. But if they the trainers have registered it corrctly then all the hours can count towards your CPC.
So for us independents with agencies, that’s a useful save on the CPC cost seeing as the whole initial ADR package is around £600 upwards.