Has anyone done any driving for RM out of Marchwood that can tell me what the job is like and where the runs are to, shifts etc. Any info gratefully received.
Anyone? With all the trucks running out of there I thought somebody who works there must be on here 
justtickingover:
Anyone? With all the trucks running out of there I thought somebody who works there must be on here
Manpower agency deals with RM from marchwood mate one of my mates does a bit there said its easy work he done a Portsmouth then Northampton they’re keen on the trackers he took a wrong turn and got questioned on it when he finished shift
Don’t work for them but the way there drivers fly around in there 7.5 tonners like absolute… I imagine there very rushed or just a bunch of idiots next one to cut me up is getting one so I’d stay well clear!
Yeah I did hear they were on job and finish, don’t know for sure though, hence maybe why they tear around. Can’t be arsed with driving like that, why put your licence at risk. It’s that’s how they’re told to go I’ll do it my way thanks 
You can only get a 17t into portsmouth.
There are some 16’2" runs out of southampton, to places like PRDC (Stonebridge Park nr Hangar Lane) and NDC (DIRFT M1 J18)
Trackers are indeed closely monitored, especially if you’re doing a double decker run on the A406…
As for collection work - that is more office-specific, and changes around from year to year. There tends to be more collections on the earlier starts and more trunks on the later ones of course.
Winseer:
You can only get a 17t into portsmouth.
There are some 16’2" runs out of southampton, to places like PRDC (Stonebridge Park nr Hangar Lane) and NDC (DIRFT M1 J18)Trackers are indeed closely monitored, especially if you’re doing a double decker run on the A406…
As for collection work - that is more office-specific, and changes around from year to year. There tends to be more collections on the earlier starts and more trunks on the later ones of course.
I did wonder about that Pompey one and an artic So it seems the best shift is nights then, more money and less messing around. Do you know if they are on job and finish?
justtickingover:
Winseer:
You can only get a 17t into portsmouth.
There are some 16’2" runs out of southampton, to places like PRDC (Stonebridge Park nr Hangar Lane) and NDC (DIRFT M1 J18)Trackers are indeed closely monitored, especially if you’re doing a double decker run on the A406…
As for collection work - that is more office-specific, and changes around from year to year. There tends to be more collections on the earlier starts and more trunks on the later ones of course.
I did wonder about that Pompey one and an artic
He dropped on at red funnel aswell have they got a place in gosport maybe that’s where I got confused?..
Winseer:
You can only get a 17t into portsmouth.
Sorry but you’re wrong. There is at least one artic duty from NDC to Portsmouth. They have to clear the place out though to get it reversed in.
Only 17t what rubbish, I used to do a run there from Bristol RDC a few years ago with a short wheelbase trailer and every now and again a 45ft box. A bit of a pain but nothing like some of the places I go to now for the Coop.
Are we talking about the same portsmouth office here?
I had [u]this one ^^[1] as a duty 4 years ago, so the old one might have closed down, and a newer one I wasn’t aware of opened up…
As you can see, an standard height artic will go in under the roof OK, but will then block all the vans against their bays meaning they would only let me go in there with a 17t despite shutting work out at PRDC where I was running work down from 4 years back…
/u ↩︎
Yep it’s the old MLO near the station. I used to get there about 8.30pm wait outside until the 1st class despatches left then reverse in down to the bottom unload then park up for break before reloading back to swrdc leaving about 2200. I also did a xmas run earlier in the day with 45ft box
All dutys have a run time Ie depart at 18.33 arrive 19.27 Etc, but you can finish well before as long as everything is ready at other stops.
It’s not so much “job and knock”, as if you get back 6 hours into a shift, they’ll send you out on another run if they have one! (minimum 8 hours paid basis)
Where I think you DO gain is finishing at the beginning of “Happy Hour” instead of at the end of it.
Happy hour is the time period between hr8 and hr9 of your “minimum 8hr paid guaranteed” shift, with 1hr knocked off for break" operated by many firms, including RM. Hour 8-9 is thus a donation to the firm from the driver of 1hrs pay you might say, similar to my concept of “Thursday belonging to the Taxman” which I’ve mentioned on other threads.
Thus, if you do 9hrs, you’ll get paid 8. Do 8 hours and you’ll get paid 8, but it looks like you’ve at least worked the 8. Do less than 8, and eyebrows might get raised, bearing in mind there was supposed to be a clampdown on RM letting people make loads of time on the “job and knock” system.
If you are booked in for a fixed set of hours to do a particular duty, then yes, you can get an “early finish”. If you’re in on “Ad Hoc Runs”, then you’ll be booked off when you leave, which means less pay if you carve it up. 
Thanks for that Winseer. So instead of flying around like a lot of them seem to do, I’ll just plod on steadily then!
park royal nice restaurant , mount pleasant good luck and have fun !
Arggh, Mount Pleasant… forgot about that one. Must be a right sod to get to?
Long time lurker first time poster. I’ve been working at Marchwood via Manpower since last May. The work is easy in my limited experience ( held licences for 15 months now). Most duties run to local mail centres, Southampton airport, Pompey and Bournemouth, and then onto various dc’s, Bristol, Park Royal, Northampton and then return. There’s also parcelforce runs that are either trailler swaps at local depots and larger customer sites or pickups from various industrial estates in the area, then run to Coventry drop trailler and bring back empty to Marchwood or loaded to one of the local depots.
Artics do go into Pompey but only over night, one duty on Saturday night runs a shuttle from Southampton into Pompey 5 times. Done that a couple of times now, first time was a real mare reversing in with all the Saturday night revellers hooning about in their motors.
Anyhow hope that helps.
Thanks Gravius, so how often does that Mount Un-Pleasant go?
Do you get allocated the same runs each day / night or are you on different ones all the time? Through Manpower, do you have a choice of shifts or is it what RM put you on, finally what are M/power paying? Pm me please mate.
Happy to answer general questions here,
Never been to Mount Pleasant and don’t believe any Marchwood duty does.
Given my assumed position in the pecking order, my willingness to cover any shift and the fact that I’m fairly close to Marchwood, I tend to get different duties each day but will be similar times. Mostly lates, nights and horrible earlies but I’m okay with that.
Currently I’ll be given 2-3 duties on Friday for following week and then pick up 2-3 more early in the week.
I’m sure some may think I’m having the P taken out of me but I honestly believe my flexibility is the reason I’ve been getting 5-6 days a week since Christmas.
As for rates I’ll pm you