robinhood_1984:
Is it actually “tramping” work or just constantly repeating the same set of runs to Germany to the same few bases and then reloading back to keep repeating or can you litterally be going anywhere? Germany one week, Austria the next, Spain the next and anywhere in between? One of the lads I work with here in Canada used to do a Stobarts job and all he ever did was go to British bases in Germany and back, and sometimes a few Lokerens to Germany and so on but never anything else, it all seemed very repetative and certainly not what I’d call “tramping” as that implies that you could be going anywhere at a moments notice.
Ok, I see your point. What should we call wagon drivers who work away all week, living in their cab?
I often do the same runs for a week, next week I might be here there and everywhere. Always thought I was tramping. What can I class myself a then?
“a day driver, who sleeps in a wagon for 4/5 nights a week. Please don’t call me a tramper because i’m not good enough for that according to some bloke who works overseas, therefore he is greater than I”
Not really all that catchy is it?
Geoff left last night to go onto euro tramping for the green machine,think lads said it was walking floors
Mark was leaving to go uk tramping out of Appleton
Andywas leaving to uk tramping out of braunstone
Told a load more were also leaving to go uk tramping out of Lutterworth.
superscaniaV8:
Whats the money like on Stobarts doing the european tramping? Is it the same as the UK guys?
Mark lad who left to go uk tramping out of Appleton said he also went for a interview for euro,he didn’t say what pay was but said he took uk tramping as it was more,he’s also got a mrs /kids so I guess going from working days to being away for weeks on end would also come into it but didn’t mention that,just said money was less.
happysack:
Ok, I see your point. What should we call wagon drivers who work away all week, living in their cab?
I often do the same runs for a week, next week I might be here there and everywhere. Always thought I was tramping. What can I class myself a then?
“a day driver, who sleeps in a wagon for 4/5 nights a week. Please don’t call me a tramper because i’m not good enough for that according to some bloke who works overseas, therefore he is greater than I”
Not really all that catchy is it?
If you’re going to the same place all the time, even if it takes two weeks each direction its not tramping. Tramping means you have no set routine, just as when we had tramp ships going here there and everywhere. A ship going from London to Montivideo and back on a regular run was called a “liner” despite the fact it would be away from home for several weeks. Besides, it has nothing to do with me being “overseas”, I was once in the UK myself doing tramping and other jobs, including one that was backwards and forwards to Switzerland to the same few places time and time again, definetely not tramping. Dedicated runs and line hauls are in no way tramping, its a complete contradiction of terms.
To finish, I wasn’t even criticising the post, I was actually asking if it did involve any actual tramping element, or if the job with Stobarts was just dedicated line hauls to and from the same bases in northern Germany.
You are obviously mistaking the term “tramping” to mean that you’re living like a tramp in a truck, when in actual fact the term does not denote any such meaning but rather what I’ve explained above in regards the nature of your travels, not the nature of your living conditions in the truck cab.
I work out of stoke depot, been trying to get on euro for a while now as a single guy but no luck , seems as if they don’t want present workers on it only agy or new, anybody know anything who works here any info would help!! Thanks.
Ok, so what do I class my job as then. In a wagon all week. Sometimes go to the same places, sometimes not. Am I a “line haul driver who sometimes goes to other destinations but not really good enough to regard myself as a tramper”?
happysack:
Ok, so what do I class my job as then. In a wagon all week. Sometimes go to the same places, sometimes not. Am I a “line haul driver who sometimes goes to other destinations but not really good enough to regard myself as a tramper”?
I asked if the Stobarts job was actually tramping in the true sense or just line haul with the occasional differing back load, to repeat the line haul all over again. I’m not knocking you, your job or the Stobarts just, I was simply curious to know what the job was. After all, Stobarts did used to do more besides the naafi work and its not beyond the realms of possibility that they could have a more diverse set or runs now, hence my question.
Maybe its just me but I dont even remember anyone using the term “tramper” more than a few years ago, it used to be “long distance lorry driver” or something to that effect. Before I went to Canada in 2009 I’d never heared anyone use the term tramper, then I saw the stobart programs where they used the term and then when I returned to England to work the winter of 2011/12 the word was in universal use by just about everybody. Perhaps it has been in use much longer but certainly not in the circles I’d worked in pre-2009.
Again, I’m not trying to belittle your work in any way whatsoever, or the Stobarts job and the drivers who do it so please dont think that. If I’ve come across as a condescending prick, my appologies as that was certainly not my intention, though often the way I write things does give that impression unfortunetely.
For many years i’ve been employed as a “tramper”. On tippers and now with Stobarts. The chipliner work involves, mainly, wood chip to chirk and then recycled timber back to Lockerbie. But there are many other jobs we do in between time. Local shunts, shavings to Devon, compost to central Scotland, fertiliser to the highlands, bark to Penrith etc…
So for some weeks it may just be up and down the M6, while other weeks it can be all over the UK. Either way it is 5/6 days or 4/5 nights away.
I am a “tramp” regarding travelling all over and sleeping wherever, but certainly not a tramp regarding how I live!
Didn’t really regard that as having a go. I apologise to robin hood if he took it that way. But couldn’t give a flying ■■■■ about your opinion Norfolknewbie.
happysack:
Didn’t really regard that as having a go. I apologise to robin hood if he took it that way. But couldn’t give a flying [zb] about your opinion Norfolknewbie.
robinhood_1984:
Is it actually “tramping” work or just constantly repeating the same set of runs to Germany to the same few bases and then reloading back to keep repeating or can you litterally be going anywhere? Germany one week, Austria the next, Spain the next and anywhere in between? One of the lads I work with here in Canada used to do a Stobarts job and all he ever did was go to British bases in Germany and back, and sometimes a few Lokerens to Germany and so on but never anything else, it all seemed very repetative and certainly not what I’d call “tramping” as that implies that you could be going anywhere at a moments notice.
judging by this then a lot of the lads that did the middle east say Tehran every trip or Baghdad or jeddah wouldn’t be classed as tramper then
the flying foden:
judging by this then a lot of the lads that did the middle east say Tehran every trip or Baghdad or jeddah wouldn’t be classed as tramper then
Whats so important about being called a “tramper”? Like I’ve said, the term tramper means no fixed run, no fixed routine, the next job could be absolutely anywhere. I’m not looking down on, or putting down anybody or the job anyone does but a tramper by the very virtue of the name isn’t somebody on a fixed run or predictable work. If I took a job doing New Brunswick to California and back every two weeks, that would not be tramping even though its 5300km each way but rather a dedicated lane. Its a hell of a trip but theres nothing unpredictale about the nature of the work and where I’ll be going next.
The word “Tramper” has been passed down from the shipping scene from the days when we actually had a merchant fleet. A ship that ran from London to Jeddah and back and forth and back and forth was engaged on a liner trade, most certainly not a tramper. A tramp ship was often away from the UK for 1 to 2 years, even longer and would not go from A to B to A but would probably only return to A after having first made it to M, Q or Z.
Middle East work is a specialised job within itself and wether or not they’d take pride in joining your “tramper” club is unknown to me but I’d hardly compare a job going to and from Tehran in the 1970s to a backwards and forwards shuttle job between the UK and about 4 or 5 individual but always the same locations in Germany that are about a day and a half to two days drive from where you started. I spent about 3 years going most weeks to one of two different locations in Switzerland with pharmaceuticals, the backloads differed slightly from time to time but there was never any chance of loading from Switzerland for Sweden or Portugal or even a different part of England and then taking a totally different load back to Switzerland, it was all geared up to get right back to point A so we could reload the very same load back to points B or C each and every time. Long distance (ish) work but most certainly not tramping by any defintion of the word. Am I upset that I wasn’t a tramper on this work? No, what difference does a label make? The job is what it is and my original question was soley to find out the nature of Stobarts International work and if it involved going to a diverse set of locations as the word “Tramper” implies, or not, as is the case.
the flying foden:
judging by this then a lot of the lads that did the middle east say Tehran every trip or Baghdad or jeddah wouldn’t be classed as tramper then
Whats so important about being called a “tramper”? Like I’ve said, the term tramper means no fixed run, no fixed routine, the next job could be absolutely anywhere. I’m not looking down on, or putting down anybody or the job anyone does but a tramper by the very virtue of the name isn’t somebody on a fixed run or predictable work. If I took a job doing New Brunswick to California and back every two weeks, that would not be tramping even though its 5300km each way but rather a dedicated lane. Its a hell of a trip but theres nothing unpredictale about the nature of the work and where I’ll be going next.
The word “Tramper” has been passed down from the shipping scene from the days when we actually had a merchant fleet. A ship that ran from London to Jeddah and back and forth and back and forth was engaged on a liner trade, most certainly not a tramper. A tramp ship was often away from the UK for 1 to 2 years, even longer and would not go from A to B to A but would probably only return to A after having first made it to M, Q or Z.
Middle East work is a specialised job within itself and wether or not they’d take pride in joining your “tramper” club is unknown to me but I’d hardly compare a job going to and from Tehran in the 1970s to a backwards and forwards shuttle job between the UK and about 4 or 5 individual but always the same locations in Germany that are about a day and a half to two days drive from where you started. I spent about 3 years going most weeks to one of two different locations in Switzerland with pharmaceuticals, the backloads differed slightly from time to time but there was never any chance of loading from Switzerland for Sweden or Portugal or even a different part of England and then taking a totally different load back to Switzerland, it was all geared up to get right back to point A so we could reload the very same load back to points B or C each and every time. Long distance (ish) work but most certainly not tramping by any defintion of the word. Am I upset that I wasn’t a tramper on this work? No, what difference does a label make? The job is what it is and my original question was soley to find out the nature of Stobarts International work and if it involved going to a diverse set of locations as the word “Tramper” implies, or not, as is the case.
it’s not my tramper club my friend it a new generation thing is the tramper club .me being a old ■■■■ am just a driver no more no less i go were im told when im told for as long as im told . and im sure a lot of my middle east friends would love to of reach the dizzy heights of the tramper in there day . safe journeys to you a true long distance tramper
the flying foden:
it’s not my tramper club my friend it a new generation thing is the tramper club .me being a old ■■■■ am just a driver no more no less i go were im told when im told for as long as im told . and im sure a lot of my middle east friends would love to of reach the dizzy heights of the tramper in there day . safe journeys to you a true long distance tramper
I mean absolutely no disrespect to you or your job, or what you’ve done in the past. I just dont get why everybody is suddenly so obsessed about being called a “Tramper” and using the term to describe any job that may involve the possibility of a night out. A few years ago I’d never even heared this term appied to truck drivers, then as I said earlier a friend had a copy of those Stobart TV programmes and the narrator was refering to a select ■■■■■■■■ bunch of drivers as “Trampers” and on my next visit to the UK everybody and his dog was now a tramper and the word had passed in to every day use. I dont know wether Stobarts coined the term and the program passed it on to a wider audience or the word had already made its way in to common use. Either way I’m not bothered, I have nothing against Stobarts or its drivers, or anybody else. My original question was targetted only at finding out what the Stobarts job actually entailed as I’m someone who is and always has been extremely interested in travel, especially long distance travel by tuck and its always nice to think that a British company might be doing something out of the ordinary for this day and age and partaking in more international work. My question has been answered by a lack of answer, it would seem that the only work is to Lokeren and then on to the same bases in Germany following the same lines of naafi work they’ve been doing for donkeys years. Thats not tramping in my opinion but a dedicated single contract job. Thats not to say its inferior work to actual tramping, infact many probably like the routine of it all.
the flying foden:
it’s not my tramper club my friend it a new generation thing is the tramper club .me being a old ■■■■ am just a driver no more no less i go were im told when im told for as long as im told . and im sure a lot of my middle east friends would love to of reach the dizzy heights of the tramper in there day . safe journeys to you a true long distance tramper
I mean absolutely no disrespect to you or your job, or what you’ve done in the past. I just dont get why everybody is suddenly so obsessed about being called a “Tramper” and using the term to describe any job that may involve the possibility of a night out. A few years ago I’d never even heared this term appied to truck drivers, then as I said earlier a friend had a copy of those Stobart TV programmes and the narrator was refering to a select ■■■■■■■■ bunch of drivers as “Trampers” and on my next visit to the UK everybody and his dog was now a tramper and the word had passed in to every day use. I dont know wether Stobarts coined the term and the program passed it on to a wider audience or the word had already made its way in to common use. Either way I’m not bothered, I have nothing against Stobarts or its drivers, or anybody else. My original question was targetted only at finding out what the Stobarts job actually entailed as I’m someone who is and always has been extremely interested in travel, especially long distance travel by tuck and its always nice to think that a British company might be doing something out of the ordinary for this day and age and partaking in more international work. My question has been answered by a lack of answer, it would seem that the only work is to Lokeren and then on to the same bases in Germany following the same lines of naafi work they’ve been doing for donkeys years. Thats not tramping in my opinion but a dedicated single contract job. Thats not to say its inferior work to actual tramping, infact many probably like the routine of it all.
The “lack of answer” is more to do with the statement I made at the start of this thread. I’m not getting drawn into any long argument over the job. It is what it is.
Yes. My job involves loading uk for the naafi in northern Germany. The reloads are generally the same. That’s mixed with increasingly more uk work.
I take no offence at being called “a tramper” or a line haul driver. It really doesn’t matter as you say.
I would imagine my boss would love to send me all over Europe. However, it seems the naafi contract is a good stable paying job and as such Stobart concentrate on keeping them happy.
Cheers. “Tramper jon” pmsl
I used to park regularly in gent in the haven. Didn’t venture far though to be honest. Antwerp is good for a night out and only about €6 on a train from lokeren.
I’m broad minded but some of the sights in the windows there :shock:
[/quote]
Where’s the train st in Lokeren JB?
I know where your yard is but didn’t know there was a train station close by
I sometimes get to park at the truck park, but price of food is outrageous ! Would make a nice change to get into Antwerpen. Even with cost of train it’d be cheaper
:shock:
