Socketset:
paul_c2:
alamcculloch:
Does Uniloads still exist? They give you an assessment, meaning you do a days work for them and you never hear from them again. Great business model.
Yes, but they rebranded as VMoves.
Well, that clears up something for me - VM were somebody else I responded to and it was away all week tramping about hoping that you had a unit at night for a bunk just like Uniload back in the day. I seem to remember them having a bloke on for them who carried a one man tent about with him - he just used to find a hedge and bivvy down for the night 
Again thanks but no thanks.
And this just in…no.
Different trade plate companies have slightly different ways of working. I can speak mainly for the cars (since I’d talk to a bunch of drivers of different companies) and VMoves heavies (the lights would occasionally work with them too). VMoves was “away all week, get nightout £50-60 out of which came your accommodation and any parking”. BCA would try to get the driver home, this sometimes meant an early start to do a 9am delivery eg 250 miles away. You’d get home, but you’d be up early and put in “inefficient” hours. Some companies had a higher rate but didn’t price in the travel between drives, some companies had a way of pricing this in, and some fully refunded you it. One man tent sounds too much like “economy drive”, there’s plenty of Airbnb, cheap Travelodge, etc so you never need to do that. And of course you could try to get home on a nightout job if you wanted to (the job only paid the direct mileage though, not the via home amount).
Its rough, some drivers made it work, mainly by driving 12-14 hours and doing any job that came their way so eventually they got onto the “favoured” list (there is definitely a list). But then, if the work is quiet or not in that area, being on the list didn’t really help anyway. I got the impression there would be a run of a few good weeks followed by weeks/months of sparse work. Net pay (ie hourly rate) is terrible compared to a normal full time driving job though.
Conor:
manalishi:
Thanks gentlemen.Clear as mud as said but i’m veering to the notion that it’s not a requirement for plating tasks.Time will reveal all i guess.?
Just get it done then there’s no worries. If they took their car driving test before 1997 then all they have to do is 35hrs periodic training which they can do online from the comfort of their own armchair for a couple of hundred quid.
Also don’t bother wasting time and money getting Cat C, you can now once again go straight to Class 1 / C+E.
Thanks Conor.Just had confirmation that cpc not required by the firm i’m trying.Mate wouldn’t really take to towing a trailer i suspect unless he planned it as a career which he doesn’t.Rigid licence make’s more sense for moving units and chassis.
When I approached VM there was no mention of night out money…at £240 pw.
The bloke with his tent was in the early 2000’s, no Airbnb and in those days highly unlikely to have got NOM.
Plating is OK if you don’t have to have a certain amount of coin every week. As said it’s a lottery on the earnings front so not for everyone.
I did it for a few months waiting for a transporter to come available on my first transporter gig.
TBF i earned pretty well but travelling ex’s were only paid in extreme circs with hitching the standard method of getting about which sometimes meant long walks…try and find a bus going to Bruntingthorpe or any of the many out of the way places large compounds are sited.
Luckily who i worked for had the contract to repaint BT vans and trucks in the new at the time livery, so many weeks were spent taking a freshly painted one to a depot and returning with one needing paint.
Those older drivers should remember picking up the many platers who worked out of Ford’s long gone van factory at Langley, they made good money on their ex’s (no receipts reqd), some of them would offer you a drink for a decent length ride, which i never accepted.
Ended up with 4 platers in my Sed Ack circa 1980 early one morning, batting up the A1 at a steady er 60-ish 
with them all chopsing when a pheasant decided to commit suicide against the front panel, only i saw it coming, for the platers it was a brown trouser moment 
I’ve just come into the plate game myself, and I’m with VMoves. I’m doing alright for cash so far, some lads really put the graft in and walk away with handsome amounts. 3rd week and I’ve only had one night in a sleeper, and that was a Space Cab with all the bells and whistles. Main body of work at the moment is for Enterprise, so there’s a good variety of vehicles to move around.
Juddian:
I did it for a few months waiting for a transporter to come available on my first transporter gig.
TBF i earned pretty well but travelling ex’s were only paid in extreme circs with hitching the standard method of getting about which sometimes meant long walks…try and find a bus going to Bruntingthorpe or any of the many out of the way places large compounds are sited.
Luckily who i worked for had the contract to repaint BT vans and trucks in the new at the time livery, so many weeks were spent taking a freshly painted one to a depot and returning with one needing paint.
Those older drivers should remember picking up the many platers who worked out of Ford’s long gone van factory at Langley, they made good money on their ex’s (no receipts reqd), some of them would offer you a drink for a decent length ride, which i never accepted.
Ended up with 4 platers in my Sed Ack circa 1980 early one morning, batting up the A1 at a steady er 60-ish with them all chopsing when a pheasant decided to commit suicide against the front panel, only i saw it coming, for the platers it was a brown trouser moment
Nice parable there juddian.Was considering a reprise of my cheeky hitch in a Sierra Cosworth parked on a transporter but i’ll decline the indulgence. 
I do remember as a nipper witnessing some chaps delivering bus chassis up to Leyland.No cabs afixed, and dressed like gunners from Lancaster bombers,complete with aviation goggles.Quite a visual at the time and only discontinued circa late 70’s i believe, before cabs were mandated.
Intrepid band of brothers and no mistake ? I was a regular at Brunters and other airfields.Got a roasting for jumping into the Jaguar gate-guard once for a good old mooch around. 
Distance lends enchantment to the view but i relish the memories of a challenging but rewarding 7 years of plating.I’d recommend it to anyone for a foundational in matters roadcraft. Met some great folks with the hitching so it’s kind of chastening it’s been erased and tended to be a skill of itself.
manalishi:
Juddian:
Nice parable there juddian.Was considering a reprise of my cheeky hitch in a Sierra Cosworth parked on a transporter but i’ll decline the indulgence. I do remember as a nipper witnessing some chaps delivering bus chassis up to Leyland.No cabs afixed, and dressed like gunners from Lancaster bombers,complete with aviation goggles.Quite a visual at the time and only discontinued circa late 70’s i believe, before cabs were mandated.
Some other memories you’ve triggered Manalishi.
Had a few extra lads sat in the cars behind the cab, maybe we’ve met before?
Picked up some really unlikely platers, one young bloke maybe earning a few quid between Eton and Oxford, 3 piece pin striped suit and what looked like a Fox brolly, spoke better English than Her Maj the late Queen.
One day in the Sussex Downs on some B road or other came across a bunch of squaddies, the Rupert with them flagged me down and asked for a butchers at my map (remember maps ), we had a conflab and they were a few miles from where they thought they were, ‘can you give us a lift?’, ‘sure thing mate’, so with knackered squaddies hanging on the transporter deck gave 'em a few miles respite.
You’d get locked up now for some of the stunts we pulled.
Oh yes and you remember when artic transporters had a peak, which went wide of the cab on turns?, well we always fancied a run so a couple of us sat in the car driven onto the peak and we went for a jaunt…with a bloke we trusted driving the transporter i hasten to add going under a bridge with 3" to spare on the limiter is hairy i’ll tell you 
Almost everything about those days was better than the crap that is now.
The fair ladies were feminine both in behaviour and how they looked and most blokes hadn’t disappeared up their own arses.
Juddian:
manalishi:
Juddian:
Nice parable there juddian.Was considering a reprise of my cheeky hitch in a Sierra Cosworth parked on a transporter but i’ll decline the indulgence. I do remember as a nipper witnessing some chaps delivering bus chassis up to Leyland.No cabs afixed, and dressed like gunners from Lancaster bombers,complete with aviation goggles.Quite a visual at the time and only discontinued circa late 70’s i believe, before cabs were mandated.
Some other memories you’ve triggered Manalishi.
Had a few extra lads sat in the cars behind the cab, maybe we’ve met before?
Picked up some really unlikely platers, one young bloke maybe earning a few quid between Eton and Oxford, 3 piece pin striped suit and what looked like a Fox brolly, spoke better English than Her Maj the late Queen.
One day in the Sussex Downs on some B road or other came across a bunch of squaddies, the Rupert with them flagged me down and asked for a butchers at my map (remember maps ), we had a conflab and they were a few miles from where they thought they were, ‘can you give us a lift?’, ‘sure thing mate’, so with knackered squaddies hanging on the transporter deck gave 'em a few miles respite.
You’d get locked up now for some of the stunts we pulled.
Oh yes and you remember when artic transporters had a peak, which went wide of the cab on turns?, well we always fancied a run so a couple of us sat in the car driven onto the peak and we went for a jaunt…with a bloke we trusted driving the transporter i hasten to add going under a bridge with 3" to spare on the limiter is hairy i’ll tell you
Almost everything about those days was better than the crap that is now.
The fair ladies were feminine both in behaviour and how they looked and most blokes hadn’t disappeared up their own arses.
Accurate appraisal mon frere.More colourful times…,less monochrome and corporate.Brutal,in the nature of the trade by default,but more compensations and a sense of autonomy as part of the package .Excellent radio (Wogan,Kennedy,Bruce et al) and a more inventive and nourishing culture in general methinx.? but something was lurking in the woodpile of the zeitgeist,corealating roughly to the arrival of satan’s attaché TB (can’t even bring myself to drop it’s name) paving the way for the new corporate/marxist technocratic epoch of the present time in all it’s putrescence.
Every chance i got a lift with you at some point.? The trannies (grin) were regular sir Galahad’s for us stranded hobos in the sticks especially Bruntingthorpe and other airfields.Not hitching feels wrong.i had some legendary conversations with fellow road-warriors for hours and learnt so much during my tender years and l often felt vaguely sad when exiting the cabs.Quite a skill keeping a driver awake with scintillating repartee when utterly knackered yourself. Glad to bring forth something from the memory bank old bean.Nice vignettes indeed.
Juddian, as an ex squaddie I’ll say in all honesty that it’s pointless giving a Rupert a map. You may as well present him with a sheet of sandpaper and tell him it’s a map of Iraq
the maoster:
Juddian, as an ex squaddie I’ll say in all honesty that it’s pointless giving a Rupert a map. You may as well present him with a sheet of sandpaper and tell him it’s a map of Iraq
May well have been the case but between his map and mine we worked out where they’d gone wrong (i had serious maps in those days including that bloody great bible sized jobbie of London and the SE which was a full street map from St Albans and Reading right down to the whole of the SE coast), the lads looked about buggered, he asked nicely for lift for a few miles and the lads weren’t complaining about the, er, unapproved bus service, far as i know we didn’t lose any
manalishi:
Juddian:
I did it for a few months waiting for a transporter to come available on my first transporter gig.
TBF i earned pretty well but travelling ex’s were only paid in extreme circs with hitching the standard method of getting about which sometimes meant long walks…try and find a bus going to Bruntingthorpe or any of the many out of the way places large compounds are sited.
Luckily who i worked for had the contract to repaint BT vans and trucks in the new at the time livery, so many weeks were spent taking a freshly painted one to a depot and returning with one needing paint.
Those older drivers should remember picking up the many platers who worked out of Ford’s long gone van factory at Langley, they made good money on their ex’s (no receipts reqd), some of them would offer you a drink for a decent length ride, which i never accepted.
Ended up with 4 platers in my Sed Ack circa 1980 early one morning, batting up the A1 at a steady er 60-ish with them all chopsing when a pheasant decided to commit suicide against the front panel, only i saw it coming, for the platers it was a brown trouser moment
Nice parable there juddian.Was considering a reprise of my cheeky hitch in a Sierra Cosworth parked on a transporter but i’ll decline the indulgence. I do remember as a nipper witnessing some chaps delivering bus chassis up to Leyland.No cabs afixed, and dressed like gunners from Lancaster bombers,complete with aviation goggles.Quite a visual at the time and only discontinued circa late 70’s i believe, before cabs were mandated.
Intrepid band of brothers and no mistake ? I was a regular at Brunters and other airfields.Got a roasting for jumping into the Jaguar gate-guard once for a good old mooch around. Distance lends enchantment to the view but i relish the memories of a challenging but rewarding 7 years of plating.I’d recommend it to anyone for a foundational in matters roadcraft. Met some great folks with the hitching so it’s kind of chastening it’s been erased and tended to be a skill of itself.
My experience with their recruiting policy is they dangle £10 notes off of fishing hooks in the waiting rooms of rehab clinics or alcoholic anonymous meetings, then trap them with a net and make them sign ever increasing and bizarre self-employment “arrangements” with made up numbers of “look at what you might earn” until reality comes crashing down after about week 3. By that point, you’d covered the length and breadth of the country once, so you might take to the travelling/sightseeing lifestyle (I’ve had tons of great trips) and stick with it.
paul_c2:
manalishi:
Juddian:
I did it for a few months waiting for a transporter to come available on my first transporter gig.
TBF i earned pretty well but travelling ex’s were only paid in extreme circs with hitching the standard method of getting about which sometimes meant long walks…try and find a bus going to Bruntingthorpe or any of the many out of the way places large compounds are sited.
Luckily who i worked for had the contract to repaint BT vans and trucks in the new at the time livery, so many weeks were spent taking a freshly painted one to a depot and returning with one needing paint.
Those older drivers should remember picking up the many platers who worked out of Ford’s long gone van factory at Langley, they made good money on their ex’s (no receipts reqd), some of them would offer you a drink for a decent length ride, which i never accepted.
Ended up with 4 platers in my Sed Ack circa 1980 early one morning, batting up the A1 at a steady er 60-ish with them all chopsing when a pheasant decided to commit suicide against the front panel, only i saw it coming, for the platers it was a brown trouser moment
Nice parable there juddian.Was considering a reprise of my cheeky hitch in a Sierra Cosworth parked on a transporter but i’ll decline the indulgence. I do remember as a nipper witnessing some chaps delivering bus chassis up to Leyland.No cabs afixed, and dressed like gunners from Lancaster bombers,complete with aviation goggles.Quite a visual at the time and only discontinued circa late 70’s i believe, before cabs were mandated.
Intrepid band of brothers and no mistake ? I was a regular at Brunters and other airfields.Got a roasting for jumping into the Jaguar gate-guard once for a good old mooch around. Distance lends enchantment to the view but i relish the memories of a challenging but rewarding 7 years of plating.I’d recommend it to anyone for a foundational in matters roadcraft. Met some great folks with the hitching so it’s kind of chastening it’s been erased and tended to be a skill of itself.
My experience with their recruiting policy is they dangle £10 notes off of fishing hooks in the waiting rooms of rehab clinics or alcoholic anonymous meetings, then trap them with a net and make them sign ever increasing and bizarre self-employment “arrangements” with made up numbers of “look at what you might earn” until reality comes crashing down after about week 3. By that point, you’d covered the length and breadth of the country once, so you might take to the travelling/sightseeing lifestyle (I’ve had tons of great trips) and stick with it.
Can believe it.There’s advice apparently at the jobcentres and other places for dealing with self-employment l gather.? As you hint,a thorny area needing serious foreknowledge to avoid the traps.It’s not as if you can use the plates for some ‘private-arrangements’.?
,plus they had unusual accommodation arrangements but thats probably changed with VM i suspect? 