Got an interview next week driving class one for Travis Perkins doing RDC work in their new Cardiff DC,anyone out there worked for them on class one?If so I’d appreciate some info on them if possible,usual stuff,hours,money,attitude etc.thanks in advance.
Dunno about that place but I know there depots don’t pay class 2 HI-AB very well at,from adverts I’ve seen it £8summit per hour.
ckm1981:
Dunno about that place but I know there depots don’t pay class 2 HI-AB very well at,from adverts I’ve seen it £8summit per hour.
That’s why I don’t want to get a HIAB ticket… I’d be taken off the artics, and put on bloody T&P C2 all the time, with the more than 20% paycut that goes with it. No thanks!
I got told by Manpower “If you’ve got a HIAB, then come in and sign up”.
I told them I was only interested in RM work, and have no intention of ever getting a HIAB.
“We no longer employ ex-RM only drivers in any case.”
Charming!
I’ll remember that when they try and sub me in there next month “as a favour”…
There’s a lot of HIAB work at T&P in particular around these parts.
By coincidence, I’ve been to two sites this week where TP drivers have caused damage. (Both gate posts/brick pillars).
pay peanuts get monkeys.
The job is £25k for a 48 hr week don’t know if they pay overtime or make you work 60 hrs one week then 40 hr the next to reduce the average over 17 weeks.The work is delivering to their diy stores not home delivery (yet).
I’ve seen their vehicles (C2) up my street dropping bricks and sand into people’s gardens over their walls. As far as I know, these are out of the same local depot as all the other marked Travis Perkins vehicles.
I might be able to answer / find out some answers to questions, being a Class 2 Hiab driver for the DIY chain of Travis Group. Bog standard setup except for very large branches is all retail posts / stores e.t.c only ever have class 2, and almost all class 1 work runs out of the RDC’s.
This information may not seem it, but it is important. There seems to be a huge divide in the quality of work. Oddly enough I was only just writing in this post (What is a good driving job? - THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE) - Trucknet UK) earlier about how rubbish my job is.
Having said this all the C1 drivers who I have come across for the TP group are happy as pie. Reasonable work and managers - seems to be a more professional setup compared to us little lorries running out of the smaller depots / stores which are generally run by novice managers with little or no transport experience e.t.c, and yes this ='s craziness!
On this subject, because of the varying tasks and very limited space such places have, delivering to them can be a nightmare! All part of a days work though I guess.
Don’t get me wrong, I have never asked about pay (not having my cat 1 license) and the drivers do always say ‘oh we’re so busy’, but from what you hear ‘down the grape vine’ you could do a lot worse than to work for them. Only a little manual handling work involved.
There are a few special perks obviously working for such a large outfit. TP group companies on the whole are on the up, lots of investment happening, job security, chances for progression and new job openings. Also as they have so many companies if you get bored or fall out with a yard manager there’s always another branch around the corner (or even on the same industrial estate in a lot of cases, maybe doing nicer work than yourself) which you could move onto.
Along with the usual things such as employee reward site, well maintained kit (usually) CPC, continual Internal training, yearly pay review, internal assessors show their faces a couple of times a year, new trucks have CCTV fitted all over them - and you get a high vis vest with ‘Stay Safe’ written all over it!
Again not 100% sure of the payroll situation for jobs like the one you are mentioning, (the link to the job on their careers site would help) but we all run on an annualised contract, so no overtime pay and yes you can have increased hours one week depending on work load, however the annulaised contracts work on seasons anyway. This time of year we work 33ish hours pw, in the spring early summer it’s up to 50+ish hours. Class 1 may differ from this, but I’d be surprised if by much as obviously we rely on the arctic runners to bring us the huge quantities of stock to sell in these periods.
From what you said I make your job worth about 10 bucks and hour, and down here in the south they are very aware drivers, and furthermore drivers willing to work for not much much more than a £10ph, - so show you have a good head on ya and I’m sure they’ll take you on.
Enough spiel. Any further questions please ask!
We part of the Travis Perkins Group at CCF. Most of the sites I go to they seem sound and the drives always give us a flash/wave on the road.
Driver in our yard spent about 10 year with them but moved to us as he wasnt getting on with the manager. I know he said he was getting between 10-15 drops a day done but that was through working there so long
some of the yards are in tiny corners of an industrial estate - perfect for rigids.
That’s interesting you get a wave from TP people, I’m always flashing CCF round here and they turn their noses up!!
Off-topic, sorry.
I went to a Travis Perkins yard in recent months on the agency, I was there for a couple of hours.
Have TP adopted a method on distributing pallets of bricks on a double decker curtain sider yet? (Unrestrained) 
See topic below.,.they don’t like it up em!
Speakersrock:
I might be able to answer / find out some answers to questions, being a Class 2 Hiab driver for the DIY chain of Travis Group. Bog standard setup except for very large branches is all retail posts / stores e.t.c only ever have class 2, and almost all class 1 work runs out of the RDC’s.This information may not seem it, but it is important. There seems to be a huge divide in the quality of work. Oddly enough I was only just writing in this post (What is a good driving job? - THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE) - Trucknet UK) earlier about how rubbish my job is.
Having said this all the C1 drivers who I have come across for the TP group are happy as pie. Reasonable work and managers - seems to be a more professional setup compared to us little lorries running out of the smaller depots / stores which are generally run by novice managers with little or no transport experience e.t.c, and yes this ='s craziness!On this subject, because of the varying tasks and very limited space such places have, delivering to them can be a nightmare! All part of a days work though I guess.
Don’t get me wrong, I have never asked about pay (not having my cat 1 license) and the drivers do always say ‘oh we’re so busy’, but from what you hear ‘down the grape vine’ you could do a lot worse than to work for them. Only a little manual handling work involved.
There are a few special perks obviously working for such a large outfit. TP group companies on the whole are on the up, lots of investment happening, job security, chances for progression and new job openings. Also as they have so many companies if you get bored or fall out with a yard manager there’s always another branch around the corner (or even on the same industrial estate in a lot of cases, maybe doing nicer work than yourself) which you could move onto.
Along with the usual things such as employee reward site, well maintained kit (usually) CPC, continual Internal training, yearly pay review, internal assessors show their faces a couple of times a year, new trucks have CCTV fitted all over them - and you get a high vis vest with ‘Stay Safe’ written all over it!
Again not 100% sure of the payroll situation for jobs like the one you are mentioning, (the link to the job on their careers site would help) but we all run on an annualised contract, so no overtime pay and yes you can have increased hours one week depending on work load, however the annulaised contracts work on seasons anyway. This time of year we work 33ish hours pw, in the spring early summer it’s up to 50+ish hours. Class 1 may differ from this, but I’d be surprised if by much as obviously we rely on the arctic runners to bring us the huge quantities of stock to sell in these periods.
From what you said I make your job worth about 10 bucks and hour, and down here in the south they are very aware drivers, and furthermore drivers willing to work for not much much more than a £10ph, - so show you have a good head on ya and I’m sure they’ll take you on.
Enough spiel. Any further questions please ask!
That’s very informative thank you,its a Mon-Friday job days which is appealing to me,the majority of the better paid work is just over the bridge in Avonmouth which would be a 100 mile round trip every day plus £32 a week bridge toll,it would be £5k a year in costs just to get to work alone!
heh, our small little country is good for funny little things like that aye!?
Sounds like you have pretty much answered your own question there though, You shouldn’t have much trouble from the job, and if it saves all that grief it’s worth taking the hit of a few little less pennies for your time and saving the fuel e.t.c. (Assuming £10 an hour is not the highest pay for a C1 driver?)
Good luck with the interview. As it’s a very large company, be prepared for odd interview questions such as ‘what did you most dislike about your last job?’.
ok not exactly what you requested as i worked for wicks driving a rigid, but i hope to answer some of your questions,TP go by the book, you need to conform to all driving hours and regs etc and of course company policy, not too hard to do,they will pay and provide all training that you need. i can only assume like the rest of the TP group you will not be paid over time,(which is why i left) you will be salary paid, as a rigid lorry loader driver i was paid £9.85 per hour. not great but not bad, you as a so called class one driver will have the easier life, you may have to wait some time at stores etc to be unloaded, not the fault of the staff at store as they really are run ragged as wicks seem to keep staff numbers to a minimum so i suggest you never take your frustrations out on them,TP not a bad company to work for, you could do better, but you could do a lot worse,
These days, any hourly rate under a tenner is only “cushy” if it’s a flat 8 hour shift you can get done in 6 - job and knock. 