I would like to put my penny worth in to this debate before it is too
late, If you work for a firm over here in mainland Europe, some firms act
differently to others, one point should be made clear, these guys should
have a written contract in ENGLISH if they do not speak read or write
the language where they are working,In this contract it will or should state
what their wages will be how it is made up, and what deductions are taken out
if it states 2hours is being taken as time used for break and will not be payed
THEN you should TAKE the bloody time off,and not workas no wages are being payed
depending what type of contract you are on there are rules and regs as regards wages
One of the guys who has worked under these rules for Holland may be better placed
to answer questions,But lets be honest if the job pays what you are happy with and
it meets all the points you wish of such a firm , then that is good,
all transport company’s are out to cut costs,make a profit, keep existent customers
and also expand, which means they need Drivers who are good at the job
happy with the firm, and with the wages,: The worst thing a firm can do
is to forget that disgruntled drivers can be the downfall of ANY firm,
Wheel Nut:
Would it not have been best to keep these messages private?There are lads who work there who do like the job, and gaining valuable experience they could not get at home in the UK.
I too have PM and emails, saying that the job suits them, they are making new friends, learning new languages and getting to see new places.
We were told we were getting RHD FM Volvos, it didn’t put us off, there was more room in that then many other trucks I have tramped through Europe in and for much longer than 3 weeks.
I don’t know anything about the beach volleyball and free bars as I never ever spent a weekend in Erp. I was off down the road earning a wage. If i was in the depot over night I used to talk to the Dutch drivers and my planners in the company bar.
NO…Please keep it out in the open forum, as I had a similar experience in Canada (unpaid work, and too many unpaid stand downs), so people need to be made aware of the pitfalls in different countries. No doubt the lovers of Van Den Bosh will come out of the woodwork and accuse the negative posters of being lazy whinging Brits!
I’m going to add two pennorth. Yes waiting time is a bit of a bug bear, especially when you are told to be somewhere at 6 am, it is imperative you get there as there could be consequences for you being late. You get there on time only to be told that the company don’t actually start loading trucks till 7.30 at the earliest due to the companies staff doing other jobs in the morning. You have got ther on time then only get 3/4 of your hourly rate because of the above. That is a little unfair.
Having 2 hours taken off you for breaks is normal, if they take the hours off you, take the breaks, I do! And still earn more than what the previous OP said he earned, I’m not having a go Stevie, just giving an alternative view.
If your clever with the bc it can be used to your advantage, waiting time can be cut, it takes a little nous.
In my opinion you come out here to work for 3 weeks, in those 3 weeks you max your hours, I do. I get on with the job don’t cause problems and you can earn money, I take home over 2200 for the 3 weeks which I don’t think is to bad seeing the last few euro jobs I’ve had I didn’t earn that for working 4 weeks.
One of the better parts of the job is the 8 days at home, yeah being away for 3 weeks is hard, but if you get on with it they soon pass then you get to spend quality time with your familly without that dreaded feeling that you got to jump straight back in a truck 1 or 2 days later.
The way I see it some people want the money without doing the work, this is not pointed at anyone just an opinion, and some people think that euro work is 1 big party, you know park up at the weekend with all your fellow country men and get totally ■■■■■■ for a couple of days. If you want to earn money it’s not. You can’t spend £100 quid on the pop at the weekend and expect to pay your bills at the end of the month.
Remember VdB are in business to make money aswell , they are like any company in road transport they have to keep costs down to make a profit. The problem is the European government has taxed and restricted the road transport industry to hilt, the only real savings they can make are wages, and every transport company europe wide is doing the same, so don’t single out VdB for doing the same as anyother company.
The work is fairly easy, money is not bad IMHO, unless you work in a very scecialised field, no company in the UK pays £8.30 ph basic, + time 1/2 after 40 and double time for sunday and bank holidays, which are british bank holidays, so if your over here when they fall your on double bubble.
Yes I’ve got some gripes, tell me a driver who doesn’t, but I have found if I have a problem and tell them about it, they try and sort it.
Frans I can’t pm as I am premoderated for my forthright views, but could I ring you next week, as there are a few things I would like to discuss. I only found out recently that you are actually my boss and not anybody at Erp 
@ brit pete, contracts are in english, and Frans was a little conservative with the truth at interview.
@ mickfly< I’m not calling the negative posters lazy or whinging but some of the people who have left or were not offered a permanant contract were just that
In reply to Brit Pete, Hi mate, yes we did get a contract and it was through Frans in Birmingham or the UK arm of VDB. It does state that 2 hrs per day or that a pro rata rate under 15hrs will be taken from the daily hours unless justified that you can prove that you were working or otherwise. All VDB trucks have board computers that track every task ex , Loading, unloading, waiting, refuel coupling etc in the shift where I worked 21.5hrs I was showing waiting at cleaning station and also loading but this was deducted from the hours on my BC but it was showing to VDB office payroll staff that I had worked these hours they would not adjust my hours, This is just one point in case that I have used there are others which are not as severe.
Another point :
Using the black box from the BC I was informed that there was a discrepancy with the download in Erp and my planner relayed to me that the 1st time i was able to get into Bergen Op Zoom to retry it again as hours information was missing.
I was in at BopZoom the next day and proceeded to again D/L my cartridge, I left it a few hours and sent a message to my Planner to enquire if they now had all my data, to be given the reply “yes all is ok” on the 27th of that month my wife went to the bank and called me to inform me that there was £1300 odd quid in our account, try to relay this through a Georgian planner with limited English…I no understanding what you are meeeenaning Stevin■■? I managed to get roughly my point across and was told there was nothing they could do until I got my wage slip!!! A WEEK LATER AND IN THE UK WTF!!!
I then upon getting my hours went through all my charts for working out my OT, nearly 5 hours and e-mailed my planner, they would not give direct contact to the wages dept. You had to get a response from someone who spoke pidgeon English and had a hard time understanding written English. I was then informed that in 1 week they would deposit £420 into my account as this was what the shortfall was…NOT according to me and my working out and I had to go on my Tacho hours and was stated to them these were hours worked and an UNDERESTIMATE.
I got back to Erp before the money was in my account!!! 2 weeks after pay day with bills to pay and needing money to live on whilst I was away from home, I made a point of seeing Thijs and Makjolean from the accounts/wages they had deducted 10 hours even after me stating these were underestimated hrs and with breaks already deducted in the end i was done out of 10hrs due to VDB and their incompetence.
It seems that they are recruiting from the UK as they see it as we as a workforce will not stick together and fight for our rights and I know there are guys over there who do not have experience and will hopefully gain it by working here but they will get wise to what is happening.
They are there gaining experience and do not want to rock the boat and fair play to them. But this post was to make possible and potential applicants to VDB that the grass is not always greener on the other side
Okey-Didley-Dokely:
I’m going to add two pennorth. Yes waiting time is a bit of a bug bear, especially when you are told to be somewhere at 6 am, it is imperative you get there as there could be consequences for you being late. You get there on time only to be told that the company don’t actually start loading trucks till 7.30 at the earliest due to the companies staff doing other jobs in the morning. You have got ther on time then only get 3/4 of your hourly rate because of the above. That is a little unfair.
Yes this is true but it happens more often than not StuHaving 2 hours taken off you for breaks is normal, if they take the hours off you, take the breaks, I do! And still earn more than what the previous OP said he earned, I’m not having a go Stevie, just giving an alternative view.
As stated Stu if it was on your BC and you could justify working through your breaks then you would be paid which is NOT the case mateIf your clever with the bc it can be used to your advantage, waiting time can be cut, it takes a little nous.
In my opinion you come out here to work for 3 weeks, in those 3 weeks you max your hours, I do. I get on with the job don’t cause problems and you can earn money, I take home over 2200 for the 3 weeks which I don’t think is to bad seeing the last few euro jobs I’ve had I didn’t earn that for working 4 weeks.
This point is ok if you are given work at the weekend mate, you know I was 90% of the time parked up on one occasion from 11am Friday until 8am Monday
And at one point i was asked to park in Alba It from 11am Wed until the Monday and this was my week to fly home on the saturdaythey are like any company in road transport they have to keep costs down to make a profit. The problem is the European government has taxed and restricted the road transport industry to hilt, the only real savings they can make are wages, and every transport company europe wide is doing the same, so don’t single out VdB for doing the same as any other company.
They do and this is why they are spending wads of cash on not 1 but 3 trucks to enter the Paris Dakar if thats cost cutting im all for it buddy along with the parties organised for the office staff as usually the driverts are still out working to pay for the bloody thingsuote]
I have a view on this that not many share, but IMHO too many people expect too much from a job nowadays, silly comments about being sponsors of the Dakar truck reinforce that view, so what if the boss wants to ■■■■■ a load of money up the wall on it? So what if the boss is a multi millionaire? They are running a huge business, it’s only right that earn well from it, after all if they didn’t there would be a lot more unemployed people.
As I see it VdB is in a very difficult position, competition from our friends from Eastern Europe has driven rates down, while operating costs continue to rise,yet they still have to buy and maintain decent equipment, pay drivers etc, so they are creative with the drivers hours rules, a bit of tipping and loading off the card and stuff like that has been happening since the introduction of the Okonograph in the 70s, at one time it was standard practice at 99% of companies, both big and small, now everyone wants to stick to the rules, ok, I accept that 21hr days are well over the boundaries of acceptability, the best way I can think of to describe what I’m trying to say is to compare it to something else entirely, take The Beatles, they did the working mens clubs, spent time in the seedier side of things in Hamburg blah blah blah, they then went onto filling the world’s largest venues and became the greatest band in the world, today kids can’t be arsed with all that, they want to go on X Factor or do a you Tube video and reap the same rewards as the Fab Four, that corresponds to the attitude of employees in the same way, successful companies motivate their staff so that they work like The Beatles did, they do that little bit extra, obviously the best way to motivate an employee is with a pound note, so although it appears that I’m saying everyone’s a lazy workshy money grabbing SOB, that’s only part of it, if VdB wants/expects 21hr days from it’s employees, it should pay them for every single minute, that way everyone’s a winner, as long as they choose to do the work in the first place.
Anyone else get the feeling “okey-didley-dodkey” is frans or vdb recruiter… Lol
Sack of ■■■■ like most, did a bit for Peter smit and was the same.
Sorry Akaday but you are so far off the mark with Okley it is laughable, he is a very very good mate of mine and we have worked together for a while before VDB, he just has a different view of things and VdB works for him, horses for courses so to speak, he is working it for him and that is fine by me. Its not nice to criticise a fellow workmate this is the problem we should be backing each other.
It never worked for me for various reasons some of which I have posted on here for all to see and to make potential employees aware of the way that VdB work then it is up to the individual to read between the lines and interpret the truth from the info posted on here.
This is my persoanal point of view and may not be the view of other Vdb employees who are more than welcome to add their comments and views as to what they think of the company whether it be good or bad
akaday:
Even the lads that are still out there have told me these things are true but they are enjoying getting some exp behind them, will look good on a CV in the future I think the thinking behind that is. Each to there own but I’m glad someone had the balls to speak out about there hidden side on here. After all isn’t that what this site is about “Both Sides of the story”■■
As I said here, let the people speak( read the posts above this).
And that was a joke about okey. 
With all jobs let them get away with it once.
no problem akaday didnt know if it was a serious comment.
Well, I for 1 was giving this firm some consideration to gain some experience in tanks as I already have ADR. I have 10 years experience in euro. I was made redundant last summer and have quite enjoyed doing local work and being home every night since then BUT there’s not many jobs in the area that can pay the bills so its back to tramping for me in the near future. Some local work that does pay well is ADR tankers but with no experience in tankers I cant get a look-in. Back to the drawing board I think!
It wasn’t too many years ago that just about every dutch international firm had more than its share of british drivers!!!
the biggest load of crap that I have seen posted in years to be honest
got a gripe with the boss well rent a pair of balls and go see him and get it sorted
complaints about the way you are paid well theres nothing to stop you withdrawing your services and go elsewhere
Van den Bosch is a very big company with hundreds of vehicles and there will always be those who are happy and those who are not.
Most of those who are not will be the superheroes who have crossed the channel thinking that they have arrived in Europe to save the European haulage industry
Vascoingles:
the biggest load of crap that I have seen posted in years to be honestgot a gripe with the boss well rent a pair of balls and go see him and get it sorted
complaints about the way you are paid well theres nothing to stop you withdrawing your services and go elsewhere
Van den Bosch is a very big company with hundreds of vehicles and there will always be those who are happy and those who are not.
Most of those who are not will be the superheroes who have crossed the channel thinking that they have arrived in Europe to save the European haulage industry
well from what ive just found out our boss is in birmingham, and we are anywhere in europe…the planners try keep us away from erp as much as possible, im only back because ive got a load thats going 5 miles up the road.
as for withdrawing if your out on the road and drive back they take the cost of the diesel out your wages, i dont know what would happen if you just went to the nearest airport and left the truck though. its just greed on the planners part, mines wanted me to do 7 days this week and god knows how many next week till i fly home on saturday. they finish up at 1730 everyday, work 5 days a week, and get 2 days off at the weekend.
i have no problem working 6 days a week but i am entitled to and would like a day off. ive been moaned at for parking up after 13 hours because i only had half an hours driving left and that wouldnt have got me very far,
my first 3 weeks driving here i was never given time to eat properly, find somewhere to get a shower and basically pushed until i cracked and did hand in my notice. i had a word with frans and other people here at erp including my planner and it seemed to be all going fine until yesterday when i argued with the apprentice planner over the computer about working saturday and sunday even though i had done monday to friday, i probably could have done it but it was far too tight the way he was running it for me to fit a 24 in between today and 2moro.
im glad he finally saw sense and got somebody else to do it,i had alot of problems at loading today (4 hour load) which pretty much screwed up my day.
i may sound strange saying this after the above statements but i like the job…when im left alone to get on with it, but when that computer beeps saying i have a message im usually thinking wtf does he want now
Vascignoles or whatever your name is, Have you read my post or are they not at that stage in your primary school yet!!
I dont want to go through it again but to put it to you straight, I have a pair of balls, i approached the person/s concerned with the working practacies at Wind and pish and after that handed my notice in after lenghty discussions which lasted most of a morning. Hence I am now back working in the UK for a UK firm this has been said before so keep on practacing your ABCs and the Janet and John books and maybe in a couple of years you might be able to work out that what I have posted is exactly what you have put in your silly post
Anyway Mummy and Daddy say you have been on the Puter long enough and its time for your Baffy waffy and off to beddy byes
@bigsidney, this post is to explain to you why I believe you are
wrong in posting what you have above as regards Vascoingles,
You reacted with out doing any research by looking through
posts that Vas, has posted or contributed to .He is
one of the most qualified members on here who runs the Spanish
part of his employers company,He has worked many years for
Dutch transport company’s, okay he may have misread your post
where you stated that you approached as you said the persons in
Question, but to rant and rave shows that you have reacted
with out thinking mate,AS for misunderstandings in the firm that’s why
you get a written contract of employment to ensure
this does not happen, with all points written done in black and white…
Question?
What part of what I have posted is crap? according to the op
It has been stated in my post prior to this that as soon as I tried to sort my problems out I was kept from base and as Gogzy has stated if I had returned to base without authourisation i would have been billed for fuel etc so I had to wait for a fair period to return to base and sort my problems out. This is the way VDB work so as to avoid confrontation with aggreived drivers of which I know that there was and still is more than me. Vas has his opinion but he should have posted apropriate comments after gaining the full story he has no knowledge of my reasons for finishing with VDB other than the instances and extracts given so far . I posted to inform potential employees of said company of the way things work and to make them aware fully of what exactly goes on. I have many years of experience both in the UK and Europe and up until VDB had no real problems with employers or at least not to the extent that I did with VDB.
I can guarantee there will be follow up posts from ex VDB employees who will back what I am saying just give them time.
Stephen, did they give you orders to work so many hours, or did you decide it yourself?
Did the loading take 5 hours because you where to early?
The risk as drivers are starting to do their own planning’s is of course that you arrive outside the required booking times and actually screw it up, causing mayor waiting times.
I can really not believe that any planner asked you to work 21’5 hours, but I will defiantly look into it if you prove me wrong. (Board computer data is kept for 2 years and can not be altered as required by the Dutch law) so any message of that kind is easy to find back.
The point that I must give you is the FM trucks for International work is not the best choice to put it politely, but we are stuck with them and used truck at this moment are absolutely worth nothing, so the company will defiantly not sell them, because the would mean destroying of capital, but it is not my first choice.
( I know 30 years ago when I started, drivers would have give their right arm for a truck that spacious)
The FM get defiantly mentioned in the interview, so that it doesn’t come as a surprise.
The money is between 1700 & 2200 take home for 3 week period including night out money, depending on hours you been able to do. If you are able to drive your disc full (to ther legal max.), or work you maximum hours.
I personable think that is fair money for 3 weeks work. I could do it for that no problem.
The other think what I would like to say, you stayed for 7 month, there been a couple of more meetings in that time between you and Roland & Thijs for other reasons, but you never mentioned anything like that before, and you stayed for the full 7 month, while you where free to go at any time, we didn’t have your passport or tied you to the truck you where a free man, but choose to stay, I know what is been said, and we knew this was coming as you clearly have stated it when you left.
OK time for my say
- VDB have used this forum to recruit… if VDB want to continue to recruit via this forum then we have some really good advertising options open…
2.bigsidney
Vasco has been there done it… while we have had heated discussions in the past he has my respect your immature attack on him only shows your lack of knowledge about who is who in this industry
- Anyone who thinks their employer is willing to put hours over the legal limits on a payslip is deluding themselves, the employer may as well write a confession and post it first class to the authorities, if you decided to work over the limits and didnt agree how that was going to get paid then you dont deserve the money
We all know in the real (non channel 5) world such things happen, but do you really expect any employer to document it…
Now everyone on this thread be warned… stick to proveable facts, restrain the recruiting, and knock off totally the personal attacks or it will be gone…
PS Stephen, By the way. Beachvolleyball, Barbeques, Familyday, cycle tours, X-mas party are not paid by Van den Bosch, but by the assosation of employees (personeels vereniging) all employees can be a member of that by paying approx 7-8 Euro a month.
They organising themselfs all the events and most times the company sponsers soem food, beer or T-shirts, its not a company thing but more a employee organisation.
However if you turn up they don’t gone send you away for a beer or a sausage, because I don’t think any Brit ((incl me) is member if it, the reason why we don’t be invited.
The Dakar truck is Peter Van den Bosch his own truck, bought from his own money, the whole company is his own money so if he want to sell it tomorrow he could do to please himself.
He doesn’t tell you and me what to do with our money, neither do we have the right to telll him what to do with his bucks, it’s not a cooperative but a private owned company.