welshboyinspain:
sidney you got your point across so why do you continue to stir the pot?
at least you got out of there, poor old gogzy is stuck with his wendy house FM
wendy house fm 
he should be thankful for small mercy’s it could have
been a STAR OR HINO
bjd:
Maybe its time we put this thread to bed (that rymed good er) i think its all been said and we have established vb is not everyones idear of a good job and for some it didnt work out for whatever reason imm sure theres right and wrong on both sides but as the saying goes thats life move on
Choose not to read it then!
Malc, I went out and dug a ditch and it grew by 7 pages!!
Got to say it… If I was on a 3 weeks on, 1 week off contract then I would anticipate NOT getting paid for my stand down time. On the 8-4:30 jobs that you all seem to think you deserve, you wouldn’t get paid for weekends, would you? And they would pay you for 8 hours and deduct a break, but you seem to think that the dutch are wrong to do it… That simply doesn’t compute. And when you add in that they pay for your flights, hell that’s a good earner!!
Steve, when you told your story on here, I PM’d you. I made some enquiries on your behalf, then I had a family breavement and forgot to carry on. Now I am damned glad about it. You are wading in here with ill informed sniping and I, for one, wouldn’t touch you with a bargepole if I had a truck spare. Same is true of Gogz, Syd et al. You have done yourselves untold harm with your posts on here as far as I can tell.
I have been to almost all of the places you have been to. I have had no issues at all in any of them. I have always found the Germans to be reasonable with me, but I do speak German because I learned it, same as with French. You seem to have the opinion that English is the only language that counts. Tell me, do you think that raising your voice and pretending you are in “Allo allo” makes you easier to understand? Do you mention sunbeds and towels?
My Christ, you are all sodding toxic, and you are screwing it up for those that may really want to follow on when you lot give up and ■■■■ off home. It has happened here so that many others, who are more suitable for the job than many of those already here, cannot get a look in. Why not just give up, go home and get over yourselves?
You lot are as good a reason as any for people- employers- like me to just give up and emigrate, because you are so pathetic.
Mick, you and I have clashed and we have also agreed in the past. On this one, I do not think it is the firm at all. I have worked alongside of VDB, and did so for years. They were good guys in the main. Their specialised kit was like you have never seen. They always had the gear looking good, and you didn’t see much needing repair.
Frans, just because you got some goons on board, please don’t think we are all the same…
gogzy:
switchlogic:
Keep going, I’ll buy the two thousandth poster dinner! In a RoadchefI’ll hold you to that, time to start spamming
Sorry, Gogzy, but it seems you have been doing just that for about 20 pages now…
For all working there at the moment REMEMBER
(PUT ONE’S BRAIN IN GEAR BEFORE YOU LET THE CLUTCH OUT ON YOUR MOUTH)
Never burn your bridges you might need to cross them again
Even if they don’t, then some poor sod on the other side might need it, and it is highly unlikely the firms will rebuid them if they only get moaners.
I need to qualify something, and Lucy, If I am wrong the please feel free to remove this post.
I worked as a subby for a large tanker company based in Blandford. They had no concept of the law, no concept of drivers hours, no concept of tank cleanliness… etc… They also had this strange idea that they could work me into the ground, then get even more work out of me if they clipped bits off my cheque… you know, if he needs more money then he will work harder, sort of thing.
Instead of coming on here complaining, I challenged the bosses son (quite a big guy, right Lucy?) to a meeting at Wylie. I suggested he either paid me the right amount or he meet me there, and that the other alternative was a potentially dangerous clash in the office. He paid. Simple as that.
When he jerked me around again, I left, end of story. That was the only choice I would consider. Yet you all come on here ■■■■■■■ and whinging and doing nothing. Some of you probably think a national drivers strike would cure all ills, too, but you haven’t the balls to even quit a job, or to do so quietly, that you obviously hate.
You all have this choice. If you don’t get to Erp, then get on the case in other ways.
If you are simply getting homesick, then be realistic and admit that 3 weeks is a long time to be away and you don’t like it. If you have good things to go home to then do so, but for God’s sake, stop blowing what may suit others into perdition… You are bang out of order in doing that.
Dogg, you’re banging your head against the wall mate, I think my old mate Bullitt’s post summed this lot up perfectly, they moan they work too many hours, yet they do the hours in the first place, they don’t have the brains or the balls to sort it out for themselves, instaed they ■■■■■ and moan on here 
I have to say though that the best post of the lot was Frans’ reply to dinostevus, magic stick, PMSL (almost literally)
BTW Frans, if I ever come back to the UK I’ll be ringing you for a job, but you can poke the FMs, I want that W900 
Hey Frans, I am the senior North America driver, so the W9 should be mine. Will you pencil me and Mark in for jobs if we return, because I would be signing on for a job, too. Lots of tanker experience, and you can get a reference from H&S in Barneveld… I met Mr Strommel several times so he will vouch for me. 
bobthedog:
Hey Frans, I am the senior North America driver, so the W9 should be mine. Will you pencil me and Mark in for jobs if we return, because I would be signing on for a job, too. Lots of tanker experience, and you can get a reference from H&S in Barneveld… I met Mr Strommel several times so he will vouch for me.
I’m older than you Dogg, so the W9 is mine
Oh and I know Mr Hempenius and his name comes first, so there 
Gaz:
marior22:
limeyphil:
it appears that they pay by the hour.
so they arn’t worth a toss.How you are getting paid?
In English i would imagine?
the only way i get paid, is by the trip, the mile, or the day.
but hourly pay gives you no freedom. a 10 hour job becomes a 15 hour job on hourly pay.
hourly pay is what you give a cleaner, a washer up, a litter picker, or a warehouse man at morrisons.
hourly pay is not something you give to a professional hgv driver, unless you consider them to be lower than a turd.
caledoniandream:
dinosteveus1:
Frans, I tried to contact you from Erp and you didn’t answer my call, you replied to my text 8 hours later saying there was nothing you could do to ‘help me’.
Who do these guys contact if they have a ‘problem’? You? HR guy? Planner?First of all, I was with my customer that day and they don’t really appriciate when you text in Meetings and on a dinner table
Second of all, I couldn’t help you, because my magic stick couldn’t make a driver of you, you couldn’t drive, I am sorry, what do you expect me to do■■?
Let you drive??
I still read in your posts here and there that it still fazes you now and than, fair enough not a problem, everybody has to learn and you will learn everyday that you drive.
One day you will be there to the point, that every company will say, come here Steve your the right man, you are a confident driver, on you go!Up to that day, there will be disapoinments and buttock clenching moments.
We gambled on you, you gambled on us, was the wrong day to have a lottery ticket.
Yes, whatever you say frans You say one thing on here and another in private, to suit your advert. 
bobthedog:
Steve, when you told your story on here, I PM’d you. I made some enquiries on your behalf, then I had a family breavement and forgot to carry on. Now I am damned glad about it. You are wading in here with ill informed sniping and I, for one, wouldn’t touch you with a bargepole if I had a truck spare. Same is true of Gogz, Syd et al. You have done yourselves untold harm with your posts on here as far as I can tell.
Sorry for your loss 
You PMd me before I went to Erp, 16th and 17th July regards Language courses. Nothing since.
Sorry you see my posts in that way, there’s nothing I can do to change that so thanks anyway.
bobthedog:
Malc, I went out and dug a ditch and it grew by 7 pages!!Got to say it… If I was on a 3 weeks on, 1 week off contract then I would anticipate NOT getting paid for my stand down time. On the 8-4:30 jobs that you all seem to think you deserve, you wouldn’t get paid for weekends, would you? And they would pay you for 8 hours and deduct a break, but you seem to think that the dutch are wrong to do it… That simply doesn’t compute. And when you add in that they pay for your flights, hell that’s a good earner!!
Steve, when you told your story on here, I PM’d you. I made some enquiries on your behalf, then I had a family breavement and forgot to carry on. Now I am damned glad about it. You are wading in here with ill informed sniping and I, for one, wouldn’t touch you with a bargepole if I had a truck spare. Same is true of Gogz, Syd et al. You have done yourselves untold harm with your posts on here as far as I can tell.I have been to almost all of the places you have been to. I have had no issues at all in any of them. I have always found the Germans to be reasonable with me, but I do speak German because I learned it, same as with French. You seem to have the opinion that English is the only language that counts. Tell me, do you think that raising your voice and pretending you are in “Allo allo” makes you easier to understand? Do you mention sunbeds and towels?
My Christ, you are all sodding toxic, and you are screwing it up for those that may really want to follow on when you lot give up and ■■■■ off home. It has happened here so that many others, who are more suitable for the job than many of those already here, cannot get a look in. Why not just give up, go home and get over yourselves?
You lot are as good a reason as any for people- employers- like me to just give up and emigrate, because you are so pathetic.
Mick, you and I have clashed and we have also agreed in the past. On this one, I do not think it is the firm at all. I have worked alongside of VDB, and did so for years. They were good guys in the main. Their specialised kit was like you have never seen. They always had the gear looking good, and you didn’t see much needing repair.
Frans, just because you got some goons on board, please don’t think we are all the same…
newmercman:
bobthedog:
Hey Frans, I am the senior North America driver, so the W9 should be mine. Will you pencil me and Mark in for jobs if we return, because I would be signing on for a job, too. Lots of tanker experience, and you can get a reference from H&S in Barneveld… I met Mr Strommel several times so he will vouch for me.I’m older than you Dogg, so the W9 is mine
Oh and I know Mr Hempenius and his name comes first, so there
That W9 is used by Peter VdB to pull his camper with, done the mileage so it’s now used for private use and shows, the Volvo VN is the follow up for the W9 in the fleet.
The problem with the W9 was the turning circle, for some customers you had to manouvre 2-3 times to get him on the weighbridge.
It’s is the length of a rigid with a trailer, with a 13.60 trailer (45ft) he wouldn’t go round the mini roundabouts in Holland.
Weightwise with his double drive was just a little over a Daf 95 spacecab 4x2, so that was not to bad, got used a lot for events and concerts to deliver the beer tanks (Holland has no beer in barrels, just in tanks) the beer tanks are either 30ft chassis or short tanks.
I was never really impressed by the Detroit diesel in there, would have prefferd a ■■■■■■■ or a Cat, only for the sound, and found the electrics a little dodgy (double 12v not 24V ■■)
limeyphil:
hourly pay is not something you give to a professional hgv driver, unless you consider them to be lower than a turd.
supposing of course you can find one in the first place
slagging one off,very professional
Bullitt–Bob the Dog.-- Newmercman,( and others), have said all that needs to be said about this thread. It has in many cases been case of drivers who could not hack it, squealing like stuck pigs and lashing out at what seems to me to be an employer who shows a lot more patience with them, than would many an employer in the UK.
Gogzy,s rant against the Germans was a case in point. Thoughout my travels all over that country, I found the people, wherever I came in contact with them, to be helpful and sociable. One of the reasons for that was thanks to the fact that I had bothered my arse to learn a little of their language , via language tapes, as I was on the way there. They responded to this ,in most cases, by replying in very good, sometimes excellent, English. His mention of the war, was another low point in his rant. I speak as someone who was bombed out of my home in 1940, by the Luftwaffe.Then evacuated to Wales at the age of 6. I hold no grudges whatsoever against the German people of today ,for that. The bloody war ended 65 years ago. Although it should not ever be forgotten, it certainly should not be used as a stick to beat the German people of today with; Nor the Dutch , possibly one of the most laid-back nations in the EU; Whose only lasting problem with their next door neighbors is the fact that they did not return all of the bikes that they nicked in 1940.
I would also suggest that if Gogzy were to become fluent in the language, they and we would have a major difficulty in understanding WTF he was on about, thanks to his Fife accent. I must admit at this point that I also have that problem. 
I was in Munich, needing to check out where my delivery point actually was,(In pre SatNav days), so I stopped and adressed a smartly dressed feller passing my wagon. “Guten tag meine Herr. Enscholdegen zie bitte. Vo iz dis platz”, as I pointed to the address on my notes. He could not speak for laughing. When he got a grip, The Irish Deutsche Bank, executive, which is what he turned out to be, said “Jayze. That is the worst bloody German accent that I have ever heard. Which part of Liverpool are ye from?” having put him right that it was Birkenhead. we parted with handshake and he left, still laughing. But not before he had stopped a passing taxi,had a word with the driver, who then led me the final 3 kilometers of the way to my delivery point, and would then not accept my offered tip. I wish I was still going there. I could tell many more stories about the generosity that I found amongst ordinary German people.
You need to open your mind Gogzy. You claim to have been to University–uni as it is now known- you should have no problem learning another language. You,d get a lot more pleasure out of your time with VDB, if you did.Lighten up. Learn to “go with the flow”. Others seem to have done so.
limeyphil:
the only way i get paid, is by the trip, the mile, or the day.
but hourly pay gives you no freedom. a 10 hour job becomes a 15 hour job on hourly pay.
hourly pay is what you give a cleaner, a washer up, a litter picker, or a warehouse man at morrisons.
hourly pay is not something you give to a professional hgv driver, unless you consider them to be lower than a turd.
paid by the trip or by the mile isn’t an incentive to run bent in any way is it
thats why paying by the km is now frowned upon in spain because the GC know that drivers try to get as many done as poss in a day
Buycrider:
One of the reasons for that was thanks to the fact that I had bothered my arse to learn a little of their language , via language tapes, as I was on the way there. They responded to this ,in most cases, by replying in very good, sometimes excellent,English.
very true I also found this on several occasions in several countries and using tapes is how I learnt my 1st phrases in more than language
Buycrider:
Whose only lasting problem with their next door neighbors is the fact that they did not return all of the bikes that they nicked in 1940.
They do appear to have a mental block about that
Buycrider:
I would also suggest that if Gogzy were to become fluent in the language,
The biggest problem I found while learning Dutch was the Dutch themselves who would always insist in trying to carry the conversation on in English 
until you point out to them that you are never going to learn the language unless they let you practice and then point out the mistakes