I must say, having been to England last week and having travelled from Gatwick to Aylesbury at around midnight, i saw more trucks than cars. Every lay by was ram packed. Never see such up here in sunny Scotland. I guess some say its not worth doing cos comp in England must be so much tighter down south. Maybe a biased view but my view none the less.
Jake_Brake:
I must say, having been to England last week and having travelled from Gatwick to Aylesbury at around midnight, i saw more trucks than cars. Every lay by was ram packed. Never see such up here in sunny Scotland. I guess some say its not worth doing cos comp in England must be so much tighter down south. Maybe a biased view but my view none the less.
I think it’s just that there are more products which need moving about in the south of England than in rural parts of Scotland, which is why there were more trucks. In every part of the UK, supply (in this case, of transport) rises until it meets demand. You will probably have noticed that there were more cars on the road down here too than in Scotland.
You can fit everyone who lives in Scotland in London pretty much lol. The population is vastly greater. However,yes i did do notice that as well.
People in Scotland are also more tolerant of trucks so you dont see many parked on the side of the road, i delivered some steel piling to a housing extension in Inverurie and was made quite at home parked up on a residential street , i dont think i would have been made as welcome in Luton or Northampton
chaversdad:
People in Scotland are also more tolerant of trucks so you dont see many parked on the side of the road, i delivered some steel piling to a housing extension in Inverurie and was made quite at home parked up on a residential street , i dont think i would have been made as welcome in Luton or Northampton
the diesel from your tanks would have though. 
Harry Monk:
Honestly mate, if you have a good employed job then stick with that. I’ve done ok at running my own truck but I am seriously thinking of selling up and going back to work as an employed driver.
Harry, have you made a decision with this yet?
el_presidente:
Harry Monk:
Honestly mate, if you have a good employed job then stick with that. I’ve done ok at running my own truck but I am seriously thinking of selling up and going back to work as an employed driver.Harry, have you made a decision with this yet?
Not a definite decision, no. I’m going to spend a bit of time on the boat in June and have a look at what work is about. To be honest I fancy a complete change from truck driving altogether!
OVLOV JAY:
There’s loads to consider when becoming an o/d. Your current job, capital, lifestyle etc. It doesn’t matter who’s paying you, it’s about your life at the end of the day. In the real world, you need about £15k minimum to start up, to cover the bases, get the truck and actually work it up to the first invoice. Maybe it’s attractive up north where a lot of small firms want max hours for sub £400 in the bank every week. For me, I take almost £600, for roughly 58 hrs and 1-2 nights out a week, average working time of 37 hrs a week and average driving time of 28 hrs a week, all in a 64 plate fh500. Why would I want to go to all the trouble of being an o/d, to ride around praying my 57 reg premium doesn’t [zb] itself, working all the hours under the sun to pay myself a similar wage to what I get now?
Where do i sign up !
chaversdad:
My rates are based on £3 a mile as most of the time i return empty to load for the next day, so im on 1.50 a mile round trip but 50% of the time the trucks doing 10-11 mpg as its running empty , suits me and makes for a relaxed way of working
thats the way, the only returns loads we do are once we tip in reading, we reload 3 times per week and back to mansfield, backloads you from other hauliers you always end up chasing the money and getting peanuts for 90 days credit lol,
we are 10 yrs in running 2 trucks 1 fridge trailer/2 curtainsiders/1 splitter container trailer and 4 vans
Having done most of the modules now on the new CPC TM I can see why people would be put off. I am not though. However It is crucial to start with a good switched on team. Gotta protect That OCRS. Fines are horrendous. Read a few stories on the legal section in The Com Mot Mag. Wow is all I can say. Still enjoying it though and studying hard for my exam next week. Doing both in one day
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