I have been offered a job doing general haulage for WS with the the possibility of being trained to go onto the low loader work as this is something I want to do as it appeals to me.
I’ve asked to be put on the low loader stuff but they said you need alot of training and kind of fobbed it off
My only issue is the connection between Eddie Stobart and WS I really want to progress and do the low loader stuff but I’ve seen quite alot of WS units pulling Eddie Stobart trailers and feel like they would never offer me low loader work as I’m still new to the industry and they would keep me on the general haulage side as its profitable.
2). Has anybody worked for WS on the general haulage side and what are your experiences like.
Thank you I just want to make sure its for me as I want to progress.
not to make assumptions but the old saying run before one can walk. In terms of if you don’t really have experience of low loaders I can understand there point like a fairly new driver carrying £300,000 up wards of new units or motorhomes. my advice would be go prove you can do the general haulage and get a bit of experience then ask to get moved onto the high and heavy side of work as they call it. we have all started somewhere like I did a Stobart contract which i believe ws now have which is moving 28 ton aluminium ingots from latchford to widnes on flabed trailers.
Alliepallie4:
what previous experience on wagons do you have?
not to make assumptions but the old saying run before one can walk. In terms of if you don’t really have experience of low loaders I can understand there point like a fairly new driver carrying £300,000 up wards of new units or motorhomes. my advice would be go prove you can do the general haulage and get a bit of experience then ask to get moved onto the high and heavy side of work as they call it. we have all started somewhere like I did a Stobart contract which i believe ws now have which is moving 28 ton aluminium ingots from latchford to widnes on flabed trailers.
0
Good answer
Can’t see anyone taking on a new pass and putting them on low loaders straight away. Get a couple of hundred thousand km under your wheels to show you aren’t an accident waiting to happen. Get a year or two with an employer to show you aren’t likely to clear off somewhere else as soon as you get heavy experience.
No s9ecial licence required for low loaders but the time spent on regular artics will be time well spent.
As always getting the experience is the hard thing, but driving low loaders is a big step without any.
You will generally be expected to load and secure all manner of weird and wonderful things yourself, there is very little room for error and mistakes can be very costly and dangerous. A driver with previous experience in some relevant field such as plant knowledge or doing recovery will have a better chance and being given the opportunity in most places.
It’s a job that will never stop trying to kill you!
Cant comment on WS themselves but I would say they arent a bad way to get into the heavy stuff since they haul all sorts of things especially on flatbeds. All general haulage companies pull others trailers as it keeps the wheels turning.
Really you need time on flatbeds to get into soecislised stuff as that will show competence for chaining, strapping and safely moving heavy and awkward stuff.
Theres probably a queue of enthusiastic people wanting to get on the bigger stuff so they’ll cherry pick the better options plus they’ll have to invest in 2 peoples wages - one to do and one to train them.
One thing about that job is they won’t take anyone who isn’t familiar and comfortable with tramping and weird hours. I often see them at J28 M1 parked up for days before moving so lots of waiting around.
Depending on your general experience, get on with one lot and see where it leads. Even if you can’t get there with WS, the time served will give you a chance on other companies. Its all the magic experience ticket which opens doors.
Why experience, well you dont want to be this guy:
Take the job .You have a better chance of going on heavy haulage when you work there already.They will know you and can trust you with their loads.No one will give you a start in heavy haulage without experience.You may go on heavy haulage quicker than you think.
As above, don’t be too quick to want to run before you’ve proved you can walk.
Its easy to drop a bollock with a normal wagon, flatbed curtain decker whatever, but there’s countless more things to go wrong with plant equipment and new truck deliveries.
Low loaders despite not needing special driving licences are specialist work, i’ve only done minimal on plant etc but have done decades on other specialist stuff and it’s a very small world where everyone knows everyone else.
If you rush into the specialist work and drop a bollock or two, which trust me is easy to do, it would be a pity to tarnish your name/reputation when you should ideally get some miles and experience under your belt and then move over gradually when the time is right and you are much less likely to drop beginner’s ■■■■■■■■, bollock dropping and causing £500 worth of damage on general is one thing, when you tack 2 or possibly 3 noughts onto that figure for similar dropped bollock’s on specialist work it tends to get spoken about.
If you have the aptitude and the skills for that sort of work you will be spotted and encouraged as you progress, it’s only pointy shoes with their identi-haircuts that can’t tell a potential or proper lorry driver from a bar of soap.
Doing heavy haulage might impress your mates, bird and family, but the reality of actually doing it is not the glamorous job many wannabes think. It’s hard graft and one of the muckiest jobs going. Wrestling with very heavy and awkward railway sleepers is no fun at the best of times, but definitely not when it’s ■■■■■■■ it down and everything is covered in mud. Likewise, chaining up your load when the machines are lathered in grease, hydraulic oil and 2ft of mud in the tracks isn’t fun either. Then you’ve got to drive it, which is the easy part.
It’s a very underpaid job for the crap you’ve got to deal with (flatbeds and plant work in general). You’ll either love it and take to it like a duck to water or you’ll hate it. I don’t think there is any middle ground.
Mick Bracewell:
Doing heavy haulage might impress your mates, bird and family, but the reality of actually doing it is not the glamorous job many wannabes think. It’s hard graft and one of the muckiest jobs going. Wrestling with very heavy and awkward railway sleepers is no fun at the best of times, but definitely not when it’s ■■■■■■■ it down and everything is covered in mud. Likewise, chaining up your load when the machines are lathered in grease, hydraulic oil and 2ft of mud in the tracks isn’t fun either. Then you’ve got to drive it, which is the easy part.
It’s a very underpaid job for the crap you’ve got to deal with (flatbeds and plant work in general). You’ll either love it and take to it like a duck to water or you’ll hate it. I don’t think there is any middle ground.
Well said Mick , low loader and glamorous in the same sentence ! Cold wet icy chains tracks bunged up with mud, gaffer says operater will clean machine and leave it handy, like zb he will !
Having said all that ,I had some good fun on low loader work as well as the crap.
Bluesfan whereabouts are you from ?
Jim
JFC999:
Well said Mick , low loader and glamorous in the same sentence ! Cold wet icy chains tracks bunged up with mud, gaffer says operater will clean machine and leave it handy, like zb he will !
