derek.snr Posted June 15, 2008 Report Share Posted June 15, 2008 try being on the road all week,thats 4 nights every week,week in week out ,its a real grind ,i drive for a living ,but i would not drive tankers ,trust me they are harder to drive than normal hgvs increased braking distance and dangerous cargo .lets face it we all want more money due to increased living costs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mungler Posted June 15, 2008 Report Share Posted June 15, 2008 If you don't like your job, the people you work with, the people you work for, the hours you work, the pay your receive, the conditions you work under then leave. No one forces anyone to work anywhere or for anyone. So the tanker drivers that worked for 15 years apparently without a pay rise and who apparently were incapable of leaving or working somewhere else or for a different firm - were they sold by their parents into some sort of bonded slavery? Not having a poke at "wagon drivers" at all just the strike mentality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clark539 Posted June 15, 2008 Report Share Posted June 15, 2008 Jsut thought id add this: Try driving a 4 ton army bedford that weighs 12 with no power steering, no aircon, no cigerate lighter to run you DVD player and to top it all your Commanding officers signed a drivers hours waver so youre exceptionaly tired and youve got to drive from Biedfel ridge in Germany to Zubrugge in a 40 mile an hour (if your not going up hill) convoy. This not to mention what happens on ops. Im not really fussed about the 30K+ pay check more that threer asking for a 13% pay rise and now they trying for 7.3% Put it in perspective im a MOD civil servant on low wages and the government dont want to give us a rise at all but we will probably get 1.9%, teachers got around 3.5% nurses got 8% so are you telling me tanker drivers are on a par with nurses. Im sure there 2 week C+E course and 1 week city and guilds HAZMAT course compares with a near degree or degree of nurses. It just smacks as a little bit greedy. They Know shells profits and they know the effect on the country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the last engineer Posted June 16, 2008 Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 try being on the road all week,thats 4 nights every week,week in week out ,its a real grind ,i drive for a living ,but i would not drive tankers ,trust me they are harder to drive than normal hgvs increased braking distance and dangerous cargo .lets face it we all want more money due to increased living costs. the life of a trucker was always thrill to me when i was a younger engineer, hence i took my class one and drove for a lot of years, all over the UK and Europe. tank drivers had a better than most standard of working conditions when i was gear jammin, cushty pay and hours, home most nights or days as the shift allowed, most of the squad i drove with were container drivers, how easy is that you say, drive in box off box on and gone again, sad to say reality is different, many nights spent in felixstowe docks or grain or barry or tilbury, very a pleasing areas to spend the night waiting for your hours to run out so you cant make it home god forbid the stupid delivery times set by peeps like "evergreen" "russel davies " and co. I wonder how many drivers actualy stay within the regulation hours??? i know i couldnt, not then, not that any other guys i knew did either. as to driving liquids around in a baffled tank, rather that than the 20 ton of bagged wine in a 20ft box with no baffles at all, sea sick or what. i drove for company in the south west called Febrys Transport, gone now as many are, ran out of the old Courages yard in Avonmouth, we ran allsorts, liquids, toxics, gasses, most of us were haz-chem trained as well, great times really. do i miss it,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, very much so, it was a great time with a great bunch of profesional drivers(most were anyway) most people dont realise the dangers facing drivers everyday on the road, it takes a lot of skill to handle a tractor trailer in cities, not to mention motorways, respect to them all, not to disrespect anyone who's good at what they do, i do think they unsung most of the time though. Martin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden22 Posted June 16, 2008 Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 Don't know anything about the job, but £40K and above seems on the high side for that kind of work. Is there a shortage of drivers? If so, it would suggest that pay/conditions need to be improved. If not, then they probably don't. Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zapp Posted June 16, 2008 Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 me trying to be a smart ***. DF Thats a bit like Tony Blair trying to be a middle east peace envoy.. :o Dusty I'm really sorry, I just could not resist! ZB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdubya Posted June 16, 2008 Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 Mad to think these tanker drivers are getting paid more than a young soldier driving a tanker in Afghanistan or Iraq. How can that be right?? Dave it isn't right, no argument! but (and apart from one or two on here noticing) the point is not about a tanker drivers worth its about erosion of conditions including pay and pensions, these tanker drivers had sodding good, terms from a very very well off company, they where then contracted out and have seen their lot deteriorate year in year out, now if it was not for the price of petrol and possible shortages no one here would be at all bothered, but now all the blinkered majority see is the price of petrol at the pump,not the hideous profits and taxation accompanying the same, and because a group of men stand up for their lot they are vilified, as for the squadies of course they are not paid their worth, you know it I know it, and so does the govt but until no one steps forward to sign on the dotted line ( therefore accepting the poor terms offered, and slightly different to the tanker drivers who see their terms erode) nothing will be done about it. cheers KW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Sweepy Posted June 16, 2008 Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 I love lorry drivers so much . I married one. i wont tell you the hours he works .But when Little Sweepy was a baby he did not know who sweepy was when he used to turn up out of the blue He miss out on both boys births though work. And His not had a payrise since little sweepy was born . And i get paid more the hour then he do . But then he is one of the bosses.so i mustnt moan really They are always looking for drivers but no one seems to want the work or the hours. And although sweepys not on a good wage the other drivers are. You really cant seem to get the drivers now a days xxxxsuzy he do not drive a tanker but his work can be just as dangerous sometimes.As his involed in motorway maintenance .And it was a ****** to get life +car insurance because of his job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the last engineer Posted June 16, 2008 Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 so general consensus is any driver who gets 40k is over payed, personaly if they get it good luck to them, i certainly wouldn't feel guilty, nor many others truth be known. Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starlight32 Posted June 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 I work 9.5 hours a night, always nights, I do 3 jobs under the guise of security, I get my wages and after paying the various tax's, paying one compony to give me water and another to take it away, tv licence for that bbc ****, gas and leccy, rent, and more tax I have less than £200 a month to eat and play with, every day I wake up and I thank the lucky stars......... That I weren't born in Suffolk Well if thats your lot living in Essex, 200 quid a month left to live on I suggest you sell your gaff down there and move up here-get some real value for money and chuck a few quid in the bank...... 200 sobs does'nt buy a decent lap dance these days. More to the point though... How many people on here are only grudging the drivers 40 grand a year because they don't earn it themselves??? As I have said before 30-40k a year is not big dough in this country anymore- Especially down south, and I stand by that statement. Nurses, soldiers, teachers and all the like by the time all the extras are loaded on at the end of the year have all hit that figure. Think about it- There are plenty on here who are in those professions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devilishdave Posted June 16, 2008 Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 I make more than they are asking for and have a good friend I go stalking with who is a tanker driver and i like to see him do well. My point is most people have to work hard to climb the ladder to reach 40K+ be that carrear progresion or university or time served as a tradesman but to Access that type of money for a weeks driving course and a weeks HASMAT course seams to undermine the hard work of many. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mungler Posted June 16, 2008 Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 The point is that if you decide for example to make a career as a paperboy you shouldn't be surprised if the money was not what you had perhaps hoped for in the long term. You wouldn't also expect to get into your paper round and then strike unless you got say £100k a year, final salary pension and healthcare. Following on, it shouldn't come as any surprise if you were then sacked or replaced with agency or contract paperboys who would work for less money as determined by "the market" having regard to the economic rules of supply and demand. If the lorry drivers are worth (in the open market place) what they are looking for then they will get it - supply and demand. The laws of supply and demand only get screwed up in closed shops and monopoly based industries / trades (for anyone who wondered how a train driver earns more than a petro tanker driver). I hated economics at school and now I am rather grateful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the last engineer Posted June 16, 2008 Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 I make more than they are asking for and have a good friend I go stalking with who is a tanker driver and i like to see him do well. My point is most people have to work hard to climb the ladder to reach 40K+ be that carrear progresion or university or time served as a tradesman but to Access that type of money for a weeks driving course and a weeks HASMAT course seams to undermine the hard work of many. Dave fully understand your point Dave, i'd like to think i've earned my keep as far as my company is concerned, my point is the fact that there are many in this world that you and i both know arent worth the proverbial "**** in a top hat" but the fact is someone thinks otherwise and pays them, christ i recall being back home years ago driving for a small outfit earning a rather poultry sum of 200quid a week, a good friend of mine was pulling in the same at home on the old king cole? wheres the justice, i'm sure as hell i dont know. and to quote Mungler:- "If the lorry drivers are worth (in the open market place) what they are looking for then they will get it - supply and demand." this would i'm sure apply to many jobs, not just drivers, where there is demand, the value of increases, fact of life. Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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