The local delivery lads n lasses that visit our works are always happy enough, all except for Interlink, they are on timed deliveries, they cannot deliver early as the machine won't accept input and DX logistics drivers, we reject most of what they deliver, totally smashed and couldn't care less.

I'm probably just suffering the January blues at work , up in the dark, wind & rain & home in the same, I'm an hgv driver , I deliver heating oil & red diesel to homes & farms in a 6wheel tanker , it can be hard work some days , summer is our easier time , less deliveries & more bulk drops to farmers from April till October, I'll probably feel better about it by then .

Hopefully will feel better with longer days (the light I mean) coming along

Is there many ladder access tanks left or have welsh farmers accepted HSE and lower the tanks/fitted fill pipes?

a few drivers started refusing to climb up our tank until we replaced it with a low level plastic job.

looking back now I cant believe anyone ever climbed a ladder with a heavy filler hose At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

Most places have ground based bunded tanks now, screw on fitting with spill stop, makes life alot easier , there's still some farms with dodgy tanks but new rules on storage come into force sometime this year , I still go up a fair few ladders and in the rafters of old barns, there's some dodgy heating oil tanks about too.

watch out for titan tanks, the hose leading to spill stop has an 'o'ring which degrades and washes out jamming the spill stop , the pipe also leaks because of the missing o ring, the delivery driver cant see this because its all hidden in the bund , 5000 litre vertical fuel station tank, At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

Hello to the enquirer regarding working as a courier, having spent 20 years and roughly 1,000,000 miles in all aspects of the trade the best advice I can give you is don't do it!!
When I began in same day it was possible to make good money if you knew your way around but as the fax machine and e mail became commonplace it got harder.
Switched to overnight and multi drop and that is proper gutty work, if you have to do 90 drops a day to make your money that's an easy route, now add on getting held up for 3 minutes 90 times in a day and you can see how the day lengthens
Then you have to do your collections in the afternoon,in the rush hour, and keep doubling back for late calls to collect,
To summarise, DON'T DO IT!
Hope this helps,
Gforce[/quote][/u][/i][/b]

chicken george wrote:

watch out for titan tanks, the hose leading to spill stop has an 'o'ring which degrades and washes out jamming the spill stop , the pipe also leaks because of the missing o ring, the delivery driver cant see this because its all hidden in the bund , 5000 litre vertical fuel station tank,

i have a mate who did it, he had to rent there own 7.5 ton van, put his own fuel, insurance ect in it.
you get drops that are marked before 9am on one side of manchester then to the other side for another one, then drops marked before noon and then drops at any time.
he sat in traffic most of the time and had parking tickets left right and centre.
he then quit after 3 months. I6 WITH GAS CONVERSION
HST BODY KIT
OSRAM LED DRIVING FOGS
CARS LOOKING GOOOOD!

Kemaro wrote:

I'm probably just suffering the January blues at work , up in the dark, wind & rain & home in the same, I'm an hgv driver , I deliver heating oil & red diesel to homes & farms in a 6wheel tanker , it can be hard work some days , summer is our easier time , less deliveries & more bulk drops to farmers from April till October, I'll probably feel better about it by then .

Can't you move to another company which offers better hours?

I'm a coach driver on stage carriage rather than hires/tours and at times I've thought about just jacking it in. The company expects the impossible, the passengers expect me just to fly over traffic, timbales that just can't be met on today's congested roads, DDA do's and don't's, CPC ballocks. I've been spat on, threatened with violence and false claims made against me.

But you do get a few passengers who thank you and appreciate your efforts and it makes the day that bit brighter.

Can't see me leaving though, there is a part of me that enjoys the job and I've had some characters on, caught a female passenger up the back with a mouthful of her boyfriends sausage she could've sucked a golf ball through a hose pipe, the highlight of my career. 21MY Defender 90 S 3.0 D200

Not many companies doing this work around here & ours probably have some of the better hours!

Like I said its the January blues coupled with other things, the wife & I have been through two cycles of ivf invthevlast 18 months, both failed & at our final consultation in October we were told that we can't have children , it won't happen, people say having kids changes your life but being told you can't & won't changes it too. We have no commitment to kids now or a mortgage & I think why am I working 60+ hours a week , the money is ok but only because of the hours , I've come to realise though that time is more precious & valuable than money & life is more important than work, so I guess I'm looking to do something for myself for a change , sorry about the above guys but sometimes it hard to get across how you feel & I need to make my wife feel she still has a life worth living & there's still a whole world out there for us to explore & enjoy & that can be done on a budget .

Good to see you are sorting your priorities, K. You have turned the corner, keep it up!

Tip: for my last year or so before retirement, I took up driving for an agency. Plenty of variety and I only drove when I wanted to. Mind you, the agency was a good'un - paid on time and looked after their team!

Bob 10MY (Sept 09) TD4 HSE Auto in Stornoway Grey (Now Gone)

08 FL2 TD4 SE Manual in Rimini Red (Now Gone)

So I've been offered a little van driving job, its early start still 5.30-6 but genuine job & finish, guys have to be really busy or broken down to work beyond 1pm any day, mostly 11am finish , salaried pay, less stress & hassle, 2min drive to work or 10min stroll, I've worked there before so know what's involved, good lads , have bi-monthly work days out, I still give a hand on a Saturday down there now, it would be a cut in pay by approx £8k year, but we have no mortgage commitment or no kids & that won't happen! Will be running over finances the weekend , Materialistically there's nothing we need or want & money can't buy what we really want , so I'm hoping for a happier work life balance , money isn't everything...

There was a tv program on a couple of weeks back about private delivery drivers, one was a woman delivering for Herpes said she got 60p for each delivery and nothing if she couldnt and had to bring it back, sounded like she was earning a coulpe of quid a day, hardly worth the effort, and she had to provide her own van and fuel.

Kemaro wrote:

So I've been offered a little van driving job.............. so I'm hoping for a happier work life balance , money isn't everything...