The day – Saturday the 16th of May… I think. I say think because my higher brain functions seem to not be working as they should.
Once again dear readers I have had 2 fifteen hour days one of which meant me missing a disciplinary hearing for the third time. How consistent of our shift management to not schedule my workload to enable me to get back for it. They more than made up for it though yesterday.
One of our contracts is to a well known sandwich chain and runs mostly overnight apart from a couple of routes which start at seriously stupid o’clock in the morning due to delivery restrictions. The shift management decided to re-arrange my Friday route to hear the disciplinary at 1030 in the morning. This meant that I was on a really early start of 0045. I must admit that I didn’t know that time existed.
There are always two of us on these routes which always helps and I was completely finished and home by about 1200. This was lovely and SWMBO was pleased to see me. There was however a huge downside to being home that early and that manifested itself in the form of sleep deprivation. After showering, shaving and changing I crashed and burned big style resulting in an hour and a half’s deep sleep. This isn’t good for me as it takes me a good 40 minutes to properly wake up after that sort of kip. I normally try to just have a 20 minute power nap and that refreshes me.
Add that to today’s route and once again I find myself seriously flagging in the evening as I type this so I apologise for having nothing interesting to relate but I shall try to rectify this tomorrow, assuming that I recover in time from 7’s rugby tomorrow.
Until later and some sleep
Saturday, 16 May 2009
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
Communication Breakdown
I know that I said I wouldn't moan but I feel justified in doing so.
On Monday I started work at 0340. For those of you who know these things and for those that don't it means that I need to be finished and signed out at 1840. In the event I signed out at 1845.
The consequence of this late finish meant that I was unable to start my route on Tuesday at it's normal time of 0345 unless I reduced my break to 9 hours from 11.
The conversation went along the lines of
Assistant Shift Manager - Why can't you reduce your break to 9 hours.
Me - Because I'm cold, wet and tired. You give me some help tomorrow and I'll do it! If not you'll have to change the start time to 0545.
ASM - They're not going to want a route running 2 hours late.
Me - Sorry. I'll compromise though. You leave the start time at 0545 and IF I wake up in time and IF I feel OK then I'll reduce the break and come in.
ASM - OK.
I then went home and to bed. I woke up at 0330 and feeling OKish decided to head in for 0440. Only an hour late for the route. Not too big a problem.
ASM - Don't forget to sign for your collection.
ME - What collection... this isn't on my route... This isn't my route... What's going on.
ASM -Oh we changed your route... You're not due in till 0555.
Me - Thanks for the phone call and the lost hour of much needed sleep. Tell me... What was the conversation that we had last night before I left?
Yet another 15 hour day followed.
On Monday I started work at 0340. For those of you who know these things and for those that don't it means that I need to be finished and signed out at 1840. In the event I signed out at 1845.
The consequence of this late finish meant that I was unable to start my route on Tuesday at it's normal time of 0345 unless I reduced my break to 9 hours from 11.
The conversation went along the lines of
Assistant Shift Manager - Why can't you reduce your break to 9 hours.
Me - Because I'm cold, wet and tired. You give me some help tomorrow and I'll do it! If not you'll have to change the start time to 0545.
ASM - They're not going to want a route running 2 hours late.
Me - Sorry. I'll compromise though. You leave the start time at 0545 and IF I wake up in time and IF I feel OK then I'll reduce the break and come in.
ASM - OK.
I then went home and to bed. I woke up at 0330 and feeling OKish decided to head in for 0440. Only an hour late for the route. Not too big a problem.
ASM - Don't forget to sign for your collection.
ME - What collection... this isn't on my route... This isn't my route... What's going on.
ASM -Oh we changed your route... You're not due in till 0555.
Me - Thanks for the phone call and the lost hour of much needed sleep. Tell me... What was the conversation that we had last night before I left?
Yet another 15 hour day followed.
Sunday, 26 April 2009
Dear readers,
I feel that I must apologise once more for the lack of posting on this blog but I feel that there are only so many times that you can read about and look at pictures of dodgy loading. In this respect I believe the phrase is Same S*** Different Day
This time I feel the need to sound off about route planning.
On the whole my routes seem to run in a fairly logical order now that they’ve been re-arranged and had drops taken off to make them achievable even if the timing leaves a lot to be desired. As a company we operate on timed deliveries. Every unit has a given delivery time and a delivery window e.g. 0700 – 0800, 0800 – 0900 etc etc. Well that’s how it used to be all those years ago when deliveries used to run on 1 per hour unless you had 2 in the same place.
These days however we seem to be on the principle that we don’t need to drive through heavy traffic from one to the other as we now seem to be 0700 – 0800, 0715 – 0815, 0745 – 0845 etc.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind working for a living and the job is physically tiring but there’s only a level of fatigue that can be reached before we all start getting dangerous on the road. Yes we have breaks that we’re supposed to adhere to after a certain amount of time driving and a certain time working but try finding many of my colleagues adhering to those and they are in the minority. We have to work them to keep up with our delivery times.
A couple of my friends are airline pilots and have both commented that with the hours we work and how tired I appear when I see them that if I was working with them they would be telling me to report sick with fatigue.
The trouble is that the lorries only earn money when they’re fully loaded and working. Our planners have managed to do this and cram extra drops onto the vehicles but only by using data from our quietest time of year when there are light loads on the vehicles. Come our busy periods, school holidays, Christmas etc. then we seem to be struggling to keep up. Drops get failed, drivers run out of time and have to be collected, not all the routes can be loaded onto the vehicles, we even at times run out of vehicles so we have drivers waiting for 4 – 5 hours sometimes to take out their routes. Our maximum working day is 15 hours from start to finish. If you have a 12 – 13 hour route you have problems because anything you fail has to be added to the loads for the following day.
Even the weather can play a factor with the recent snow that we had. On the first day London came to a virtual standstill and all drivers were told to get back to the yard under their own steam regardless of what drops were failed. It took us two weeks to recover from that week of disruption.
From now on I shall try to enlighten you more about the life of a UK HGV driver rather than continually moan about how bad it is.
Until the next instalment…
I feel that I must apologise once more for the lack of posting on this blog but I feel that there are only so many times that you can read about and look at pictures of dodgy loading. In this respect I believe the phrase is Same S*** Different Day
This time I feel the need to sound off about route planning.
On the whole my routes seem to run in a fairly logical order now that they’ve been re-arranged and had drops taken off to make them achievable even if the timing leaves a lot to be desired. As a company we operate on timed deliveries. Every unit has a given delivery time and a delivery window e.g. 0700 – 0800, 0800 – 0900 etc etc. Well that’s how it used to be all those years ago when deliveries used to run on 1 per hour unless you had 2 in the same place.
These days however we seem to be on the principle that we don’t need to drive through heavy traffic from one to the other as we now seem to be 0700 – 0800, 0715 – 0815, 0745 – 0845 etc.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind working for a living and the job is physically tiring but there’s only a level of fatigue that can be reached before we all start getting dangerous on the road. Yes we have breaks that we’re supposed to adhere to after a certain amount of time driving and a certain time working but try finding many of my colleagues adhering to those and they are in the minority. We have to work them to keep up with our delivery times.
A couple of my friends are airline pilots and have both commented that with the hours we work and how tired I appear when I see them that if I was working with them they would be telling me to report sick with fatigue.
The trouble is that the lorries only earn money when they’re fully loaded and working. Our planners have managed to do this and cram extra drops onto the vehicles but only by using data from our quietest time of year when there are light loads on the vehicles. Come our busy periods, school holidays, Christmas etc. then we seem to be struggling to keep up. Drops get failed, drivers run out of time and have to be collected, not all the routes can be loaded onto the vehicles, we even at times run out of vehicles so we have drivers waiting for 4 – 5 hours sometimes to take out their routes. Our maximum working day is 15 hours from start to finish. If you have a 12 – 13 hour route you have problems because anything you fail has to be added to the loads for the following day.
Even the weather can play a factor with the recent snow that we had. On the first day London came to a virtual standstill and all drivers were told to get back to the yard under their own steam regardless of what drops were failed. It took us two weeks to recover from that week of disruption.
From now on I shall try to enlighten you more about the life of a UK HGV driver rather than continually moan about how bad it is.
Until the next instalment…
Wednesday, 8 April 2009
Why I hate my job.
Well dear readers it has been a while since I updated you with the latest happenings on the road with a national food distribution company. I hope you’ve been wondering if things have improved… Well dear reader I can assure you that it hasn’t.
The main problem we seem to have is with the loading of vehicles at the moment. For example, chicken for the famous military based fried food outlet is supplied in trays of 25kg (55lb for our American friends). This might not sound a lot but when you have to move 27 of them over 4 deliveries it does turn into a lot of weight, moving them means that they have to be taken off the pallet onto dolly wheels and then into the unit for delivery.
Health and Safety guidelines for manual handling say the following weights should be handled… Shoulder height – 10kg, Elbow height 15kg, Waist height 25kg, Knee height 15kg and ankle height 10kg.
This Monday I had 6 trays on one pallet with no dolly for drop 2. I then had the 27 on a pallet for drops 5,6,7, and 8. the pallet hadn’t been wrapped to secure it and with no dollies. Moving this around was very slow.
The main problem we seem to have is with the loading of vehicles at the moment. For example, chicken for the famous military based fried food outlet is supplied in trays of 25kg (55lb for our American friends). This might not sound a lot but when you have to move 27 of them over 4 deliveries it does turn into a lot of weight, moving them means that they have to be taken off the pallet onto dolly wheels and then into the unit for delivery.
Health and Safety guidelines for manual handling say the following weights should be handled… Shoulder height – 10kg, Elbow height 15kg, Waist height 25kg, Knee height 15kg and ankle height 10kg.
This Monday I had 6 trays on one pallet with no dolly for drop 2. I then had the 27 on a pallet for drops 5,6,7, and 8. the pallet hadn’t been wrapped to secure it and with no dollies. Moving this around was very slow.
It gets worse though. On Tuesday I had one of the worst loads I’ve ever had. 27 trays 
of chicken on a pallet and not wrapped properly as I would expect. At least he put some dollies on board. This particular loader saved his special effort for the frozen food. The photos you can see show drops 2 & 3 and 4 & 5. In both cases he’s stripped some of the first drop off, forklifted the next pallet on and then put the remnants of the first drops back on top again.
of chicken on a pallet and not wrapped properly as I would expect. At least he put some dollies on board. This particular loader saved his special effort for the frozen food. The photos you can see show drops 2 & 3 and 4 & 5. In both cases he’s stripped some of the first drop off, forklifted the next pallet on and then put the remnants of the first drops back on top again. 
Apparently you can get the sack for slapping another employee so I can’t exact retribution the way I’d like. Official complaints have been made.
Lets see what fun we have on Good Friday… I can hardly wait.
Lets see what fun we have on Good Friday… I can hardly wait.
Monday, 30 March 2009
NEWSFLASH... NEWSFLASH
NEWSFLASH…
Police and Interpol today announced the suspension of the search for the missing village idiots. A police spokesperson said that due to the diligence of several drivers for a national food distribution company the missing idiots had been located safe and well in the warehouse they operate from.
They had been allowed to cause havoc loading lorries in a particularly unsafe manner with no regard for health and safety or driver welfare. Ordinarily this would be cause for concern but as the company they were working for couldn’t give a damn as long as the lorries were loaded and sent out on delivery routes then there was no problem as far as they were concerned.
A Health and Safety representative at the company said that the drivers would just have to get on with it as the only priority was to save money at the moment and having people to safely pick and stack heavy trays of chicken on dollies whilst utilising the equipment purchased specifically for the task was an un-necessary expense. As for making sure the pallets are wrapped properly the village idiots had been told at great length that only one layer of wrap was required and that making sure it was tight only wasted time.
No drivers were available for comment as they were all (with a few exceptions) working their backsides off to try and get back before they ran out of duty time.
Police and Interpol today announced the suspension of the search for the missing village idiots. A police spokesperson said that due to the diligence of several drivers for a national food distribution company the missing idiots had been located safe and well in the warehouse they operate from.
They had been allowed to cause havoc loading lorries in a particularly unsafe manner with no regard for health and safety or driver welfare. Ordinarily this would be cause for concern but as the company they were working for couldn’t give a damn as long as the lorries were loaded and sent out on delivery routes then there was no problem as far as they were concerned.
A Health and Safety representative at the company said that the drivers would just have to get on with it as the only priority was to save money at the moment and having people to safely pick and stack heavy trays of chicken on dollies whilst utilising the equipment purchased specifically for the task was an un-necessary expense. As for making sure the pallets are wrapped properly the village idiots had been told at great length that only one layer of wrap was required and that making sure it was tight only wasted time.
No drivers were available for comment as they were all (with a few exceptions) working their backsides off to try and get back before they ran out of duty time.
Thursday, 26 March 2009
The more things change... the more they stay the same
For all of you who read this blog and I know that it’s not that many I feel it’s high time that I put some more in for you to read.
It’s been a few days since I was at work and I’m delighted to inform you all that nothing has changed. The loads are still as dodgy as ever, there are still no dollies for the chicken which is still palletised with no regard for health and safety or manual handling guidelines.
Monday I was on my allocated delivery route, as route that is assigned to a 26 tonne vehicle due to the number of deliveries and the volume of things to be delivered to the various stores around the streets of our capital city. The only problem I found was that whilst volume didn’t seem to be a problem to the colleagues who allocate the vehicles and the loaders managed to squeeze a quart into a pint pot, the weight was. My vehicle was nearly half a tonne over max weight and the rear axle weight was too high as well.
Time for a vehicle change to a 26 tonne 6 legger and no-one has reported the faults on this as well. No rear door retainers to stop them swinging in the wind and no oil in the power steering system either. The door problem was sorted by the addition of a drivers mate. It still took 40 minutes at the local Scania dealer to get the power steering sorted.
All the deliveries were made though and it says something about our planning that it took two of us to get the route completed though.
Tuesday was a different kettle of fish. 14 hours and 25 minutes PLANNED with 9 deliveries and a collection as well.
So nice of the transport department to tell me that drop 1 didn’t order so I sat at drop 2 in Ross on Wye for 45 minutes until they arrived. Drop 3 was 14 miles away and I was given a window time of 0915 – 1015, ok until you realise that Drop 2 is 0900 – 1000. The impossible I do on a daily basis… Miracles take me a little longer.
I ran at the end of the window for the next 2 drops, was late at the 2 after that and made it back into the window for the last two. The only problem is that there’s a collection to be made from Crumlin in Gwent. As I started at 0530 I was out of hours at 2030 meaning I had to be headed back from Wales at no later than 1745.
I pulled back into the yard at 2028, was on a loading bay for 2030 where I left the lorry with everything on board and then came home for 2 days rest and recuperation. This is now day 2 and I return to work tomorrow to see how things have improved. Well here’s hoping anyway
It’s been a few days since I was at work and I’m delighted to inform you all that nothing has changed. The loads are still as dodgy as ever, there are still no dollies for the chicken which is still palletised with no regard for health and safety or manual handling guidelines.
Monday I was on my allocated delivery route, as route that is assigned to a 26 tonne vehicle due to the number of deliveries and the volume of things to be delivered to the various stores around the streets of our capital city. The only problem I found was that whilst volume didn’t seem to be a problem to the colleagues who allocate the vehicles and the loaders managed to squeeze a quart into a pint pot, the weight was. My vehicle was nearly half a tonne over max weight and the rear axle weight was too high as well.
Time for a vehicle change to a 26 tonne 6 legger and no-one has reported the faults on this as well. No rear door retainers to stop them swinging in the wind and no oil in the power steering system either. The door problem was sorted by the addition of a drivers mate. It still took 40 minutes at the local Scania dealer to get the power steering sorted.
All the deliveries were made though and it says something about our planning that it took two of us to get the route completed though.
Tuesday was a different kettle of fish. 14 hours and 25 minutes PLANNED with 9 deliveries and a collection as well.
So nice of the transport department to tell me that drop 1 didn’t order so I sat at drop 2 in Ross on Wye for 45 minutes until they arrived. Drop 3 was 14 miles away and I was given a window time of 0915 – 1015, ok until you realise that Drop 2 is 0900 – 1000. The impossible I do on a daily basis… Miracles take me a little longer.
I ran at the end of the window for the next 2 drops, was late at the 2 after that and made it back into the window for the last two. The only problem is that there’s a collection to be made from Crumlin in Gwent. As I started at 0530 I was out of hours at 2030 meaning I had to be headed back from Wales at no later than 1745.
I pulled back into the yard at 2028, was on a loading bay for 2030 where I left the lorry with everything on board and then came home for 2 days rest and recuperation. This is now day 2 and I return to work tomorrow to see how things have improved. Well here’s hoping anyway
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
Two 15 hour days
Wednesday morning,
It was as bad as I thought it would be. Arrived at work on Monday only to find my route had been changed and I wasn't due to start until 0415. Twelve and a half hours board time and sure enough with the crap loading that has become the norm at out place it turned into fifteen, right on my legal maximum.
Drops were split and spread over two pallets, then on top of another one they forklifted another pallet.
The routing was as accurate as ever. It's amazing that I can arrive half an hour early to one drop, run 30 to 45 minutes early and all of a sudden I'm running behind for the last 2 deliveries and late for the last one.
Back into the yard for 6.10 pm. Just in time for dekit, refuel and leave by 18.30 after finding that my regular Tuesday run has been cancelled - permanently. Tomorrow I start in Colliers Wood. Hey it can only get better... Yeah right. I've worked here for too long to feel anything but pessimistic these days.
Tuesday. 0340 arrive, get paperwork and start checking the wagon... For an older vehicle it's not in bad nick, there's a few minor gripes but nothing that's going to affect the run. Open the back doors to check the load and that's when it all starts going horribly Pete Tong.
1) No Pallet truck, 2) All the chicken (drops 1, 3 and 9) is on one pallet and there's only one dolly for all 24 trays. I might be reasonably strong but even that one's taking the piss. Back to the bay and complain to the shift management. I finally leave 50 minutes late and get to Colliers Wood only 5 minutes late.
Colliers Wood to Thornton Heath, back to Tooting, round the corner to Mitcham, up to Wimbledon and then the route planners come into their own. A (not so) lovely drive to Feltham and Hounslow. Nearly two hours late into Hounslow and that meant really tight on time to get back to the yard. Also thanks to our wonderful and highly efficient loaders who can't be bothered to get things done properly so delaying us on the road.
I was so tired that I completely lost track of time. I was 30 minutes outside my duty time when I got back to the yard. I should have stopped at Oxford but the auto-pilot was on with a finish at home and I cruised up the M40 not really realising where I was until I pulled off the motorway.
2 days off now and back to work on Friday. I can hardly wait.
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