Fuel price discussion thread (was ‘chaos’)

My uncle drove an HGV for a few years, mostly in Amsterdam. He stuck with it but said it was the most demanding job he'd ever done, coupled with the insane hours and unrealistic expectations and no recognition. He would be penalized if a delivery was a couple of hours late but also couldn't deliver early as the loading docks could only receive loads at certain times or when certain people were present. He eventually moved up to driving a tanker for a chemical company which was significantly more money but the paperwork and stress wasn't worth it and he quit.

I still remember his stories about trying to get an artic down roads which were built for horse and carriage, followed by impatient people who would hoot all the time and crank his stress up even more.

Put me off for life.
 
Kenai said:
I think when it comes to petrol stations, they're often 'franchises' - so BP don't necessarily own all the BP garages you see.

Despite carrying big brand names, I suspect most of the BP, Shell, Esso etc. you see are independently owned franchise sites
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corrent. A local independent company I know. Owns three petrol stations all branded BP on major A roads, they must sell a lot of fuels, last time I looked at their accounts they turnover £22m and make £2m profit per annum.
 
rpmmatt said:
No one was kicked out.

Low wages hurt immigrant workers as well.

Why do racists like you expect them to work for pennies for your own benefit?



My place has had to suspend all CPC training, and any other training for that matter because they can't spare the drivers. We are only coping through drivers going in on overtime, but that can't go on forever or else everyone will start busting their 48 hour average working week.

We've asked for a 20% raise, they've offered 10% and we've still not been offered any kind of retention bonus, despite them offering new starters £1500 to sign up. Just waiting to see how many hand their notice in next week.
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not a problem post Brexit, Farage has put forward that now we are free from the EU tyrants we can now scrap the 48 hours working week and allow our. Rotisserie drivers to work 55 to 60 hours driving again.:rolleyes:
 
adam cool dude said:
Please go drive a HGV for a day and come back and say it is low skilled. If it was low skilled and easy everyone would be doing it as the money isn't actually that bad in the grand scheme of things.
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It’s a low skilled job to many until there’s an accident when suddenly you become a professional who shouldn’t have made a mistake or should have seen the accident coming. Except professionals should be paid accordingly and truck drivers are not.
 
The wages thrown around are also bs. To earn 50k you'll be doing stupid hours and have no life at all. Many get like 10-12 an hour and it's not an easy job. The shortage is here because the Industry has been sleeping and underestimating the importance of drivers. Many moved on.
 
LeeUK said:
Passed my local Shell at 8pm last night and all pumps were open and only one car on the forecourt. Passed again this morning at 10am and again only one car and one motorbike filling up. So I swung in and topped my tank back up to the brim. Sorted!

Must be a north south divide thing.
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Filled up last Sunday no issues. Had a trip to London this weekend all the petrol stations were either closed of big queues. Drove back today, filled up same petrol station 3 miles from home, no queues.

That being said, the petrol went from 130.9 to 137.9 in the space of 7 days....
 
I'm in the South East and round my way it's a problem. Diesel very hard to come by. Earlier I drove past 4 stations and the final 5th one was a supermarket that only had super.
 
All my local ones are empty or still have giant queues, except the ones charging £1.40+. Seems people aren't THAT desperate :/
 
Filled up for the first time since the "fuel crisis" started. Went past 3 closed petrol stations. Found one that only had vpower, that was fine with me as I always use premium. Que was about 15 min.
(this is in Herts).
 
the gift that keeps on giving
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-58779160
Speaking to the BBC's Andrew Marr on the first day of Conservative Party conference, Mr Johnson said: "There will be a period of adjustment, but that is what I think we need to see."
He would not say if supply issues would affect Christmas, but later told reporters he was "very confident" the festive season would be "considerably better" than last year.
....
And he said the petrol shortages were "very largely driven by demand", adding: "I understand people's frustrations and I understand how infuriating it is when you turn up and can't get any. But we are making sure we have the supplementary drivers where necessary."

Mr Johnson called out those who wanted to "go back to the tired, failed old model" of "reaching for the lever called uncontrolled immigration" to bring people into the country to fill the job gaps.
Mr Johnson added: "What we had for decades was a system whereby [sectors like] the road haulage industry... were not investing in the truck stops, not improving conditions, not improving pay and we relied on very hard working people who were willing to come in, largely from European accession countries, to do that work under those conditions.
"What you need to do is make sure that people now invest in basic equipment, such as truck stops, and better pay.
"When people voted for change in 2016 [over Brexit] and when people voted for change again in 2019...they voted for the end of a broken model of the UK economy that relied on low wages and low skill and chronic low productivity and we are moving away from that."
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things are getting worse he means ?
I just want a reasonably priced tank of petrol under the christmas tree.
 
Might give it a crack tomorrow and try get some.
Seemed to be bad around here for long time, but not so many bad reports this weekend.
 
Scania said:
The 9 hour rest period is supposed to be for drivers who sleep overnight in the vehicle, unfortunately, it still applies for drivers doing day shifts i.e. in that 9 hour period you travel back home , do your evening routine, tea, bath, walk the dog etc etc sleep and be expected back on duty 9 hours later, you can legally do this 3 times on the bounce ie 15hrs on, 9 off….

The driver hours are supposed to be limits but the industry treats them as targets and you are frequently planned to do maximum hours.

Makes a complete mockery of road safety….
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Don't forget you can reduce to 9 hours every day if you have an unbroken break of 3 hours during your shift. So 15 hours a day, for 6 days max, with as little as 9 hours a day off duty. It's possible to work for 90 hours in a week and be legal.

As for driving, depending what days you work you can drive for 10 hours a day for four days in a row. Out of your 90.hour week, up to 56 can be behind the wheel.

And those EU trucks you see with 2 drivers, well they can be on duty for up to 21 hours in a shift, each driver driving up to 10 hours in that shift, the only "rest" being sat in the passenger seat while the other is driving.

All for your safety folks.
 
Oh yeah, those BG or RO flagged trucks in the UK, they don't earn the minimum wage of the country they are working in, they earn Bulgarian or Romanian wages. Maybe less in a month than I get in a week.

The way they are treated is disgusting and the fact the EU encourages it is a disgrace.
 
Scania said:
The 9 hour rest period is supposed to be for drivers who sleep overnight in the vehicle, unfortunately, it still applies for drivers doing day shifts i.e. in that 9 hour period you travel back home , do your evening routine, tea, bath, walk the dog etc etc sleep and be expected back on duty 9 hours later, you can legally do this 3 times on the bounce ie 15hrs on, 9 off….

The driver hours are supposed to be limits but the industry treats them as targets and you are frequently planned to do maximum hours.

Makes a complete mockery of road safety….
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Don't working time regulations kick in once you have finished your shift? I'm thinking mainly the minimum 11 hour rule between shifts.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
Don't working time regulations kick in once you have finished your shift? I'm thinking mainly the minimum 11 hour rule between shifts.
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The WTD for drivers is a different set of rules. We can reduce the 11 hours rest to 9 hours 3 times a week, or every shift if we take an unbroken 3 hour break during our shift.

Breaks and POA(periods of availability) do not count towards the Working Time Directive, hence you can legally be on duty for 90 hours in one week even though the maximum "working time" is 60 hours under WTD regs with a 48 hour weekly average taken over 26 weeks.

Forgot to add, night workers should be limited to 10 hours duty time, but every site can have a workers agreement to opt out so you can work normal hours.

Don't know a single site that doesn't opt out
 
You learn something new every day. When you combine the hours and terrible conditions, you wonder why anyone actually wants to be a lorry driver.
 
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