Any tanker drivers here?
Discussion
There are lots of different products carried in tankers with varying degrees of skills required to work them.
All will likely attract some sort of premium over a general haulage driver but there's not a simple benchmark.
I drove tankers 25 plus years ago and it was very well paid but I found it dull.
All will likely attract some sort of premium over a general haulage driver but there's not a simple benchmark.
I drove tankers 25 plus years ago and it was very well paid but I found it dull.
D1on said:
What's it like, Is it much extra pay?, what's needed additionally to the class 1?
Do you carry hazardous loads?
Please share your experiences...
It is a while since I drove tankers on agency and the extra pay was a £1 an hour!!! used to drive them when I had my own truck too but I just changed trailers.Do you carry hazardous loads?
Please share your experiences...
It was hard work lugging connector pipes around and you were the only idiot for some distance stood there while the tank discharged, you were not allowed to sit in the cab. It was very strict (whether you were doing hazardous or not) but of course if economics dictated you would deliver/collect to closed sites, having to wonder up and down on top of the tanker and no one cared if you fell (I believe top loading tankers are rare these days).
I hated delivering powder in tanks as the powder would stick and not discharge properly quite often, although again it depended on the product.
Liquid tankers can give you a kick as the liquid flows forward under braking causing a wave(s).
Needed a course to do hazardous ADR.
I once worked for a company that delivered into a soap factory and collected salt from the same place. They gave me a hard hat without a strap as they ordered a new one for me. The hat regularly fell off but if I did not put it on I got summoned to see the HS officer and told off. The day my hat arrived I forgot to lower the hand rail on top off the tanker and when I went under a gantry (it was 4am) I damaged it and got sacked. I gave up driving tankers.
Been on cryogenic tankers for 14 years , lots of training with regular re-training and very safety orientated for obvious reasons .Do the job the way the company wants and all is well ., start cutting corners or getting lazy on procedure and you'll be history . Clean work , good equipment , and in the top bracket for money and benefits .
Own account tank work is the way to go , seems anything run on contract has slashed the rates .
Own account tank work is the way to go , seems anything run on contract has slashed the rates .
Been doing pressurised cement powder tanks for 10 years now and still love it. Pour it in the top, blow it out the back, can be occasionally dirty but 90% of the places are decent.
As all jobs it's what you make of it and I prefer to do stuff rather than just pull curtains or sit on a loading bay. Stick a chute in the top of the tank and stand around for 15 minutes playing on your phone, drinking coffee, annoying anyone nearby. Drive for an hourish, pull a 6ft pipe out the back of the tank, hook it up and stand next to the tank drinking coffee, playing on your phone and annoying anyone nearby. Do that twice a day, occasionally three times if it gets crazy or you get an easy local one.
Mon - Fri days, generally 55 hrs a week (can't remember the last time I did 60, some weeks are below 50), all the high Viz/safety kit is the decent stuff, new trucks with fridges microwaves ect. £38k a year salary, extra for weekends. Think it's 42 if you want to be a tramper but I like my missus so f
k that.
It's an awesome job in the summer, loads of the places are near the water so you're not always stuck on some stty estate and you generally just doss about in the sun having a laugh. Can be a bit pants in the winter though, was stood on Ramsgate docks with sideways rain and an inside out umbrella not long ago 
As all jobs it's what you make of it and I prefer to do stuff rather than just pull curtains or sit on a loading bay. Stick a chute in the top of the tank and stand around for 15 minutes playing on your phone, drinking coffee, annoying anyone nearby. Drive for an hourish, pull a 6ft pipe out the back of the tank, hook it up and stand next to the tank drinking coffee, playing on your phone and annoying anyone nearby. Do that twice a day, occasionally three times if it gets crazy or you get an easy local one.
Mon - Fri days, generally 55 hrs a week (can't remember the last time I did 60, some weeks are below 50), all the high Viz/safety kit is the decent stuff, new trucks with fridges microwaves ect. £38k a year salary, extra for weekends. Think it's 42 if you want to be a tramper but I like my missus so f
k that. It's an awesome job in the summer, loads of the places are near the water so you're not always stuck on some s
tty estate and you generally just doss about in the sun having a laugh. Can be a bit pants in the winter though, was stood on Ramsgate docks with sideways rain and an inside out umbrella not long ago s p a c e m a n said:
Been doing pressurised cement powder tanks for 10 years now and still love it. Pour it in the top, blow it out the back, can be occasionally dirty but 90% of the places are decent.
As all jobs it's what you make of it and I prefer to do stuff rather than just pull curtains or sit on a loading bay. Stick a chute in the top of the tank and stand around for 15 minutes playing on your phone, drinking coffee, annoying anyone nearby. Drive for an hourish, pull a 6ft pipe out the back of the tank, hook it up and stand next to the tank drinking coffee, playing on your phone and annoying anyone nearby. Do that twice a day, occasionally three times if it gets crazy or you get an easy local one.
Mon - Fri days, generally 55 hrs a week (can't remember the last time I did 60, some weeks are below 50), all the high Viz/safety kit is the decent stuff, new trucks with fridges microwaves ect. £38k a year salary, extra for weekends. Think it's 42 if you want to be a tramper but I like my missus so fk that.
It's an awesome job in the summer, loads of the places are near the water so you're not always stuck on some stty estate and you generally just doss about in the sun having a laugh. Can be a bit pants in the winter though, was stood on Ramsgate docks with sideways rain and an inside out umbrella not long ago
Made me laugh, sounds just like flour tankers. I hope it's quiter now - the bloody donkey engines on tanks back in the 90's made a racket.As all jobs it's what you make of it and I prefer to do stuff rather than just pull curtains or sit on a loading bay. Stick a chute in the top of the tank and stand around for 15 minutes playing on your phone, drinking coffee, annoying anyone nearby. Drive for an hourish, pull a 6ft pipe out the back of the tank, hook it up and stand next to the tank drinking coffee, playing on your phone and annoying anyone nearby. Do that twice a day, occasionally three times if it gets crazy or you get an easy local one.
Mon - Fri days, generally 55 hrs a week (can't remember the last time I did 60, some weeks are below 50), all the high Viz/safety kit is the decent stuff, new trucks with fridges microwaves ect. £38k a year salary, extra for weekends. Think it's 42 if you want to be a tramper but I like my missus so f
k that. It's an awesome job in the summer, loads of the places are near the water so you're not always stuck on some s
tty estate and you generally just doss about in the sun having a laugh. Can be a bit pants in the winter though, was stood on Ramsgate docks with sideways rain and an inside out umbrella not long ago Don't see many donkey engines about now because of the weight, but the few that I've used have all been 'silent' running so it's not like having a lawnmower shouting it's nuts off anymore
I've done one liquid tank in my life, was a cash job just helping a mate out one night. Picked up a RoRo tank from Tilbury docks with an old automatic dad xf 4 wheeler, paperwork in the back of the tank saying it was something like 20 tonnes.
Never driven the truck before, slow as fk, automatic, but I'd never done a liquid tank before so was content just plodding along. Taking it just over the bridge into Wales, night load so no traffic, didn't really have to do much until I was in the lanes getting close to the place. Remember coming down a hill on a little lane in the pitch black (old st daf headlights, automatic) with my heart in my mouth and swearing the whole way, tank sloshing about trying to kill me.
Got to the weighbridge on site to weigh in, 54 tonne. The fkers are paid on the weight booked in on site so just brim the tanks and write anything down on the tickets.
I've done one liquid tank in my life, was a cash job just helping a mate out one night. Picked up a RoRo tank from Tilbury docks with an old automatic dad xf 4 wheeler, paperwork in the back of the tank saying it was something like 20 tonnes.
Never driven the truck before, slow as f
k, automatic, but I'd never done a liquid tank before so was content just plodding along. Taking it just over the bridge into Wales, night load so no traffic, didn't really have to do much until I was in the lanes getting close to the place. Remember coming down a hill on a little lane in the pitch black (old st daf headlights, automatic) with my heart in my mouth and swearing the whole way, tank sloshing about trying to kill me.Got to the weighbridge on site to weigh in, 54 tonne. The f
kers are paid on the weight booked in on site so just brim the tanks and write anything down on the tickets. Gassing Station | Commercial Break | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff