Popular Post worldofceri Posted June 12, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted June 12, 2020 Just over two years ago (at the time of writing) I left my job. I was working for DHL, driving a lorry on a distribution contract for Network Rail. It was reasonably well paid, reasonably unstressful work and I enjoyed it; But working for a large company, as most of us know, has it’s frustrations. You get to know what is right with the job, and you know what is wrong with it. But all those little things that are wrong will never change, and they irk after a while. So you can either be philosophical about it and crack on, or you can become belligerent and moan incessantly about it to anyone who will listen. Many lorry drivers are great at this. Or, you can move on and do something else. I’d been daydreaming for months, probably years, about going it alone and working for myself. One day my wife said to me – not unreasonably – that it was about time I either got on and did it, or stopped banging on about it. Around the same time someone offered to lend me a little bit of money, and I found myself running out of excuses to procrastinate. This is the story of what I did next. Part shite-spotting thread, part shameless advertisement feature and part indulgent personal blog. Or that’s the intention. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep it up, and may even catch up with myself one day. World of Ceri. June 2020. phil_lihp, 808 Estate, puddlethumper and 64 others 67 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skizzer Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 Looking forward to this worldofceri and Three Speed 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post worldofceri Posted June 12, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 12, 2020 May/June 2018. I wanted to start as I meant to go on; being as professional as possible from the outset. I decided on a name, designed a logo and bought web space. Being used to tachographs and drivers’ hours rules, I wasn’t afraid of them, but I lacked the financial standing and premises required to apply for an Operator’s Licence. So that limited me to a truck under 3.5t or 3.5t trailer towed by 4x4. I wouldn’t have to fit a tacho to a 3.5 tonner, but the payload would be much lower. Having had a look at which 4x4s can tow 3.5t, I decided to source a Kia Sorento. Not the obvious choice, perhaps but on paper just as capable as a Discovery, Hilux or Shogun. And for my meagre budget I was looking at a car a couple of years younger and with half the mileage of, say, a Discovery III. I looked at loads online and finally went to look at one up in Ripley. The dealer was one of those relaxed types that give you the keys and let you nosey around it at your leisure. I test-drove it and couldn’t find anything to fault it so I put down a deposit. I then went home and read up on all the horror stories about what goes wrong with them. Why didn’t I do that beforehand and thus assuage some of the jeopardy by doing a few straightforward checks? Never mind, I bought it anyway and the following hundred thousand miles, I’m happy to say, has vindicated my judgement. It didn’t have a towbar though. Ironically. But I figured that, having never towed before, it might be in better shape generally than a car that had been worked harder. Anyway, towbars aren’ t all that expensive or difficult for a twit like me to install. What are expensive though, are tachographs. And not at all diyable. It cost me over £1500 to have installed, but Carwood made a reasonably neat job of cramming it into the space where once lived a little slide-out drawer. All the used trailers for sale anywhere looked like overpriced rubbish. So I decided to buy brand new as there just didn’t seem to be anything available second hand that looked like it would do more than a few days work without something falling off. I was intending to be professional, remember. I can thoroughly recommend Nathan at Marsden Barn Trailers who didn’t have to work very hard to sell me my Woodford tri-axle. As well as being keenly priced, I was attracted by the almost completely flat load space which I hoped would give me more flexibility than those trailers that are purely car transporters. And so it has proved. First outing was to take my box of brand new straps and practice lashing a car to it. I’d secured all sorts of things on and in lorries, I’d never actually done cars before. My wife supplied the Scenic and took some scenic photos. With all the gear and (a bit of) an idea, it was time to find some work. davocano, Semi-C, Dan_ZTT and 54 others 56 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vantman Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 That's a handsome and very useful trailer you have. worldofceri, 808 Estate and LightBulbFun 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worldofceri Posted June 12, 2020 Author Share Posted June 12, 2020 That was then. Two years down the line it looks a little less handsome, but still just as useful! chaseracer, paulplom, LightBulbFun and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Foxhake Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 I may have a job for you. Been thinking of asking for a quote and this thread has spurred me on. I'll PM you. worldofceri and LightBulbFun 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philibusmo Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 Looking forward to some more of this in anticipation of you delivering a car to me on Monday ? worldofceri 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian_Fearn Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 Great thread. Looking forward to updates. worldofceri 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busmansholiday Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 I wonder how many other "professional" people doing this with a 4x4 and a big trailer have even heard of a tacho, let alone have one fitted. Top marks for true professionalism, may the gods wish you a prosperous future. RobT, Cord Fourteener, LightBulbFun and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hairnet Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 so when is the title under yer name gonna change to advert slut or trailer queen was your first job taking the scenic to the bridge (KIDDING ITS ONLY A PUPPET (c) CONLEY ) are the holes ok for the lashing? woulda thought loops welded to the bed would be better? worldofceri and The Moog 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hairnet Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 do you do european work? Stinkwheel and chaseracer 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stinkwheel Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 Asking for future reference. Where are you based? Obviously the distance you need to travel to where a motor is located will affect price, hence the question Agila 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worldofceri Posted June 12, 2020 Author Share Posted June 12, 2020 58 minutes ago, busmansholiday said: I wonder how many other "professional" people doing this with a 4x4 and a big trailer have even heard of a tacho, let alone have one fitted. Top marks for true professionalism, may the gods wish you a prosperous future. The transport game is full of cowboys in every sector of the market. I’ve never been under any illusion about that; it’s just what you’re up against. There’s guys running around overloaded, with no licence, no insurance and bald tyres - and some of those are 44t artics! But then again you can’t always have every bulb working perfectly and never be an ounce overweight... 49 minutes ago, hairnet said: so when is the title under yer name gonna change to advert slut or trailer queen was your first job taking the scenic to the bridge (KIDDING ITS ONLY A PUPPET (c) CONLEY ) are the holes ok for the lashing? woulda thought loops welded to the bed would be better? The fate of the Scenic will be revealed in a future episode! 48 minutes ago, hairnet said: do you do european work? Not at present as I can’t get the insurance to do it. 24 minutes ago, Stinkwheel said: Asking for future reference. Where are you based? Obviously the distance you need to travel to where a motor is located will affect price, hence the question I’m in Coventry, but go nationwide so can potentially do a job anywhere. Just requires a bit of luck - if the route doesn’t pass through the Midlands - for me to be in the area within a reasonable time frame. Stinkwheel, Cord Fourteener and Skizzer 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon.k Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 Did I see you with an agila or similar on the back just north of Cheltenham the other day? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worldofceri Posted June 12, 2020 Author Share Posted June 12, 2020 Sounds like it could have been me with the Aixam I was transporting for @Kiltox of this parish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worldofceri Posted June 12, 2020 Author Share Posted June 12, 2020 June 2018. I set up a company profile on Facebook and invited all my internet friends to 'like', as you do. Wished I was one of those people who adds everyone they’ve ever met on FB, as my social media network was a bit limited. Still, I got some encouraging feedback. A guy used to work with asked, almost immediately, if I could move a shed. Well, I had no job and no other work lined up so obviously, yes. He’d been gifted a large shed by a neighbour of his mother’s; The catch being, of course, that he had to take it down and remove it himself. He’d managed to disassemble it and move a couple of the smaller sections, but the rest was waiting for us on his mother’s drive. It was only a couple of miles round to his house but the access to the rear was too narrow for the trailer or, indeed, the sections of shed lying lengthways as you would normally carry them. In the end we stood them on end and rolled them round, on some offcuts of plumbing pipe. Sometimes the old prehistoric tricks still come in handy. I had no idea what to charge. I gave a price, he doubled it and said it was still half what he’d been quoted on Shiply. *** A chance comment by @Wingz123 on this forum led to my first proper job. He’d mentioned that he had a Volvo XC90 to shift that was too heavy for his truck. I offered to do it, and my quote was accepted by Wingz’s pal; a London firefighter who also has a garage in Birmingham. The Volvo had some sort of gearbox malady and had been abandoned in Kings Langley. Raz the firefighter dropped the keys at my house and I went to retrieve it the following day. Access was straightforward enough but on a bit of a slope, so I was relieved to find the Volvo was capable of hauling itself onto the trailer – I didn’t fancy using the winch for the first time at this point. Full of trepidation at the prospect of venturing onto the M1 with a heavily laden trailer, I needn’t have worried. The Kia took it in it’s stride and was ultra stable at speed. I was soon cruising faster even than Irish registered HGVs, and interested to find that, at 96km/h (60mph) on my newly calibrated tachograph, the speedo was reading about 64mph. The XC90 was duly delivered to Brum without incident and, if I remember right, was rendered usable once more by removing the front prop. I believe Wingz became custodian at some point and had it up for sale on here. Or that might have been a different car, I dunno. loserone, Stevebrookman, LightBulbFun and 17 others 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gm Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 I thought I saw you in the north east today on the a1 near Washington ? the trailer was empty or I would have assumed that you were on your way to Jim Bells Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worldofceri Posted June 12, 2020 Author Share Posted June 12, 2020 Not been on the road today, but loving all the potential sightings coming through! Jim Bell and paulplom 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 August last year I spotted you on the m66 at bury. Didn't know it was you but the as sticker in the window showed me it was one of us. Fair play lad, dream job working for yourself. Where you based by the way? Always jobs round here, would recommend you if it isn't too much a slog for you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worldofceri Posted June 12, 2020 Author Share Posted June 12, 2020 Yes, I think you posted at the time. I'd picked up a Defender somewhere in Lancs and was on my way south. I'm based in Coventry but will go anywhere! Matty and Cord Fourteener 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan_Green Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 Cool. But why no logo/website on the Kia/Trailer to advertise as you roll? Preferably mentioning your home town. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motorpunk Posted June 13, 2020 Share Posted June 13, 2020 Bugger! I have some magnetic vinyl you could have had, and my Dad is a signwriter, when you picked up the MX5 we could have knocked you up a sign to stick on your 4x4 when you’re working. paulplom 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worldofceri Posted June 13, 2020 Author Share Posted June 13, 2020 10 hours ago, Alan_Green said: Cool. But why no logo/website on the Kia/Trailer to advertise as you roll? Preferably mentioning your home town. Initially I didn’t bother in order to keep costs down. Then as time has gone on I figure that the car is actually rarely within sight of someone who might be interested in my services; A plumber or a driving instructor, say, spends a lot of time around their home ‘patch’, and their car/van is a perfect advertisement. But I spend most of my time on the motorway and/or miles from home. There’s not a great deal of point in me advertising in Carlisle or Kent... It would look good in the photos but anyone looking at a picture would already be on my website or FB, or this thread. Having said that, if working for myself has taught me anything it’s that I know flip all about marketing. And, I also don’t want to attract the wrong sort of attention. Whilst I am operating legally, I don’t particularly wish to be pulled over by DVSA. A liveried vehicle would put me on their radar by making it clear I’m operating commercially. Carlosfandango, Jerzy Woking and somewhatfoolish 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiC Posted June 13, 2020 Share Posted June 13, 2020 Maybe magnetic signs is the best of both? Possibly take them off when on longer journeys and them put them back on at a rest stop before you get to your destination. It'll be the impromptu times when photos are taken when it's worth it. E.g. spotted photos by others of you transporting interesting stuff on the roads, videos made by minor TV celebrities, etc. All cheap/free advertising and increases your exposure. If you start getting unnecessary attention from the plod, then they're easily removed. Angrydicky, RobT and brownnova 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worldofceri Posted June 18, 2020 Author Share Posted June 18, 2020 June 2018. With few contacts in the motor trade and no real budget for advertising, I began by bidding on Shiply. Two things stand out about the Shiply experience from the point of view of a transporter. You have to put in a hell of a lot of quotes before anyone bites, and you will absolutely always be outbid sooner or later. Anyway, I picked up a job after a couple of days… A Daihatsu Fourtrak to be collected from a dealer just up the road in Tamworth and delivered to Plymouth. I turned up as soon as the dealer opened and got loaded up. The trip down the M5 was familiar as I’d been doing a run down to the West Country in the job I’d just quit… The new owners’ address was easily found just off the A38; They’d just had to scrap their identical Fourtrak with terminal rust, but the new one looked in good nick and they were pretty chuffed with it having bought it unseen. My next job was another trip down the M5, although this time only as far as Somerset, and I wouldn’t be making a profit. I’d roffled my Omega to raise some funds for the Sorento and trailer, but my Saab 900 was harder to move on as it had no mot and needed work. I finally sold it to @chatsharris for a low, low price and agreed to deliver for the cost of diesel. Again, I made an early start, my destination Radstock. Papped on arrival: The access to the rear of Chats’s house was too narrow for the trailer unfortunately, so we unloaded in the street and pushed the Saab round the back. The 900 is surprisingly heavy for an ‘80s car – I think they’re about 1500kg – and we were sweating by the time we had it in place. Chats had a thread about his efforts to get the Saab back on the road but he sold it before doing so. I recall him saying the next owners were intending to restore it, but it no longer appears on the DVLA database so presumably it’s now been scrapped. Jim Bell, puddlethumper, SiC and 8 others 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chatsharris Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 June 2018. With few contacts in the motor trade and no real budget for advertising, I began by bidding on Shiply. Two things stand out about the Shiply experience from the point of view of a transporter. You have to put in a hell of a lot of quotes before anyone bites, and you will absolutely always be outbid sooner or later. Anyway, I picked up a job after a couple of days… A Daihatsu Fourtrak to be collected from a dealer just up the road in Tamworth and delivered to Plymouth. I turned up as soon as the dealer opened and got loaded up. The trip down the M5 was familiar as I’d been doing a run down to the West Country in the job I’d just quit… The new owners’ address was easily found just off the A38; They’d just had to scrap their identical Fourtrak with terminal rust, but the new one looked in good nick and they were pretty chuffed with it having bought it unseen. My next job was another trip down the M5, although this time only as far as Somerset, and I wouldn’t be making a profit. I’d roffled my Omega to raise some funds for the Sorento and trailer, but my Saab 900 was harder to move on as it had no mot and needed work. I finally sold it to [mention=20001]chatsharris[/mention] for a low, low price and agreed to deliver for the cost of diesel. Again, I made an early start, my destination Radstock. Papped on arrival: The access to the rear of Chats’s house was too narrow for the trailer unfortunately, so we unloaded in the street and pushed the Saab round the back. The 900 is surprisingly heavy for an ‘80s car – I think they’re about 1500kg – and we were sweating by the time we had it in place. Chats had a thread about his efforts to get the Saab back on the road but he sold it before doing so. I recall him saying the next owners were intending to restore it, but it no longer appears on the DVLA database so presumably it’s now been scrapped. Yeah, sorry - it was the right car but the wrong time. Breaking up with my fiancée and moving out of the house didn't help at all, plus the driveway was quite unsuitable for jacking up/learning to weld.I did get it running (fairly soon after you'd left which was annoying!) and fixed a fair bit though, then sold it for a profit to that guy. Not sure it'll ever see the road again unfortunately. I did manage to drive it the furthest I ever did though, about 200 yards onto a low loader and never saw it again.I had also kept the wheel trims separate and sold them for some extra free profit.Was a pleasure to do business with you though, 10/10 would do again. Sent from my VOG-L29 using Tapatalk Jim Bell and worldofceri 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worldofceri Posted June 18, 2020 Author Share Posted June 18, 2020 No need to be sorry, man. I feel bad myself for having bought it in working order from @jonathan_dyane, but selling it as a non-runner. There was a lot of bodge in the bodywork though (structural newspaper evident in the door when I replaced a mirror) which probably made it unviable as a resto before any of us got our hands on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worldofceri Posted June 18, 2020 Author Share Posted June 18, 2020 June 2018. A couple more Shiply jobs came up later that week. The first turned out to by a stock transfer for some sort of low-end finance company. I picked this Mazda 6 up from their unit somewhere in Birminghamshire and took it down to another branch in Bedfordshire. The bloke I delivered it to was in a bit of a grump. I don’t know why they’ve sent you down here with this. What am going to do with it? I haven’t got any bloody room! And so on. He made an unnecessary song and dance about ringing his head office and relaying my bank details so that they could pay me. The next one was a longer trip and a heavier load. The Shiply listing said Nissan Cabstar – some models of which would be too big and heavy for me – but there was a picture revealing it was one of the lightest models. I picked it up from a chap in Stafford and headed all the way down to St Austell. As I turned into the road that I had as the delivery address, I found that it narrowed to about 7ft wide with high stone walls on either side. There was no way I was going to risk going down there, but the only alternative was a tricky uphill reverse into a (thankfully empty) car park. Of course, the road was much wider at the other end of the street. People blame satnav for cars, vans and lorries getting stuck down unsuitable roads, but in all probability I would have tried the same route if I’d have been following a map. Once again, I returned back up the M5 empty. I stopped at Sedgemoor services and, as I was about to leave, spotted a burly bloke loitering by the exit slip road. He didn’t have his thumb out, but looked like he needed a lift so, impulsively, I stopped. Turned out he drove a van for – what sounded like – a right cowboy light haulage/courier company. His transit had conked out but the AA had refused to recover the vehicle as his boss had tried to blag it on his own personal membership. He'd been told to leave the van at the services and make his own way back to Stoke on Trent. On a Friday afternoon. I took him as far as junction 9 where he had the option of trying to hitch another lift, or get a train from the nearby station. Jerzy Woking, Jim Bell, LightBulbFun and 20 others 23 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChinaTom Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 I need an XJ12 bringing down to near Attleborough, Norfolk from Berwick. (Or possibly to a Jag fettling place in Norwich, about the same distance tbh). What are the chances of that being a return(ish) journey? Pm me with a regular price (I am thinking July/August) if interested. Ta. worldofceri 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilA Posted June 19, 2020 Share Posted June 19, 2020 Get sticky vinyl for the windows if you're going to. Magnetic signs do a real number on your painted, believe me. Had them for my last truck and they left marks where the dirt gets under and chatters with the wind as you drive. Vinyl comes off with a heat gun and as razor blade and the rest of the glue comes off with paint thinners- invisible when it comes time to sell. $0.02 Phil worldofceri, somewhatfoolish, LightBulbFun and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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