Day in the life of a Walking Floor Driver

6 days ago4 min read

A few weeks ago Chelsea at Ningbo Walking Floors arranged for me to go out with Hollie one of their drivers to learn more about the work they do and more about how Hollie got into the

industry.

I had to complete inductions prior to the day for the sites we would be visiting, and had to make sure I had full PPE for the day so I could take photos on site.

Chelsea took me to one of the sites to meet up with Hollie. She had just loaded when we arrived so next stop was to drop the waste off at a site a few miles away.

I had met Hollie previously back in August at the company yard when I had popped along to do photos of the Convoy in The Park Show prep, at the time she had only been driving for them for few weeks and it was all still very new. It was good to chat with Hollie and find out how she was getting on with the job. It was also great to see her confidence has grown and she seems like she has been doing the job for many years now.

When we got to the 2nd site there was already quite a few trucks queuing for bays, so we parked up with a couple of other trucks to wait our turn. There was a bit of a wait, so it gave me chance to find out more from Hollie. After about 20 minute we were able to join the queue up the hill and wait for our turn for the bays.

The Queue is controlled by a traffic light system, so trucks wait in line until the lights change to green and the bay number is revealed. When you get the green light you can move into the giant warehouse, back onto your designated bay and unload. There were a lot of unused bays, but I was told this was due to the size of the vehicles and movement, it is more efficient to have a smaller number open allowing trucks to get on and off the bays as quickly as possible. This did work well as once we were on the bay it was a quick process of unloading and we were soon on our way again.

Due to a slight change during the day there was just one last load to collect ready for the following day so we headed back to the waste recycling centre and were directed round the back to park up and be loaded.

I took the opportunity to get out of the cab, in my full ppe including hard hat, to grab some photos. Was interesting to see the the job from another angle and get some working shots. Although the sound of scuttling in the bushes was a little un-nerving, but I tried to ignore the little furry friends wanting in on the action.

After about 20 minutes we were fully loaded again and ready to hit the road after doing the final checks. As we didn't have any more jobs to do and still had some time to spare before dropping the truck off at Deeside Scania for a service, we headed over to Lymm to treat the truck to a much deserved wash.

Another first for me was visiting the truck wash. It was quite busy when we arrived, so we joined the queue and waited. Once we got to the window we were asked if we had an account, a lot of fleets who use this regularly do so drivers just give their details in and the company is charged, otherwise you can just pay on the day. The truck was given a pre-wash by a group of males, who seemed fascinated by a female driver, and bizzarely thought it was funny to shout 'woahhhhh' in unison whenever we drove forward. The male drivers at the wash didn't receive the same serenade. Hollie is a pro though and wasn't phased by this and we were soon parked up at the giant rollers to receive the final wash treatment.

Once the truck was clean we grabbed a couple more photos and then off to Deeside where the truck was parked for it's service and we headed home in the courtesy van.

It was interesting to experience another area of the industry. Compared to tippers there is a little more manual work involved, but this is fairly minimal so would be suitable for most drivers. It is worth noting it is dirty work, the sites are dirty and dusty and trucks will not be kept clean during a working week, it's just not possible for them to stay clean 24-7. It is also quite smelly work on some of the sites, so isn't for everyone. That said if you are looking for a job where no 2 days are the same, where you get to travel nationwide and don't mind nights out, then this job could be for you. There are a lot of Walking Floor companies up and down the country and many specialist groups on social media just for this sector, so if this is something you would like to do it is worth doing some research and reaching out to some employers. Many of them are also happy to accept new passes with the right attitude and a good work ethic.

Thank you https://ningbowalkingfloor.co.uk/ for arranging the day out