truck driver

driver

delivery driver

bakery assistant

Warburtons

As a Warburtons driver, you will rush to collect your delivery notes, before you rush to do your daily checks on your lorry as quickly as possible. You then rush to build orders and load your vehicle, in order to rush round your route before returning to the depot, at all times rushing around like a headless chicken!!!
Let's start with the cons. The team managers!!! at Eurocentral they have no previous managerial experience as all have been recruited from driving positions. They lack consistency in their treatment of staff as they are acutely aware of who their friends are!
On several occasions, team managers have NOT been truthful in regards to various aspects of the job. When challenged on this, they have denied it and brushed it under the carpet.
There is no equal employment status as drivers' contracts vary.
You will be named and shamed on your driving ability.
BEWARE!! If you start at 3am, you will not be paid the appropriate nightshift allowance, you are not insured should anything happen between 3am and 4am, and you are expected to know that you have come into work at 3am voluntarily. 
If you are on a 3am route, your load will be heavier and you will still be making deliveries after most of the 4am route drivers have returned to the depot. Also, if Warburtons decide to make cutbacks on the routes, 3am drivers will get extra workload while 4am drivers continue as before. If you are lucky enough to have your own route, you have to manage this as decided by team managers who do not know the area, and what is necessarily the best for your customers.
Try and make friends quickly...you'll need them when you break down as they're the only ones that will come to your aid. There is no sense of teamwork at Eurocentral and managers allow this to be the norm.
This also applies if you need help building orders in the morning. Friendship is a beautiful thing at Eurocentral!!!
Your rota is 5 over 7 but you actually work 6 days in a row to get 2 days off, and your route may change at very little notice. Expect to be contacted on days off/holidays to do extra shifts as their sick rate is so high. Job and finish encourages a rush mentality and you will find yourself being tempted to work through your breaks.
Expect to be counselled/investigated/disciplined throughout your employment.
There are some benefits of joining Warburtons. You'll finish early allowing for a good work/life balance. The salary is competitive with an annual bonus and 5 weeks paid holiday. The bread is half price for employees.
Overall, the rush mentality and cliquey nature at Eurocentral is on a scale like no other, be aware!!!

Having worked for Warburtons for a number of years, what I will say is the following;

1) When I first started, the routes were easy and you were actually able to stop and actually take a non-working tacho break and you'd still be back in the depot by 11am and ready to go home.

2) Business soon expanded and you were given more drops and of course, more picking to do and of course, under more pressure to get the deliveries done at a reasonable time to appease the customer, be it a large retailer or a small independent shop.

3) As business grew, due to the size of the rounds, I found you had a choice, either work on your tacho break by either unloading at a store or parked up somewhere and go into the back and pick. I found if you actually stopped and had a genuine non-working tacho break, I wasn't getting back to the depot much before 1.30pm, with the last delivery being made anytime after 12pm. Delivery goods such as bread after say 10.30am to me, is unacceptable. Of course, Warburtons depot management, insist you must take a non-working tacho break, but they know full well, that the routes are that big, that the drivers are not actually stopping and having a work-free tacho break.

4) Warburtons accident policy was, when I was there, pathetic. Regardless of where you were, if you had an accident, be it just a wing mirror smashing or a bird hitting your windscreen and cracking it, rather than giving the driver discretionyou had to phone in and report it and wait for a team leader to come out....this could take a couple of hours. You wasn't given the option to decide for yourself if the truck is driveable or not. Pretty easy for a driver to say "yes, I can drive this truck safely and can see out of the front windscreen ok", but no, you had to wait for a team leader to come out and assess the damage.

No word of a lie, I constantly had 15+ stacks(150 baskets) of items I had to hand pick and no it wasn't always 10 or 20 of this, but in some cases, 1 of this and 1 of that. 

What I will say is, if I were to go out with every driver and they started at the correct start time, of which used to be 4am and NOT come in early and they were to actually STOP AND TAKE A NON-WORKING TACHO BREAK, then I'd say 90% of the routes, would still be having drivers delivering at 1pm.

You are also tracked in your truck and you have to follow the route as it is shown on the tracker, regardless if you pass a shop you are delivering to later on in the day....or that used to be the case.

On a plus side, Brett and Jonathon Warburton are actually decent blokes and very approachable.

Absolutely loved working here at the start. The team leaders are great and supportive. Look after us well and treat us fair. "part of the family" was always mentioned, and it did feel that way. 

Since taking on the Co-Op contact, work has increased considerably, since we have to pick the majority of our drops, this has made our days even longer. It was expected the first few weeks to be hard, but it's been a couple months now and although some routes have gotten better, others haven't. The route owners who seem to complain the most seem to have gotten it easier with more drops picked for them whilst other routes have been completely neglected. 

The driver shortage has resulted in wasting a whole truck load of bread on a daily basis as there is no driver to take the routes out and so many routes are regularly left on the floor. 

When I asked what the company plans to do to gets drivers, they had no answers apart from waiting for the drivers to come. I suggested increasing the wages to attract drivers, as a lot of companies who use class 2 drivers have increased their driver salaries by 10%-30% within a 15 mile radius of the depot. However, the people who decides the wages believe that a >2% payrise is satisfactory. 

A lot of drivers are now leaving due to the increase in work with, and other jobs for more money with added benefits of not starting at 3am and not working weekends. 

This company was one of the best paying wages, considering we have very early starts and working 5 out of 7 weekends, the work wasn't so stressful and the hours were nice. But now there's added stress with much more picking and longer hours as well as being underpaid in the area. 

The shortage of drivers have also resulted in other drivers being given extra drops, full to the back doors, no space to work or move and pick. This is becoming regular now and those few drivers who are considering to leave are now doing so. Resulting in even more drivers leaving! 

The new drivers don't stay long either. A lot of them are given less than a week of training then covering that route full time. It's enough picking to make the experienced drivers stressed, just think what it makes the new guys feel.

For some reason the big bosses seem to think everything is still running smoothly and that everything is fine. 

I absolutely love this family company, and hate seeing it get worse over time due to the decisions of a few people in high power. 

Warburtons is a sensational place to work. In both professionalism, vision, and work-life culture, the business hits many tick boxes for a young professional looking to make their way into the food manufacturing industry. As a 24/7 operation, you’ll find there’s always something happening on the day today.

The company has a clear plan and execution for corporate social responsibility, from the sustainability of the supply chain to the Gatsby benchmark standard work in the local communities, to the running of level 3 Education apprenticeships.

As a returning employee, I have the benefit of being within the company three years apart, enjoying the same aspects, and noticing only positive differences between my contracts.

As a family business, the company places a good focus on work/life balance. The company hires people that fit within the family ideal - no matter the department, you’ll always find yourself surrounded by a strong team. Everyone is warm, and very friendly with an open-door policy.
The Family feel extends to the on-site kitchen and cafeteria, allowing us subsidised
Meals at a fraction of the cost of any restaurant.

Aside from all the usual holidays/pension scheme type perks, there is a general understanding and warmth where a family is concerned. This is realised in the workplace feel like a family, and that warm welcome extending to how the company deals with your family should they ever seek employment too. An understanding and flexibility around exists around children, and the environment is pretty much consistently positive, happy faces all round even when we’re all faced with the daily trials and tribulations of the world.

Career progression is possible, with many cases around you at any given moment of people who’ve joined the company many years ago and have been up-skilled as the time progressed. There are clear people plans behind each employee, with reviews often where you have a chance to voice any concerns.

Negatives/Changes
The 9-5:30 Starting times means that we all have to sit in the bulk of rush traffic on the A406 both in and out of the office adding around 3 hours daily of extra driving for a 15 mile drive - as a non-time sensitive role, this could be easily addressed. Could be the same hours, just shifted to (8-4).

Where to start really 

. Sales class 2s are rushed beyond a joke where to the point I've nearly been ran over in the yard on multiple times darts out from behind Parker trucks

.CLASS 1s trunking if you take the job on you won't be told this and I can't stress this enough you will be told that your job and knock think again they will make you stay till the very end to load other people's trucks help loaders unload and reload trucks uncouple trucks re-couple trucks. 
You won't be told that the other class 1 12 HOUR trunkers who do less work hours and Nick your 10 HOUR runs then sit in canteen all night while your working they also get over £100 per week more get an extra day off in the week and do less hours management 100% favour the 12hour guys SPEAKING OF MANAGEMENT 

.MANAGEMENT THEY TRY TO RUSH EVERYTHING 
They cut corners at every possibility you raise and issue they can't stand it they expect you to take breaks on your tacho while your loading or unloading.
None of them have a clue about hgvs or the rules defects etc they have like 12 team leaders that all pass the book to the next and would rather be sat in the canteen or smoke hut.

SHIFTS 
say goodbye to your life 4 on 2 off on nights 1 weekend off every 7 weeks hours are all over the place 
Start times for night shifts 17.00 18.00 19.00 but realistically you won't leave till at least an hour or 2 after your start time and still expected to complete run in your standard hours the amount of overtime they expect you to do is a joke 14 hours some people have done in 1 week some people have had to have a day off without pay as they was over hours for 17 week period.

Work load is very heavy so when you've done all the overtime hours and lost 6+ hours of your own time and you get back at 7am on your last shift and go to bed your 1st day off is gone when you wake up which gives you 1 day to sort out all your weekly things that you have to do into 1day and you go again.

Company is not what it says it is state of the art fleet yeah if you call 13plate trucks with over a million kilometres on the clock and as for top 17 companies to work for no chance the staff turn over is ridiculous on sales and trunking 

HOLIDAYS most of the staff have to book block weeks and no single days

As you start for Warburtons everything looks fantastic but in time you discover it is not the best company to work for . Unfortunately company procedures are horrendous and they will blame drivers for everything. As an example I’ve been driving along country road and a bird hit my mirror- you have to ring to your depo then incident line to inform them what has happened then you still end up having an investigation against you . In that occasion I’ve been advised to slow down  when I see a bird and I have ended up with 3 months verbal warning . Unfortunately they will blame drivers for everything as this is the easiest way to end investigation. You need to be careful witch customers as they can spit in your face then ring the depo to inform managers that you have a bad attitude and you will end up losing your job . They are not interested in real investigation as blaming driver is the easiest way to deal with the situation. If you start for them then join the union as soon as possible as you will need them sooner or later! Most off the drivers will tell you that the job is nice but the management is a big disappointment.. They are nice and friendly at first but over time you will realise that your are just a number for them . Most of the time
You will have to work on your breaks / making orders on back of your lorry . They will tell you that your not allowed to do that but you will soon realise that by doing everything by the book you will Finnish your round between 1:30-2 pm when other drivers will be back in depo by 11 am . They will add drops to your round without informing you about it and you end up doing drop you have never done before . And if you will have an incident while doing that delivery .. Hm investigation, disciplinary action and warning .. This company have a potential to be really nice but the procedures and badly trained management are spoiling everything. If you starting for Warburtons I hope you will have better experience with them ! Good luck 🤞 

It's not a terrible place at all, just a few annoyances can bother you in the long run.
- Picking - Order picking isn't terribly difficult, but the amount of it, can be ridiculous, bordering pathetic and just wrong, they have staff working all through the night in the warehouse,  picking orders, but still expect the drivers to pick orders too, small corner stores, petrol stations etc, with only a few baskets, isn't a problem at all, making up a single order of up to and over 20 baskets (200 + items) almost feels exploitative, the pickers aren't driving my lorry, and delivering my orders, so why am I doing the pickers job and making up large orders?

-Sickness/absence- I've not had a day off sick yet, so it's not a policy grumble, again, this is just a personal annoyance,  but I don't like OTHER people's sickness and absence, affecting my work and job, for example, sorting through all my paperwork, pre picking some of my orders, loading my lorry, just to be told "so and so hasn't shown up, you need to do his route today, " the 'spare driver' doesn't know the route, 
So what! that's what having a spare driver is for, I understand the company's operational needs to complete every route and delivery, but my day has now been made late, due to someone else's problems, and through no cause of my own. (Say i'm not a team player all you like, but i dont negatively effect anyones working day, so dont effect mine.
There just seems to be a lack of willingness or ability to anticipate simple things like a sickie.

-Route/drop fairness- One problem the company doesn't like to admit, but knows happens, is fairness in routes and drop numbers.
Some drivers are returning to the depot at 1030 in the morning, and some aren't finishing until close to 1400 in the afternoon, this will have nothing to do with the speed of the worker, but everything to do with the distance of route, number of drops, amount of picking, some people (the faces) have these routes set in stone, same people, same routes.
It's a failure to admit this environment exists, is what annoys me the most. 

Warburtons as a company are amongst the best in the area in terms of benefits and salary, the company gives you a bonus before xmas which you don't have to do anything to receive. It's not performance related it just goes off length of service. 
Shift pattern is 4 days on 4 days off, 12 hour shifts. 
Plenty of opportunity for overtime but it might be doing a different job than what your used to. 
The management are a mixed bag, you have some very good managers who listen to the voices on the shop floor and you have some poor managers who don't get involved in the shop floor they just sit in their office and think the place closes once they clock off at 4pm.
The workforce as a whole is good, the attitude of 90% is one of wanting to work hard and put an honest days graft in, but sadly like anywhere there's the other 10% who don't want to do anything and try and drag everyone else down to their level. These people are well known and to the managements credit most have been 'managed' out of the business.
If you've worked in a production based shop floor environment before you'll sort of have an idea what it will be like but let me assure you it's nothing like you've seen before. The factory itself isn't the biggest and they employ quite a high number of staff as most of the process is manual. You'll struggle to get a seat in the canteen on a dayshift and often struggle to get a seat in the toilet. Around 1/4 of the workforce is agency which consists mainly of eastern European workers.
As a new starter it all depends on which shift/area you end up in, I've seen people come in and last 1 day and I've seen people come in and 2 years down the line they've managed to work hard enough to earn a full time contract. 
All in all there are a lot of companies out there that are worse than Warbies and the wage/overtime/bonus is pretty good considering.

The job should be easy but is made hard by the management. 
You are given a route of around 18-30 drops on average and have to follow a run list to complete the jobs. This is where it all goes pear shaped. They have you driving past stores that can be delivered to and coming back there later. 
They use copilot and it will take you miles out of your way to deliver something that is only a few hundred yards away. 
Vehicles are all fairly new but not looked after. Drivers are rushing around due to the job and knock culture but no one is doing the job properly. All driver taking shortcuts to finish early. Most drivers not picking up empties so you get lumbered with a lorry full making it hard to work around them. 
Customers forever complaining about it and you getting it in the ear hole all day. 
Managers are just interested in getting drivers out on the road so they can go have some breakfast and there constant cigarette breaks are laughable. No support once your out of the depot. If you phone up for help you won’t get an answer because they all in the smoking hut!
You get 2 weekends off in 7!and don’t bother trying to book leave cause it will be denied. 
I got told by one of the veterans that if you need time off just phone in sick. 
Some drivers have there own routes so only work 5-6 hours while others are working 10 hours. 
All getting the same money though.
Staff turnover is huge and there drivers leaving every week.
If you can get on a cream route then it’s worth staying otherwise don’t bother. 
Your meant to get 6 weeks training but they soon just throw you out on your own and expect you to get the job done.
A completely disorganised and chaotic work environment. 


Warburtons used to be brilliant to work for but sadly the times have changed. Your day consists of starting between 3:15 - 3:30 grabbing keys and papper work then off to do vehicle checks and begin picking then finally loading . Your day used to consist of roughly 7- 9 hours but since they started delivering the coop and one stop bread this is a thing of the past - 14:00 finishes and later are now the norm. The lorries are now filled front to back with bread leaving you little room to pick on the road . 

Depending on route, you will be picking 10+ shops which takes ages when they normally have a stack of bread minimum each . Trunkers are often late in with bread meaning you're always going out late and getting back late with no overtime being payed. Management seem disinterested with helping with the excessive work loads and general act like your lazy or slow if you come back past midday.

The work involved is back breaking having to lift 100s of trays a day whilst needing to be an octopus to stand any chance of picking shops orders quickly enough to get back before 14:00.

There's seems to be a favouritism culture going on as well with certain individuals been given 15 drop route to do whilst others consistently been given 25-35 drop routes . It's depressing knowing we all get payed the same but some blokes are barely doing 35 hours a week whilst others are doing 50 !

The rota needs addressing , at the moment you get 2 weekends off in 7. You also get a single day off in the week twice in the 7 weeks Which isn't enough to recover from the onslaught of stress on your body lifting and running about delivering bread.

If you need a stop gap then maybe but I wouldn't bother.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Truck driver 1 salary reported	£33,000 per year
Driver 1 salary reported	£32,000 per year
Delivery driver 1 salary reported	£31,000 per year
Bakery assistant 1 salary reported	£28,000 per year

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