truck driver

warehouse worker

tanker driver

administrator

driver

Wincanton Ltd

The job itself is fairly easy and straightforward, typical warehouse jobs such as picking, loading and receiving goods in. 

However, there are a lot of factors that really bring the place down. 

Management is ridiculously disorganised, any time you wish to query your pay (which is frequently under what it should be) nothing will come of it, occasionally managers will get annoyed with you submitting the forms. 

There are a few good hard workers, but there are many arrogant and rude people who go out of their way to long jobs out because they think they’re better than you and as a result, this affects most aspects of the job especially night shift and transport. 

Favouritism is a forte here, if you’re pals with the managers you will get zero punishment when you have done wrong and be free to do nothing and waste the day. 

They constantly toot the “training/progression” trumpet yet only have one MHE trainer on site, most of your training will simply involve signing a piece of paper and off you go. I have asked for a first aider position before and been told “we can’t have too many” despite nobody on night shift being a trained first aider. 

Porters are subject to poorly planned routes with drops miles between each other, 7.5t vehicles are occasionally not even loaded in drop order so you have that to contend with on top of the rest. 

HGV drivers from other sites will be waiting for ridiculous amounts of time for their trailers to be tipped and the warehouse couldn’t give a care in the world that you needed to be at MK at 2pm and it’s now 3pm.

There is also a culture of reporting and complaining where staff will play a little stir the pot game of “can I get this person in a lot of trouble?” It will often devolve into lies and drama with false claims being made against you and exaggerated scenarios.

Particularly on day shift there is the attitude that anything that is not completed that should have been is night shifts problem and any annoyed drivers voicing their concerns are greeted with “it sounds like your problem”.

Overall, very poorly managed, many bad apples in the staff and there has been problems with pay for ages now and I doubt it will ever be sorted out.


My honest review .
Typical day start at 5.00am you have a route with your list of customers and a porter you can't start your first customer until the delivery window which is usually 7am be prepared for some customers to not even live at the address your deliverying too which adds to your day .In your route you are given your break but what they give in one hand (break) they take in another eg they have no idea that the 16 calls they give you entail eg up 5 flights of stairs ,no lifts,no easy access, maybe a 5min walk so they take that break away from you as well as your delivery times they are unrealistic I found myself working non stop lifting heavy stuff now I don't mind hard work as long as you get the rest but there was no ample rest I was reg working 12 to 13 hour days getting no recovery rest apart from my 3 days off this is no good for your physical health or mental well being and although I downloaded my Tachograph Card everyday my hours still went unchecked to the point I worked 60 hours and 18 mins in just one week the law states I can only work upto 60 hours this gave me infringements and if I'm stopped by vosa possibly a fine I'm to tired in the week to know what I've done thats why you have someone that covers Tachograph, drivers hours ledgislation why was this not governed .
Expectations of work to much 
Not enough rest
Too many hours
This encourages tacho break skipping .
Positives the staff are great people friendly approachable the work colleagues the same .
The electric trucks are great to drive comfortable and feel good .
The customers are good .
The pay is good .
The depot and where its situated maybe good for the depo but was bad if you lived further than the surrounding area when Dartford tunnel problems arise whole area shuts down making your day even longer be it getting to depo or leaving depo.
I have learned that if I ever see another pax wardrobe I'm going to set it alight lol (joke) .
You won't need the gym this jobs great for that and be prepared to be covered in bruises .it's not a bad job I liked it but too many drops for the physical element of it and if you want to keep drivers within the law but I understand that it's a company that needs to profit as well it's a fine balance obviously the high turnover of staff speaks volumes .

Maybe just this one depot and the rest of Wincanton is brilliant, if this is the case then Wincanton high up need to read these reviews. 

Working on supermarket contract in South London, first off was an absolute doddle of a job, as long as you did the deliveries safely and in the time slots (which were very generous) no one bothered you .... then the driver shortage started, upper management on site buried their heads in the sand whilst drivers left and went elsewhere, some for the money some because of how we were being treated, the one time chilled out environment turned very oppressive and clerks swearing at drivers when they said no to doing extra work. 

The fact you was on an 8.5 hr contract and didn't want overtime didn't matter you was getting planned over 12hrs, even though the head of planning told the union time and time again this wasn't possible but it was happening every day, health n safety issues were overlooked, was no point putting in near misses as one team manager literally laughed at you and threw it in the bin. 

The bullying to try and coerce drivers into doing more got worse and worse, even the most mild mannered drivers were getting irate and having rows with the clerks and line managers over the way they were being spoken to. 

Upper management (the ops manager and HR manager) you never saw, but from the stuff the union put out illustrated the contempt they upstairs had for us and the warehouse, the union have showed all of us proof they've been lied to by them, they constantly said we didn't have driver shortage yet we were losing drivers every week and not getting any replacements. 

You go off with covid or related issues they're on the phone to you every couple of days checking in, go off with anything else you're on your own, no one cares. 

Where to even begin....
The turnover of senior managers here is very alarming. There have been 4 transport managers in 2 years, and now the company really has scraped the bottom of the barrel - employing a transport manager who is woefully under-qualified, does not have a CPC and can't hold an O licence. I have honestly seen more experienced, intelligent and qualified senior managers on sites with a tenth of the number of units.
Secondly, I have never worked or known anyone work somewhere with so many active grievances against members of staff and managers. Morale is incredibly low; professionalism is even lower, and any complaints are met with a deadend wall of nepotism (I.e. Family members from the same family in different management positions). Grievances are never dealt with fairly and are often left unresolved.
Thirdly, health and safety. If you work nights you will not get a break. You will not get appropriate desks or chairs. Your office will be filthy. Covid social distancing is not enforced. You will not get regular screen breaks. Your colleagues upstairs will have many breaks and a much more comfortable working environment, but good luck getting anywhere with your complaints due to the reasons above.
Next on the list - career progression. Expect none. You will not be trained. Your progression is not valued. If you are untrained you are a scapegoat and hence more useful to the company.
Lastly, do not expect to be paid fairly or correctly. Pay differs between contracts for the same position in the same county, pay differs between individuals in the same office in the same role by up to 10k, and out of 12 pay slips I was paid correctly 4 times. Some people are owed thousands in unpaid wages. 
I could go on and on, but the other reviews speak for themselves.

Quite possibly the most confused place i have ever worked, so frustrating it’s beyond belief, simply pathetic HR department driven by, no overseen by the  most incompetent manager I’ve ever witnessed who’s actions filter all the way down the ladder and leave most feeling helpless and frustrated with what tools (not physical) they are left to work with.

A transport department where the phase ‘the tail wags the dog’ doesn’t really say strongly enough, reeks of favouritism and incompetence.

A warehouse department utterly frustrated by cut after cut leaving literally no time to do the day job yet consistently challenged on performance and other issues, please here refer back to the HR paragraph!...and to top it off a bullying arrogant wsm you seems to take great glee from singleing out individuals and trying to belittle them in front of senior management  despite himself showing cunning and deceitful favouritism to his inner circle of relations/friends.

More pragmatism and less politics and panic would serve this site very well indeed.

There are some fantastic people here there really are who are constantly dragged down by a small select band of experienced game players and providers of lip service and that is the absolute travesty of the place.

As for Wincanton as a company.....I doubt any single person would be able to tell you what they stand for as a company, ethos, values, etc....the odd online survey which is never acted upon gives you literally nothing, the single most important thing at the cost of everything is share price at any cost.

Should summarise by saying my comments are simply from frustration as I could see so much potential but nothing ever changed, such a shame.

It's funny how they mention that changing clothes isn't what we're paid for or part of the job, considering that we have to switch from working from ambient to chilling temperatures from time to time. 

Also, they might as well provide us gloves  that are actually helpful in keeping our hands cold there or at least heaters nearby.

How can I think about "not wasting time" when this is part of what can slow people down. "Come to work really dressed for the chill"?, so I have to sweat in my clothes walking for over 12 minutes before going into that chiller.

Yes, the best parking space they can provide for us is at least a 12 minute walk from the clock-in machine.

Yet you have managers that expect you  to be a magician without proper communication, order and respect towards you when you need say a holiday or a sick day, they don't even mention when you're doing a good job or better than usual.

And to top it off, one thing that they are no more doing since I started working there; paid breaks(as of this year) and mentioning the total number of hours you're being paid for on your payslips(as of at least 2 years ago).

Also they're limiting our holidays more, to think not letting us(at least most of us average favoured staff members) have holidays between Xmas and New years day isn't enough, this work year now they're are saying "you have to book 5 or 10 holidays within this period before this deadline". This broke the camel's back for  my 3 year tolerance of this company's b*******.



7:45 am to 4:30 approx. nine weekdays out of 10. 30 minutes lunch.

Allotted to certain job roles in the store, the job title being Multi-task Operative (MTO). Picking orders for people who bring orders to the 'hatch' counter. 

Using certain Manual handling equipment (MHEs) retrieving parts required. 

Sometimes the work was stocktaking, or undertaking yard duties, or processing incoming stock. 

I learned that speed was slower than care in the long run, that good ideas are often ignored if some financial investment was mentioned.

Management were accommodating to personal needs, but less so to workplace issues. The Wincanton management were slow and inefficient in supporting the staff that were being continuously squeezed by silly cuts.

The culture was driven by (LOR) who are more interested in slashing costs without much aforethought than listening to what will make the workplace slicker through careful planning. 

The best part of the job was making happy the people who were bringing orders to be processed, by personal efficiency and, if necessary, helping resolve problems.

The hardest part was the constant battle with people who (A) are consistently poor in their work (in other departments, not Wincanton) making the job process unnecessarily difficult, (B) LOR management constantly trying to cut costs putting more pressure on the job, deliberate understaffing, refusing to be reasonable, introducing new practices that for months/years don't run correctly, or replacing practices that work well with ones that don't.

Employee by Wincanton, work for B&Q Branston Depot. Can't tell which side the poor standards flow from, likely more of a local site-only issue. 
Underpaid, overworked, poor communication, complete divide from top management (department heads and up) to staff. Lack of compassion and understanding for the staff and the operation of site. Big-impact decisions made with little consideration or understanding, usually end up making tasks harder. Managers only care about tick box exercises - told to hire 200 new staff in 6 months - agency send us absolute rubbish - usually quit within the first week, no quality checking new staff, wastes time and money training and adds pressure to existing staff. People paid to do the same job get say with doing less work because managers don't want to challenge anyone. Management completely superficial - only pretend to look like they care when the big wigs are visiting site. Consistent failure to adhere to contracts (eg dragging out secondments long past the contracted term to get work for less money). Will cut costs wherever possible when it causes massive workload issues, (eg not replacing supervisors when they leave meaning doubling the work for others) despite being a billion pound industry. Terrible conditions - refuse to fix the roof which leaks constantly when it rains, even when we end up damaging off tonnes of stock. Do not work here it will crush your soul.

Impressive 3 day training, thought this job looks great! They’ve 
Recently won the transport contract at Lutterworth back but all the warehousing was Wincanton before who do clearly hate Wincanton Transporter/drivers  in there they’ve even said sooner have old transport in than us! I’ve been there 7 months now still waiting for correct uniform ppe, but if you work in the office you get ppe/uniform same day! I call it facefit transport, very unfriendly site to work office treat you like dirt on there shoes ! Sacked a driver yesterday for refusing to do a 15hour day, three of my work colleagues left last week due to issues with a office member and incorrect wages for last 10 weeks , another driver left after 2 weeks after being spoken to like rubbish  again! Still not been payed so rang head office to be told, we have no records of you ever working for Wincanton Lutterworth!
Biggest mistake I did was leaving a good well payed job to join Wincanton! But this job could be good but it’s ran by poor  management who just thrive on hating drivers! 
Plenty off agency work in there around 40/50 agency drivers a day! But they can’t see why this is!, based on 45hr week contract, but if you come in on extra shifts overtime ! But you’ve onlycompleted say 40 hours in your normal week they will not pay you o/t until you’ve worked the first 5hours of your overtime day to make your contacted hour up to 45hrs even though it’s a overtime day! Avoid 
And they stop you 45 minutes break  each day
Can’t wait to escape

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Truck driver 8 salaries reported	£18.59 per hour
Warehouse worker 8 salaries reported	£13.85 per hour
Tanker driver 4 salaries reported	£40,718 per year
Administrator 8 salaries reported	£23,718 per year
Driver 1 salary reported	£25,000 per year

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