Transport refrigeration engineers

[s4ndy]

Good evening all
Can anyone tell me why it is proving impossible to find a good engineer who would like to work in the Highlands of Scotland. It is one of the most one of the most laid back places left in the Uk. Less stress no hassle . I have advertised locally nationally and on here internationally with no success . Is it there is just a lack of engineers out there as I am seeing more guys going over to the commercial side and none coming back ????????????

[The Viking]

OK,
Haven't done transport for about 20 years now but does quite fancy a move up to Scotland.
(Must be better traffic conditions there then here around London I would have thought)

What's the pay and conditions like?

:cool:

[charlie patt]

same issue down in devon/ i live for transport but its in the blood but most prefer something that has no wheels so it cant move when you go to fix it..... also most dont seem to like the engine oil side prehaps to dirty for some and lets face it a vector is commercial really.... i work on m ost stuff but if you can fix a t bird or a sl on the side of the road you can fix most stuff i also believe a lot or transport guys burn really heavy hrs when young and it burns um out 100 hrs a week was nothing when tk introduced the smx to most

[wilt]

Hah your right there Charlie but the industry is not what it used to be we all getting old,but having said that the units are getting more reliable with longer service intervals & less/longer life belts and only 1 on the vector,remember the nwd & snwd europhoenix lol

[cadwaladr]

Hah your right there Charlie but the industry is not what it used to be we all getting old,but having said that the units are getting more reliable with longer service intervals & less/longer life belts and only 1 on the vector,remember the nwd & snwd europhoenix lolyeah back in the day when you could fix them without an electronics degree,me I do about 65% commercial now still got a lot of belts on my van very dusty!wow and them old petters pdl when paddy had given it plenty of that easy start ,crank snapper is the truth!

[s4ndy]

What do you mean back in the day we still have 2 SNWDs in service at berry time , Ultras and europheonix and SB111 s belts galore and no one interested in working long hours any more

[charlie patt]

things do alter i pay more now for a generator for a carrier than what we used to spend on a 15000 hr stripdown on a sb11, dont miss the belts side to much dont miss smx either when they came out needed to start carrying a welder. t birds ah lovely must be getting old as the laptop spends more time out than most other items like cad im now on a fifty fifty split of transport and commercial but like most industries it has takeing a beating in all ways we used to deal with a parts man from tk helpfull new his stuff rang up a fair while ago been replaced by someone else asked where he went they new nothing, asked for a oil pressure switch got the replie do you have the part number? my replie surly thats your job ? o no was the replie we just dispatch parts we dont select parts you have to give us the part number well there you go

[cadwaladr]

in the economics of this country,same old story follow the money,as for parts supply they make the prices up,killing the job is an understatement commercial refrig parts are sensible because you can go to plenty of suppliers transport namely ctc and tk are just robbers make no mistake,i used to work for agents and i know what the margin is,think if i change my name to tesco or stobart it would be different well best of luck i dont play that game y should i try to compete get on with suckers ,keep all your top secret info not playing your game,may start a co in poland! they dont pay what we fools do full stop,rant over look forward to the gas prices going thru the roof soon you have been warned stockpile now my friends!

[IRMechanik]

o no was the replie we just dispatch parts we dont select parts you have to give us the part number well there you go

and thermo king has their electronic parts program locked down so us independents don't have access.

[cadwaladr]

david and goliath,let em get on with it they want the chicken the chicken shed and the grass that grows under it,very much like car main agents well we wont starve we will just find a way around the locked door

[wilt]

:D Nice one cad

[djbe]

david and goliath,let em get on with it they want the chicken the chicken shed and the grass that grows under it,very much like car main agents well we wont starve we will just find a way around the locked door

The way I see it the big manufacturers are missing a trick by trying to shut the independent operators out. If they worked with independents, even if we had to prove to them that we can work to a suitable standard then we would be more likely to recommend their product.

Instead they rely on a dealer network with differing standards of service from very good to bad depending where you are in the country.

CTC are far worse than TK.

As you say Cad, let them get on with it.

[aircon50]

Glad I'm out of it! I was about 35 years associated with transport, 30 of those on (more or less permanent) 24 hour call. When you work for yourself there is no such thing as a standby rota - you are it!
Now 8 years in Tenerife and my core work is bar and kitchen refrigeration, air conditioning (fixed and mobile) and some heat pumps for swimming pools. Oh - and one client with 2 TK V200MAX units. No 24hour call-out - there's always tomorrow!! 'Hay siempre manaña!' And, I don't miss hanging off the front of a trailer at 3 in the morning with rain water running down my back and out of my a**e!!
Going back to the original question - it's always been the same answer - too cold! I, and many others that I knew, had been offered jobs in Scotland, but no takers.
Commercial guys are always reluctant to change to transport. As Charlie Patt quite rightly said - take one look - see an engine - dirty hands - No Way!!
Best of luck Sandy!
Regards to all, Graham