Career change.. HGV driver?

[MrKev83]

Anyone used these companies that advertise training as £30 upfront plus a monthly then guaranteed jobs etc?

I see a few listed under Glasgow at the moment saying they take care of everything.

I contacted my GP for a medical and they basically don't do it at the moment

It didn't work out going down the apprentice hgv mechanic route and not entirely sure I could survive on the wage. £3.90 for a vw apprentice tech I saw today.

My other thought was to taxi for a bit using the fact I can work more than 40 hours to build up savings and go down the hgv route myself.

Have you done it? I'm going to do it. Go for it. It's your life. You won't know unless you try for yourself. You can find negative Nancy's in any job. My uncle and brother do it and recommend it. Best quote I've found for all in training for cat1 CPC etc is £2700

 

[Quartz]

Anyone used these companies that advertise training as £30 upfront plus a monthly then guaranteed jobs etc?

Don't be afraid to ask your local Jobcentre for help with the costs.

 

[Jonny ///M]

I haven't moved forward with anything as yet.


I've started doing just eat on my bike to bring in more money to save up and just pay somewhere like Ritchies in Glasgow to do it myself.

Doesn't help my Mrs hates her job and is learning to drive to move jobs whilst also saving for a deposit on a house

My mate may get me in where he works as semi skilled mechanic which could be a wage boost. Do that for a bit before driving maybe.

 

[morbid42]

I would stick to the office and study. If a lorry driver gets £10 hr, you might as well work in tesco

 

[LeMson]

nm

 

[robs1812]

Hello guys, just stumbled across this forum. I started in the office, transport admin, then planning and now driving and despite only having a c+e for 6 months, am now looking to return to the office environment although the driving side was never a long term solution for me, but was a important part of my transport career plan. The job and in all honesty the industry is on its knees. Driving itself can be enjoyable to a certain degree, meeting different people, etc but there are also many elements that make it pretty ***** like the pay, working conditions, hours, viewpoint of the British public and the worst thing of them all, other road users. Don’t get me wrong I’ve worked and met some great guys doing the job both driving and being office based, recruiting etc but the one thing that people seem to regret when they start driving and especially tramping is being away from family and going home to a disgruntled mrs because they can’t say what time they’ll be home for dinner, etc. I would urge anyone thinking about a driving career to seriously think about family life first. Yes, you can make good money and have all the toys but also many sacrifices to make in the process.

 

[Jonny ///M]

I forgot all about this thread until I saw 233 comment about his nephew changing career into driving HGVs.

I've since bought a house, been debt free other than mortgage and now have a tiny bit of debt for a car/roof for the house which we half the payments on.

I worked a second job delivering for a chip shop on a Monday night(6-10) and Saturday night (5-3am) after doing 40 hours in my other job.

I saved up to do my class 2 license last year(about £1900 for training, cards and medical) and started working through an agency at the weekend in December before moving full time in January.

I've found day shift work starting 6.30am delivering to shops which means a fair bit of physically emptying pallets into store rooms etc. Can finish on an early day 1.30pm but can vary between 4-6pm. Worst two days I've had where 9pm and 9.30pm which were due to mess ups outwith my control. I'd like to average out around 50 hours per week which works out around 46 hours 'working' time on the tacho.

I enjoy driving especially if you can get out the yard for 7am and crack on with the day, get to be in different areas each day and every day is somewhat different but only within central Scotland so Pitlochry, Anstruther, Ayrshire and Dunoon being the extremes so get my own bed at night.

I've spoken to a few guys delivering to our depot getting £650 a week to stay in a cab all week which isn't for me when I can make about £500 + £50 bonus per week.

My truck ins't as fancy as Scania's but it's big enough for some of the areas I have to take it to get to the back doors of tiny corner shops.

Here I am in the way as usual half on a kerb.(Another truck was parked on the main road at a pedestrian crossing at school lunchtime)

 

[Scania]

I forgot all about this thread until I saw 233 comment about his nephew changing career into driving HGVs.

I've since bought a house, been debt free other than mortgage and now have a tiny bit of debt for a car/roof for the house which we half the payments on.

I worked a second job delivering for a chip shop on a Monday night(6-10) and Saturday night (5-3am) after doing 40 hours in my other job.

I saved up to do my class 2 license last year(about £1900 for training, cards and medical) and started working through an agency at the weekend in December before moving full time in January.

I've found day shift work starting 6.30am delivering to shops which means a fair bit of physically emptying pallets into store rooms etc. Can finish on an early day 1.30pm but can vary between 4-6pm. Worst two days I've had where 9pm and 9.30pm which were due to mess ups outwith my control. I'd like to average out around 50 hours per week which works out around 46 hours 'working' time on the tacho.

I enjoy driving especially if you can get out the yard for 7am and crack on with the day, get to be in different areas each day and every day is somewhat different but only within central Scotland so Pitlochry, Anstruther, Ayrshire and Dunoon being the extremes so get my own bed at night.

I've spoken to a few guys delivering to our depot getting £650 a week to stay in a cab all week which isn't for me when I can make about £500 + £50 bonus per week.

My truck ins't as fancy as Scania's but it's big enough for some of the areas I have to take it to get to the back doors of tiny corner shops.

Here I am in the way as usual half on a kerb.(Another truck was parked on the main road at a pedestrian crossing at school lunchtime)

Are you still doing your other jobs? If so, be careful as legally you have to record your other worked hours as part of the working time directive.

In actuality I’d doubt it would ever come to light but just bear it in mind.


As an aside from my earlier comments in this thread, I’m now on £13.75 per hour, taking home roughly £630 weekly (without staying overnight in the truck) - with the same employer - so my wages have risen a fair bit over the last few years although I still think they don’t reflect the hours, unsocial at that, the responsibility that driving a large truck entails and the risk/reward ratio is way off - you don’t hear of many deaths in other professions but professional driving is a job where it happens week in week out, any other industry with this happening would be called out hugely!!

That said, I still very much enjoy my job still, I’m now what’s known as a driver mentor which basically means I take newly passed drivers out for a week and basically re-teach them how to do the job as opposed to passing the test as the two are somewhat different!

I still recommend the job but go in with your eyes open.

 

[Jonny ///M]

I only worked one shift as agency so didn't at the time as I couldn't be bothered doing the manual entry every Saturday. Was only doing 28 hours at the other job so not near max.


I've been enjoying it, had a good run today with lots of rural driving. 5 hours driving and 5 hour other work.

It seems not a soul sticks to 40mph on the way to the Stranraer ferry. Plenty of V8s heading to Ireland.

I'm on £13.50 class 2 which is the same as a day shift class 1 sainsburys driver gets where I stay.

I have manual work rather than rolling cages off at a store.

I know DHL drivers on £17-18 an hour but they start at 3am.

 

[Bounce]

Are you still doing your other jobs? If so, be careful as legally you have to record your other worked hours as part of the working time directive.

In actuality I’d doubt it would ever come to light but just bear it in mind.


As an aside from my earlier comments in this thread, I’m now on £13.75 per hour, taking home roughly £630 weekly (without staying overnight in the truck) - with the same employer - so my wages have risen a fair bit over the last few years although I still think they don’t reflect the hours, unsocial at that, the responsibility that driving a large truck entails and the risk/reward ratio is way off - you don’t hear of many deaths in other professions but professional driving is a job where it happens week in week out, any other industry with this happening would be called out hugely!!

That said, I still very much enjoy my job still, I’m now what’s known as a driver mentor which basically means I take newly passed drivers out for a week and basically re-teach them how to do the job as opposed to passing the test as the two are somewhat different!

I still recommend the job but go in with your eyes open.

So you’re doing 45.8 hrs a week to take home £630 a week?

It doesn’t seem that well paid to me , for the responsibility you have of driving a big truck.

 

[Scania]

So you’re doing 45.8 hrs a week to take home £630 a week?

It doesn’t seem that well paid to me , for the responsibility you have of driving a big truck.

A few more than that, 60+ most weeks.

Your not taking into account Tax, N.I., Pension etc...

 

[Bounce]

A few more than that, 60+ most weeks.

Your not taking into account Tax, N.I., Pension etc...

But you can’t drive 60+ hours a week?

What rate per hour do you earn?

 

[Scania]

But you can’t drive 60+ hours a week?

What rate per hour do you earn?

In actuality the maximum driving time for a week is 56 hours.

The job is far more than just driving, your driving limit is 90 hours in a fortnight so obviously we’re you to do 56 one week, you couldn’t exceed 34 hours the next.
The rest of the time is other work such as loading/unloading, coupling/uncoupling etc, waiting time (known as Periods of availability or POA) and break.

I’m currently on £13.75 per hour, £14.75 for Saturdays and £22 Sundays not that I work weekends, I do enough Monday to Friday.

 

[mattyg]

I've got 48 Drivers out every night. So I hear a lot of road horror stories every week.. We do around 16,000 miles a night across my network and mange to drop at the final point within the same 30 min window each morning... Not bad for essentially an avg years driving each night.
Luckily no HGV. Just small vans

 

[spaceman]

I passed my class 2 & CPC earlier in the week (did the paperwork tests last October), i really enjoyed driving the 18t truck around for 3 days. A totally different experience to driving cars for the last 30 years!

I'll be moving on from IT Deskside support at some point (hopefully with some redundancy pay), since covid it's been dead in the office (2500 civil servants down to about 60 daily on average now..).

I'll probably look for Tipper work as there are a few local companies and the new Kent/Essex tunnel will be nearby, if that work starts in 2026.

 

[danlightbulb]

I thought the wage would be more, given how hgv was all in the news in the last year or so.

 

[BUDFORCE]

I'm surprised HGV drivers do not earn more, I always heard the money was ok, but if you are doing 60 hours a week then it's completely the opposite really.

I sort of, half thought about getting into in around 2009 but never went further.

Sometimes I think of a career change but the grass isn't always greener.

 

[TruckerJoe]

Just came across this thread after looking at different parts of the site so thought I would share my experience with the OP.
I passed my Class 2 back in 2007 after various warehouse roles and I thought I would give this path a go in the footsteps of my late farther. I first fell lucky as a new driver working for the NHS which at the time I was in the warehouse and took me on as a new driver which in this line of work is very difficult to start with. This job was delivering to hospitals and clinics with a rigid but then was asked if I could go on nights in return for my Class 1 which I excepted. I then was regularly driving a draw bar.
After some years doing that I changed to Artic work with Boots salaried at about 2k p/m pulling a double decker trailer at 16.3ft which coming from a draw bar at 60ft long and 12ft high was a learning curve especially in central London. I did this a while then was tired of the commute so went tramping (staying away all week) for a company called Downtons, this was at 8.50p/h (yes seriously). This was general haulage so was a big variety in work on a curtain sider of various heights. Then a year passed and had a call from a local firm that I had applied for some years previously and asked me if I was still interested. This is the company I have been with now since 2014 and it is delivering healthcare with a refrigerated trailer. I wont go into detail of the job as such but it is long hours with regularly exceeding 60 hours a week but the money currently is just over £15p/h plus other extras.
My career as a driver has been steady learning the ropes and the masses of regulation you have to obey by or there is serious fines if you don't which could lead to costs into the hundreds at the roadside if you don't obey by them. So starting out on local runs to now going all over the UK and Ireland has kept me fully up to date on legislation, accident and infringement free.
All I can say really about the job is I hardly meet a person that is grateful and happy for you to be there if that's a customer of general public. The public really do not have a clue about the size and implications of getting tangled with a HGV on the road and have very little patience when you need that extra space for a manoeuvre. You simply do it for the right paid job which is few than is told out there in the media. Don't trust agencies about work availability and rates.
And lastly everyday is a learning day, no matter how old or experienced you are.
Always feel free to ask any questions and I would try my best to answer them.

 

[Jonny ///M]

I've moved into class 1 work now after passing in mid October. Hard to get work as a new pass so had to take what I could get.

Early starts are a bit hard to get used to but I'm working 4 x 12 hours Sunday to Wednesday and earning the same or more then 5 days in my previous job with no handball and arguing with corner shops.

Big stores with bays/scissor lifts mostly with the odd smaller tesco extra/one stop to spice things up.

I was taken out in a class 2 to learn a run and a few days in was allowed to drive class 2 for a week.

First shift I drove class 1 was meant to drive back from Aberdeen but ended up getting thrown the keys to a scania and a told to hook up to a full size trailer.

Next was an urban with rear steer which is interesting and then I've had the baby urban twice which is also fun. Pulling those two with a 6 x 2 unit seems silly where I'm trying to put the trailer sometimes.

I got the urban in a pickle trying to get onto the u loading bay at our yard and had to get my boss to sort it. Few weeks in I'm getting on bays ok and even managed to go from 15 minutes onto a bay, going over my drive time , to doing the blindside in the dark with only one shunt.

I'm agency at the moment on
Weekdays £14(£17 between 12am -4am)
Sunday 1.5 time £21(£23 between 12am-4am)
Saturday is 1.125 time antisocial time is +14.25%.

Once I'm perm it's £15.05 basic + the uplifts.

I fancy getting my six months to a year and moving into supermarket work day shift for about £16ph around here.