Becoming a lorry driver

GlasgowTitan · 13 Dec 2006 at 10:16

Been thinking about this lately and wondering what are the pro's and con's of being a lorry driver? What are the wages like? Working conditions/hours? I understand you are expected to be away from home a lot if you drive for certain freight companies. What about if you got a bit more of a shift related job, like tanker driving for shell/bp etc. How much would it be likely to cost to get a licence, and what are the chances of landing a job when you do? Is there much competetition for driving jobs, or are companies crying out for more lorry drivers?

So many questions!

Mr Jack · 13 Dec 2006 at 10:28

A friend of mine passed his tests recently, according to him:

There's a shortage of Lorry Drivers, particularly those who are willing to work nights and weekends and willing to drive to the continent. It's easy enough to pull down £30,000 or so a year, but it's anti-social work with crappy hours, no social life and often involves sleeping away from home. If you pick up specialist training (like that needed to drive an oil tanker, for example) you can earn more.

Training costs £2500 or so, including the tests. Some companies will pay to train you.

4T5 · 13 Dec 2006 at 10:48

How old are you ?
If young and up for it joining the Royal Core of Transport is the easiest fastest and cheapest method. Join early enouth and you will have HGV1 before you are even old enouth to use it on the road.
If not and going private then you really need 3k in the bank.
Trouble is when you do pass most will ask and want experience so you will probably have to go the Agency route to start with.
Added quallys help such as the Tankers etc and the TIR is obviously where the big money is.
A neighbour drives a Milk tanker and reckons this is the best driving job he has ever had. There is no waiting for loading, regular hours and good money.
My brother in law drives for Asda and after years on a reach truck in the warehouse they paid for him to do the HGV.
Sponsorship from a company is possible but you really have to put in the years in another capacity for them.
So basically it's get your 2-3k out and go private, once passed take any job just to get time on the road. Once experienced then look around for a better job with either more money or better hours.
The thing to bare in mind really is what sort of locations you will be delivering to.
Do you want to see Europe or would you prefer a regular route with UK based drops. One would be boring but like a regular job the other would be an adventure every time you went out.

James_N · 13 Dec 2006 at 11:08

Its a crappy job, with crappy hours, with companies that want you to push, push, push and drive more and carry more than is possible/legal.

If you have no mrs and no commitments though, the money aint bad.

The_Dark_Side · 13 Dec 2006 at 11:47

GlasgowTitan said:
like tanker driving for shell/bp etc

there's almost zero chance of getting into the petro-chemical industry as a driver mate...even less so for someone with little or no experience.
the expression " fill dead mens shoes " is appropriate on this.

Mr Jack said:
A friend of mine passed his tests recently, according to him:

Mr Jack said:
It's easy enough to pull down £30,000 or so a year

don't expect to read any more posts from R124/420 as I suspect he'll die laughing when he reads that.

Mr Jack said:
Training costs £2500 or so, including the tests.

it depends where in the UK you are but that figure seems a little on the high side.
to go from a car license to HGV1 I'd guess at £1500-£1750 or so.
after that there's ADR (to carry dangerous goods) which will cost approx £350-£700 depending on the providers cost scheme and which catagories you want to do.
our drivers are a happy well paid bunch, but not every company looks after their guys (and girls!) well.

Jez · 13 Dec 2006 at 11:50

The_Dark_Side said:
don't expect to read any more posts from R124/420 as I suspect he'll die laughing when he reads that.

our drivers are a happy well paid bunch, but not every company looks after their guys (and girls!) well.

I cant work out whether you mean he'd die laughing as he likely pulls in a lot more than that, or whether £30k would be an unachievable figure.

Muttley59 · 13 Dec 2006 at 11:58

James_N said:
Its a crappy job, with crappy hours, with companies that want you to push, push, push and drive more and carry more than is possible/legal.

So True

The_Dark_Side · 13 Dec 2006 at 11:59

Jez said:
I cant work out whether you mean he'd die laughing as he likely pulls in a lot more than that, or whether £30k would be an unachievable figure.

£30k is by far the exception and not the rule.
remember that if you're away for days at a time you're not only gonna have to pay to keep yourself, you'll also be paying the bills associated with your home.
the wage on paper doesn't always translate into what you thought it was gonna be.

Mr Jack · 13 Dec 2006 at 12:03

The_Dark_Side said:
don't expect to read any more posts from R124/420 as I suspect he'll die laughing when he reads that.

- hey, as I said, I'm just repeating what I heard. That's for artics, btw.

it depends where in the UK you are but that figure seems a little on the high side. to go from a car license to HGV1 I'd guess at £1500-£1750 or so.

The cost I quoted was for the basic HGV (or LGV, as they've decided to call them these days :rolleyes:

) and for the artic, as well.

The_Dark_Side · 13 Dec 2006 at 12:06

James_N said:
Its a crappy job, with crappy hours, with companies that want you to push, push, push and drive more and carry more than is possible/legal.

remember, you are your own safety officer.
regarding overloading vehicles you have to ask yourself who is the more stupid...them for asking you or you for doing it.
many employers try this but for the most part the drivers simply moan about it then overload themselves anyway.
you carry the responsibility here.

for this reason among many others I've been a major thorn in the side of the various MD's I've worked for as I always fight our drivers corners for them but they must take the first step themselves by making it known to their line manager that they've had an illegal load designated to them.

Jez · 13 Dec 2006 at 13:10

The_Dark_Side said:
£30k is by far the exception and not the rule.
remember that if you're away for days at a time you're not only gonna have to pay to keep yourself, you'll also be paying the bills associated with your home.
the wage on paper doesn't always translate into what you thought it was gonna be.

I was meaning that i didnt think that it seemed a lot for what seems long lonely hours away from home? Do they not pay for the drivers upkeep while he is away? I stay away from home a lot as my job involves a lot of travel, but while away i will have hotel, generous meal allowances for breakfast and dinner in restaurants, while away i practically shut down my house and have literally free living until i return. Whilst i know that lorries have the bunks in them to avoid hotel costs, i assumed that all their meals etc would be paid, and tbh i assumed that they would be on more than this as a ballpark figure for the hours they put in

The_Dark_Side · 13 Dec 2006 at 17:10

Jez said:
I was meaning that i didnt think that it seemed a lot for what seems long lonely hours away from home? Do they not pay for the drivers upkeep while he is away? I stay away from home a lot as my job involves a lot of travel, but while away i will have hotel, generous meal allowances for breakfast and dinner in restaurants, while away i practically shut down my house and have literally free living until i return. Whilst i know that lorries have the bunks in them to avoid hotel costs, i assumed that all their meals etc would be paid, and tbh i assumed that they would be on more than this as a ballpark figure for the hours they put in

drivers get "night-out money"
this is anywhere between £18 and £23 per night IIRC.....and that's it.
if the driver sleeps in his cab then he pays income tax+NI on it but if he uses it to get a room for the night then it's tax exempt.
out of this paltry amount the driver has to feed himself and find somewhere to park.that's why you see so many trucks parked up overnight in lay-by's.
so the driver can avoid paying overnight parking fees and keep a little more of the money for himself.

Scania · 14 Dec 2006 at 05:29

I get circa £29k per year. - I've been driving Class 2 (rigid) vehicles for about 9 years & Class 1 for the past 3. You tend to start on considerably less, and, you won't get a nice new 06 plate vehicle with all the toys I'd have thought!

Sounds good?

I average 65+ Hours per week, (last week it was 72) plus, 3 - 4 nights away in the cab.

The_Dark_Side said:
drivers get "night-out money"
this is anywhere between £18 and £23 per night IIRC.....and that's it.
if the driver sleeps in his cab then he pays income tax+NI on it but if he uses it to get a room for the night then it's tax exempt.
out of this paltry amount the driver has to feed himself and find somewhere to park.that's why you see so many trucks parked up overnight in lay-by's.
so the driver can avoid paying overnight parking fees and keep a little more of the money for himself.

Yup, iirc, the first £22 is tax free, the rest taxable.
I get £26 per night which is pretty good.

Jez said:
i assumed that all their meals etc would be paid, and tbh i assumed that they would be on more than this as a ballpark figure for the hours they put in

You presume incorrectly I'm afraid.

Stupid hours, ridiculous deadlines, planned by half wits who have no clue about the job they are planning for (in the main) and idiotic road users to contend with who simply have no concept of the room required to drive an HGV about without killing / trashing things.

The_Dark_Side said:
remember, you are your own safety officer.
regarding overloading vehicles you have to ask yourself who is the more stupid...them for asking you or you for doing it.
many employers try this but for the most part the drivers simply moan about it then overload themselves anyway.
you carry the responsibility here.

for this reason among many others I've been a major thorn in the side of the various MD's I've worked for as I always fight our drivers corners for them but they must take the first step themselves by making it known to their line manager that they've had an illegal load designated to them.

The driver can be prosecuted for a dangerous load / vehicle and, the vehicle operator can (and often do) get their operating licence revoked.

The MD's are invariably the people I'd describe as thorns for pressing transport managers to achieve the impossible in terms of delivery schedules & volumes. :mad:

Its a great job :rolleyes:

if you don't mind none of the above and know the tachograph legislation inside out, so, you don't get prosecuted by that "spy in the cab".................

Frankly, you must be mad to consider this for a way of life.

If you want to make the money, you have to put in the hours and say goodbye to your body clock (I'm off work currently yet have been up since 8AM yesterday!) Oh, your social life is another thing to kiss goodbye to along with many relationships (as I've found out over the years!)

Driving the truck is the easy bit (and thats not easy!) :eek:

Expect to pay upto £1400+ for quality training, and budget for a re-test. Don't forget you can then expect a similar outlay to go from Class C the old "Class 2 Licence to C+E which is the old "Class 1" - artic Licence.

If you watch something like this video and get a tingle down your spine, don't worry you've got HGV in the blood & therefore, go for it! :cool:

Don't say I did'nt warn you.

Skiddley · 14 Dec 2006 at 14:10

Even if you could make 30K, which let's be honest, isn't megabucks, its hard to see how you would make your salary increase significantly after that. Only so many hours in a day.

Muttley59 · 14 Dec 2006 at 14:43

The only way to make good money in this job is to break the law :eek:

Hate to admit it but been there and done it to many times

The_Dark_Side · 14 Dec 2006 at 17:10

Muttley59 said:
The only way to make good money in this job is to break the law

Hate to admit it but been there and done it to many times

disagree.
you just need to find a company that treats (and pays) it's drivers well.
sadly at this point my argument slides over to your way of thinking as companies like that are few and far between.

The_Dark_Side · 14 Dec 2006 at 17:11

Skiddley said:
Only so many hours in a day.

you'd be surprised how many transport managers i've worked with are blissfully ignorant of the above fact.

laissez-faire · 14 Dec 2006 at 17:31

malc30 said:
How old are you ?
If young and up for it joining the Royal Core of Transport is the easiest fastest and cheapest method. Join early enouth and you will have HGV1 before you are even old enouth to use it on the road.
If not and going private then you really need 3k in the bank.
Trouble is when you do pass most will ask and want experience so you will probably have to go the Agency route to start with.
Added quallys help such as the Tankers etc and the TIR is obviously where the big money is.
A neighbour drives a Milk tanker and reckons this is the best driving job he has ever had. There is no waiting for loading, regular hours and good money.
My brother in law drives for Asda and after years on a reach truck in the warehouse they paid for him to do the HGV.
Sponsorship from a company is possible but you really have to put in the years in another capacity for them.
So basically it's get your 2-3k out and go private, once passed take any job just to get time on the road. Once experienced then look around for a better job with either more money or better hours.
The thing to bare in mind really is what sort of locations you will be delivering to.
Do you want to see Europe or would you prefer a regular route with UK based drops. One would be boring but like a regular job the other would be an adventure every time you went out.

Going down the Army route is a fun idea - Royal Corps of Transport has long since been integrated (1994 IIRC) with the Royal Logistics Corps. However they have lost several drivers in Iraq and Afghanistan lately - might not be the safest choice.

Mr Joshua · 14 Dec 2006 at 18:31

The Asda drivers used to tell me that it was the easiest job they've ever had (no pressure and 9-5 type hours) but they weren't the best paid. I think they said the Co-Op were on 25K or so which isn't bad, in fact, that's great money in the North East.

Daff_Duck · 14 Dec 2006 at 18:40

Class 2 HGV driver here - depends on what you want to do if you want an easy life then go to Class 1 trunking Or you can do the ADR and use reach arms ..(spend you day picking up after highway maint)

Either way 30K is atinable but you need to do some serious hours for that I can earn that but it means doing all my alloted 45 hrs and then hoping I am stuck on waiting time or doing jobs that pay but not counted as my driving hours.. it gets very boring at times if you are stuck on the same route. seeing as I am a class 2 you get a lot of mulit drops and the routes that are mapped out for you are well to be honest pish.. even though with bigger companies they are computer mapped out they dont always turn out right.

It all depends on what you want to do, there will always be work for drivers and you dont always have to do it as a full time job, could always top up your income with agency work. I passed my test last year and started on agency thought I was gonna get into a brand new truck on my first job doing a night trunk down to London. turned up and got the crappiest peice of junk going even though it was a well known firm.

Quick note in respect of the price you have been quoted £1500 I am presuming this is for both licences... the @ price were I am is £35 per hour plus test fees of £90 so the quote is for around the 16-20 hrs mark I am not saying that it cannot be done as there are lots of peeps I know who have done it but if you are an "average" car driver the hours tend to be 24 or maybe more .. depending on if its a range change or straight.. so I would say take that fee as conservative and be prepared for maybe more expense.. another thing I found with colleauges is that if you dont pass first time because you have spent x amount already you are more or less commited to carrying on and that again leads to more expense.Overall my advice would be is make sure that you definatly want to do it. Sure there are some companies that will sponsor you but they are not in the majority unfortunatley.