Thinking of career change to HGV Class1 driver
Discussion
Due to current restructuring at work and the offer of up to 22 months redundancy pay I am considering training as a Class 1 HGV driver. I am 46 years old and earn around £32000 p.a. I was wondering if any of you out there have any knowledge of this Industry, good or bad. Any advice would be helpful as I am currently a Senior uniformed public servant with 17 years service and this would be quite a change for me. thanks Mike
You'll get quite a few people, currently doing just that, telling you how bad it is. But then, I think you'll get that with most jobs.
You will work your ass off to earn £32k, although I know of an employer local to me who employs multi-drop drivers on around £30k for a class 2, more for a class 1, it's a decent enough job too, although the guys work hard for their money. In their case, all of the routes are out the door by 05:30, so it's early starts all week long, unless you're a night trunker.
All I'll say is, don't rush into it. Have a good think about what you could do as alternatives, and what work/life balance you'd like. 60 plus hours a week isn't a lot of fun.
You will work your ass off to earn £32k, although I know of an employer local to me who employs multi-drop drivers on around £30k for a class 2, more for a class 1, it's a decent enough job too, although the guys work hard for their money. In their case, all of the routes are out the door by 05:30, so it's early starts all week long, unless you're a night trunker.
All I'll say is, don't rush into it. Have a good think about what you could do as alternatives, and what work/life balance you'd like. 60 plus hours a week isn't a lot of fun.
I've not heard anything positive outside of the niche areas like fuel tankers. General class 1 seems to be a race to the bottom for hourly rates, very heavily pressured in terms of efficiency and expectations of suppliers set to unreasonable levels. But I'm not in that trade, just what I have picked up from many threads:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=136...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=644...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=122...
Look here as well:
http://www.trucknetuk.com/phpBB/viewforum.php?f=2
If you have the opportunity to retrain and you fancy something different, there are many more careers I'd look at first.
Depends if you want a desk job or something more mobile.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=136...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=644...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=122...
Look here as well:
http://www.trucknetuk.com/phpBB/viewforum.php?f=2
If you have the opportunity to retrain and you fancy something different, there are many more careers I'd look at first.
Depends if you want a desk job or something more mobile.
An ex-colleague of mine did exactly what you're thinking.
Once he had his Class 1 he found it very difficult to find anybody who would hire him. Every place he tried applying to, always wanted experienced drivers or always chose experienced drivers over him.
In the end he had to ask companies and drivers if they would let him tag along unpaid, so that he gained some experience. The driving is just the tip of the iceberg and the unloading and loading is all part of it too. Eventually after about a year or two of unpaid tagging along, he had gained enough experience for companies to finally consider him.
I have no idea if he still enjoys it or not but the last time we spoke he did say he was enjoying it, but I don't know if that was just the novelty of the whole thing.
Once he had his Class 1 he found it very difficult to find anybody who would hire him. Every place he tried applying to, always wanted experienced drivers or always chose experienced drivers over him.
In the end he had to ask companies and drivers if they would let him tag along unpaid, so that he gained some experience. The driving is just the tip of the iceberg and the unloading and loading is all part of it too. Eventually after about a year or two of unpaid tagging along, he had gained enough experience for companies to finally consider him.
I have no idea if he still enjoys it or not but the last time we spoke he did say he was enjoying it, but I don't know if that was just the novelty of the whole thing.
If I was retraining right now and had a cushion for training, I'd personally look at having my own business and being master of my own destiny. Something that command a small premium, doesn't take years of training and took me out and about but not on the road. Something that couldn't be outsourced to another country and can't be done from the end of a phone where the quality of my work and customer skills would keep me busy...
Something like high end domestic/retail alarms - find someone wanting to sell their business at retirement but willing to do a 2 year phased handover whilst the skills were learned. CCTV, alarms, etc.
Or health and safety, mortgage broker, good estate agent, etc. Somewhere where my age and experience would be a positive for the role.
Something like high end domestic/retail alarms - find someone wanting to sell their business at retirement but willing to do a 2 year phased handover whilst the skills were learned. CCTV, alarms, etc.
Or health and safety, mortgage broker, good estate agent, etc. Somewhere where my age and experience would be a positive for the role.
Its a lot of money to fork out from your own pocket to get a class one (C&E as its now called) and the drivers cpc qualification. You will always get the lack of experience excuse, unless you want to work for peanuts maxed out on hours. Add in the fact that the rush for drivers is good up till christmas and quiet after.
Moneywise, as has been said it seems to be a rush to the bottom at the moment, most class 1 jobs advertised are in the region of national minimum wage. There is the odd good job out there, but few and far between.
There is a rumour it may change when the drivers cpc is fully enforced in september. Alot of old school drivers are saying they'd rather hang up the keys then do it. Personally I wouldnt like to invest my money in a class one based on the posibility of a driver shortage.
Moneywise, as has been said it seems to be a rush to the bottom at the moment, most class 1 jobs advertised are in the region of national minimum wage. There is the odd good job out there, but few and far between.
There is a rumour it may change when the drivers cpc is fully enforced in september. Alot of old school drivers are saying they'd rather hang up the keys then do it. Personally I wouldnt like to invest my money in a class one based on the posibility of a driver shortage.
Thanks for all your feedback/advice so far. I never thought that I would be in this position after 17 years working in some of England's toughest prisons, 14 of which as a Senior Officer, but I suppose that's just the way it is. I now with two kids under 8 need to consider my options, they have taken away my pension which was worth sticking it out for so If I am to keep ahead I now need a viable new career for the next 15 years. I already work stupid hours eg 07:15 to 21:15 with a 45 minute commute either end or this weeks 7 nights of 12 hours plus the commute so early starts late finishes and nights don't bother me much. Again thanks for the links and advice. Mike
Good luck.
Have a read of this thread, might help . .
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Have a read of this thread, might help . .
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Ask yourself why you want to drive LGVs for a living, freedom of the open road, nobody hassling you,unfortunately nowadays that is a myth, it is one of the most regulated jobs out there, if it ain't the office ringing you it is VOSA checking this that and the other to try and catch you out.
Also at your age you would need a medical every 5 years to retain your entitlement to drive, and if you develop diabeteschances are they will have your licence off you.
What attracts you to the industry long hours, crap pay,being hated by car drivers, sitting in jams running out of hours, or posing in a V8 Scania with all the bling, if it's the latter, your looking at the wrong job.
Also at your age you would need a medical every 5 years to retain your entitlement to drive, and if you develop diabeteschances are they will have your licence off you.
What attracts you to the industry long hours, crap pay,being hated by car drivers, sitting in jams running out of hours, or posing in a V8 Scania with all the bling, if it's the latter, your looking at the wrong job.
Mikebentley said:
Thanks for all your feedback/advice so far. I never thought that I would be in this position after 17 years working in some of England's toughest prisons, 14 of which as a Senior Officer, but I suppose that's just the way it is. I now with two kids under 8 need to consider my options, they have taken away my pension which was worth sticking it out for so If I am to keep ahead I now need a viable new career for the next 15 years. I already work stupid hours eg 07:15 to 21:15 with a 45 minute commute either end or this weeks 7 nights of 12 hours plus the commute so early starts late finishes and nights don't bother me much. Again thanks for the links and advice. Mike
You'd probably earn more in private security...not sure where the minimum wage jobs are for class 1 but I haven't seen any.
But as has been said elsewhere your biggest stumbling block will be the lack of experience. This is because the cost of insuring a new driver is cost prohibitive currently. However with DCPC coming in later in the year a lot of the older drivers are likely to retire as they don't want the cost/hassle of completing the course.
You can expect to pay circa £2500 for your C and then C&E to give you the Class 1.
But as has been said elsewhere your biggest stumbling block will be the lack of experience. This is because the cost of insuring a new driver is cost prohibitive currently. However with DCPC coming in later in the year a lot of the older drivers are likely to retire as they don't want the cost/hassle of completing the course.
You can expect to pay circa £2500 for your C and then C&E to give you the Class 1.
Mikebentley said:
Thanks for all your feedback/advice so far. I never thought that I would be in this position after 17 years working in some of England's toughest prisons, 14 of which as a Senior Officer, but I suppose that's just the way it is. Mike
Mate, if you have worked 17 years in prisons, I would have thought a lot of employers would see you as quite level headed and could cope with a lot of adversity.... and would be happy to give you a job. Best wishes whatever you decide to do. gabbo said:
not sure where the minimum wage jobs are for class 1 but I haven't seen any.
Here?http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=136...
Vaud said:
looks like a rumour not an actual ad if you mean the one in Ayr. The rest on that thread are discussing a lot higher than minimum wage. Even if it is true, very few if any would take it as there are better paid jobs out there. Having said that, now the seasonal rush has finished there will be a surplus of drivers as there is every yearBeing from Ayrshire I can confirm Driver Hire pay pish, and that's afaik it for agencies here. I did 1 shift for them(hauling rubbish down to Cumnock from Killie for Barr), was promised the week, got f
ked over, never answered the phone to them again. I did agency work for about 3 years, used to see loads of guys who couldn't get a start, lack of experience is the big killer, and as has been said, it's not ability to drive the wagon, it's all the other stuff.
I'm heading for 30 years doing it, it's changed a lot, the money's crap, loads of guys tell you about earning big bucks, ask for how many hours. I get just under £11 an hour, I'm pretty well paid in comparison to others, but not in comparison to other jobs. Also, ask yourself how many jobs if you fk up will it cost you more for your car/bike insurance? Spend all day driving and you increase the risk of 3 points, esp if you are a new driver cos you'll most likely be working for a st firm.
I still do it cos I enjoy it sometimes, and I don't know fk all else. If I was to start now I'd consider doing something else.
ked over, never answered the phone to them again. I did agency work for about 3 years, used to see loads of guys who couldn't get a start, lack of experience is the big killer, and as has been said, it's not ability to drive the wagon, it's all the other stuff. I'm heading for 30 years doing it, it's changed a lot, the money's crap, loads of guys tell you about earning big bucks, ask for how many hours. I get just under £11 an hour, I'm pretty well paid in comparison to others, but not in comparison to other jobs. Also, ask yourself how many jobs if you f
k up will it cost you more for your car/bike insurance? Spend all day driving and you increase the risk of 3 points, esp if you are a new driver cos you'll most likely be working for a st firm.I still do it cos I enjoy it sometimes, and I don't know f
k all else. If I was to start now I'd consider doing something else. Mikebentley said:
Due to current restructuring at work and the offer of up to 22 months redundancy pay I am considering training as a Class 1 HGV driver. I am 46 years old and earn around £32000 p.a. I was wondering if any of you out there have any knowledge of this Industry, good or bad. Any advice would be helpful as I am currently a Senior uniformed public servant with 17 years service and this would be quite a change for me. thanks Mike
Unless you have a big desire to drive a truck for a living and really enjoy driving A LOT, I would recommend against the idea. Your heart has to be in it otherwise the long hours, traffic, more traffic, even more traffic, numpty car drivers, numpty wagon drivers' antics will REALLY frustrate you and you will very quickly hate the job, especially on day work.The reality is that you'll be £3000+ lighter by the time you have your class 1 ticket and CPC ticket (assuming you pass 1st time, which a lot don't, particularly the class 1 test) and then you'll very likely be scratting around on the agency game to get some experience which will involve a lot of bulls
t, lies and very crappy jobs for a mediocre sum of money. Once you get 2 years experience then the big boys will consider taking you on if you pass their driving assessment but money wise you can expect a few pence above the minimum wage per hour in ruralshire, rising to up to £9/hr in the work hotspots which are generally Northants, London, M1 corridor from J18 to London and M4 corridor from Reading.There are obviously exceptions to the above, but that's a very very rough guide to the money if you're employed directly by haulier. If you're in ruralshire, except to be doing long distance UK work and sleep in the wagon 4-5 nights per week too, which is also expected by many hauliers these days. Typical take home for a tramper (sleeping in wagon all week as mentioned) is circa £300-400 per week in ruralshire, £400-600 elsewhere, but that includes your night out allowance and you can expect to be doing 65-75 hrs per week for those figures.
Doom-mongering aside, there is good money to be made and it can be an enjoyable job if you find a niche that you're happy with. I did 15 years on the agency game with a smattering of full time jobs in between and over time earnt myself a good reputation and made a lot of contacts. I now work self-employed and contract myself as a class 1 night driver to a few local hauliers and make extremely good money at it plus I generally enjoy doing it too which helps a lot.
You need to decide whether your heart is in it first. If you're only doing it because you've seen the ads for earnings "up to £1000 per week" and think it's an easy earner, forget it, seriously.
All that jazz said:
Unless you have a big desire to drive a truck for a living and really enjoy driving A LOT, I would recommend against the idea. Your heart has to be in it otherwise the long hours, traffic, more traffic, even more traffic, numpty car drivers, numpty wagon drivers' antics will REALLY frustrate you and you will very quickly hate the job, especially on day work.
The reality is that you'll be £3000+ lighter by the time you have your class 1 ticket and CPC ticket (assuming you pass 1st time, which a lot don't, particularly the class 1 test) and then you'll very likely be scratting around on the agency game to get some experience which will involve a lot of bullst, lies and very crappy jobs for a mediocre sum of money. Once you get 2 years experience then the big boys will consider taking you on if you pass their driving assessment but money wise you can expect a few pence above the minimum wage per hour in ruralshire, rising to up to £9/hr in the work hotspots which are generally Northants, London, M1 corridor from J18 to London and M4 corridor from Reading.
There are obviously exceptions to the above, but that's a very very rough guide to the money if you're employed directly by haulier. If you're in ruralshire, except to be doing long distance UK work and sleep in the wagon 4-5 nights per week too, which is also expected by many hauliers these days. Typical take home for a tramper (sleeping in wagon all week as mentioned) is circa £300-400 per week in ruralshire, £400-600 elsewhere, but that includes your night out allowance and you can expect to be doing 65-75 hrs per week for those figures.
Doom-mongering aside, there is good money to be made and it can be an enjoyable job if you find a niche that you're happy with. I did 15 years on the agency game with a smattering of full time jobs in between and over time earnt myself a good reputation and made a lot of contacts. I now work self-employed and contract myself as a class 1 night driver to a few local hauliers and make extremely good money at it plus I generally enjoy doing it too which helps a lot.
You need to decide whether your heart is in it first. If you're only doing it because you've seen the ads for earnings "up to £1000 per week" and think it's an easy earner, forget it, seriously.
Just to add some balance and to point out that we do exist north of the "hotspots" already mentioned! The reality is that you'll be £3000+ lighter by the time you have your class 1 ticket and CPC ticket (assuming you pass 1st time, which a lot don't, particularly the class 1 test) and then you'll very likely be scratting around on the agency game to get some experience which will involve a lot of bulls
t, lies and very crappy jobs for a mediocre sum of money. Once you get 2 years experience then the big boys will consider taking you on if you pass their driving assessment but money wise you can expect a few pence above the minimum wage per hour in ruralshire, rising to up to £9/hr in the work hotspots which are generally Northants, London, M1 corridor from J18 to London and M4 corridor from Reading.There are obviously exceptions to the above, but that's a very very rough guide to the money if you're employed directly by haulier. If you're in ruralshire, except to be doing long distance UK work and sleep in the wagon 4-5 nights per week too, which is also expected by many hauliers these days. Typical take home for a tramper (sleeping in wagon all week as mentioned) is circa £300-400 per week in ruralshire, £400-600 elsewhere, but that includes your night out allowance and you can expect to be doing 65-75 hrs per week for those figures.
Doom-mongering aside, there is good money to be made and it can be an enjoyable job if you find a niche that you're happy with. I did 15 years on the agency game with a smattering of full time jobs in between and over time earnt myself a good reputation and made a lot of contacts. I now work self-employed and contract myself as a class 1 night driver to a few local hauliers and make extremely good money at it plus I generally enjoy doing it too which helps a lot.
You need to decide whether your heart is in it first. If you're only doing it because you've seen the ads for earnings "up to £1000 per week" and think it's an easy earner, forget it, seriously.
Up here in the northwest there is lots of work going, plenty of both agency and staff jobs. Wages are nowhere near as low as those mentioned by Jazz, I guess it must be a southern thing due to competition for work??
In the last 3 months we have had 3 large DC's open within 15 miles of me offering a few hundred full time jobs with wages ranging from 29K to 42k.
At my place the lowest wage I know of for staff is about 26K for the fleet drivers and between 29 and 34K for core staff dependant on which site they are on as we have several covering supermarkets, containers and general stuff.
There is no end of agency work, one of our sites cannot seem to get enough and the wages for class 1 seem to range from £9 to £15 per hours dependant on shift and including free DCPC as an incentive for loyalty, for class 2 I have seen jobs from £8 up to £14 for ADR stuff. I know these figures to be accurate as I still get Monster job alerts by email every day with at least 10 jobs offer.
Also as I have said many times before the " 2 year " thing is disappearing, at least up here, I regularly get alerts asking for 1 year or some experience, in fact it seems to be down to individual agencies as opposed to a blanket demand.
I walked into a full time well paid class 1 jobs within 4 months of passing my class 1 with no experience!! I did it by ignoring the agencies and getting of my arse to doorstep every company I could think of within 20 miles of my house, it took a few days and I carried on bothering the likely ones until I got an interview, my driving assessment was the first time I had driven since my test so don't be too put off by this, they are just making sure you are not a complete tool at the wheel.
I can also confirm that I rarely do more then 50 hours a week, never get bothered or harassed by the office and have never been messed about by a desk jockey at a DC even when very late or early.
I firmly believe that you get out of a job what you put in and I love my job.
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