Becoming a HGV driver.

[The Turbonator]

I've been driving buses for nearly 10 years now and I'm seriously considering doing my Cat C and Cat C+E. Would it be a wise decision though?

I know a lot of HGV driver's say the industry is no longer a good place to work but I'm currently getting really fed up of bus driving. The shifts are getting longer, I seem to be spending less and less time at home, the company has made it obvious that it doesn't care about it's staff after recent events, and I'm just generally fed up of being in a customer service based role.

I know I'm paid well, I'm currently earning just short of £11 an hour but next year that will probably rise to over £12 an hour, what with an annual pay rise and a 10 years service pay rise award too. That's the only reason I still do it. I can't find any advertised driving jobs that pay anything near what I currently earn. Unless I get my cat c or cat C+E.

So should I take the plunge and spend the £2500 on getting HGV licence or is it an avenue I shouldn't even consider wasting my money on?

[s p a c e m a n]

When you find a nice place to work it's a very good job to have, it's hard getting into the good firms though. If you want to try it I would suggest rigid tipper muck away work would be the quickest, cheapest and most profitable way to get in the door. You'll do it a lot cheaper than £2500, the test is a piece of piss if you can drive a bus. Find somewhere that will give you a lesson to practice driving the vehicle and what you have to do for the test and then just do the test. I already had a 7.5t and it cost me about £250 to get my class 2. You'll still have to do your CPC though I think, different for hgv to busses isn't it?

[sanguinary]

I'd have thought that route would keep you away from the house longer if you want it to pay well.

We have 8 drivers on our site who are well paid. Their usual work pattern is Monday through Friday with 3 or 4 nights out. BUT, our drivers are paid well due to the specialist side of their delivering: we manufacture lubricants, which are then delivered on our vehicles in anything from 5 litre to bulk. So their day will include dragging barrels around, unloading 40 x 25 litre drums (sometimes by hand) etc. RE the bulk side, they need to know the product and its compatibility with our range (1,500+ oils) so they can flush the vehicle lines where necessary to avoid cross contamination - very important when delivering 5,000 litres at a time!

Our drivers take 6 months to train up before we let them service a customer on their own. They also put more hours in regularly each week than any other department. The drivers are always complaining about their work and the shop floor are always complaining about the driver's rate of pay, but I can't see anyone on the shop floor actually wanting to do what our drivers do day in and out.

[routari]

With driverless trucks on the horizon that will be able to work 24 hours a day for no pay, I don't see it as a future career choice. Dead serious.

[Gary29]

routari said:

With driverless trucks on the horizon that will be able to work 24 hours a day for no pay, I don't see it as a future career choice. Dead serious.

Can't see that happening for at least a few decades yet. Driverless cars one thing, driverless trucks carrying 40 tons is another ball game.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

The Turbonator said:

I know I'm paid well, I'm currently earning just short of £11 an hour but next year that will probably rise to over £12 an hour, what with an annual pay rise and a 10 years service pay rise award too.

If Bob Crow had been your union leader, you'd be on twice that amount, maybe 3 times.. Driving a bus has got to be a lot more stressful that driving a tube train.

[routari]

Gary29 said:

Can't see that happening for at least a few decades yet. Driverless cars one thing, driverless trucks carrying 40 tons is another ball game.

It's already being trialled in various countries. Driverless cars are a luxury for the people with a lot of money initially. It's an optional extra, albeit one that will save significant lives.
Driverless trucks are a complete game changer, with a huge profit incentive driving their development.
You won't be a competitive truck maker, nor will you be a competitive logistics company without one when they're ready, and there's a lot of money and research going into it.
Even if they're gradually rolled out so that a truck driver only has to do the first and last 5 miles or so, that's a significant reduction in pay, and a huge cost saving right away. As the challenge is mainly one of software, the cost of building a truck from a materials and manufacturing point of view won't increase significantly either.
I give semi-automation like that a decade at most, full automation a 15 years tops. Full automation, with an attendant at either end to hitch, fuel and service them etc

Probably good money in it for a good few years yet, but I wouldn't be considering it as a new career as a young person. Not unless you're studying for something else on the side and using it for a quick cash injection.

[The Turbonator]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

The Turbonator said:

I know I'm paid well, I'm currently earning just short of £11 an hour but next year that will probably rise to over £12 an hour, what with an annual pay rise and a 10 years service pay rise award too.

If Bob Crow had been your union leader, you'd be on twice that amount, maybe 3 times.. Driving a bus has got to be a lot more stressful that driving a tube train.

Outside of London it's pretty decent wage for a bus driver. Everywhere else pays around 8-10 pound per hour. I suppose tube driving is a more valued skill.

[martin mrt]

routari said:

With driverless trucks on the horizon that will be able to work 24 hours a day for no pay, I don't see it as a future career choice. Dead serious.

Irony is, driving makes up a small percentage of the job, who hooks the trailers up, ensures the loads are secured correctly etc, there's more to it than just driving

Certainly can't see a driverless low loader anytime soon

[s p a c e m a n]

^^^ That. Driving is the easy part and less than a quater of the actual job. I could see supermarkets just about managing it on trunk runs between rdcs but it won't happen to general haulage for many years after cars manage it, if ever.

[gus607]

Same CPC !

[bigfatnick]

s p a c e m a n said:

^^^ That. Driving is the easy part and less than a quater of the actual job. I could see supermarkets just about managing it on trunk runs between rdcs but it won't happen to general haulage for many years after cars manage it, if ever.

To be fair, even with tipper work, I don't see it happening. Probably night trunking is your best bet for losing your job.

I think we all need to be stood on bridges in the Lake District dropping boulders into the front of these self driving trucks they're supposed to be trailing in the Lake District. The French wouldn't roll over and let it happen like we will! But then most of us are stupid enough to use the self service checkouts in supermarkets. If it happens will we group together and torch the automated trucks? I doubt it, most of us are too fat and lazy.


If it does happen, I see us having to be in the truck whilst it's being driven, we take over when it gets to a town. No doubt we'll still be prosecuted for being on the phone or similar whilst it's on self drive mode. Someone has to be prosecuted when the forklift driver doesn't load it correctly!)

That or we end up taking our night time rest on the bunk whilst the thing is sat on the m6 at 42mph. You get in the thing Monday morning, loading and unloading aside, it doesn't stop moving until Saturday morning..


However, Volvo/renault aside, none of the manufacturers have even managed to create an automatic gearbox that doesn't require driver Input (I've given up with auto mode in my scania and just use it as a manual - better fuel economy, it's faster, no looking like a tit when it decides to rev it's nuts off for no reason, no stalling itself when it can't decide to downshift as you come round an uphill bend on a site) the first to go will be "steering wheel attendant" work.

Edited by bigfatnick on Sunday 14th August 08:35

[bigfatnick]

OP, aside from the rant i scrawled above, I often sit behind a bus, looking at that ad, "drive this bus for £18-£24kpa - training and uniform supplied". And I honestly have no idea who would spend all day sat with no ergonomics, in a tiny little glass box, without the radio on, getting spat at, assaulted, stabbed, Having to avoid cyclists, having to break up fights, having to deal with the worst of society (because outside London, who gets the bus, really?), dealing with vomit and st, having to offer out first aid or calling ambulances when old people have medical emergencies or die. And you don't even have tachos to protect you from the tyranny of "can you just nip down to..."

You sir have a tough job, I wouldn't do it! You can earn 30ish grand for doing close to normal people hours (home every night) driving a Hgv where I live. A place my mate works at, doing curtainsider trunking in a brand new big cab Mercedes actros, with 3 or 4 nights out a week usual sees £575 a week in his pocket, and their transport manager tries to keep them to 45hrs/week "work" which I guess means you're on duty for maybe 50hrs/week. A friend from down south was telling me that 8 wheeler tipper drivers at a firm in Wimbledon are on £45k. I don't know what you earn, but if I was driving a bus, I'm pretty sure I'd take a pay cut to lose the points I outlined above!

That or go coach driving for one of the nice companies like "lochs and glens" where you take nice, affluent old people up the the highland, stay in nice hotels, cruise around the scenery, with bugger all traffic, then at the end of it all, they pass the hat around, and you get a pocket full of change and fivers!

Edited by bigfatnick on Sunday 14th August 08:53

[egor110]

The Turbonator said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

The Turbonator said:

I know I'm paid well, I'm currently earning just short of £11 an hour but next year that will probably rise to over £12 an hour, what with an annual pay rise and a 10 years service pay rise award too.

If Bob Crow had been your union leader, you'd be on twice that amount, maybe 3 times.. Driving a bus has got to be a lot more stressful that driving a tube train.

Outside of London it's pretty decent wage for a bus driver. Everywhere else pays around 8-10 pound per hour. I suppose tube driving is a more valued skill.

You'd be on almost £11 hour being a postie if you drive the 7.5 trucks i think you'd get a further allowance.

Pretty sure to drive the hgv's you'd have to join already trained up though.

[All that jazz]

egor110 said:

You'd be on almost £11 hour being a postie if you drive the 7.5 trucks i think you'd get a further allowance.

Pretty sure to drive the hgv's you'd have to join already trained up though.

Royal Mail is dead mans shoes to get in unless you start as a postie and work your way up. Only other choice is to get on with the main supplying agency and keep your nose clean. There's a long waiting list for driving jobs at the 2 RDCs in W Yorks and the new contracts don't pay like they used to but it's still well above average, plus it's the easiest driving job out there. I used to be in at Wakefield RDC but the job bored me to tears.

@ Turbonator, I see you're in my neck of the woods. Realistic class 2 PAYE round here is about £7.50-8.00, class 1 £8.00-9.00, days for both. You'll find some places will appear to pay higher but there's no overtime rate and some places will pay lower basic but will have time 1.33 or 1.5 overtime. On agency you're looking at about £10.50-11.00 days (on class 1 - class 2 typically a quid less), quid more for nights, and again, some want it on a flat rate so you've got to be careful. In short, you'll be taking a significant pay reduction when you factor in that you'll be doing a lot more hours than you do on buses. Also, as you already have your bus ticket you should be able to piss the class 2 without any training. It's essentially the same as the bus test. Class 1 will cost you though, obviously.

Loads of threads in this forum over the years debating whether it's worthwhile doing it or not so I'm not going to repeat myself. Search function is your friend etc.

[GC8]

Really? Those rates are shocking!?!

[All that jazz]

GC8 said:

Really? Those rates are shocking!?!

You're in this line of work yourself from what I can remember so it should come as no shock to you. The Polish, Romanians and Lithuanians think that money is great hence why the rates aren't increasing.

[s p a c e m a n]

I've heard that the prices outside London were pants, didn't realise that they were that low though.

For comparison class one bulk tanker drivers working for cemex out of tilbury get £38k a year for 48hr weeks, any overtime you get back in leiu. My lot structure it so that we get £150ish bonus each week for turning up, £10 an hour and then £14hr overtime (after tax ect.) That way we only get £400ish a week if we're on holiday.

I've got a few mates who have left here to do rigid tipper work around east london and they're bringing in about the same as they were here for the hours, but they have to work saturdays, which they bring in more money for.

Don't fancy commuting to London nah??

[GC8]

All that jazz said:

GC8 said:

Really? Those rates are shocking!?!

You're in this line of work yourself from what I can remember so it should come as no shock to you. The Polish, Romanians and Lithuanians think that money is great hence why the rates aren't increasing.

Always a shock to see it.

[gus607]

Done both HGV & PSV all my life, now retired (thank god).

Both were good jobs in the day, but nowadays ? NO THANK YOU.