Passed my Class 1 test yesterday!
Discussion
I am so chuffed with myself 
I've been driving rigids, multi-dropping for 6 years or so and still adore my job. I wake up with a smile on my face every morning and have the same passion for driving as I did when I passed my driving test way back in 2001.
Anyway, I'd like some advice from the seasoned artic. drivers if I may? Where do I go from here is essentially what I want to know. Agency, straight in to full-time (if I can find someone to take me on with my limited experience)? Or are there other options?
I honestly did have it planned out and thought I'd have a job lined up but the circumstances at my current place of work changed and now we are getting a rather nice pay rise that is on par with other Class 1 work in the area even though we will still be Class 2. Basically, my employer announced that our depot would be shutting down and moving 25 miles up the road, I never thought the wages would be as high as they've offered so thought it a great opportunity to get some more training and fulfil my ambition by moving on to bigger lorries.
I've been driving rigids, multi-dropping for 6 years or so and still adore my job. I wake up with a smile on my face every morning and have the same passion for driving as I did when I passed my driving test way back in 2001.Anyway, I'd like some advice from the seasoned artic. drivers if I may? Where do I go from here is essentially what I want to know. Agency, straight in to full-time (if I can find someone to take me on with my limited experience)? Or are there other options?
I honestly did have it planned out and thought I'd have a job lined up but the circumstances at my current place of work changed and now we are getting a rather nice pay rise that is on par with other Class 1 work in the area even though we will still be Class 2. Basically, my employer announced that our depot would be shutting down and moving 25 miles up the road, I never thought the wages would be as high as they've offered so thought it a great opportunity to get some more training and fulfil my ambition by moving on to bigger lorries.
Congrats Nick. 
There's no right or wrong answer to your question of where you go now. Depends what's available in your area and whether you can find someone to take you on with your lack of experience. Agencies will have your pants down given the opportunity and they do like fresh faces as they know the driver won't argue back and will just go along with whatever rate they say, but depending on your confidence levels, being thrown in at the deep end and left to figure it all out on your own often maketh a good skilled driver long term but it's a steep learning curve initially but worth it for the experience. If you're low on confidence then it'd be better to find a company to take you on and nanny you under the supervision of another driver.
If they're offering you artic money for driving a rigid then personally I'd just stick with that while it lasts. You feel the "I'm an artic man now and only drive artics" pinch that many drivers get but seriously, once the novelty wears off you'll happily drive anything if the money is right. I thought I wanted to do abnormal load work and worked for some right s
thole companies to get enough experience to get a job with the big boys, but even though I got in and made some decent money I actually found that it was too much like hard work 
. I went back to hauling pallets about and set up on my own and now make decent money whatever I drive. Last week I was in an artic with an extender on delivering steel on multi-drop round S Yorks. This week I was driving a 7.5 tonner shunting beds between 2 warehouses 0.25 mile apart. And from tonight I'll be pulling an artic flour tanker. 
There's no right or wrong answer to your question of where you go now. Depends what's available in your area and whether you can find someone to take you on with your lack of experience. Agencies will have your pants down given the opportunity and they do like fresh faces as they know the driver won't argue back and will just go along with whatever rate they say, but depending on your confidence levels, being thrown in at the deep end and left to figure it all out on your own often maketh a good skilled driver long term but it's a steep learning curve initially but worth it for the experience. If you're low on confidence then it'd be better to find a company to take you on and nanny you under the supervision of another driver.
If they're offering you artic money for driving a rigid then personally I'd just stick with that while it lasts. You feel the "I'm an artic man now and only drive artics" pinch that many drivers get but seriously, once the novelty wears off you'll happily drive anything if the money is right. I thought I wanted to do abnormal load work and worked for some right s
thole companies to get enough experience to get a job with the big boys, but even though I got in and made some decent money I actually found that it was too much like hard work . I went back to hauling pallets about and set up on my own and now make decent money whatever I drive. Last week I was in an artic with an extender on delivering steel on multi-drop round S Yorks. This week I was driving a 7.5 tonner shunting beds between 2 warehouses 0.25 mile apart. And from tonight I'll be pulling an artic flour tanker. 
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