A company asked me the other day if I knew of HGV fitters or as most people refer to them now as technicians.I sent a bundle of texts off to people who are vehicle operators and generally in the know about what is going on in the truck world.
The answer seems to be like hgv drivers the cupboard is bare with no one available,so I wonder in view of higher pay and perks this tempts any of you who locked there Snap On tools away to have a rethink?
The cupboard is more than bare, its missing.
I was speaking to an agency bod a few months ago and he said drivers were hard to get and hgv fitters/techs/mechs impossible.
Money still isnt as good as it should be, but 45/50 hours a week will get a tidy hgv tech 50k per year without to much effort Im talking down South.
We had a new one start recently, he reckoned he went to two different job interviews each day for a week and at the end of each interview got offered every single job, which kind of tells you all you need to know about the shortage of mechanics.
Sadly this also means that muppets get taken on simply as they need the manpower.
There are 20 of us at our place and I can say hand on heart if we were all laid off on a Monday each and every one of us would have a job the next day, two days at the worst, a few with their fingers on the pulse would have a job before they left the gate! it might not be the job you want but it will pay the bills until you can find better.
If my back wasn’t knackered I think it would be where I would be. Still got all my tools which spend most of their time now sat there gathering dust. Really grinds my gears having to pay someone to do jobs on my car I have the knowledge and gear to do.
Usual story - all want a qualified person but no-one is willing to train a person to be one
A good trade for a youngster, not as phyiscally demanding or dirty as it was years ago, in the Bristol area where I work companies are crying out for them the lads in my place had a £5 an hour rise 4 on 4 off nice modern workshop with all the gadgets and no clowning with tyres.
They actually earn more than the drivers which was once un heard of.
Bit like the industry as a whole…if you off good money you will get what you want…as the old saying goes: You only get what you pay for. Probably why many companies cannot fill their vacancies…but as Bob Dylan once sang: The times they are a changing… 
Even the apprentices coming through are dire ,no one wants to do the job ,and to be honest I don’t blame them …The vehicles are extremely technical ,but the entrance exam is still the same as it was in the 70s …Instructors do all they can to make sure people pass exams …We have 3rd year lads ,1 wheel fails a brake test and they don’t have a clue what to do next …There are some excellent lads out there ,but there is also 100s of BKINGS out there who are an accident waiting to happen
Qualified techs are in demand all over the world. Why would you want to stay here when you have the options of going to Australia or Canada to live. Better pay and and standard of living it’s a no brainer.
Having been self employed for more than 20 years with my own customers, would I go back to employed in a workshop? I’ve thought about it, just like the ODs though, it would be nice to get rid of the hassle associated with running a business. No more worrying about the diary looking a bit thin next week, no more trawling through jobcards editing out a few hours to get the invoice to ‘look’ a bit better just below the £ thousand mark rather than above it, no more twiddling thumbs waiting for the parts van to turn up or hours on the phone trying to locate obsolete parts etc.
To be rid of that would be nice, but what would I be returning to? I couldn’t put up with the constant ‘hurry up’ and the ‘when is this going to be ready?’ twenty years ago, so at only weeks from 65 I sure as hell couldn’t put up with it now. Unless things have changed dramatically nor would I be quietly going out to the car park to fetch some piece of equipment that the employer ought to be providing - and then lending it next week when someone else is doing a job which needs it. Don’t get me on being ‘spoken to’ for actually doing the job which is on the service sheet rather than ticking the box like every other ■■■■■■. Or “no, you can’t book ‘stores waiting time’, you have to make up time lost by working faster or do what the others do and invent a job to cover the time”.
Yes, part time and only between 7am and 6pm fine, I might be interested, but rotating two or three shift systems no, especially when there is the attitude that if on lates then you are only going home to bed, so there is no reason to refuse staying on for another hour or three to finish a job which should have been on the day shift anyway.
So tell me things have changed and you are now just left to get on with the job…
I gave the workshop up two years ago to do driving. After 29 years I’d had enough, the young lads employed as apprentices ‘can’t do heavy work’. The schools have taut them that they can do, or be any thing they want to, so they only want to press buttons on laptops why the old guys do the dirty heavy stuff. I took a fairly heavy base pay cut but I generally enjoy most days now which is more than I could say before! 
Problem is how much an apprentice gets paid which is often about £3.50 an hour. So they often take home less then £200 a week. That’s great for someone who is 16-19 years old but even someone who is that age could get more money as a day labourer.
Well what about if your about 25 years old+ and what to be a HGV Technican? Tough luck… You might be entitled to the minimum wage as far as I’m aware but you will rarely do over 20+ hours a week for the first year. Not many people in there mid 20s or older who want a career change can afford to get paid under 1k a month.
I don’t know much about it but I know that these places go through a lot of apprentices when they decide they don’t want to wait years to earn decent money.
When I left the retail motor trade(mechanic then supervisor with a main dealer 35 years ago) it was difficult to find decent mechanics not technicians, mechanics have to get down & dirty (awaiting DD’s reply 
) I have friends/contacts in the trade who tell me agency mechanics/techs are on decent money and main dealer call out guys £70/80 grand a year