Sooo so so sick of agencies with their constant lying, not paying 100% of what was promised, cancelled shifts etc. - anyone who’s been through that route know the story.
Been trying to get a full time job or at least an interview but even got a response from any of the places I’ve sent my CV+cover letter to, mainly via indeed.crap who keep spamming my email with “offers” but no one ever as much as acknowledges my applications…I’m too shy and not that desperate to go knock on doors, besides my CV isn’t that impressive with 0 prior driving related experience. HGV driving 8 months, that’s it.
I was feeding some feint hopes for the current place i’m at but considering there are less than 10 drivers there who are on a perm contract I don’t see it happening as there are agency drivers who’ve been at the place way longer than me and no mention of a full time position.
Me being picky about the kind of work I’m willing to do doesn’t help either 
Right now it seems my only option is to wait for my credit card to arrive and see if it’ll have enough of a limit to cover a class 1 course + test. Class 2 work has brought me nothing but disappointment and mediocrity but at least it got me into the “world” of trucking. Then again, thinking about it class 1 is an extra £1-2 per hour and it’s a more difficult task to drive + maneuver an artic. At a £1500 cost that’s an extra 750-1500 hours or up to 30 weeks of steady 50hrs a week work just to pay back for the training (/wo interest) and that’s if I don’t go Stobbart which I’ll probably have to as there’s no way I’m going back to agency once I get my full license.
This is why I would discourage anyone new from coming into the industry. Agencies are scum and if you don’t want to work for an agency as a newbie, the cards are really stacked against you. My advice to you would be to become a good liar. The class one is not a magic wand, you are just going to find yourself in the same situation but deeper in debt.
I would suggest you put the money to better use and become a plumber/electrician/welder take your pick. Sounds to me like you want job security, and this industry is notoriously difficult
johnteller:
This is why I would discourage anyone new from coming into the industry. Agencies are scum and if you don’t want to work for an agency as a newbie, the cards are really stacked against you. My advice to you would be to become a good liar. The class one is not a magic wand, you are just going to find yourself in the same situation but deeper in debt.
I would suggest you put the money to better use and become a plumber/electrician/welder take your pick. Sounds to me like you want job security, and this industry is notoriously difficult
last I checked an electrician corse cost £3000 lol. I did consider it before but I’m so bad at technical stuff I figured trucking was my only viable option at this stage in my life. My last assignment the agency paid me at £8.40 an hour… what a joke for 11-12-13 hour shifts. I’ll be paying them a visit first thing in the morning.
You’ve got to kiss a few frogs first…
In my experience you have to go round & chap a few doors. I’ve had numerous full time jobs by doing this.
This doesn’t show you are desperate.
This industry is unique ( to say the least).
If a firm is going to let you loose on the road in a vehicle costing £50-80k they would rather meet you face to face. Emails get discarded.
Give yourself more time & adjust your strategy before you make any big decisions.
Sent from my moto e5 play using Tapatalk
Looks as though your not prepared to put yourself out by knocking on a few doors and showing your face,because in your opinion your showing your desperate
Being a newbie with only 8 months at it,you cant afford to be too "picky or choosy",you need to "bite the bullet" and at the very least show a bit of gumption,and get out there. E-mails and CVs don`t show your face,they more than likely get deleted or in the trash bin.
1 - What jobs fit into your scope?
2 - What area are you in?
toonsy:
1 - What jobs fit into your scope?
2 - What area are you in?
- Anything that doesn’t involve heavy handball (got myself a small hernia a few years back, still untreated) or city centre multi-drop.
- West Midlands (close to Birmingham about 15 miles away)
DF40:
This industry is unique ( to say the least).
True that…I chuckle every time I read one of those threads by overly excited wannabe drivers “Oh I love driving, it’s gonna be great”, “Starting the Journey”, the adventure, the jump…lol. But I too don’t want to go around discouraging people from trying, sadly most of them seem to be wanting to get in for all the wrong reasons.
^^^^^^^ This.
There’s lots of class2 about you just have to look, Brakes at Grantham, Bidvest at Banbury,Royton,Paddock Wood, XPO at Bedworth. Basically anywhere that delivers food.and most are £26k a year 0500- approx 14-00 ISH finished. Or go into the pallet ways haulage, again that’s a case of going in to see them, bit of old fashioned door knocking.
Instead of throwing good money after bad ,doing class 1 ,what about getting a bus licence? You could start out with your local large operator they may even train you(bonus in itself). After a while do coaches. Try skip or tipper firms for work .
lolipop:
Looks as though your not prepared to put yourself out by knocking on a few doors and showing your face,because in your opinion your showing your desperate
Being a newbie with only 8 months at it,you cant afford to be too "picky or choosy",you need to "bite the bullet" and at the very least show a bit of gumption,and get out there. E-mails and CVs don`t show your face,they more than likely get deleted or in the trash bin.
Sorry, I just can’t imagine myself turning up at Sam’s Transport company where Sam is the owner and his 2 sons are the only drivers and saying “Hey I’d be so excited to work for you guys…btw what kind of work is it actually? Oh, £8.50 p/h? Sorry, I just remembered I have to be somewhere else” or going to say Royal Mail and demanding to be let in so I can speak to their TM regarding a job application…I’m just not that kind of person - all my jobs so far I’ve found either through friends/relatives or by applying online (signing up with agencies, more like) or by pure blind luck. I’m not a good liar…I even paid £10 to some guy on ebay to write a “professional” CV for me which was of course full of lies - I just couldn’t bring myself to do it so I outsourced the responsibility Still got me no call-backs though. Probably karma hard at work
alamcculloch:
Instead of throwing good money after bad ,doing class 1 ,what about getting a bus licence? You could start out with your local large operator they may even train you(bonus in itself). After a while do coaches. Try skip or tipper firms for work .
Not that good with people, I’m afraid. IMO if anyone in the driving industry has it worse it’s got to be the city bus drivers. Plenty of ex-bus drivers here, too, looking for advice on getting HGV license so it can’t be that good
I’m thinking more like, star mass sending CV+application to companies even if they don’t advertise for jobs right now, perhaps it will get me on some “waiting list” of sorts? Or would they just delete+report spam so my future applications to actual advertised jobs by them will never reach them?
There will be more Class 2 opportunities over the next few months when drivers start taking their holidays, although having a Class 1 licence will open far more opportunities to you.
The same advice applies as has been given on here ever since TruckNet started, don’t write, don’t phone, don’t email, get in your car and drive round to ask people in person, ready to start immediately if asked.
alamcculloch:
Instead of throwing good money after bad ,doing class 1 ,what about getting a bus licence? You could start out with your local large operator they may even train you(bonus in itself). After a while do coaches. Try skip or tipper firms for work .
■■■■ the buses, I’ve done that, no end of aggrivation, imagine having to stop every time you get to third gear, best advice I could think of is get the class one, you’ll have more choice then
Sorry fella, but if you’re too shy to knock on doors, are not good with people, and are picky about what work you do, then road haulage is not for you. Good luck.
chinese6:
Sorry fella, but if you’re too shy to knock on doors, are not good with people, and are picky about what work you do, then road haulage is not for you. Good luck.
Oh don’t get me wrong, I’m good at my job as anyone who I’ve worked for and remembers me can vouch; I’m not shy at all when acting on behalf of other people when I know there’s a job to be done i.e. a delivery to be made - I’ll phone whoever I have to, ask around, be nice or be assertive depending on the situation - I haven’t missed a single delivery or collection in the 8 months I’ve been in this biz - no matter how wrong the address, unbooked deliveries, scheduled for a different place/date/time, too early/too late, damaged loads, no reference number - had it all, never gave up, always found a way to make them accept it.
As for knocking on doors - I like knowing whose door I’m knocking on, most small-medium sized companies have no website where I can look them up and see what they’re all about. With no information on the company it’s like going on a dating site that doesn’t allow members to have pictures of themselves…Show up, “ready for work”, do a test drive, walk away when they say £8.49 p.h. mate, we’re a small firm and we can see you’re kind of desperate 
alamcculloch:
Instead of throwing good money after bad ,doing class 1 ,what about getting a bus licence? You could start out with your local large operator they may even train you(bonus in itself). After a while do coaches. Try skip or tipper firms for work .
Reading between the lines I’m sure the OP seems to rightly be asking for a start on decent work.You know distance bulk or even full load work.It really shouldn’t be rocket science to realise that most drivers are willing to trade the downsides of the job,like the responsibility for one,for at least just the basic premise that driving up to a 32t truck will at least allow those who want it to get out on the open road.If they want to trundle around the houses or town there’s no need to go to all the aggro of driving a bus or a truck when driving a taxi or car delivery/collection for the local garage will do that.
The fact that too many employers now seem to want to just use trucks as local delivery vans and send drivers no further than round the block doing umpteen handball drops,if not at best messing about with a Hiab crane for more hours of the day than driving is an institutional problem going on within the industry and it’s nothing new.Possibly because of crippling unsustainable fuel costs making longer haul work unviable and the OP is right to moan and throw his toys out of the pram about it.Bearing in mind that ‘class 2’ can also often now mean the old class 3 type work reducing the options/chances for distance work even more.
As for the class 1 when all else seems lost in my experience night trunking can be your friend and a relative,if not perfect way out of the worst of the dross.So yes bite the bullet and go for it on the basis it can’t possibly be any worse than the situation which applies to class 2 work.
As for driving a bus in the hope that it will be a stepping stone to long distance coach work don’t fall for it.When there aren’t even any more driver friendly Surrey bus route jobs going for new or even established drivers who actually live here.Only London type zb.Let alone Inter City coach service work.
Just as being naive enough to take all the class 2 zb work out there going won’t be a guaranteed stepping stone to the best truck work.Don’t ask me how I know that.
ETS:
Sooo so so sick of agencies with their constant lying, not paying 100% of what was promised, cancelled shifts etc. - anyone who’s been through that route know the story.
Been trying to get a full time job or at least an interview but even got a response from any of the places I’ve sent my CV+cover letter to, mainly via indeed.crap who keep spamming my email with “offers” but no one ever as much as acknowledges my applications…I’m too shy and not that desperate to go knock on doors, besides my CV isn’t that impressive with 0 prior driving related experience. HGV driving 8 months, that’s it.
I was feeding some feint hopes for the current place i’m at but considering there are less than 10 drivers there who are on a perm contract I don’t see it happening as there are agency drivers who’ve been at the place way longer than me and no mention of a full time position.
Me being picky about the kind of work I’m willing to do doesn’t help either
Right now it seems my only option is to wait for my credit card to arrive and see if it’ll have enough of a limit to cover a class 1 course + test. Class 2 work has brought me nothing but disappointment and mediocrity but at least it got me into the “world” of trucking. Then again, thinking about it class 1 is an extra £1-2 per hour and it’s a more difficult task to drive + maneuver an artic. At a £1500 cost that’s an extra 750-1500 hours or up to 30 weeks of steady 50hrs a week work just to pay back for the training (/wo interest) and that’s if I don’t go Stobbart which I’ll probably have to as there’s no way I’m going back to agency once I get my full license.
Artic’s are far easier to drive than rigid’s.
(Or large vans as I like to call them)
You sound like the kind of guy thats sits in the house waiting on the supermodel like girl to chap your door and ask you to marry her.
If you want something good go looking for it.
Not being good with people doesnt help.
Ive found any job ive got has been done by knocking doors and advertising myself.
Youd be more suited to the security sector sitting in a tin box all night in my honest opinion.
ETS:
As for knocking on doors - I like knowing whose door I’m knocking on, most small-medium sized companies have no website where I can look them up and see what they’re all about. With no information on the company it’s like going on a dating site that doesn’t allow members to have pictures of themselves…Show up, “ready for work”, do a test drive, walk away when they say £8.49 p.h. mate, we’re a small firm and we can see you’re kind of desperate
Or alternatively, knock on a few doors ( I prefer not to use the indeeds of this world because you get about 150 repiles and I’m busy enough). You don’t have to bound in like an over-enthusiastic labrador, you just have to look clean and working smart with a smile, ask if their is any work and offer your CV. They probably won’t have work then and there, but when someone leaves/they are expanding they remember that pleasant person that knocked on their door and that he had enough get up and go to look for a job, they won’t think desperate. Certainly beats paying Indeed and trawling through a load of responses for which half are replying because the job centre tells them to and/or they don’t actually have a license, then getting someone in and discovering that their interview clothes haven’t been washed for a week and they have a ■■■■■■■■ tattooed on their forehead.
We are probably the most unlikely looking of firms for a good job, not a great premises, plain trucks, no website (what’s the point when you are supposed to be circumspect about what you carry), yet we pay well and most people stay for a long time and those that leave don’t leave because they don’t like the job. Sometimes small firms can be better than a large firm.
albion:
ETS:
As for knocking on doors - I like knowing whose door I’m knocking on, most small-medium sized companies have no website where I can look them up and see what they’re all about. With no information on the company it’s like going on a dating site that doesn’t allow members to have pictures of themselves…Show up, “ready for work”, do a test drive, walk away when they say £8.49 p.h. mate, we’re a small firm and we can see you’re kind of desperate
Or alternatively, knock on a few doors ( I prefer not to use the indeeds of this world because you get about 150 repiles and I’m busy enough).
Which firstly suggests that the ‘driver shortage’ is a lie and going by the pages of class 2 local multi drop/building delivery jobs on such job sites the real problem is too many drivers looking for not enough decent driving jobs that most of those drivers rightly want to do and such jobs aren’t advertised,let alone ever get onto agencies books,because they don’t need to be.Getting thrown off site by walking into someone’s premises unannounced ain’t going to change that fact.While if every hopeful driver took your advice you’d obviously just have 150 prospective applicants walking into your yard every day.
Having said that if you really don’t want the 150 replies just say in the ad that you are offering yet more local multi drop work and only tell them the truth when they arrive for the interview. 
Carryfast:
albion:
ETS:
As for knocking on doors - I like knowing whose door I’m knocking on, most small-medium sized companies have no website where I can look them up and see what they’re all about. With no information on the company it’s like going on a dating site that doesn’t allow members to have pictures of themselves…Show up, “ready for work”, do a test drive, walk away when they say £8.49 p.h. mate, we’re a small firm and we can see you’re kind of desperate
Or alternatively, knock on a few doors ( I prefer not to use the indeeds of this world because you get about 150 repiles and I’m busy enough).
Which firstly suggests that the ‘driver shortage’ is a lie and going by the pages of class 2 local multi drop/building delivery jobs on such job sites the real problem is too many drivers looking for not enough decent driving jobs that most of those drivers rightly want to do and such jobs aren’t advertised,let alone ever get onto agencies books,because they don’t need to be.Getting thrown off site by walking into someone’s premises unannounced ain’t going to change that fact.While if every hopeful driver took your advice you’d obviously just have 150 prospective applicants walking into your yard every day.
Having said that if you really don’t want the 150 replies just say in the ad that you are offering yet more local multi drop work and only tell them the truth when they arrive for the interview.
I’ve never subscribed to the theory that there is a driver shortage.
Anyone that has knocked at my door has never been thrown off site. Of course there are places that you know you can’t walk into, you wouldn’t get past the gate house. You have to use some common.
Carryfast you just look for issues where there are none. You aren’t going to get 150 people walking in because of those 150 applicants, a percentage are only doing so because they need to prove they are looking, another tranche don’t have the get up and go and the 150 are not a new 150 every day.
I’ve done two ads in god knows how many years because people come on recommendation, a system that suited us and worked very well.