Helping a wannabe!

Hi all, just looking for some advice really. Am seriously considering a change in career now, totally fed up stuck in the same office doing and asking the same questions day in day out. Have always had a passion for anything transportation wise, if it’s got wheels and moves I like it always wanted to do an ATPL and become a commercial pilot, but was unable to fulfil the extremely tight medical restrictions in place and this dream has had to be left behind me now. I’m currently managing a busy car garage and slowly but surely more and more paper exercises are being introduced, and simple things being made complex by covering everything with red tape, cut a long story short, I need a change.
For many years I’ve toyed with the idea of getting my lgv licence, love the idea of driving an articulated lorry and earning a living from it. My circumstances have changed since I originally had thoughts about trucking and am now a dad and have number 2 on the way Driving seems so appealing to me, but of course going to a new career is a massive step with dependants, mortgage etc so I just want some honest advice.
I’d like to know of any decent/recommended training centres in my area (Luton, Bedfordshire). I’d also just like some honest opinions on the trade. Ideally, and this is where I think I’m going to be asking too much, I would really like to not spend nights away from home, and salary wise in all seriousness needs to be in or around what I earn currently (take home is around £1800 - £2000 month after tax) how realistic is this?
I can afford to pay for my own training, but fear that most of the jobs I’ve seen advertised are not interested in low hour drivers, or if they are its earning poor money…?
Anyways, anyone willing to spill their brains and help me out, give me some direction I would really appreciate.

Thankyou

Money wise I dont think you will be making more than now. Also to achieve this level of income you will have to work full-time, this is around 50h a week. I doubt it is doable on low hours as in our area (Hemel- Luton-MK-Northampton) average pay is for class 1 driving is about £11 ph (days) and maybe quid extra for nights. Have a look on indeed jobs web to get a rough idea. To work out how much you would take home use UKPAYE taxman website.

With a wife, two little ones and a mortgage stay where you are. You could spend £3000 getting your licence and never get a job or end up with one of the jobs you see on here only paying £7 per hour which may be fine if you only want to see you kids on a Sunday.

Blacov89:
Money wise I dont think you will be making more than now. Also to achieve this level of income you will have to work full-time, this is around 50h a week. I doubt it is doable on low hours as in our area (Hemel- Luton-MK-Northampton) average pay is for class 1 driving is about £11 ph (days) and maybe quid extra for nights. Have a look on indeed jobs web to get a rough idea. To work out how much you would take home use UKPAYE taxman website.

Currently I already do at least 50 hours per week, this also means working every Saturday (no exceptions) with a day off during the week and Sundays off. So hours wise I’d be fine with it. I’ve seen some driving jobs with Mon-Fri working days with optional overtime on Sat/Sun with really good hourly rates (Sundays up to £18 per hour! ) I’ll take a look at what else is around. Thanks

mac12:
With a wife, two little ones and a mortgage stay where you are. You could spend £3000 getting your licence and never get a job or end up with one of the jobs you see on here only paying £7 per hour which may be fine if you only want to see you kids on a Sunday.

Many people say about being able to find a job, I might sound naive but there appears to be absolutely loads of jobs advertised for Class 1 & 2 driving. Why would it be difficult, do you say it because experience wise people would be reluctant to take you on? Surely there must be some positives to driving, it seems so appealing…? Again perhaps naive but I hope not?

Try Commercial Transport Training 01525 370862, just off the Leighton Buzzard Bypass/Billington turn, been going for years & not one of these B/S Brokers that you see on watchdog.
Can’t really see you taking home £1800-£2000 a month, £400 p/wk is about average, unless you get on for one of the supermarkets-Superdrug & DHL are in Dunstable.
Norberts & Culina have got depots in L/Buzzard.
FR Cawleys/Luton-rubbish/recycling is a steady job, although I hear the management have changed since I was there & there’s been cutbacks !
Milton Keynes has got more opportunities with Khuene & Nagel/Waitrose, John Lewis, Culina,
Dominoes (if you like hard work)
Maritime-(Maxouthourstime)
Most of these will want 2 years experience & will want at least a Saturday or Sunday out of you. Hours can be a bit uppy downy-early starts/late finishes, out of all the above Cawleys will fit you circumstances the best if you can get on the roll on’s (mate of mine was taking around £500 a week, a couple of years ago, but I hav’nt spoke to him for a while & as I’ve stated, they’ve had a bit of a management change)

Personally- you are probably better off where you are, regular hours, young family (I didn’t see my kids grow up as much as I would have liked) reasonable salary.
If you start getting ‘Lorry Disease’ you’ll only end up like a lot of us-Divorced & living in a Tin Can for some or most of the week-but fairly happy & not having to put up with Knobheads face to face, day in/day out & only the office to deal with if they answer the Bloody Phone grrrr ! (that’s for another thread)

The jobs you see advertised are they firms with real jobs or agencies looking to get drivers on the books just in case they need them.
You can as a new driver get jobs with firms such as brakes but it’s more of a job as a labour with a licence rather than a truck driver.
Why do you think the job is appealing? you have to remember it’s one of the few jobs where you can work 82 hours per week and that won’t give you much time for your wife and kids.

mac12:
The jobs you see advertised are they firms with real jobs or agencies looking to get drivers on the books just in case they need them.
You can as a new driver get jobs with firms such as brakes but it’s more of a job as a labour with a licence rather than a truck driver.
Why do you think the job is appealing? you have to remember it’s one of the few jobs where you can work 82 hours per week and that won’t give you much time for your wife and kids.

As far as I can tell they are jobs advertised with “immediete starts”? Appealing to me as at the moment I’m stuck in the same place and am starting to find dealing with the general public …mind numbing without going into too much detail. Have always enjoyed driving, something appeals. Do you think otherwise then? Just want some honesty really.

martinviking:
Try Commercial Transport Training 01525 370862, just off the Leighton Buzzard Bypass/Billington turn, been going for years & not one of these B/S Brokers that you see on watchdog.
Can’t really see you taking home £1800-£2000 a month, £400 p/wk is about average, unless you get on for one of the supermarkets-Superdrug & DHL are in Dunstable.
Norberts & Culina have got depots in L/Buzzard.
FR Cawleys/Luton-rubbish/recycling is a steady job, although I hear the management have changed since I was there & there’s been cutbacks !
Milton Keynes has got more opportunities with Khuene & Nagel/Waitrose, John Lewis, Culina,
Dominoes (if you like hard work)
Maritime-(Maxouthourstime)
Most of these will want 2 years experience & will want at least a Saturday or Sunday out of you. Hours can be a bit uppy downy-early starts/late finishes, out of all the above Cawleys will fit you circumstances the best if you can get on the roll on’s (mate of mine was taking around £500 a week, a couple of years ago, but I hav’nt spoke to him for a while & as I’ve stated, they’ve had a bit of a management change)

Personally- you are probably better off where you are, regular hours, young family (I didn’t see my kids grow up as much as I would have liked) reasonable salary.
If you start getting ‘Lorry Disease’ you’ll only end up like a lot of us-Divorced & living in a Tin Can for some or most of the week-but fairly happy & not having to put up with Knobheads face to face, day in/day out & only the office to deal with if they answer the Bloody Phone grrrr ! (that’s for another thread)

Thanks for all your information and honesty mate. Am half hoping I might meet someone here who actually enjoys the job and can find some positives in it…to be frank I feel like I’m clutching at straws expecting this

Anyone out there enjoy their job?

I mostly enjoy it, some days can be busy, others easy, like today, I’ve run all the way back from ■■■■■■■■■■■■■ & now I’m messing around collecting from around Daventry, sitting on POA at the moment waiting for the Chumps in the office to answer the phone-Easy Peasy Lemon Squezy !
I do HATE London though !
But that’s the Law ! DUMP !
Every body hates London now.

jamesdarlington:

martinviking:
Try Commercial Transport Training 01525 370862, just off the Leighton Buzzard Bypass/Billington turn, been going for years & not one of these B/S Brokers that you see on watchdog.
Can’t really see you taking home £1800-£2000 a month, £400 p/wk is about average, unless you get on for one of the supermarkets-Superdrug & DHL are in Dunstable.
Norberts & Culina have got depots in L/Buzzard.
FR Cawleys/Luton-rubbish/recycling is a steady job, although I hear the management have changed since I was there & there’s been cutbacks !
Milton Keynes has got more opportunities with Khuene & Nagel/Waitrose, John Lewis, Culina,
Dominoes (if you like hard work)
Maritime-(Maxouthourstime)
Most of these will want 2 years experience & will want at least a Saturday or Sunday out of you. Hours can be a bit uppy downy-early starts/late finishes, out of all the above Cawleys will fit you circumstances the best if you can get on the roll on’s (mate of mine was taking around £500 a week, a couple of years ago, but I hav’nt spoke to him for a while & as I’ve stated, they’ve had a bit of a management change)

Personally- you are probably better off where you are, regular hours, young family (I didn’t see my kids grow up as much as I would have liked) reasonable salary.
If you start getting ‘Lorry Disease’ you’ll only end up like a lot of us-Divorced & living in a Tin Can for some or most of the week-but fairly happy & not having to put up with Knobheads face to face, day in/day out & only the office to deal with if they answer the Bloody Phone grrrr ! (that’s for another thread)

Thanks for all your information and honesty mate. Am half hoping I might meet someone here who actually enjoys the job and can find some positives in it…to be frank I feel like I’m clutching at straws expecting this

But that is the reality mate, please take note and do a lot of research before you jump ship. You are in a well paid job with regular hours, I would swop places with you in a heart beat, the only way you’ll make the same amount of money as you’re on now is by tramping and maxing out your hours.
If it’s 8 hour days you’re after then you will be lucky to take home £300 per week. then there’s the 2 year experience thing were you might be lucky to get a couple of days work each week when they’re desperate.
If you look on the main forum page there’s a discussion about how busy agency drivers are and some are busy but most are sitting in the house waiting for the phone to ring and these are drivers with years of experience.
Sorry to be so negative but that’s the way it is

I did what you want to do and now work 100% agency. Ill do my best to give you some info.

First hurdle is getting experience, to do this you often have to do the jobs that others dont want on not great money.

Ignore any adverts from agencies its just bs to get you to sign up. £18ph is the sunday night rate they have negotiated with their client, what they dont tell you is there is rarely any work as the client covers it with their own drivers as the agency is too expensive.

To replicate the money you currently earn you will need a full time job as agency work is un predictable. I’d work on an average wage of about £8.50, take your gross salary and divide by this it will give you the hours you need to work every month to get to your current wage.

£28k (My guess at your current salary) is easily achievable once you have the right experience, takes about two years unless you get lucky. Will be for about a 50 hour week. Many earn more but this normally comes with un-social hours and shift patterns involving lots of weekends. If you work days early starts are the norm 4-6, back home for 6 if you are lucky.

Good bits

Despite what people say on here it’s not hard work sitting on your arse allday, once you have mastered the size of the truck it straight forward. There are skilled jobs but most of the work is easy and standard.

Most TM’s are a joke, but you only see them for 5 minutes a day and phones were made to be ignored. No general public to deal with really. You will meet a whole new brand of idiot that either wears a security uniform or drives a forklift truck… Top job if you don’t mind spending long periods on your own. I love it as getting away from joe public attracted me to the job.

If you can let traffic and the muppets on the road flow over you and not get wound up by delays its a low stress job.

Hours are long, you will have to miss your kids growing up to keep your standard of living where it is. I am seperated and only see my kids on the weekend so can commit to the job and make the sacrifices. On work days i travel to work, work an average 12 hours (add breaks) travel home eat sleep repeat.

You can earn good money, but it is done through the availibility of long hours in the job, not through above average rates of pay. I repeat for effect good money comes from long hours… to take home £500 p/w on agency at £10ph (average) you would need to be around 58 hours. Add on 5 45 min breaks and you are just short of 62 hours plus travel to work (say 30 mins ew) you will be out of the house 13.5 hours over 5 days so say leave home 4.30am walk back in 6.00pm. Up at 4 ish, 7 hours kip (you will need it to be safe) bed at 9. So three hours a day to eat shower wind down.

It’s not for everyone, the above is the reality not meant to put you off, just real world info. I do it, dont love it but can see there are a lot worse jobs. It is a job to me, i dont have or desire frilly curtains. If you have desire to polish a tank, show your truck etc it’s different its a passion. If it’s a way of earning money do the sums and look at the reality. If it works do it… if it don’t don’t.

Hi read your post with interest as I’m in the same boat as you. I’m face to face with ever critical and demanding customers daily. As a carpet fitter my take home pay is a little less than yours which is fine but I’m fed up with it. After 28 years who wouldn’t be.

The feeling of doing something enjoyable can’t have a value placed on it but in the real world the money needs to be there for mortgage etc

My plan is to not jump ship straight away. I’m going to do a assessment drive Jan/February next year. Once I’ve saved enough I’ll do cat c training and test late 2015 I will then at least have that on my license. When the time comes where Ive simply had enough on my knees I’ll do what’s necessary to earn a living driving with the understanding that I will need to take a cut in wages.

Don’t give up on it mate. I had grand ideas on being an airline pilot about 10 years ago alas I was about 27grand short

Moonpigdan:
Hi read your post with interest as I’m in the same boat as you. I’m face to face with ever critical and demanding customers daily. As a carpet fitter my take home pay is a little less than yours which is fine but I’m fed up with it. After 28 years who wouldn’t be.

The feeling of doing something enjoyable can’t have a value placed on it but in the real world the money needs to be there for mortgage etc

My plan is to not jump ship straight away. I’m going to do a assessment drive Jan/February next year. Once I’ve saved enough I’ll do cat c training and test late 2015 I will then at least have that on my license. When the time comes where Ive simply had enough on my knees I’ll do what’s necessary to earn a living driving with the understanding that I will need to take a cut in wages.

Don’t give up on it mate. I had grand ideas on being an airline pilot about 10 years ago alas I was about 27grand short

Old thread but how did it go? Did you go into the industry? If so how has it panned out?

Well it’s a while since moonpigdan posted, not sure he will see this. If you click on his name, it’ll come up with his ‘home’ page and you can look at his old posts.

jamesdarlington:

Moonpigdan:
Hi read your post with interest as I’m in the same boat as you. I’m face to face with ever critical and demanding customers daily. As a carpet fitter my take home pay is a little less than yours which is fine but I’m fed up with it. After 28 years who wouldn’t be.

The feeling of doing something enjoyable can’t have a value placed on it but in the real world the money needs to be there for mortgage etc

My plan is to not jump ship straight away. I’m going to do a assessment drive Jan/February next year. Once I’ve saved enough I’ll do cat c training and test late 2015 I will then at least have that on my license. When the time comes where Ive simply had enough on my knees I’ll do what’s necessary to earn a living driving with the understanding that I will need to take a cut in wages.

Don’t give up on it mate. I had grand ideas on being an airline pilot about 10 years ago alas I was about 27grand short

Old thread but how did it go? Did you go into the industry? If so how has it panned out?

More to the point, did YOU go into the industry?

idrive:

jamesdarlington:

Moonpigdan:
Hi read your post with interest as I’m in the same boat as you. I’m face to face with ever critical and demanding customers daily. As a carpet fitter my take home pay is a little less than yours which is fine but I’m fed up with it. After 28 years who wouldn’t be.

The feeling of doing something enjoyable can’t have a value placed on it but in the real world the money needs to be there for mortgage etc

My plan is to not jump ship straight away. I’m going to do a assessment drive Jan/February next year. Once I’ve saved enough I’ll do cat c training and test late 2015 I will then at least have that on my license. When the time comes where Ive simply had enough on my knees I’ll do what’s necessary to earn a living driving with the understanding that I will need to take a cut in wages.

Don’t give up on it mate. I had grand ideas on being an airline pilot about 10 years ago alas I was about 27grand short

Old thread but how did it go? Did you go into the industry? If so how has it panned out?

More to the point, did YOU go into the industry?

I’m in the same boat as you was James (only just realised it was 2014 you started this topic) and want to know how things panned out for you. I’ve registered with a couple of agencies and hoping leave my job and start Class 2 work soon