Advice in making a BIG decision

Hi all

I am after a bit of advice or people opinions on helping me in a career decision.

I currently work in the public sector and to be quite frank I’ve had enough of how we are being treated so am looking at a career move and I always said I wanted to drive a truck when I retired (I’m some way off that yet).
I earn around £35k now at my current job however with the deductions we have to pay for the pension and other things my take home pay each month is around £1,900. That’s with working nights and weekends however if I change career I don’t want to work nights anymore as I have a young family and want to spend more time with them.

The questions I have been asking myself and what I need a bit of advice on are:
Is it better to do class 2 for some experience before doing my class one or go straight for class 1?
Are there enough jobs out there?
What is the monthly take home pay like?
I have been quoted about £2,800 to do get my class one which includes the cpc is this about right?

I really appreciate any input anyone has as I want to gather as much information as possible before making this huge decision. I have done my research online but there is nothing better then asking the people out there doing it.

Thanks in advance
Karl

Welcome to TNUK, firstly you can’t go straight to class 1 anymore you need class 2 beforehand, the costs involved I couldn’t tell you I’m afraid, as for jobs there are plenty out there but it depends on where you’re based and as a newly qualified driver you might struggle to get something or you may land on your feet straight away. As for wages again it varies a lot and again depends on where you, who you work for and obviously the amount of hours worked.

Think carefully before committing yourself.

bald bloke:
Welcome to TNUK, firstly you can’t go straight to class 1 anymore you need class 2 beforehand, the costs involved I couldn’t tell you I’m afraid, as for jobs there are plenty out there but it depends on where you’re based and as a newly qualified driver you might struggle to get something or you may land on your feet straight away. As for wages again it varies a lot and again depends on where you, who you work for and obviously the amount of hours worked.

Think carefully before committing yourself.

Thank you very much I’ve been researching it for months now. I am aware you can’t go to class 1 straight away the course I have been quoted for is 8 days 4 for class 2 then 4 for class 1

if you have a normal job and do not like the way you are treated,then arnt you going to be in for a big surprise when you join the 1 o clock gang and find out the reality of your average truckies world regarding just that? unless you do cross channel work then you will just be deemed to be something you stood on by the general public and mostly wherever your delivering to especially if you work for the plobber tosco/stobrat type mobs where you will be no more than a bum on a seat.
do your class in your spare time or holiday periods etc and have a few tries with wrecking stuff through an agency ,once youve taken a reality pill there,you can just go back to your normal job.

You already earn a good £10k more than most truck drivers. Infact some are on £20k for class 1 and doing 60 hours a week.

The grass isnt greener, the industry is full of Agencies who cant get work Jan-Mar even April.

Many full time position wages are less than stacking shelves at Aldi if you live in northern England.

Id stay where you are or find a job that isnt nights in the career you have now.

I came from the public sector and had a job which on paper was great, however that said the atmosphere and stress of it along with the constant threat of job loss I had had enough and packed in. Not sure what part of the public sector you are in but is there any chance you could get voluntary redundancy? Don’t do what I did and just walk out as it put a great pressure on me to pass my tests.

Cheers

Hi Karl and welcome :slight_smile:

I passed my class 2 in January and went straight to class 1 and after a couple of retests passed end of May.

I have had various offers of class 1 work with no experience though some of that is dependent on location so if there isn’t much work in your area it may be different. Have a look at jobs and give them a call and say your a new pass to get an idea if not (don’t give your real name though.) The job I have taken is take home just under £500 a week which I am really pleased with as a new pass. Thats starting early (00-06) on Sunday to Thursday so every Friday/Saturday off. It is salaried so am sure there will be some long days to come but my main concern is that its a start.

Regards the way you are treated in the public sector (my partner works in it) the private sector is very different so you will have to bear that in mind in your decision.

Are you able to keep your job and do your training and then some part time work on agency to see if the job is for you? I am well aware that it is a major outlay to spend and not do it but if it doesn’t work for you at least you still have your current job.

That price sounds about right to me. I spent about £3500 from start to finish including 2 retests :blush: so remember to factor those in as well. As well as medical/theory tests. How many prices have you got? No proper trainer will mind a phone call. Always go and visit and do an assessment drive. There not too expensive and usually knocked off price of course if you go on to book it. Anyone who doesn’t want you to visit/drive walk away from.

Best of luck :smiley:

Hmm, i’m at the better end of lorrying (had me share of lucky breaks) and if you’re on £35kfor a normal number of hours and have a decent pension to look forward to then i suggest you will be very lucky to replace what you have now for several years, and as said depending on where you live, you may never get as good as you now have.

Having said lorrying has been my life, tried to move up at one point not for me, and i still enjoy it though my job is specialised and i could not do the suppliers to supermarket or argomazon type warehouses on a daily basis, which forms much of the work that you will probably be able to land at first till you find your niche.

I’d think very carefully about trying to move within your public sector first if i were you before starting down this road, though if you have the working hours to spare so you could legally do the odd shift, it might be interesting to take your tests and then do the odd shift on agency when it suits you to dip your feet in the water and not risk your present job till you’re sure its for you.

peterboroughmatt:
I came from the public sector and had a job which on paper was great, however that said the atmosphere and stress of it along with the constant threat of job loss I had had enough and packed in. Not sure what part of the public sector you are in but is there any chance you could get voluntary redundancy? Don’t do what I did and just walk out as it put a great pressure on me to pass my tests.

Cheers

Yes voluntary redundancy could be a possibility. The stress levels at the moment are through the roof no wonder more then 50% of staff are off sick leaving most of the work to the few of us and we get grief from them above for not meeting targets. Also not to mention the rest days they keep cancelling on a weekly basis and retaining us on duty as there isn’t enough staff to deal with demand.
Thanks for the advice

kcrussell25:
Hi Karl and welcome :slight_smile:

I passed my class 2 in January and went straight to class 1 and after a couple of retests passed end of May.

I have had various offers of class 1 work with no experience though some of that is dependent on location so if there isn’t much work in your area it may be different. Have a look at jobs and give them a call and say your a new pass to get an idea if not (don’t give your real name though.) The job I have taken is take home just under £500 a week which I am really pleased with as a new pass. Thats starting early (00-06) on Sunday to Thursday so every Friday/Saturday off. It is salaried so am sure there will be some long days to come but my main concern is that its a start.

Regards the way you are treated in the public sector (my partner works in it) the private sector is very different so you will have to bear that in mind in your decision.

Are you able to keep your job and do your training and then some part time work on agency to see if the job is for you? I am well aware that it is a major outlay to spend and not do it but if it doesn’t work for you at least you still have your current job.

That price sounds about right to me. I spent about £3500 from start to finish including 2 retests :blush: so remember to factor those in as well. As well as medical/theory tests. How many prices have you got? No proper trainer will mind a phone call. Always go and visit and do an assessment drive. There not too expensive and usually knocked off price of course if you go on to book it. Anyone who doesn’t want you to visit/drive walk away from.

Best of luck :smiley:

Thanks for the advice. I was thinking of this route of doing my lessons/tests in my days off and holidays and then working for an agency on the days off when I can.
I’ve spoken a couple of training schools who gave the same price each and going for a assessment drive at one on Friday so I shall see what they say. It is a lot of money to spend on something I may not get a job for so it’s a big decision.

Juddian:
Hmm, i’m at the better end of lorrying (had me share of lucky breaks) and if you’re on £35kfor a normal number of hours and have a decent pension to look forward to then i suggest you will be very lucky to replace what you have now for several years, and as said depending on where you live, you may never get as good as you now have.

Having said lorrying has been my life, tried to move up at one point not for me, and i still enjoy it though my job is specialised and i could not do the suppliers to supermarket or argomazon type warehouses on a daily basis, which forms much of the work that you will probably be able to land at first till you find your niche.

I’d think very carefully about trying to move within your public sector first if i were you before starting down this road, though if you have the working hours to spare so you could legally do the odd shift, it might be interesting to take your tests and then do the odd shift on agency when it suits you to dip your feet in the water and not risk your present job till you’re sure its for you.

I know 35k is a decent wage but my take home pay is nothing like that with deductions we have to pay for certain things means I only take home £1,900 a month with all the nights and weekends I work.
There’s no real movement within the job I do apart from sideways or getting an office based post which I don’t want to do can’t sit in front of a computer screen all day. I’m only 29 and have done this job for 10 years but how we have been treated over the last couple of years and the last few months especially most people are jumping ship.
Thank you for your advice.

As said there are plenty of drivers that can’t hope to earn anywhere near the £35k you already earn.

Me personally for a Class 1 50-hour contract on nights my top line for the year is around £33k with my night shift bonus so it isn’t too bad, but there are companies that pay a lot-lot less than that. Where you live also seems to play a big part in wages too.

Hours are very unpredictable generally unless your really lucky as well, a normal day can be 12+ hours up to a maximum of 15 hour days.

I am lucky in my job that generally I only do my 50 hours a week, 10 hours a night, with a bit of overtime here and there. I can’t remember the last time I did a 15 hour day, had the odd 12 hour shift here and there though.

Obviously, it’s your business and no one else’s but roughly £1000 a month in deductions seems very steep are you sure that is correct?

Hi Karl, I’ve sent you a pm. We appear to be in very similar circumstances!

simcor:
As said there are plenty of drivers that can’t hope to earn anywhere near the £35k you already earn.

Me personally for a Class 1 50-hour contract on nights my top line for the year is around £33k with my night shift bonus so it isn’t too bad, but there are companies that pay a lot-lot less than that. Where you live also seems to play a big part in wages too.

Hours are very unpredictable generally unless your really lucky as well, a normal day can be 12+ hours up to a maximum of 15 hour days.

I am lucky in my job that generally I only do my 50 hours a week, 10 hours a night, with a bit of overtime here and there. I can’t remember the last time I did a 15 hour day, had the odd 12 hour shift here and there though.

Obviously, it’s your business and no one else’s but roughly £1000 a month in deductions seems very steep are you sure that is correct?

Thank you for the info.
The way I see it is if your in work your in work so doing a 8, 10, 12 or 15 hours shift is the same to me I work 12 hour shifts at the moment anyway. I know I’m not going to make 35k doing this and I am willing to take a £200-£300 a month paycut for a stress free job with evenings and most weekends free.

Yes I am sure as it annoys me every month on how much my deductions are as my pension alone is 14% of my wage then with ni and tax it’s already £1000 gone.

I currently work in the public sector I did my hgv 1 year ago got myself a tramping job thought didn’t like it so went back to the public sector. Biggest mistake of my life going back I have been back 10 months now and I hate every minute of it. I wish I stayed where I was as when I left I was starting to enjoy it but I had already made the arrangements to go back so I went back. It’s been the worst 10 months of my life. Only good thing about the public sector is annual leave you get 3 weeks more than the average job but what’s 3 weeks if you hate your job. Sick pay you can take insurance out to cover you if you are sick. And pension where I am now I have to go to 68 so wouldn’t have much of a retirement. But you can take a private pension now plus you’ll have s bit of a pension from with the time you done.

Think carefully about that pension, it might seem a lifetime away at the moment but if they’re chucking in as much or more than you, with that sort of contribution the end pension should be really quite good, all of a sudden you find yourself in your 50’s and staring at retirement…lots of us here know we’re going to have to work at least a couple of days a week to make life bearable after we retire because we never managed to get on the right job at the right time to get a serious pension.

You’ve got more chance of ■■■■■■■ in the queens handbag than finding that again in lorry world, the exceptions are rare indeed.

They changed our pension 3 years ago I was on a final salary pension but that is frozen now. The pension we are on now is the same as any pension out there not that good

Don’t get me wrong I’m on a decent enough pension and it will allow me to retire at 60 but Im trying to think of enjoying my life now when I can do more then later on. This decision is a bloody hard one.

Bucky88:
Don’t get me wrong I’m on a decent enough pension and it will allow me to retire at 60 but Im trying to think of enjoying my life now when I can do more then later on. This decision is a bloody hard one.

If tip your toe in the murky world of hgv driving be prepared to work 3x15 hour shifts & 2x13 hour shifts each week (70 hours)
Companies expecting you to break the law to keep the job running.
Trust me when a company has you working these hours all you do other then work is sleep, its no life.
If you have a partner or children think how it will impact their lives too.

Hank Hill:

Bucky88:
Don’t get me wrong I’m on a decent enough pension and it will allow me to retire at 60 but Im trying to think of enjoying my life now when I can do more then later on. This decision is a bloody hard one.

If tip your toe in the murky world of hgv driving be prepared to work 3x15 hour shifts & 2x13 hour shifts each week (70 hours)
Companies expecting you to break the law to keep the job running.
Trust me when a company has you working these hours all you do other then work is sleep, its no life.
If you have a partner or children think how it will impact their lives too.

They can ask you to do 3X13 (6 days) as well