If its the better money you are after, it won’t necessarily be found on long distance work, as that in most cases is sewn up by the hire and reward sector which has to compete increasingly with east european hauliers, and basically there’s sod all money in the hire and reward sector.
The best money and conditions is generally but not always found in companies carrying their own goods, and this includes proper supermarket operations, but these generally are day or night runs comprising one mid distance journey or two shorter journeys.
As a new driver (though tempered somewhat by your coaching experience) you may well have to accept whatever there is going to get a foothold and some lorry history behind you, but from day one if you make an effort to learn the job and to go about it in a careful considerate reliable way, then this industry like many others you can make inroads into the better jobs.
Money wise, yes you may well find yourself averaging around £10 an hour across the board for a while, but if you get yourself a good work history that can soon become a £12/14 an hour average, and if you make your own luck considerably more than that can be found out there…note the best jobs have never and will never be advertised.
Make no bones about it, luck does play a big part in how a lorry career progresses, and being prepared to go the extra mile and then to rip their arm off if someone offers you something decent…ie don’t ■■■■ about like some others have, got to have a chat with the mrs and think about it for a week or other time wasting ■■■■■■■■, because good jobs get snapped up in an instant by someone else and if you ain’t hungry enough to get the job in the first place what does that say about how keen you will be once you’ve been there several years 
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