SaucyWeeTart:
Great job. What was your strategy after passing for finding work?
Originally I was looking for either tipper work or trunking work to begin with. I soon found out there isn’t much Class 2 trunking work in the South East of England and tipper work around here is trickier to find than expected.
In the end, I signed up to like 5 or 6 agencies, stating PAYE only. Some I walked away from after they could only offer Umbrella.
My first Class 2 work was at Gatwick airport, driving and reversing in tighter spots than you would find on the road but low mileage each night. I lasted 6 months on that, as it was more a labourers job than a driver’s job. In that 6 months I probably saw 8-10 drivers come and go.
After that, I signed up to another agency and they gave me some pretty crap work, did a bit of general haulage on Class 2 moving paper products (Company were surprised I bothered strapping the load, as “it was paper, it was heavy and wouldn’t move” in their words). Then I did some plant delivery/collection in the middle of London with a 26 tonne long wheel base with beaver tail - That was fun.
Then I got some better work at the agency when they realised I would turn up ontime and didn’t crash the truck. They got me into Hermes, driving 12 and 18 tonne trucks, doing some Class 2 trunking up to Rugby and more local multi drop at residential addresses, and depot to sub-depot type work - The night work was easier but mostly moving pallets and parcels on/in the pallets with collars around them. That same agency got me some Class 1 work at Hermes, again trunking up to Rugby and back.
Then the agency sent me to Royal Mail for a driving assessment on Class 2, which I passed and I’ve been happy there since - But they are changing with some management getting pushing drivers to do more per shift and cut journey times.
Still curious to give tippers a go one day, as well as maybe tankers too.