Good to read this post as I’m keen to not let work ruin my home life like I have done in the past to some extent.
I’m looking to do my class 2 after 10 or so years In my current line of work. I’ve always fancied it and the work I do now isn’t really very good for my health so it’s about time I got out.
From what I have seen advertised, and speaking to 2 acquaintances, one a class 2 driver with 6 months experience and one Class 1 with 8 years, there is plenty of work around here (northants).
Seems like you can almost choose the sort of work you want to do based on where you’re at in your life. The class 2 driver worked some pretty tough sounding agency gigs for the first 5 months and is now working full time for a well known builders merchants 7.30 till 4.30 who are paying for HIAB & Class 1 and paying around £27k. Sounds great to me for only 6 months under his belt. I could live with that. The class 1 driver I know doesn’t mind being away on occasion and likes the money, has been Ltd up until recently and done quite well out of it but put the hours in.
I quite like the idea of local class 2 work, do class 1 at some point, maybe weekend shift when my other half stops work when we have kids to maximise on time at home, perhaps a 7 till 5 builders merchants jobby with a young family if possible. Wouldn’t even mind some night shifts doing long runs. But personally I’d like to avoid regularly doing big hours as I’ve had enough of that in my current line of work, so once I’ve got some experience I will try to find something around 45-50 hours a week max if I can. Happy to do some extra hours if it’s early starts and still get an evening.
Best of luck and I’m sure you can make it work long term even if you have to ■■■■ it up for a while until you’ve got some experience. Let us know where you end up.