Do i go for Class 1 straight away?

DannyM271091:
Thanks for all the responses guys, do you not think it would be hard for me to get a Class 1 job though with no experience? don’t wanna be out of work for long with all the bills to pay

It’s either a maybe or a probably depending on who you know and where you are based.

But at some point maybe a few weeks, months or even a year the chance will come. It did for me. When I was first offered a bone I was so atrocious a DHL shunter came over laughing saying he couldn’t watch me struggling. Said to drop it and he’d sort it.

But the company didn’t know that. So I kept on getting work. And slowly (felt really slowly) I got better. And I transitioned from doing class 2 work to now mainly/only doing class 1. Looking back I’m not sure how I was so rubbish. I now go to places which I’d have given up without trying back then. I got lucky that my first ‘break’ was literally picking up trailers and dropping them at distribution centres.

Once you have the licence it matures like a good wine. And the skills come quicker than you think they are. There is still an enormous gulf between me and most of the long term drivers on here. But on a normal good side reverse you’d have to look real close to see it.

After you have the basics - class 1 is not that hard. I find it an awful lot easier than class 2 now. That’s just me maybe. But I turn the wheel to late on corners on class 2, and I turn the steering wheel the wrong way when reversing. Artics are also an awful lot easier to spin around in a tight space. It’s 100% worth doing - don’t let everyone know that though. We need the class 2 drivers to do the hard unglamorous work - and I don’t care if they are paid the same/more. They earn every penny. Once you have got used to doing class 1 work you won’t want to drive rigids again.