Do i go for Class 1 straight away?

[DannyM271091]

so i passed my Theory 2 weeks ago but the bad news is that my work has delayed making me redundant until Feb/March time and i dont have any holiday days to be able to book time off to do my practical driving + test so i will have to wait until Feb/March to even start training.

Also, the more i am thinking about it, i may just try and do the Class 1 straight after and get it out of the way and get on to the big money

thoughts on going straight into Class 1 with no Class 2 experience?

[carryfast-yeti]

yes,go for it! i,and many others sailed through our Class 1 test back in the day when you didn't have to do a Class 2,or3,first. a mate passed his C1 without even a full car licence

[rabb]

Go for it. Bollocks to those who say you need to get class 2 experience first. I done class 2 and class 1 back to back last year. I'm a year now on class 1 with my employer. Decent money and a good bunch of lads in the yard. What more do you need?

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[Peter Smythe]

If it feels right, go for it. And it might feel even better if you enter our Christmas Draw and win the course! Take a look at the thread at the top of the page.

Pete

[daftvader]

Go for it.But don't be fooled into thinking it's big money on class 1 compared too class 2.As you can earn the same.And un some cases more on class 2

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[sammym]

Get it done lad.

When I did my class 1 training/test I thought I would never get it. In some ways I fluked my pass. But it opened up so many doors to me. And now I really don't want to drive anything other than an artic. They are much nicer to drive. Plus you get paid a fair whack more.

[whelmic]

Go for it. The only rigid I have ever driven was the one I passed my test with. Went straight to class 1 and haven’t looked back since.

[idrive]

Did my first ever class 1 shift last night.
DAF XF with double decker mega trailer at 16'2".
Straight out on my own, in the dark, no help. Reversed on the bay just one shunt. Got it parked in a tight space just one shunt.
Didn't kill anyone, didn't break anything, loved every minute of it

[Peter Smythe]

Did my first ever class 1 shift last night.
DAF XF with double decker mega trailer at 16'2".
Straight out on my own, in the dark, no help. Reversed on the bay just one shunt. Got it parked in a tight space just one shunt.
Didn't kill anyone, didn't break anything, loved every minute of it

That's what it's all about! Well done.

Pete

[Juddian]

Standard practice years ago was to go straight to class 1 in one test.

No the money might not be appreciably better at first, but finding work will always be easier if you drive anything and once you get experience and find your own niche then the differences increase appreciably, especially if you eventually specialise...and yes that might be a few years away, but if you get the class 1 now you will be that much closer achieving what you want.

Course if you want to drive skips or rigid tippers or a bread lorry for the bakery, and nothing wrong with any of those fine jobs cos we all like different things, then the class 2 is all you need.

[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

[trevHCS]

Getting a job on any class isn't desperately easy with no experience, but once you do it gets a lot easier. Best not to quit job until you have something lined up esp at beginning of year.

[sammym]

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.

[Captain_Amateur]

Definitely take class 1 straight away. To pass either test you need to get into the zone, driving in the approved way. If you don’t do it straight after, you’ll probably pick up some bad habits in the meantime, and it will be harder for you to get back into the zone.

Plus other things in life will get in the way.

I took mine straight away, and got a class 1 job within a couple of weeks with no experience other than a few days agency work driving 7.5t... But the availability of jobs will very much depend on your local area.

Good luck!

[DannyM271091]

Thanks for the responses guys, i live in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, close to the M1 and M62 so i'm hoping that jobs wont be hard to come by and my dad has a couple good friends who are class 1 drivers who say they can get me a job as soon as i pass my test.

I'm unsure about the salary and hours and all that stuff though so need to check but he lives quite a good life tbh, my other mate has a dad who drives a class 1 for Walkers (not the crisps) and he makes a decent living and can get me a job also.

[Hyh]

Go for Class 1 as soon as you can. I booked my Class 1 3 weeks into my first Class 2 job !

If nothing else, having a Class 1 would make finding Class 2 jobs with no experience easier if you can't find a Class 1 job straight away

[Centralbelttrucker]

I've heard you need proven experience for anyone to take you on its by law now I've had class 1 for 9 years but not had a chance to use it .

[Peter Smythe]

I've heard you need proven experience for anyone to take you on its by law now

If that was the case, there'd be no drivers at all in a few years. Don't believe everything you hear!

Pete

[albion]

I've heard you need proven experience for anyone to take you on its by law now I've had class 1 for 9 years but not had a chance to use it .

#


I heard I was the most gorgeous woman on the planet, which really does go to show you shouldn't listen to everything you hear. Spend more time on the forum and you'll find that lots of people struggle at first, not all though, and are merrily on their way with their newly minted C+E.

[tachograph]

I've had class 1 for 9 years but not had a chance to use it .

From your other posts it seems that you've been looking for class 2 work or wag n drag work, generally there's more artic work than wag n drag work so maybe if you looked for artic work you may stand a better chance of finding some class 1 work

[Stussy]

so i passed my Theory 2 weeks ago but the bad news is that my work has delayed making me redundant until Feb/March time and i dont have any holiday days to be able to book time off to do my practical driving + test so i will have to wait until Feb/March to even start training.

If you’re being made redundant they have to allow you time off for training and interviews, look into it and do it in their time!

[DannyM271091]

If you’re being made redundant they have to allow you time off for training and interviews, look into it and do it in their time!

I'm in a weird situation, my company lost the contract i am working on so i am basically being TUPE'd over to the new site which is in Nottingham and because its so far away, the new company will be the one making me redundant rather than the company i work for now so they wont allow me time off to do any training etc. until i have transferred over.

[Stussy]

That sounds a nightmare, I’d definitely want it all in writing before
Swapping to the new company!