Expected salary for new passer?

Starved:
In my case i passed my Class 2 early june this year and managed to find work within 2 weeks. Could have been alot quicker but i wanted to get paid atleast 11£/h so i waited until one of the agencies i contacted agreed to pay me that much, bold move i know since i don´t have any experience to be making demands but i am a firm believer that you must value yourself and ask for what you believe you are worth.

After that i worked for 2 months for 2 companies, under the agency contract, and decided i wanted to get Class 1. Told the agency i needed some days off to go for the class 1 Training+ Exam wich they were completely ok with and even told me they would have immediate work for me if i did indeed manage to get it. I failed the first and second Exams unfortunately but managed to pass the third one and they stood true to their word. The very next day after i got my Class 1 license i was working in Artics with a 12£/h wage doing 50-60 hours per week.

I have developed a great relationship with the agency’s representatives and always make sure they are up to date with what’s going on in the companies i work for. As an example, one of the companies i worked for offered me some “under the table” Saturday work wich i refused for ethical reasons (glad i did that because they now owe more than 10K£ in wages to their own employees).

I try to always be professional and on time and this i believe has made my position with them very clear that i am gratefull for what they have done for me and i won´t just switch what i built with them over for an extra pound an hour.

Once i get the “2 year’s experience” usual requirement for well paid positions i might consider looking for other work opportunities, but for now i am more than happy with what i have got.

Good luck to you OP, opportunies are plenty you just need to find the right one :wink:

Thanks for the reply, seems like some areas are crying out for drivers! Do you mind me asking which area you were based out of with the agency? I’ve never worked through an agency so I’m not sure how it works but I remember years ago my brother worked as a refuse collector and it was “we’ll ring you if we need you” kinda thing so it was a few days here, a few days there, no regular schedule etc. Is it still like that today?