There’s a few jobs where youth benefits you. If you’re young but also fit then places where lots of handball is required will often give you a start. It might be hard work… sometimes the money’s not great, but it certainly can be.
If you think that the average age of a trucker in the UK is 53 (apparently)… not all of them can or want to break their back doing the heavy work. I’ve met some very fit and strong 60+ year olds doing that kind of work don’t get me wrong… but they have been doing it all their lives. I’m going to say that once you’ve had your licence a while (for insurance purposes at many places) your chance of getting a job is pretty high if you don’t mind a bit of handball, and you’re not so young that you would be automatically overlooked for some other work.
I did a degree in a subject that I was good at, but didn’t really enjoy (computer science). I have never used it. That said, if you’re only a year away from completing it and it’s a pretty good degree, you’ve invested a lot of money presumably… if it looks like you can get a decent grade at the end of it then I would complete it myself and do the HGV training too.