I did HGV 16 years ago to buy myself a trade as a way out of working in my families woodyard which was driving me nuts trying to get a 90 year old business thinking like a modern one (and largely failing)
I figured it would be a relatively quick and cheap way of gaining a new skill that expanded on the 7.5t experience I had and would fill some time before doing something else. I’ve now ended up in the situation where I earn far more money than my skill set / qualification / experience could get me doing other things and have settled in to it.
Although I am a HGV driver, it’s regular weekday hours and not maxing out driving time or distance. I work for a small plant company on own account transport of haulage of other people’s equipment. There is a lot of variety involved as I’ve moved most types of plant and had anything and everything else on too. Tanks, bits of aircraft, telephone boxes, industrial ovens, boats and christmas trees being some of the oddest. Plus containers, cabins and building materials.
I’ve also been enlisted for site installs with the Hiab, using it to lift bits of machines on / off for repair and when not driving, I’ll end up getting involved with other varied jobs such as a bit of light mechanical maintenance on the plant or general dogsbody jobs around the yard. Yesterday was patching some concrete.
It’s hard and dirty but the job stops at the gate.