xichrisxi:
Interesting topic,came across my contract of employment the other day for my first and one and only HGV driving job…bear in mind this was a Class 2 job working mon-fri NO nights out.
Some places pay this now for Class one work,some less than this…note that I started this job in 2003!!
You were on very good money in 2003, I was on class 2 when I finished in 2002 and earned just over half that! It is all relative to your needs though as others have said, we had no kids and not a high lifestyle, neither of us drank or smoked and ran a 20 year old vehicle so we managed OK whereas some lads with a couple of sprogs and a big mortgage/fancy wheels struggled on far more than that wage. Still the same today I reckon, quite a difference between different companies and employees requirements?
I’m currently on 9 quid and hour doing isotanks and the adr lads get the same. Around hull and Yorkshire Seems to be the going rate. ■■■■■ to be me lol
wrighty1:
Never ceases to amaze me when at every opportunity the old time drivers get on with their put downs of “steering wheel attendants” and the use of newfangled gadgets like mobile phones and sat navs which of course they refuse to use as a map is far better along with a phone box ( do they still work ). As long as each individual is happy with the wage they are earning I wouldn’t let it concern you especially if you’re on £15 ph, happy days for you Part of the reason for low wages was the introduction of the minimum wage because apart from giving some a pay rise it also set a bench mark to start from and employers have taken advantage of this in every industry not just transport, as said another huge factor is the mass import of cheap foreign labour.
As long as you can find a level that you’re happy at I really don’t see why anyone else’s wage should concern you, after all we know that shelf stackers earn far more so that’s always an option for you
It’s not about putting down anybody, it’s making clear it’s not a “skilled” job, anybody can follow spoken instructions (as we can see here in North Wales, trucks stuck in the most stupid areas, because somebody put shortest route in a sat nav from Liverpool to Newtown, and put an artic nearly of a cliff)
The job is not what it once was, where the grey area in your head had to be activated and you had to think for yourself (how scary was that?)
And yes if you are happy with your salary and your job, not an issue.
I took a massive cut in earnings to get a life, and yes I won’t buy a top of the range car or a 5 bedroom house with my current income, but I am the happiest I have been for a long time!
wrighty1:
Never ceases to amaze me when at every opportunity the old time drivers get on with their put downs of “steering wheel attendants” and the use of newfangled gadgets like mobile phones and sat navs which of course they refuse to use as a map is far better along with a phone box ( do they still work ). As long as each individual is happy with the wage they are earning I wouldn’t let it concern you especially if you’re on £15 ph, happy days for you Part of the reason for low wages was the introduction of the minimum wage because apart from giving some a pay rise it also set a bench mark to start from and employers have taken advantage of this in every industry not just transport, as said another huge factor is the mass import of cheap foreign labour.
As long as you can find a level that you’re happy at I really don’t see why anyone else’s wage should concern you, after all we know that shelf stackers earn far more so that’s always an option for you
It’s not about putting down anybody, it’s making clear it’s not a “skilled” job, anybody can follow spoken instructions (as we can see here in North Wales, trucks stuck in the most stupid areas, because somebody put shortest route in a sat nav from Liverpool to Newtown, and put an artic nearly of a cliff)
The job is not what it once was, where the grey area in your head had to be activated and you had to think for yourself (how scary was that?)
And yes if you are happy with your salary and your job, not an issue.
I took a massive cut in earnings to get a life, and yes I won’t buy a top of the range car or a 5 bedroom house with my current income, but I am the happiest I have been for a long time!
How can you say it isn’t a skilled job.
Because like many of us, he has seen some of the muppets who profess to be skilled experienced truck drivers.
wrighty1:
Never ceases to amaze me when at every opportunity the old time drivers get on with their put downs of “steering wheel attendants” and the use of newfangled gadgets like mobile phones and sat navs which of course they refuse to use as a map is far better along with a phone box ( do they still work ). As long as each individual is happy with the wage they are earning I wouldn’t let it concern you especially if you’re on £15 ph, happy days for you Part of the reason for low wages was the introduction of the minimum wage because apart from giving some a pay rise it also set a bench mark to start from and employers have taken advantage of this in every industry not just transport, as said another huge factor is the mass import of cheap foreign labour.
As long as you can find a level that you’re happy at I really don’t see why anyone else’s wage should concern you, after all we know that shelf stackers earn far more so that’s always an option for you
It’s not about putting down anybody, it’s making clear it’s not a “skilled” job, anybody can follow spoken instructions (as we can see here in North Wales, trucks stuck in the most stupid areas, because somebody put shortest route in a sat nav from Liverpool to Newtown, and put an artic nearly of a cliff)
The job is not what it once was, where the grey area in your head had to be activated and you had to think for yourself (how scary was that?)
And yes if you are happy with your salary and your job, not an issue.
I took a massive cut in earnings to get a life, and yes I won’t buy a top of the range car or a 5 bedroom house with my current income, but I am the happiest I have been for a long time!
How can you say it isn’t a skilled job.
Ok then, tell us which skills we need now, apart maybe from being able to reverse proficiently.
wrighty1:
Never ceases to amaze me when at every opportunity the old time drivers get on with their put downs of “steering wheel attendants” and the use of newfangled gadgets like mobile phones and sat navs which of course they refuse to use as a map is far better along with a phone box ( do they still work ). As long as each individual is happy with the wage they are earning I wouldn’t let it concern you especially if you’re on £15 ph, happy days for you Part of the reason for low wages was the introduction of the minimum wage because apart from giving some a pay rise it also set a bench mark to start from and employers have taken advantage of this in every industry not just transport, as said another huge factor is the mass import of cheap foreign labour.
As long as you can find a level that you’re happy at I really don’t see why anyone else’s wage should concern you, after all we know that shelf stackers earn far more so that’s always an option for you
It’s not about putting down anybody, it’s making clear it’s not a “skilled” job, anybody can follow spoken instructions (as we can see here in North Wales, trucks stuck in the most stupid areas, because somebody put shortest route in a sat nav from Liverpool to Newtown, and put an artic nearly of a cliff)
The job is not what it once was, where the grey area in your head had to be activated and you had to think for yourself (how scary was that?)
And yes if you are happy with your salary and your job, not an issue.
I took a massive cut in earnings to get a life, and yes I won’t buy a top of the range car or a 5 bedroom house with my current income, but I am the happiest I have been for a long time!
How can you say it isn’t a skilled job.
Because like many of us, he has seen some of the muppets who profess to be skilled experienced truck drivers.
Haha well if you drive a 7.5 tr then I would agree. Just a larger sized van but what if your on C+E shifting oversized loads day in day out I can’t agree with you and say your average Bob McConnell isn’t skilled. Sorry. It’s like saying a plasterer isn’t skilled. But could you do his/hers job. No. Doubt it.
So now you are moving the goalposts by specifying specialist haulage to fit your argument.
Anybody can drive a truck today compared to past times, they are just like bigger cars.
Just some are far better at it than others.
SouthEastCashew:
How can you say it isn’t a skilled job.
Because like many of us, he has seen some of the muppets who profess to be skilled experienced truck drivers.
Haha well if you drive a 7.5 tr then I would agree. Just a larger sized van but what if your on C+E shifting oversized loads day in day out I can’t agree with you and say your average Bob McConnell isn’t skilled. Sorry. It’s like saying a plasterer isn’t skilled. But could you do his/hers job. No. Doubt it.
Proper oversized loads might take a bit of skill, but turning up to some RDC in a standard curtainsider takes very little, of course people get better (or at least should) with practice and experience. But most of us can have a go at plastering some DIYers can do quite a decent job if a bit slower and if they did it everyday and learnt a few tricks of the trade could make a trade out of it.
I’ve given complete novices a chance to drive trucks off road and many of them make a decent job of it, wouldn’t take most of them much to get a licence and do the job if that’s what they wanted to do.
SouthEastCashew:
Haha well if you drive a 7.5 tr then I would agree. Just a larger sized van but what if your on C+E shifting oversized loads day in day out I can’t agree with you and say your average Bob McConnell isn’t skilled. Sorry. It’s like saying a plasterer isn’t skilled. But could you do his/hers job. No. Doubt it.
Plastering isn’t that skillful mate, it’s practice and understanding how it reacts. Just like driving and reversing a truck. The more you do it the better you get, with diminishing return. I can plaster, but F doing it for a living, that’s hard graft!
I only earn just over the £9ph stated, so I guess in the OP’s eyes I am wrecking the industry? Well, the job is 6/7am starts Mon-Fri, no weekends, no bank holidays, ■■■■ easy straight forward general haulage stuff with tautliners. I could jack the job in tomorrow and get a job with a higher hourly rate, theres a few supermarket DC’s in the vicinity for example, but I don’t bloody want to because they would all involve weekends, shift patterns, daft o’clock starts, weekends etc. OK, I may be working less hours but my actual take home at the end of the week would be more or less the same & my work/life balance would be worse. Somebody tell me why the hell I would chose to do that? I have found through experience doing daft shifts that your not always better off in your home life working less hours. I want to be at home every weekend & evening and not in bed at 7pm.
Somebody show me a Mon-Fri day job in the Manchester area paying over £27/28k for a basic 40/45 hour contract and i’ll apply tomorrow.
If you were willing to compromise a little say 50% weekends or every other Saturday or permenant 1 am start mon-fri I’ll show you half a dozen paying well north of 30k for 40-45hrs with no nights out.
I only earn just over the £9ph stated, so I guess in the OP’s eyes I am wrecking the industry? Well, the job is 6/7am starts Mon-Fri, no weekends, no bank holidays, ■■■■ easy straight forward general haulage stuff with tautliners. I could jack the job in tomorrow and get a job with a higher hourly rate, theres a few supermarket DC’s in the vicinity for example, but I don’t bloody want to because they would all involve weekends, shift patterns, daft o’clock starts, weekends etc. OK, I may be working less hours but my actual take home at the end of the week would be more or less the same & my work/life balance would be worse. Somebody tell me why the hell I would chose to do that? I have found through experience doing daft shifts that your not always better off in your home life working less hours. I want to be at home every weekend & evening and not in bed at 7pm.
Somebody show me a Mon-Fri day job in the Manchester area paying over £27/28k for a basic 40/45 hour contract and i’ll apply tomorrow.
If you were willing to compromise a little say 50% weekends or every other Saturday or permenant 1 am start mon-fri I’ll show you half a dozen paying well north of 30k for 40-45hrs with no nights out.
I would consider every other Saturday for a substantial rise.
Truth me told though, i’m not into job hopping, I like to have my feet under the table. Regular weekend working always leads to me getting fed up and wanting to leave, so i’d still have to think long & hard.
I only earn just over the £9ph stated, so I guess in the OP’s eyes I am wrecking the industry? Well, the job is 6/7am starts Mon-Fri, no weekends, no bank holidays, ■■■■ easy straight forward general haulage stuff with tautliners. I could jack the job in tomorrow and get a job with a higher hourly rate, theres a few supermarket DC’s in the vicinity for example, but I don’t bloody want to because they would all involve weekends, shift patterns, daft o’clock starts, weekends etc. OK, I may be working less hours but my actual take home at the end of the week would be more or less the same & my work/life balance would be worse. Somebody tell me why the hell I would chose to do that? I have found through experience doing daft shifts that your not always better off in your home life working less hours. I want to be at home every weekend & evening and not in bed at 7pm.
Somebody show me a Mon-Fri day job in the Manchester area paying over £27/28k for a basic 40/45 hour contract and i’ll apply tomorrow.
If you were willing to compromise a little say 50% weekends or every other Saturday or permenant 1 am start mon-fri I’ll show you half a dozen paying well north of 30k for 40-45hrs with no nights out.
Rob’s job is pretty good in my view. Decent kit and good holiday pay. It’s the companies that pay between £8.50-£9 ph and take breaks off you that are causing the most problems. They are more than happy to employ the flip flops.
In my view Commonrail, you have to be looking at £600. £10 per hour is a reasonable average for artic work on day’s.
Water starts getting muddied with all these bloody meal allowances and bonuses. And some places pay breaks and some don’t. The problem is with EE and new starters because for the newbies especially, you NEED to get in somewhere to build experience, and a lot of firms take advantage of the situation.
And let’s be honest, the EE’s are happy as Larry with £9 per hour.
Big Truck:
I personally know drivers here in NI who are driving quarry bulk tippers/lowloader and bitumen tankers for £7.50hr 1st 40hrs then time and a half rest of week.
Have told them they are MENTAL many times but carry on doin what they do instead of moving on to better paid work.
Better paid work, where? Lol. Unless you call tramping for the usual scumbags, working yourself into an early grave. Fact is the only work here is ■■■■ low paid work
A 60 hour contract (which shouldn’t even exist), Mon-Fri days, should give you a guaranteed top line of high 500’s-600. So a salary of high 20’s. Thats in the north anyway, no London weighting & non specialised, easy work of course.
I’ll probably get slaughtered for that, but its near enough £10ph for sociable hours and a decent salary. Call me a realist rather than a dreamer, this isn’t particularly skilled work anymore, I know its not based on the amount of dregs see myself sharing the roads with.
Part of the reason for low wages was the introduction of the minimum wage because apart from giving some a pay rise it also set a bench mark to start from and employers have taken advantage of this in every industry not just transport, as said another huge factor is the mass import of cheap foreign labour.
