I don’t see the harm in it, for the average man it’s always going to get you work from agencies if needed. My brother who has a handful of qualifications from working at a financial services for 10+yrs (Used to do the research and leg work for the IFA’s basically for mortgages, pensions,Sipp etc) but that place closed.
So now he is too old (35yrs) to start at the bottom with people fresh from uni (He has a degree as well) and already has certain qualifications but he doesn’t have enough for the jobs that pay what he was on before. So he has spent the last 8 months working shift work days/nights for not much more then minimum wage pressing buttons on CNC machines and measuring pins.
It might have taken me nearly 10yrs to get on a nice number not doing 70hr weeks (Less then 48 now) but it’s down to nothing more then keeping an eye out for better opportunities. I make more then he has ever managed in financial services and the only difference has been starting earlier in the morning and the odd night in a truck or hotel.
I have spent enough nights in hotels as well now to notice just how many hi vis wearing folk are in there at breakfast so as mentioned before other trades involve nights away to make the dough.
DickyNick:
Nah to say your better off gambling the money is daft. The job ain’t that bad.
Your paying the £3k to get a licence that means your not going to be out of work for the foreseeable future. This golden age that the older drivers bang on about wont be missed will it because anyone new won’t know any different.
Your still working on your own a lot more than a lot of jobs. Yes it’s all tracked and you’ve got cameras and fleet monitoring and mobile phones that you didn’t have in this golden age, but a 21 year old is going to be used to all that stuff anyway.
If you like driving and like working by yourself then don’t let all these golden age has gone stories put your lad off. It’s still a decent job and you could certainly earn less money and do worse jobs. Ok you could earn more per hour stacking shelves at Aldi, but what would he rather do?
Drive a truck for 60 hours a week and come out with say £500-550 each week. Or stack shelves and have to deal with customers moaning and be on your feet all day for 40 hours and come out with £430?
I think driving is still a decent job.
You will struggle to get 430 a week stacking shelves, and most other jobs without doing some sort of degree (huge debt and no guarantee) or an apprenticeship (low wages to train).
As said maybe driving isn’t what it was but compared to a lot of minimum wage or zero hour jobs out there I think it’s a decent enough job.
Ok don’t dwell on a figure too much that I plucked out of thin air to make a point. I think driving is still a good job in a lot of ways and the young lads shouldn’t be put off by the older blokes going on about this golden age all the time. What’s the point? The young lads won’t know any different so why put them off with something they’ve never had so will never miss!
DickyNick:
Nah to say your better off gambling the money is daft. The job ain’t that bad.
Your paying the £3k to get a licence that means your not going to be out of work for the foreseeable future. This golden age that the older drivers bang on about wont be missed will it because anyone new won’t know any different.
Your still working on your own a lot more than a lot of jobs. Yes it’s all tracked and you’ve got cameras and fleet monitoring and mobile phones that you didn’t have in this golden age, but a 21 year old is going to be used to all that stuff anyway.
If you like driving and like working by yourself then don’t let all these golden age has gone stories put your lad off. It’s still a decent job and you could certainly earn less money and do worse jobs. Ok you could earn more per hour stacking shelves at Aldi, but what would he rather do?
Drive a truck for 60 hours a week and come out with say £500-550 each week. Or stack shelves and have to deal with customers moaning and be on your feet all day for 40 hours and come out with £430?
I think driving is still a decent job.
You will struggle to get 430 a week stacking shelves, and most other jobs without doing some sort of degree (huge debt and no guarantee) or an apprenticeship (low wages to train).
As said maybe driving isn’t what it was but compared to a lot of minimum wage or zero hour jobs out there I think it’s a decent enough job.
Ok don’t dwell on a figure too much that I plucked out of thin air to make a point. I think driving is still a good job in a lot of ways and the young lads shouldn’t be put off by the older blokes going on about this golden age all the time. What’s the point? The young lads won’t know any different so why put them off with something they’ve never had so will never miss!
I agree drivings a decent job and I have 20 year’s of shelf stacking to compare to. A bad back, knee and shoulder remind me. Sainsbury’s night crew doing full time 36.5 hours across 5 nights make about 19k a year, days about 2k less. Lots of weekends and bank holidays in that as well. The evening shift was in until midnight Christmas Eve.
I started driving 18 months ago and after 6 months finding my feet have moved onto agency, suits my circumstances at the minute and have found that you have to set your boundaries and stick to them. If they won’t then move elsewhere. After I think it’s been pretty straight forward and if I want a week off I just tell the agency. Decent money and not the physical work I was used to. Definitely think there are far worse ways to earn a living
ROG:
Virtually all on the newbies forum will agree that £3K all in is about right for B to CE
I really can not understand anybody shelling out all that cash to start this crap.
Can somebody point out to me the attraction exactly?
50p an hour over the minimum wage?
Seriously though, neither of my kids would dream of driving a truck for a living. And it’s just not the job it was when I started, doing trips all over Europe and being left alone. Nowadays drivers get sacked because the tracker tells the planner that the driver has stopped for an unauthorised ■■■■, which is against company policy.
I wouldn’t do the job now if I was starting out again.
ROG:
Virtually all on the newbies forum will agree that £3K all in is about right for B to CE
I really can not understand anybody shelling out all that cash to start this crap.
Can somebody point out to me the attraction exactly?
50p an hour over minimum wage.
Nowadays drivers get sacked because the tracker tells the planner that the driver has stopped for an unauthorised ■■■■, which is against company policy.
I wouldn’t do the job now if I was starting out again.
Me either Harry, I reckon the likes if us had the best days of it.
There is no way in hell I’d be attracted to it today the way it has gone.
As for everybody knocking tramping for being the pits (assuming you’re all ‘‘Me own bed/I wouldn’t kip in a tin box’’ daymen btw ) …it never used to be, it’s a combination of lack of decent parking and stupid drivers turning it into an endurance excercise by succumbing to pressure on the phone.
I plan my day more or less around where I’m going to park, somewhere where I can get out and go for a meal , maybe a pint.
Ok I know that aint always possible but if you’re one of these chumps who run to 8.59 hours and park in some back and beyond lay by or MSA every night, then it’s correct, yeh,… the tramping job IS crap.
I reckon it cost me £5k to get my C+E and no, I didn’t pass first time.
I tend to prefer agency as I can work when and for who I like. It’s not a ‘get up, sit on a train, go to meetings for 8 hours, sit on a train, bed’ job and thank goodness for that. Been there, done that, nearly killed me.
At the beginning of the year I drove a truck through about 10 countries of Europe. I’ve met loads of great people and seen things you can’t see from a car. I know the road network of Britain fairly well now (not as well as some of you, obviously) and I can get in most versions of lorry now and drive it.
It may not be ‘what it was’ but it’s better than a lot of the alternatives. In fact, I love it
nomiS36:
I’ve been in the game long enough to know it can be and usually is a load of crap. Problem is he went to collage to do my preferred option for him, engineering. Since then he applied for many apprenticeships which have led nowhere. To keep himself in beer n ■■■■ (yeah I know [emoji849]) he got himself an agency gig working in the redhouse b&q warehouse. Now he’s earning decent dough (for his age) his search for an apprenticeship on crap money has been put on the back burner. So, the other day he said he wouldn’t mind driving for a living. I did tell him it ain’t all it’s cracked up to be but would look into the feasibility and costs involved hence the post on here.
Van driving, ironically, is out because firms can’t insure under 21’s.
I was in a similar boat 30+ years ago and my dad did talk me out of being a lorry driver (“Don’t do it son, I’ve never met a rich one and there aren’t too many happy ones either. Get yourself a trade, you’ll never regret it”)!! I went into engineering via the apprenticeship route and whilst initially the money isn’t brilliant, long term your son will be better off. The company I work for is currently recruiting for engineering apprentices (we’ll take on 60+ this year) across multiple disciplines; mechanical, electrical, controls and instrumentation, and electronics. If you’re within reasonable commuting distance of Reading it’s an excellent training scheme with guaranteed employment at the end of it. You can PM me if you want more details.
I do know plenty of happy drivers as well as well plenty of drivers who won’t stop moaning.
Learning a trade is good but I also know a couple electricians who weren’t able to get work in the local area and had to go off and be away from home all week working on contracts on construction sites anywhere in the country. Leaving either Sunday night or very early Monday morning and not home until Friday…sound familiar?
You put the hours in but you can pull in a decent wage as a lorry driver. Before I did this I was in the police, and when I was tramping I earned more than I would have ever got as a PC after 7 years service. Infact to match my tramping wage I would have had to get myself promoted to sergeant. A new PC gets about £300 a week in the bank. And the story is similar for teachers and nurses. Yes we put in the hours but I don’t think our pay in the bank each week is poor. Far from it.
(assuming you’re all ‘‘Me own bed/I wouldn’t kip in a tin box’’ daymen btw 
) …it never used to be, it’s a combination of lack of decent parking and stupid drivers turning it into an endurance excercise by succumbing to pressure on the phone.