You need to have an aptitude for it, you will either have it or you wont, no matter how much “training” you get.
You need to have mechanical ability, as others have said props need to be taken off, brakes blown off etc.
This is fundamental if you don’t understand how vehicles work and how they fail you will be facing an up hill battle.
You also need a basic understanding of physics, how things fall over and how to get them standing up again and you need to be assertive, there is nothing like an accident scene to bring out the “experts”, everybody knows how you should right an artic from a 9 year old girl to your granny everybody knows how to do it and would have done it different to you
But, there is nothing like the satisfaction of pulling one up and out from an “impossible” situation without causing further damage and silencing all the “experts”.
Shift work and being fairly well always on call that’s the nature of the job, most motors are not kind enough to crash or break down during office hours and being wet, cold and bloody uncomfortable is just part of it.
That is the heavy recovery game.
Good, experienced operators with the right firm will earn well, but will you be a good operator and will you be working for the right firm?
If you fancy it, have a crack at it, you will know within a week if its right for you.
hkloss1:
I’ve never considered a recovery job myself, but I’ve found this thread very interesting.
That’s what this site should be about , describing jobs and employers in details, naming them, warning other drivers, so these employers either improve terms and conditions or they will be left to carry all the work themselves.
I wanted to thank every one who’s contributed to this eye opening thread.
All the best
Such threads will last until the lawyers get involved.
As a couple of the lads on here have already said, if you want to get into the recovery job you would probably be better trying a smaller firm & someone who will show you the basics.
I do a bit of heavy recovery work on a part time basis for an operator near me, he has quite a few part timers which suits him and all us too. He sent someone with me for the first couple of months to show me how to do the job and when I felt confident I was sent out on my own.
If we get a job which the boss thinks will be awkward he will still send 2 men on 1 lorry. If I go to do a job which would typically take 4 hours to complete but I am out for 5 there is not normally an issue with that, the boss understands about traffic delays, road closures (especially on night time recoveries), preparation of the broken down vehicle not always going straight forward etc. he is happy that the job is completed safely, and that the customer has their vehicle back and is happy.
As others have said, yes you will get wet & cold, yes you will be just 1 hour off having your Sunday dinner & get sent to Whitby to recover a coach, yes the phone will ring at 2a.m. & off you go to lie on the hard shoulder in the dark but either you will love it or hate it.
I do enjoy my time on a recovery lorry but I started my working life in a garage repairing lorries so the spanner bit is second nature to me, I have also been lorry driving for 29 years now so the finding my way about is easy too, if you think it’s the job for you then give it a go, you won’t know till you try it.
Todays little outing was to the middle of Loughborough to recover a double decker bus with rear hub problems so a rear end suspended tow was required.
