Wheres the money, or should i be content with 38k 55hrs nights, ok work
Showing off or telling porkies?
I don’t think the money for nights ever compensated for the downsides of it.
But that’s over twice as much as I was paid for similar hours around 20 years ago.
With hindsight I would/should have walked away after the combination of speed limiters, the end of decent job and finish terms and finally the change to hub system v direct trunking turned the job to zb and removed any real upsides that there were.
Such as being able to take advantage of the lower traffic volumes and clearer roads at night and just doing trailer and box swaps with a good proportion of early finishes to make some use of the days.
A lot of the guys i talked to, tell me there on better hourly rate than me, not sure of the hours there doing.
was hoping, you guys would be pointing me in the 45-50k direction, or is the pay/work balance not worth it
im pretty new.
I know it ok, not sure how to compare it, just looking for advice.
And yes i know lots of people are full of it.
crush99:
A lot of the guys i talked to, tell me there on better hourly rate than me, not sure of the hours there doing.
was hoping, you guys would be pointing me in the 45-50k direction, or is the pay/work balance not worth it
im pretty new.
I know it ok, not sure how to compare it, just looking for advice.And yes i know lots of people are full of it.
Most drivers are full of [zb]. £13-14 /hr is about the norm for the full time nights direct. Supermarkets and the blue chip boys pay a bit more I think. Place I’m at in Wakefield is salaried at £32k/£120 per shift for nights but if we do more than 7.5 hrs per night something has gone wrong, so works out about £15/hr. This week I’m only doing Ashby DLZ so I’m done in 6 hours. No idea what effective hourly rate that works out at without getting my calculator out. Occasionally we’ll have a week of 9 hr shifts on a different run but it’s fairly uncommon. Rough with the smooth, but mostly smooth 
. 8 hours a night is enough for us boys.
The money is fine, its the hours you are doing for it that are not, 55 hours night work is more than enough.
Sensible hours for the money is usually to be found in the remaining own account operations, or specialised work where you might be doing long hours but the pay can be eye opening, eg mate of mine (not where i work) grossed £390 for one day shift bank hol monday, mind you he grafted for that and he is highly skilled and respected in his sector having done the job some 30 years…i know how they are paid so regardless of what someone here might think that’s genuine, would have been £100 less for a normal monday.
Good…
Film.
If you listen or read the RHA rubbish being spouted, driving a lorry will earn you big ££££.
In reality unless you are employed directly by a company its the agencies getting the big £££.
m25poacher:
If you listen or read the RHA rubbish being spouted, driving a lorry will earn you big ££££.
In reality unless you are employed directly by a company its the agencies getting the big £££.
RHA aren’t worth anything. I listened to him on the radio last week saying the key to fixing the driver shortage was to import labour from outside the EU. Nothing about terms and conditions, a small line about lack of facilities, but basically yeah dont increase the attractiveness of the job, instead import more cheap labour.
A lot depends on what area you live in.
I worked out based keeping my truck at home for 3 different firms for about 14 years, when all that dried up I started for a local firm, been here 11 years, pay is pretty much now what I was on (sometimes less) 13 years ago.
It also depends what suits you at the time, the work and hours I do now is ok with me, the money isn’t great, but about average for my area, it would be nice to be back on big money,.and good luck to those who are, but what strangers are earning does not concern me, aka couldn’t really give a ■■■■. 
As somebody just said, drivers are prone to talking ■■■■■■■■, waiting for this thread to turn into the usual willy waving contest.
As for RHA?
Waste of time and space, they are like politicians, just in the job for themselves, not giving a ■■■■ about those they are supposed to represent, but will pretend all day that they do.
27k for three 12 hour shifts, shunting.
The funniest thing being that the transport industry considers 36 hours to be part time and other drivers look down on you as if you are stupid for not doing at least 55 hours.
Suits very well for childcare the lady will carry on full time when she goes back to work.
I’ve been driving wagon’s 40 years and I’ve met hundreds of drivers claiming to earn as much as a city trader, while looking like a homeless tramp.
Juddian:
mate of mine (not where i work) grossed £390 for one day shift bank hol monday.
Due to parity the agy have finally got around to paying me double time for bank holidays, because the core staff get double time and a choice of either a day in lieu or a one off payment. So I earned around £320 for Monday without maxing out my hours that day iirc 11.5-12hrs.
Add in the 2 pay rises in the last 12 months has bumped up the day rate, and rest of this week (tues-fri) they seem to be giving me the longer runs of 10-12hrs so I estimate that I’ll gross just under a grand for day work (5 day shifts / no Nights out)
Good for you Peirre, nice to see some movements on pay, hopefully will have knock on effects.
m25poacher:
If you listen or read the RHA rubbish being spouted, driving a lorry will earn you big ££££.
In reality unless you are employed directly by a company its the agencies getting the big £££.
Being off sick last month and with the possibility of not being able to drive I started to look around at jobs. Nothing in my area paid the same amount of money per year and that was including managerial jobs and ones which had degrees and no I’m not just talking compared to what I get at Howdens.
HOWEVER and it’s a big however, the main reason for that is in most jobs as a lorry driver because of the hours you do, not the hourly pay. So no jobs paid the same but then again they didn’t have 55hrs as an average working week either.
So in one respect the RHA are right, you’ll earn big £££, around £6k or more than the median wage in the UK but the * they forget to add to that is that you’ll be working in most cases 50% more hours to get that.
Conor:
m25poacher:
If you listen or read the RHA rubbish being spouted, driving a lorry will earn you big ££££.
In reality unless you are employed directly by a company its the agencies getting the big £££.Being off sick last month and with the possibility of not being able to drive I started to look around at jobs. Nothing in my area paid the same amount of money per year and that was including managerial jobs and ones which had degrees and no I’m not just talking compared to what I get at Howdens.
HOWEVER and it’s a big however, the main reason for that is in most jobs as a lorry driver because of the hours you do, not the hourly pay. So no jobs paid the same but then again they didn’t have 55hrs as an average working week either.
So in one respect the RHA are right, you’ll earn big £££, around £6k or more than the median wage in the UK but the * they forget to add to that is that you’ll be working in most cases 50% more hours to get that.
Ironically I’d prefer to do same or more hours for less money on equivalent day work than nights.
Too many hours on nights really wrecks your quality of life.Especially weekends which are wiped out by the body clock as just two nights off.
Same applies to bank holidays just no way of making use of them safely and comfortably.Unless you fly to the western US for a short break.
Even longer holidays take some time to get back to being properly awake during the days.
Night work is only really viable with a good proportion of short shifts and early finshes.There’s no way that’s going to happen in most cases with hub system operations and since speed limiters.
robroy:
A lot depends on what area you live in.
Definitely. Seems from looking around the job sites at other areas of the country I’m in quite a sweet spot here. Some decent money to be had around here, especially at places like RM, DHL, XPO. The money over at Sherburn keeps creeping up as well because it’s in the middle of nowhere and they can’t get anyone to drive there when they can take their pick from about 30 RDCs at Europort and along the M62 corridor.
Juddian:
Good for you Peirre, nice to see some movements on pay, hopefully will have knock on effects.
Its taken me a very long time for me to see these rates on agency,
flat rate for bank hols, time and a farthing for weekends was the norm up to the introduction of parity.
peirre:
Juddian:
Good for you Peirre, nice to see some movements on pay, hopefully will have knock on effects.Its taken me a very long time for me to see these rates on agency,
flat rate for bank hols, time and a farthing for weekends was the norm up to the introduction of parity.
Agency lads who we use have been given a really big pay rise following the IR35 thingummy, good luck to em.
crush99:
Wheres the money, or should i be content with 38k 55hrs nights, ok work
I earn £35 p/h for a 35 hour week. Do the maths.
And I dont have to drive a truck !!!
#ASLEF