So I’ve had my class 1 since 2006 and did a bit of class 1 agency work for a year. Since then I’ve been on class 2 specialist breakdown recovery ever since (13 years) with very little Class 1 recovery work involved…so VERY out of touch with Class 1 and digi cards etc (no tacho needed on recovery)
So advice getting back into Class 1 work but NOT AGENCIES.
Anyone worked for Arla Class 1? as they’re advertising reasonable rates of pay.
Anyone had to collect milk from farms??
My revering skills really won’t be up to scratch and that’s my biggest concern!!
I’ve not worked for ARLA, but have done milk tanker work. The rigids used to collect from the farms, then tranship to a trailer to be collected by the class1 vehicles to go to the dairies. It was nice work to be honest. Not much reversing involved either - and certainly no reversing onto bays.
I’ve also come back to class1 work recently but from a non-driving role, so share your apprehension! Just got to jump in and get on with it.
Really do consider agency if you’ve been out of it for 15 years. It’ll allow you to get back into the swing of it without any pressure as everyone expects agency to be crap. It’ll also allow you to sniff out local firms and work out what kind of work you want to do and who you want to work for.
Conor:
Really do consider agency if you’ve been out of it for 15 years. It’ll allow you to get back into the swing of it without any pressure as everyone expects agency to be crap. It’ll also allow you to sniff out local firms and work out what kind of work you want to do and who you want to work for.
Yep, my advice for “getting back into class 1 work but NOT AGENCIES” would be to do some Agency work first
My local Driver Hire agency got me in with my last employer (on Class 2 where I stayed 4 years) AND my current employer (where I started recently).
Both jobs have been pretty much exactly what I wanted (laid back bosses who leave you alone to get on with it, nice trucks and a pleasant easy, 10 to 15 minute commute being just 3 reasons).
grumpybum:
I’ve not worked for ARLA, but have done milk tanker work. The rigids used to collect from the farms, then tranship to a trailer to be collected by the class1 vehicles to go to the dairies. It was nice work to be honest. Not much reversing involved either - and certainly no reversing onto bays.
I’ve also come back to class1 work recently but from a non-driving role, so share your apprehension! Just got to jump in and get on with it.
Thank you for your reply, useful info, encouraging and I agree, I need to just jump back in and crack on with it. Im sure it will all come back to me
Conor:
Really do consider agency if you’ve been out of it for 15 years. It’ll allow you to get back into the swing of it without any pressure as everyone expects agency to be crap. It’ll also allow you to sniff out local firms and work out what kind of work you want to do and who you want to work for.
Yes what your saying makes alot of sense. I’m not totally dismissing the agency idea however all my experiences with them 15 years ago were terrible. The jobs were fine and I did the jobs well but the constant mix up of wages, the false promises of over time and generally lies about lies left a bad taste in my mouth.
Conor:
Really do consider agency if you’ve been out of it for 15 years. It’ll allow you to get back into the swing of it without any pressure as everyone expects agency to be crap. It’ll also allow you to sniff out local firms and work out what kind of work you want to do and who you want to work for.
Yep, my advice for “getting back into class 1 work but NOT AGENCIES” would be to do some Agency work first
My local Driver Hire agency got me in with my last employer (on Class 2 where I stayed 4 years) AND my current employer (where I started recently).
Both jobs have been pretty much exactly what I wanted (laid back bosses who leave you alone to get on with it, nice trucks and a pleasant easy, 10 to 15 minute commute being just 3 reasons).
Well I haven’t ruled agencies out its just I have a preference to find permanent work directly through a company of possible…however I guess I can’t be too picky given my lack of recent experience with Class 1, ive had terrible experiences with agencies in the past. Once bitten twice as shy and all that. The agency rates are fantastic but looking into my crystal ball it doesn’t look sustainable those pay rates will continue for long.
I’ve done this twice.
I passed my test in the mid nineties but wasn’t insurable because I was 21, and for most class 1 work you needed to be 23. So I had to do two years on rigids doing multi-drop before I could even drive artics.
I came back to the UK after teaching English abroad for 18 years and had to drive again, and have been back at it for about a year.
You are right the biggest problems are digital tachos/infringements and reversing. With the tachos keep it simple, know how to remove/insert your card, change modes and press down to see the amount of time you’ve been on break. Keep away from manual entries and playing around with the bloody things, you will pick up infringements. Your reversing will improve with time. Some places are very tight and/or require blind-slides. There almost certainly be someone to help see you back and someone else to try to take the ■■■■, usually the ones that try to take the ■■■■ out of your revering skills are wannabie warehouse people.
Even though you don’t want to do it an agency is the best way to re-hone your skills. Because of government legislation and probably insurance agencies have improved a fair bit since the 90’s. Start with an agency at a supermarket RDC and you can make improve your reversing in the usually large RDC’s, then move on to a proper job after a few months, or a year. Where I am agencies wouldn’t really look at you unless you had ‘one year’s recent experience’ or had done an assessment with an ADI, but with the shortage this has probably changed. You could also contacting a ‘bottom feeder’ company like Stobarts that could give you some re-training but their pay rates might not be the best.
You could go a more expensive route if you have the money and contact a reputable driving school and pay for re-training yourself and they can get you up to speed with reversing and tachos in a few days, then provide you with an assessment pass that you could use instead of recent experience to try to get a job at a reputable company.
So falsify your records? If you’re not making manual entries you’re not keeping an accurate record and are falsifying your records as the time you spend at work from getting to the office to the time you put in the card will be recorded as rest instead of other work as it should be, the same for the time from ejecting the card to when you’ve handed over the keys and have finished work. A particularly vindictive VOSA officer could choose to haul you over the coals especially if you’ve turned a wheel just after putting your card in or just before it showed daily rest. The manual entries are to account for your time from starting work to putting your card in and from taking your card out to finish work. The only time you could legitimately not do a manual entry is if you are say a tramper and eject your card every night when nighting out and even then you’d need to do a manual entry at the start of the working week.
So falsify your records? If you’re not making manual entries you’re not keeping an accurate record and are falsifying your records as the time you spend at work from getting to the office to the time you put in the card will be recorded as rest instead of other work as it should be, the same for the time from ejecting the card to when you’ve handed over the keys and have finished work. A particularly vindictive VOSA officer could choose to haul you over the coals especially if you’ve turned a wheel just after putting your card in or just before it showed daily rest. The manual entries are to account for your time from starting work to putting your card in and from taking your card out to finish work. The only time you could legitimately not do a manual entry is if you are say a tramper and eject your card every night when nighting out and even then you’d need to do a manual entry at the start of the working week.
Every day is a school day but that sounds like a load of old Horlicks. Never done a manual entry and not picked up any infringements. Mind you, the last time i got pulled by the ministry was about 1994
I have just done the same but have come from driving coaches.
Regards reversing I take a shunt nearly every time but get there in the end.
One other thing is weight slowing down and getting up to speed. A full coach is much quicker at getting going. The lorry seems to take for ever and overtaking well that’s gone out of the window.
