I like the job. I payed for my own training and test at age 21 and had some awesome (and some not awesome) experiences as a driver for the following 13 years. I then worked for HM Government in a role I won’t talk about on here and took early retirement in 2018. Since then, I’ve dusted off the class 1 and been back ont road for the last 4 years. In that time, I’ve had a few truck driving jobs, most of em not to my liking but now I’m on a low-loader for a plant hire company I’m loving it again! Even doing some nights out and earning the best money I’ve ever had.
In answer to your question “would I recommend HGV driving as a career?”… on the whole, yes but you need to be realistic and choose your sector carefully. If the only thing available was RDC work in fleet trucks then I’d not be a driver.