Passed Cat C in October, but not searching for work yet for many reasons. I want to do CE in February/March and then start looking for a job.
That would require me to move somewhere as there is not many jobs far north on some little isles.
If I look for Class 1 job anywhere in Scotland (obviously excluding isles) with no experience in HGV driving, do I stand any chances and how long could that take?
Big companies taking new passes like Maritime or ES don’t cover Scotland. I wouldn’t mind ES to get started but I don’t want to move to England.
If I have a job, then I may search for a house etc. Trying to find both at the same time is impossible, but one thing at the time would be more reasonable. And I can’t afford to jump on a plane to fly to Aberdeen or Glasgow for some assessments or interviews a few times a month so ideally I’d stay in Scotland mainland till I find something, then sort a house for my family.I
Definitely living in a such remote place is not helping…
Not sure if being a female would help if hard manual labour or heavy lifting is involved…
Any advice how to start join hunting when I pass CE? And is it reasonable to jump straight into Class1?
I started with 2 agencies, one in Glasgow and one in Falkirk. Told them i only wanted class 1 work and as a new pass i got enough work to keep me busy.
Only issue is that come the start of next year agency work will die down so it won’t be ideal.
If you apply for Tesco livingston in February, they take on new passes and will give you training depending on how busy they are with warehouse to wheels. The driving assessment you do will be a driver side reverse onto a bay with a pretty tight restriction on space and with no experience it’s quite difficult, if you fail they might train you or they might not just depending on how busy they are. They use trg logistics as their in house agency but i don’t know what they are like to work for, i got told to go back after i had some more experience but didn’t bother and just stuck with agency work.
dead.duck:
Passed Cat C in October, but not searching for work yet for many reasons. I want to do CE in February/March and then start looking for a job.
…
Any advice how to start join hunting when I pass CE? And is it reasonable to jump straight into Class1?
I used to live in Aberdeen and identify with your predicament to some extent.
Bare in mind some experience in a larger vehicle is better than none. If you have C then any experience is worthwhile before getting CE. You will be asked the question… why have you not got any experience? Always hard… as we all know some companies have insurance and can only consider 6 month plus driving experience. Larger firms it seems deal direct with insurance firms and get a better flexible arrangement for staff.
Like young drivers getting their first car insurance is high - because statistics have shown that they are more likely to have an incident in their first two years of driving. Class 2 and Class 1 similar case… Class 1 reversing is a challenge for a few months and liklihood of a bump is quite high. Hence most firms ask for 2 yrs experience.
My advice would be get whatever ‘commercial driving experience’ - get whatever job you can driving a van, 7.5T, 12T, 26T… all adds up. Without any Class 2 experience you will find it harder to get a Class 1 job. You may be lucky and get a job with one of the main large fleet firms but the chance is slim.
With Class 1 do not underestimate the competent reversing requirement. You may find you are brilliant at it but I don’t find it easy and I have had a car transporter for years. It is completely different with an artic trailer and takes practice.
Thanks jessejazza
So if looks like I should look for a Class2 job even when I pass my Class 1. The thing is I’ve got a chance to do it soon and having CE start looking for any job. I’m planning job searching somewhere early summer. Now I have other commitments that prevent me from working.
Stobart do cover Scotland, they run an operation out of Euro Central just next to Bellshill.
If you’re already considering the Central Belt you could also try Pollock Scotrans in Bathgate they will take just about anyone with a pulse and a driving licence.
You may find it easier finding Class 2 work with a Class 1 licence, but no experience, vs Class 2 licence and no experience.
A couple of agency jobs I’ve done, driving Class 2 vehicles, but they wanted to see I had a Class 1 licence - I never understood why, but perhaps it is something to do with insurance?
Ok, thanks for advice guys.
I’ll definitely do class1 first as nothing is stopping me to do that. And I’ll take it from there
I’m gonna go to McPherson’s this time as with class 1 there’s a higher possibility of a retest needed, so while PSTT is a perfect training centre, I won’t have to travel that far in case I fail…
Where abouts are you in the Isles? I live on the isle of skye on the North West of Scotland. Theirs a couple small haulage firms and building companies here. Like everywhere they want people with experience. I too passed my Cat C earlier in the year and have CE booked for March.
I’ve found myself going out with local companies just as a unpaid drivers mate on my days off to give them a hand and gain experience it’s not just all about driving. If you can get to know the local drivers and companies then you’ll stand in good stead to get a job with as they know they can trust you.
I’m in Shetland. Can’t work for free though as if I start working, then my husband needs to be at home. One of us must work while the other is with the kids. And it looks like it’s time to swap again
But I don’t like it up here, been here long enough and it’s not the way of life for us. That why I want to look for a job in mainland as we are planning to move finally.
dead.duck:
I’m in Shetland. Can’t work for free though as if I start working, then my husband needs to be at home. One of us must work while the other is with the kids. And it looks like it’s time to swap again
But I don’t like it up here, been here long enough and it’s not the way of life for us. That why I want to look for a job in mainland as we are planning to move finally.
That’s cool I work for a Shetland company down here on skye. I can see your predicament. Plenty small haulage firms around the western isles but it just seems a case of actually getting to know them first
Hope you managed to pass your tests and are on the road to landing something (no pun intended).
I’m in the same boat in terms of being in Scotland but on mainland about 25 miles outside Glasgow and looking to do the tests.
Was wondering as I was thinking of studying while working, is it possible to say your only after 3-4 shifts a week with an agency up here or will this limit your chance of work greatly and best to offer more of your time to them?
markdoc10:
Hope you managed to pass your tests and are on the road to landing something (no pun intended).
I’m in the same boat in terms of being in Scotland but on mainland about 25 miles outside Glasgow and looking to do the tests.
Was wondering as I was thinking of studying while working, is it possible to say your only after 3-4 shifts a week with an agency up here or will this limit your chance of work greatly and best to offer more of your time to them?
TIA
I think it depends on the job and the agency I had a brief spell with a company though an agency and doing 4 days meant 50-60 hours it should be quite reasonable to only want to do 4 days in my opinion.
if you have a class 1 (C+E) have you thought about doing supermarket work. plenty of time sitting around waiting to get tipped or loaded to do some studying. I know someone that when he retired from being a uni lecturer he took up lorry driving then when the uni wanted him back as a consultant lecturer there was a brief overlap and he marked assignments and set exam questions while he was sat there doing nothing.
markdoc10:
Hope you managed to pass your tests and are on the road to landing something (no pun intended).
TIA
I’m going to do CE in March at PSTT.
I thought about working 3-4 days a week in Scotland mainland, possibly Aberdeen area as connection with Shetland is better than Glasgow or Edinburgh. I’d be happy to come down for a few days then get back to Shetland.
However if I am to work half week my husband must work similar pattern, just different days as we have 5 kids and childcare here is not quite an option, it’s limited to school hours. We live in a very remote part of Shetland to make things worse…
Just living in a place like that is not compatible with living and working in other parts of UK. Not being a Shetlander doesn’t help with getting a job up here as well…
