Montgomerys, woodsides, at Walton summit! 
Saaamon:
Theres loads of work out there at the moment even for young and inexperienced drivers, wouldnt listen to all these drivers that tell you it will be impossible to get a start they havnt got a clue what their going on about.
I didnāt see anyone say it would be āimpossibleā to get a start. Many including myself, said, it would be difficult and that he should go round the yards and ask. You have to admit if he was wanting a start straight away (which it looks like from his op) than he is likely to end up disappointed as you know full well. The only thing lower down in the pecking order of getting a start, would be a DD code.
By all means do the test just donāt be surprised if there isnāt a job for a while.
I offered to do any shift start time, nights out, weekends and the ā ā ā ā runs that no one wants to get my start, luckily they donāt want me to do weekends though.
Just go on the agency. Ask them if theyāll send you out for free for a week with an old hand who will make the effort to impart his knowledge then you should be good to go.
Silver_Surfer:
Just go on the agency. Ask them if theyāll send you out for free for a week with an old hand who will make the effort to impart his knowledge then you should be good to go.
I wouldnāt work for free, ever! Whatās to say they donāt drop him like a hat at the end of the week?
Least heāll be fore armed with a bit of knowledge that might help prevent him from causing thousands/tens of thousands/hundreds of thousands of pounds of damage when he does get his break & give him that much needed boost of confidence.
Iād work for free for a week if I was 18 & wanted the knowledge.
No one will give him a chance, unless he makes his chance.
No problem in working for free WITH ANOTHER DRIVER for the experience
Where most say no is where another works for free ALONE and in effect takes the wage from another driver
Saaamon:
Theres loads of work out there at the moment even for young and inexperienced drivers, wouldnt listen to all these drivers that tell you it will be impossible to get a start they havnt got a clue what their going on about.
Yep, I agree. Keep on looking, pester the arse off firms, send cvās, emails, letters and go into firms. I passed my HGV1 as soon as I turned 21 (ā¦24 years ago) and got told the same story, nobody would look at me til I was 25. Didnāt stop me though, a month or so on rigids then within 3months I was on artic work and 2 years later at 23 driving ADR tankers ā¦donāt give up 
NewLad:
You have to admit if he was wanting a start straight away (which it looks like from his op) than he is likely to end up disappointed as you know full well.
Yeah its not going to be a walk in the park but its certainly do able, from my experience the only companies that will take on young drivers are the ones that canāt keep hold of decent experienced drivers and thereās always a reason for that but once on the ladder its easy to move about.
if you can aford it go for it. once you have the licence,you have plenty of time to pick up the experience, van driving/ 7.5 driving theres no rush on your part. treat it as a learning curve, so you have to start at the bottom, but you still have that licence.
the maoster:
I disagree with all of your replies to the op. He/she has already said that they will have the available funds to do all the necessary, so what does it matter if thereās no job available right now? That might not be the case one, two, three or however many years down the line. The only sure thing will be that the cost to do the licences will probably have doubled by the time the op waits till their 25 birthday to do them.Go for it op.
But if he/she does it now, he/she will have to stage it C1 then C then C+E, if he/she waits until 21 they can stage it C then C+E, cutting out C1 and saving Ā£700 +. And if he/she locks the funds currently saved into a saving account for 2 - 3 years they will get a better interest rate, and wonāt be able to blow it Napa or Beefa.
OP why donāt try something transport related for a few years, FLT in warehouse or give this lot a ring, not to far from you:
Be lucky to find any sector of work where youāre automatically straight into the job after passing the relevant qualifications required without any time of waiting or hunting about.
Anyway there is Hunterpack out at Tarleton if you can travel to there, they have a fairly big fleet so may have some jobs.
If try the Vosa website that lists applications for O licences it lists all the small to large firms in your area that you have not known they existed from owner drivers in vans to artics.
The contact details are on the site too.
Failing that find a rogue operator that bends the rules.They tend to pay cash in hand and will give you experience in the Uk or Europe.
Hungarion firm sends 18 year olds all over Europe and beyond that.
You could place a free advert offering your services in the truck magazines.
Try job sites of Eures and Rapido or Gumtree.
Our firm took on a 19 year old with absolutely no experienceā¦ shame youāre in the wrong part of the country!
Yep, there are jobs to be had. even at 18 with no experience. Go for it and keep us posted! 
Goodluck
Speaking from experience here.
Go ahead get your licenses as its a must for the future, I agree with other posters to get involved with a haulage company to get your stepping stone.
I became a fitter when I left school passed all my nvqās and worked for the biggest cowboy in Liverpool when he was up and running and I got valuable experience driving the wagons around the yard and other places, i used to go to a place 2 mile from the yard were the boss had a unit an all day at the age of 17/18 I used to shunt his trailers around tipping them on the ramps then getting the empty box off on the same estate, shouldnāt of done it blah blah but I did and got experience off it this helped in later years as said firm went bust and the other drivers all went to other jobs were we all stayed in touch, this got me a start in another place as a fitter were as time progressed the owner knew who I was and that I could drive and he paid for me to have a few lessons and my tests which gained me my class 1&2 which costĀ£900 in total for both, this benefited himself and myself were after a few months I sold the tools and went in the road at 21 which in theory had no legal experience or anything but he gave me the chance to shine and I did !
It a tough industry to crack with being young but some1 out there will give you a chance just keep on at it and your time will come, my chance came and I never looked backā¦ Good luck
ā¦how about trying airport work?
I know itās probably only temporary contracts these days but thereās a lot of heavy equipment and trucks they use āairsideā when they run freight and mail to and from aircraft and load/ unload them. I had a few of my family worked at Heathrow for years and thereās quite a few employers there. Swissport, Menzies and some of the airlines if youāre really lucky.
Just a thought !
matizerSCANIAR480:
Im going to be getting all my licences in the next few months, should hopefully have saved enough up to get them all in one go as such.
Nothing like a bit of confidence eh? Ha ha!
NewLad:
Anyway there is Hunterpack out at Tarleton if you can travel to there, they have a fairly big fleet so may have some jobs.
Will be applying there for definite, not far from me, but cant even get in there in the warehouse until im 18, but i will see about driving and warehousing when im 18.
MikeCunn:
matizerSCANIAR480:
Im going to be getting all my licences in the next few months, should hopefully have saved enough up to get them all in one go as such.Nothing like a bit of confidence eh? Ha ha!
Been saving nearly every penny up for the 2 and a half years, got it all in a savings account untouched ready for when im 18!