A New Life

NEW AND WANNABE DRIVERS (INTERACTIVE)
1

Hello to everyone.

I am a 40 years old IT professional, have been working all my life with computers and I hated them from the first day. The only thing I loved doing IT support was the long trips to the clients.

I have been reading a lot about the life of a truck driver and I am not really here to listen how difficult is going to be or not. I didn’t have an easy run so far, and maybe I like to live a not much comfortable life anyway.

To add to the above, I am a social self-outcast, not in any behavioural manner, I like being with people and people enjoy my company as well, but its my nature to really enjoy being alone most of the time.

Then about trucks, well, getting to drive a 44 tonnes to the other side of the country or Europe (I aim for the latter) is a task that requires respect to rules, respect to the machine, respect to your limits. I was always the kind of person that was “called” by professions that are hard and have to respect the rules of it. It’s a weird thing I cant really explain.

The moment this became a reality for me, I have started getting endless information about everything. The training, the roads, the route plans, the bad, the good, the ugly and I don’t mind. To get behind the wheel is one thing, maybe the easiest. What I want is the hard, to start working as a truck driver.

Last, once I get my license, (first the LGV class 2 then after 1-2 months the LGV class 1), I will be working weekends. It is for sure at this point I cant leave my IT job, it pays money to keep a family with a child happy. So for a year, I will be on the road by weekends, to log hours, to meet people, to get a hold of the job, get my hands dirty.

What I want to ask everyone here is probably asked a lot. But for some reason, when someone ask this question people derail and tend to be chaotic.

The question is, once someone has his own artic and lets say 1 to 2 years experience, how easy it will be to get haulage jobs around UK or EU?

Then, I have done my lesson to estimate all costs and end up with a number I should charge my clients per mile. But this is for long trips. I do read around prices per hour for within UK, but I would appreciate indication of rates being written here.

Last, I am not the kind who would go take a trip for £7 per hour. I have seen that going on between drivers of lighter vehicles on auction type web sites and hate that. I understand people are ready to drive 600 miles roundtrip for £50 profit. The way they work they screw each other and the winner himself. So please, let me know of descent rates that keep us all happy.

Again thank you for surely duplicating the effort to answer these question as most people obviously did before, but it’s a new day isn’t it?

Achilles

2

Don’t mean to burst your bubble but have you looked into running cost servicing/maintanence and insurance and there’s the op licence i think you would need a fair bit of cash flow,after all it only takes 1 customer to go ■■■■ up owing you hundreds maybe thousands then your on your arse wishing you was still staring at that pc screen, i hope you achieve your goal in life best of luck.

3

Achilles:
Hello to everyone.

I am a 40 years old IT professional, have been working all my life with computers and I hated them from the first day. The only thing I loved doing IT support was the long trips to the clients.

I have been reading a lot about the life of a truck driver and I am not really here to listen how difficult is going to be or not. I didn’t have an easy run so far, and maybe I like to live a not much comfortable life anyway.

To add to the above, I am a social self-outcast, not in any behavioural manner, I like being with people and people enjoy my company as well, but its my nature to really enjoy being alone most of the time.

Then about trucks, well, getting to drive a 44 tonnes to the other side of the country or Europe (I aim for the latter) is a task that requires respect to rules, respect to the machine, respect to your limits. I was always the kind of person that was “called” by professions that are hard and have to respect the rules of it. It’s a weird thing I cant really explain.

The moment this became a reality for me, I have started getting endless information about everything. The training, the roads, the route plans, the bad, the good, the ugly and I don’t mind. To get behind the wheel is one thing, maybe the easiest. What I want is the hard, to start working as a truck driver.

Last, once I get my license, (first the LGV class 2 then after 1-2 months the LGV class 1), I will be working weekends. It is for sure at this point I cant leave my IT job, it pays money to keep a family with a child happy. So for a year, I will be on the road by weekends, to log hours, to meet people, to get a hold of the job, get my hands dirty.

What I want to ask everyone here is probably asked a lot. But for some reason, when someone ask this question people derail and tend to be chaotic.

The question is, once someone has his own artic and lets say 1 to 2 years experience, how easy it will be to get haulage jobs around UK or EU?

Then, I have done my lesson to estimate all costs and end up with a number I should charge my clients per mile. But this is for long trips. I do read around prices per hour for within UK, but I would appreciate indication of rates being written here.

Last, I am not the kind who would go take a trip for £7 per hour. I have seen that going on between drivers of lighter vehicles on auction type web sites and hate that. I understand people are ready to drive 600 miles roundtrip for £50 profit. The way they work they screw each other and the winner himself. So please, let me know of descent rates that keep us all happy.

Again thank you for surely duplicating the effort to answer these question as most people obviously did before, but it’s a new day isn’t it?

Achilles

YOU ARE CRAZY

Being an owner operator is a very hard slog, running on a knife edge to earn a crust, getting paid so irregularly that paying for your fuel is a juggling act , and a new rig will be beyond you unless you have very deep pockets with lots of money to start with, and if you have KEEP it there.
If you really want to find out what its like, Then drive for others at weekends , you will meet so many drivers who work every hour they can put in to scrape by…I started in the Eighties out of necessity and it was bad, now those days would look so good.
Please go down the route of being careful, pass the tests and drive for someone else and Learn lots before wasting heaps of money on a rose tinted dream. And it would appear thats what it is…A ROSE TINTED DREAM.
So many young eastern europeans come and work for so little that you will soon want to stay in the warm and dry office in front of your PC I bet.

4

I left driving in 1992 to do a HND and then BSc Hons degree in IT then embarked on an IT career. I hated it, the office politics the ongoing slog to keep up with a technology that changes monthly and working in an industry where if you are over 30 they see you as a dinosaur. I finished IT in 2003 as I could not stand it any longer. I am now getting my PSV and HGV 2 licences back medical next Wednesday. BUT I WOULD NOT DREAM OF GETTING MY OWN TRUCK! If established hauliers in this country with their fitters, land, contacts, return jobs and all their know how can’t make it how are you going to do it? You will be competing against Shiply and the real big guys who have a drop and pickup within a mile of each other and you are going to demand they pay you double their rate? Forget the HGV dream and go for “man with a van” and charge minimum wage :laughing:

5

Achilles:
Last, once I get my license, (first the LGV class 2 then after 1-2 months the LGV class 1), I will be working weekends. It is for sure at this point I cant leave my IT job, it pays money to keep a family with a child happy. So for a year, I will be on the road by weekends, to log hours, to meet people, to get a hold of the job, get my hands dirty.

If working mon to fri in the IT job then you are likely to be limited to one day every other weekend due to the EU weekly rest rules

6

All the money you are thinking of spending on a truck would be better spent on your own IT business. The golden rule of starting your own business is do something you already know.

7

uncledek:
Don’t mean to burst your bubble but have you looked into running cost servicing/maintanence and insurance and there’s the op licence i think you would need a fair bit of cash flow,after all it only takes 1 customer to go ■■■■ up owing you hundreds maybe thousands then your on your arse wishing you was still staring at that pc screen, i hope you achieve your goal in life best of luck.

Hi, thank you for your reply, yes I have been explained all. I look in an initial investment of £40000 with no profit for the first 6 months.

8

3 wheeler:

Achilles:
Hello to everyone.

I am a 40 years old IT professional, have been working all my life with computers and I hated them from the first day. The only thing I loved doing IT support was the long trips to the clients.

I have been reading a lot about the life of a truck driver and I am not really here to listen how difficult is going to be or not. I didn’t have an easy run so far, and maybe I like to live a not much comfortable life anyway.

To add to the above, I am a social self-outcast, not in any behavioural manner, I like being with people and people enjoy my company as well, but its my nature to really enjoy being alone most of the time.

Then about trucks, well, getting to drive a 44 tonnes to the other side of the country or Europe (I aim for the latter) is a task that requires respect to rules, respect to the machine, respect to your limits. I was always the kind of person that was “called” by professions that are hard and have to respect the rules of it. It’s a weird thing I cant really explain.

The moment this became a reality for me, I have started getting endless information about everything. The training, the roads, the route plans, the bad, the good, the ugly and I don’t mind. To get behind the wheel is one thing, maybe the easiest. What I want is the hard, to start working as a truck driver.

Last, once I get my license, (first the LGV class 2 then after 1-2 months the LGV class 1), I will be working weekends. It is for sure at this point I cant leave my IT job, it pays money to keep a family with a child happy. So for a year, I will be on the road by weekends, to log hours, to meet people, to get a hold of the job, get my hands dirty.

What I want to ask everyone here is probably asked a lot. But for some reason, when someone ask this question people derail and tend to be chaotic.

The question is, once someone has his own artic and lets say 1 to 2 years experience, how easy it will be to get haulage jobs around UK or EU?

Then, I have done my lesson to estimate all costs and end up with a number I should charge my clients per mile. But this is for long trips. I do read around prices per hour for within UK, but I would appreciate indication of rates being written here.

Last, I am not the kind who would go take a trip for £7 per hour. I have seen that going on between drivers of lighter vehicles on auction type web sites and hate that. I understand people are ready to drive 600 miles roundtrip for £50 profit. The way they work they screw each other and the winner himself. So please, let me know of descent rates that keep us all happy.

Again thank you for surely duplicating the effort to answer these question as most people obviously did before, but it’s a new day isn’t it?

Achilles

YOU ARE CRAZY

Being an owner operator is a very hard slog, running on a knife edge to earn a crust, getting paid so irregularly that paying for your fuel is a juggling act , and a new rig will be beyond you unless you have very deep pockets with lots of money to start with, and if you have KEEP it there.
If you really want to find out what its like, Then drive for others at weekends , you will meet so many drivers who work every hour they can put in to scrape by…I started in the Eighties out of necessity and it was bad, now those days would look so good.
Please go down the route of being careful, pass the tests and drive for someone else and Learn lots before wasting heaps of money on a rose tinted dream. And it would appear thats what it is…A ROSE TINTED DREAM.
So many young eastern europeans come and work for so little that you will soon want to stay in the warm and dry office in front of your PC I bet.

Hi thank you for your reply, I will take my chances. I just want a truck doing my bussines. I see many easter europeans and indians and pakistans and and and… and they do fine.

9

alder:
I left driving in 1992 to do a HND and then BSc Hons degree in IT then embarked on an IT career. I hated it, the office politics the ongoing slog to keep up with a technology that changes monthly and working in an industry where if you are over 30 they see you as a dinosaur. I finished IT in 2003 as I could not stand it any longer. I am now getting my PSV and HGV 2 licences back medical next Wednesday. BUT I WOULD NOT DREAM OF GETTING MY OWN TRUCK! If established hauliers in this country with their fitters, land, contacts, return jobs and all their know how can’t make it how are you going to do it? You will be competing against Shiply and the real big guys who have a drop and pickup within a mile of each other and you are going to demand they pay you double their rate? Forget the HGV dream and go for “man with a van” and charge minimum wage :laughing:

I hear you. Your approach is logical and make sense against just replies like “you are crazy”, “you east europeans” etc.

I do want to drive LGV long trips. Maybe I log proper experience and do that for someone else. I want to do the job, while some here thing I want to make money out of it.

Again thank you. Good luck!

10

ROG:

Achilles:
Last, once I get my license, (first the LGV class 2 then after 1-2 months the LGV class 1), I will be working weekends. It is for sure at this point I cant leave my IT job, it pays money to keep a family with a child happy. So for a year, I will be on the road by weekends, to log hours, to meet people, to get a hold of the job, get my hands dirty.

If working mon to fri in the IT job then you are likely to be limited to one day every other weekend due to the EU weekly rest rules

Rules are rules, I will work when I am allowed. It will take a bit longer or quit IT sooner.

11

alder:
All the money you are thinking of spending on a truck would be better spent on your own IT business. The golden rule of starting your own business is do something you already know.

No offense please. But obviously you dont know nothing about IT. I would not give not one £ for any IT investment. IT is dead over 10 years now. I will not go into explaining that, mainly because I hate IT.

12

Yeap. I got the reply i wanted, nobody actually answered the question, you just said “dont do it”, “you uare crazy” “stay in the job we know nothing about”

This typical lolipops: “truckers get no money, look at me working 20 years and doing fine”, “are you crazy doing my job?”, “Trucking is a West Europe profesion”. I have heard that long before even Itnernet came to our homes. I met people here and there.

Whatever.

I will get my truck and make my way in the industry. I dont worry about that really.

I know that deep down your intentions are good, but I can see my truck and its my intention to be on the road by the end of the year.

We will meet on the road and share our views a lot better. Look for the Achilles Artic.

Thank you all.

13

if you are going to be on the road before end of the year good luck, when have you got your cpc booked for

14

Achilles:
Yeap. I got the reply i wanted, nobody actually answered the question, you just said “dont do it”, “you uare crazy” “stay in the job we know nothing about”

This typical lolipops: “truckers get no money, look at me working 20 years and doing fine”, “are you crazy doing my job?”, “Trucking is a West Europe profesion”. I have heard that long before even Itnernet came to our homes. I met people here and there.

Whatever.

I will get my truck and make my way in the industry. I dont worry about that really.

I know that deep down your intentions are good, but I can see my truck and its my intention to be on the road by the end of the year.

We will meet on the road and share our views a lot better. Look for the Achilles Artic.

Thank you all.

Pick up a phone and ask some of the big boys what they pay their sub contract owner drivers, then work out overhead costs and truck replacement …if you expect a profit margin thats good, you are a dreamer…PLEASE PLEASE do this, Or ask companies that you think you can get work from what they pay now, then do the sums again.
It will terrify you I promise…the only way to make a good living is to own a hub with a lot of trucks…that way the cost per tonne per mile is optimized…its why the owner drivers are all old guys with No big debts/overheads and a lot of knowledge.
By a van with no tacho and a lot less rules…You will make more money with a lot less debts and hassle attached .
You cannot compete. Its impossible…drive for someone else if you must but a takehome pay of £600 would be good for long distance overseas, and for not sleeping with the wife or seeing you kids grow up I personally think its not worth it.
Finally …the worst stat i know is that 65% of drivers who do europe regularly have been divorced because the missus wants to have a life !

15

Ok I’ll be polite and try to give a reasonable analogy.

You buying and operating a truck straight after gaining the correct qualifications would be the equivalent of me setting up an IT support firm next Monday using a small amount of info gained on a web site and a business plan backed with no experience of that industry.

Basically I may as well set fire to a pile of cash.

By all means aim to start up on your own but you MUST get experience prior. You can have all the correct licenses etc but one mistake due to your lack of experience will blow that weeks profit. Even something simple like planning your hours wrong.

Whilst gaining that experience keep an eye on opportunities and how other OD’s do it and who does what, an above all who makes a profit not just turns over.

16

And by gaining experience I mean more than 12 months. A lot more.

17

kjw21:
And by gaining experience I mean more than 12 months. A lot more.

Well said kjw21…But I fear he wants to sprint let alone run on day one.

I have been at this game since 1980 driving for the old man , now I am glad my licence is gone and i am not trying to survive in todays marketplace. Its a big company game all the way now.

18

Achilles:
The question is, once someone has his own artic and lets say 1 to 2 years experience, how easy it will be to get haulage jobs around UK or EU?

Hi Achilles,

I think you’ve identified a good question, but… I also think that you have got it the wrong way around.

Let’s imagine this were an IT forum…

I join… then I ask a question similar to yours.
I’m brand new, but I’m talking of owning my own IT international company.

What would your advice to me be?

To answer your original question, I think it would make better sense if you got at least a couple of years experience as an international LGV driver first, then consider owning your own truck.

:bulb: I’m NOT raining on your parade, but I honestly think you’re hitching the cart in front of the horse.

19

Achilles:

alder:
All the money you are thinking of spending on a truck would be better spent on your own IT business. The golden rule of starting your own business is do something you already know.

No offense please. But obviously you dont know nothing about IT. I would not give not one £ for any IT investment. IT is dead over 10 years now. I will not go into explaining that, mainly because I hate IT.

Exactly! you won’t invest a £1 in IT yet you are a professional but you will plough £40,000 into a business you know nothing about? Please I am not trying to insult you. I am just trying to make you think about it some more. If you are going ahead with it pick up the phone and talk o some operators in your area. I am in Leeds and yesterday I talked to 4 operators, guess what 3 of them are going bust! 1 had a fleet of 24 trucks and he sold the last 10 in these past 2 years. He is driving the last truck until he retires. Crippled by a back stabbing political system and overtaxed by a greedy incompetent government with the highest fuel prices on Europe you stand little chance.

However the 4th one I talked to Plantforce are expanding but they are specialist.

20

One last piece of advice look at Europe. I do not know if it is still the case but some firms set up in Holland a few years ago to get away form tax and fuel expenses. Maybe that is worth looking at and sending trucks with a full tank into England to do work?