I’m considering going for my class 3 ADR. But I’m wondering weather its a worthwhile investment. I carried out a search in the forum and found a topic from 2007 which pretty much came to the conclusion that it’s not really worth it.
But what about now? Is it worth it? I’ve seen wages ranging from £29k to over £40k (Avonmouth)
Currently I am a Class 1 driver based in Bristol with a fair few years experience on a Pallet distribution network and I fancy a bit of a change. My main motivation for going for the ADR would be the money. But would I earn that much more? I’m currently on £28100.
Any advice would be great. I would especially like to hear from drivers who currently work on the tankers for some feedback.
Worth it to me 15-20 years ago on the agency circuit. Not one agency offered higher rates for doing ADR work so I figured what was the point. The one agency ADR guy I did meet said he refused to do ADR work because A; he didn’t get any more money and B; he was often on the subs bench in case a regular ADR man blobbed.
The way I see it, unless you’ve gotta tanker job lined up paying good money, it’s not worth the hassle.
Adr near me (yorkshire and humber regions) is not much more than a pound and hour, two if you’re lucky. You’ll pay your course back within about 3- 4 months, but you’re never gonna be on mega money unless you’re very lucky.
My intention is to get some adr experience, then aim for the fuel tankers. Plenty of that type of work near me. But even then, from what I’ve found, you’re talking 15ish.
For me, it was worth it because I come off nights and still earn something similar. But everyone is different I suppose.
We get £10 a day extra for ADR work, but it’s a flat £10 whether it’s one IBC or a trailer full of barrels. Average it over say 12hrs and it’s less than a pound an hour… handy but not a game changer…
If you are going to do it in my opinion its best to tie it in with CPC, shop around and look for an ADR course where the hours count towards your CPC, I did full ADR course tanks and packages and got 4 days CPC hours included for about £520 all in if i remember rightly.
ADR package work pays fairly similar to general haulage work, as it is basically the same job. There might be a slight raise, usually a pound an hour, but nothing life changing.
Tanker work can be a real mixed bag, there are some companies that pay pretty poorly, there are others where you can realistically earn over £40k a year without having to work every hour of the day
It probably depends on whereabouts in the country you are and if you fancy working for any of the local companies that need ADR drivers?
I have ADR and to be perfectly honest I really don’t think it has paid for itself. It was an interesting course and I enjoyed it but it’s not a walk in the park easy one to pass
(I have DGSA as well and not sure that has paid for itself either if I am really honest, but that’s mainly my own fault)
Nite Owl:
Adr near me (yorkshire and humber regions) is not much more than a pound and hour, two if you’re lucky. You’ll pay your course back within about 3- 4 months, but you’re never gonna be on mega money unless you’re very lucky.
My intention is to get some adr experience, then aim for the fuel tankers. Plenty of that type of work near me. But even then, from what I’ve found, you’re talking 15ish.
For me, it was worth it because I come off nights and still earn something similar. But everyone is different I suppose.
An extra £1 an hour is around 3 grand over the course of a year, gets you a pretty decent holiday or what have you.
I did mine Oct 2014, it ran out in Oct 2019. I pulled the grand total of zero ADR loads in that time. The reason being I couldn’t really find anything paying a significant premium for it. My current employer pay an extra £5 per shift if you pull an ADR load in that shift, but in nearly 4 years with them I haven’t touched a single ADR load. For me it wasn’t worth the £800 I paid for it. Although because it was Oct 2014 the first DCPC deadline passed a week or so prior, and I got 28 hours in the first week towards the next one, so had 5 years to do my last 7 hours! That was worth it.
Originally I had the idea to get my ADR and then my PDP so I could get onto petrol tankers. At the time I found it nigh on impossible to get my PDP independently, and I couldn’t really find anybody willing to take me on with a view to gaining it. So I gave up and found a decent paying 4 on 4 off job with probably the best brewer in the world.
If you’d used your ADR with your current employer then you would have earned over a grand a year based on what you said. Maybe if you’d told your employer that you were looking to do ADR work they might have thrown some your way.
Also, you cannot do your PDP independently. The PDP consists of a theory and a practical test, so you need a company behind you to put you through it. Without any ADR experience you have practically no chance of getting fuel work. Realistically, you would need a few years doing ADR tanker work before you would have a chance
shullbit:
If you are going to do it in my opinion its best to tie it in with CPC, shop around and look for an ADR course where the hours count towards your CPC, I did full ADR course tanks and packages and got 4 days CPC hours included for about £520 all in if i remember rightly.
That’s a very good idea indeed.
Problem is good ideas are like ■■■■ pipes, everyone’s got one. Which is why nearly every lorry driver in the land has ADR. And is also why you will struggle to get more than a quid an hour.
It doesn’t always get you more money, I had an email from total jobs earlier this week for class 2 adr work paying…wait for it…£9.25 per hour. I would have though with all the chemical industry around Teesside the rate would be better, but it’s not, even class 1 pays just over the £10.50 mark, I’m doing local tipper work at £12 per hour, why the hell would I drag some very dangerous chemicals around without being paid well for it?
Roll on the day when drivers stick together and say ‘No More’ a little less for the shareholder and a decent wage for the driver, because, with out us, you’ve got no business!
