Just out of interest, how many of you out there have got a back up career, something to fall back on say you got to or had to stop from driving for a living. What would you do to earn a crust… would still stay in the haulage industry as a planner or would you ditch it call and try something new
I don’t have a back - up career.
I started driving heavies (because I wanted to) in 1976.
The two firms I worked for before then, both cutting up meat have long since gone.
Ha ha Lorry driving IS my back up career 
Lorry driving IS my back-up career/winter job 
Been on tractors and quads since May with the odd run just to keep my hand in and my rate up. My driving shifts will start to pick up from next week as the silage/harvest work tails off 
I was a qualified sparky before starting driving. But would hate to have to go back to it.
I’d go back to being a wood butcher, but I wouldn’t do site work/shopfitting etc. I’d do my own work in folk’s houses (door hanging, skirting, worktops, built-in wardrobes - stuff like that.
Lorry driving is my back up career. My other trade is electrical and electronics.
Only reinstated my HGV and PSV licenses last year and did a week long dcpc, so I had more choices employment wise. Sadly driving has changed to the point where the majority of agency work seems to be shop deliveries, whereas one time it would have been steel and general haulage. I’m not into shops or mixing with members of the general public, so it may well be a short incursion back into driving for me, unless something suitable crops up…
Lorries are my back up career also. Business has hit troubled times this is saving my bacon
I left an internet marketing career to get back into truckdriving but wouldnt go back.
I have a few other skills but not sure if I can make money from them. Might work on a fictional book and try my luck on amazon, just need that JK Rowling inspirational moment.
Worrying how we are only one silly manouvre / failed medical away from losing our licence makes me realise how precious it is.
I can drive plant as a backup. Or do I drive lorries as a backup? I do both on most days so I’m not sure but money goes into my bank for it anyway so who cares? 
I really wanted to go into a specialist area of lorry driving, like escorted loads, but I was happy with driving artics on the whole.
Having done it for nearly 9 years now, I have lost the enthusiasm and am fed up with the lifestyle and the way I get treated as a moron by cerebrally challenged inbred muppets who have no idea how to talk to people. I joke to my partner that I am leaving the profession just as the wages will go up due to a shortage of drivers, but I don’t care. I think the final nail was working for the supermarket chain based at Bridgwater. They are uncaring and disorganised. Ethically, I found it very hard to sit back and watch a bunch of retarded gibbons try and put a square peg in a round hole each day.
I have a job to go to in October which is office based, slightly quirky shifts but nothing like the hours I was/am putting in. I can’t wait, and my fiancée will be pleased too. The money isn’t bad either but then the job I am taking can be stressful and isn’t for everyone. I will certainly look back on the driving years fondly, and it may have worked out differently had I found the perfect driving job.
Sorry, I realise this doesn’t actually answer your question but it felt good to get it out!
Always wanted to drive trucks since I was 5. But for the first 22 years if my working life I was a RAF policeman. Fully intended going into civpol when I came out, but failed to make the grade. So trucking was my back up for the year until I could reapply for Police, but by the end of the year I was earning more than I would be earning in civpol and 3 years later still doing it. So trucking was my back up, and has worked out just fine, my back up back up would be airport/security work.
■■■■ Star…
or to be more realistic,
computer repairs
MOT tester/mechanic, (did it for a few years when I got Peed off with trucking)
flat pack furniture assembly ( I can even do some of them without the instructions)
I work in recruitment and my licence is my back up (or it will be if I ever do my dcpc), I have also done a degree with a view to becoming a teacher but decided against that.
luckily I place drivers so am kind of still involved with driving.
pepsifarr:
Always wanted to drive trucks since I was 5. But for the first 22 years if my working life I was a RAF policeman. Fully intended going into civpol when I came out, but failed to make the grade. So trucking was my back up for the year until I could reapply for Police, but by the end of the year I was earning more than I would be earning in civpol and 3 years later still doing it. So trucking was my back up, and has worked out just fine, my back up back up would be airport/security work.
That’s not saying much for the RAF police if some of the civvy street muppets are anything to go by 
raymundo:
pepsifarr:
Always wanted to drive trucks since I was 5. But for the first 22 years if my working life I was a RAF policeman. Fully intended going into civpol when I came out, but failed to make the grade. So trucking was my back up for the year until I could reapply for Police, but by the end of the year I was earning more than I would be earning in civpol and 3 years later still doing it. So trucking was my back up, and has worked out just fine, my back up back up would be airport/security work.That’s not saying much for the RAF police if some of the civvy street muppets are anything to go by
my own experiences of the raf police when I was in was awful - one of the pillocks charge me for letting off a fire extinguisher despite the fact I was dripping form head to toe, because that’s what everyone does lets an extinguisher off on themselves, my old man even complained to the CO as the raf police had my car docs more than he did.
Started working in catering 25 years later started driving small vans then moved up to artics would hate to go back into catering as got to the point I was starting to dislike it & needed a change
I quite fancy joining the Dvsa .
I studied Mammories most of my life, so hopefully i could make a career from that seriously i never considered another career other than a trucker, i did in my youth studied mechanics and got my ology, and although i still drive abroad for extra cash, next year i am finally retiring at the age of 70. I tried to retire a couple of years ago, i did part time work, then had 18 months off, did all the jobs around the house and garden, and then got bored, so went back to work, but what with government cuts, my wifes retirement was extended by another 3 years ( she just missed the deadline ) and so when she retires next year, we are packing up together, although she plans to do 2/3 days a week, and i will spend a lot more time in our home abroad.
After 20 years in the army this is my back up plan. The next time I’m really fed up with it, or when I reach 60, I will retire to Florida.