ive been offerd a job driving hgv 1 out of felixstowe ie containers the firm has the same name as a famous cider. they have offerd £6.50 an hour. it sounds a bit measaly to me. whats the basic rate roughly for a class 1 ? as im not working at present ive no idea of the basic rate ? any one got any tips for container work ? as its my first time with containers.
Hows longs a piece of string.
Just depends, i personally think £6.50 is too low for driving a class 1. I’d looking at at least £7.50 p/h and even then kinda bottom of the scale.
Saying that depends on experience and work avialable in your area, if you don’t have much experience maybe it is worthwhile for awhile to gain experience.
I love driving trucks but can be stressfull with really long unsociable hours and is a huge responsabilty, at £6.50 p/h i’d think maybe not worth my while where you can get paid more working in a supermarket for set hours and a lot less stress.
Depends on the area, to be honest, and I’m not up to speed with what average rates area in Felixstowe at the moment. Assuming the job is for who I think it is, it’ll be their new depot down there and they are trying to get away with with paying what they do on Teesside, where that is the normal rate - if it isn’t right for the area, they’ll struggle and hence have to put it up.
That said, they’re a good enough lot, decent kit, etc etc etc and as a newbie you’d be a fool to turn down anything which gives you a foot in the door. Once you’re “about on the docks” you’ll soon get to hear what else is going and at what rates - the best jobs are never advertised anyway.
I’m currently looking for class 2 work and the minimum i’m seeing is 6.50 an hour more usually 7-8ph. For me I doubt i’d work a class 1 for that, you get paid more working checkouts in Lidl… But as said, it’s a chance at experience without having to drive a clapped out dog of a truck or running the insecurity of agency work.
I like the idea of container work once I get on to artic, seems my kinda thing, big company based near me in Cannock who’ve been advertising recently, think it might be same one? Offering 400-450 a week here.
I think that is at the bottom of the wage scale mate BUT once you’ve got a job it’s easyer to got a job. If your finding it hard to get a job use the job you’ve been offered as a stepping stone 
Best of luck for finding your feet mate 
Given as how you’ve stated elsewhere you haven’t left the Army yet, and you’re also not in the same area, how on earth would you know whether or not that was acceptable money Daddy Jambo? No offence…Just don’t go confusing the poor lad until you’ve got something on which to base your advice.
The bit about using it as a stepping stone is a good plan, mind, credit where it’s due. 
I’d try phoning the agencies in the area who would likely be a stepping stone offering a better variety of customers and better money as well. If nothing else a couple or three phone calls will give an idea to wages in the area.
Lucy
I have left the army and have been living in Hampshire for 4years before moving to Abingdon so there really is no need for your snotty coments!!! And while i was in the army i was doing agency work for a bit of extra £££ in HAMPSHIRE so I think your being harsh as [zb] and i do know what I’m talking about 
Thankyou very much!!! You should think, you don’t know a persons past (where they’ve been, what they’ve done) before you start being judgemental. 
Language edit. If it needs stars to get it past the auto censor that is the clue it isn’t allowed. Might be an idea to re-read the rules you agreed to when you joined.
Daddy Jambo:
you don’t know a persons passed (where they’ve been, what they’ve done) before
Passed what?
You army types are so sensitive 
Dont want to join the row but Lucy does actually know a lot about container work and I ,having only ever done container work know that £6.50 would probably be about right.
Most places guarantee you a certain amount of hours also
Bear in mind this would be the basic rate and with the amount of hours you do on Containers the money is soon made up to something decent
Up until my last pay revue we were guarenteed £360 for 55hrs
which equates to £6.54,On Deben it was £6.20
But anything over that is over £9 an hour and with nights out and me averaging about 65-70 per week it aint bad money.and the job certainly aint rocket science.
We’re not all on agency you know and with you lot with no work at certain times of the year at least being employed by a PROPER firm you are at least guarenteed some money at the end of the week.
Up ya bum!!! Don’t care I was only trying to help the guy out, then people start picking holes in things thats fine Only joking but dont think there was any grounds for people to start getting snotty and to try and be little me
I think from years ago, Teeside and Felixstowe have been on a similar pay scale. Definately haulage rates were on a par as working for a Tees based operator we were paid more per mile running from Hull or Immingham than Felixstowe or Teesport.
Bulmers have grown massively over the past 18 months and I would say that it will be good experience and a foot in the door
Cool it guys 
The trouble with the written word is that (even with emoticons) it is hard to attain the emotion or manner in the “way it is said” or “the way it is meant” had the people been face to face.
I often, wether written or verbal, say things wrong - I use the right words but they come over in the wrong manner - my Mrs can testify to this but she is used to me after nearly 20 years 
I know what I mean and I am sure I said it right but then when I do a playback in my head, I can see the difference in the way others perceive it.
I’ve replied to the above in PM Daddy, since you copied it there and I got that first. However, I’ll repeat it here to save having to type it out twice. I’m lazy like that.
Talk about a delayed reaction! As I said in my post, no offence at all was intended by my comment, I’ve just seen an awful lot of people led astray by bad advice when it comes to pay rates, as they can vary so wildly from one part of the country to the next. It’s hard enough for newbies to get a start without people leading them to think they are being ripped off when that is not the case in that area. Suffolk rates are a LOT lower than those in Hampshire or Oxfordshire - I know this because I have worked around there in the past, although am, as you will see from my post, out of that loop now.
As for your past, anybody reading your posts can only go on the information that is given in them. If you say that you are shortly leaving the Army, we will work on that basis. If you wish people to know more, say more. Again, with all due respect, a few agency shifts done on the sly does NOT equate to long term experience of this industry. That’s why I’m hard. It made me that way. I’ve been in it 10 years all told, 8 of those driving HGV. I’m also a Yorkshirewoman and therefore speak as I find.
Ultimately, posting on a public forum invites others to judge and pass comment. It happens to me all the time - a quick search will show you that. It’s part of the fun, for me, anyway. If you can’t handle that, either don’t post, or post more comprehensively. We get an awful lot of Billy Bull[zb]ers and Dreamers through this place, and whilst I’m not saying for one second that you are one of them (the fact that you’ve bothered to PM actually show that you’re not), you can understand us being a little wary and defnsive, especially in a Forum where the posters are so fresh and vulnerable.
£6.50 is rubbish…I get more than that driving an 18 tonne Hiab lorry round Norfolk.
If it’s the going rate for container work or not, it’s certainly not a good rate even in East Anglia.
Down in the west country that woul be about right for a newbie trying to get experience. I was on £6 an hour last year on fridges. I can now get more on class 2 work and actually prefer class 2 (local) although I may get some drawbar work thru the agency
I don’t know about containers though
Jeez folks - £6.50 an hour is rubbish… I was getting that for class two work, class one should be at least £7.50, even on agency work.
You don’t get paid less just because it’s container work, you’re still driving class one vehicles. As has been said before, use it as a stepping stone to another job, but if you’re owt like me, it’ll hack you off pretty quickly that you’re not getting a fair rate.
tintobg:
Jeez folks - £6.50 an hour is rubbish… I was getting that for class two work, class one should be at least £7.50, even on agency work.You don’t get paid less just because it’s container work, you’re still driving class one vehicles. As has been said before, use it as a stepping stone to another job, but if you’re owt like me, it’ll hack you off pretty quickly that you’re not getting a fair rate.
Whilst I’m still not in a position to comment on the fairness of the rate, bringing agency rates into the equation when we’re taking about permanent work is just confusing the issue. Agency rates are generally higher to account for lack of security and fringe benefits (eg. paid training).
By the way, according to the grapevine, Bulmers have just had a 7% payrise up here. Make of that what you will.
easiest way to judge areas pay rates is to go to the employment service site and do a search gives a good idea of what to expect for what job last ran tankers out of felixstowe about 5 years ago used to look at local rag vacancies £6.5o seems a bit low they were paying that then but weve all got to start somewhere goodluck