Better off Trucking?

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

Evening lads and lasses,

I’ve been royally shafted - numerous times - in my current role working for a well known bank.

Today was the last straw. I was passed over for a role that was made for me and it’s not the first time. I can’t let it happen again. I need to get out before it’s too late.

I’ve never really been cut out for the corporate office lifestyle. I come from a working class family, we’re all cut from the same cloth and yet I’m the only one chained to a desk - the rest of my lot couldn’t think of anything worse. I agree with them but life happens and we don’t always end up where we want to be.

My old man drives for a living and it’s something I feel I would be happier doing. I know it would be a big change but I think it would be worth if for the sake of my sanity and stress levels.

I’m after some basic info and I hope that you wise bunch can help me:

In the longer term I would hope to gain my Class 1. IF I was to obtain my license and work, say Mon-Fri days but long hours (as much as is legally/physically possible) how much could I hope to earn? Can you earn a decent wage when working relatively sociable hours?

An idea of wages for Class 2 and 1 would be appreciated. I’m based in Kent.

Thanks guys…

2

Class 1 around 27k basic, Class 2 24k - I’d think.

3

All depends on where you work. Some places are 48 hours or less, nice kit and a good office backup while others are on max hours, crap gear and office staff that goof off at every chance they get.

You start off at the bottom, doing the stuff that everyone else has done and don’t want to do anymore but in time you will get more experience and you can get yourself into a job that suits you! I’d rather take a poor paying job that keeps me sane and happy than a good paying job that makes me miserable everyday.

4

bazzyf:
I’ve been royally shafted - numerous times - in my current role working for a well known bank.

If you go on the Agency you will have gone from being a banker to a ■■■■■■ :laughing: (starts with a w :wink: )

:blush: ok I’ll get me coat :blush:

Only joking mate, I can’t help you I aint Class2 and I don’t live in Kent.

5

love the part about stress levels,if you want stress become an hgv driver[in some cases]not all

6

To go from car licence to LGV/HGV 1, is gonna cost somewhere between £3.5K-£5K .
Down here in the West Country, You will be able to earn the dizzy amount, for a Class 1(LGV C+E), of about £8.50-£9. per hr :smiley:

7

bazzyf:
Evening lads and lasses,

I’ve been royally shafted - numerous times - in my current role working for a well known bank.

Today was the last straw. I was passed over for a role that was made for me and it’s not the first time. I can’t let it happen again. I need to get out before it’s too late.

I’ve never really been cut out for the corporate office lifestyle. I come from a working class family, we’re all cut from the same cloth and yet I’m the only one chained to a desk - the rest of my lot couldn’t think of anything worse. I agree with them but life happens and we don’t always end up where we want to be.

My old man drives for a living and it’s something I feel I would be happier doing. I know it would be a big change but I think it would be worth if for the sake of my sanity and stress levels.

I’m after some basic info and I hope that you wise bunch can help me:

In the longer term I would hope to gain my Class 1. IF I was to obtain my license and work, say Mon-Fri days but long hours (as much as is legally/physically possible) how much could I hope to earn? Can you earn a decent wage when working relatively sociable hours?

An idea of wages for Class 2 and 1 would be appreciated. I’m based in Kent.

Thanks guys…

Medical, theory, hazard perception, cpc, class 2, class 1 altogether cost me about 2 1/2 thousand. That’s up in East Yorkshire though. As for pay, check just about any thread on here, they usually turn into a debate on wages before long.

8

Depends how you play it. If you listen to some on here you will earn £3 per hour for the rest of your life. you could, potentially, earn in excess of £52k for simple night trunk work but then again you need to know where to go and how to do it in order to earn that sort of money.

9

If your bank is no good …
Why not change bank ■■

Bit of a leap to being a trucker . most are ex forces or prisoners

If you do go for it …

Theres no going back .

Wages have been sliding since the last century and with a never ending supply of ex russians it aint going to change .

You would be mad to become a trucker

10

We’ve all been shafted by the banks…

11

Maybe the best person to ask is your dad.

12

truckman020:
love the part about stress levels,if you want stress become an hgv driver[in some cases]not all

Sorry, but HGV drivers largely have no idea what real stress at work is. Being mithered by a planner, getting lost or having to do a tricky blindside off a main road is ■■■■ all compared to having clients on your case / big money riding on what your doing / somebody else’s personal circumstances etc. etc. We all clock off at the end of our shift & forget all about it. It’s a piece of ■■■■. Most drivers stress levels are totally unnecessary & self inflicted.

To answer the OP’s question. Mon-Fri days, £26-£30K is fairly easily achievable if you put the hours in & take into account meal allowances etc. a lot of firms pay. You’ll often be talking 11-15 hour days on a regular basis though, sometimes not getting home till late evening, or if not starting at 2-5am. I’m not trying to put you off, just being honest with you in that you’ll see a noticeable reduction in your work/life balance.

13

My father was area manager for a bank back in the late '60s /early '70s, responsible for all the company’s branches in the county. My son tried working for another for a while, but couldn’t agree with the constant badgering to sell customers financial products they didn’t want or need.

I think I can safely say that dad’s gone supersonic spinning in his grave at the way banks operate today.

If after reading other responses about what it is like to be a driver you decide you are still interested then check out Alan Firmin’s website thoroughly. In your position I would be asking for an informal interview, not necessarily about driver training, one of their slogans is ’ investors in people’ ; put it to the test. There will always be negative feedback from drivers about any company, but there is very little of substance against this local company other than what one will hear about any haulier.

14

Ex-teacher, Class 2, weekdays only, home between 3 and 5 every day and enjoying it. £23k. Not huge but wifey works as well.

15

boredwivdrivin:
If your bank is no good …
Why not change bank ■■

Bit of a leap to being a trucker . most are ex forces or prisoners

If you do go for it …

Theres no going back .

Wages have been sliding since the last century and with a never ending supply of ex russians it aint going to change .

You would be mad to become a trucker

:slight_smile: +1
Or in my case both + a multiple personality dissorder, one of me is a nutter.

16

When you get out of the heavy traffic and out on the open road, driving a truck aint too bad, especially when the weather is nice.

In contrast when you stuck in traffic 100 miles away from home, it starts to snow and you are wondering if you will ever get home, it’s a totally different ball game.

It is true there are a lot of ex cons and former mental patients driving trucks. Easy to spot with the frilly curtains though. :wink:

17

boredwivdrivin:
You would be mad to become a trucker

+1 I wouldn’t advice anybody go start trucking, it’s not like it used to be (been here 35 years) to many rules/regulations/hours, working 70 hours a week yeh good money(used too) it’s like doing two weeks work (basic job of 45 hours a week) in one, the sooner I get to hang the keys up the better.

18

OP states that he’s frequently been passed over for promotion, as his main reason for wanting to quit.

As an HGV driver, there is NO promotion as such; you’re a driver, that’s it, and there are plenty in the industry’s “hierarchy”, and also quite a few whom drivers themselves consider to be beneath them, who will frequently remind you of that fact. If you can deal with that, and do the job well, you’ll be fine.

It works for me; I quit the managerial/office side of things because I know I’m temperamentally unsuited to it. Grew to hate the back-stabbing, social climbing and petty snobbery that is endemic in offices; whilst it’s no longer the case that you’re effectively your own boss once you get behind that steering wheel it’s still not a bad way to make a living.

My advice, based on over 30 years in the industry; own-account work (hauling the company’s own products) trumps general haulage, or logistics as it calls itself now, for job security; and often for better pay and conditions too. The latter does tend to offer far more variety.

19

I do agree with being your own boss thing. I can, to a point refuse to do something if it conflicts with my hours.

20

boredwivdrivin:
If your bank is no good …
Why not change bank ■■

being in an office isn’t the right job for everybody and I should imagine that working for one bank will be very similar to another.

boredwivdrivin:
Bit of a leap to being a trucker .

Yep it will be a hell of a culture shock, at least it was for me, going from an job as a Cartographer to tramping Monday to Saturday.

boredwivdrivin:
most are ex forces or prisoners

There are threads on here asking about previous careers or jobs, there are loads of people who’ve done some vastly different jobs before they started driving trucks. Some pretty high flying ones at that, I used to work with a driver who’d been a senior detective, he had enough of the Police force and the rules, regs, paperwork, most didn’t think he’d last, but he took to it like a duck to water.

boredwivdrivin:
If you do go for it …

Theres no going back .

Why not? I went back into office work after a couple of years of haulage, but left as it just confirmed that I preferred truck driving. but of course there is always the option of going in the transport office, even getting a CPC and becoming a transport manager.

boredwivdrivin:
Wages have been sliding since the last century and with a never ending supply of ex russians it aint going to change .

Probably have on general haulage, but still jobs around paying okay if you’re willing to look and are lucky. But then you’d be amazed at how little some people in other jobs, including working in offices, earn. Wearing a suit to work doesn’t mean you’re on a massive salary.

boredwivdrivin:
You would be mad to become a trucker

Probably, but I heard many people say to youngsters that they’d be mad to do the same job as them.