Like other industries you start at the bottom work your way up. Start with crappy jobs prove yourself get experience opportunities open up.
One huge difference and its a culture shock to a lot coming into it, is the hours on a lot of jobs. If your current job is 9-5 home every night weekends off, bank holidays off. Will find driving a truck for a lot of places is a huge culture shock. With a lot of jobs there is little chance to plan to do much when you are working because you finish when you finish. Traffic screws you up, getting hit with an extra collection or getting messed about some place. Even at times when you think great be home by 6pm ended up in the door at 10pm eating something sleeping back to work.
Its not all doom and gloom but it would be a massive culture shock and its not for everyone espec if you want the big money.
I became a lorry driver class 1 “as it was then” at the age of 54 after years of working in factories, with no regrets. Culture shock ,yes, mostly putting up with all the moaning, drivers are worse than old women when it comes to gossip and moaning. Getting a job can be difficult at first, so it helps if you’ve got a bit of cash as a buffer. The sense of freedom after working in a factory is brilliant but I work for a firm that gives me my paperwork in the morning and lets me get on with it. I work less than fifty hours a week most weeks and earn about 24k, I could do more hours and earn more but I don’t want to. I get home every night and don’t work weekends. So for me it has worked well and I’m glad I did it. If you try and it doesn’t work there are loads of other jobs out there and if you keep your licence up to date then you can fall back on it or do a few hours for an agency if need a bit of money.
One thing about driving there are loads of options in the type of work you can do when you have a bit of experience.
Good luck in whatever you decide to do.
Maybe the O.P would be more “suited” to coaching,as he has been a banker he would most likely be "articulate "and good at communicating with the passengers.
Too many of us maybe putting the op off.
To be fair I like my job and enjoy the freedom of the open road, now freedom maybe the wrong word in todays technical age but none the less I like trucking and I like to truck.
Maybe I’m in a minority but I actually enjoy driving trucks for a living more so when I became a “proper” trucker and did my class 1 7 months ago, it sounds daft but it’s like a hobby I get paid for. Yes it can be a shock to the system when you first start out what with the long hours, nights out and that call you get when you’re nearly back at the yard “Can you just nip to…”
Some get used to it, some don’t. I couldn’t do a job staring at the same four walls. I feel less stressed doing a 15 driving trucks than I did doing 7 hours on the buses.
Desperate:
Maybe I’m in a minority but I actually enjoy driving trucks for a living more so when I became a “proper” trucker and did my class 1 7 months ago, it sounds daft but it’s like a hobby I get paid for. Yes it can be a shock to the system when you first start out what with the long hours, nights out and that call you get when you’re nearly back at the yard “Can you just nip to…”
Some get used to it, some don’t. I couldn’t do a job staring at the same four walls. I feel less stressed doing a 15 driving trucks than I did doing 7 hours on the buses.
Massive +1 on this.
Im also in the minority but im as cab happy now as I was 24 years ago when I first passed my class 1. I even shed a tear or two when my old truck is due for replacement. Funnily enough the only consolation is how excited I get at the new trucks arrival. Still cant believe im paid to do this job…
Thank you all for your advice. I appreciate the positive and the negative points!
I know the days will be longer and the job change will bring new challenges and problems. The way I see it is I would rather have driving related problems than office related problems. Give me more hours and a couple of years doing the more undesirable jobs over office politics any day. I mean, you don’t hear about people wishing they could get out of the truck to sit in an office - I’ve never heard of it.
My primary concern is, can I make a decent living in a mon-fri role? It seems that, in time, with effort, that I can. That’s good enough for me. I find it encouraging that some of you have made the switch from very different roles yourselves - and seem to be happier for the change. I hope to be like you
Same here, I like the job I have, running timber from the sawmill in Grangemouth up to their local branches in Inverness & Aberdeen, it’s a bit repetitive, but there’s very few stressful times. I worked as a mechanic before driving & wouldn’t consider going back to the workshop environment. Tried a couple of years in the transport office with the tanker firm I worked for previously but didn’t like it & back out on the road.
OP…it will depend on who you work for & the type of driving job you land, there’s sooo much variation.
Class 2 work could get you anywhere between 18k-30k. All depends on the hours you do.
Yes a decent wage can be had. I have averaged 50 hours a week over the last couple of years, on an hourly salary and been very happy with my lot. If you do long hours you just need to plan your time more efficiently, that’s all.
I was in the forces for 13 years.
Earning 32k loads extras house eat brilliant lifestyle regret leaving to this day.
Left forces worked in a office for over a year as transport coordinator/manger salaried at 24k 1600 a month in bank.
50hrs a week. Stressfull. 100 emails a day. phones don’t stop ringing. paperwork n spread sheets on excel that makes your eyes bleed.
Made the command decision that job wasn’t for me.
Now drive a Arctic on general haul take rough with smooth.
Clear about £2400 a month or roughly £550 week.
Piece ■■■■ job mon to fri. in house 5 on Friday off bank holidays and very rare work weekends, except run in odd sat morning your in house at 8am, easy £70 cheers easy lol
I find it really easy work and use being on my own.
My family wife is use to me being away all time is that is all I’ve done since I was a kid.
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 [zb] 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.
that’s why I said In some cases not all,some do stress
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.
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 [zb] 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…
Biggest load of bollox ive read for some time.
To put in context any idiot can be a planner but very few planners can drive a truck.
Stress my arse all a planner does is plan the work with the help of google route map, their accountability ends at this point and if anything goes wrong its always the drivers fault.
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.
+1 to that
+2. I got out of the living hell that is trucking and haven’t ever, ever regretted it. It’s a terrible industry, overrun with idiocy, moaners and people who go out of their way to make others’ lives difficult.
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.
Would anyone honestly want to start trucking if it was like it used to be?
We are called steering attendants for a reason now - jobs ■■■■ easy. Having to abide to a few annoying rules here and there certainly beats having to stand 12 foot plus high roping and sheeting in the ■■■■■■■ rain not to mention driving some heap of ■■■■ you hope can stop you down the next hill as you build your biceps up with the lack of power steering and after all that enjoying a good nights sleep at the end of your shift in a cramped drafty cab with no night heater or mod cons - Can’t believe the hours in these ‘‘good old days’’ would be much less either and going by mates dads and granddad’s they didn’t appear to be rolling in it with all the extra cash you used to make.
Nah the good old days reference to life in general is just a place where time stopped and folks never moved with it, a age thing.
I used to go out with my Dad all the time in his truck. Loved it. But the trucks WERE [zb].
But on the flip side, I don’t recall drivers grassing each other up all the time. I also remember truckers burning rags under diesel tanks in winter, and other drivers pulling over to offer help. Can you imagine how many cop cars and fire engines would swarm around you now? I don’t think I EVER saw a hi-viz. I used to play in the vast majority of the yards/depots we went to. The odd one would be a bit strict. This amounted to either having to sit in the security lodge, or more often sit in the cab. But usually I was free to wander around. I was taught to ALWAYS look at the forkie so he knew where I was going, and so that he knew that I was aware of him.
I vividly recall the lads in the yard/factory going out of their way to make you feel ’ one of them ’ . As a 10 year old lad, this made you feel great, and looking back, it seems obvious that most workers had kids themselves.
Fast forward 30 years. You cant even walk ’ outside of the lines ’ at some places. Hard hat, eye protection, ear defenders, gloves etc.
Is it any wonder young kids couldn’t give a [zb] about trucks, FLT’s , etc??
Dipper_Dave:
Or in my case both + a multiple personality dissorder, one of me is a nutter.
I think the jury is still out on it being only one of your multiple personalities Dave!
As for choosing whether to become a driver. I’m entering the industry not for the money, but to not give a ■■■■ about my job from the moment I leave work, to the moment I clock on again. There are far too many jobs/careers where you can be working at home, which is a bit tricky for drivers unless they develop drone trucks!
Then you really could be driving in your underpants!
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.
Would anyone honestly want to start trucking if it was like it used to be?
We are called steering attendants for a reason now - jobs ■■■■ easy. Having to abide to a few annoying rules here and there certainly beats having to stand 12 foot plus high roping and sheeting in the ■■■■■■■ rain not to mention driving some heap of [zb] you hope can stop you down the next hill as you build your biceps up with the lack of power steering and after all that enjoying a good nights sleep at the end of your shift in a cramped drafty cab with no night heater or mod cons - Can’t believe the hours in these ‘‘good old days’’ would be much less either and going by mates dads and granddad’s they didn’t appear to be rolling in it with all the extra cash you used to make.
Nah the good old days reference to life in general is just a place where time stopped and folks never moved with it, a age thing.
yeh ajt but then you didn’t have trackers and dash cams/in cab cams, you carnt ■■■■/pick your nose (no I don’t) in your cab now adays without it being caught on camara, or cops using artic tractor units to catch truckers out. Yes the wagons have got better and bigger but I still carnt wait to hang the keys up.
You get good days and bad days but overall I enjoy my job. The only thing I’d like to change is the time off. Thinking of going for 4 on 4 off but I reckon that’d mean rdc to rdc mundane work, whereas I love general haulage as every day I go somewhere different. Decision decisions…
