Passed my C+E test today and it’s amazing how good it feels. I’m a serving soldier with only 2 years left of my 22 year contract so I have started my resettlement by doing LGV training. I took my lessons with SID in Stoke on Trent (as that’s where I will be settling after the Army) and I can’t thank them enough. Adam Bunting the owner really pulled out the stops to fit me in around work commitments and Brian the instructor was really good… And has nerves of steel
During the next 2 years (704 days if you’re interested ) I have some work attachment time which means I can work for free for a company for a week(or two) to gain experience etc.
Does anyone know of any companies in either Warminster (where I’m stationed) or Stoke on Trent areas that would possibly be willing to use the free services of a newbie C+E driver? Or if anyone has any top tips they will be greatly received.
Assuming you passed your car test before 1997 and/or passed cat C before 10/09/2009 then you will have driver cpc acquired rights until 09/09/2014
To drive LGVs commercially in civvy street after 09/09/2014 you will need a DQC (driver cpc card) and to get that you will need to complete 35 hours of dcpc periodic training
It highly frowned upon by others to drive for free and therefore take a wage from another driver but nobody has issues if you go out with another driver to learn the ropes for free
I’m booked on a CPC/ADR course in December. This is a civilian course but will be run through a resettlement centre. This will cover the whole 35 hours in a week… Can’t wait for the death by PowerPoint
The free bit is because I will be classed as on duty so still getting paid by the Army. Totally understand your point of view about the taking money from another driver so I will ask to go out with someone so they can ‘show me the ropes’ etc.
Congratulations on your pass , learning the ropes from someone on the job is by far the best way to learn , my advise is to target the smaller companies they may be more willing to let you tag along with another driver than the bigger companies , good luck with it and see ya on the road in a couple of years lol
I have signed up for agency work so as to do weekend work on cat c (I’m allowed to be paid for all off duty work). I hope that someone out there is willing for me to piggy back on some jobs so I can gain some much needed C+E experience
its a shame you dont live closer the company I work for dont mind a tag along was how I got my brk on class 1 , went in on class 2 and found they really wanted a class 1 driver told them I had licence but only had it for a few months the tm said if you have passed the test thats good enough for me , so asked if I could drive with the class 1 driver one night , he told tm that I had impressed him and now they ring me first refusal for any class 1 work going been working there over a year now so the breaks happen , just dont take any knockbacks personally , the first brk can be hard to come by but once you have impressed once the offers come in , get as much experience as you can and in two years time you wont have the old 2 year insurance problem either
Jennie:
its a shame you dont live closer the company I work for dont mind a tag along was how I got my brk on class 1 , went in on class 2 and found they really wanted a class 1 driver told them I had licence but only had it for a few months the tm said if you have passed the test thats good enough for me , so asked if I could drive with the class 1 driver one night , he told tm that I had impressed him and now they ring me first refusal for any class 1 work going been working there over a year now so the breaks happen , just dont take any knockbacks personally , the first brk can be hard to come by but once you have impressed once the offers come in , get as much experience as you can and in two years time you wont have the old 2 year insurance problem either
The 2 year insurance problem does seem über daft! If you can’t drive then how can you get the experience and don’t they think skill fade will be a massive problem and possibly cause more problems?
On the up side after 20 years service I’m ‘lucky enough’ to be de-sensitised to knock backs
I have seen loads of vacancies around and about, I’ll apply to another couple of agencies in Wiltshire and Frome, hopefully something will come along.
I’m glad I have the 2 years left to get some experience and understand that others are not as lucky.
dar1976:
3663 in Taunton take on newbies. They also do Class 1 multidrop. Not for the faint hearted but a good experience.
Roger was the TM there and he is a great guy.
Don’t know if he still is.
Thank you very much for the heads up, I’ll have a look into that. I’ve seen the 3663 geezers on some of the camps I’ve been to and the drivers always seem happy enough.
And as they say experience whether good or bad is still experience.
Nothing personal but it has always been the case in the trucking industry where anyone form the miners and military retire or get made redundant on a nice pension for life so they go trucking to supplement their pension. Nice if you are in that position but drivers who need to make a wage let alone support a family and pay a mortgage cannot compete. I have known ex forces to drive for local hauliers and bus operators for pocket money and some of them do it for years. I wish the authorities would clamp down on fair wages and pursue those operators who exploit this area. It is the “normal” drivers some of them who have paid a lot of money out of their OWN pocket who suffer.
alder:
Nothing personal but it has always been the case in the trucking industry where anyone form the miners and military retire or get made redundant on a nice pension for life so they go trucking to supplement their pension. Nice if you are in that position but drivers who need to make a wage let alone support a family and pay a mortgage cannot compete. I have known ex forces to drive for local hauliers and bus operators for pocket money and some of them do it for years. I wish the authorities would clamp down on fair wages and pursue those operators who exploit this area. It is the “normal” drivers some of them who have paid a lot of money out of their OWN pocket who suffer.
I don’t take it personally but I wish you had your facts right! There will be nowhere near enough pension to ‘supplement’ when I leave! When I am told that I have to leave after 22years service I am not retiring, you still have to work until retirement age. As said above the pension is nowhere near enough to live on. In fact if you know people who do it for pocket money I am going to call you out as BS!
Personally, and I am the second highest rank that you can get as an enlisted person, will be getting after tax less than half the average benefits waster!
Your comment drivers that need the wage… If you are good enough in the first place, present well and have the standards then you will get the job over anyone less deserving. If not, then dry your eyes, there is plenty of tissue in the toilets. . . Nothing personal
Oh and as a PS, I have paid a lot of money out of my OWN pocket for both my C and CE as my job in the Army has nothing to do with driving. My OWN pocket will pay for CPC and ADR…
After 3 operations in the Balkans, 1 of Northern Ireland, 1 of Kosovo and 2 of Afghanistan I believe I have the right to choose whatever I like as a career after my time serving my country… And as a person with freedom of speech, which I have helped provide, you are welcome to your own opinion, which I REALLY look forward to!
What I said is fact and true and I have seen this go on since the 1970’s. When the Government demobbed half the army and layed off the miners/shipyard/factory workers they thought the cheapest way to get rid is to train them for HGV and say “there you go we have done our best for you”. If you think I am a BS then that is up to you. Like I said it is nothing personal against you and I do wish you all the best. I have been on runs down to Spain and found my second man is on the dole and working fiddle, I have seen people getting a pension doing the jobs just for expenses and the “joy” of playing at being a trucker/coach driver. When I had my PSV badge you could walk into any motorway services and get a free meal, you were supposed to be bringing passengers in but if you parked next to other coaches they couldn’t tell. I have met coach drivers doing runs just for the grub. These are people who have another income and have their housing costs paid for. I don’t imagine much has changed today. So after 22 years in the army what rank are you leaving at, I would have thought at least staff sergeant and usually after that time it is warrant officer class 2 and I thought that was a decent pension. I know a copper now who retired at 50 with a good pension (he drives a range rover) and he is trucking for pocket money.
Again, I don’t take it personally, and if anyone tells you they have enough pension to live on that alone then they are indeed talking out of a hole meant for other things.
I am (as you correctly surmised) a WO2 and my immediate pension will be about £9500 a year before tax if anyone can then live off that then please let me know how.
As for ‘playing at being a trucker’, I personally will put as much effort into my new career as I put into everything I do, which is why I will be extremely good at it and why I will win employment over lesser deserving individuals regardless of their background.
I really do apologise that you have had such a bad experience with the military, it really does break my heart that you have been affected in such a negative way but as for dole fiddlers, miners and police and what cars they drive I cannot comment.
But what you need to know, is that the immediate pension is hard earned and deserved. If you think someone can live off a military pension alone and work for pocket money then Please let me know where you live so I can move to that part of the country, and live the life of riley on my 7 1/2 grand pocket money.
my immediate pension will be about £9500 a year before tax
I am shocked! I admit I did not think it was as low as that and I do apologise for surmising it was higher. I admit when I am wrong and in this case I am. Serving your country for 22 years for such a measly pension, I am lost for words. I hope you get a good truck and a firm to work for.
It’s not any fault of your own, it’s whoever tells you they are working for pocket money because of the pop star wages military pension
Thank you for your best wishes, I really do appreciate them as I am not ashamed to admit to being scared at coming out and having to start all over again, especially when times are hard all around.