Can I ask your advice on changing career? (Newbie)

[paul_pstt]

Call it a Tea and I’m in. However if it’s only Coffee you’ll have to “sell” the course to the Mrs as she’s chief drinker of this chemical in this household

Let it roll with the shopping opportunities, the lass earns her money hard and hardly spends it on herself, would do her the world of good!

The Mrs is very fussy with B&B’s so I know I’d have to check it out before I came up even for the trial/show around with yourself! But I’d budget accordingly regardless, unfortunately I have to do things like this properly, whereas I’m happy sleeping under the stars for the right reasons, the Mrs just isn’t up for that kind of lifestyle!

I didn’t think there would be anything suspect with the money back guarantee, I would just like to see T&C’s, ask questions and also make sure that you thought I was a suitable candidate. But that can all be done on the trial visit I am sure!

Thanks for all your replies Pete

Hi
May be able to manage tea.
Ref the B+B; it’s basic but wannabee truckers have always been happy with it (with one exception). There is an upgrade available (at a modest cost) which may be a plan.
If you want to email info@truckdrivertraining.co.uk and ask for T&C’s, happy to email them to you.
You’re welcome anytime to have a look around - - if you give me some warning I’ll even take you on a tour of our B+B’s!
All the best, Pete

[8wheels]

A dormant licence as opposed to a fresh one? Dunno really as you’ve been out there and done the job and are coming back for more punishment as opposed to someone with a new pass is a bit of a gamble about whether they will like the job itself.

Stretching the truth you could say that you’ve not done much with it for a while and may be a bit rusty. It’s not an outright lie though, it’s a bit like riding a bike if you’d not done it for 10 years you’d soon be back in the swing of it. If you’d just taken the stabilisers off then you’re going to be a bit wobbly and not very aware of your surrroundings.

As you’ve your C licence and are genuinely considering your CE you could see a couple of schools for a free trial in an artic. If nothing else it will refresh you about driving a big vehicle, especially if you find someone with a W&D outfit

As regards that my feelings are that is better to train on a similar vehicle to one that you could see yourself driving, round here it’s rigids and artics very few wag & drags around these parts.

I was put through CE to cover our lowloader when the driver has holiday, my first spell was a 10 week one when he went to Canada to see his son. I got competent with it and did the job as required although I found it less engaging than driving multi axle rigids. This year I’ve driven it two or three times, I’d rather stay with my job but will do the job as required. It’s the same but yet completely different but it doesn’t take long to adjust to the difference.

You mention the O’Lympics (built by the Irish) and that sort of ■■■■■■■■ doesn’t happen on most of the real world, whilst there is a case for some of it, much of it is ridicuolous and unworkable. Thankfully I haven’t been there for over a year. Whilst techically a HIAB is a crane and should have an AP and a slinger / signaller in reality what you get is a driver with some or no qualification. I have got my CPCS card for Lorry Loader - Hook, never been asked to produce it mind but I’m not ticketed as a slinger or signaller I’m not nor ever will be a machine operator but I load and transport just about every kind of mechanical plant you can think of.

Diggers - wheeled & tracked 360 / 180
Dumpers - forward / rear tip / tracked
Rollers
Skid Steers
Forklift - Masted / telescopic / side loader
Piling equipment
Tractors / Unimogs / Trucks / Vans / Trailers
Access Platforms - Scissor / Boom
Self Propelled Crushers
Also I carry containers, cabins, building materials and have even carried a MIG 23 fuselage.

Just about all of that plus more stuff that I’ve forgotten about I have loaded without having someone to oversee / do it for me / show me how.
In the real world if you can do the job safely then you tend to get left to do it, if you need help you ask and people (usually) listen.

When I decided that I needed to change jobs, I’d often looked at a customer of ours with an 8 wheeler Hiab / beavertail and thought that I’d fancy a crack at that sort of work. With a fresh ticket and no experience most places were not interested, Milbank Trucks gave me a very good opportunity (which would have been an amazing job, but I didn’t want 3 or 4 nights out / week) In the end I got stuck in multi dropping food to get the driving experience, it was this expereince and the enthusiasm and attitude to work that landed me with an 8 wheeler Hiab / beavertail job one year later.

I’d suggest the cautious approach, it’s easy to spend a load of cash on training but hard to earn it back.

If you want some good information about what different jobs are like use the search on this site for diary. Various people on here have done them (self included) over the years and they make good reading. I used to write a blog as a backup CV of sorts, it’s all about plant work and a few years old but it’s here if you want it. http://www.8-wheels.blogspot.com/
Best of luck.

[constantine]

Hey 8wheels,

I saw one of your red vans out on the A12 on Monday morning around HP when i left late due to the van incident. But know of your brand well, obviously coming and building in this area.

Coincidentally I read a load of your blog last year, never got round to finishing it as the missus kept saying why are you spending your life reading about other drivers!

So this years target with 16 days to go is get back on it and finish it. However no 2010 - 2011 blogs though?

Started reading the toolbox this evening too some really useful stuff on there. Have you considered putting it in your trucknet signature to perhaps guide other newbies out, I bet I’ll be relying on it in a few years?

About being “rusty”, I’m out and about all day Sunday having a play in the big ones, just to see how much WD-40 I need on my joints!

Also did you say about needing a CPCS card for Lorry Loader to enable you to get plant on and off or is it purely HIAB activities on some sites. As I could see people raising eyebrows if i hand over the gold one (supervisor card) and thinking I bet he can’t operate anything safely (which would be correct I know what I was like when i played with a 18T 360 and Moxy in the middle of a greenfield site with the groundworkers I went crazy and wouldn’t trust myself!)

Worked around every bit plant you’ve listed there however bar the two above I’ve never driven any of it (always H&S in the way on the sites I’ve worked on even out here) and wouldn’t even know where to start with any of it, did you get any informal running around practice in the yard?

O’Lympics (also built by the Eastern Europeans (Olympski) and East Anglicians (“Lympics” said in a Essex Accent always got to drop a letter off the word to say it even quicker!)

C

[8wheels]

I wrote that blog as an online CV of sorts and left it alone in case I ever needed to get another job. I’m a familiar face at most of the local plant places so wouldn’t need it there but if I needed to knock on some doors at some of the companies that I don’t visit it would be a very valuable thing to have.

I didn’t mind writing it but found it time consuming and getting the pictures was a pain. Also it becomes difficult to keep it interesting when you are deliveing essentially the same stuff to the same places.

I have a CPCS card for the crane only. There is no legal requirement to have any qualification or certification to operate any plant on a building site, you must be safe and competent (or similar wording) however most sites will not allow you to work without some supporting ticket or other. We’ve just started doing a lot of work with one firm who are quite hot on certification and apparently will not let you load / unload without a ticket for the relevant plant. Obviously there is no way I could be a plant operator on all of those categories, the training would cost an absolute bomb and I’d never have time to do any work. Plus you need to do 300hrs / 5yr to keep current. There is something called loader / securer which I’ll probably have to do to keep things right.

As regards machine experience I’d done a rough terrain forklift course some years ago, that was about it. Having got HGV experience on fridges I applied for a job with a piling company and got the job as they wanted someone who wouldn’t wreck their new 8 wheeler, I learnt a little bit about how some of the piling rigs worked and mor importantly about loading and securing them. When I was looking for work I had a bunch of impressive pictures showing that I’d loaded various big bits of kit.

I’ve learnt as I’ve gone along, a lot of the different bits of plant are actually quite similar I make a point of familiarising myself with the item first whilst it’s at ground level then when I’m happy loading it myself. I can just about manage to start and get a tractor onboard but haven’t much of a clue otherwise. Give me a telehandler and a selection of tip skips, fuel tanks and the like and I’ll use the machine to load the stuff and then get it on as well. Occasionally I’ll get someone else to load stuff, usually if someone has bought some ancient JCB off ebay then I’ll let them risk their life putting it on. Having had a dozer roll off the side last year, I’m happy to not get too involved with these old relics.

[8wheels]

I have posted a handful of diaries since the last one on the blog but couldn’t be bothered to put them on both.

Farm equipment

Random one

This year diary

[8wheels]

Duplicated

[herongate]

Just stumpled accross your post; thought I’d add my story…

I was mid-thirties, married with two young children & a mortgage, had a well paid 9-5 job, office based, but not riding a desk all day. £28k + car + phone + pension; loved my job, but hated the firm I worked for - long story that I won’t go into.

Always had an interest in trucks, but had never even thought of driving one for a living. Rented the odd 7.5t to move house now & again etc, that was it. Work was seriously starting to pull me down to the point I would park in the office car park in the morning and spend ages forcing myself to get out of the car. One day I was sat in a major traffic jam, late for a meeting, boss constantly ringing me asking where I was (accusing me of skiving) - I glanced up at the lorry alongside me, the driver was drinking a cup of tea/coffee and reading the newspaper - not a care in the world - that was it…

Got home (late) told my wife I’d had enough and was going to get a new job & new career - she just said - whatever.

Booked an assessment drive in a 17t, enjoyed it, booked a course & test, passed. Went straight onto the artic, passed that - all self funded (approx £2k). At that point I still wasn’t sure if I was going to do it full-time or use it as a back-up just in case.

Once I’d received my updated licence back from DVLA, I thought SOD IT - and quit my job on a month’s notice. Went to an agency, was out working the next weekend driving artics - so was doing 9-5 job mon - thurs (took the fridays off as outstanding annual leave), then driving (trunking) fri night & sat night to get experience.

Applied for every full time driving job advertised in the local paper, and a few cold-calling, not expecting much due to my lack of experience. But, did get a call from one large firm and had an interview & assessment drive. Pulled back into the yard and was offered the job there and then. Perfect timing as my month’s notice was about to run out.

Started on the following monday, had a few days in their yard to learn the ropes, get use to the “industry” and manourving trucks in tight areas etc. Then one run out with another driver, and then out on my own.

Was working nights, had a regular run, drive for 2.5 hours to collection, wait, load, drive for approx 3 hours (two drops), then an hour back to the yard, maybe a collection of the way back sometimes. 5 nights week, taking home over £450 a week. Having a regular run was great as it gave me chance to learn about the truck & its handling etc.

It took a couple of months to settle into the job, the total change of work pattern and change of career, but absolutely loved every minute of it.

Did that run for a few years, before getting made redundant, so while applying for full-time driving I briefly did some agency work but wasn’t overly impressed with the work I was getting (or it’s regularity), the pay rate or that some places do treat agency drivers as second class, so took another chance and contacted some local firms direct offering myself as a self-employed driver, I now drive for several clients who use me as cover driver (holidays, sickness, driver rest days or increased work etc) instead of going via an agency (and paying agency fees, mark-ups etc and getting a different driver every time). So have been working on that basis for a few years now, and am never short of work, and earn a good rate as well.

The only thing I would say to anyone thinking of becoming a lorry driver - only do it if you love driving. The hours can be long, it can be lonely, but… there are ways to pass the time and keep your mind occupied, another lorry driver will always help you if your stuck or unsure, and it’s far better that riding a desk for a living

[nedflanders]

i Brushed through all the posting on this so prob will miss a lot of the issues but
yes go for it why not even if you dont like it u so what go back to the surveying
its easy but long hour nowadays u dont do physical work well depending what aspect of the business u get into but thats ur choice
from 6-11 is normal pay for hour depending where in country and night day tramping etc
so work 60 hours off that and count back
i am pretty newbie as well as i am kind of guy that dont know what he want s i go do it for a few months then get bored think they must be something easier or less hours out there go do the office thing and then always end up back driving again but thats just me
sometimes i prefer to unload or load if allowed etc as like the physical work to keep fit sometimes i feel why bother so i dont depending on the work u on and what they require
like anything go try it if u dont u will always regret and i have always found if u unsure of anything or need help just ask

[constantine]

Hey 8 wheels, Herongate, nedflanders,

8wheels

You trying to get me in trouble with the extra homework My missus is going to test me on all those blogs now you watch! Thank you so much for taking the time to post all that extra information I look forward to having the week off after 23rd and a day to myself to read up on some of these subjects and get my brain filled with more useful knowledge!

You heard anymore from the guy looking for Class 2 work in our area, it’s all gone quiet■■?

Herongate

Thanks for your detailed post, again it was really useful, so close to my current work “events” except I do get to do site work as well, so don’t have to sit at home or in the office doing my head in week in, week out, maybe fortnight in, fortnight out which is my only saviour somedays.

I won’t enquire into the long story that I won’t go, you never know who’s reading these things.

Do you mind me asking what area you are in the UK?

There’s a bug in me that really wants to come back to lorry driving again, but I have to do a responsible adult thing for my wifes sake, once I’ve done the saving I can go crazy, I suspect I will get the “whatever” like you did from your Mrs in 18 months time too.

I did notice about your comment on redundancy on the good job you detailed, is that still that common in the boom times?

Obviously in a recession this will always happen and unfortunately it won’t be just drivers who suffer form the lack of their role being required anymore.

I’m still in debate about agency my old man used to do it, sometimes but I could do it with site engineering but I’m not sold by it, but will do it to get my experience back if necessary. Permanent sounds very good, but extrememly hard to come by obviously!

Now you’ve interested me again…(like 8wheels has with the HIAB, which I am so intrigued about now) is it really easy to set up self-employed e.g. the amount of paperwork you have to submit for taxation, obviously in construction I do play around with a lot of expenses claims (from company and tax man) but not much else as PAYE. Also I obviously understand that to get to that high in regard from companies, would take quite a few hard working years to be trusted and thought about to have them contacting you.

Out of interest how does it work with vehicle insurance, PL and invoicing etc, is it complicated or more simple than originally thought.

I do a lot of driving daily and of course the driving jobs before and whilst I was working as a site engineer doing driving works as well meant unfortunately from a young age I have been bitten by the driving bug, we all do long hours (I don’t think personally you can get away from it in any job now, no matter the role), the jobs I do now involve a lot of time on my own, as does working from home etc, so can handle my own mind, imagination and conscience (even if that voice does grate on me sometimes)

From this forum alone there are an incredible amount of driveres who are willing to help and is making my decision to convert so much easier.

Nedflanders

Hey diddly ho neighbourino! Thank you so much for the post, again and wise words from another newbie driver about not allowing regret in to your life by not following through your desires/choices. These are words my wife say to me every week why don’t you just go and do it and get out, what have you got to lose.

So it is alway a confidence boost to hear others saying that and doing what I want to do, saying you will make it there if you put the effort in.

There will always be a break and I have always been lucky in my driving work and construction jobs to have always got them by perseverance, so I need to get back on that horse and do exactly that with truck driving.

So thank you again for all of your words of encouragement gentlemen, you’ve reconfirmed my faith in our society again.

I really hope to start posting good news on events in the next 18 months to show you gentlemen that I was being serious and appreciative of your help and guidance at this time in my choice making.

C

[8wheels]

You heard anymore from the guy looking for Class 2 work in our area, it’s all gone quiet■■?

I posted in the other similar thread, didn’t know which really to choose from

Milbrooke Motors at Rettendon have a sign out for class 2 drivers 01245 400696, it was out today but I’ve seen it often before. Could be that he just leaves it out to see what comes of it, whatever the score it’s worth a call. When I started looking a few years back as a noob he offered me a job, as I recall it wasn’t a bad deal but it didn’t tempt me to take the plunge. Since then their fleet seems to have gone from tired old Ivecos to fairly new Scania / MAN

[herongate]

Hi Gosling,

The redundancy was due to the contract transfering to another transport firm, I could have worked for them but it meant a longer drive to work and they were mucking about trying to up the hours and lower the pay (totally against TUPE regs, but that didnt seem to stop them trying - so didn’t fancy the risk of working for a firm that treats drivers as such at the same time telling you what a great firm they are to work for!!!).

Setting up as self-employed or Ltd Co is very simple to do, and simple to manage (if you keep on top of it) - I’m a Ltd Co (tax reasons mainly) VAT flat rate registered - keep copies of everything you spend (phone, car, workwear, fuel/mileage, home/office, wages, NI, allowances etc) and everything you earn (invoices & bank statements) and an accountant will do the rest for you (for a small fee of course, the more paperwork you do, the smaller the fee) - what you’ll save in tax will more than offset the accountant’s fees!! The only downside is I don’t get holiday or sick pay - but I factor that into my rates, which are still lower than Agency (Agency driving - for every £1 you earn, the Agency pocket at least the same!!!)

As for insurance etc - when you drive you are driving on their vehicle insurance as if you’re an employee or agency driver, I’ve got basic PL insurance policy (£65) which covers me in the event I did something that the truck insurance didnt cover (have never claimed on it).

Invoicing - simple, design one on MS Excel, send it in at the end of the week, showing days, hours worked, run info etc - most firms will have you complete a timesheet to send with it. My terms are payment within 28 days direct to my bank account.

I got my first client on this basis by cold-calling a local firm for perm job, they had none available but I asked if they used an agency, they said only if they are desperate, would I like to apply to sign on to their pool of direct casual drivers… Bingo!!! I know have various local clients that I do work for, on pre-agreed day or night rates, they will ring and ask my availabilty on ■■ days to cover holidays, or work peaks; you may get a last minute call to cover perm driver who’s gone sick etc; If I’m available I’ll accept it, they understand if you don’t as they don’t expect you be exclusive to them.

Self-employed or Ltd Co has it’s pros and cons, you are the MD, CEO, Finance Director, PA & Secretary, Marketing Manager, HR Manager, and the Driver all rolled into one…!!

I’ve got forklift licences as well, and am now thinking about getting my PSV (have it on provisional) to expand my service offering - whilst at present, the work is plenty & regular, you never know what’s around the corner, always have Plan B.

There is plenty of work out there, you just have to be prepared to get out, chase it & sell yourself - it wont fall into lap.