Hi,
I am strongly drawn towards a driving career but I recognise a life on the road has a lot of downsides. With that in mind, are there any drivers out there who have made it to the top of the tree (Class 1, <45hrs per week, £30k+ per year, ■■■■ big cab) but wish they hadn’t bothered? Maybe you start to miss your previous job?
For instance, would you swap it for a 37hr/week, £25k office job with public sector pension and bags of holidays?
DAF_MAN
If you think the job you listed exists, you live in dream land - well, it might do if you did the worst hours / weekends / bank hols / xmas shifts available. That’s the only way you’d get 30 grand for under 45hrs in this game
yes
its not the money or the hols...its the pension
waynedl:
If you think the job you listed exists, you live in dream land - well, it might do if you did the worst hours / weekends / bank hols / xmas shifts available. That’s the only way you’d get 30 grand for under 45hrs in this game
Not necessarily. I didn’t make £30k and I probably averaged over 45 hrs but not by much on either count, that’s weekdays only, no nights out. Granted that’s not everyone but it could be done, that’s on a rigid too. Probably drove an artic 3 or 4 times last year.
8wheels:
waynedl:
If you think the job you listed exists, you live in dream land - well, it might do if you did the worst hours / weekends / bank hols / xmas shifts available. That’s the only way you’d get 30 grand for under 45hrs in this gameNot necessarily. I didn’t make £30k and I probably averaged over 45 hrs but not by much on either count, that’s weekdays only, no nights out. Granted that’s not everyone but it could be done, that’s on a rigid too. Probably drove an artic 3 or 4 times last year.
Really?? Well congrats to you, but that’s certainly not common.
Most discussions go down the route ‘we should get £10 per hour minimum etc’ , so if that’s the target for so many, then that tells me that most are on less…
My job that I’ve just finished was salaried based on 55hrs per week (actual 55hrs not paid 55hrs, so 55hrs from getting in to leaving) at £24k per year - not the best paid job, hell not even the best paid job I’ve had, but around the wage area around here, so an extra 6 grand for 10hrs less is highly unlikely without doing daft shifts.
I only just about keep doing this job as Iam on a good wage for a 45hr week.
No way on earth would I do a 70hr week and nights out to bank what a average joe would earn in a Mon-Fri 9-5 job. An overnight allowance is not part of your wage, for those who count it as part of your wage your doing it wrong.
I’ve a couple of irons in the fire and aim be out the trucking game soon.
DAF_MAN:
Hi,I am strongly drawn towards a driving career but I recognise a life on the road has a lot of downsides. With that in mind, are there any drivers out there who have made it to the top of the tree (Class 1, <45hrs per week, £30k+ per year, ■■■■ big cab) but wish they hadn’t bothered? Maybe you start to miss your previous job?
For instance, would you swap it for a 37hr/week, £25k office job with public sector pension and bags of holidays?
DAF_MAN
If your having any kind of doubts you will be hard pushed to find any encouragement to get into the game on these pages. Its all doom and gloom.
chester:
I only just about keep doing this job as Iam on a good wage for a 45hr week.No way on earth would I do a 70hr week and nights out to bank what a average joe would earn in a Mon-Fri 9-5 job. An overnight allowance is not part of your wage, for those who count it as part of your wage your doing it wrong.
I’ve a couple of irons in the fire and aim be out the trucking game soon.
The thought of 70hr weeks is concerning, to say the least. Mind you, would a decent chunk of that be spent sat around waiting to load/unload, listening to music and napping? Could probably cope with that.
I don’t think it’s wrong to include night-out allowance as part of your salary, not on here anyway. Include it all! I wouldn’t want to decide against trucking because I hear you can only earn £24k…then realise you forgot to tell me about the extra £10k you earn for a bit of Bank Holiday overtime and a few nights out! 
I have no regrets taking my licence at all.
I’ve never really had any other job though, I started off on 7.5tonners when I was 18 then got my Class 1 at 21. I couldn’t imagine what life would be like stuck inside a warehouse or office day after day 
In the past if I’ve had a decent truck it’s been on distance/euro work which I’ve always prefered myself. I guess the work depends on what you prefer. European work is definately a lifestyle choice and constant periods away from home don’t suit a lot of people. I loved some of the places I went to, the sunshine during the summer months and some of the roads are far better too.
The best paying jobs for me had been on the tankers and when I worked for one of the big supermarkets, both of which I was laid off from, although I found the work a bit mundane and boring myself… but that’s just my preference 
I average between 60hrs and 75hrs per week normally, hth
DAF_MAN:
a few nights out!
That’s a swear word isn’t it ?
Sat in an office looking at the same 4 walls, listening to the same people talk the same ■■■■ everyday… No thanks 
A lot of office jobs don’t end at 5pm either, our office bods are on call everyday except Christmas Day.
I know jobs,terms and conditions differ between company’s, but do none of you think whilst you get up at 4am for a 5am start,and drive down your road and see the houses either side of your road still in darkness as the home owners still have a few more hours tucked up in bed before they need to get up. You then do a15hr day and come home to see the same households you past 15hrs earlier are now enjoying some quality time with folks. Although being 10pm they have probably enjoyed a evening out with the wife, taken kids to a evening club, or perhaps been out with the dogs or a bike ride!
Then think back to what you acheived in that 24hr period. Ahh yes work 15 for 8 hrs off, mega life that isint it?
Although your no better in the pocket for it.
And to some £20 to sleep in a layby is a perk 
madness!!
I started in this game in 1975, loved it at first, now I totally hate it 
Not that I don’t have a good job because for living in the USA I have one of the best, but it’s a financial trap. I top $70k a year and with no real qualifications there’s no way I could earn anywhere near that doing what else is available, especially at my age. So it’s carry on till I retire (or die). When I first came here I swore I would not drive a truck as I had all my working life in the UK and took a job as a sales and leasing agent for the main Ford dealers in the area, I know why they wanted me, it was because of my English accent and the fact that for 3 years before comming here I did show work displaying and promoting Ford and Jaguar cars and it worked out in some ways … If I got anyone near a Ford Focus it was as good as sold and they knew it, I knew everything needed about that car and had the gift of the gab, but I was too honest and threw away more sales than I made by talking nice people into buying good cars like Honda or Audi from the dealers next door
I’d truly love to go back in time and never got in a trcuk cab.
9-11 hours in a layby each day for a measly £25 is less than £3 per hour for your wasted time.
You won’t be “asleep on the bunk” for all that time after all.
“No nights out” isn’t as good as it sounds if you’ve got a long commute either. Even with expenses, 45p per mile doesn’t cover the cost of the fuel, let alone wear and tear to the vehicle, and insurances.
Wages have stood still for over a decade, and have stood still in real-terms (adjusted for inflation) for nearly TWO decades. This discourages new blood to enter the industry, and those with good pensions to draw to hang up their keys first chance they get. Looking at the fact the average age of a driver is now 53, you can see that a lot of “oldies” are not bothering to hang up their keys going into their late 60’s, because their pension has let them down, or the cost of living doesn’t permit them to actually LIVE on a pension.
I don’t regret getting a class one licence at all. I just regret successive governments both left and right that have tinkered with the transport industry to such an extent, that we are now “scumbags barely above estate agents and bankers” in the public’s eyes. They’ve buggered the industry the same way they’ve buggered the NHS. People now go to hospital to die if really ill, or make trouble as hypochondriacs and self-harmers in the casulty waiting rooms. . “New” Full time jobs for truckers are always on “The Boy’s” rates nowdays, else they’ll be so long-houred, that it’s only a matter of time until we lose another of our number from rear-ending his convoy mate.
DAF_MAN:
Hi,I am strongly drawn towards a driving career but I recognise a life on the road has a lot of downsides. With that in mind, are there any drivers out there who have made it to the top of the tree (Class 1, <45hrs per week, £30k+ per year, ■■■■ big cab) but wish they hadn’t bothered? Maybe you start to miss your previous job?
For instance, would you swap it for a 37hr/week, £25k office job with public sector pension and bags of holidays?
DAF_MAN
Try & get on the tankers, thats as close as you’ll get to your scenario. I spent 18 years with BP & we were doing between 45 -50 hrs for 30-35k.
No big cabs though & it was shift work.
Don’t think I’d swap for the office job, my other half does that & it aint for me!
chester:
I know jobs,terms and conditions differ between company’s, but do none of you think whilst you get up at 4am for a 5am start,and drive down your road and see the houses either side of your road still in darkness as the home owners still have a few more hours tucked up in bed before they need to get up. You then do a15hr day and come home to see the same households you past 15hrs earlier are now enjoying some quality time with folks. Although being 10pm they have probably enjoyed a evening out with the wife, taken kids to a evening club, or perhaps been out with the dogs or a bike ride!Then think back to what you acheived in that 24hr period. Ahh yes work 15 for 8 hrs off, mega life that isint it?
Although your no better in the pocket for it.
And to some £20 to sleep in a layby is a perk
its a trade off though,isnt it 
my actual time spent at work(although longer)is actually enjoyable…I actually enjoy my working life…I look forward to Monday(sometimes)
how many average joes can say that
a public sector pension would be the deal breaker,for me…but not many average joes work in the public sector. 
and another thing…
if your on 25k gross,you wont be doing much with all that free time,coz you wont have a pot to ■■■■ in
unless you bang the hours in
chester:
I’ve a couple of irons in the fire and aim be out the trucking game soon.
New career as a cycle courier perchance? 
busteredwards:
DAF_MAN:
Hi,I am strongly drawn towards a driving career but I recognise a life on the road has a lot of downsides. With that in mind, are there any drivers out there who have made it to the top of the tree (Class 1, <45hrs per week, £30k+ per year, ■■■■ big cab) but wish they hadn’t bothered? Maybe you start to miss your previous job?
For instance, would you swap it for a 37hr/week, £25k office job with public sector pension and bags of holidays?
DAF_MAN
Try & get on the tankers, thats as close as you’ll get to your scenario. I spent 18 years with BP & we were doing between 45 -50 hrs for 30-35k.
No big cabs though & it was shift work.
Don’t think I’d swap for the office job, my other half does that & it aint for me!
My last job was on tankers for a Gas company who were “British” until the Germans got hold of it. They still operate under the old livery. We didn’t have ■■■■ cabs, just heaps of ■■■■■ with private registrations to hide the actual age of the fleet. Only now after 8 years are they getting new motors in…and these are German as well!
I was on it for 20 years, 45 - 50hrs per week, 6 wks holiday per year, £42k for perm nights. Now the Germans are slowly cocking it up, all the decent former management who knew the job inside out were replaced by a bunch of idiots, yes men, university boys and 3rd party logistics morons without any previous experience of transporting dangerous goods by road. Now the management are looking to sack you for the least little thing and they will not be employing any more permanent drivers but instead using agency drivers.
I got out last June with a very good payoff after being reliably informed that enhanced redundancies would cease and was able to clear the mortgage. In the old days it was a good job and we were left to get on with it. It’s still a good job but there’s always some ■■■■■■■■ in management now trying to stitch the drivers up to earn some brownie points.
It seems to be the same wherever you go now, the good high paid jobs are in decline and I reckon within the next 5 years, 10 at the most they will be a thing of the past in transport.
Sidevalve:
chester:
I’ve a couple of irons in the fire and aim be out the trucking game soon.New career as a cycle courier perchance?
Guess he’ll be soon changing his user name to Rick Shaw
Sorry, Chester, that was too good to miss.