Such a closed circle thanks to employers’ stupid rules. First of all, I did some driving Class 1 vehicle last year - a few weeks, actually. When searching for a job on the web I often see the following:
To be at least 25 years old due to insurance purposes.
To have at least 2 years experience in driving Class 1 vehicle.
99% job advertisements contain information on experience required by the employer. It is 6 months, 1 year or 2 years. My question is: where am I supposed to get experienced by driving regularly as no one wants to offer me the employment? I had the assessment yesterday. I got in the cab the first time in seven months. Of course, I failed because I did not feel confident enough to drive and the assessor was afraid to take me on the road. Yes, I agree it was like my first day driving a tractor unit ever due to several months break and even made a mistake when coupling the trailer. I was told to get some extra training. Here we go:
Are you aware of the cost of the refresher course? It is going to be over 350 pounds for just one day. Such amount exceeds my basic weekly wage. Will the one day training reflect a day as a professional driver? I believe not. There are so many different routes and one day training would only let me to know controlling the vehicle, coupling/uncoupling the trailer.
How should I start again in your opinion? Many of you might say to sign up with the agency, however, the agency also wants you to be experienced or assessed on the site of the potential employer. Where is the employer which would give me a chance or boost? A few months left to be 25.
■■■■ it up buttercup, every new driver has the same , get pounding the pavement knocking on doors or sign on with agency and take whatever they throw at you . But to be honest if you’ve failed an assessment because you lack confidence then maybe you should consider a career change .
I was in exactly the same position as you once upon a time, my 1st ever drive was through an agency & no idea how it happened (it was with a haulier that’s difficult to get a job with). I then made a call to a company that regularly advertised & they invited me for an assessment, apparently I drove better than the non British & was offered a job, did it for 6months & moved on as more doors opened. Now I’m back to square one looking for better jobs but can’t find any, no experience, no money & no connections
My advice is knock on doors, agencies don’t want to know because there are plenty of drivers out there hence the silly requirements you can’t meet, good luck.
In a way its always been like this, you have to set your sights low and take what you can get to learn the job.
In my case that was the week after passing my test starting for a medium general haulage outfit and getting allocated one of the oldest ropiest old Fodens in the place, no power steering, crash gearbox, no sleeper cab, clutch needing the strength of two men to hold it down, then a flat 40’ trailer, two sheets, one fly sheet, dunnage for steel stashed in the landing leg frame, and a load of well used ropes…the upside being the best money in the area, as all flash no cash was already well and truly established in '76.
Luckily those hard days are over, but you get my drift you have to walk before you can run that hasn’t changed, as said above you go and knock on doors, and you find someone who runs old tackle (or if you prefer someone who runs flash tackle but pays bugger all), and if you give the impression there’s a days work in you and a willingness to learn, the gaffer there just might give you a chance.
Do not let it get to you!
Despite the i am perfect, i have never suffered with nerves brigade,I have,he has,she has,we all have. Unless you drop on lucky you will struggle to find a job, esp. if just trying agency. Go door knocking,get in your car, chuck your gear in the boot and go. You might get 99no thanks but the 100th might have an urgent job that they dont have a driver for,or a driver may have rung in sick. These do happen,it did with me.Had only had my licence for 3 months,just called into a local dead mans shoes` company just on the off chance, they had a driver that was retiring a fortnight later and the general manager just happened to be in the transport office when I called in. Never looked back.
I went into an agency with NO experience. And only a 7.5 licence, but have been working since. Not all of it driving, some drivers mate, but I’ve had wages every week. I’m not considering booking a cruise next me on the Queen Mary but I dont have a cardboard roof either. Lots of artic drivers (so I’ve read on here) are driving class 2 and so on, so if it’s a wage you’re after, keep your options open. There’s a door waiting for you to step through somewhere.
Good luck!
I have a class one license, but have seldom driven one in the 20 plus years since I passed that test, preferring to drive rigids, or drawbar outfits, as I generally found them far less hassle, for not much difference in money.
Unless you specifically want to drive artics, you will find they tend to be more relaxed on the lack of driving experience side with rigids. Could take it even further and go for a 7.5 tonne vehicle, where all they do is check for a pulse…
P.S. I also have a PSV license too, but don’t drive those either as many expect you to pay for a CRB check out your own pocket now…
Although the best advice has already been given - Knock on doors, sign up with agencys, take whatever you can get etc… This won’t remove your nerves as you have very little experience and your next trip out solo could be a nightmare.
Forget paying for a refresher course as what you need is some real world experience, this may entail offering to ride along perhaps with a bit of driving for no wages (or very little)…I’m not a fan of working for nothing but initially you need to break this nervous cycle and get a foot on the ladder.
Prepare a CV, have a look at hauliers in your area, a smaller / family firm may be more inclined to let you sit with another driver than a large company with so much H & S and red tape that no one is capable of making a decision.
Don’t just ring them, visit their yards- look smart / casual and be prepared for a shift with your work bag in your car idealy with a change of clothes in it.
Whats in your favour is the time of year and CPC deadline, that may lead to the relaxing of the ‘closed circle’. Don’t be afraid of doing some 7.5t work just to get a bit of experience but don’t get stuck in it- you have a class 1 so want to be using it.
Never give up, there is always work for those who want it and I’m sure an opportunity will present itself, all you have to do is keep trying !!.
Is there an Eddie Stobarts yard near you, they like to get them young so i’ve heard
[Edit to add]-If youve failed an assesment make sure you re-learn the basics (this forum has loads on it) things like trailer hook ups, vehicle checks etc.
Wilk:
I had the assessment yesterday. I got in the cab the first time in seven months. Of course, I failed because I did not feel confident enough to drive and the assessor was afraid to take me on the road. Yes, I agree it was like my first day driving a tractor unit ever due to several months break and even made a mistake when coupling the trailer. I was told to get some extra training. Here we go:
Everyone’s telling you to go for it, but before agreeing with them it may be helpful to know what happened to make the assessor afraid to take you on the road, was it just nerves on your part or was it something more ?
I’m not asking so we can be critical but to see if we can help
After passing my class 1 in 96 I never needed to use for a few years. When the time came I rang a local HGV driving school, they did assessments on a Saturday morning for people considering coming into the business. I explained my situation & they let me have a cabby around for 90 mins, including a couple of reverses into bays, for free. Give it a go, you never know. Most assessments I’ve been on want to see you drive safe & be able to reverse, you’re not on test, it’s being competent with their, sometimes, very expensive kit.
Wilk:
I had the assessment yesterday. I got in the cab the first time in seven months. Of course, I failed because I did not feel confident enough to drive and the assessor was afraid to take me on the road. Yes, I agree it was like my first day driving a tractor unit ever due to several months break and even made a mistake when coupling the trailer. I was told to get some extra training. Here we go:
Are you aware of the cost of the refresher course? It is going to be over 350 pounds for just one day. Such amount exceeds my basic weekly wage.
If you’re at the point you didn’t feel confident enough to drive then your only option is to spend the £350 or throw away the £1000s you spent on getting your license.
I take it you didn’t do much driving before the break? I had a break of a year and jumped straight back on the horse but I’d had almost a decade driving before that. If you have only had a few weeks worth then you are effectively going to be starting at the beginning again and a day or two spent having a refresher in a driving school truck is what you need to do not only to get your confidence back but to be safe to others.
I’ve now been out of a truck for over 5 years and looking at going back. Even though I’ve got 20+ years under my belt in artics I’m planning on booking a day refresher.
As tachograph has said, I think there’s more to it than just nerves, examiners/assessors are used to nervous candidates and will still take them out, I think it would take something more than nerves to make the call to not take you out.
As been said already, jobs are around, they aren’t all online and you won’t just walk into one, visit companies with application form in hand if they have one.
We recently took two drivers on under 25 years of age. They’ve been given the talk about it costing another £500.00 on the excess if they have a bump, so far, fingers crossed, it’s going well.
From an employers perspective though, you are asking them to let you loose with £100k+ of kit + value of load, it’s not unusual or unreasonable for someone to want you get some experience.
In any job, you rarely go in at the top, you take some carp jobs and the experience opens more doors.
Makes me laugh this 2 year experience thing,they make it sound like in 2 year you will be perfect.
My last firm took a chance on a bloke with no experience and he was terrible at driving but got the job 3 years later he was still as bad.
I think you either have it in you the confidence to drive a truck or not.
If I was a driver assessor that’s what I’d like to see calm and confident not nervous and hesitant which is what some geezers are not matter how long they have held the licence.
Good luck to the op stick at it you will find someone willing to give you a chance
Whirlwind:
But to be honest if you’ve failed an assessment because you lack confidence then maybe you should consider a career change .
My current career is not driving one. That practice which I gained in my rest days last year already has gone out of me.
Dipper_Dave:
Is there an Eddie Stobarts yard near you, they like to get them young so i’ve heard
I live in Bristol and I can see Eddie Stobarts lorries here. According to their website they have car transporters in Portbury. Of course, no one will allow me to drive a car transporter at this stage.
tachograph:
Everyone’s telling you to go for it, but before agreeing with them it may be helpful to know what happened to make the assessor afraid to take you on the road, was it just nerves on your part or was it something more ?
I was told that I am not confident enough and I need a little bit more training. Also, the assessor said that he does not feel confident to take me on the road.
Conor:
If you’re at the point you didn’t feel confident enough to drive then your only option is to spend the £350 or throw away the £1000s you spent on getting your license.
As written before I would need real refresher course which would actually be real work for example with the agency.
With agencies, ignore the under 25/2 years experience and phone them anyway, chances are they may get stuck and desperately need someone, working for agencies you’ve got to take the rough with the smooth and start by taking anything doesn’t even have to be an artic after a few months (once you’ve proved yourself) you can start choosing work.
It’s seems it’s always been hard to get a start, it was 20+ years ago when I started, it was hard nearly 30 years ago when my brother started and I’m sure some of the old timers will tell you it wasn’t easy when they first passed their test.
I’d go with the knock on doors, yes it’s soul destroying when you’ve got yet another rejection, but showing your face goes a lot further than yet another application form or CV.
Go and try the small hauliers, where the bloke you’re talking to is the owner and doesn’t have to follow some company procedure. And if it doesn’t work first time go round them again a month or 2 later.
Nerve are a problem and being so long since your training I suppose it’s easy to forget something that seems routine like hooking up a trailer.
Maybe look at driving a rigid for a company with a mixed fleet, then move onto artics, if you already there you’ll have time to learn, although there are plenty of drivers who would rather rip the ■■■■ instead of helping a newbie, plenty of others will take time to show you the ropes if you ask and are prepared to listen. It’s why I think permanent employment is far better than agencies for new drivers.
Juddian:
In a way its always been like this, you have to set your sights low and take what you can get to learn the job.
In my case that was the week after passing my test starting for a medium general haulage outfit and getting allocated one of the oldest ropiest old Fodens in the place, no power steering, crash gearbox, no sleeper cab, clutch needing the strength of two men to hold it down, then a flat 40’ trailer, two sheets, one fly sheet, dunnage for steel stashed in the landing leg frame, and a load of well used ropes…the upside being the best money in the area, as all flash no cash was already well and truly established in '76.
Luckily those hard days are over, but you get my drift you have to walk before you can run that hasn’t changed, as said above you go and knock on doors, and you find someone who runs old tackle (or if you prefer someone who runs flash tackle but pays bugger all), and if you give the impression there’s a days work in you and a willingness to learn, the gaffer there just might give you a chance.
^^^^As Above, the bottom end of the game teaches you infinitely more than you realize, you learn all the tips and tricks you will never learn from any trainer/assessor, see if you can ride shotgun for a local firm anything that gets you “in” starting at the bottom makes you a better driver it takes a while but it’s worth it in the end, where I work me and all the other old hands have a laugh when we discuss the job as we consider it to be more of a hobby when you have those kind of discussions then you have arrived.
Pimpdaddy:
I was in exactly the same position as you once upon a time, my 1st ever drive was through an agency & no idea how it happened (it was with a haulier that’s difficult to get a job with). I then made a call to a company that regularly advertised & they invited me for an assessment, apparently I drove better than the non British & was offered a job, did it for 6months & moved on as more doors opened. Now I’m back to square one looking for better jobs but can’t find any, no experience, no money & no connections
My advice is knock on doors, agencies don’t want to know because there are plenty of drivers out there hence the silly requirements you can’t meet, good luck.[/quot
Tesco are looking for drivers like you, when can you start.
I used to read letters in Headlight, Truck & Driver, Trucking International that used to say the exact same thing, almost word for word, and that was back when I passed my test in 1986.
To the OP, just keep on looking. Some firms won’t take on new-start drivers, but some will and some actually prefer them as they won’t have slipped into a lifetime’s bad habits and can be trained up how the company want them to do the job- Stobart is an example.
But plenty of small hauliers would give a new driver a start if he/she seemed sensible and keen, I would for example if I was looking for a driver. I’d suggest you go and visit a few small hauliers rather than trying to get a job through advertisements.
