I currently work as an Educational Support worker in a behavioral school. I love the job but it pays awful and I get a lot of stress, a lot of responsibility and am frequently assaulted by pupils. I’ve always fancied lorry driving, specifically long distance and would like some advice on where to start and what to expect.
Firstly how much would the training be as I’ve read alsorts from 1500 upto 5k!
Now this is a total newbie question, when you are sleeping out where do you get your showers etc and what are the costs involved in living on the road.
Another question there seem to be conflicting answers for is how much will I bring home after tax, to start with and how hard finding work at first will be having never had a driving job. Also if you were out on a job lets say for 72 hours, how many of those hours would be paid for and do you get paid a sleep rate etc
Hi and welcome to the forum. I’ll try to answer your questions in turn. The easy way to train is to approach a trainer who will “hold your hand” all the way through. At the same time, satisfy yourself that you’re happy with the trainer. Costs: for CAT C you will spend IRO £1700. For CE expect an extra £1000. These are realistic prices FULLY INCLUSIVE. The actual training is a fraction of that, but this is what you need to be spending in total to end up with your licences and driver cpc. It would also include medical, theory training, theory tests etc etc that some trainers “forget” to mention. It’s sensible to budget £3k to do the lot and that will cover 1 retest if you need it.
Nights out; many truckstops have showers of varying quality and cost. It can cost a fortune or next to nothing to live on the road. It’s up to you how you organise yourself. Employers typically pay £25 night out (as little as £18 or up to £30). This is tax free for the best part.
Pay: CAT C expect £7 - £8.50 per hour. CAT CE between £7.50 - £9.00 per hour. This varies widely as do overtime rates, attendance bonus etc etc. But no-one ever got rich driving a truck. Clearly, the bigger money tends to be on CE staying away where taking home £500 shouldn’t be a problem. Whereas local CAT C work could be bringing home £200 ish.
Finding a job: more new drivers are going straight into work. Some of this may be luck, right place - right time. Some could be persistance and personal presentation. Some may be geographical. I always say that you WILL get work if you persist. But expect to start at the bottom - skips spring to mind. Do not expect a shiny new Scania on £700 per week. You’ll be most disappointed. Progression within the industry can be rapid so, if you do a good job, there’s no reason to stay at the bottom for long.
The number of hours you’re paid for will vary according to your contract. Some drivers are salaried, some on annualised hours, some hourly paid. So it’s difficult to generalise on that one.
One final thing, when looking for a trainer, make sure you visit. You should not rely just on a phone call. There are brokers out there who sound like national driving schools and they will make you all sorts of promises. But I’m not sure they are always followed through. The only exception to visiting is booking on rock solid recommendation.
Good luck with it all and fire away with any more questions.
Remember to get peters £500 you will have to give up any life you have so that you can work maybe 80 hours per week and to get your night out money you may have to sleep in a layby using the hedge for a toilet as a lot of firms will not pay for parking.
mac12:
Remember to get peters £500 you will have to give up any life you have so that you can work maybe 80 hours per week and to get your night out money you may have to sleep in a layby using the hedge for a toilet as a lot of firms will not pay for parking.
This is utter ■■■■■■■■ and you know it. I earn over that a week and I don’t work anything like 80 hours a week
Waberers transport in Hungary take on 18 year new pass drivers.They go all over Europe and Russia,Scandinavia with Turkey too.
Away all year in the cab.
Flown home or bus for two weeks off at Christmas.
Pay €700 to €1200 per month.
Buy some flip flops and a washing line to dry the clothes after washing.Delivery and reloading information sent to the cab via computer gubbins and what not.No verbal contact with the traffic planners who speak English.
Load tyres Lisbon.Off load Madrid.
Load to Barcelona to Milan to Germany to Austria to Switzerland to Uk to Ireland to France to Portugal and so on.
I saw the photos on the phone of a Wabby driver.Time off on a beach.Meeting with his mates from other firms.He seemed happy with his work and had a page 3 stunner of a gf back home.
mac12:
Remember to get peters £500 you will have to give up any life you have so that you can work maybe 80 hours per week and to get your night out money you may have to sleep in a layby using the hedge for a toilet as a lot of firms will not pay for parking.
This is utter ■■■■■■■■ and you know it. I earn over that a week and I don’t work anything like 80 hours a week
mac12:
Remember to get peters £500 you will have to give up any life you have so that you can work maybe 80 hours per week and to get your night out money you may have to sleep in a layby using the hedge for a toilet as a lot of firms will not pay for parking.
This is utter ■■■■■■■■ and you know it. I earn over that a week and I don’t work anything like 80 hours a week
So is the crap in the hedge bit true then
Whatever turns you on I suppose I’ve never felt the need to crap in a hedge. ■■■■■■ in a few but never crapped in one.
You need to gross £660 a week to clear £500, so hours will be roughly 60-to70 hours aweek and night out money should be ontop of this not part of it.
If youre on £15000 ayear in present job it might be an ok move, if youre on £20000+ i wouldn,t bother the outlay will not justify the poor reward good luck.
mac12:
Remember to get peters £500 you will have to give up any life you have so that you can work maybe 80 hours per week and to get your night out money you may have to sleep in a layby using the hedge for a toilet as a lot of firms will not pay for parking.
This is utter ■■■■■■■■ and you know it. I earn over that a week and I don’t work anything like 80 hours a week
I have seen jobs paying £6.50 per hour class one, now to take home £500 you need £660 according to other post that would be 88 hours at £7.50 or 74 hours if you knock of £100 for nights out but that should not count as your wage as it’s for sleeping out.
mac12:
Remember to get peters £500 you will have to give up any life you have so that you can work maybe 80 hours per week and to get your night out money you may have to sleep in a layby using the hedge for a toilet as a lot of firms will not pay for parking.
This is utter ■■■■■■■■ and you know it. I earn over that a week and I don’t work anything like 80 hours a week
I have seen jobs paying £6.50 per hour class one, now to take home £500 you need £660 according to other post that would be 88 hours at £7.50 or 74 hours if you knock of £100 for nights out but that should not count as your wage as it’s for sleeping out.
Now show me which bit is utter ■■■■■■■■.
The original post was worded that you couldn’t earn 500 quid without working all the hours his sends. You can. Not every driver is but the majority won’t be on anywhere near as sure wages as others make out.
If you can spend it and your tax is paid it’s wages
mac12:
Remember to get peters £500 you will have to give up any life you have so that you can work maybe 80 hours per week and to get your night out money you may have to sleep in a layby using the hedge for a toilet as a lot of firms will not pay for parking.
This is utter ■■■■■■■■ and you know it. I earn over that a week and I don’t work anything like 80 hours a week
I have seen jobs paying £6.50 per hour class one, now to take home £500 you need £660 according to other post that would be 88 hours at £7.50 or 74 hours if you knock of £100 for nights out but that should not count as your wage as it’s for sleeping out.
Now show me which bit is utter ■■■■■■■■.
The original post was worded that you couldn’t earn 500 quid without working all the hours his sends. You can. Not every driver is but the majority won’t be on anywhere near as sure wages as others make out.
If you can spend it and your tax is paid it’s wages
You can earn good money if in the right job but what chance has a new driver got of getting a job paying over £12 per hour against getting one paying £7 where he will have to work 80 hours
mac12:
Remember to get peters £500 you will have to give up any life you have so that you can work maybe 80 hours per week and to get your night out money you may have to sleep in a layby using the hedge for a toilet as a lot of firms will not pay for parking.
This is utter ■■■■■■■■ and you know it. I earn over that a week and I don’t work anything like 80 hours a week
I have seen jobs paying £6.50 per hour class one, now to take home £500 you need £660 according to other post that would be 88 hours at £7.50 or 74 hours if you knock of £100 for nights out but that should not count as your wage as it’s for sleeping out.
Now show me which bit is utter ■■■■■■■■.
The original post was worded that you couldn’t earn 500 quid without working all the hours his sends. You can. Not every driver is but the majority won’t be on anywhere near as sure wages as others make out.
If you can spend it and your tax is paid it’s wages
You can earn good money if in the right job but what chance has a new driver got of getting a job paying over £12 per hour against getting one paying £7 where he will have to work 80 hours
It depends on how much negativity he has toward the industry from neigh sayers and jaded people who continue to belittle his enthusiasm.
If through hard work and determination he calls into hauliers and the like he has more chance than he would if he didn’t bother because there’s no way he can get a decent job. I started on a block artic on 9 an hour home every night at 5 I’d had my HGV 1 for 5 weeks
I don’t want belittle his enthusiasm, he asked what he could earn and how many hours he needs to know this is the only job where you can work over 80 hours every week and be away over 120. If he has seen the ads saying pass your test and earn £30000 the next week he needs to know this is not true and will maybe never happen.
Ah it’s okay, I’m still fairly enthusiastic, even if I’m not too thrilled about peeing in a bush!
I know I’m not going to be on anywhere near £30k, especially not to start with but it’s not worth investing the time and money getting the license if I’m not earning more than I’m currently on.
To paint a picture of my working week I actually have two jobs; I’m a teaching assistant in the week and only get around £12,500pa for that and weekends I work in a residential Children’s home for which I get £5200pa. This means I don’t get any full days off as I work 12 Sat to 12 Sunday including a sleep over. I do of course get the holidays, which I will sorely miss I don’t have kids either and at 34 I still don’t want them so no worries about antisocial hours. If I fork out the £3k I don’t think I will be sitting on my backside waiting for a job to come to me though.
I think that the op needs to understand that there are many many different spectrums to the job ,from pay to what firms expect of drivers ,difference between doing general haulage or driving for a own goods firm.
I do a fair bit of agency work, last week I did 5 days of 12-13 hours per day @ £9.50 ph doing Cat C so my take home is going to be around £480ish so not as bleak as you would think, I earned more the previous week but that was class C+E all week similar hours but hourly rate was £13.50 ph so really depends on where you get work.
Oh & I forgot to mention the Cat C work was much harder for the money all hand balled pallets & cages, Cat C+E week before RDC and forklift drivers doing the loading/unloading.
Am I right in thinking that agencies wouldn’t take you unless you have some experience ?
It doesn’t sound like too bad money, I’m not thinking of doing it forever but at the moment I have some debts to pay off and as I’m not really qualified to get a decent paid job this seems like a way to earn more cash even if I have to make a few sacrifices.
Do any of you do international work as well as this is something I would be interested in?
I don’t have kids either and at 34 I still don’t want them so no worries about antisocial hours. If I fork out the £3k I don’t think I will be sitting on my backside waiting for a job to come to me though.