I’ve posted on here before back in 2014/2015 and keep coming back to the conclusion that maybe LGV would be a good move for me.
I’m 40, live in Oxford, THE most unaffordable place in the U.K and have never driven anything bigger than a car. I have a job via an agency that that pays very well, £15 p/h rising to £18.50 p/h over the next 2 years, however it is the most back breaking soul destroying thing I’ve ever done, it’s automotive mass production and my god it hurts, I work a 35 hr week on a three week cycle, 6am-1.30/1.30-9pm/10pm-5.30 am, 4 day week on nights. This sounds great but in reality is a 60 second cycle that just repeats for 7.5 hours and never changes, and the amount of stuff I have to do within that 60 seconds is insane. I’m not work shy and I’m fit, strong and in good shape but it’s destroying my body.
I’d much rather drive a 50 hour week at £10 p/h. That might sound mad but there is no point in having a job if all you can do in your spare time is recover from the previous shift!
Is there any hope for a newly qualified Cat c driver? is there a shortage? Could I achieve £10 per hour?
What a dilema! I could see myself driving until I retire but not what I do now. If I stick it for 5 years where I am now I get a contract, more money and better holidays etc etc and a possibility of escaping “the line”
But at the same time in 5 Years I could be an experienced driver on Class 1…
I would normally never recommened driving to anyone but in your case i change my mind. You will be doing alot more hours which may be no good for your home life for maybe half the money
Come 2020 I can guarantee a minimum of £9 per hour
There is no general driver shortage - if there was then all new passes would be grabbed immediately by companies not agencies and the jobs advertised would be by companies not agencies
You could get the licences and do the odd day driving as long as the EU regs weekly rest rules are complied with
I have only got my first full week driving completed ( being a newbie myself ) . The crap i used to do compared to hitting the road with my lines/deliveries in hand with nobody to bother you suits me fine
I also believe if you job search hard enough you will find one. Although i was lucky, i got a start ( full time ) week after i passed, had an interview this morning and also another interview on Tuesday coming up. Jobs are out there if you look hard enough.
If you like the idea of driving and nobody bothering you, go for it!!
I have only got my first full week driving completed ( being a newbie myself ) . The crap i used to do compared to hitting the road with my lines/deliveries in hand with nobody to bother you suits me fine
I also believe if you job search hard enough you will find one. Although i was lucky, i got a start ( full time ) week after i passed, had an interview this morning and also another interview on Tuesday coming up. Jobs are out there if you look hard enough.
If you like the idea of driving and nobody bothering you, go for it!!
Don’t go into driving trucks as a means to earning big bucks. The hours are long, the pay isn’t generally great.
Those that really want to make a go out of truck driving will often have a very enjoyable career. A good number of them will earn a comfortable living.
The secret is in really WANTING to drive. If it’s treated as a vocation, then IMO it takes some beating.
Treat driving as something to do because you cant think of anything else, and that’s the route to disaster.
And, of course, if you decide to train, click on my link.
I must have been emailing you via your website as you were typing your comment Peter!! I’ve been toying with the idea of learning for a couple of years and I had decided on PSTT quite a while ago!
I’m not in it to get rich but I’ll obviously need to pay the bills, ideally about £1500 a month minimum especially during the first couple of years. I see it more as something I can see myself doing through to retirement, which is definitely not something I can see in my current role. I’ve had a varied career mostly centered around hospitality and got so sick of them vowed never to work with drunk people ever again, I dabbled in estate agency for a while but enough said about that and I’ve even done a bit of retail and distribution for the extreme sports industry.
If I can get Cat C under my belt and gain some experience and move along to Cat C+E over the next few years then I’ll all set, I’m willing to take the harder graft handball agency stuff early on as it’s probably going to be the only thing available for a new driver.
The way I see it is that although I’ve had a good education and a varied and relatively well paid career I’ve got no degree and no trade/vocation and at 39 I’ve still got plenty of working years left so I want something to see me through and upgrading my license and learning to drive again could enable me to do that.
I think I’d be able to get the odd days experience in by working a day over the weekends and with my current hours I might be able to a day every 2 out of 3 weekends offers permitting. The wages locally don’t seem too bad having looked through jobsites for local agency work, about £9-12 Cat C and £12-18 Cat C+E so even the lowest wage there at 48hrs would hit my minimum target.
Alternatively I could spend the next 5 years repeating the same or similar intense physical 60 second loop with the guarantee of RSI and the hope of a possibility of chance of reprieve. I can manage a couple of years of this if I’m working on an escape plan but it’s not a long term option for me.
I think I would be better off if in 5 years as an experienced driver with a Class C+E licence and possibly more like ADR and HIAB.
I am always surprised when a truck driver recommends that someone else does not become a truck driver. If thats what they think about the job and have not done anything to change it for themselves. They are not the sort of person I personally would take advice from.
Tom, what you need is some of the pros and cons and make a judgement.
You obviously hate your job and your night shift sounds like a killer. But you are in a sticky position because they pay you very well for a crap job and unsocial hours. If you go into driving you can still be working unsocial hours but for a lot less money. The advantage is that you are outside and things are going on around you.
I started driving for agencies in my weekends and holidays from my Real job. You quickly learn if its the life for you. I was signed on with several agencies and had work wherever I wanted it. If you get on with the guys in the office, you are reliable and dont take crap. You can get some good Jobs. But to start with you will get the Jobs nobody wants.
You have not mentioned your home situation. If you get into driving you can be away from home for long periods. Partners often dont like it.
The bottom Line is can you really afford to take a 50% cut in salary. If you cant you need to be looking at something else.
tomoxford:
I have a job via an agency that that pays very well, £15 p/h rising to £18.50 p/h over the next 2 years
tomoxford:
I think I would be better off if in 5 years as an experienced driver with a Class C+E licence and possibly more like ADR and HIAB.
You need to think very carefully about this mate, I don’t want to put you off a driving career but the chances of you being financially better off in 5 years seems a bit unlikely to me.
I’ve done track work and know how soul destroying it is and completely understand you wanting to get away from it, but don’t let your desire to get away from track work cloud your judgement
steveindenmark:
I am always surprised when a truck driver recommends that someone else does not become a truck driver. If thats what they think about the job and have not done anything to change it for themselves. They are not the sort of person I personally would take advice from.
Tom, what you need is some of the pros and cons and make a judgement.
Steve I don’t no if you mean me not recomending driving if so by what you have put i must be perfect to offer advice, I was a driver for many years untill i left 2 years ago to join the railway.
When i started I past my test on a Tuesday applied for a job on Thursday and was driving a chemical tanker on the Monday no 2 years waiting ,away 4 nights a week and loved every minute after alot of years the wife wanted me home so i went on part time day work for an agency and would have told anyone to get a licence but not now.
On the tanker I started at 7am Monday and finnished Friday morning and when i left about 9 years ago I was paid £29000 and then £5000 night out money, where i live you won’t get that now I have seen on here Class1 on £6.80 per hour not Tom’s £15
Tom works a 35 hour week on shifts driving he could work 82 hours every week and be away 144 hours, he knows when he starts and when he’s finishing he won’t driving.
Drivers are treated like something you have trod in the company you work for dont want you and the company you deliver to don’t want you.
Ignoring the financial side. Everyone should do a job they enjoy and get satisfaction from. As a warehouse monkey I know how ■■■■■ it can be to do the same exact thing day in day out.
I think I am in a similar position to yourself aside from you getting paid about 3x as me but if you don’t enjoy it leave and do something that will make you happy. I know I’d rather take a pay cut where I work if it meant it wasn’t so monotonous so I didn’t have to watch the seconds count down until it was home time.
I was on salary but the ours I ended up doing worked out to be 6.80 a hr so that’s why I told them were to stick the job but the job I’m doing now is proper good really good hrs good money and the job is an absolute doddle no wounder it’s a dead man’s shoes job and I’m lucky to have it I wouldn’t ever leave were I am now in a month of Sundays
samledger1212:
I was on salary but the ours I ended up doing worked out to be 6.80 a hr so that’s why I told them were to stick the job but the job I’m doing now is proper good really good hrs good money and the job is an absolute doddle no wounder it’s a dead man’s shoes job and I’m lucky to have it I wouldn’t ever leave were I am now in a month of Sundays
Bloody hell Sam, you’ve only been there a month or so…
But glad you’re well happy about it, and I’m lead to believe that not all jobs are bad. I just haven’t found mine yet…
My current gig is like a pile up with multiple fatalities, I wouldn’t work there permanently for all the tea in Asda!
It’s the great money that’s kept me there!
Driving for a living is firstly something you want to do not have to do,the stupid o clock starts nights out in a lay by cold no food or drink and fed up,ignorant customers and staff won’t help,you have to want to drive first then money comes second,yes I know bills need paying etc but if you do want to drive and its not just a way out of your present job then go for it.
I know I shouldn’t say this (tin hat on) but I like driving you look at the places you see and get paid for it it’s kinda cool,oh and as its getting warmer Legwatch is definitely starting lol .
I agree with the above. It’s hard to know what else to say, I have had my moments I have stressed I have swore like mad and wanted to quit. But then I have good days where I sit back and enjoy my views and enjoy sleeping out in the countryside of Wales, Cornwall etc. Sometimes I think we take things for granted and we get fed up. I think it will be the same in any job.
Not being in one place all the time everyday is a massive perk to this job, and not having the boss looking over you. To me that is everything ohh and the views. Just when you have a bad day try not to stress keep calm and think ahhh there’s always tomorrow
samledger1212:
I was on salary but the ours I ended up doing worked out to be 6.80 a hr so that’s why I told them were to stick the job but the job I’m doing now is proper good really good hrs good money and the job is an absolute doddle no wounder it’s a dead man’s shoes job and I’m lucky to have it I wouldn’t ever leave were I am now in a month of Sundays
This new job evil is very good no stupid o clock starts no stupid o’clock fin I do two weeks of 7.30am to 4.30pm then I do 1 week of 8.30am to about 7pm I get a hr or 2 for dinner to then I do 3 weeks of 2pm starts to 10.30 11pm to do a trunk run I proper love this job all the lads the boss and office staff are spot on
We all know Cameron lacks a spine.
