It’s probably quite a common question I have to ask, so here goes:
I have recently passed my class two and am just in the process of completing my cpc module four. When the time comes, I would ideally like to give up my current job and drive full time as my job is poorly paid and killing my will to live!
I understand that gaining initial employment is tricky as experience is disired in the industry, and coming from retail management, I have none. I am under the impression that I will end up on an agencies books, and hence here is my long winded question! Can agencies provide me with regular work (enough to live from) or will I need to do both jobs part time? I consider myself hard working and have no problem putting the hours in and working all sorts of shifts, any help or advice would be gratefully received, thank you.
hi mate, as far as i know agencys arent realiable, so dont bank on them given you work all the time, somebody else will be along soon to offer there advice, good luck mate. dave
Hi. I passed my class two in March this year. I have child care responsablities so am only available at weekends. I have got work but you really have to be registered with a number of agencies. You will find that the jobs advertised on most web sites incuding jobseekers are not real jobs. They are agencies touting for drivers to be registered with them so they have more drivers on thier books to use when companies ring them up. This is the real world, but my view is if you want the work you will find it. Good luck
Hi, @Brown& welcome . if you have a steady job, even though it may not be paying well, it may be wise to keep hold on it. this at least gives you stability, as not all drivers jobs are well paid .
if you have to rely on agency work, you may find it irregular, pay is veriably lowish. this time of year it can be good with work on the build upto Christmas ect, But around february time work tends to drop off !!!. it will depend on your standard of living & your dependants, your expectations, & what your willing to give up to follow this lifestyle, You could cost out yourself a survival list in the first instance, this will show you in the first instance what basic flat rate you need to cover. And your income needs to exceed this idealy & by how much. You can sign up to a few agencies, but that isn’t always going to give enough work. It can be a big risk giving up a stable job , (even though it may not pay well), to go into another type of work that may have little stability Unless you can get a permenant job
It’s pretty much what I expected, thanks for the info. My initial plan has been to carry on with my day job and drive on my days off, so we shall see. I live within striking distance of Trafford park and few other big industrial estates, so fingers crossed I may even find somebody willing to give me full time work…
@Brown:
It’s pretty much what I expected, thanks for the info. My initial plan has been to carry on with my day job and drive on my days off, so we shall see. I live within striking distance of Trafford park and few other big industrial estates, so fingers crossed I may even find somebody willing to give me full time work…
@Brown:
It’s pretty much what I expected, thanks for the info. My initial plan has been to carry on with my day job and drive on my days off, so we shall see. I live within striking distance of Trafford park and few other big industrial estates, so fingers crossed I may even find somebody willing to give me full time work…
there’s always one smart arse on this forum. Thank you
as you can see i didn’t read the rest just read the first post and replied to that, but thank you for pointing it out for me.
@Brown:
my job is poorly paid and killing my will to live!
It’s good that you’re at least already used to that feeling, because you’ll find LGV driving a very familiar experience once you get started.
@Brown:
Can agencies provide me with regular work (enough to live from) or will I need to do both jobs part time? I consider myself hard working and have no problem putting the hours in and working all sorts of shifts, any help or advice would be gratefully received, thank you.
I would strongly advise you never to give up any full time job to drive for agencies. EVER.
Sure, they’ll use you when they need you, but most of the time, they won’t… and you’ll be left hanging out to dry in no-man’s land.
@Brown:
It’s pretty much what I expected, thanks for the info. My initial plan has been to carry on with my day job and drive on my days off, so we shall see. I live within striking distance of Trafford park and few other big industrial estates, so fingers crossed I may even find somebody willing to give me full time work…
there’s always one smart arse on this forum. Thank you
as you can see i didn’t read the rest just read the first post and replied to that, but thank you for pointing it out for me.
If driving under EU regs then you will have to conform to the weekly rest requirements
The job you are currently doing counts as other work and not rest
For those doing a mon to fri job they can drive for one day every other weekend - other types of shift pattern in the regular job may or may not afford more or less opportunities
I joined a number of agencies but only ever actually got work off one of them. I worked 3-4 days a week as an average for the three months I was with them. I would often go to bed expecting not to work the next day only to get a call at 5-6am asking can I work today. It’s not really how you, or at least I, would choose to live. I had bills to pay, I wanted to know when I would be working.
It’s probably the only way to get experience unless you’re lucky and can land on somebody willing to give you a chance. I only drove 3.5T vans and 7.5T for the agency even though I had a class 2 licence. The pay was £6.25 pr hr, £8 O/T. Weekends the same. This was 2.5-3 years ago. I was very glad and lucky to get a full time job elsewhere. If you have a mortgage and lots of bills to pay you need to be very careful mate, don’t expect to get a full weeks work every week and if you do get work via an agency who you like try and get in with them and keep them sweet. They won’t think twice about dropping you if you can’t work for them on one occasion
Unless you are ok by being messed around you might get a 2am shift now and then if your lucky. Trust me I have done the same gave up no job though and now have gone back to what I did before and am much happier, if you have got to management surely that is better than a dead end agency job as everyone’s skivvy.
Being new also most will ptel you that you need 2yrs experience minimum and after that 2yr is over and then why have you been on agency for 2 years.
It is a good thing that the OP has at least made some effort to find out about all this but my advice to anyone else would be to find out before starting the licence process
Its a lot of money to spend on what the potential LGV driver thinks is the situation regarding jobs
Some Internet training sites are bound to ‘guild the lily’ about jobs after passing because it serves their interest
Speak to other newbies in your area if you can
Look at what is on offer at your local Jobcentre and in the local press as well as internet jobsites which cover your area
Get the truth about how LGV driving agencies operate
If the feedback from all those is bleak then consider getting the licence for future use if you really want to get it
. if you have a steady job, even though it may not be paying well, it may be wise to keep hold on it. this at least gives you stability, as not all drivers jobs are well paid .
Unless you can get a permenant job 
