I was hoping I could get a few opinions here about a choice I going to make.
After 3 years of being a driving instructor with the AA I have decided I no longer want to carry on with new pupils trying to kill me after an hour of us meeting. I recently applied for a trainee bus driver position with stage coach but have always had my eye on getting my HGV 2 licence.
Just wondered if anyone has done both jobs and what they thought of each. Regarding the Cat 2 licence. I’m particularly interested in tipper, hiab or skip work rather than driving long distances up & down the motorway. I’m not too concerned about earning a huge wage either.
I drove buses only for a very short period. If you can cope with gobby kids, moaning pensioners, aggressive drunks and having to let all sorts of low lifes on your vehicle you’d be fine.
HGV you get dirtier, sweatier and it is a lot more physical, but you can wait hours to get loaded or unloaded, even on local hops.
The choice is yours, but they can both have big downsides to them.
Oh yeah, I’ll get the training free but I’m willing to pay for the LGV2 if needed. I’ve heard before about the public can sometimes be a pain in the arse on the buses, but that’s the decision I guess I have to make.
I haven’t got any qualifications to do anything else lol… So it’s either the buses or tippers/skips etc
I drove buses for 17 years, I loved the first two years of the job back in 1986, I hated the other 15 years
I now drive class 2, I am lucky as my pay for class 2 is pretty good with a good overtime rate too but on if I was still on the buses I would be on about £11 per hour and thats a flat rate for weekends, lates and bank holidays.
I got seriously fed up with the rosta’s and the public.
I can now sing, pick my nose, ■■■■ and burp without worrying who is sat behind me
But after being a bus driver, I hate the public - they just become this ‘compensation claimer’ when they step onto the bus. You’re looked down on by then too. :evil:
Yet after doing a bit of taxi-ing, a ‘person’ is totally different…
When you apply for your provisional licence tick both boxes for bus and lorry.There are downsides with both jobs.On lorries not many operators will take on a man with no relevant experience,buses,they will train you and some of the big firms will want rid of you after 2 years.Its a wonderful world.
Great info. I guess that’s why I’m willing to pay for the C licence after hearing the negatives from chauffeuring the public.
Next question regarding the different jobs available on the LGV2 - I’m not interested in the long haul stuff, so would prefer more of the local stuff… Any jobs that you found particularly fun/interesting? ie, tippers, skips, hiabs etc
Like I mentioned before. I’m not too worried about money as I’m quite fortunate not to have high outgoings.
Just thought I would add my experiences, I did bus driving a few years back.
Whilst there are some similarities, random start and finish times, people moaning at you all day long (you were due x amount of minutes ago).
I have to say hgv over pcv, I have been threatened on more than one occasion whilst driving buses. The reason I left was that I got spat at by some scum low life after having a window smashed earlier in the night (luckily I didn’t catch anything from him) and the bus company wanted me to carry on in service.
The stress level is way higher.
Now I cruise up and down the motorways all over the country at a pleasant 55.5mph getting there when I get there, can only go as fast as the traffic allows me.
I have switched about every 2 years between HGV and PSV.Anyone who knows me will tell you how easy going and laid back I am, but I will NEVER drive a bus again.
The attitude of a significant minority of passengers is awful.
I found skips and dust cart driving to be ok, start between 6 and 7, finish anytime after 3.
Good luck with whatever you decide.
Bus driver for 7 years, been driving class 1 for nearly a year, although have had my class 1 for about 5 years.
Personally I’d go for HGV rather than PCV, down to the horrendous abuse that you WILL receive from just about anyone who is having a bad day, from gangs of high/drunk youths to you wee granny who thinks she is the queen, and if you think thats bad… wait until you see how bus companies treat their workers… even when you have done nothing wrong, your still in the wrong. Any passenger on that bus can make any complaint they want about you (true of false) and the company usually side with the passenger. I had cctv evidence on my side, still got sacked cause First Glasgow would rather believe a drunken middle aged woman that a employee with a decent record of 7 years. Even the transport commissioner couldn’t believe her story after viewing the CCTV evidence.
Truck driving, you get your own space, your own cab, most of the time no set route to follow, you pick where and when you take a break (to a extent), you get to get out and see more of the country and for me I have discovered some amazing accents on my journeys, you get to get out your cab and wrestle with pallets and cages, up and down taillifts, in and out of shops/stores ect… Down side for me is you never know when you will get finished, you never know where you will be going and the shifts tend to be a bit longer, Buses use domestic rules which are easy peasy, Trucks use EU which at first were a right pain in the ■■■ lol
99% of people are fine, 1% of people are ■■■■■■■■■■
On an average bus driving day, you’ll deal with upwards of 1000 people (unless you’re on a tendered route, then you might deal with 5), so that’s 10 ■■■■■■■■■■
BUT, 99% of people are fine, but 80% of those drive cars, so in reality in those 1000 people, 810 are actually ■■■■■■■■■
If you hit roadworks once driving a bus, you’re going to hit them another 4 - 10 times, and that can cause stress even before they’ve caused an issue.
Schedules…
Crap mirrors, noisy windows, rubbish wipers, crappy heaters (and then you open the door…), no stereo etc etc etc…
I did bus, coach, taxi, limo, and most kinds of HGV by now I think. On bus, get your licence then go working for an airport carpark, easy job (but with some lifting) and better clientele than service busses and usually set shift patterns (although rotating days off to cover 365 days)
Tippers is fine, but try and stick with hourly paid so you don’t become a tipper ■■■■■■.
I couldnt do bus work or coaches a pal drives a bus and from what he says id be down the nick on charges for wanging the toe rags off me bus. I think if you started in psv it might be different? But i fly solo and thats fine by me i have enough running the kids about let alone 30 odd others
