Sam Millar:
Wheel Nut:
lenny1990:
If you still want to do do it, have a look for Sam Millars posts, he has recently passed his test and is driving a Scania for his sinsRanty Time
I’m 18, well 19. I just turned 19 today
I passed my Class 1 at the beginning of the year. I grew up around lorries with my Father and Uncle being HGV driver’s, the size always amazed me as they used to tower above me, and still do.
Well it’s been an uphill struggle really, I signed on to the Job Centre to receive Job Seeker’s Allowance, which was £106.90 per fortnight. After 13 weeks on the dole someone told me I should ask if they would pay for my training, so I did. They told me that they would put me through my Class 2 and not Class 1, and to even get that far I must have a letter from someone saying that they would employ me.
Thankfully, an agency came to my rescue and even though it was practically a pack of lies, it was good enough for the funding resources team at the dole. Eventually, my training started in December last year and I sailed through the training itself but I feel I was failed wrongly for something outwith my control. I live in Scotland so when the snow falls here, it really falls. I was a roundabout that I had never been on before, and what was left of the BARELY visible white lines was covered in snow, my rear tyres crossed it and I caused someone to take ‘avoiding action’. Sounds serious right? Nah not at all, my instructor tried to speak to the examiner and ask him if there was anything he could do as otherwise I had an absolutely perfect test. But no, it wasn’t to be.
A week later I resat my Class 2 test and passed this time, again with the snow coming down like no tomorrow, and on the same roundabout just from a different direction. Thankfully I was finally through it and one step closer to being a real trucker on the biggies, the artics
Aside from the abuse on here from people telling me I was a lazy b, who sat on my bum all day and scrounged off benefits when I didn’t need to, I got laughed at and told that I’d be laughed out of every transport office I visited because of my age. I had the right attitude though, thankfully most on here knew that I was actually quite mature for my age, and that with the right guidance I should be more than capable of handling a 44t at 18.
Anyway, days past of searching the Job Centre website for vacancies, weeks, months… Eventually after 4 months I landed myself a start driving bin lorries for a local council ON AGENCY. Not going to lie, I did tell a few white lies by saying that I drove my Dad’s lorries but because work was quiet it was time to find something else. Not strictly true although there was some truth in it, my Dad used to give me a shot here and there, when, let’s say he really shouldn’t have.
To tell you the truth, I absolutely hate driving bin lorries. It’s been nothing but a stepping stone to get where I want to be. They’re not high enough for me, they don’t have enough power for me, they’re not a proper lorry to me. - Most of that doesn’t matter to people on here as they secretly try to tell you they’re just in this job cause of the wonga. They say that they don’t care if it’s an artic or a rigid they drive, if the money is the same. Secretly though, they’re lieing, they all want the biggies all of the time.
That aside, you have men jumping in and out of your cab every few minutes, and when they’re not doing that you’re pulling forward a house length every 30 seconds, and I’m sure you can appreciate and understand that that becomes very boring rather quickly.
Thankfully though, I knew that it was just the actual bin lorry side to driving that I wasn’t enjoying, because when I wasn’t actually servicing bins, I loved it. Driving back to the yard, the landfill etc.
I got enough together to go ahead with my Class 1 and to cut a long story short after a week’s course, I passed first time straight away with 3 minors, and was told that he was just bored and had to mark me on something.
So after still going to drive the bin lorries day in day out after passing my Class 1, I come home and I respond to all of the advertisements on the Job Centre website and most if not all rarely ever get back to you. You get the odd HGV driver turned agency bod who understands your predicament, but still unfortunately can’t help you. You basically just get your name out there to everything you can really.
Then one night, not too long ago after work I was sitting at the computer just replying to the ads like I usually do, when I get a phone call from a Frozen company (in our terms this means they transport frozen/chilled) whom I had replied to their ad a few weeks ago. He explained that one of their drivers hadn’t turned up and that they needed be to be at the yard for an hours time. I would be driving a 58 reg Scania, semi-auto but with a clutch. I would need to fuel up on the way down and also fill the trailer diesel tank for the fridge when I got there. He said it would just be a case of backing onto the bay, telling them you were there and which trailer you had (so they could correspond it with the label on the goods inside the warehouse so that they knew which stuff was going to who and what trailer etc), and then back up the road for 0530 or so the next morning.
So like Wheel Nut said above, for my sins I found myself driving this.
So off I set from Glasgow and headed down to the Midlands on my first ever artic shift. Some parts of the M6 I couldn’t even see the back end of my trailer because the fog was genuinely that bad but that’s another story…
Anyway, to cut a long story short, everything went great an the job was completed in time and just how they’d ask.
Now, that’s just my experience, but it’s genuinely been a struggle, a lot of frustration vented etc.
Again, other’s would argue on here that you don’t even need a brain in your head to drive one of these but it is genuinely very mentally tiring, and there’s a lot of stress to go with the job if you let it. You need to think for every other road user as well as yourself, you need to remember that there’s 44t pushing you when you start to break and it doesn’t want to stop in a hurry.
You need to remember that when you want to brake hard you can’t brake THAT hard otherwise your trailer will soon be saying hello to you in your driver window. Despite all the technology, I’ve found brakes on lorries to be, well, reasonable but nothing like we have on cars in terms of ABS, the wheels do lock and release and lock and release but I think that’s more a question of because of the weight.
You will work a 15 hour day and no one will blink an eyelid as to how long you’ve worked, they don’t care, why should they? Pay is generally quite low these days because they can get away with it, I was lucky and in my first driving job I found myself on £9.50 to start with over a 40 hour week, so you can do the sums. Good paying work is out there but it’s hard to get it and you need to go find it because it won’t come to you.
RDCs, or regional distribution centre’s often require you to hand in your keys while you’re on a bay being loaded, all to do with H&S incase the lorry rolls away etc while someone is loading the trailer, it’s all [zb] mental really. so the driver’s that end up in these goods in rooms love to tell you their stories of when they were in the SAS or when they had to be escorted from Tesco because they were out of hours,the usual ■■■■■■■■.
It’s a hugely regulated industry and penalties can be very severe to going over your driving time.
I often get told I’m lying that I hold a Class 1 at 18/19, and i’m my pictures/videos I’m sucking someones nob to get a shot, or I’m driving my Dad’s lorry because he’s given me a shot. But the reality is, the age is down, there is sensible guys out there at my age that can handle these lorries. Everyone told me I might as well just sit on my license until I held it for 2 years or until I was 21 but I was determined to live my dream, why should I sit and wait for it to clock up?
I’ve actually missed a lot of the crap out but that basically sums it up and most on here will agree (hopefully!). Any questions or anything I’ll gladly answer them for you if I can.
Good on you Sam for sticking at it. But…
For every story like yours, there has to be 20 lads that are finding getting a start very difficult. Also, if I ran a haulage company I wouldn’t employ lads of your age because, although you clearly are sensible and level headed and capable of doing the job, so many lads your age are not. The risk is too great…most lads at 18 I wouldn’t trust with a shopping trolley never mind an artic…I used to teach 'em to ride motorbikes and they are Kamikaze in a way that is almost a certainty to land in hospital or worse…
Anyone starting out as a driver should be aware that the challenges of finding any kind of decent employment are tough and difficult to overcome, and much harder again if you are under 25. In short, if you really want it, then you’ll get there, but a vague ‘I’ve always liked trucks, it’s better than working in Asda filling shelves or going to college’ probably isn’t enough.
Pimpdaddy:
Young man/lady I think you need your head examining wanting to get into this trade. Transport as a whole at the moment is a gamble that’s not likely to pay off for a long time to come, so unless you know someone in the trade who can guarantee a job after training I wouldn’t bother if I were you. I’d aim to go to uni & study medicine, engineering or even be a google wiz kid like other youngsters & get a decent well paying job @ the government’s expense.
All the best with whatever you decide, at the end of the day always follow your heart…
Is harsh but very good advice…unless you like a long slog to find a job, then like working very long hours for ■■■■ poor money, I’d look elsewhere mate. Sorry to be so negative, but as long as you know what the crack is, you can make the right decision hopefully. Best of luck whatever way you drive… 
