Morning all, I’ve been reading this forum the last week and it’s a goldmine of useful info for new or wannabe drivers… which brings me to my question…
Is artic driving a viable career option? I’m 22 years of age, been working as a graphic designer for the last year after finishing uni and I’ve realised it isn’t for me. I won’t bore you with the reasons but it’s pretty much the usual “9-5 in an office is soul destroying” and “I’m doing nothing that’s actually useful to society.”
Which brings me onto LGV driving… it’s always been something that’s interested me, I have no problem with shift work/odd days/lugging stuff around (worked days/nights/evenings/earlies at a Tesco store part time), and delivering goods is useful and seems a lot less subjective than design (the goods either arrive or they don’t, right…?)
The questions I still have are these, if anyone can help it’d be much appreciated:
Do you earn the C+E licence then do Driver CPC or are they linked in some way?
How hard is it realistically to get a job driving artics and what sort of wage would I be looking at?
How does career progression work in general, is it certification/experience based etc? I know this’ll vary by employer…
For training I’d be looking to go with RoadTrain in Essex or GR8 Driver Training at North Weald, I heard good things about RoadTrain but what’s the opinion on GR8 Driver Training?
Sorry for the long post, thanks for reading if you got this far!
Hi. If i was you young man i would stay with your boring office job unless you can afford to have a hobby as i think its what you are looking for? Truck driving is a job that takes over your life and makes you old before your time Having said that if it is something you are determined to do then i wish you all the best there is a lot of people on here that can offer you advice. All the best. Kind regards peter.
Thanks Peter, with the hobby thing it’s actually the other way round - I’d rather design stuff in my spare time as a hobby (there’s a suffocating amount of bull manure associated with it as a job!) and drive trucks as a job/career…
i would forget about this as a viable career. driving artics doesnt earn u good money unless you get into a supermarket or onto something specialist really.
Do you earn the C+E licence then do Driver CPC or are they linked in some way?
How hard is it realistically to get a job driving artics and what sort of wage would I be looking at?
Your progression is Cat C, Cat CE and at any point in the process, driver cpc which is achieved by a theory test (case studies Mod 2) and a short practical demonstration test (Mod 4). Your trainer will be able to advise on these and give the training beforehand.
On the job front, it’s not impossible to get regular work - but it can be difficult. You have the double issue of your age and lack of experience. Some more enlightened employers are starting to break down the barriers as they realise the value of having someone with no baggage. But the fact remains that it’s not easy. I could suggest that you keep your present job and enrol with an agency in the hope of getting a day every other weekend. There’s rules about weekly rests that you will need to learn but you are not likely to be able to do any more than that.
With any career you need to start at the bottom and work up. Poor pay would be £7.50 per hour and there are some earning £12+ per hour. Add enhancements to this and nights out and the pay can be quite good. But remember you will almost certainly start at the bottom end of the scale. Don’t believe the stories of earning £30k driving a shiny new Scania. It’s not impossible, just highly unlikely.
How does career progression work in general, is it certification/experience based etc? I know this’ll vary by employer…
For training I’d be looking to go with RoadTrain in Essex or GR8 Driver Training at North Weald, I heard good things about RoadTrain but what’s the opinion on GR8 Driver Training?
You’ve hit it on the head - it varies between employers. Large employers eg Stobart, have inhouse training that gives some sort of structure to progression. Experience is normally accepted as a positive - subject to my previous post. Added training such as Lorry Mounted Crane (HIAB), ADR etc are all good on the cv. Each employer will have a career path. With some it is very structured, with others it’s non-existent. You must simply try to get a start anywhere doing anything for not a lot of money and slowly work your way up. The progression can be quite quick. I know of several new drivers who have achieved the higher end of the pay scale within a couple of years of keeping their heads down and noses clean.
When selecting your trainer, always go and visit. Have a look at the trucks and facilities and don’t be afraid to ask your questions.
If you go for it, I wish you all the best but please don’t burn your existing boats in the meantime. Pete
I have a friend-of-a-friend who has just started driving Class C, he’s currently (EDIT:) delivering office goods (he did tippers previously) for £400pw (which is, rather depressingly, higher than my current wage!) so I’m hoping he may be able to point me in the right direction for initial work. I certainly have no plans to quit my existing role before I find something permanent… Assuming I get on well with Class C training I’d probably elect to do the CE training straight after.
Any kind of career progression would also be a bonus so I’m relieved it exists!
I understand the £30k starting wages are rare as rocking horse excrement so anything north of £19k would ideally be my target.
Gogzy: Good money (for me) would be 18k, ideally 19 to start and moving up to maybe 40ish after many years - is there a generally accepted ceiling/maximum possible wage for LGV work?
To add to Peters post, you may be fed up of a mundane 9 - 5 job now, but how about a more mundane 03.00 - 18.00 job? This is the extreme but 9 hours later you may be doing it all again. For a 22 year old with a life ahead of them, that sounds scary. Not all companies pay by the hour but in some cases £7.50ph is considered a good wage in certain areas of road transport. A company salary may help with a mortgage (22years old ) but enough hours on an agency may be not so regular.
Peter also mentions enhancements and nights out. (subsistence allowance) Enhancements may come in the form of a £2 meal allowance, free hiviz vest and company workwear, sometimes, not always. Subsistence can be paid up until; (IR & RHA Agreed rates 31 December 2011) £32.20 less 25% if you have a sleeper cab. Unfortunately many employers read the IR forms as the accommodation part actually pays to park their truck and the remainder is left for the driver to feed himself, upkeep of bedding & laundry. Lorry parks are expensive, between £12.50 and 25 quid.
Anyway the world is your oyster, you have the world in front of you, but my friend Mick in the village has just turned down a £46000 design job right on his doorstep because he earns more working from home part time
From a senile old cynic who has only served 35 years in the exciting transport industry and my hips, knees and back are all shot to [zb]
youll be lucky to get £40k ever driving a truck. you might get close to that driving petrol tankers but even then thats a dead mans walking job with a waiting list bigger than jordans bra
there is jobs out there that you can earn good money on but you will be away for more than 5 days at a time. im 25 and been doing this since i was 21 and really i wouldnt move into trucking in general unless you get home every night as you will not have a life really.
ive only been home 48 hours and i want to go back to work
I’ve only been in transport for eighteen years and I enjoy it as much now as when I first started.
Unfortunatly, I’m the exception that proves the rule.
I intend to put my partners grandson through his C+E when he is old enough. This isn’t because of my passionate love of road transport but because I want him to have a practical skill that will always get him a job.
I think this would be the best way to approach your C+E. Treat it as another tool in your toolbox, if you really get into driving then good luck to you but all you need to do is read a few topics on TNUK to see how unhappy some drivers are.
Stick with Graphic Design mate. That will give you career progression and a realistic chance of getting above £40k within 10 years. I have been in Software all my life but got my Class 1/2 8/9 years ago as a fallback because the IT industry has been drying up even before the current crisis. The first few years were good (before the EU got bigger allowing a huge influx of legit eastern european drivers ) but I still didnt get much higher than £30k.
As an earlier poster put, the hours in transport are huge with not much reward. Although illegal a lot of companies will expect 15 hr shifts with 9 hour breaks every day. Being young and inexperienced you will get the crap trucks and crap jobs that the older and more experienced drivers dont want.
I may appear cynical but this is my experience but if you do decide driving is for you then go for it but keep the graphic design route as an option as I have a friend who insisted on spending his savings getting his lgv and thoroughly regretted it after only a short while in the industry.
It’s interesting to hear some accurate opinions of what the job is like as I had a rough idea before but nothing clear.
I think the best thing to do at the moment would be a trial lesson to see if I’m even half decent at the driving part… and after that get the best idea I can of what the job is like before deciding whether to do the C+E - either with a view to getting a job or just having it as another tool in the box - or continue looking at my options.
You’ve been given some really good advice and views on this thread. Can I just add that there are employers out there who pay reasonably for fair hours. They are not all running bent and abusing the drivers.
Im 27 and just started my first artic job, had my class 2 for about 4 years.
I absolutley love it, Always had an interest in transport in general, started van driving then went in for the hgv side.
Im home every night, drive nice new wagons and will probably be just about touching 30k by the way things are going so dont think its not possible, remember its my first artic job so i cant grumble!
Yeah i do long hours, odd start times but thats the industry mate, its not 9-5. I knew that before i started it but to be honest it doesnt bother me, ive got a mortgage an young son and we manage just fine, i tend to do later shifts so im home when he wakes up and get plenty of time with him, then im usually working at bed time but he’s knows its because im at work.
To be honest other than being interested in transport and lorries etc, the other reason i decided to persue a career in wagon driving is because i got no qualifications from school, never been to college or university etc, but looking back im glad i didnt. Ive got countless friends who left school and then spent 5 years or more in education and the majority of them are doing a job they never wanted to do nor were educated to do, and im earning more money than them too.
If its what you want to do then go for it. Depends on your circumstances financially and family etc but try not to be put off when you hear older drivers slating the job and telling you not to bother, i didnt listen to them and im so glad i didnt!
lee27:
Im 27 and just started my first artic job, had my class 2 for about 4 years.
I absolutley love it, Always had an interest in transport in general, started van driving then went in for the hgv side. Im home every night, drive nice new wagons and will probably be just about touching 30k
Why has my BS warning light just started flashing?? £30k/yr and home every night? Which company is that then, or let me guess, you’d rather not say?
lee27:
Im 27 and just started my first artic job, had my class 2 for about 4 years.
I absolutley love it, Always had an interest in transport in general, started van driving then went in for the hgv side. Im home every night, drive nice new wagons and will probably be just about touching 30k
Why has my BS warning light just started flashing?? £30k/yr and home every night? Which company is that then, or let me guess, you’d rather not say?
Reed Boardall!! Home every night and £30k/yr ? ? ?! ! ! ! LOOOOOOL.
Yep, home every night as im a day driver. Before tax im earning around around 520-550 a week, averages out at around 28k doesnt it? So no, im not a bull[zb]er.
Also forgot to mention that my shift patterns means i work on a saturday and a sunday as part of my regular week, which bumps the wages up a fair amount.
lee27:
Im 27 and just started my first artic job, had my class 2 for about 4 years.
I absolutley love it, Always had an interest in transport in general, started van driving then went in for the hgv side. Im home every night, drive nice new wagons and will probably be just about touching 30k
Why has my BS warning light just started flashing?? £30k/yr and home every night? Which company is that then, or let me guess, you’d rather not say?
Reed Boardall!! Home every night and £30k/yr ? ? ?! ! ! ! LOOOOOOL.
Yep, home every night as im a day driver. Before tax im earning around around 520-550 a week, averages out at around 28k doesnt it? So no, im not a bull[zb]er.
Also forgot to mention that my shift patterns means i work on a saturday and a sunday as part of my regular week, which bumps the wages up a fair amount.
£2k, merely pocket change then eh.
And how many hours are you doing for £28k/year with Boardall’s? I know how much they pay as they’re only up the road from me and for the sort of figures you’re quoting you’ll be nearly touching 70hrs a week on weekday shifts.
Note to the kid who started the thread, this is a good example of artic work for you. You’ll get twice the money you’re on now but you’ll be doing twice the amount of hours for it. All these drivers that rave about their high paying £30k a year jobs always conveniently forget that they’re actually doing 2 weeks work of a normal person in just 1 week, so when you break it down they’re not on any more money than you in your £18k job. The difference with your job is that you have set start and finish times and sleep in your own bed each night, whereas a £30k trucker will 95% of the time be expected to sleep in the truck for 4 nights of each week, have random start times and finish times, plus an accident or bad weather on your last day can often mean you’re sleeping in the truck for a 5th night and working another day that you’d made other plans for.
Bottom line : if you REALLY enjoy driving then you’ll probably enjoy the job even with all the BS and red tape that comes with it, but if you don’t particularly enjoy driving and are only doing it as it sounds easy-peasy and a good craic on the money then chances are you’ll quickly grow to hate it as the traffic, bad driving standards, being unable to make family arrangements/appointments etc etc will grind you down in no time and you’ll wish you’d never left your old job.
Thats based on a 5 day week,if i worked 6 days every other week like im supposed to (but not actually done yet!!) then theres almost your 2 grand a year.
And yes im doing between 60 and 70 hours per week. But like i said it doesnt bother me because this is the most money ive ever earned since leaving school and going on the fact i have roughly 5 weeks artic experience to approach companies with im not going to complain. Im happy to be in job that can offer me that many hours and as long as they are offered i will work them.
I accept its crap, to make that money you have to do the hours, but the point i was trying to make was it suits me. Im just gaining experience and think myself pretty lucky to be given the oppurtunity.
Im not trying to argue and one thing i certainly DO NOT do is bull[zb]. Im giving my personal experience and telling it how it is for me, Its not for everyone and the more experienced drivers can, im sure, recognise its not a very good wage for the hours involved etc etc, but im not an experienced driver so i have to do it.
Didnt mean to offend by the way
lee27:
Thats based on a 5 day week,if i worked 6 days every other week like im supposed to (but not actually done yet!!) then theres almost your 2 grand a year.
And yes im doing between 60 and 70 hours per week. But like i said it doesnt bother me because this is the most money ive ever earned since leaving school and going on the fact i have roughly 5 weeks artic experience to approach companies with im not going to complain. Im happy to be in job that can offer me that many hours and as long as they are offered i will work them.
I accept its crap, to make that money you have to do the hours, but the point i was trying to make was it suits me. Im just gaining experience and think myself pretty lucky to be given the oppurtunity.
Im not trying to argue and one thing i certainly DO NOT do is bull[zb]. Im giving my personal experience and telling it how it is for me, Its not for everyone and the more experienced drivers can, im sure, recognise its not a very good wage for the hours involved etc etc, but im not an experienced driver so i have to do it.
Didnt mean to offend by the way
All valid points, can’t argue with that. When I’d just passed my test I was all eager like you are too but the novelty soon wears off and you’ll turn into a whinging whining [zb] after a few years just like the rest of us.
unless you can afford to have a hobby as i think its what you are looking for? Truck driving is a job that takes over your life and makes you old before your time 
Having said that if it is something you are determined to do then i wish you all the best 
there is a lot of people on here that can offer you advice. All the best. Kind regards peter.
