I have already posted one topic on here asking about the cost involved in LGV Training and i thank everyone for your responses.
Firstly i would like to introduce myself, i am gavin, 25 years old from east yorkshire. Currently i work in the care sector with adults who have a diagnosis of autism. Recently i have moved from the care side into building maintainance due to personal circumstances and not being able to work shifts. I have always thought that i wanted to be a truck driver but decided to wait until i was at least 25 before really considering it as this seemd like an age when i would have a fairly decent shot at getting some work. So now i am 25 and i have started the process but the one thing that seems to keep happening is i come across people who have the opinion that i am wasting my time/money/life trying to become a lgv driver, that the road transport industry is for want of a better word, DEAD!. I am told that there is no work or work but [zb] wages etc etc. Now i can understand this because lets face it, with all the magicians magicing food onto the supermarket shelves, and all the genies granting wishes for flying carpets to get building materials to sites and all the ghosts…you see what i am getting at is that there is practically nothing in the world that is not at some point moved by a truck of some sort, and hopefully this will remain the case. With this in mind i feel that trucking/haulage is a pretty safe business that is critical to everything we do. Am i right in thinking this, or should i just knock the training on the head?
Oh, and i’v got my cpc mod 2 in a weeks time so i need to make my decision fast!
I cant say anything about your locality,there are lots of unemployed drivers looking for work some are prepared to relocate for the chance of working.Training is very expensive I would guess £1500 for class C .There is a low pass rate for the practical driving test,this means walk away and lose £1000 or spend about £200 on a retest with no guarantee of a pass.If you pass second time (no guarantee)agencies and contractors will say if only you had C+E we would give you a job.You go back to the trainer and spend £500 then another £200 for the retest only to be told that you lack 2 years experience.Also you would need ADR,hiab or some other such thing just to be a lorry driver.Sorry but thats the way it is right now.As for all of the stuff that needs moving there are lots of policemen,firemen and lads coming out of the army not to mention the Poles Turks and Roma who ran off there qualifications before leaving home.
Unless you’re gonna relocate, forget it. Driving jobs barely above minimum wage in E Yorks. You’ll struggle to find any perm work for 2 years after passing too, due to insurance. Best staying with your care work.
The simple answer is that there are too many trucks on the road, that is why the wages are crap. I agree with Rob and come from East Yorkshire, the money is minimum wage or slightly above it.
If you want to go trucking do it, but don’t do it to get rich.
You are right that food will always need to be moved and bricks need to be carried, but there are too many companies doing it simply to look busy.
Wheel Nut:
The simple answer is that there are too many trucks on the road, that is why the wages are crap. I agree with Rob and come from East Yorkshire, the money is minimum wage or slightly above it.
If you want to go trucking do it, but don’t do it to get rich.
You are right that food will always need to be moved and bricks need to be carried, but there are too many companies doing it simply to look busy.
Yep. I’m seeing threads about truck driving on a lot of the other forums I go on which have absolutely nothing to do with the job. People are seeing the £500 per week ads and thinking “yeah, I want some of that” without doing any proper research. The industry is flooded with drivers at the moment with not even enough jobs to go round those of us that have had our tickets for years, so all these extra bodies jumping on board is just causing the wages to go south.
You only have to read the noobs forum for the past few months to see this - some still haven’t had any work since passing their test and those that have are just being fed all the dog end work. Maybe there needs to be a sticky thread there to warn them that they could be wasting their time or something?
Oh Dear Oh Dear ! Thanks for your honesty fellas, this is the word from the coalface and i respect it. I have allready deided that i am going to reloate to wherever there is work and so this is not a problem. To be honest, i am still going to do my training and enjoy it. I realise that the industry is saturated with drivers at the moment but if i have the licence then at least i will be ready should i manage to hunt any work down
So are you saying that things are worse now than they were earlier in the year? That there is little point in becoming a driver if you could stack shelves instead?
Although saying that, even shelf stacking is very difficult to get to now.
GavT:
Oh Dear Oh Dear ! Thanks for your honesty fellas, this is the word from the coalface and i respect it. I have allready deided that i am going to reloate to wherever there is work and so this is not a problem. To be honest, i am still going to do my training and enjoy it. I realise that the industry is saturated with drivers at the moment but if i have the licence then at least i will be ready should i manage to hunt any work down
It seems that the only jobs regularly advertised for East Yorkshire is you know who with the supermarket contracts, every agency in Hull seem to have jobs in Goole
There is absolutely no point getting a HGV licence if you think there are no jobs. Get the licence then get out there and tell employers why its you and not the next candidate. If your reading this its probably because you dont think you can get up and tell people why they should employ YOU.
I wish I could guarantee you a job. Get the licence and the rest will follow. The best tip I can give is to have a bit of self belief.
There is absolutely no point getting a HGV licence if you think there are no jobs. Get the licence then get out there and tell employers why its you and not the next canddiate. if your reading this its probably because you dont think you can get up and tell people why they should employ YOU.
I wish I could guarantee you a job. Get the licence and the rest will follow. The best tip I can give is to have a bit of self belief.
Keep the faith
Thanks for that, you are bang on with this, i just need to get on with it don’t i. Hopefully i should be able to find a job in the next 30-40 years
There is absolutely no point getting a HGV licence if you think there are no jobs. Get the licence then get out there and tell employers why its you and not the next canddiate. if your reading this its probably because you dont think you can get up and tell people why they should employ YOU.
I wish I could guarantee you a job. Get the licence and the rest will follow. The best tip I can give is to have a bit of self belief.
Keep the faith
Thanks for that, you are bang on with this, i just need to get on with it don’t i. Hopefully i should be able to find a job in the next 30-40 years
You seem to be missing the fact that he is an LGV training company. Even if we were in the worst recession in history he’d still be telling you to go for it because he’s not the one that has to pick up the pieces at the end. Think very carefully… I suggest you spend a couple of hours reading the posts in this forum to see just how hard it is to get a start.
Rob K:
You seem to be missing the fact that he is an LGV training company. Even if we were in the worst recession in history he’d still be telling you to go for it because he’s not the one that has to pick up the pieces at the end. Think very carefully… I suggest you spend a couple of hours reading the posts in this forum to see just how hard it is to get a start.
in may 2009 i was made redundant. as soon as i was told i was to be out of a job i decided to do my lgv training.
i picked what turned out to be an utterly useless and incompetent company to use, but i persevered and on the 4th attempt passed my cat C test in feb 2010.
in the mean time i had got myself a job working in food production factory. not the worst job in the world, but not one that i wanted to do for any longer that i had to!
i aplied for every driving job that was advertised locally, even getting my self an interview in march 2010.
one day at work (june 2010) i had a phone call call from said interview asking me for a second interview. i went home smiling, knowing that i had pretty much got myself out of that job!
when i got home that day my wife told me that another company that i had aplied to had called, asking whether i was still interested in a job.
fast forward a few days from there and i was offered two jobs on the same day. just 4 months after passing my cat c test. i took the job that best suited me and am now earning arounf £450 a week
maybe i got lucky, but this just goes to show that it is possible to get a job if you really want it!
I passed my Cat C last month and have applied for quite a few jobs, even the ones that mention experience,hoping to get a break and i hope at some point ill be in the same position as you Kevin.
Doing my C+E later this month so hopefully i can at more jobs.
Rob K:
You seem to be missing the fact that he is an LGV training company. Even if we were in the worst recession in history he’d still be telling you to go for it because he’s not the one that has to pick up the pieces at the end.
Because we are a training company means we are in regular contact with people looking for work and employers looking for drivers. Last Saturday a young lad aged 19 walked into our shop in Chelmsford and asked what I truthfully thought of his chances of getting a driving job at his age. I replied that I thought the chances very slim because of his age (mainly). I did however make a call to a lad named Jack who had done his Cat ‘C’ earlier in the year when he was 18 and then his ‘C+E’ shortly after his 19th birthday. I put the lad onto Jack to speak about his experiences since passing and he said that he was now into full time work driving Class 1 vehicles.
Today I started a new Cat ‘C+E’ course with the fleet manager of a large local transport firm in Witham, Essex. His problem is not finding work it is finding drivers. He asked me to keep him informed of any good quality guys coming through as he is fed up of so called experienced drivers who basically don’t want to work properly. He has had enough of the agency drivers who don’t complete the paperwork properly, don’t stick to the driving hours regs and have no respect for their vehicles. (the oldest in the fleet is 09 reg). He is going to start compiling a register of Freelance drivers who want to work for themselves and are motivated enough to represent his company properly when they drive for him.
He is paying agencies around £14 per hour who in turn pay the drivers about £8 p.h. He would love to pay the right people around £11.50 per hour. Everyone wins (except the agencies)
There are a lot of out of work drivers but not so many motivated hardworking ones. Don’t take the job if the money is not enough. If you do take it though put in some effort to look the part and want to belong to the business.
You will not find jobs by looking at Jobcentre websites. You have to get out there, put your name about and tell the employers WHY they must employ YOU. Stand in the local lorry park and collect transport manager’s names and mobile numbers then call them saying their driver had recommended that you call him. There are lots of other ways too. Be creative about finding a job and don’t just wait for someone to make you rich (unless your name is Wayne Rooney).
I wish i had never asked the question now. I’v worked hard to save the money, i’v completed most of the theory tests, i’m doing the training Even if i dont get a start straight away at least i am going to be ready when work becomes available, and i can relocate to any part of the country which should help. Thanks
GavT:
I wish i had never asked the question now. I’v worked hard to save the money, i’v completed most of the theory tests, i’m doing the training Even if i dont get a start straight away at least i am going to be ready when work becomes available, and i can relocate to any part of the country which should help. Thanks
Well if you’ve done all the training then obviously continue but just be aware you could be in for a hard time finding work. You should be okay at this time of year, or at least have the best chance, but my advice to you would be to secure something permanent before the year end as there will be absolutely nothing on agency in the new year. I speak from past experience.
Rob K:
Well if you’ve done all the training then obviously continue but just be aware you could be in for a hard time finding work. You should be okay at this time of year, or at least have the best chance, but my advice to you would be to secure something permanent before the year end as there will be absolutely nothing on agency in the new year. I speak from past experience.
Thanks Rob, i am going to keep posting on my progress, like i have said, i am in a secure job at the moment and wont leave until i get someting with reasonable security.
! Thanks for your honesty fellas, this is the word from the coalface and i respect it. I have allready deided that i am going to reloate to wherever there is work and so this is not a problem. To be honest, i am still going to do my training and enjoy it. I realise that the industry is saturated with drivers at the moment but if i have the licence then at least i will be ready should i manage to hunt any work down 
I suggest you spend a couple of hours reading the posts in this forum to see just how hard it is to get a start.
I’v worked hard to save the money, i’v completed most of the theory tests, i’m doing the training