Hi everyone, I haven’t posted for a while but due to popular 
demand, here is an update.
C passed in January, CE passed in February, then out there knocking doors job hunting (like so many on here). I got all the usual ‘2 years experience’ stuff. Registered with three agencies (who all told me they were desperate for drivers 
), etc, etc. Several potential employers gave me the ‘jam tomorrow’ story and promised they would be in touch soon.
Got one job offer - and what a cracker it was. Driving a 44 tonne artic for the princely sum of - wait for it - £5.00 per hour ‘cash in hand’. He also told me, “You can make good money here if you don’t mind ‘swapping tacho discs’ a bit”. As far as I know that super job is still not filled.
I did get some agency work, usually class 2, usually £7 to £8 an hour. A couple of weeks at a company where the only person who didn’t look down on the ‘agency’ driver was a FLT driver who remembered me from school! A few early start Co-op multi-drop deliveries (I still have the blood blisters to prove it) which were usually one hour driving, four hours shifting cages about and two to three hours queueing up for diesel, de-kit and de-brief.
Still, more work than some of the newbies on here, so I shouldn’t really complain, and I got experience of driving different trucks (liked MANs and Volvos, not keen on Scanias, Renaults were better than I expected).
And then, two days ago I had an amazing experience…
Out of the blue came a phone call from the very first company I had called-on in my job search.
“Hi Alan, are you stll available, or have you found a job?”
I gave the suitable answer and was invited to call-in at 9am the next day for a chat and expect to be there for a couple of hours, which I did.
The result was: the couple of hours turned into seven and a half, encompassing an assessment drive and a day’s induction. Licences were copied, bank details given, wages agreed (considerably more than the agency had been paying me) and, hey presto, I had a permanent job.
OK, it is part-time for the first 2-3 months but with an assurance that it will become full-time, but the man did keep his word about contacting me as soon as he had a vacancy and I have no reason to think he won’t keep his word about the full-time job.
So, to all the people here who have encouraged me to keep trying, thank you.
Watch-out for me next time you are in the North East - I will be easy to spot. When you see someone the on hard-shoulder with his truck lit-up like a Christmas tree, cowering away from the traffic while trying to remember how the tilt-bed, the spec lift or winch work, it may be me. Especially if he still has an inane grin on his face.
Alan
