Hi all,
I’m expecting a call from Longs of Leeds tomorrow to discuss work. I’ve just passed my class 2. They say they put you with another driver for some training, which sounds good. Their reviews on Indeed from drivers don’t sound great.
Anyone got any experience with them? Either as a new pass driver or otherwise?
Cheers
Holly
I sent a couple of emails to Longs of Leeds along with a few others, 6 in total, asking is they would employ a person with no recent experiance, I last drove about 25 years ago and they were one of two that never even replied … the other was Eddie Stobarts …
Someone from Longs posted on a Facebook jobs group yesterday. I asked if they take new pass class 2. Got a response within 30 mins. Had a quick chat on messenger and they say they’ll call tomorrow. I’ll ring them if they don’t call me. I’m not wasting my time posting/emailing CVs. They’ll go in the bin…
So you never got work there then I take it?
I have had my licence for about 30 years but I have not used it for a number of years due to emloyment in another industry… with redundancy on the cards I am now sorting the driver CPC out so I have everything in place if needed … the emails were just to see if I could find a job.
Out of the 4 that replied one did offer to take me on once I get the CPC card and the others asked me to call to arrange interviews…
I did not pursue the one’s that did not reply becasue it was not a major issue for me, if I was out of work I would use differnt methods…
Good luck…
Hmmm not encouraging.
I’m half expecting to get given the crap being new, but I wanna get my foot in.
I’ll see what they say anyway. Its all learning. I maybe shouldn’t jump at the first job
LGVStuart:
I sent a couple of emails to Longs of Leeds along with a few others, 6 in total, asking is they would employ a person with no recent experiance, I last drove about 25 years ago and they were one of two that never even replied … the other was Eddie Stobarts …
Phone them.
Hg83:
Hi all,I’m expecting a call from Longs of Leeds tomorrow to discuss work. I’ve just passed my class 2. They say they put you with another driver for some training, which sounds good. Their reviews on Indeed from drivers don’t sound great.
Anyone got any experience with them? Either as a new pass driver or otherwise?Cheers
Holly
They will give you work without a doubt.
Never worked for them but the money is very very poor.
You have two options local pallet drop or tramping away all week with them.
If you are happy to be away a couple of nights Ken Mallinson at Barnsley and Gee’s @ Wakefield will give you a go.
If you want day work then try Longs but be prepared for long hours for poor money. Agency would be a better bet to start with however it is a good time of the year to knock doors and make phone calls.
Jimmy McNulty:
LGVStuart:
I sent a couple of emails to Longs of Leeds along with a few others, 6 in total, asking is they would employ a person with no recent experiance, I last drove about 25 years ago and they were one of two that never even replied … the other was Eddie Stobarts …Phone them.
Like I said if I was desperate to get the job at the moment I would, it was just a general question about employing a person with little recent experiance…
Yeah i thought pre Xmas might be a good time to pass my test and get stuck in.
I’ll give those two places a call too, Jimmy.
Cheers for the pointers everyone
Jimmy McNulty:
Hg83:
Hi all,I’m expecting a call from Longs of Leeds tomorrow to discuss work. I’ve just passed my class 2. They say they put you with another driver for some training, which sounds good. Their reviews on Indeed from drivers don’t sound great.
Anyone got any experience with them? Either as a new pass.They will give you work without a doubt.
Never worked for them but the money is very very poor.
You have two options local pallet drop or tramping away all week with them.
If you are happy to be away a couple of nights Ken Mallinson at Barnsley and Gee’s @ Wakefield will give you a go.
If you want day work then try Longs but be prepared for long hours for poor money. Agency would be a better bet to start with however it is a good time of the year to knock doors and make phone calls.
One of the lads that used to work at our place went to mallinson’s for an interview after he passed his class 1. He reckoned they offered him £9 per hour for all hours as a day driver doing 60 hours a week…he decided to stay with us on class 2 as the money and hours were better.
I know it can be challenging to get a start when you’re newly passed but my personal recommendation would be to avoid all general haulage companies like the plague. They all seem to pay appalling money, treat drivers like something on the bottom of their shoe and view the drivers’ hours rules as some type of target so if for example you get back to the yard at 6pm on Friday having been out all week and they discover you have two hours driving time left, they’ll get you to go back out on something that will keep you out for those two hours, and then tell you to be back in exactly 45 hours later…
Nice one.
My instructor was trying to warn me off big general haulage companies I think, but you’ve hammered it home lol.
I’ll keep looking, and casting my net wider
There is also the Cement mixers at Cross Green industrial estate. Day work I think and pays good money.
It’s for wincanton working for Hanson, possibly I can’t remember the firm.
Its relatively decent money and the hours won’t be ridiculous, or I’d imagine not anyway.
I was offered that job OVER THE PHONE without much experience and I was interested in it as well, can’t remember what stopped me now.
All great advice, thank you! I’ve had haulage ingrained my mind but there’s loads of scope for work
Hg83:
All great advice, thank you! I’ve had haulage ingrained my mind but there’s loads of scope for work
Own account work (where a company uses its own trucks to deliver its own product) is always better than the hire and reward sector. If you have to go down the latter route then generally the smaller the firm the better.
So I could search ‘own account class 2 hgv jobs’, or something like that…
I’ll see who has an operator licence n do some googling. Good advice everyone. Very much appreciated
Hg83:
So I could search ‘own account class 2 hgv jobs’, or something like that…
I don’t think that would show up in a search.
It is difficult, because you need a fair degree of local knowledge of transport, what’s hot and what’s not, which obviously you don’t have when you first start out.
If you want to broaden your knowledge base then I would echo what an earlier poster said and register with a few agencies. It’s a busy time of year for them and you’ll pretty much be guaranteed continuous work up to Christmas and that will give you more that enough time to work out what is the wheat and what is the chaff.
If you have the patience, go to gov.uk/find-vehicle-operators
From there you can see who has got a current licence. Click on the licence and it will tell you if it’s a Standard licence or Restricted. A restricted licence permits the carriage of own good ONLY. A Standard licence permits the carriage of your own goods AND carriage for hire and reward. It’s a laborious job but it’s a reliable source of information if you want to find out.
All the best, Pete 