i cant say the same. i want as much money as i can get even if it does mean working every hour i legally can. i like my pocket money and i am prepared to work my arse off to get it. as long as i come home (almost) every night, i will put the time in. i wont work for less than the average for the area though so driver hire will not see me again 
Ok…I’m going to stick my neck out here…
We’re always complaining about the lack of career ladder in this industry, about there being no opportunity to progress…but isn’t this exactly the sort of thing that a “career ladder” entails? 
Surely it’s the same whatever profession you look at. There are good, well-paid jobs, and there are lousy, badly paid ones. You do the latter in order to get enough experience to progress to the former. Which is exactly as it should be!!!
Yes, I agree that to expect time-served drivers to work for this kind of money is unreasonable, but what about the newbies?
And by the same token, why on earth should firms with shiny, new, expensive kit, and who are paying top dollar, be expected to employ anything less than a high quality driver - which, no matter how good the training, doesn’t mean a newbie?
I also fully agree that the current system for “training” drivers (or rather lack of it) is woefully inadequate…but…surely taking a job like this is exactly the same as doing an apprenticeship in any other trade?
Apprentices accept less money in the knowledge that they will learn on the job - with provision made for the fact that they make mistakes.
A newbie driver taking jobs like these is effectively doing the same.
Let’s take it a step further…ok, many of these firms have crap kit. Is that such a bad thing? I’m not at all sure that it is. I did a stint on what was then one of the worst-paying worst-equipped firms in Dorset. It was awful…but boy did I learn!
I learnt how to double-declutch properly (all crash boxes)…I learnt how to get the best from an engine (all woefully underpowered)…I learnt how to do minor repairs to “get me home” (lousy breakdown back-up)…I learnt how to use my initiative when faced with unusual loads (I was sent out with a 65ft extender at full-stretch and a huge great overhang…after just 3 weeks)…I learnt how to cope when I was put in an awkward situation (the load restraint budget hadn’t parted with a penny since 1976)…I learnt how to back (tiny yard, often in the dark)…I learnt how to live inexpensively up the road (no parking paid, lousy money full stop)…I learnt how to plan my working day to get the best out of it (paid partly tip and mileage money)…I learnt to swallow my pride and ask when I was unsure of something (because no-one would tell you otherwise)…I learnt what was and wasn’t a defect, what could and couldn’t be safely run with, and what would and wouldn’t be worth getting fixed before heading out…I learnt…well, you get the picture.
I also learnt to appreciate a half-decent motor when the keys were handed to me…something which someone who has always driven recent, low-mileage, reasonable spec trucks never truly can. You’ll never learn to drive a lorry if you always have ■■■■■■■■■■■■ or cruise, or any number of other luxuries, IMHO.
I may not have got financially rich by working for that bunch of cowboys, but the knowledge and skills that I gained have stood me in good stead ever since - and are worth more than all the money in the world!
What’s more, I wouldn’t have gained any of them by sitting in a classroom, doing an organised “induction course”, or earning £9 an hour on “Tib-barts and Win-lams Logistics”.
If an experienced driver asks me about that particular Dorset firm, I advise them not to touch it with 20ft bargepole. If a newbie asks me the same question, I tell them to go for it, and why. 
And…pardon me…but why on earth should a newbie who knows nowt be earning the same as a driver of 10 years experience? It doesn’t happen in any other profession, and it shouldn’t happen in this one. “One pay rate for all”, if anything, just reduces recognition of trucking as anything other than a dead-end job. Why bother learning anything at all if there’s no gain to be made?
Sorry to rant, but I too am getting more than a little tired of reading about people with 5 minutes experience who want top money, top motors, and to tell everyone else how the industry should be run…when what they should be doing is taking time to learn what the industry is about, how it operates, and how to do their job.
I’m lucky enough to have a job where I’m getting above average money for the area, am guaranteed a top-spec motor, get left to do my job in peace, and have any defects I report fixed there and then. We get sick pay, any equipment we ask for, all parking paid, all tolls paid (M6 Toll included), above average night-out money…you name it. The firm concerned never advertise, and are never short of full-time drivers…because they have a waiting list and won’t employ anyone without a recommendation from one of their existing lads. All our guys are either related or have worked with eack other in the past. I got on there purely by luck (I rang up at the right time) and because I knew a guy on there from a regular tip which both this and my previous firm do.
None of us have less than 2 years proveable experience. None of the distance drivers (where the best money is) have less than 5 years proveable experience - in fact, with just over 5, I am a relative newbie…most of the others have 10 years-plus.
I am in that job because I have earned my place there…we are treated well and with respect (if you tell our office something can’t be done, they believe you…if you tell them it’ll be late they simply say “ok then”…), because we have all been driving long enough to know what we’re talking about. That wouldn’t be the case if the hiring policy wasn’t as it is.
Personally I think a move towards the US system of post-test pass training is the way forward. But even over there, a newbie has to accept less money and a lower spec truck whilst they are “getting their wings”.
In the meantime, jobs like these can and do serve a purpose…and as far as I’m concerned, long may they continue to do so… 
(Tin 'at on and off to hide in the local Maternity Ward whilst you all rip me to bits…I won’t notice, I’m having the drugs!!! 
)
tortoise:
Simple question. Would you do multidrop in a class1 for £6.25ph?.
Nope! Not when I already get £6.50ph (+£5 per day bonus) for driving Class 2 - and not chasing my arse doing multi-drop either!
Well said Lucy…
I did a little bit of driving 30 years ago but soon gave it up as a mugs game…
Started again on Class 2 about nine months ago, agency and really enjoyed the work.
This led to my class 1 a couple of months later, straight on the agency with a regular contract with Wincanton at £10/hr. Truth is I was bored with it from day one and soon sought work with a local haulier. Job found, £400 for 50 hours and o/t on top, newish Globie working general haulage on days. Didn’t last long, maybe it was me being naïve but I just didn’t like working for them. Straight from that to my current job, tramping for cowboys, and I love it but wouldn’t tell them that…
I run all the legal hours and some. Drive a scabie’ish indiscrete 124 long distance for, yes you guessed it, £6.28/hr. We argue all day long, shouting and screaming down the phone using language that embarrasses me, even drove up to the yard one day to punch someone out, but… Next day it’s all forgotten, business as usual.
And I’m learning so much, every day. It’s a big game, you against them and they very much have the better of me, but I’m slowly getting there… We pull everything you can get in a curtain, from steel to soap powder, the whole length of the country.
Every day is like an adventure. One day this week I found myself loading near Gleneagles, queue G8 summit… There was security everywhere, dogs, choppers, the lot. Suddenly this artic pulled in complete with a trailer of “illegals”, back door opened and they were confronted with this security, their faces were a picture. That alone was worth the long haul…
Would I change things ? would I hell… The only thing that gets to me is lack of rest, by the end of the week I’m climbing the walls, I’m sure many of you understand that, as do those I work for…
I might well get fed up with the long hours eventually, summer is here and I’m spending it in a sweaty cab. Perhaps next year I’ll just work a few days a week, maybe not. Spent the last 20 years providing for the family, now my 3 children are at that age I don’t need to be home during the week so can do what I want to do, and I’m doing it…
Cor blimey, Lucy!!
Probably one of the most pertinent & realistic posts/replies i’ve read in a long time!!
It makes me feel so much better about the times I spent in ‘Miss Piggy’ (C-reg wendy house) when I first passed my HGV 1 (as it was called in 1990!). Ahhh, it was my learning curve! 