Thought I would write a little something about my journey to becoming a fully fledged member of the HGV fraternity.
So 8 months ago I lost my job and after several interviews and rejections I decided a complete change of career was inn order. So I booked my lesson, my CPC and sent off for my digi card. Got my cpc booked in very quickly. As I had my C1 license when I passed my test I only had to do the 35 hrs. A week later I had my CPC and my digicard came through so I contacted a few agencies and started doing 7.5t work around Surrey/ Hampshire. I had registered with as many agencies as possible and told them my plan to go all the way up to C+E. The feedback from quite a few was very positive with one in Reading saying they could start me immediately once I had the Cat C.
Within 3 weeks I had my hazard perception and theory completed and passed and was training for my C license. A very tricky week commenced doing the Cat C but the few weeks I had already done in the 7.5t payed dividends and I passed first time with only 1 minor fault. A quick phone call to the agency and I was booked in to start with CLEAN linen in Camberley the next Monday.
So the job was multi drop around central London delivering clean linen to hotels and collecting dirties and returning back to base. It was very hard work. Lots of tight maneuvers and heavy lifting but I was gaining valuable experience and gaining in confidence all the time. I went for my C+E in the Jan and again passed with flying colours. I gave the agency a call and explained that I wanted to move on up and they convinced me to stay for a little longer. I decided to try and search for C+E work whilst still at CLEAN but being January/ Feb not much work was coming through. After 5 more weeks of linen delivery I had had enough and finished and started with another agency who convinced me to start with them doing Cat C and they will hunt down C+E work. So for the next 4 weeks I did some bin delivery for Biffa and spent some time at Royal Mail doing night trunk, then back to Biffa for Hook Loader training. Easy but smelly work.
I then found C+E work for myself answering an ad on Facebook for a driver and they were willing to give a new driver a go. It was running a night trunk double decker to Lichfield for UPN. The company I was working for were a very small outfit but good kit and I have my own truck. I went up with a driver on the first day so he could show me the ropes then it was on my own. I didnt find it too tricky and got the hang of the larger vehicle quite quickly. There was minimal reversing to do at the hub and its all pull forwards and offload from the side. A little bit of reversing just to get straight in the unload shed and that was it. So after only a few short months I had become a fully fledged artic HGV driver and I was loving it. However good things dont last and they had to let me go as they lost another job so they had to put one of their other drivers on my route. So on to find other work. I knew I could get CAT C work easy now but the C+E might stilll be a bit tricky. So back on the phones to the agencies and a few local haulage companies that I knew did pallet network work. I decided not to tell them I was a new driver and let them figure it out when they see my license.
One of the agencies called back that day and they had FedEx Class 1 starting on the Monday. Perfect! The next day Frederick Miller Transport also called back wanting to see me. So yesterday I went to see the transport manager at Frederick Miller and he has given me a job starting Monday, he didnt even mention the experience, he was more impressed that I had experience of double deckers.
So this week I am doing FedEx which is giving me some good experience in reversing and coupling. As I will be there only a week I’m not bothered about asking questions, looking an idiot for not getting it straight onto a bay or taking my time coupling. Its all good experience for next week.
So my advice for anyone starting out is to persevere. The work is out there but it wont come to you need to hunt it out. Be honest but play to your strengths and sometimes its best to not lead a job inquiry with ‘do you take on new drivers?’
Hope this helps some people out there who are thinking of going for their HGV.
