hi all im mick from preston lancs im 45 and im new to the forum 
ive been class 2 for 12 years,i passed my class 1 a few months ago and ive decided to look for a job,ive been working for a family run firm for donkeys years but now the bosses wife and there kids have got involved and theyve basically trashed the place so im looking for pastures new,luckily ive managed to keep my licence clean over the years with only a speed awareness course under my belt which i got 2 months before they upped the limits,that was a bitter pill to swallow,i did an assessment with a company a few months back with a firm local to me named hph and got offered the job, the day after i realised that we never talked money/hours and when i phoned back and said do you want me to come and see you before i start he replied Why,so i decided to walk away,having no real experience job hunting im looking for some friendly advice 
ive been looking at a few older posts and its scarey how many drivers are fed up with big hours,im not new to this game and ive been watching the roads getting steadily worse over the years but ive always been a driver and wouldnt know what else i could do,are there any good jobs left out there were your not doing wacky hours,im not to sure about agencies and the only positive comments ive found are about supermarkets,what is classed as good pay these days are there still lower hours jobs paying Ā£370.00 per week i could survive on that day or night shifts,im thinking of trying bowker transport next anybody know anything about them,thanks for looking mick 
No
mick2015:
are there any good jobs left out there were your not doing wacky hours
If you want a good job with good conditions, good pay and reasonable hours keep away from any jobs where the company makes their money from road haulage. The best jobs seem to be with firms that have fleets of various sizes to move their own stuff. Company I drive at is a manufacturer with over Ā£1billion turnover who have a fleet of over 100 wagons and several hundred trailers. Everything done by the book, salary is Ā£41,500 based on a 56hr working week plus pension, bonuses and incentives, runs are given generous amounts of āestimated timeā with any run planned longer than 13hrs is classed as a night out, leased wagons changed every 5 years with fully equipped workshop onsite run by the leasing company and priority breakdown cover. Youāre even expected to wash your wagon at the end of every shift so those going out on days and nights get washed twice a day.
No.
Conor:
mick2015:
are there any good jobs left out there were your not doing wacky hoursSalary is Ā£41,500 based on a 56hr working week plus pension, bonuses and incentives, runs are given generous amounts of āestimated timeā with any run planned longer than 13hrs is classed as a night out.
Any jobs going in Bristol with this firm? And who is this for? PM me please 
Yes,
Depends on the skills you know and the experience in that field obviously.
Conor hit the nail on the head, own account operators and specialist operators are where the money is nowadays to be frank.
And there a lot of people recruiting now in various fields, including those Conor and me said above.
Iām also finding locally to me the wages are increasing substantially. Changes are a foot but I know thatās not occurring across the UK to reflect on that though.
If you can get onto those doing, own account or specialist stuff. Learn, work hard and donāt complain too much like you read a lot on here by someā¦also of which Iāve been guilty of in past too 
You sound and will most probably be better off moving away from current outfit, however the outcome will only be reflected on both you and your new employer working hard and smarter, together to be the best at whatever you chose to do.
Best of luck out there.
C
It all depends,ALL Bosss reckon they run good Companies to work for, and treat their Drivers well,but thats not always the case when you talk to some present and ex employees.
Depends what a Driver wants,a friend I used to know a few years back drifted from one crap job to another, each one he thought was the bees knees,a ānew motorā was never less than 5 years old,but he was happy because he was left alone to get on with it.
I work for a general haulage firm doing 4 on 4 off and very rare I go over a 12 hour day the money isnāt great but by no means the worst.
You did the right thing walking away from HPH, or Half Price Haulage as he is better known as. Trucks are an accident waiting to happen and the pay is shocking. Montys over the road have better kit but the pay is as bad. Not sure about Bowker on class 1 but class 2 is under Ā£8 ph with adr so class 1 wonāt be much better. Thereās a new aldi distribution center opening in Bolton early March thatāll be ok, Ā£11.75 overtime over 40. As said stay away from General haulage usually long hours and crap money
Yes own account is usually, but by no means always, the best bet, as is some specialised work but invariably thereās a time and place to move into specialised and if and when the opportunity presents itself you will know, its folly to expect to run before you can walk because if you ā ā ā ā it up big time in specialist because you tried too early your name could well be remembered for a long time scuppering your chances at the more suitable time you should have tried.
One or two of the own account companies want their pound of flesh and i know several drivers who have left a headline salary payer due to constant pushing and unreasonable (in their view) monitoring, all depends on how much you want that headline figureā¦which actually isnāt that good when you realise what is expected (nay demanded there) and the hours of non stop (why did you stop) running needed to be put in, some people have rose tints and others would kick off if it paid a grand a week to lie in bed.
Thereās always more than one way to look at a job, hence some people like what at first glance are relatively poor jobs and some have left really good ones (an odd few left where i work to go on worse pay and longer hours without the serious benefit package), a person looking at the overall package would call them idiots, but unless you walk in their shoes or live their life you canāt know what drives them or their needs are, we all want different things and sometimes it a sum total of small straws that breaks the camels back.
If you are new to class 1 you could try fagan and whalley. Decent company who like to support new drivers. Might not be the best pay out there but at least you get guaranteed weekly hours (which is more than can be said for the agency route) and your left to get on with the job. Kit is well maintained as well.
As youāre new to class 1 itās a case of who will take you on, youāll only find that out by calling them all. Best off getting some cvs printed and get yourself around the possible employers, you should know the ones around your area. Itās just a case of what youāre willing to do for the money on offer. As for HPH Iāve never worked there but delivered into them plenty times, the drivers Iāve spoken to all said they were happy there so as you can see, itās horses for courses.
Conor:
mick2015:
are there any good jobs left out there were your not doing wacky hoursIf you want a good job with good conditions, good pay and reasonable hours keep away from any jobs where the company makes their money from road haulage. The best jobs seem to be with firms that have fleets of various sizes to move their own stuff. Company I drive at is a manufacturer with over Ā£1billion turnover who have a fleet of over 100 wagons and several hundred trailers. Everything done by the book, salary is Ā£41,500 based on a 56hr working week plus pension, bonuses and incentives, runs are given generous amounts of āestimated timeā with any run planned longer than 13hrs is classed as a night out, leased wagons changed every 5 years with fully equipped workshop onsite run by the leasing company and priority breakdown cover. Youāre even expected to wash your wagon at the end of every shift so those going out on days and nights get washed twice a day.
Whoās that then?
Yes.