Hi all,
I’m after some advice really, I passed my class 2 6 years ago,2 days before the new cpc rules were introduced. I haven’t driven commercially since I passed as at the time no one would take on new drivers. I’ve been told now that some companies a willing to take in new drivers as they’re is a driver shortage. I’m just wanting to hear this from the horses mouth and not from some agency trying to sign me up to meet Christmas demands.i have a job but am looking to finally start using my licence that I paid for.im just a bit cautious about hacking my job in and finding there’s no work. Any advice would be most welcome.
Do your cpc you will get work. It might be pants agency type stuff to start with.
Use some BS and tell your prospective employer that you worked for xyz ltd, up until they went bust.
Rather than jack your current job in cant you fit in doing the cpc around it either holidays and weekends then feel your way in doing week ends on agency that way you are still earning and not fully committed so if it turns out to be something you don’t like you haven’t short sided yourself.
New or not with a licence and CPC you will get week end work no problem via the agencies especially coming up to Christmas.
Thanks for the advice, the plan is to do my cpc over odd days over the next few months, then look for a driving job in the new year.woukd be ideal if I could do a few shifts with an agency first but not sure my current employer would allow it, I’ll have to look into that. i know it will be hard at first as I need to get some experience. Are they’re many mon/fri jobs out there? As this is the main reason I’m jacking as I work to many weekends and don’t have a life!
Irondan80:
Thanks for the advice, the plan is to do my cpc over odd days over the next few months, then look for a driving job in the new year.woukd be ideal if I could do a few shifts with an agency first but not sure my current employer would allow it, I’ll have to look into that. i know it will be hard at first as I need to get some experience. Are they’re many mon/fri jobs out there? As this is the main reason I’m jacking as I work to many weekends and don’t have a life!
IF you don’t like W/E working and long antisocial hours, i don’t think driving is for you.
Irondan80:
Hi all,
I’m after some advice really, I passed my class 2 6 years ago,2 days before the new cpc rules were introduced. I haven’t driven commercially since I passed as at the time no one would take on new drivers. I’ve been told now that some companies a willing to take in new drivers as they’re is a driver shortage. I’m just wanting to hear this from the horses mouth and not from some agency trying to sign me up to meet Christmas demands.i have a job but am looking to finally start using my licence that I paid for.im just a bit cautious about hacking my job in and finding there’s no work. Any advice would be most welcome.
I’m at Howdens Joinery which is a company with a £billion turnover and runs its own fleet of over 100 artics. Typically in the past you weren’t even considered to be put forward by an agency for an induction until you’d got 2 years experience with the agency, the standard required was quite high.
On Monday I went up to Lockerbie and there was a new driver doing his first run for the agency. So new that we were sat waiting to get keys, I drew him a map from J17 M74 and asked him if he knew how to get to the M74. He didn’t. Anyone who has driven for any length of time knows how to. He was hooking up at the same time I was at Howden but arrived there after we’d done trailer swaps, had a 45 minute break and were waiting to head back. He was having trouble coupling up to his trailer so I explained how to do it properly using the air suspension on the unit and he’d not been taught how to do that. If you were to tell me it was his first time out with an artic post driving test I wouldn’t be surprised.
I’m not having a go at him but rather using it to illustrate that the shortage now has got so bad that a company who would only take agency drivers with a good amount of experience is now having to take agency drivers who’ve barely passed their test.
Now onto your comment about not having a life. Reality check time - if you do truck driving you’ll have even less of a life as the average working week is 55hrs but can go up to a maximum of 84hrs. Effectively forget planning to do anything at all after work on any day you’re working so forget doing any social activities like a club you go to once a week if its on a day you work. I work Monday to Friday but I start work any time from 14:45 to 21:45 and finish any time from 01:30 to 08:00 - the day drivers do the same but starting from 3-8am and finishing 2-8pm. Your working day is typically 11-12hrs, 5 days a week but it can regularly go over this up to 15hrs. A lot of jobs require you to be out sleeping in your wagon a few days a week. My mate leaves home early hours Monday morning and doesn’t get back home til late Friday, sometimes Saturday afternoon. Truck driving is very very rarely a job with a normal working day and when it is its usually driving for somewhere like a local builders merchant pottering around a town/city. The only thing guaranteed about your working day is your start time, even when you get your dinner isn’t guaranteed. The finish time is what you hope you’ll have depending on having no breakdowns, no delays at deliveries/collections, no holdups on the road. One or more of those usually does go wrong so a planned 10/11hr day regularly turns into a 12/13 or longer.
What you have to remember is you are essentially a new driver with zilch commercial driving experience. It not just driving the truck (that’s the easy bit), but has to do with load distribution, route planning, time management, securing loads, dealing with problem customers face to face and handling everything that comes your way in a typical working day. You are essentially out there on your own.
What I would suggest, is that you take any suitable driving work that you can do in addition to your current job, which realistically for you is going to be weekends. If you mess up, it’s a days agency work and you’ll learn from your mistakes without endangering a permanent post. It will also put some recent driving work on your digi tacho.
Whether you take to driving or not, you’ll only find out when you do it. There is perhaps a driver shortage, but probably not as big as some folks believe. There are thousands of HGV license holders that no longer drive trucks, which is a clue. 
Don’t do it, get out before it ruins your life …
Ok, spoken with my employer (Sky TV) and they said it should be fine for me to do some part time work around my normal days so that’s what I’m going to try and do, test the water before I jump in and what will be will be. At least then I can justify to the wife spending 2 grand on my licence. Thanks again.
a few negative posts on here, there are a quite a few good driving jobs around and there are quite a few who will take newbies there are also quite a few jobs that fit around your needs, so you will have to search those ones out, not every driver is suited to transport, but there are a lot of transport jobs that suit the individual. If you want 8am till 5pm or 0600 till 2100 or night work its there. Take your cpc around your spare time and take the plunge, i am on international work and usually work from 0800 till 1800 but with timed deliveries that can change, also with ferries to catch, but sometimes they get cancelled because of my work schedule, and others because i have an understanding boss that knows i work to the book, but will work extra to suit the needs of his and mine so long as its within the law. There are a lot of drivers who have packed it in for many reasons, old age is one, fitness to drive, new regulations that they dont like, and i myself am packing up next year at aged 70, after 53 years in the industry, yes i started driving a small van and worked my way up, roping and sheeting in very bad weather, stripping down tilts in 40 degree heat, been there done that etc etc, sometimes it was hard, other times a doddle, but you have to take the rough with the smooth but at the end of the day, i have loved every minute…what you do have to bear in mind is the fact that you cannot plan anything, doctors, dentist, hospitals, schools ( to see the kids in panto ) this job tests your patience at times, your wife/family will get fed up, i`ve been through 3 marriages, and lost sight of my children ( 5 girls 1 boy ) growing up…if you have a good family life, take care, for i think this industry has a very high divorce rate, a very high stress rate ( if you allow it ) but its a great life to see places you would normally pay to see, and you are getting paid for it. Keep learning as much as you can, and never feel afraid to ask questions there are lots of drivers out there to help you.good luck
There are jobs out there but you have to look depends where you are in the country depends how easy it is
Do your cpc if you can also go for your CE when I did it opened a lot more door then just having my C yep there are mon-fri jobs out there you may be on multi drop ( I have never done so can’t help ) but then as I am now on my own kids grown up & left no husband etc I don’t mind tramping ( being away all week ) or even working a tue-sat shift
At present I work night shift mon - fri so you could end up doing that home every mor
This job is based entirely on your individual circumstances, it’s not a one size fits all kind of job. If you do it part time so to speak, you can virtually pick & choose who you work for, when you work for them & what type of work you do. If it’s going to be your only form of income you will take on anything, for anyone to get money. Both routes get you experience, some good, some not so.
The thing is, as a new driver, whatever job you end up in you will think the grass is greener. Better job, better truck, better hours, all will have you considering a change, it’s not always as good as some make out, if you didn’t know it already drivers tend to talk bull about their job, Building it up to something it’s not for whatever reason. I know a driver that used to say " you will kiss a lot of frogs in this business before you meet a prince" it’s pretty near the mark.
As for jobs, I’m now in one that has early starts, early finishes, no weekends, do at most 45 hrs a week, that’s working time not driving time, take home £506 a week. I don’t care what anyone thinks of it, it suits me. They are out there, it’s finding them that’s the real skill.
I passed my C licence in March this year and started commercially driving pretty much straight away.
I got my first opportunity at small family run firm delivering steel lintels to builders merchants and sites.Moved on after a month because i was only getting 3 days a week.Next place i went to was a waste to energy site that burned general waste and turned it into electricity which they then sold on to the national grid.Here i was driving a Roll on Roll off skip wagon,taking the by products of the process to storage and landfill.Left here after 3 months as a better paid opportunity on my doorstep came up.I am now working for a foodservice provider doing relatively local multidrop with some handball included.Not everyone’s cup of tea but it suits me as it’s Mon to Fri,home every night and the pays not to shabby.
Got my C+E booked in December so no doubt if and when i pass that i will be moving on again at some point.I’ve been lucky to a certain degree as i’ve never had to deal with agencies as all my jobs have been full time employed roles.I guess the point i’m trying to make is that there are opportunities out there for new drivers.
All sounds encouraging, looking forward to getting stuck in. Always knew I’d have to “kiss a few frogs” before I get the better jobs offers,Will be worth it in the end… Especially if it leads to divorce 