It would take me ages to look round the forums for the answers to all my questions so I thought I’d ask everything I need to know in one post:
1- I am used to a reasonably decent salary but I’m sick of working in an office and fancy a change. I love driving so I’m giving some serious thought to becoming a trucker. I have been told I can earn up to £30k a year if I pass my C + E license but I’m just wondering how long it take before I can earn that kind of money and how much I can expect to make from my first job? I obviously have no trucking experience but have plenty experience driving cars/vans long distances… nothing that can really go on my CV though as it was all cash in hand stuff from a few years ago.
2- I passed my driving test in 98 and as stated above I wish to get all the way from a basic license up to a C + E license. I live in the West Yorkshire area (near Huddersfield and Leeds) and would preferably like to do my training as close to home as possible. I would also prefer individual ‘one on one’ training as opposed to group training. Bearing all this in mind can anybody recommend a cheap training centre in my local area? I have found a place called Stockport HGV Training Centre on the net which is fairly local and will cost around £2000 in total… they will also help with paperwork and train people individually so they seem pretty good! Is this a reasonable price or can I expect to get the course cheaper elsewhere?
3- Is it just one theory test I have to take or are there more? Also, is there anywhere I can download material from the net that can help me revise for the theory test(s) so that I don’t have to buy a book?
Not to put you off but have a read of the forums around and get an idea how happy most drivers are! NOT!
You need a medical first type needed is on licence application form. Also once prov licence has come you need to do theory test with hazard perception. Not sure if you being a 98 car pass will need to do 7.5 tonner test first then class C then C+E.
£30k per year, well not impossable but dont expect to pass C+E and walk into a artic job. Thats the big catch as a newbie. Pass but then find a job aint that easy, especially one you seek at £30k.
If you get change out of £1000 for doing class C and same again for C+E then you have done well.
Plus points of being a driver hmmmmm a few but its not as rosy as it seems! Some of us love it some of us hate it others just get on with it till pay day!
i am a class c driver in glasgow excellent carear choice if you can get work with a good company where the treat you with respect
had a couple of bad ones so far and its only been a year in feburay
a average wage on class 2 50 hours a week is 250 take home after tax thats 7.50 standard 9.00 overtime dont know about class 1
i did my training with ayr driver training excellent tuition 550 for 5 days training including test was out on my own but think it would be better with another person so you can watch them drive you get the same amount of driving but more time to learn
just dont belive the hype of there been 1000’s of well paid trucking jobs…the well paid LGV jobs are taken & it is dead mans boots you will have to fill to get it or know someone in the company to get you in.
I passed my clas C june 2006 & work in IT 4 days on 4 days off & do trucking on my days off to get experiance, i am doing clas c+e training just now.
You will have to start from the bottom, even with the agencies.
I like not been in an office & dealing with IT idiots(users)…just remember you have to work to tight deadlines on the trucks & you have your tacho & wtd rules to obey but i do have a laugh at thr drops with drivers & warehouse staff.
You will not know if you like it till you give it a go
I am used to a reasonably decent salary but I’m sick of working in an office and fancy a change
So did I, for a bank. I wish I still worked for them
I love driving so I’m giving some serious thought to becoming a trucker
Same as me but when your a truck driver your hated by every other road user (EVEN OTHER TRUCKERS ON SOME DAYS). Its alot more stressful then driving a car.
Some days or most, I do more loading/unloading than driving.
3.I have been told I can earn up to £30k a year if I pass my C + E license
The biggest joke of them all !!! I earn 7 quid P/H. Time and a third after 8 hours. Get 15 days holiday a year(Yes its legal)
4.but I’m just wondering how long it take before I can earn that kind of money and how much I can expect to make from my first job?
You wll be very lucky to be offer a job after passing you test. You will have ZERO experience. Most companies require 2 years minium for there insurance. Will get 2 to3 days with the various agencies. Work got that bad for me I work for ASDA home shopping(Van Driver) for 5.50 p/h.
Is it just one theory test I have to take or are there more?
You don`t do a C+E theory test.
Thats just some of my views. Good Luck you will need it!!
Hi mate, just wanted to say if your thinking of giving up an office job to become a truck driver then dont go into it thinking its dead easy & that the moneys great.
The easiest part is passing both your lgv tests, The hard part is actually getting a company to take you seriously after passing. Most companies require 2 years experience & most companies that i spoke to after passing didnt want to know!!
I wouldnt let everything you read put you off though. I passed both my lgv tests in august last year, at first i didnt seem to have much luck with agencies or private companies. I got some work with an agency on class 2 & i hated it, after 2 days i rang agency & told them i wasnt interested. I then sent emails to every company i could find in the local area stating i had just passed my class 1 & as luck would have it i got a reply from one asking me to ring them. I arranged an interview & got the job. Done a week driving a 7.5 ton & at the end of sept i was put on artic work. Been driving artics ever since & i have to say i love it.
Dont get me wrong its no walk in the park, you get good days & bad days.
At the end of the day only you can decide whether or not you want to go for it, so goodluck with whatever you decide
I used to work in an Office and while thier went and got my HGV’s mainly for the hell of it. Something to do in my 2 weeks summer holiday .
Once I got my licence took ages to get anybody to let me work part-time nearly a year. Although once I’d done a couple of jobs the phone didn’t stop ringing and had work every weekend. Then ended up with a fulltime job, tramping all week, with all that involves.
It was really hard to start with, regreted leaving my nice easy office job many times , but it did get better and then work and conditions got better.
I now have what I think is one of the best truck drving jobs there is, but it’s taken a few years to get here.
I think if you’ve got an urge to do it and the oppertunity, then give it a go, But don’t expect it to be easy, getting your first job will be tough. The pay won’t be the best, your social status will be rock bottom, you’ll be treated like dirt by transport managers, distribution centre’s and other road users. Also if you’re offered a shiny top of the range motor on your first job, Think why will they offer this to me and not get some driver with years of experience?
I passed my class 2 the middle of September 2006 ,I still work in my factory have done for the past 8 years ,but I wanted something to fall back on if I lost my job ,I work part time for a few agencies ,there is long learning curve I’m still on the bottom rung ,you have to learn all the tacho laws ,then try not to get lost even with map print outs from your TM ! Cos they can be wrong! DON’T rely on a sat nav cos believe me there’s nothing worse then following it and ending up reversing a rigid back up a street cos the sat nav did not see the hedge at the end and thought it was a trough road! Also if you’re dropping in major city’s and stores ECT they are useless, get used to handballing 1 tonne pallets of next catalogues about into houses and up driveways with a mate and a pallet truck, were the streets are too small for a ford ka, never mind a 18ton rigid! And u just think “how the hell?” and then think wow! I can drive this into amazing spaces, and then have to shift the pallets back on cos the customer does not want them! And base knew and did not tell you!
Also car drivers hate you and you spend more time handballing then driving a lot! People trying it on cos your new and inexpericed But not all jobs are bad its like anything else you start at the bottom and you learn from there ,I had a nice run to Glasgow Thursday and Friday delivering shoes for Wincanton 3 drops ,there maps were wrong but I found them that’s all the fun ! , nice sunny day driving back on the M6, the radio on, and I like the sense that I did a job well and on time
I do like the job it beats the hell out of factory work even if you don’t know when you are finishing and the early starts but just be prepared for a lot of learning, never mind the theory or hgv test, the learning once you working, but I love it (mind you I’ve had some crap jobs in my time) good luck
Must say that some of the things I have read have made me have 2nd thoughts but in the end I’ve decided to go for it … because as somebody stated above… you don’t know until you try!
Now I need to decide where to do my training. Can anybody recommend anywhere reasonably close to where I live? (Huddersfield)
I like the look of the one I found on the net which is in Stockport because they say they make things easy for you by doing paperwork, booking test days, etc. but to be honest I have nothing really to compare it with and so don’t want to go ahead and book the course to then find out I could have got a better deal elsewhere!
hi loll.
you could try ringing apex in bradford on 01274 484884
i passed my C & C+E with them. and considering it was one to one
tuition i thought the cost was worth it.
they also helped me out with the paperwork,booked tests and put
me in touch with a cheap doctor for the medical.
i cant remember the cost now but im sure it was a lot less than
2 grand. but that was 3years ago.
best of luck with whatever you decide mate.
You could always do what I have done for the past 20 years - I work in an office during the week and part time drive at the weekends and evenings for either an agency or a couple of small companies.
I passed first time with atkins ,they use steeton test centre near keighley ,i know the area so i used to go in my car to practise lol,they do a gurantee class 2 pass, they put you in for the class 2 test up to 3 times ,if you fail after that you just have to pay the test fees i think, The man who runs it is called john atkins he has been doing it over 20 years ,ask to be trained by tom ,he is the chief instructor and has been doing it 20 odd years it cost me £1200 for the guranteed pass,they use proper 8 speed scanias and for C E have a arctic and also a wagon and drag ,
Dont necessarily go with the cheapest; call the instrutors and get a ‘feel’ for the driving school. When I learned 3 and a bit years ago in Grimsby, I don’t think I went with the cheapest, but passed both tests first time. This was partly due to the fact that the ones like ‘Sterling’ and ‘Denby’ were always at the Tea/Butty Wagons everytime we went past as they didn’t charge enough to cover enough diesel to get the candidates enough tuition!
Use your gut instinct, it should help.
You take the theory test at the same time as the hazard perception, and you only need to do the one for both C and C+E, but you have to wait for your C licence to come back from DVLA before you can start C+E lessons because it is your provisional C+E licence.
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