Owner Driver, should I, shouldn't I?

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS OWNER AND FLEET OPERATORS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

Hi
I am new to TruckNet and I have joined for various reasons, but my burning question is- should i go it alone.
I am an experienced driver of nearly ten years (34yrs old) of PCV and LGV both domestically and in Europe and I have my C+E(class one), all ADR classes except explosives and radiation and fully driver cpc’d.

I have worked freelance in the past including as a driver trainer/ assessor but never worked as an actual owner driver.
I am currently due next month to study my managers cpc in order to be able to apply for an O’Licence should I decide to.

My other work has been with various companies and agencies and I now reside at Veolia as a Fleet Compliance/ Contract Supervisor.

I have been looking into some of the contract haulier schemes and wondered if anyone had any views on this. The ones I have been looking at are Maritime, Wincanton (although they are very hard to deal with) and Tarmac/ Lafarge.
The issue been I have done the tramping days and don’t really want that or at least not a lot, so would rather be local(Sheffield). Maritime say they could possibly do something but my feelings would probably be Tarmac as the best choice for this.

But I was hoping for some advice and is it actually a good earner■■?

2

If you have a decent employed job, working for a reasonable employer and are earning a fair wage then my advice would be to stick with that.

3

The options you are looking at i aggree with HM you will be better off as an employed driver at any half decent firm.

4

Stick with the job you’ve got and try for promotion (TM or similar)

5

splitshift:
Stick with the job you’ve got and try for promotion (TM or similar)

That makes +4.

Unless you’ve won the lottery and don’t mind throwing money away, in which case I’ll accept a bankers draft or cash only…

6

Stick with it ,when you’ve got the cpc as well you could climb even higher and earn a lot more than you would doing for the companies you mention .get an old tractor unit to show or ride round in ,you’ll thank me one day !

7

Golden rule of transport ‘Burn other peoples rubber.’

8

Heres a free tip, it,s 10% of what you know and 90% of who you know that gets you the work.

9

Well thanks for all the replies, I don’t think I need to ask the audience anymore.
I accept that times are uncertain and probably turning my back on a secure position would be ludicrous!