So I got my C back in October and I’m taking my C+E next week.
I’m just wondering what the realistic earning potential of class 1 work is.
You see all the adverts saying earn £30K with a class 1 but what do people ACTUALLY earn.
I’m not in the transport industry currently so have no idea of the wages…
Wages havn’t moved in the last 10 years, Some are on less than they were 10 years ago.
If you’re tramping all week, or away for a few weeks, Then expect to take home £500-£650 per week.
J_K:
So I got my C back in October and I’m taking my C+E next week.
I’m just wondering what the realistic earning potential of class 1 work is.
You see all the adverts saying earn £30K with a class 1 but what do people ACTUALLY earn.I’m not in the transport industry currently so have no idea of the wages…
I’m on £31,160, this doesn’t include night out money/meal allowance/fuel bonus. I don’t get “overtime”, I’m paid a “day rate” of £110 weekday £120 on a Saturday, each “day rate” includes a £10 attendance allowance, I don’t work Sundays. When I’m on holiday it’s £100 per day.
That figure is based on, a 5 day week on week one (Tuesday-Saturday) and a 6 day week on week 2 (Monday-Saturday), repeated. It’s not the best money for the hours I do (my most is 82 in a week) but again it’s definitely not the worst.
As a new starter, you will be lucky to earn that sort of money for a 45-50 hour week (I’m not saying it’s impossible) because companies that offer excellent terms and conditions, can pick and choose who they want and also the jobs don’t come up very often.
If your prepared to “work” or put in the hours £30k is definitely achievable!
You might not earn much more with a C+E licence, but you will have much more chance of finding work. And you’ll be driving proper trucks, rather than overgrown vans. 
Earning potential depends on where you are, what hours and shifts you’re willing to work and how determined you are to break into a high paying sector like tankers or car transporters (although even this sort of work doesn’t always pay as well as you might think). In fact, it’s so variable that it’s difficult to put a figure on it. Anywhere between £25 000 and £35 000 should be realistically achievable, I’d have thought.
I live in the south west. Near Exeter.
Not afraid of hard work. I just don’t like it 
I’d be happy doing night trunks or day trunks. Not massively keen on multidrop but would do it.
Is it worth getting my ADR?
Got 14 hrs of CPC left to do but would it be worth getting the ADR ticket and having to suffer an extra 7 hours??
I’m no expert on ADR, I have never done it myself, although I would like to but there isn’t much use for it in Lincolnshire, as it’s mainly fridge work. I think it will just improve your employability as it’s another string to your bow.
Oh and I’m on multidrop work too, if I wasn’t it would be about £80 a day.
Can’t help with South West rates but if their like South East, there not great.
I’d do an ADR. It doesn’t necessarily carry a wages premium, but it makes you more marketable. Vallance in Newton Abbot do our South West subby work and their night drivers are on a pretty good screw. I think it’s about £500 a week plus a pound per pallet bonus for ADR, but I might be wrong.
Difficult to put a figure on earnings because the work and hours involved isn’t standardised.
I always divide my gross pay by the hours i worked for it to give me a mean average hourly rate, do not include night out money or ex’s or dinner money in this as they won’t be included for holiday pay, and unless you live like a tramp and semi starve when out you’ll spend a good portion of that money anyway.
A good rate works out @ £15 an hour days, around £20 an hour nights.
A poor rate works out @ £8 an hour days, £10 an hour nights.
Thing is with stating a take home pay figure is that it could be for 45 genuine total hours and home every night, or it could be for 5/6 days 80 hours including 20 hours of POA fiddle and 4 nights out, or for 65 hours of night trunk.
Good jobs do not get advertised, ever, and must be sought out, which isn’t easy as those in them if they have an ounce of sense keep schtum.
Poor jobs are always being advertised with fast staff turnover, but may include a blinged lorry as temptation and it does work.
Juddian:
Difficult to put a figure on earnings because the work and hours involved isn’t standardised.I always divide my gross pay by the hours i worked for it to give me a mean average hourly rate, do not include night out money or ex’s or dinner money in this as they won’t be included for holiday pay, and unless you live like a tramp and semi starve when out you’ll spend a good portion of that money anyway.
A good rate works out @ £15 an hour days, around £20 an hour nights.
A poor rate works out @ £8 an hour days, £10 an hour nights.
Thing is with stating a take home pay figure is that it could be for 45 genuine total hours and home every night, or it could be for 5/6 days 80 hours including 20 hours of POA fiddle and 4 nights out, or for 65 hours of night trunk.
Good jobs do not get advertised, ever, and must be sought out, which isn’t easy as those in them if they have an ounce of sense keep schtum.
Poor jobs are always being advertised with fast staff turnover, but may include a blinged lorry as temptation and it does work.
I’ve never met a driver on £20ph working nights, not even a MMTM story, even the Co-op night lads were on a good screw at high £14ph.
I’ve seen people on £15 but that was self employed via agency for.weekends.
NewLad:
Juddian:
I’ve never met a driver on £20ph working nights, not even a MMTM story, even the Co-op night lads were on a good screw at high £14ph.
.
I know several, as i said jobs like don’t get advertised, are not run of the mill, and the lads keep schtum.
Juddian:
Difficult to put a figure on earnings because the work and hours involved isn’t standardised.I always divide my gross pay by the hours i worked for it to give me a mean average hourly rate, do not include night out money or ex’s or dinner money in this as they won’t be included for holiday pay, and unless you live like a tramp and semi starve when out you’ll spend a good portion of that money anyway.
A good rate works out @ £15 an hour days, around £20 an hour nights.
A poor rate works out @ £8 an hour days, £10 an hour nights.
Thing is with stating a take home pay figure is that it could be for 45 genuine total hours and home every night, or it could be for 5/6 days 80 hours including 20 hours of POA fiddle and 4 nights out, or for 65 hours of night trunk.
Good jobs do not get advertised, ever, and must be sought out, which isn’t easy as those in them if they have an ounce of sense keep schtum.
Poor jobs are always being advertised with fast staff turnover, but may include a blinged lorry as temptation and it does work.
you are going to be looking at between £450 to £550 a week class one tramping out of the south west, that’s take home might be able to push £600 and that would be on percentage, but you will be very lucky to land one of those jobs straight off.
Day rate about any where from £350 to £450 take home, that’s the shocking truth wages down here are crap always have been and always will be.
I know of some driver that are on less that £400 take home and that’s with nights out 
Cool.
I could live with £450-£500 take home.
What do you mean by percentage?
J_K:
Cool.
I could live with £450-£500 take home.What do you mean by percentage?
some firms will pay a part of the wage as a % of what the truck earns, but how do you know what the truck earns?
Percentage pay is usually on bulk tippers,and does exactly as it says on the tin, you earn a percentage of what the truck earns. Rates vary wildly though and could be anywhere between 18-23%. Sounds fine until you realise if there is no back load you could be driving most of the day for the love of it.
Anything that isn’t decent/reasonable hourly rate x numbers of hours worked (and overtime ideally), will generally see the company well into the ‘taking the ■■■■ out of you’ territory.
Take Juddian’s advice and work out the hourly rate for the number of hours worked. A day rate is unlikely to be in your favour - there are often long days in haulage, but rarely four hour shifts… You could end up working three 15 hour shifts for £7.33/hour depending whether there are overtime rates or not, based on £110/day. I’ve seen companies offering as little as £80.00 day class 1, which brings that down to £5.33/hour.
You can earn the most as a S/E driver, but that’s unlikely in the early days, and it’s not easy. There are plenty on here that don’t think that’s possible as a S/E driver but that’s 'cos they haven’t, so have concluded it can’t be done.
You’re better to get some experience first however. Just don’t let anyone take the ■■■■ or they’ll still be doing in ten years.
Best of luck with it all! 
I’m on bulk work and my take home is anything from £500 for a bad week upto £670 for a good week. If I do a Saturday I get extra but I very rarely have to them which is absolutely fine by me!
Ah. Makes perfect sense.
1 last question…
15 hour days…
Is that the full 9 driving and another 6 split between rest and POA?
Obviously I’ve never done tacho work so not sure how a 15 is possible.
Currently in the family business and I’ve done 15 hour days (mostly driving) on 3.5t vans delivering our own stuff.
Just hacked off with the complete lack of respect I get for doing it. Besides the other stuff I do that no one else can. Hence looking for potential other emplyment that can pay the same as I’m on as a director of the family business.
J_K:
Ah. Makes perfect sense.1 last question…
15 hour days…
Is that the full 9 driving and another 6 split between rest and POA? yesObviously I’ve never done tacho work so not sure how a 15 is possible.
Currently in the family business and I’ve done 15 hour days (mostly driving) on 3.5t vans delivering our own stuff.
Just hacked off with the complete lack of respect I get for doing it. It’s no different on Class 1 I’m afraid. Get used to it.
Besides the other stuff I do that no one else can. Hence looking for potential other emplyment that can pay the same as I’m on as a director of the family business.
Juddian:
Difficult to put a figure on earnings because the work and hours involved isn’t standardised.I always divide my gross pay by the hours i worked for it to give me a mean average hourly rate, do not include night out money or ex’s or dinner money in this as they won’t be included for holiday pay, and unless you live like a tramp and semi starve when out you’ll spend a good portion of that money anyway.
A good rate works out @ £15 an hour days, around £20 an hour nights.
A poor rate works out @ £8 an hour days, £10 an hour nights.
Thing is with stating a take home pay figure is that it could be for 45 genuine total hours and home every night, or it could be for 5/6 days 80 hours including 20 hours of POA fiddle and 4 nights out, or for 65 hours of night trunk.
Good jobs do not get advertised, ever, and must be sought out, which isn’t easy as those in them if they have an ounce of sense keep schtum.
Poor jobs are always being advertised with fast staff turnover, but may include a blinged lorry as temptation and it does work.
what % of drivers would you say get that?.. a % of 1%?
are you saying less than that and you’re not on a good rate?
Totally agree with dividing the gross pay by the hours worked. I thought I was on a good thing when on flour delivery. Until I did this calculation and found I was on £8.97 ph. Going by what agency pays class2 around here, I got £8.50 ph for driving, 47p ph for handballing.
I went back to tippers.