I’m 35 years old and considering a career as a HGV driver. While I’ll be looking for full-time all year round work for the near future in about 7 years or so I’ll be spending roughly 3 months of the year abroad working (in a different industry) and with family.
It seems that a lot of HGV work is via agencies or even on self-employed basis. If I’m able to get into the trade and get enough experience would it be unrealistic / too restrictive if I can only work 9 months of the year in the UK?
I understand I wouldn’t exactly be getting ‘cream of the crop’ jobs, just wondering if it’d be viable at all?
Also I’ve read a lot of negative experiences about haulage driving, and while I understand getting one’s foot in the door will be the initial problem, on reed.co.uk in the midlands area there are many jobs advertised for around the 10 pounds an hour mark for experienced drivers through agencies stating 40+ hours per week.
A lot of more experienced folk seem to say that to reach say 20,000 a year you would have to work 70 hours a week, which doesn’t seem to add up. Any comments advice would be really appreciated.
being available for 9 months,wont make any difference to agencies.once youve got a good reputation with them…you`ll be able to drop back into work when needed.
as for working 70 hours a week for 20k…26k should be easily achievable,without killing yourself
I cant see any reason why you wouldn’t be able to work 9 months at a time. If you get on well with a decent agency you’ll probably find they’ll give you work when you come back.
Thanks for the response guys, that’s really encouraging. I’m actually starting to feel excited again over the prospect of starting something new!
I’m still slightly confused over the working hours. Do a lot of you guys really work 70 hours per week?
I’ve seen a lot of adds for £10 per hour 40 hours + per week. Lets say for example a man who has one of these £10 an hour jobs and basically works all year round wouldn’t this would roughly come out at £20,000 a year. A lot of guys seems to be talking about 60 / 70 hours a week and earning £20,000 or 25-ish.
Am I missing something, is there down time that needs to be factored in etc?
commonrail:
being available for 9 months,wont make any difference to agencies.once youve got a good reputation with them…you`ll be able to drop back into work when needed.
as for working 70 hours a week for 20k…26k should be easily achievable,without killing yourself
I’ve done bit more reading. Not sure if I’ve got this right: say a driver gets paid for a 48 hour week - that 48 hours is not including breaks / waiting (just being available). So, perhaps that’s partly where the long days come from?
daveread:
Thanks for the response guys, that’s really encouraging. I’m actually starting to feel excited again over the prospect of starting something new!
I’m still slightly confused over the working hours. Do a lot of you guys really work 70 hours per week?
I’ve seen a lot of adds for £10 per hour 40 hours + per week. Lets say for example a man who has one of these £10 an hour jobs and basically works all year round wouldn’t this would roughly come out at £20,000 a year. A lot of guys seems to be talking about 60 / 70 hours a week and earning £20,000 or 25-ish.
Am I missing something, is there down time that needs to be factored in etc?
commonrail:
being available for 9 months,wont make any difference to agencies.once youve got a good reputation with them…you`ll be able to drop back into work when needed.
as for working 70 hours a week for 20k…26k should be easily achievable,without killing yourself
40 hour weeks are virtually non existant,in haulage.
as a full time driver,on general haulage…you should be looking at £500 a week gross for days.throw in 2 or 3 nights out and youll be closer to £500 net. supermarket work tends to be the best paid work...but its not for everyone.
there are also some niche areas like car transporters,tankers etc which are better paid.
So, for someone grossing £500 per week for working just days, on average roughly how many hours of his time would he be committing to his job each week?
Would it be accurate to say 60 to 70 hours per week?
I too like you live in the midlands (North Leicestershire to be exact) and for most of the work I do now through the agencies I work for is paid at £10.50-£11.50 per hour and most of it comes from Magna Park at Lutterworth and Crick at J18 of the M1, thats Monday to Friday rates too. I generally earn £25,000-£30,000 for the rates I work at, it might be different in other parts of the country as you say with someone telling you to get £20,000 you have to work 70 hour weeks Im just giving you my personal experience of where I live in the East Midlands, same applies with the work availability situation as I know from reading plenty on here that certain parts theres not much at all. I think Im lucky with where I am. One thing you will have to look into is most agencies will tell you the best way to get paid is through an umbrella company which arent for everyone and get a lot of negative responses on here so you will need to do your homework on that or whether you want PAYE.
As was said above with regards to working hours, I average about 55-60 buts thats fine with me as I didnt come into this industry with the attitude or belief that it was a 9-5 Monday-Friday business. Once you get some experience the key is finding a good agency who you can build a relationship with then that allows you to be flexible if you wanna take 3 months off then come back and work. The thing that suits me with agency work is I can do as much or as little as I need to and again everyone is different and a lot want permanent employment with a company its just with my personal circumstances it suits me to be able to choose as opposed to being on a fixed day/hour contract. I take much more time off than the standard 28 days paid holiday I accrue but because when I work I always turn up on time and do a good job I always get work when I want it, granted I sometimes agree to shifts at times and on days I really dont want too but its the old cliche of you scratch my back etc It should be noted not all agencies are great and not all of what they tell you will be true but its a case of doing your research and a bit of trial and error to find what your happy with.
As you say getting your foot in the door is the tough part but please dont be put off by the doomongers who will tell you there isnt any chance of getting a job as a new driver, the pay is rubbish, you’ll be away from your family etc (I nearly didnt do my licences due to reading these things), its just about persistance and getting a break somewhere. I managed to land a full time job 2 months after getting my class 1. Granted it was a pretty rubbish job multidropping to takeaways and restaurants and handballing the entire trailer into the premises which involved anything up to 20 pallets a day at times. Let me tell you taking 25Kg bags of rice, 30 litre drums of oil and the like up and down stairs isnt fun but the company was willing to take me on and I got paid £25,000 a year which was a comfort. But I always look on things with a positive attitude, It was a start and a springboard to better things and let me tell you was a massive learning curve as some of the places I had to deliver too and manoevere an artic in was unbelievable (tight town centre one way streets, pedestrainised streets, bollards, weight restrictions) were just some of the things I had to deal with on a daily basis and taught me so much more than just driving up and down motorways and delivering to big distribution centres.
To get a start these food service companies such as mine, 3663, brakes maybe a good starting point as they struggle to get drivers due to the nature of the job, saying that doesnt mean you wont get something else its just about being in the right place at the right time. Sorry this ha been long winded but just wanted to try and give you my personal insight and if you want to know anything else please dont hesitiate to ask.
Look out for this phase (must have a flexible approach to working hours) and it’s true with agencies you can work as little or much as you like as long as your requirements suits there’s Oh and must expect you to operate on a ring and go basis
Thanks guys, especially Tom for such a comprehensive reply - this has got to be one of the most useful and friendly forums I’ve ever posted on! I’ve definitely got new found respect for all you drivers out there
And its certainly gave me food for thought before making the jump, I’ll post any updates on the forum
Hi Dave
Nows the time for seasonal work make a good impression now and agencies will be good after Christmas, as for only working agencies are flexible as you are so should be ok.
Hiya Jeff,
I actually live just over in Worcestershire now, often been travelling to the Midlands to find work anyway though and used to live in South Birmingham, so I know the area quite well
