Hi all. Need some advice. I’ve currently got a class 2 but hope to soon get a class 1. My problem is this… My main job is as a train driver and managed to get the job just after I got my class 2. I’d decided after being unemployed that I wanted to go back to driving so spent out for a class 2 but then got the call from the railways as I’d applied some 2 years previous and thought what have I got to lose. Anyway after all that I got the job and have done it for nearly 2 years now. My problem is that it’s seriously boring and I would love to go back to driving but the money is an issue. My current hourly wage is £23 ph and I take home 23-2400 every month. Now I realise it would be extremely hard to get this on the lorries but we are moving to west Sussex from Surrey where it’s about £150 a month cheaper to rent. I’m not one for working for the money but is it a difficult position to give up. Are then any companies that you can guarantee would take home about 2k give or take regardless of hours etc, pension schemes etc. Would love to get back into it but not sure I could afford the drop. Any advice would be appreciated. I know a lot of other firms pay a lot less so I’m not trying to take the ■■■■ as I know loads of people would love 2k a month .
Take a massive pay cut or stay put. An inexperienced class 1 driver isn’t going to be earning anything like that. I presume the big money is in special/heavy haulage or tanker drivers, pretty much jobs that require lots of experience. You may be able to get somewhere near if you take up tramping with a decent company and max your hours out each and every week. Failing that just make changes to your lifestyle and be prepared to live how the rest of us do.
If you give up train driving for class 1 …you will regret it. Compared to train driving, class 1 is dirty, unpredictable, shocking long hours, badly paid and generally ■■■■■ all around.
You will have to work three hours on average to earn the same as an hour on the rails…no brainer really. Even if you’re ■■■■■■ with the trains, you’re still on a winner. Class 1 you’ll be fed up within 6 months and you’ll be earning a third of the money to be ■■■■■■ off with!
Class2ldn:
Well maybe some part time work but be a better idea but wouldn’t like to go through agency as there crap. Do many class 1 casual jobs come up?
There are a few but you need to go direct to the firms poss mostly weekends & hols as drivers tend to be out of hours on a weekend & need hols so you maybe lucky or for those sick days
What about parcel work? From what I hear the money can be quite good and fairly stress free (tnt, parceline royal mail etc) I hear of people taking 500 a week home. I’d be happy with that. To be honest I don’t mind working more hours. Used to love driving for national express and they had some long days.
Class2ldn:
What about parcel work? From what I hear the money can be quite good and fairly stress free (tnt, parceline royal mail etc) I hear of people taking 500 a week home. I’d be happy with that. To be honest I don’t mind working more hours. Used to love driving for national express and they had some long days.
Is that right you would never be at home it not that good £6.50 up here ph so you need to put some hrs in for that kind of money
Class2ldn:
Hi all. Need some advice. I’ve currently got a class 2 but hope to soon get a class 1. My problem is this… My main job is as a train driver and managed to get the job just after I got my class 2. I’d decided after being unemployed that I wanted to go back to driving so spent out for a class 2 but then got the call from the railways as I’d applied some 2 years previous and thought what have I got to lose. Anyway after all that I got the job and have done it for nearly 2 years now. My problem is that it’s seriously boring and I would love to go back to driving but the money is an issue. My current hourly wage is £23 ph and I take home 23-2400 every month. Now I realise it would be extremely hard to get this on the lorries but we are moving to west Sussex from Surrey where it’s about £150 a month cheaper to rent. I’m not one for working for the money but is it a difficult position to give up. Are then any companies that you can guarantee would take home about 2k give or take regardless of hours etc, pension schemes etc. Would love to get back into it but not sure I could afford the drop. Any advice would be appreciated. I know a lot of other firms pay a lot less so I’m not trying to take the ■■■■ as I know loads of people would love 2k a month .
Hope you can see where I’m coming from
Cheers
do train drivers have their own drivers hours regs? just wondered
Anyway, could you cut your train driving to 3-4 days a week and do 1-2 shifts on driving just to keep your hand in, i think that would be the best of both worlds.
If you got your class 1 then were luckey enough to get some work to gain some experience, then were lucky enough to find your way into car transporters or other specialised work you might end up taking home what you have now, but without a decent pension scheme and for twice the hours you currently work…one thing for sure though, you won’t be bored you’ll work your socks off every minute of the long day.
Took me 11 years before i got a really well paid job and another 5 before i dropped onto car transporters, and still had to go plating till a manky knackered truck became available when i first started.
Car transporter work on a well paid company works out around £15 (give or take) an hour across the board weekdays if you can graft, similar on good tanker operations, your present hourly rate makes a mockery of transport wages and you’d be a mug to pack it in.
I’d give me eye teeth to turn the clock back and get onto the trains.
I cannot believe what I have just read… You seriously want to give up a job where the load loads and unloads itself, you have a set route every day, you do not have to endure stress about doing a million drops in time while keeping to a myriad of tachograph/EU legislations, you do not have to worry about traffic, there is no stress from planners/TMs constantly phoning or rearranging drops, you’re not treated like general waste by most employers as well as the public, you are working reasonable hours and home every night, and you’re being paid generally twice what the average lorry driver gets a month…■■?
Right ok.
Well, just 1 question to ask then, is there a job going on that train once u leave?
Juddian:
…your present hourly rate makes a mockery of transport wages and you’d be a mug to pack it in.
I disagree about the mug part.
I gave up a very well paid job that I didn’t like to become a lorry driver. I’m earning about half what I was back then and for twice the hours. Am I happier now though? Hell yes!
You’d be a mug to carry on doing a job you don’t like for the rest of your life. It’s not all about money; happiness is priceless.
Juddian:
…your present hourly rate makes a mockery of transport wages and you’d be a mug to pack it in.
I disagree about the mug part.
I gave up a very well paid job that I didn’t like to become a lorry driver. I’m earning about half what I was back then and for twice the hours. Am I happier now though? Hell yes!
You’d be a mug to carry on doing a job you don’t like for the rest of your life. It’s not all about money; happiness is priceless.
I hope this helps.
Totally agree with that up there i still can’t believe i get paid to drive round listening to my french language course or the radio.
i still think that if you carry on train driving and get a driving job for 1-2 days a week that will give you what you need, try it for a year and reassess?
I can sympathise with the idea that the money ain’t everything. Gave up a well paid job to become a driver. Despite the lack of experience I’ve been able to drive class 1 and get some experience on a variety of different driving jobs on agency, some I’ve enjoyed, some I’ve hated. Overall very glad I did it.
The big issue would be the money. Agency is unreliable, at the moment I’ve got in to a local firm doing night trunking 10 to 12 hour shifts at £10.50 an hour and out of preference I do 4 a week but could do 5 and bring in just about £550 - before deductions. But for example just had a call to say they don’t want me the rest of this week, so back to another agency for a couple of trunk runs at £85 a night, so I’ll only earn £300 this week. No good if you’ve got fixed outgoings and no other source of funds.
You can get some useful info on this forum about full time/permanent rates, as given already, and it looks like you’d struggle to get anywhere near what your earning at the moment. I kept at a well paid job I didn’t like for quite a long time to support my family, pay off my mortgage, got to 50 something and then quit because I wanted to drive a truck. I can do it because if I don’t work for several weeks it doesn’t matter. If I’m offered a job I don’t like I can turn it down. When I discovered I couldn’t cope with days on multidrop in an artic I could give it up. I don’t have to do 5 or 6 nights a week and not be able to sleep which messes up my weekends.
But if I had to earn a decent living wage from driving it would probably become a trap, I’d have to do the job even if I hated it and I’d have to do the hours even if I was knackered. The whole point of giving up a job I hated to do something I wanted to do would disappear down the drain!
i still can’t believe i get paid to drive round listening to my french language course or the radio.