I have been out of the trucking business for over 3 years now and I was wondering if now is a good time to get back into it. I’m missing the freedom and the open road!! Weren’t to sure if the industry has picked up from the recent recession. I am a bit worried as i have done some job searches on the net and couldn’t believe how much the hourly rate has drooped on the agencies HGV II - £6.50 p/h and HGV I - no more than £8 p/h !!! I had agencies ringing me up about 4 years ago offering me £9 p/h for class II and £10.50 for class I. Sounds like it is not a good idea to go back to driving. Just wondered what others think■■? Oh and just wondered are the Polish still here?
could write pages on this… but to keep it simple … NO, its perhaps as bad as I have ever seen in over 30 years in the industry. Wages are going backwards, Drivers are no longer the scarce commidity they were and the days of the famous “Just do it, or the gates over there” words are back
Hauliers are under more pressure than ever, and by hearsay more and more are being inventive with the rules just to survive.
There are small indications that things are picking up, but its a long way from the halcyon days where drivers told there bosses what new truck they wanted or they would walk, knowing withing hours they could get a start elsewhere
Rikki-UK:
could write pages on this… but to keep it simple … NO, its perhaps as bad as I have ever seen in over 30 years in the industry. Wages are going backwards, Drivers are no longer the scarce commidity they were and the days of the famous “Just do it, or the gates over there” words are back
Hauliers are under more pressure than ever, and by hearsay more and more are being inventive with the rules just to survive.
There are small indications that things are picking up, but its a long way from the halcyon days where drivers told there bosses what new truck they wanted or they would walk, knowing withing hours they could get a start elsewhere
Seems to be a few jobs out there, but the average for class 1 on a lot of jobs around berkshire is £8.50 ph
I was on coaches for years, then did my class 2 then class 1 in 2008 with the idea of change. Already had my international CPC for PSV and was part way through my haulage one.
I didn’t want to be a transport manager apart from working for a big firm as part of a TM team but work in that was even thinning at the time.
I must have visited every haulier in the Teesside area in summer 08 but to no avail. That was when it all seemed to be going right down the pan. Luckily for me my current employer (non-driving) took me on, doing something a little different.
I do miss driving and I am a bit gutted I never got to use my HGV entitlement beyond helping a friend out a few times. In my current role, I’m not allowed to do any commercial driving, but I would love it if I could.
Glad I have a degree of job security, but if it ever went wrong, I would get back behind the wheel, even for £6.50 an hour. I think once its in your blood then thats it.
