Trucking. Skilled or Unskilled?

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
21

Possibly the distinction is between being a “skilled driver” and a “skilled worker”.
Most skilled workers will hold a qualification that proves they have been trained to do their job, a skilled driver merely has a licence to say he is entitled to do his job.
The licence does not say that the driver CAN do the job, merely that he is entitled to.
So, as far as I am concerned, I am a very experienced unskilled worker bordering on being semi skilled.

HOWEVER, at pay negotiation time I am a proffessional skilled vehicle operating technician. :smiley:

22

According to my local Jobcentre it classed as an unskilled job.

It’s not too difficult to get the licence, I believe the ‘skill element’ comes with the years of learning after gaining the licence. The ‘driving’ part of the job is just one small part of the job.

Tiger.

23

dinosteveus1:
If I had a job driving, I’d consider myself a Professional driver. :wink: :wink: That would make me Skilled, wouldn’t it? :stuck_out_tongue:

NO that would make driving a truck your chosen profession making you a professional driver using the word profession doesnt make you skilled at it.

24

I’d definitely say skilled, I have what is considered a skill, I’m a maintenance engineer and did the apprenticeship, got the qualifications and did the job for 20 odd years.
When I decided to have a change and took my HGV tests it was probably the hardest thing I have ever done and now two and a half years later I still consider myself as serving my time and gaining the necessary skills to do the job.

It’s been a ■■■■ sight harder than doing an engineering apprenticeship

25

id say its semi skilled

its not un-skilled because there is a good bit of training to be done - could any tom,■■■■ or harry do it perhaps yes.

is it skilled well if you have been doing it for 10 year and know every trick in the book things that cant be taught , that can only be learned with experience then it is a skill.

but is a plumber a skill - i done my whole bathroom/kitchen from friends advice and books, if something happened in the house i wouldnt phone a plumber id go over to bq and ask what i need to fix it myself.

take a joiner for example anyone can do it - but to do it too a high standard takes experience which then makes it skilled.

know take a brain surgeon extremely skilled but not from experience(it cant rally can it) its from intensive study.

i can see both arguments thats why i think it is semi skilled

26

It depends upon what type of work you do.

Depot to depot trunking.
flatbeds
low loaders
extendables
wide loads
hanging lambs or pork…both very different to carry.

we all have a role to play. just some of the roles are more skillfull than others.

If you get rid of every copper, fireman, doctor and paramedic for a few months some people will die.
If you get rid of us lot then everyone will die.

I know i’m skilled, and that’s all that matters.

27

Scarab:
OUTRAGE!
no but seriously I do think its skilled, just like a tradesman, anybody can be an electrician, it just takes time to learn how to do it, I think the same is of any LGV driver.

Alex

that paragraph is just as much rubbish as what tachograph wrote. :unamused: :unamused:

being an electrician is the most compilacated trades there is on the sites its so complex its unbelivable

Semi Skilled…at the moment.

Unskilled is something that you can drag someone off the streets and get them doing with minimal instruction.

Semi Skill is a job that requires specialist skills and knowledge but not a vocational qualification (and no, a HGV licence doesn’t count as that qualification).

Skilled is a job that requires specialist skills and knowledge and a qualification or recognised time served apprenticeship.

il agree with conor on that although the lads stgo work and some of jj72’s work is very specailist which comes under skilled.

28

tachograph:
And yes most people could do it, not sure how competently though :wink:

You could apply that to politicians and lawyers aswell…buts thats another topic!

29

Stainless:

tachograph:
And yes most people could do it, not sure how competently though :wink:

You could apply that to politicians and lawyers aswell…buts thats another topic!

You could probably apply it to most jobs skilled or unskilled, if a person doesn’t have at least some natural aptitude for a job they probably won’t be much good at it.

Have to say though that I was surprised at the response to this thread, I half expected to be burned at the stake for suggesting on a trucker forum that HGV driving isn’t a particularly skilled job :wink:

30

jessicas dad:

Scarab:
OUTRAGE!
no but seriously I do think its skilled, just like a tradesman, anybody can be an electrician, it just takes time to learn how to do it, I think the same is of any LGV driver.

Alex

that paragraph is just as much rubbish as what tachograph wrote. :unamused: :unamused:

So I’m saying that HGV driving isn’t particularly skilled and Scarab is saying that it is, but according to you both arguments are rubbish, presumably you think the only sensible way to think is how you see the job :unamused:

31

Its ok Tachograph, we can all see his argument doesn’t hold that much water anyway.

I trained as a sparky for some time before the local saturated market convinced me to give it up. Which is how I know its just as simple as driving a HGV. I mean, in general, the people who do the jobs are probably on about a similar social level.

Ok to be an electrician you do need to do a few years at college, or get a good apprenticeship.

But wiring a light up or installing a new socket, the bread and butter work of an electrician, really is about on par with reversing a rigid. Might take you an hour or so to work it out when you first see it but once thats done its seated the foundations you need to do a lot more of the things the job requires.
Not a particularly good analogy I’ll grant.

An apprentice electrician, or whatever, and a newly qualified HGV driver can both go out and do jobs on their own but to do the more advanced work you need skills and experience that can only be got over a number of years in your field.

That fact alone makes it at least a semi-skilled trade.

Alex

32

seeing as the main comparison seems to be a sparky,
i want a four figure sum as my take home pay for my next driving job :laughing:
only nights of course, i’ll settle for £800 for four 8 hour days and a 13.00 guaranteed finish on fridays :laughing:

33

Scarab:
Its ok Tachograph, we can all see his argument doesn’t hold that much water anyway.

I trained as a sparky for some time before the local saturated market convinced me to give it up. Which is how I know its just as simple as driving a HGV. I mean, in general, the people who do the jobs are probably on about a similar social level.

Ok to be an electrician you do need to do a few years at college, or get a good apprenticeship.

But wiring a light up or installing a new socket, the bread and butter work of an electrician, really is about on par with reversing a rigid. Might take you an hour or so to work it out when you first see it but once thats done its seated the foundations you need to do a lot more of the things the job requires.
Not a particularly good analogy I’ll grant.

An apprentice electrician, or whatever, and a newly qualified HGV driver can both go out and do jobs on their own but to do the more advanced work you need skills and experience that can only be got over a number of years in your field.

That fact alone makes it at least a semi-skilled trade.

Alex

:open_mouth: :open_mouth: :open_mouth: :open_mouth: :open_mouth:

i am shocked ( not literally ) but your post about this is such rubbish and to be fair i normally respect your posts but these about a sparks are total crap.

i quote

That fact alone makes it at least a semi-skilled trade.

so what you are saying is that being an electrician is a semi skilled trade :question: :exclamation: :question: :open_mouth:

and that anybody with a rigid license can wire loop in at the light with the feed and switch live being wired in twin brown with the correct polarity.

if any of you understand this then please say so to prove that scrab is right about it being a semi skilled job :open_mouth:

jessicas dad wrote:
Scarab wrote:

OUTRAGE!
no but seriously I do think its skilled, just like a tradesman, anybody can be an electrician, it just takes time to learn how to do it, I think the same is of any LGV driver.

Alex

that paragraph is just as much rubbish as what tachograph wrote.

So I’m saying that HGV driving isn’t particularly skilled and Scarab is saying that it is, but according to you both arguments are rubbish, presumably you think the only sensible way to think is how you see the job

now then tachograph is see you still dont take any notice of anybodys posts. if you did you would have read that i edited scrabab post to critiscise his post about electrician being a semi skilled job as well as yours.

34

jessicas dad
I have found your posts on this topic rude, nasty and very disrespectful. There is no need for such ‘behaviour’ and if you had not been a moderator would you have got away with it? I hope not.

35

dinosteveus1:
jessicas dad
I have found your posts on this topic rude, nasty and very disrespectful. There is no need for such ‘behaviour’ and if you had not been a moderator would you have got away with it? I hope not.

well to be fair his post was rubbish i wasnt lieing. in fact he claims to be a sparks but is putting down his trade and claiming an electrician is semi skilled. as for me being a moderator, being a moderator doe’snt stop me from speaking my mind and i havent insulted him personally just told him his post was crap.

36

jessicas dad:

dinosteveus1:
jessicas dad
I have found your posts on this topic rude, nasty and very disrespectful. There is no need for such ‘behaviour’ and if you had not been a moderator would you have got away with it? I hope not.

well to be fair his post was rubbish i wasnt lieing. in fact he claims to be a sparks but is putting down his trade and claiming an electrician is semi skilled. as for me being a moderator, being a moderator doe’snt stop me from speaking my mind and i havent insulted him personally just told him his post was crap.

Who are YOU to ‘dis’ anybodies posts in the way you have?

37

dinosteveus1:
Who are YOU to ‘dis’ anybodies posts in the way you have?

so if you want to bicker do you think an electrician is a semi skilled job :question: honest answer please.

do you think an lorry driver is a semi skilled job which is what this thread is about.

maybe i could have rephased so of it but the basis of it is true.

38

post edited to keep steve happy. :wink:

39

dinosteveus1:
Who are YOU to ‘dis’ anybodies posts in the way you have?

at a guess, a skilled electrician and an HGV licence holder :laughing:

40

Unskilled in my book. In the skilled tradesman sense of the word

Unlike a time served sparky :wink: