thecoder0:
Unskilled in my book.Unlike a time served sparky
hows it going at ferrybridge 
Of course driving an articulated 44 tonne vehicle is a skilled job! What’s the matter with you people? “Semi skilled” “unskilled” my arse!
Not everyone has the aptitude or ability to drive these things safely and competently on public roads.
It can’t be likened to electrician, plumber, brain surgeon or anything else…just like any other skilled occupation, it takes time, effort and experience to be any good at it.
Ask yourself this…who would you rather re-wire your house…a skilled, experienced sparky or an HGV driver who’s never seen a set of wire strippers before?
if you owned a £100,000 truck, who would you rather drive it for you…a sparky with no HGV driving experience or a skilled, experienced HGV driver?
Shrek:
if you owned a £100,000 truck, who would you rather drive it for you…a sparky with no HGV driving experience or a skilled, experienced HGV driver?
Eeeeerrrrrrrmmmmm. Let me think■■?
Nope, you’ve got me there. A trick question. Go on then what’s the answer? 
[skill (skl)
n.
- Proficiency, facility, or dexterity that is acquired or developed through training or experience. See Synonyms at ability.
a. An art, trade, or technique, particularly one requiring use of the hands or body.
b. A developed talent or ability: writing skills.
Cut and dried?
Shrek:
Of course driving an articulated 44 tonne vehicle is a skilled job! What’s the matter with you people? “Semi skilled” “unskilled” my arse!Not everyone has the aptitude or ability to drive these things safely and competently on public roads.
It can’t be likened to electrician, plumber, brain surgeon or anything else…just like any other skilled occupation, it takes time, effort and experience to be any good at it.
Ask yourself this…who would you rather re-wire your house…a skilled, experienced sparky or an HGV driver who’s never seen a set of wire strippers before?
if you owned a £100,000 truck, who would you rather drive it for you…a sparky with no HGV driving experience or a skilled, experienced HGV driver?
all i know is an electrician could in theory drive a 44t hgv in a week from starting his training.
i’d love to see an hgv driver working as a trained electrician, trackside on the rail network in a week
biggusdickusgb:
Shrek:
Of course driving an articulated 44 tonne vehicle is a skilled job! What’s the matter with you people? “Semi skilled” “unskilled” my arse!Not everyone has the aptitude or ability to drive these things safely and competently on public roads.
It can’t be likened to electrician, plumber, brain surgeon or anything else…just like any other skilled occupation, it takes time, effort and experience to be any good at it.
Ask yourself this…who would you rather re-wire your house…a skilled, experienced sparky or an HGV driver who’s never seen a set of wire strippers before?
if you owned a £100,000 truck, who would you rather drive it for you…a sparky with no HGV driving experience or a skilled, experienced HGV driver?
all i know is an electrician could in theory drive a 44t hgv in a week from starting his training.
i’d love to see an hgv driver working as a trained electrician, trackside on the rail network in a week
Until recent legislation made it difficult a HUGE number of people wired and rewired their own homes without any problems, using books.
Shrek:
Of course driving an articulated 44 tonne vehicle is a skilled job! What’s the matter with you people? “Semi skilled” “unskilled” my arse!Not everyone has the aptitude or ability to drive these things safely and competently on public roads.
It can’t be likened to electrician, plumber, brain surgeon or anything else…just like any other skilled occupation, it takes time, effort and experience to be any good at it.
Ask yourself this…who would you rather re-wire your house…a skilled, experienced sparky or an HGV driver who’s never seen a set of wire strippers before?
if you owned a £100,000 truck, who would you rather drive it for you…a sparky with no HGV driving experience or a skilled, experienced HGV driver?
Every job, task, call it whatever you like obviously requires a level of skill to carry it out well. To say that skill levels required to drive a truck are on a par with a skilled occupation that requires schooling and specialist training is nonsense and once again just reafirms the theory that some drivers over exagerate the role in which they work.
Yes driving a truck is a skill(but not in the skilled tradesman sense) and those skill levels differ across the experience range but lets keep it real 10 ton or 44 ton the principals are the same some people have an aptitude for it some do not.
DAFMAD:
Semi-skilled IMHO.
I agree.
thecoder0:
Every job, task, call it whatever you like obviously requires a level of skill to carry it out well. To say that skill levels required to drive a truck are on a par with a skilled occupation that requires schooling and specialist training is nonsense and once again just reaffirms the theory that some drivers over exaggerate the role in which they work.
I remember having some schooling and specialist training (21 years ago) … if I’d not had that specialist training, I wouldn’t have passed my HGV test and gone on to become the highly skilled person I am today. In fact I’ll go further and tell you that I’m a craftsman when it comes to driving massive wagons. So there.
thecoder0:
Yes driving a truck is a skill(but not in the skilled tradesman sense) and those skill levels differ across the experience range but lets keep it real 10 ton or 44 ton the principals are the same some people have an aptitude for it some do not.
Again Cody old chap, I have to disagree with you here as well…I’d be interested to hear your case as to why you think Professional HGV driving is not a skilled occupation.
It took me years to become this good 
I just can’t help being number 1.
Does it matter what you all think about whether it is skilled or not. Who pays your wages? Your Employer does and unfortunately most think it’s unskilled hence the low wage you get.
I recently seen a job advertised in Lidl’s for shop assistants paying £8.90 an hour, is that skilled? NO…but how many of you get that an hour■■?
you couldn’t drive a 44t artic within a week of starting training on HGV; you have to pass the rigid test first and wait for the licence to come back from DVLA
Layby was closest I think; when I’d not had my license long, another driver told me it’d be 5 years before I’d feel more or less confident in most situations. I didn’t really understand then, but I do now! experience in other words.
As an aside, my brother used to underwrite loans for a large bank a few years ago, and from a bank’s perspective HGV drivers are semi skilled.
CBR_SI:
you couldn’t drive a 44t artic within a week of starting training on HGV; you have to pass the rigid test first and wait for the licence to come back from DVLALayby was closest I think; when I’d not had my license long, another driver told me it’d be 5 years before I’d feel more or less confident in most situations. I didn’t really understand then, but I do now! experience in other words.
As an aside, my brother used to underwrite loans for a large bank a few years ago, and from a bank’s perspective HGV drivers are semi skilled.
not quite right but i’ll give it to you
my son in law took 8 days under the new rules so just over a week, monday to friday got him his C, then monday to wednesday the following week got him C & E.
to save any silly arguments it was with the army not in civvy st, but it can be done.
ok fair enuff, I was only being tongue-in-cheek anyway 
CBR_SI:
ok fair enuff, I was only being tongue-in-cheek anyway
now i feel crap for being pedantic and omitting the smileys, i do apologise 
thecoder0:
Every job, task, call it whatever you like obviously requires a level of skill to carry it out well. To say that skill levels required to drive a truck are on a par with a skilled occupation that requires schooling and specialist training is nonsense and once again just reafirms the theory that some drivers over exagerate the role in which they work.Yes driving a truck is a skill(but not in the skilled tradesman sense) and those skill levels differ across the experience range but lets keep it real 10 ton or 44 ton the principals are the same some people have an aptitude for it some do not.
That sums it up perfectly as far a I’m concerned, weather or not having an aptitude for a particular job, hobby interest whatever, and having passed a test makes you semi-skilled I’ve no idea, but in the overall scheme of things driving is certainly not a skilled job.
Just for the record, electrics is a skilled job but like many things in life how much skill is required depends on the job being done, wiring a factory is different to simply wiring houses one after the other, frankly anyone who thinks just wiring a light and switch is stupendously skilled is living in cloud cookoo land
As has already been said it can easily be done after a little studying and planning if the law still allowed, I like many many other people have done DIY wiring successfully and could again after a little studying, obviously only a fool would mess with electrics without taking the trouble to refresh their memory and plan the job in hand.
Not that any of that has much to do with HGV driving.
schrodingers cat:
[skill (skl)
n.
- Proficiency, facility, or dexterity that is acquired or developed through training or experience. See Synonyms at ability.
a. An art, trade, or technique, particularly one requiring use of the hands or body.
b. A developed talent or ability: writing skills.Cut and dried?
Pretty much so. I’ve always been of the opinion that good drivers are born, not made.
Some of the aptitude has to be natural in any trade; for example I did a time-served apprenticeship as a vehicle mechanic in the Army, but I soon found that whilst I could cope perfectly well with the theoretical side, when it came to actually doing the job I didn’t have “craftsman’s hands”, which is why I do not profess to be a mechanic any more despite having been trained as one; still saves me a bob or two in garage bills though!
Some of the “natural” things you need are, IMO;
- Good spatial awareness.
- Anticipation.
- Patience
- Customer skills.
- An inbuilt compass.
Whilst a lot of this can obviously be taught, it comes to some people more naturally than it does to others. ROG and other instructors will know exactly where I’m coming from on this one.
This might come across as stating the blindingly obvious, but so far in this thread it seems to have been a perspective which has been overlooked.
I would say driving an LGV and in particular the artic is a skilled job.
The responsibility is enormous. The factors involving driving such a vehicle are not to be taken lightly. The public in general have huge respect for LGV drivers. The hoops that drivers have to jump through have never been greater and the amount of hazards more than ever.
As for the natural driver I have taught many. They tend to be the ones who get into trouble first when passed. Through over confidence and complacency.
While the not so able take longer but end up, so it seems living longer.
An LGV instructor said to me the other day. That the standard of drivers coming for training was not good and alot worse than years ago. He also reckons that trucks are now to easy to drive which leads to dangerous behaviour and over confidence.Which it seems would equate for the same low standard of driving by car drivers in their ever so easy to drive cars.
Just a thought 
driving an artic is skilled, rigids are sorta semi skilled cause its not that hard
but i mean how many car drivers could just hop into an artic and reverse it onto a bay or even blindside? and driving a wide load? that isnt skilled is it?
also my brothers a sparky with a class c licence lol, the company he used to work for were training him up for his artic licence even though he was a time served sparky, the other drivers woulda been annoyed cause he woulda been on the artics and getting £20 an hour during the day lol.
but he got laid off by the company because there wasnt much sparky work for him to do and now has a better job.
im the youngest in my family and i have the biggest licence
Shrek:
Of course driving an articulated 44 tonne vehicle is a skilled job! What’s the matter with you people? “Semi skilled” “unskilled” my arse!
I dont know, there are many drivers out there behind the wheel of said 44-tonners that are abjectly clueless, the type who think they are billy big trucker and superior to everyone else and so on. they, most definitely, are not skilled but just manage to muddle through with it. the fact that most of them havent been involved in serious crashes is probably down to both luck and other peoples actions rather than their own. but they manage to do the job nontheless.
on the other hand, an electrician/gas fitter etc who just blundered through with it would last about two minutes before he killed himself!
Shrek:
Not everyone has the aptitude or ability to drive these things safely and competently on public roads.
Correct, you need only take a trip along a motorway, dual carriageway or other road heavy with trucks to see that your observation is absoluotely and undeniably true.
chippy:
The public in general have huge respect for LGV drivers.
I read that far but didn’t bother going any further. you honestly believe that?!
thecoder0:
To say that skill levels required to drive a truck are on a par with a skilled occupation that requires schooling and specialist training is nonsense and once again just reafirms the theory that some drivers over exagerate the role in which they work.
amen to that! to listen to some carrying on youd think driving a truck was akin to brain surgery sometimes! it’s truck driving for goodness sake, you need only look at some who make a living from driving a truck to see that very little in the way of anything is required to do it, in most cases.
gogzy:
driving an artic is skilled, rigids are sorta semi skilled cause its not that hard
THIS IS WAR
Trundling from RDC to RDC in an artic along mways and trunk roads requires a lot less skill than the rigid driver doing urban multi-drop, we get into places you’d be scared of putting a mini into .
Have I been hooked, lined and sinkered?