Still in the considering a career as an LGV driver stage. However if the hours are too unsocial my missus wouldn’t be to happy lol. Plus I would like a bit of a life. Surely there must be jobs out there with routine day shifts, say 6am - 4pm for example? Mon-Fri?
What hours can I expect as a new driver? I’d hate for the hours of the trade to ruin my desire to go get a C licence.
Thanks in advance, Max.
Stick with whatever you do now , Lorry drivers don’t do part time hours
Bins or waste companies, skips, roll ons, dustcarts, builders merchants (hiab/crane) Tippers (remove Brain, especially if you drive them in London) all usually local stuff, up to 50 miles radius of local area. Also Palletline/Palex/Single Pallet distribution type companies usually run 4/6 wheelers in the local areas, ours start around 07.00 but can still be coming back after 18.00+.
If you do choose to drive LGV’s, the first few weeks will be a steep learning curve, you will more than likely be the last one back & experience a few dramas along the way, but within a few weeks/months you should be ok, stick with it, it doesn’t come easy overnight.
You will become Invisible, pull up to companies or driver receptions/goods in & you will be totally ignored, then spoken to like dog do on their shoes, but it’s all part of the job, just smile, be happy (knowing that you will probably be earning more than the Saddo working in the Mushroom Factory all day long & you’ve got a Bed to lie on while he messes about all day trying to find somewhere to put all those lovely pallets away that your delivering to his company that ultimately pay his 'F’ing Breadline Wages !)
The bigger stuff tend to be distance, so who knows what time you will get home, often your out for a day or two, or even out all week if tramping.
Supermarkets/distribution companies do day work, but it usually involves shifts, early or late starts & weekend working, you tend to need to be there for a while until you find the perfect 6-2 Monday-Friday shift pattern (& then only if someone dies)
If you don’t want to work a lot of hours then you are going to be limited to what you can do but by no means let that put you off.
Foodservice multidrop is probably going to suit your hourly requirements but be prepared as there is a compromise and that is interaction with your load…lots of lifting.
6am tip in Manchester means a 3am start for me.
Loads of jobs avail that’ll see you back home at a reasonable hour everyday,don’t listen to those trying to make out the job is harder than it actually is.
if your wanting to get into the industry, you should probably get used to the idea of having to work longer hours.
I’ve been driving for just over 6 months now and I’ve learnt to take the rough with the smooth, some days are better then others. Of course a lot is dependant on traffic and hold ups at collection or deliveries!
As others have said the first few weeks can be a real steam learning curve, for about 3 weeks I was always last back but this was just down to me still learning and finding new places I’ve never been to before, after a few weeks though you will soon bed in.
Some weeks I’ll have days where I can start at 7 and be done for 4, where as there’s times where it’ll be start at 5 and finish at 7!
I don’t mind it all that much, at the end of the day my girlfriend is understanding enough to know the hours are long, can’t complain either when a lot of them hours your being payed for your laying down 
Whirlwind:
Stick with whatever you do now , Lorry drivers don’t do part time hours
Agree with this guy, this ain’t the job for you. You like to have a bit of a life forget that you can’t even have a drink as alcohol stays in your system for 16 hours and more and more companies are now doing random alcohol and drugs test. I have a drink once a week 
The wife will go and you will have paid good money for all these privileges so stay where you are as in the future you will miss it like hell
I’ve gone on to 4on 4off shift don’t get me wrong the 4 on are still 12 hour shifts average but then I get 4 days off and I earn slightly more than them that are doing 5 days 2 days off I have found I have so much more time to have a life now than I even did working normal hours in a factory. There are driving jobs with decent hours and shifts.
Rincewind_:
Still in the considering a career as an LGV driver stage. However if the hours are too unsocial my missus wouldn’t be to happy lol. Plus I would like a bit of a life. Surely there must be jobs out there with routine day shifts, say 6am - 4pm for example? Mon-Fri?What hours can I expect as a new driver? I’d hate for the hours of the trade to ruin my desire to go get a C licence.
Thanks in advance, Max.
Hiab , tipper or skip driver will be most suitable for you I think . More or less regular hours on those . Especially on rigid trucks
If your not keen on unsociable hours try not to do shop deliveries our first runs go out at 00.45 and last run is usually 4 PM
Used to do foodservice with brakes 4.30 start back 3 or 4pm so wasn’t to bad usually but hard graft so it’s all compromise really but it’s all experience.
Local work would be better,I’m doing shops atm did Willenhall to Plymouth yesterday night out and got Stoke skelmersdale and Liverpool today so another 12+ hour day was 14 yesterday.
Depends why you want to drive lorries and what sort of money you expect to earn.
Most jobs on set short hours don’t pay particularly well, but there are always exceptions and these jobs will be filled and well protected by those who already have them.
If you want to earn the better money, you either specialise or work unsocial hours or long hours or where the work is hard and/or filthy or a combination of all those things.
I suspect as said above the job isn’t for you.
Juddian:
Depends why you want to drive lorries and what sort of money you expect to earn.
Yeah this. One of my first jobs was delivering to building sites. Which was great as they were good hours. Started at 7am and was almost always finished by 4pm. Only £60 a day though. Not enough money but did it for experience. Fortunately a Class 1 job came up not long after I started and I went with that.
Now I do tramping on nights which is a PITA on the social life but it’s a short term fix for the money they pay.
My mate does 9-5 on Class 2 multi drop and gets paid quite well for it, higher per hour than me on Class 1 by quite a bit but they get their pound of flesh out of him whereas I’m just a glorified chauffeur.
Mostly I start at 07.00 but if not busy I start at the normal contracted time of 08.00, sometime 06.00.
Finishing times I never have a clue, I write off weekday nights as I dont know the times I finish or even if I will get home.
But being hourly paid and happy with it I am ermmm, happy
To be fair as I give more than I take the office are happy to facilitate an early finish should I need one.
+1 what MartinViking said with his advice on sectors.
Others are national plant hire companies usually do 0700 - 1800 days within that slot of start finishing time you’ll usually only do 9 hours so 0700 - 1600 or 0800 - 1700.
Money ok but not great.
Money comes in going to local family plant hire firms or general haulage plant contractors but then you have to be flexible. Some days you’ll get early starts and early finishes, other days youll get late starts and late finishes and all that in between early starts, late finishes and late starts and early finishes.
If really a problem, then I’d reconsider driving as its all fluid and open to changes when you drive out of the gate.
All bets are off whether your finish time will change or not you’ll never know until it does change.
C