I look at these merc sprinters and think how nice it would be to get one become self employed and give up hgvs,no digitachs,no limiters[at the moment ],and more or less freedom,the only obstacle is finding decent work with it and not someone trying to rip you off workwise,its becoming more tempting though to give up hgvs and become white van man,any other hgv drivers feel the same,curiosity go the better of me
You will work all hours god sends and after 12 months end up with less than you started with,
no taco = some 20 hour days
Don’t bother too many chasing the same work. Only regular work is multi drop unless you can find a customer base to keep you going. Rates for a sprinter size are between 70ppm -110 at the top all paid one way if you are subbing and you’ll have to sub to start many companies want 30-60days before you get paid. And you’ve still got to find money to live pay for fuel and your van (if financed ) and insurance payment minimum 1200 per year all in
My mate had a van and used to ride round the carparks of ikea,B&Q etc on saturday morning to see if anybody had bought owt instore and got it out to the car and find out it was too big to fit in,he used to make a good few quid doing that cash in hand on weekends,until they all barred him 
I did try once with a transit high top lwb,i was earning around 700 to 900 a week and other people said blimey that’s good money but as you both pointed out,long hours,multi drop,then you take out running costs,cost of living,fuel,that 700 to 900 soon goes,i reckon the main bug bear is vehicle finance,used to cost me £450 a month just for the van,if you could buy a van outright then you can maybe earn a decent living,again though a good one is around £10,000 to £15,000
seth 70:
My mate had a van and used to ride round the carparks of ikea,B&Q etc on saturday morning to see if anybody had bought owt instore and got it out to the car and find out it was too big to fit in,he used to make a good few quid doing that cash in hand on weekends,until they all barred him
wish I had of thought of that with the transit,bloody good idea,probably banned him cos he was doing them out of delivery charges
A good mate of mine has given up lorries and bought a van. Works been piling in one way or another. He’s built a very good business and is thinking about getting another one to cope. He’s found a niche market though. He is working longer hours though, and hasn’t had a proper day off since he started. I suppose you get out what you put in though
truckman020:
seth 70:
My mate had a van and used to ride round the carparks of ikea,B&Q etc on saturday morning to see if anybody had bought owt instore and got it out to the car and find out it was too big to fit in,he used to make a good few quid doing that cash in hand on weekends,until they all barred himwish I had of thought of that with the transit,bloody good idea,probably banned him cos he was doing them out of delivery charges
He was making a fortune in £20 here and there just to nip bits of furniture to their homes,you have to pay and book it to be delivered and lots of folk gamble it will fit in the car,tight gits,hes back driving with us at the minute but he still does abit of one man and his van at weekends 
I.ve just bought a new transit custom limited and its that nice to drive i have no intention of putting anything other than the dog in the back of it 
Many moons ago a mate of mine had a van for his business. I used to hire it off him and got myself a menzies run delivering newspapers to shops early morning. Worked out well, I got a cheap van (just add fuel) and he got extra coin off the van for no extra work.
seth 70:
truckman020:
seth 70:
My mate had a van and used to ride round the carparks of ikea,B&Q etc on saturday morning to see if anybody had bought owt instore and got it out to the car and find out it was too big to fit in,he used to make a good few quid doing that cash in hand on weekends,until they all barred himwish I had of thought of that with the transit,bloody good idea,probably banned him cos he was doing them out of delivery charges
He was making a fortune in £20 here and there just to nip bits of furniture to their homes,you have to pay and book it to be delivered and lots of folk gamble it will fit in the car,tight gits,hes back driving with us at the minute but he still does abit of one man and his van at weekends
No wonder every section of the haulage industry is becoming a struggle, also I bet HMRC would like a delivery off your mate, probably a delivery of his undeclared income, I have done a lot of home delivery, including B&Q over the years and have managed to get a good haulage rate for a professional delivery service, a lot of my home delivery customers require me to have £5,000,000 public liability insurance, but I don’t suppose your mate bothers with that either, or any goods in transit insurance, so ask your self and your mate, if you want to get into light haulage, are you going to approach it in a professional manner, or be like a lot more benefit scrounging, part time, non contributing, something for nothing wannabe’s who are doing my job at a cut rate because they can’t be bothered to do it properly.
1970commer:
seth 70:
truckman020:
seth 70:
My mate had a van and used to ride round the carparks of ikea,B&Q etc on saturday morning to see if anybody had bought owt instore and got it out to the car and find out it was too big to fit in,he used to make a good few quid doing that cash in hand on weekends,until they all barred himwish I had of thought of that with the transit,bloody good idea,probably banned him cos he was doing them out of delivery charges
He was making a fortune in £20 here and there just to nip bits of furniture to their homes,you have to pay and book it to be delivered and lots of folk gamble it will fit in the car,tight gits,hes back driving with us at the minute but he still does abit of one man and his van at weekends
No wonder every section of the haulage industry is becoming a struggle, also I bet HMRC would like a delivery off your mate, probably a delivery of his undeclared income, I have done a lot of home delivery, including B&Q over the years and have managed to get a good haulage rate for a professional delivery service, a lot of my home delivery customers require me to have £5,000,000 public liability insurance, but I don’t suppose your mate bothers with that either, or any goods in transit insurance, so ask your self and your mate, if you want to get into light haulage, are you going to approach it in a professional manner, or be like a lot more benefit scrounging, part time, non contributing, something for nothing wannabe’s who are doing my job at a cut rate because they can’t be bothered to do it properly.
Dont blame me pal im only saying what hes doing 
You should be aware of this
- GB domestic rules
The GB domestic drivers’ hours rules apply to most passenger-carrying vehicles and goods vehicles that don’t have to follow the EU rules.
GB domestic rules apply in Great Britain - there are separate rules in Northern Ireland.
Goods vehicles
Duty time
If you work as a driver for a company, duty time is any working time. If you’re self-employed, duty time is only time you spend driving the vehicle or doing other work related to the vehicle or its load.
Daily driving limit
You must not drive for more than 10 hours in a day:
on a public road
off-road if not during duty time
Off-road driving counts as duty time if it’s for:
agriculture
quarrying
forestry
building work
civil engineering
Daily duty limit
You must not be on duty for more than 11 hours in any working day. This limit doesn’t apply on any working day when you don’t drive.
You must record your hours on a weekly record sheet or on a tachograph.
Passenger-carrying vehicles
Duty time
If you work as a driver for a company, duty time is any working time. If you’re self-employed, duty time is only time you spend driving the vehicle or doing other work related to the vehicle or its load.
Breaks and continuous driving
After 5 hours 30 minutes of driving you must take a break of at least 30 minutes for rest and refreshment.
Or, within any period of 8 hours 30 minutes, you must take at least 45 minutes in breaks. You must also have a break of at least 30 minutes at the end of this period, unless it’s the end of the working day.
Length of working day (‘spreadover’)
You must not work more than 16 hours between the times of starting and finishing work - including non driving work and any times when you’re off.
Daily rest periods
You must take a rest of 10 hours before the first duty and immediately after the last duty in a working week.
You must take a rest of at least 10 hours between 2 working days (or spreadovers) - this can be reduced to 8.5 hours up to 3 times a week.
All duties must start and finish within a 24-hour period.
Fortnightly rest periods
Every 2 weeks you must take at least one period of 24 hours off duty.
A fixed week is from 00:00 hours on Monday to 24:00 hours the next Sunday.
Exemptions to the GB domestic rules
The GB Domestic rules don’t apply if you:
drive for less than 4 hours in any day
drive off-road or on private roads during duty time
drive a vehicle used by the armed forces, police or fire brigade
are dealing with an emergency, eg major disruption to public services or danger to life
I should be aware,whys that 
im not doin it and its nothing to do with me what anybody else does …
seth 70:
I should be aware,whys that
Sorry that wasn’t directed at you it is just the rules of Domestic Driving Hours like we have Driving Hours rules & some of the posters seem to think that you can just work & drive as you like when you shouldn’t be although a lot do yep been there done it got the t shirt I know where & what I would rather be doing
Why bother with domestic hrs animal noone bothers. Italy to uk is 24hrs like it or not customers pay for an express service and expect it. Stick to drivers hrs you won’t make any money at all
alix776:
Why bother with domestic hrs animal noone bothers. Italy to uk is 24hrs like it or not customers pay for an express service and expect it. Stick to drivers hrs you won’t make any money at all
Yep we know this & as you know a lot don’t know of them as I said been there done that would I do it now no chance not for me
I’m one of the lucky ones I suppose, I’m employed by a fairly large local manufacturing company and earn £27K for a 44 hour week (no weekends) trunking Merc Sprinters through the night. They’re all brand new vans with comfortable seats and cruise control, I get no hassle and I’m pretty much left to my own devices. The job really is a piece of ■■■■ (apart from the windier nights in winter when you’re empty and get blown all over the place), doing about 400 miles per night going to and from one of 5 locations and just swapping a van over.
Friends and family always ask me why I don’t get a HGV license and potentially earn more but why would I want the cost and hassle of doing so only to join some agency and probably not earn any more?
The only other thing you need to put up with is being thrown into the ‘incompetent van driver’ category along with the BMW drivers by members of Trucnket!
Sprinter Si:
I’m one of the lucky ones I suppose, I’m employed by a fairly large local manufacturing company and earn £27K for a 44 hour week (no weekends) trunking Merc Sprinters through the night. They’re all brand new vans with comfortable seats and cruise control, I get no hassle and I’m pretty much left to my own devices. The job really is a piece of ■■■■ (apart from the windier nights in winter when you’re empty and get blown all over the place), doing about 400 miles per night going to and from one of 5 locations and just swapping a van over.Friends and family always ask me why I don’t get a HGV license and potentially earn more but why would I want the cost and hassle of doing so only to join some agency and probably not earn any more?
The only other thing you need to put up with is being thrown into the ‘incompetent van driver’ category along with the BMW drivers by members of Trucnket!
sounds a good job,as you say not worth getting your hgv when you have a job like that
Don’t bother, h & r insurance will set you back nigh on 2 grand, goods in transit and Pl will add another couple hundred to that and that’s for a small van, Then you have to compete with those that couldn’t care less about the legalities and will undercut you to the bone, ie. lifestyle couriers that chuck the gear in the back of a beat up Mondeo after the school run. Then as also been said … you can wait up to 90 days to get your miserable one way mileage rate. Note, business insurance will NOT cover you in the event of a claim if you have someone else’s stuff onboard and getting paid to deliver it only if you’re a plumber or carpenter or whatever and carrying your own tools and kit. Light haulage insurance is a lot cheaper but will not cover you for multi dropping either.