I tend to feel i am no mug but after doing my HGV class 2 paid by yours truly i feel like a right prat. I drive a van at present which pays quite well and great hours. Done my test as a bit more security if i needed to get a new job for any reason Today offered a job tramping out all week then told the money salary less than £21,000 plus a £100 a month attendance bonus and £25 a night out. My van job pays more than this and no nights out and home buy 3pm every day and my 2 lads are trainees in the construction industry both have company cars and paid more than this. So having been a mug myself how on earth do you tell the young people this is a good career now i understand class 1 drivers can earn 30k plus but in my view treated like crap by employer and everyone eles. I think i have learned one thing and that is to let a company pay for my class 1 or simply not to do it if there was a drivers shortage this would happen i will not be holding my breath even though my current employer offered me this when i started for him.
How many van threads saying the same thing do you want to make 
You say the same pish all the time
What’s a matter you not had any trips to Ibiza lately
No wonder you were “offered” the job if that’s the salary they are offering in return!
Trampers in my area seem to be on about 30k, however the hours to earn that with some are a bit of a joke! 
Paragraphs?
To be honest I’m not sure that there is any driver shortage. I do think though that there is becoming a shortage of people willing to work for poor money.
merc0447:
How many van threads saying the same thing do you want to makeYou say the same pish all the time
What’s a matter you not had any trips to Ibiza lately
I think your missing my point i took a Test for a HGV to drive a truck not to drive a van but the money is pish poor in the job not just for me but for most. And no not done any European jobs for a while but will be going to Pattaya in Thailand will only be a passenger on a plane LOL
Stay on the van work or seek better paid LGV work. As an inexperienced driver however, you are not likely to be in a position to pick and choose your work.
Maybe take a pay cut in the short-term to gain experience.
maybe a change in industry train driver gets £50K+
What do you expect as an inexperienced driver, to be offered the top dog jobs straight off?, it don’t work like that especially with a constant supply of cheap competition from other countries, which we the electorate successfully voted for.
As Judehamish rightly suggests stick with the van job or take a gamble on you cutting the mustard and being able to work your way into the better jobs.
If the van job is so good why would you want to leave it to drive a bloody lorry on tramp work.
You can earn 30k doing class 2 and still be home every night…
F-reds:
You can earn 30k doing class 2 and still be home every night…
Close to 40k if you want to break your balls, have no life and ignore/cheat the WTD…
Head down to your nearest Brakes depot, they’ll pay close to 30k a year and home every night, hard graft though
As a new class 2 driver I was in the same predicament. I didn’t expect top money but there wasn’t anything that I either wanted to do or could afford to do. And the two agencies I’d signed up with weren’t ringing the fone off the wall.
A year went by and I wondered what I’d done. Then I realised that to get a foot in the door,sacrifices would have to be made. Either with money,hours,type of work. So I took a job with good money but the rest is not good.
Although I’m not keen on the hours and the routes,now I’m getting a foot in the door and experience which are priceless as a newbie. Experience has many sides. trucks/routes/tachograph/WTD etc.
FWIW from the class 1 drivers I’ve spoken to recently,£25 per night is about the going rate,and sometimes it seems that the hourly rate for class 2 and 7.5t isn’t much different. I sometimes wonder if some employers/agencies see class 2 as a ‘big van’. Especially 4-wheelers.
Quick example for you Deck. Last year I got a job with Iceland. Passed the assessment drive and associated tests, and completed a 2 day induction.(Class 1 driver).
First day reporting for duty I was given the keys to a knackered old transit and asked to take some plastic boxes containing food up to a store in North Wales. Got on with it and upon returning to the depot, I was asked to take some more not too far away from where I had just been. Mouth shut (although I was a bit miffed I knew what the game was) and cracked on with a smile on my face.
Following shift and every other I was in a class 1. Gotta display a good attitude in this game and earn your stripes. What area of the country are you in Deck?
Evil8Beezle:
F-reds:
You can earn 30k doing class 2 and still be home every night…Close to 40k if you want to break your balls, have no life and ignore/cheat the WTD…
No ta I’m too lazy for that. I’ve put on nearly 2 stone doing my job for 3 years 
May not be ideal, but stick where you are. Having an HGV licence will make you more employable in the future if things go ■■■■ up.
F-reds:
Evil8Beezle:
F-reds:
You can earn 30k doing class 2 and still be home every night…Close to 40k if you want to break your balls, have no life and ignore/cheat the WTD…
No ta I’m too lazy for that. I’ve put on nearly 2 stone doing my job for 3 years
You better leave your shirt on then pal!
selby newcomer:
Head down to your nearest Brakes depot, they’ll pay close to 30k a year and home every night, hard graft though
Going to a agency this week to do work for brakes but only a Saturday shift
Nobby_Clarke:
As a new class 2 driver I was in the same predicament. I didn’t expect top money but there wasn’t anything that I either wanted to do or could afford to do. And the two agencies I’d signed up with weren’t ringing the fone off the wall.
A year went by and I wondered what I’d done. Then I realised that to get a foot in the door,sacrifices would have to be made. Either with money,hours,type of work. So I took a job with good money but the rest is not good.
Although I’m not keen on the hours and the routes,now I’m getting a foot in the door and experience which are priceless as a newbie. Experience has many sides. trucks/routes/tachograph/WTD etc.
FWIW from the class 1 drivers I’ve spoken to recently,£25 per night is about the going rate,and sometimes it seems that the hourly rate for class 2 and 7.5t isn’t much different. I sometimes wonder if some employers/agencies see class 2 as a ‘big van’. Especially 4-wheelers.
That is it so why drive a truck i have done time in a 7.5 so know all about hours and WTD been driving between 60 and 100k a year since i was 22 years of age so know my way about i am now 47. maybe it is me at my age i want to enjoy my job so wont do crap boring jobs that does not mean im not willing to get my hands dirty as i do every day. I want my mortgage paid in the next 8 years but the wages wont allow that to happen
deck21:
That is it so why drive a truck i have done time in a 7.5 so know all about hours and WTD been driving between 60 and 100k a year since i was 22 years of age so know my way about i am now 47. maybe it is me at my age i want to enjoy my job so wont do crap boring jobs that does not mean im not willing to get my hands dirty as i do every day. I want my mortgage paid in the next 8 years but the wages wont allow that to happen
But you’ve not been driving HGVs so you’re a newbie no different to anyone else starting out except for the fact you know your way around a bit more than my lad does.
World of difference between a 32 tonne rigid which could be anything from a curtainsider to a tanker to a van or a puddle jumper.
eagerbeaver:
Quick example for you Deck. Last year I got a job with Iceland. Passed the assessment drive and associated tests, and completed a 2 day induction.(Class 1 driver).First day reporting for duty I was given the keys to a knackered old transit and asked to take some plastic boxes containing food up to a store in North Wales. Got on with it and upon returning to the depot, I was asked to take some more not too far away from where I had just been. Mouth shut (although I was a bit miffed I knew what the game was) and cracked on with a smile on my face.
Following shift and every other I was in a class 1. Gotta display a good attitude in this game and earn your stripes. What area of the country are you in Deck?
Spalding every job i have gone for i have been offered so not complaining about not getting jobs just the money