First job YTS panel beater with funeral company. Day one, pick up watchdogs crap and then lie in back of hearse with shifting spanner. Day two, unemployed.
Next five years worked for the council emptying rubbish bins from the old tenements in Glasgow’s West End by means of the old basket on the back held by a rope over one shoulder. Used to put cardboard capes round the sides of the baskets to get more bins in. Turned 21 and was told it would be at least 2 years before I would qualify for my HGV training. Took 10 days holiday and put myself through my class 1 which I past. Started with John Stamper Rutherglen soon after.
97-99 Started one of those Modern Aprrenticeships in Business Admin working for a Management training consultancy in Durham. (Sort of pushed in this direction ‘kicking and screaming lol’, by my parents who are both Civil Servants).
99-03 Orange call centre at Peterlee - firstly as a CSR then later in a supervisory role
03-04 Arriva Durham - Big mistake!!! By this time I knew I wanted to drive rather than be stuck in offices but I had chosen the wrong license!! Escaped as soon as the 12 month contract clause for their training costs had expired.
04 to now working for a local haulier but contracted out to Cemex.
Just passed class 1 and just waiting for something new to come up!!!
Left School 74, joined Parachute Regt, served 9yrs fought a couple of little wars, shot a few people , went to 2nd Coy REP, foreign legion for 3 yrs, came back got HGV, and thats it Trucking ever since, although i still get the urge to destroy things (Caravans)
The minimum contract, after selection, is 5 years!
Yes, would have done more but got medical discharge due to breaking hip, leg ankle on jump in chad and being out of action for 14 months, went mad just stuck in Calvi with naff all to do, eventually after getting fit rejoined 10 para TA
worked on farms since , inc a year in usa - where the farmer asked me if i knew how to drive a semi – i thought he meant a semi mounted plough - until he pulled the door open on his shed and said " thats yours follow me " and i got a cold sweat and climbed into a freightliner . Id never even sat in an artic let alone driven one !! As the limey i couldnt lose face could i ?!! Followed that working on farms, stud farms , working in betting shops until i moved south a couple of years ago and got a job with a courier company and decided i coudnt drive vans when i should be driving trucks on the back of my year in america driving freightliners . Got my class 2 last nov and class 1 in march and never been happier … what what what !!
escape school 92 mechanic from then to age 18 pass psv with united did buses and some coach tours till age 21 pass hgv get job at local quarry been there ever since its been 11 and half years and am still there . i think i just like splashing around in the mud.
i left school at 15, and started off as a trainee gynocologist, and then transferred to a different department where i started training as a mammary gland specialist, i left because of insufficient models to practice on.
i got a job with the co-op as a bike rider delivering groceries, then took over a mates job of working in a wet fish shop…my money doubled to £9 a week, plus fiddles.
worked on a building site as a labourer, till i took my driving test, and took a job as a van driver for FPS…ferraris piston service…thats when all garages would employ proper mechanics who could actually rebuild engines.
I left after a year, and worked for the local laundry, cos they had bigger lorries…Ford 4D…then left there to work for Hiltons Transport …beck and pollitzer…and started international work…and the rest is history…as they say…i was born to be a trucker…
Left school in '91 and went into a YTS as a mechanic, got a BTec. Then I became a stainless steel fabricator, went into the RAF in '94 left in '96. Became a bus driver, after various agency jobs, progressed onto coaches which I finished in '02. After that I ran my own van business for a couple of years, got my Class 2 and drove for Salvesens, back to the angencies, left there and went for my C+E. Worked on Class 2’s for another 2 years while working on the agency at the sametime gaining expierence in class 1 and now working for a firm doing tramping on containers.
Pig man 3 months
Tractor driver 18 months (drove first lorry at 16)
Factory worker (chucking out manky carrots) 3months
Tractor driver on and off 4 6 years
Factory worker (started as cleaner in poultry process plant, finished as charge hand) 2 years
Shunter driver ( passed test and became driver ) 2.5 Years
General driver
Set up as owner/driver 4years and 8 months ago. Best job i’ve ever had.
my father was a haulier.
i got my license when i was 18.
i still drive them most of the time and taxi when i want a break.
driving trucks38 years since i was teen…
I left School in 1996 and got an 3 yr apprenticeship as a mechanic working for a local garage in Clacton, then left there and worked for a Subaru main dealer in Colchester for 18 months. Left there to be the workshop manager for Central Tyre next door to the Subaru dealer for 6 months . Then became a Mechancal Engineer for a company in Brightlingsea that manufactured machinery for 3yrs. Then got sponsored by Harwich Express in sept 2003 for my class 2 and 1.
Left school at 16 in '91 (god that seems a long time ago ) worked in a jewellers for a year (dont ask!!) then a bicycle shop for a year, got paid off, joined the ranks of the unemployed for 6 months while serving in the TA then took the plunge to join the “regs” in '94. Served in the Royal Engineers for 8 brilliant years, got out in 2002 after messy divorce and straight into my first “civvie” driving job on car transporters!!! I love driving, love big rigs, just wish we got reated witha little bit more respect!!!
, went to 2nd Coy REP, foreign legion for 3 yrs, came back got HGV, and thats it Trucking ever since, although i still get the urge to destroy things (Caravans) 
