Evening all,
My first post on the forum so hello 
Guys I’m currently serving in the Air Force and I’m going to use some of my educational allowance to gain my C and then C+E licences. I’m going to be in the RAF for the next ten years but the plan is to become a full time driver when I leave the forces.
In the meantime, I need to get some experience driving. I normally work Monday to Friday, 9am until 5pm so would only really be available in the evenings and at weekends. Obviously I’m not in a position to look for it until I pass my tests (which should be soon) but does anyone know if a local company would entertain this sort of thing?
I would do it for free just to gain the experience and then maybe look for some casual weekend work, maybe covering for other drivers that are on holiday etc.
Does any of the above sound plausible? If you were a local haulage firm, would you look at me?
For now its back to dreaming about owning that Bullnose Scania Topline 
Thanks in advance.
Martin
Oh dear - you’ve got a hammering coming!! There’s a lot of negativity about offering your services for nothing.
Personally, I think a good compromise is to offer to shadow another driver for nothing. That way, you get supervised experience (assuming you get to drive) and the driver is still getting paid. One of the strong arguments against working for nothing is that there is a driver, somewhere, not earning his living cos your doing it for nought!
But shadowing is a different thing altogether.
Good luck, Pete 
Evenings and weekends ? you already do a 40 hour week, watch out for the comments about the WTD 
Yeah that’s a very good point. Obviously that’s the last thing I want to do.
Shadowing a driver would be better for me until I get some experience under my belt, maybe then I can go temp/casual?
martin,first off mate, ive nowt against you personaly,but guys like you really give me the hump,
you say you want your lgv licence and would love to come in to this industry yes? i understand that bit.
but where it falls down is the part you say you would work for FREE,well let me assure you theres loads of
big hauliers out there who just love guys like your self! sure theyl pay u sumthing say £7-£8.50 per hour
days maybe £9 for nights.PAYE,once u take the deductions off your take home for the day should be
around £50 for sweating your arse off all day and the stress i wont even start.but hey theyl give you a
nice big fh12 volvo you can tell all your mates down the boozer your a big wheeler.not trying to paint a
picture mate but ive been doing it 20 years and havent broke the bank, the industry i love and my father
and his father all wagon drivers are seeing it destroyed by legislation,johnny forigner,and of course the
monkeys who will work for peanuts,in your case FREE!!!
If you offered to work for me for nothing, I would think “Well, he can’t be much good”
By all means offer to go out for the day with a driver for free though, I have done this both as a newbie and as an experienced driver taking a newbie out for the day.
I think that’s what the OP has realised is the favourite option. He’s said he doesn’t want to do anyone out of paid work but we all seem to agree that to “shadow” is a good plan.
I wish him all the best. Pete
Martin, perhaps if you say where you are from, someone here might offer to take you out for the day?
Even if a person didn’t want to do that, I personally would have no problem meeting up with someone on a Saturday morning in the yard and showing them how to check the oil, how to use a ratchet strap, a fuel card etc etc etc.
I might even let him help me to wash down the truck.
I do wonder what you’ll come out to in ten years time. I personally would be looking at other options.