mac12:
Easy answer to this question No. I left driving 2 years ago to work on the railway and when you see how other jobs treat there staff compared to transport no way would I ever go back.
I agree with that.
I drove trucks for too long until finally seeing the light and getting the fork out of what is a cesspool of an industry. It (and the places drivers have to go to, such as RDCs and building sites among others) is populated largely by idiots, people who are angry with life and intend to take their anger out on anyone and everyone they encounter, and those utter morons who go out of their way to make things difficult for other people for no reason whatsoever.
Some of the stuff I read on here - principally concerning how drivers are increasingly ■■■■ on as a matter of course - does nothing but reinforce my thought that I would probably not work at all before going back to driving a truck.
That is a very interesting question. Like the OP I was a teacher and spent all my holidays from school driving trucks and later gave up teaching altogether as the job became carp. As for recommending driving as a job only if the kids showed interest in it. You do not have to have had truck drivers in the family I had none but wanted to drive trucks from an early age. And so it is with some kids today and just because you aren’t academically inclined does not mean you are a thicko. I have a degree but what is that it just means you had a good memory for stuff. I know drivers who are far more intelligent than I could ever be know more about life taught me so much that I never would have learned at uni. If a kid showed interest I would encourage that interest point out the pitfalls etc but also point out out the best things about it and there are more good things than bad. The industry definitely needs a whole new army of young bloods male and female the oldies remember the good times before the rules and regs became so dire and no VOSA at every turn and find it difficult to change their attitudes. The pay may ont be as good as some jobs but I know my friends envied me as I got to see places they could only dream of and got paid for it.
I think the majority of the young today are more sensible than some of us may have been back in the day and if they want to drive I say give them every encouragement it is a different way of life than sitting at a desk or in a factory so my answer is yes
One thing never call someone who isn’t academically inclined a thicko everyone has a talent for something and some who never passed an exam are actually smarter than many of us.
I feel I’m a young un being 23 (started driving class 2 at 18) and I think I did 3 or 4 runs two years ago class 1 before i’d had enough.
I’m in this life for the money+free time and driving lorries just doesn’t offer me that as much as I love it. I’ve tried getting part time weekend work to keep my foot in but can’t justify working a saturday or sunday for less than my weekly rate.
currently work at JLR on the track doing the same thing 330 times a shift for 36 hours a week for more money. Who knows maybe in the future i’ll give it another crack, for the time being it doesn’t suit my needs and wants.
Rjan- Where do you get the figure of " five grand " from to aquire your licences? Long way out there fella. £3k should cover it easily including a couple of failed tests and CPC.
As for all the doom and gloom merchants…see you on the motorway tomorrow.
To give you a point of view to someone who has change career recently to become a driver, my arvice would be plain and simple this…
The students need to think about…
Do they like driving? (Which they won’t know until they drive a car so they need to wait until then to decide). If the answer is yes then continue, If its no then they will hate the job.
If they like driving then do they like really long journeys or do they find them totally and utterly boring? If they don’t mind then carry on, if they don’t like it then forget it.
And finally do they enjoy their own company and don’t mind being on their own all day, or all week if tramping? If they are fine with that then again, carry on, if they can’t think of anything worse than having no one to talk to but them self or the office then forget it.
If it’s a yes to all those 3 then it could be a good career option as those 3 things are the bulk of the job. The rest of it such as office people who haven’t a clue and grumpy forklift drivers and yard managers you can live with, but you NEED to like driving and spending time your own.
depends on their circumstances…a lad i know just starting out,passed his Class 2,now doing his dcpc courses,then hopefully his Class 1.at present he’s in a dead end job working for a well known sandwich maker,with the staff up in arms about their treatment due to the new ‘National Wage’.when he gets going he’ll double his wages (and his hours…but he knows that).he has a young family to support,so i advised him to go for it.
my youngest,who’s almost 21yo…in a pretty good job which he enjoys,but fancies driving a big truck…has been told ‘don’t be so stupid’
An ‘oldies class 2’ view, probably worth as much as it cost to write it! Driving trucks for me was far better than repairing the things, both financially and healthwise, and I had been around the things since being a nipper in the fifties. However I’m not sure that I would have paid to take the training etc if the company I was a fitter for hadn’t put me through my test and that is perhaps the problem in that if you have no previous knowledge of the driving industry it can cost you a lot of money only to discover that it isn’t actually the job for you.
For me though there was nothing to beat heading out loaded around 5.30 am when the sun was just rising with nobody to bother you and no foreman etc watching your every move, for an employed driver that was as close as it got to being your own boss for a day and I would do it all again and certainly wouldn’t try to deter anyone despite the long hours.
I suppose we could ask ourselves if we had our time over again and knew what we do now would we do the same again or choose a different path in life. I’m discounting the philosophy that our lives are predetermined etc…
Anyway I would do it all again exactly the same, my only regret is that I left the profession for 10 years for ehhh special ops.
This may make me a minority but I like the open road, the illusion of freedom, the women (alright the pretend women), the diversity, the new experiences and even when I’m having a bad day there’s the comfort of me truck to fall back on.
TBF the job has got a lot more fun with tinterweb and wifi.
Of course the laughs are still available perhaps not as much as they used to be. Many a time I’ve walked into a truckstop with the intent to just powder me nose then bumped into a few colleagues and staggered out 4 hours later ■■■■■■ as a ■■■■.
simple answer,A BIG FAT NO,i have been asked before about it and what its like,i tell the truth,long hours, crap pay,treated like dirt a lot of the time,then I say make your own mind up,thats the only way you will see
No, it is a thankless career, you are treated with contempt by the public, the Companys you deliver to other road users service areas.I found the buerockracy and red tape in JUST being a driver was becoming tiresome,ADR, CPC, DIGI CARD, Medicals,having to fill out 2 pA4 check lists just to leave the yard more and more expected of you, Load it, Drive it, Tip it, you are a cash machine for the Government and other parasitical organizations, a target for the Police,VOSA, Highways Agency, Custom and Excise etc, since I quit for good just over one year ago I feel much better mentally (unfortunately not physically) sleep better, and I find that I like a regular routine, so NO I would not recommend it to anyone
If youre a single guy doing long haul its a great job but not UK work though. European work if you can get it is the way to go especially further south in the warmer climates…
AndrewG:
If youre a single guy doing long haul its a great job but not UK work though. European work if you can get it is the way to go especially further south in the warmer climates…
That work just doesn’t exist any more for British drivers. That was the thing that attracted me to the job, I certainly wouldn’t be interested in doing it if I was in my early-mid 20’s nowadays.
As for wages, it costs around £3,000 to get a Class 1 licence nowadays, the employed drivers at the yard where I stable my truck are on £7.80 an hour, my son is 17 and he works for Serco at the local hospital, serving meals to patients, emptying bins and tidying up etc and he’s on £8 an hour.
Speaking for myself, yes I would recommend it to the less-academic students. It won’t be an easy ride, and comes with a lot of negatives, but there’s a lot of good things about it as well. If they then decide its not for them, they’ve always got the licence to fall back on if they need it in later life, and if they don’t, they’ve always got the fallback route of economist / legal eagle / international statesman. Seems to work on here anyway…
I recommend you pack the HGV job up if you are a full time teacher…if you have a bad accident you may be open to accusations of not taking enough rest,your phone ,computer and other records will be used to see if they had an effect on your ability to drive a HGV .
Will technology save this industry before there really is a severe driver shortage. The average age of a HGV driver is around 53. Those with a full career will remember how different career and aspiration paths were back in the day. Would you embark on the same path today? I doubt it. There was money in the job then and a mutual respect amongst drivers on general haulage. The camaraderie was such that you very rarely rolled a sheet up on your own, and you felt part of something. It must be a very lonely existence tramping now. So who would recommend it to anybody?
Now everything is cut to the bone. The race to the bottom courtesy of Stobarts/Maritme etc is forcing a lot of people out of the industry. When will they ever learn that for a lot of drivers it is not about a uniform and a coffee maker. Their attitude towards drivers is so corrosive to morale that a lot of drivers would sooner change career than work for them…or in the Co-ops case, retire!
Unlike some of the other posters on here, I’m a relative Newbie. I wasn’t around for the golden era of trucking and only know it for what it is today. On the other hand, I can compare it to other professions out there. Trucking isn’t as bad as some make out. I came into it with my eyes open (although some things still shocked me) and was prepared for the dirty work, long hours and everything else. It can be hard work, but I love it, wishb I’d done it years ago. Yeah I know, wait till I’ve been doing it for 10-15 years and my opinion will change. Maybe so, but compared to some of the other crap that’s out there, truck driving isn’t that bad.
