Title : HGV CLASS 1 DRIVER
Location : STOKE-ON-TRENT, STAFFORDSHIRE
Salary : £6.50 PER HOUR
I bet they will still be over subscribed with applications though, mind you pay peanuts etc…
To be honest. If I had my class 1 and they took on newbies, (oh and if I was Midlands based) I’d be there like a shot. Being on the dole looking at 4 walls, getting rejection after rejection makes you realise that 6.50 ph is not so bad
Dean
I agree. People on here need to stop going on about how much they get paid and ridiculing other peoples pay. I’ve seen loads of threads of “I wouldn’t get out of bed for this” and “why do people do jobs for that money?” The simple answer is because £6.50 for example is better than what anyone can get on the dole and with alot of driving jobs involving 60+ hours there is alot more of a wage at the end of it than if you were on £5.93 (minimum wage I believe) working 37 hours a week in a factory. If someone is happy with what they are paid why does everyone feel they have the right to put them down and ridicule it?
xfmatt:
I agree. People on here need to stop going on about how much they get paid and ridiculing other peoples pay. I’ve seen loads of threads of “I wouldn’t get out of bed for this” and “why do people do jobs for that money?” The simple answer is because £6.50 for example is better than what anyone can get on the dole and with alot of driving jobs involving 60+ hours there is alot more of a wage at the end of it than if you were on £5.93 (minimum wage I believe) working 37 hours a week in a factory. If someone is happy with what they are paid why does everyone feel they have the right to put them down and ridicule it?
i agree with what you are saying to a certain extent, i passed my class 1 back in november 2010, i phoned, visited and applied for loads of jobs, but got knocked back due to lack of experience. now my point is, even if the company who advertised this position which this thread about offered me a job, i could not afford to work for that kind of money. offering that kind of money for a class 1 driver is a total zb take. i have bills to pay and simply cant afford to work for that kin of money, how is a person supposed to give their all for that kind ofmoney, you need to be happy in your job and i could neer be happy working for that kind of money as i would be worrying about bills etc etc.
i am currently doing class 2 agencywork on a long termplacement for near enough £2 per hour more than that, so i think i would rather risk staying with an agency than have the zb taken out of me
xfmatt:
I agree. People on here need to stop going on about how much they get paid and ridiculing other peoples pay. I’ve seen loads of threads of “I wouldn’t get out of bed for this” and “why do people do jobs for that money?” The simple answer is because £6.50 for example is better than what anyone can get on the dole and with alot of driving jobs involving 60+ hours there is alot more of a wage at the end of it than if you were on £5.93 (minimum wage I believe) working 37 hours a week in a factory. If someone is happy with what they are paid why does everyone feel they have the right to put them down and ridicule it?
Maybe it’s because HGV drivers are worth so much more? I mean ffs, a bus driver is paid over £9ph and their licence is paid for by the company! New truckers have to pay on average of over 2k to get their licence and you then expect them to work for £6.50■■? 
When I first got my licence, at 21, I was offered a few jobs paying peanuts…I gladly refused those jobs because I considered those wages an insult to the fact I paid for my licence!
Like the guy said before me, you’re better off risking it as an agency driver!
I absolutely agree that we are worth more than £6.50 per hour as a professional driver but if you have been on the dole for 6 months or whatever and you are sat at home then £6.50 an hour for 60 hours may not seem so bad. Don’t forget some people may not have the standard of living of others so may not feel the desire for mega bucks. We are definitely worth more but if people aren’t willing to pay more then what should we do, sit at home on the dole just as a matter of principle?
I totally get all the points raised. But for a newbie who is not even on first rung of the ladder for commercial driving, it is a step to a better job further down the line and stops me sponging off tax payers as at present.
I know I should value my skills more than 6.50 an hour and believe me I do. But as a newbie I cannot afford to be choosy.
Dean
xfmatt:
I absolutely agree that we are worth more than £6.50 per hour as a professional driver but if you have been on the dole for 6 months or whatever and you are sat at home then £6.50 an hour for 60 hours may not seem so bad. Don’t forget some people may not have the standard of living of others so may not feel the desire for mega bucks. We are definitely worth more but if people aren’t willing to pay more then what should we do, sit at home on the dole just as a matter of principle?
You have two choices…either be picky and find other work in the meantime…or just change industries that will pay more, and they are out there…people just don’t know where to look!
two great minds think alike lol
dar1976:
I totally get all the points raised. But for a newbie who is not even on first rung of the ladder for commercial driving, it is a step to a better job further down the line and stops me sponging off tax payers as at present.I know I should value my skills more than 6.50 an hour and believe me I do. But as a newbie I cannot afford to be choosy.
Dean
You can afford to be choosy…I was at 21 to the point I told agencies I wouldn’t do class 2 work for them, just class 1 work…worked for me! And I’ve got rent of £650pm to pay and other bills on top and I’ve survived just fine! Show some toughness to these folk and it pays off…start going “oh but if there’s nothing out there blah blah blah” then you play right into their hands!
I agree with the previous 2 comments to a degree but you tell someone who has been a driver all their life and doesn’t know any better to change industry. Add to the fact he maybe got made redundant and has been out of work for 6 months he would snap someones hand off paying £6.50 per hour. For example, where I live there are none of the large blue chip companies (DHL, Morrisons, Tesco etc) for at least 50 miles and so we are left to take the jobs in and around the town that don’t pay fantastically. If I were to commute for a better wage I wouldn’t actually be any better off due to commuting costs (fuel, insurance, tax etc. anyways I suppose we all have our opinions on the issue and i’m sure we could ‘debate’ all night but i’m off to bed! Night all!
If a painter makes a mistake he can re-do the wall, if a chippy makes a mistake he can buy another bit of timber. If a lorry driver makes a mistake people die.
£6.50 for that kind of burden worth it? Im own a decent wage but if i was unemployed i would take a job at 6.50 but it wouldn’t be driving lorries it would be stacking a shelf away from the firing line. Paying for cpc, digi card, possible fines , ■■■■ hours , the stress of the rat race everyday for 6.50 away you go.
merc0447:
If a painter makes a mistake he can re-do the wall, if a chippy makes a mistake he can buy another bit of timber. If a lorry driver makes a mistake people die.£6.50 for that kind of burden worth it? Im own a decent wage but if i was unemployed i would take a job at 6.50 but it wouldn’t be driving lorries it would be stacking a shelf away from the firing line. Paying for cpc, digi card, possible fines , [zb] hours , the stress of the rat race everyday for 6.50 away you go.
Exactly…and shelf stackers earn more than £6.50…not by much, but it is more! And you don’t have a single worry in the world.
What a load of ■■■■■■■■ again, most shelf stackers are part time workers who do 16 or 28 hours per week maximum, and the north / south divide makes one hell of a difference when you live in leafy Surrey or Longton
Well, just to stick my two pennorth in!
I ended up working for a local firm that paid £7 class 1.
It’s all I could find and it saw me through the worst of the recession. Doing 60+ hrs a week and 4 nights away minimum, it kept a roof over my families head, put food on the table and paid the bills and I still had a bit left over.
Yes it’s taking the proverbial paying this kind of money and we should get more, but most don’t. I can only think of one or two firms in the whole of the South West that pays decent money other than shopping trolley work (through and agency, btw) , so beggars can’t be choosers down here as there’s just not the competition. Most pay £300 - £350 pw in Devon and Cornwall and you’re away all week. And yet, there’s a job in Southampton delivering for One Stop Shops that pays £30k + with the occasional night out. Too far to commute I’m afraid!
Stacking shelves is ok and you may get more money per hour, but you certainly won’t be doing the hours to make it up to a living wage.
dar1976:
two great minds think alike lol
It’s an interesting signature you’ve got there, did you research the job market or the wages before you did all these tests and training?
I researched as best I could and floated around the forums for a while before taking the plunge.
My signature is just my goals for the next couple of years and is a work in progress.
I have 8 points on my license so am fairly unemployable as far as commercial driving goes. So getting my categories so that I have best chance I can have in Jan 2012 when they come off my license.
Don’t want to be a scrounger on the dole much longer. Hate being out of work. Won’t do anything that sees me worse off than signing on.
So getting the categories and trying every avenue for someone to give me a break.
Dean
Adam_Mc:
merc0447:
If a painter makes a mistake he can re-do the wall, if a chippy makes a mistake he can buy another bit of timber. If a lorry driver makes a mistake people die.£6.50 for that kind of burden worth it? Im own a decent wage but if i was unemployed i would take a job at 6.50 but it wouldn’t be driving lorries it would be stacking a shelf away from the firing line. Paying for cpc, digi card, possible fines , [zb] hours , the stress of the rat race everyday for 6.50 away you go.
Exactly…and shelf stackers earn more than £6.50…not by much, but it is more! And you don’t have a single worry in the world.
I don’t have a single worry in the world. How people seem to find this job so stressful baffles me. If you want to go stack shelves, but I wouldn’t even for £25 and hour, I’d rather take the £6.50 job. But then my whole life doesn’t revolve around making money.
switchlogic:
Adam_Mc:
merc0447:
If a painter makes a mistake he can re-do the wall, if a chippy makes a mistake he can buy another bit of timber. If a lorry driver makes a mistake people die.£6.50 for that kind of burden worth it? Im own a decent wage but if i was unemployed i would take a job at 6.50 but it wouldn’t be driving lorries it would be stacking a shelf away from the firing line. Paying for cpc, digi card, possible fines , [zb] hours , the stress of the rat race everyday for 6.50 away you go.
Exactly…and shelf stackers earn more than £6.50…not by much, but it is more! And you don’t have a single worry in the world.
I don’t have a single worry in the world. How people seem to find this job so stressful baffles me. If you want to go stack shelves, but I wouldn’t even for £25 and hour, I’d rather take the £6.50 job. But then my whole life doesn’t revolve around making money.
Well some people don’t care about the money, they just love the job…such as yourself. And don’t you actually live in your unit? If so then you do have it easy compared to almost any trucker I’ve ever known…I’ve never known a trucker to live in their units full time (thats if you do of course) and not have rent or a mortgage and other bills to worry about.
But for the rest of us its a different story…we don’t have the option to live in our cabs so we have to live in a house…but when you have to work 60+ hours a week and stay in your cab for 5 days and then home for only 2 or sometimes less…you think to yourself, “why work so many hours for so little money just to be able to keep a roof over my head, when I can hardly use that roof because most of the time I have to sleep in this box?” its kind of a catch 22, unless you do something about it…such as move on.