HGV Class C2 Licence

[Martin2008]

Hi there , longtime listener( reader) first time caller(Poster) and all that, so please be kind on me .

As of late my company has informed me that they would no longer need my services as of February 09,they told me that blah blah blah we can not guarentee this business would survive without laying many people off .
A friend of mine has told me to get a HGV C Class2 licence as I would pretty much get £10-hour work immediately .
Is this true ?

How hard passing the HGV test could be ?

Thanks martin

[Scott328i]

Yup normally around £80-£120 per day

[_Batty_]

Martin2008 said:

Hi there , longtime listener( reader) first time caller(Poster) and all that, so please be kind on me .

As of late my company has informed me that they would no longer need my services as of February 09,they told me that blah blah blah we can not guarentee this business would survive without laying many people off .
A friend of mine has told me to get a HGV C Class2 licence as I would pretty much get £10-hour work immediately .
Is this true ?

How hard passing the HGV test could be ?

Thanks martin

im looking at doing mine...
so you'll need to stump up £1000 for the rigid lessons and a test (some offer incentives to do the arctic as well such as £1200 for both)
you'll need to take a theory and practical.
most courses take 1 week (with another week for arctics)

[tonto2]

And once you have done this test and gained your licence where are you going to get a job?

[Martin2008]

I did ask the company who would provide the training about work availibilty and they told me theres drivers shortage , is this true ?
I am bit suspicious on anything and anyone that tries to sell too hard

Is this £1000 money well spent ?

Thanks

Edited by Martin2008 on Monday 24th November 11:16

[10 Pence Short]

tonto2 said:

And once you have done this test and gained your licence where are you going to get a job?

There are lots of agencies still recruiting, for a start.

[thepeoplespal]

I think it was a licence for £10 hour for an experienced Licence holder. With the massive amount of haulage companies going out of business, I'd say it was the wrong time for jumping on the bandwagon. two years ago maybe, but not now. It would be a good thing to have, certainly especially on a run up to christmas (next year now for you), but if you are looking for immediate payback, I'd try something else.

A lot of very experienced people on the HGV job market at the moment, there will probably be opportunities with some firms, but they will expect you to run bent or be so onerous that no one else wants to work for them.

Good luck anyway.

[Martin2008]

thepeoplespal said:

I think it was a licence for £10 hour for an experienced Licence holder. With the massive amount of haulage companies going out of business, I'd say it was the wrong time for jumping on the bandwagon. two years ago maybe, but not now. It would be a good thing to have, certainly especially on a run up to christmas (next year now for you), but if you are looking for immediate payback, I'd try something else.

A lot of very experienced people on the HGV job market at the moment, there will probably be opportunities with some firms, but they will expect you to run bent or be so onerous that no one else wants to work for them.

Good luck anyway.

Very interesting , I thought tonto had a point there as he is in the business . Anyone else can comment please


Thanks

[tonto2]

10 Pence Short said:

tonto2 said:

And once you have done this test and gained your licence where are you going to get a job?

There are lots of agencies still recruiting, for a start.[/quote

Recruiting is the only thing the agencies are doing. There are very little jobs out there and i would go as far as say there are no jobs in driving for people with little or no experiance.

[thepeoplespal]

Martin2008 said:

I did ask the company who would provide the training about work availibilty and they told me theres drivers shortage , is this true ?
I am bit suspicious on anything and anyone that tries to sell too hard

Is this £1000 money well spent ?

Thanks

Edited by Martin2008 on Monday 24th November 11:16

Technically there is still a driver shortage, mostly the slack has been taken up by eastern europeans though and projections suggest that it will need an injection of new blood into the industry as the demographics for drivers retiring in the next 5-10 years is pretty frightening.

The longer term outlook is good, but any investment of a £1k is not going to be paid off soon, probably work out in the longer term as the outlay of £1k creates a larger barrier to entry into the industry than for most jobs. Every business will now have the whip hand and they will pick employees with bags of experience, no crashes, probably aged 30+ (for the cheaper insurance), whereas before they might have taken the chance with new talent.

Take a read of Commercial Motor, Motor Transport - industry magazines and Truck and Driver, Trucking international etc for drivers angle (available at your local library - if your hard up for a few quid) for current situation of the market.

[10 Pence Short]

tonto2 said:

10 Pence Short said:

tonto2 said:

And once you have done this test and gained your licence where are you going to get a job?

There are lots of agencies still recruiting, for a start.

Recruiting is the only thing the agencies are doing. There are very little jobs out there and i would go as far as say there are no jobs in driving for people with little or no experiance.

You might find it's localised.

A close friend recently qualified, went with an agency and has been with NFT ever since, 4/5 shifts a week.

Edited by 10 Pence Short on Monday 24th November 11:39

[john_p]

Check your medical status before doing anything .. info on the DVLA website. Basically make sure there's nothing nasty in your medical history.

[thepeoplespal]

tonto2 said:

10 Pence Short said:

tonto2 said:

And once you have done this test and gained your licence where are you going to get a job?

There are lots of agencies still recruiting, for a start.[/quote

Recruiting is the only thing the agencies are doing. There are very little jobs out there and i would go as far as say there are no jobs in driving for people with little or no experience.

I'd agree, no business in their right mind will recruit people with little or no experience when there are high numbers of highly experienced drivers available at the same money. You might be lucky, but don't bet the farm on it.

Edited by thepeoplespal on Monday 24th November 11:41

[tonto2]

Martin2008 said:

Hi there , longtime listener( reader) first time caller(Poster) and all that, so please be kind on me .

As of late my company has informed me that they would no longer need my services as of February 09,they told me that blah blah blah we can not guarentee this business would survive without laying many people off .
A friend of mine has told me to get a HGV C Class2 licence as I would pretty much get £10-hour work immediately .
Is this true ?

How hard passing the HGV test could be ?

Thanks martin

Martin why not get your present employer to put you through your C+E test as part of your redundency package also there are goverment grants available but iirc you have to have been unemployed for a period of time beforehand.

[Martin2008]

The problem is that at the moment the only work I can find is labouring. Not scared of work but labouring for a roofer firm for minimum wage in this weather is not to my fancy .

Im 23, have 3 points on my licence (2006) and live in London .Very distressed about having no experience and I can see most of the vacancies are for experienced drivers

Edited by Martin2008 on Monday 24th November 11:56

[Martin2008]

tonto2 said:

Martin why not get your present employer to put you through your C+E test as part of your redundency package also there are goverment grants available but iirc you have to have been unemployed for a period of time beforehand.

I have been offered £1500 from my current employer

[HardPlant]

As one, I'll put forward my two peneth... Better option than Class 2 is in fact getting a PSV licence. As the credit crunch deepens, more and more people will turn to public transport for getting around - and that's currently a licence worth holding.

The British Class D licence is accepted worldwide, without further retest, because our standards are so high, yet all the large companies offer a training scheme followed by contracted employment. I myself work for Stagecoach, who have trained me, and will continue to train and update my skills, including the new Driver's CPC (which you would HAVE to do before working commercially now) through my employment. Arriva, FirstBus, and National Express all offer similar schemes. Pay will vary depending on where you are in the country, London being almost £20 per hour.

There will be plenty of Bank Managers looking to become Bus drivers in the coming months, I recommend you jump into that flow ASAP provided your medical is acceptable.

[10 Pence Short]

Martin2008 said:

The problem is that at the moment the only work I can find is labouring. Not scared of work but labouring for a roofer firm for minimum wage in this weather is not to my fancy .

Some friends of mine are labouring at the moment (putting paving down). Working 7 days a week they're clearing £900 a week. Not minimum wage!

[stifler]

i am signed up with two agencies. one of which i havent heard from about any work at all. the other one i have regular work 5 or 6 days a week. if some one is offering £1200 for C2+C1 licences then take it. that is incredibly cheap. check the instructors credentials though. as above if you can get the training as a redundancy package then by the time you finish your current job you could be just qualified to start work. check that they dont bump the price up too much if you have to retake your tests. i think i paid £250 for my C2 retest. worth checking though.
Also there are a couple of nationwide driver agencies, if you are prepared to travel a little bit these are far more likely to get you regular work rather than small local agencies that tend to look after their long-term regular drivers and totally ignore the fact that you are on their books.

Being a Lorryist is quite cool though. easiest money i have ever earned.

HTH

[obstreperous]

It'll cost you about £1200 to get through your class 2 , presuming you pass first time .

Getting £10 an hour during normal times would not be a problem , during these times it will be , it also depends a lot on which area you live in .
I've been in transport for about 18 years and have never seen things as bad as they are at present , a vast amount of haulage is building trade related , and we all know what has happened to that . All agencies may still say they are taking staff on , but believe me , not all of the staff on an agencies books get daily employment never mind weekly or long term contract work .
I take calls at work from applicants looking for work at a rate of about 2 maybe 3 per day , this means we can reduce salaries as supply is outstripping demand .
I'm in the North east (the toon) and a class 2 driver around here would be doing well to get £8.50 an hour if employed full time , or about £7.50/£8 an hour tthrough an agency .