Continental Trucking................no I said TRUCKING !!.
Discussion
Do the continental truckers earn good money ?? I always wanted to be a long distance lorry driver from a wee lad.
So how much does it cost to have lessons and pass an HGV test ?
Can you go straight into euro trucking or do you have to start in the UK and get some experience first before driving abroad ?
Can I get a truck with a long bonnet and some fancy horns ??
So how much does it cost to have lessons and pass an HGV test ?
Can you go straight into euro trucking or do you have to start in the UK and get some experience first before driving abroad ?
Can I get a truck with a long bonnet and some fancy horns ??
SimonV8ster said:
Do the continental truckers earn good money ?
Wouldn't think so.Most of the drivers you see are in foreign-registered trucks and are foreign themselves, usually Eastern European.
Alledgedy, Will Betz, one of the big euro hauliers did have about 7,000 trucks. At one stage I reckon there was about 10% of his fleet parked up on various industrial estates and lay-bys around here.
Other half is going through this at the moment.
You will need a medical, and provisional entitlement, he says its a couple of hundred quid.
You will then need to do class 2 (rigids) before you can go onto Class 1 (Artics), you will need to take the theory and hazard perception.
Get in touch with a LGV driving school, they can take you out in a Class 2 and let you know how many lessons you need, you are looking at between £40 and £50 an hour for the lessons.
Then you need to sort out your practical, its just over £100 for the test itself, but you will also need to 'borrow' the vehicle, (usually from your driving school) so you are looking at the cost for that too, I think it was something near £250 - £300 per pop at the test.
Then, if you pass Class 2, repeat the lessons and then the test for Class 1.
Then, see if any haulage firms are hiring, some won't without experience, and from what we have been finding out, you are not likely to go straight into the continental runs, but start with day runs first.
Oh and it seems that some of them pay really crap wages (one my other half enquired at was only just over national minimum wage)
I think he has budgeted for 1k per licence.
You will need a medical, and provisional entitlement, he says its a couple of hundred quid.
You will then need to do class 2 (rigids) before you can go onto Class 1 (Artics), you will need to take the theory and hazard perception.
Get in touch with a LGV driving school, they can take you out in a Class 2 and let you know how many lessons you need, you are looking at between £40 and £50 an hour for the lessons.
Then you need to sort out your practical, its just over £100 for the test itself, but you will also need to 'borrow' the vehicle, (usually from your driving school) so you are looking at the cost for that too, I think it was something near £250 - £300 per pop at the test.
Then, if you pass Class 2, repeat the lessons and then the test for Class 1.
Then, see if any haulage firms are hiring, some won't without experience, and from what we have been finding out, you are not likely to go straight into the continental runs, but start with day runs first.
Oh and it seems that some of them pay really crap wages (one my other half enquired at was only just over national minimum wage)
I think he has budgeted for 1k per licence.
Edited by speedchick on Friday 9th January 16:27
speedchick said:
Other half is going through this at the moment.
You will need a medical, and provisional entitlement, he says its a couple of hundred quid.
You will then need to do class 2 (rigids) before you can go onto Class 1 (Artics), you will need to take the theory and hazard perception.
Get in touch with a LGV driving school, they can take you out in a Class 2 and let you know how many lessons you need, you are looking at between £40 and £50 an hour for the lessons.
Then you need to sort out your practical, its just over £100 for the test itself, but you will also need to 'borrow' the vehicle, (usually from your driving school) so you are looking at the cost for that too, I think it was something near £250 - £300 per pop at the test.
Then, if you pass Class 2, repeat the lessons and then the test for Class 1.
Then, see if any haulage firms are hiring, some won't without experience, and from what we have been finding out, you are not likely to go straight into the continental runs, but start with day runs first.
Oh and it seems that some of them pay really crap wages (one my other half enquired at was only just over national minimum wage)
Thanks for all the info !! You will need a medical, and provisional entitlement, he says its a couple of hundred quid.
You will then need to do class 2 (rigids) before you can go onto Class 1 (Artics), you will need to take the theory and hazard perception.
Get in touch with a LGV driving school, they can take you out in a Class 2 and let you know how many lessons you need, you are looking at between £40 and £50 an hour for the lessons.
Then you need to sort out your practical, its just over £100 for the test itself, but you will also need to 'borrow' the vehicle, (usually from your driving school) so you are looking at the cost for that too, I think it was something near £250 - £300 per pop at the test.
Then, if you pass Class 2, repeat the lessons and then the test for Class 1.
Then, see if any haulage firms are hiring, some won't without experience, and from what we have been finding out, you are not likely to go straight into the continental runs, but start with day runs first.
Oh and it seems that some of them pay really crap wages (one my other half enquired at was only just over national minimum wage)
Looks like my dreams of hauling boxes of oranges along the coast roads of Spain may not pay much then ??!!
Digga said:
SimonV8ster said:
Do the continental truckers earn good money ?
Alledgedy, Will Betz, one of the big euro hauliers did have about 7,000 trucks. At one stage I reckon there was about 10% of his fleet parked up on various industrial estates and lay-bys around here.Mike400 said:
What if you done the tests, bought your own tractor and approached the big firms as an owner / driver?
I know quite a few truckers in the States, owner operaters as they are known here don't do particularly well. A few do however, not sure why, possibly gifts to dispatchers 
or in niche industries like hauling stuff from quaries. The trucking business is tough, split load carriers, do ok (or did) but you need a warehouse for that.
Going in blind with no friends or contacts and payments on a truck might not be wise.
Get a job with a freight forwarder while you do your tests if you really fancy it.
I'm afraid that the chances of getting a truck and swanning off to Spain straight off are slim.
As specified above, you'll have to do the Class 2/Class 1 HGV licence. Not difficult, but budget £1500-£2000 for it.
You'll then have to get UK experience. The easiest way to do this is through an agency. A few years back, they couldn't get enough drivers and there was £££££ in it. Nowadays in these recession-hit times it's not so straightforward and with fuel and labour costs hitting home it's a little bit tumbleweed.
Still, if you get work with an agency you'll get experience. After doing this for a while, if you're with a good agency and you do good work and don't prang the thing, it could lead to foreign work but a word of warning:
It's now extremely de rigeur in the Forwarding industry to us Eastern European truckers. This is simply due to the pittance wages and the fact they'll work all the hours god sends. The numbers of UK drivers on the continent has dropped significantly, to the point now where I'd say that 95% of the UK drivers in Europe are only there because they've been doing it for years and have masses of experience.
As for rocking up at a logistics company with your own truck and trailer......I wouldn't. They won't know you from Adam and unless you can convince the transport manager/s that you know what you're doing and aren't going to put their £50k load into a French ditch/get nicked/get lost/etc you'll have no work. Plus, the costs of a tractor unit and trailer are enormous - it's not quite the Smokey and the Bandit fantasy you might think.
Consider other factors aswell - the boredom (driving a 40' truck seems like a laugh but when you're doing it for 12 hours a day, every day the novelty wears off very quickly) The time away from home (If abroad, expect to leave Sunday night and be back on Friday night) The lack of social life. The grief from bosses/customers. I could go on....
As specified above, you'll have to do the Class 2/Class 1 HGV licence. Not difficult, but budget £1500-£2000 for it.
You'll then have to get UK experience. The easiest way to do this is through an agency. A few years back, they couldn't get enough drivers and there was £££££ in it. Nowadays in these recession-hit times it's not so straightforward and with fuel and labour costs hitting home it's a little bit tumbleweed.
Still, if you get work with an agency you'll get experience. After doing this for a while, if you're with a good agency and you do good work and don't prang the thing, it could lead to foreign work but a word of warning:
It's now extremely de rigeur in the Forwarding industry to us Eastern European truckers. This is simply due to the pittance wages and the fact they'll work all the hours god sends. The numbers of UK drivers on the continent has dropped significantly, to the point now where I'd say that 95% of the UK drivers in Europe are only there because they've been doing it for years and have masses of experience.
As for rocking up at a logistics company with your own truck and trailer......I wouldn't. They won't know you from Adam and unless you can convince the transport manager/s that you know what you're doing and aren't going to put their £50k load into a French ditch/get nicked/get lost/etc you'll have no work. Plus, the costs of a tractor unit and trailer are enormous - it's not quite the Smokey and the Bandit fantasy you might think.
Consider other factors aswell - the boredom (driving a 40' truck seems like a laugh but when you're doing it for 12 hours a day, every day the novelty wears off very quickly) The time away from home (If abroad, expect to leave Sunday night and be back on Friday night) The lack of social life. The grief from bosses/customers. I could go on....
jeff m said:
Owner operaters as they are known here don't do particularly well. A few do however, not sure why, possibly gifts to dispatchers
I know a few owner-operators. These guys have about 3 or 4 7.5t vehicles and employ drivers to run them, doing multi drop in the UK. They then drive one themselves aswell.If you know what you're doing, and have a deal with regular work, there's money to be made. It's bl00dy hard work (13 hours a day+) but put it this way, one shows up here in a 2006 M5, one has an 08 Range Rover Sport (having sold his 360) and one has an Evo VIII.
You can never judge a man's wealth by his garage but they do OK....
Muzzer said:
I know a few owner-operators. These guys have about 3 or 4 7.5t vehicles and employ drivers to run them, doing multi drop in the UK. They then drive one themselves aswell.
As I understand it an owner operator has one vehicle which is driven by the the owner/operator not more than one vehicle employing others.Oh, speedchick - I was only showing off
Rob. said:
Oh, speedchick - I was only showing off
Hey it's ok, but having helped him through his theory book, I know far more than I ever wanted to know about buses, LGVs, tachos, (and recalibrating of them), what colour each line is, and loads of other boring but no doubt useful stuff.One thing my other half did say was when he did his theory, he knew every question in the book (had gone through all 1200 or whatever), and got one question wrong in his test, he came out convinced that the question hadn't been in the book, checked, and he was right, the sneaky so and so's slipped another question in there!
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