Becoming a HGV driver?

[Stussy]

It’s a lot easier now than it used to be!
Yes, they’re not the cheapest, but they’re also not a broker, which is important

[BricktopST205]

Stussy said:

It’s a lot easier now than it used to be!
Yes, they’re not the cheapest, but they’re also not a broker, which is important

The test has always been a joke but the country needs bums on seats as quickly as possible!

It took me around 6 months before I felt comfortable in my own skin with reversing, route planning and flowing through traffic efficiently. Those first couple of months as a fresh driver were a baptism of fire!

I would say you need at least a year before you can even begin to call yourself a professional driver.

[Stussy]

I was referring to Chowns Mill roundabout when I said it’s now easier, but I do agree with your point

[The Wookie]

944 Man said:

I’d say go straight to C+E. Not particularly more expensive but massively useful.

I did this a few months back after towing trailers since I was a teenager (did B+E) and a couple of years driving our 13t American RV on L-plates with Mrs Wookie in the passenger seat who has a C license

4.5 day course out of Lincoln to take the test at Grimsby, my mate who is a truckie booked it for me and thought it was funny to stitch me up as apparently it’s the lowest pass rate in the country

I expected the reversing to be easy given how much experience I’ve had with large trailers. It was tricker than I expected with the pivot point in a different place but I got the hang of it pretty quickly

The size and the width of the thing in traffic didn’t bother me as I’m used to driving something wider and LHD with rubbish mirrors

The thing that took the longest for me was manoeuvring around tight junctions, there are so many different opportunities to cock it up and hit stuff, and a couple of junctions on the test route only had literally a few inches either side, I’d probably still struggle if you put me back in an artic today

I passed with a couple of silly minors as I was nervous

I’d say if you’re a confident driver with experience of trailers and bigger vans then it’s perfectly achievable, but if you’ve never driven anything bigger than a Mondeo I think it would be a stretch

[exelero]

carinaman said:

Any ideas what the going rate for C+E training is?

I may use some leave to do the driving part so considering doing it in another part of the Country.

Around 3 k all in, that’s C, C+E, all the theory tests and driving. I paid 3.7 but I failed once

[Oliver Hardy]

BricktopST205 said:

The test has always been a joke but the country needs bums on seats as quickly as possible!

I do agency work near Manchester as a HGV driver, not had any work since end of September.

Was promissed work tomorrow but never got any.

Rates are tubbling, recently applyed for a job there were 87 applicants for it.

[r3g]

Oliver Hardy said:

I do agency work near Manchester as a HGV driver, not had any work since end of September.

Was promissed work tomorrow but never got any.

Rates are tubbling, recently applyed for a job there were 87 applicants for it.

I said in another thread recently, got s/e mates who drive for a subbie doing FedEx hub work and normally they'd be flat out by November with daily calls to the agencies to see if they can supply even more bums. Nothing this year. All are sat at home waiting for the phone to ring. I bumped into the late shift manager for my local FedEx hub at Tesco the other day and he said volumes are that bad they have their own drivers taking empty trailers down to Atherstone and Kingsbury, then bringing empty trailers back, just to keep them working. Crazy. And agency rates are heading back down towards minimum wage from £14/hr because they've all got 1000 drivers on the books desperate for a few crumbs of work to pay their mortgage so can play them off against each other.

Definitely not a time to be wasting £3k on getting your tickets.

[Its Just Adz]

Strange, looking at job sites there is a lot asking for drivers.

[r3g]

Its Just Adz said:

Strange, looking at job sites there is a lot asking for drivers.

Looking in my area, all the permie jobs have a posting date over 30 days ago and all the recent ones are from agencies who advertise all year round just to pad out their books. None of them will have any work "it's a bit quiet at the moment, but keep your phone switched on".

[Its Just Adz]

Ah I see.

Only ever done 1 week with an agency so I don't really know how they work.

I've moved jobs back to transporters, we are very busy indeed.
In fact I'm off to work shortly for some Saturday grabbing.

[r3g]

Its Just Adz said:

Ah I see.

Only ever done 1 week with an agency so I don't really know how they work.

I've moved jobs back to transporters, we are very busy indeed.
In fact I'm off to work shortly for some Saturday grabbing.

Yes a friend is on the transporters for a big name based Northants and he is stacked out with work which is 90% repos. I expect there will be plenty of work for you as the number of people unable to afford their finance explodes in the coming months.

[Its Just Adz]

r3g said:

Yes a friend is on the transporters for a big name based Northants and he is stacked out with work which is 90% repos. I expect there will be plenty of work for you as the number of people unable to afford their finance explodes in the coming months.

I'm on salvage work so we do a lot of police contracts, so like you say a lot of cars with no insurance as people can't afford!
I had more work than I could do yesterday, had to drop my last job.
Working around Manchester today, the joy.

[HelterSkelter]

Another option for any drivers looking for work is finding out who the maintence contractor is for National Highways in your area (Amey, Kier, etc) or searching for Highways Maintenance jobs on indeed.

It won't just be driving you'll be doing as you'll be trained in all aspects of motorway maintenance but alot of the companies will be advertising around this time of year as they'll be short of bums on seats for the gritters. We've just taken on 4 blokes in our depot this week for the above.

[BricktopST205]

Oliver Hardy said:

BricktopST205 said:

The test has always been a joke but the country needs bums on seats as quickly as possible!

I do agency work near Manchester as a HGV driver, not had any work since end of September.

Was promissed work tomorrow but never got any.

Rates are tubbling, recently applyed for a job there were 87 applicants for it.

Depends where you are. East Midlands are crying out for drivers. Always busy busy. My boss even asking for O/T over Christmas.

[LincolnLovin]

Similar situation to the OP, got made redundant last month (tech layoffs) so I have the time to try something different - getting my license is really about enabling larger campervans/motorhomes down the line but also being able to hire larger vans with house moves etc.

It also seems a useful skill to have, particularly as the tech sector is going to be grim for the next year or so.

[Raymond Reddington]

Had my medical yesterday, so the ball is rolling. I'm not putting any pressure on things though, I'm going to take my time, and when I pass, try some agency driving when I'm off work to see if i like it.

Its absolutely brimming with work around here, so if I like it, I'm hopeful I can keep busy with driving work. We will see.

[SlimRick]

Had my medical a few weeks ago. Passed my theory / hazard perceptions / case studies yesterday and am going for a two-week car to C+E starting on 12th Dec.
I don't have any plans to drive for a living just yet, but you never know what's around the corner so it doesn't hurt to have the license...hopefully!

[r3g]

SlimRick said:

Had my medical a few weeks ago. Passed my theory / hazard perceptions / case studies yesterday and am going for a two-week car to C+E starting on 12th Dec.
I don't have any plans to drive for a living just yet, but you never know what's around the corner so it doesn't hurt to have the license...hopefully!

That is a very steep learning curve. I would recommend first doing 7.5 / class 2 driving for at least some months before attempting to drive an artic on your own.

[leggly]

r3g said:

SlimRick said:

Had my medical a few weeks ago. Passed my theory / hazard perceptions / case studies yesterday and am going for a two-week car to C+E starting on 12th Dec.
I don't have any plans to drive for a living just yet, but you never know what's around the corner so it doesn't hurt to have the license...hopefully!

That is a very steep learning curve. I would recommend first doing 7.5 / class 2 driving for at least some months before attempting to drive an artic on your own.

Why? It’s how we all did it before it became lucrative to spread out the tests. Crack on and be careful.

[944 Man]

I see ‘class 1’ nonsense. Some of the hardest work you will ever do will be in a ‘class 2’ (or class 3, which no one seems to remember/understand) and some of the easiest in an articulated vehicle.

Any working vehicle will come as a shock after you have passed your test.