So, I am still redundant and to be honest have been enjoying a bit of time with the family eyc.

However, Mrs Danny is starting to want me out of the house and I am itching to get back in to work.

So, what with specialist insurance jobs being few and far between I have started to look for alternatives hence my interest in HGV driving.

Anyone able to tell me the pros (if there are any) and cons (which there must be) and also what to watch out for when choosing a training provider?

Not a driver, but it’s not a job I’d want to do.

Long hours away from your family and the future threats of HGV bans in cities and driverless lorries taking away jobs.

Go with a local company, the national guaranteed pass places do not have a great rep.

Long hours though, and the profession has a short life expectancy I think.

Also bad backs and posture problems especially if you end up driving 1 handed etc which makes you lop sided.

Long hours, shit pay, deadlines, pressure, stress of driving in towns, and generally being treated badly.
Also, its only a matter of time before driverless trucks become the norm.

long hours shit pay, reasonably onerous regulations, stress,

my lad has did his class2 last year.
struggled initially with work, partly as he’s only 21, most company insurance is for 25+, partly due to lack of experience.
Was taken on through a specialist driving agency driving the bin lorries, three months later taken on permanent. Now is approached every other week with other better paying jobs (he refuses to work weekends!)

the hours are easy (early starts & overtime & home before rushhour), the money is good enough, there is no stress driving in town (the majority of his driving time is manouvering a huge truck down double parked residential streets) you cant get stressed, its not your truck and the job needs doing.

there is a serious lack countrywide, of HGV drivers, its an ageing workforce.

if you can afford to get the license, do it, at the very least any work will put you in contact with a diverse range of business.

Lgv and pcv driver here.
If you have any specific questions then feel free to email me

Although my reply was negative to begin with, I have considered it before and my brother has funded himself to get the license and loves it. At the end of the day you are out and about without a boss breathing down your neck. If you are happy to put the hours in its probably not too bad.

I was talking to a customer today who has 50 – 60 trucks of various classes, they are desperate for drivers.
Good drivers are picking and choosing the company they want to work for and the hours they want to do. He said it was desperate out there finding good reliable drivers.

also looked at it at various times, most drivers say its easy once youve got used to the width,and speed , braking capabilities, seems like plenty of work out there from agencies and full time employers.

You need to learn to drive a rigid first then pass a written and practical driving test, then next the same to drive artics, theres also a medical .

Go with a local trainer, and check out the big haulage companies, they sometimes have their own training depts, that train people not working for them for a fee, and if youre good and pass muster they may well offer you a zero hours contract to get experience.

For depot to depot transfers where each location is on major roads then possibly. Delivering to places in towns though, no way* 🙂

* as in next 10-20 years.

Danny , ive been in the road transport business since I was 16 with a national parcel /general haulage company , as a drivers mate (assistant) driver and class one driver (now traffic manager )weve seen drivers come and go over the past god knows how many years and no doubt more to follow , Its either a job you want to do or its not for you , there are differing types of transport Multidrop , trunking (day and night) general haulage , big hits ,container ect ect , Our lads work from 7am to 5pm ish 5 days a week doing multidrop ,most start delivering around 8am and finish at 3-4 pm and there not pushed ,I even cover when there off its great .
Other companies are pushed to massive time constraints, booking in times ,others have you working all the hours god send or promise you the hours then let you down.

HGV/LGV tuition , go with a recommended local company not the bigger national teachers , they try to tie you to their agency for work after you pass (this happened to one guy I know hes still tied to that agency two years on )

I come from a larger background in transport , close friends run haulage companies , best friends have been drivers for 20+ years , id say at the moment being a driver for a living is far better than 20 years ago when I first got into it ,better money , better vehicles ,and more recognition

As for a training advisor these guys are around an hour from you http://www.stockporthgv.co.uk/ we send your drivers there when they want to go for there HGV1 and I did both my class 1 and 2 there ,they are only interested in you passing first time ,if your not ready they will tell you ,In fact when I did my class 2 there was me the instructor and another lad ,doing a 4 day course , he had never driven anything bigger than his mini before , he was bouncing this Daf 55 off kerbs almost sending us through the windscreen , but by the end of the 4th day the instructor had him bang to rights and he passed , Id been driving a 7.5 tonner for 4 years and the Daf was no bigger , when this lad passed my arse went as I thought id fail after that and look a right C**t, 3 minors later I was off to Driver hire for £19;50ph weekend work

For better or for worse, haulage runs in my family. My great-grandfather and grandfather started the first HGV company in Manitoba, Canada (where I grew up), and after avoiding it most of his life, my uncle took up driving for one of the big Canadian companies after an early retirement from another industry. And I cannot believe how different the profession is in terms of what you are all describing above, and what, for example, my uncle went through.

When you all talk of shit pay here, I counter that with the fact that my uncle paid off his own rig to the tune of something like CDN $200000, and the rest of his mortgage just in the last five years of his working life.

I know he had some terrible experiences, but I also know that he loved what he did, and got to see all of North America – from his home in Winnipeg, to Chicago, to LA, to New York, to Miami, to Toronto, etc.

I guess I can’t help but wonder if working for an operation like Christian Salveson wouldn’t be similar, as a pan-European company.

Anyway, my suppositions are probably grossly incorrect, but are the conditions for HGV drivers the same across Europe?

I grew up in agriculture, went to agriculture collage but got disillusioned by the long hours, lack of summer break and bad pay. So I’ve been on the road 17years, since I was 19. Grandad rights got me on to a 7.5t and I’ve not really looked back (I did qualify as a holistic therapist too) I’ve now managed to combine farming and driving, hauling produce and equipment all over the country.
The money is ok. The hourly rate is low but I’m away between 3-5 nights a week and can really clock up the hours if I want to. I average about 35-37k
The family thing is a balance but not every job requires their drivers to be away. My partner and I like our own company and we make an effort to have a good time when we’re together. Plus my bike travels with me!

The job is what you make of it. It can be easy or stressful. Experience is key. You learn so much as you go along that each day gets easier. Also as said before, once you’ve got a few miles under your belt you’re more valuable to your employer than they are to you so you can (to a point) get what you want.

I’d also advise that the most important piece of equipment for and long distance driver are flip-flops

I’ve been driving artics since 1990.Been with one of the major supermarkets since 2000.As stated above there’s a major driver shortage at the momment,in my opinion because the roads are getting worse,big traffic jams everywhere & road users are much more selfish.I’d seriously consider other options before investing in a HGV career.
The moneys alright,you can earn a grand a week but you’ll not see much of your family or friends…

I’ve been driving HGV’s for the last 7 years pretty much as people say above the money’s not great and the hours are long, I probably average about £550 a week after tax for a 60hr week with a couple of nights out. It’s easy money though I probably sit about for 5hrs a day waiting to be loaded/offloaded. You do get about though, I managed a ride in thetford Monday night and then Epping last night 🙂

@saxonrider I would guess that the reason you don’t get the good money over here compared to N.America is that once you are into bigdistance across europe jobs you are competeing with drivers and companies from eastern europe who can operate for a lot less mone keeping moeny lower but in the N.American there is less disparity.

My BiL drives HGVs and it surprises me how fit and healthy he is. I think he recognised it as slow death-by-chair, so it made him become very disciplined with food, gave up smoking (you can’t smoke in the cab these days, although a sly ciggy out the window is a common sight on the motorways), fits in a run during the day etc. It gives you a very structured day.

Helps that he has what sounds like a bit of a cushy set-up – delivers car parts for a motor works with little time pressure (ie they need to be there that day, not that hour or minute), strongly unionised, just driving and nothing else.
I know he’s done other stuff that sounded hard – think it was Matalan where he had to unload the trailer himself, time pressure, the boss getting up his ringpiece about the gps tracking etc.

So I guess it all depends on who you’re hauling for.

One obvious difference is where you’re located.I’m in Lancashire & years back I worked for a Scottish firm with a depot around here.It was long distance.away all week anywhere from Bristol or Portsmouth & up to Inverness,Forres & Elgin but not much in the South East.The firm were bought out by Omega & they had me running in & out of London all week,I think I lasted 4 months..
The most enjoyable job I had was multi drop delivering carpets around the North West,home every night.The reason I enjoyed it so much was because of the hours,Mon – Fri approx 7.30-5pm so it was sociable plus part of my job was planning the route for the following day so I had some control over what I was doing.Unfortunately after a couple of years they moved to Hull 😥 …

Retired from it after 20yrs, as I got older I got sick of long hours, **** transport managers and ever changing rules and regulations, the last straw was driving heavy plant into central London, it was a chuffin nightmare and I’m surprised there aren’t more cyclist/lorry deaths than there is tbh…
If we moved away from the south east I might take it up again but down here it’s shit! Too much traffic too little time..l