I’ve gone from making a comfortable living as a freelancer in the film business to earning 6.50 an hour as a bike mechanic in less than six months.

I worked as a bike mechanic for years when I was a teenager, and when my real work started to dry up I took some shifts in a local bike shop….and then some more shifts until I’ve found myself exactly back where I was when I was 16 and working full time as a grease urchin (and earning about the same). I’m feeling depressed.

I am quite desperate to leave the UK anyway but need to clear some debts before I go. Earning 6.50 an hour isn’t going to help this problem.

I don’t care what I do, but I can’t get temporary work in anything white collary or adminy for a lack of a pair of tits. I’ve got a degree in politics from a good university and a huge range of jobs which I could add to my CV, but feel I lack tangible skills.

I’m considering doing by C1+E license and driving lorries for 6 months to a year. I can’t think of any other job which pays 12-14 quid an hour which I can train for in a couple of weeks.

Can anyone else?

Don’t want to make it sound worse but the fella that cleans our windows took it up because he could earn more doing that than driving HGV’s. He reckoned the amount he could earn on the lorries had pretty much halved in the last couple of years due to imported labour.

[edit]
To be more accurate I should have said the bloke that used to clean our windows, he’s not shown up for a few months so I guess he’s got a better paying deal doing something else.

Aren’t all the E Europeans still hogging all the driving? It’s pretty low skilled and accessible so cant imagine there’d be much hgv work these days.

ok. So fair enough. Any more views on other jobs which might suit?

Been talking to a mate about changing jobs, he’s serriously thinking about going to work on the oil rigs.

He’s looed in to it quite a bit from what he tells me and seems there’s a lot of money to be made even doing basic unskilled work.

Aren’t all the E Europeans still hogging all the driving? It’s pretty low skilled and accessible so cant imagine there’d be much hgv work these days.

I’d disagree and say that a quality company would be looking for skilled drivers. There is a bit more to being a professional driver than popping down to the supermarket on a Friday.
Look for the better companies, call them and see what they’re looking for, then go for that.

I looked into the rigs a few months ago. Seems you need alot of qualifications, skills and tickets to make making any money out there worthwhile. It also seems quite seasonal and now isn’t the time of year for it. You also seem to need contacts in the business; i think its quite nepotistic.

Well, the window cleaner reckoned he was getting between £15-£30 per hour dependent on how close together he’d got his jobs. I very much doubt he was paying full tax on that either. Bit crappy coming into the winter though.

What were you freelancing as before you went back to spannering?

A producer…mainly UK newspaper broadsheets online content.

the problem with training up to do any job is whether you can get work without any experience
IMHE all sectors currently have an oversupply of labour pretty much. I could not find a decent break down of LMI [ sorry Labour market Information re whether there was a labour shortage or not]on HGV drivers when I looked this week as it all gets lumped in with transportation.

Personally I would contact companies and agencies and see what they said to you about your chances of getting work… I would take the agency info with a pinch of salt. Anyone training you should be able to provide information on how many get jobs afterwards. If they cant give proper statistics, say vague things like most all everyone etc i would be concerned as they are not doing proper follow ups so they dont know it is because they dont care. Remember they want your money so they are selling it to you as a business.

Re rigs you need experience as well as the tickets as you still need to do a highly skilled job once there so the off shore ticket just mean you can work on a rig but you will still need skills and experience in the chosen job- perhaps if you have contacts you may be ok??.
There are no train to do x in a few weeks and get a guaranteed well paid job. Well only for females in the sex industry.
Depending on the info you receive truck driving is probably one of the better options.
I doubt you can get a guarantee of job prior to doing the training but that would be the ideal scenario
I am a careers advisor working with adults and young people BTW – you can e-mail me if you want proper advice – the first few are free 😉

Go self employed bike repairing local ads in shops local papers etc

Few friends of mine have worked on the shut downs at the oil refineries down Pembrokshire/Milford Haven way. They used to earn big bucks for a few months a year. Rate of pay would be approx equivalent to a £40k p/yr job if it lasted that long.

as Don simon has said

Being a proffesional driver is more than simply having a licence, the better companies pay more than you might think…..although very few of those companies(if any) would be prepared to take you on until you have had your licence for 2 years because of insurance constraints.
If you do decide that it would suit you and your lifestyle then be prepared to do alot of overtime as most companies like you to be available for the maximum allowed working time which is 15 hours, this can be expected up to 3 times a week legally.

if you want to know more about the job and whether it would be for you then mail me and i’ll help all i can.

(I am a hgv driver)

I’m not sure trucking would be the best option for you.How much do’es cost to get a class 1 these days?
I drive artics for one of the best paying companies in the North West,we employ approx 200 drivers (supermarket trucking),but we’ve not taken anyone on in a couple of years,(in fact we’ve not taken on any drivers in the last 4 years)the company just use agencies,they reckon it costs them less.The period from now up to christmas gets really busy,so if you got your test passed in the next couple of weeks you could get a start doing agency work somewhere, but you’d be working for not much more than you get in the bike shop & you’ve incured the expense of getting a class 1 licence,plus in January it goes dead & you’re struggling to find work.
As has already been mentioned the industry’s been swamped by E europeans working for piss poor money & conditions..

Getting on the rigs is very much an experiace game

I do it but im a service hand supervisor atm as part of my training . Couldnt pay me enough to put up with the shit roustys and roughnecks get !

How ever once your in there are some
Cushty numbers – how ever now really isnt time to be looking as bad weather means less maintainance and scaffys and painters turn hands to roustying to keep the money flowing

I may be a bit out of date but I think there’s better money and chances of work if you can get a more specialist license such as fork lift or crane operator. When I was in the forces those courses were regarded as pretty much a meal ticket for life.

FLT is a not a meal ticket anymore as they can give you an in house licence and without warehousing skills /experience i doubt you would get a job
Costs about £500
Dont know about crane but with the construction stuff there are skilled and experienced folk without work at the minute

I think you will struggle to get HGV work due to lack of experience. Even agencies are reluctant to send a driver to a client without some experience which puts you in the catch 22. There are lot of unemployed driver out there for employers and agencies to be a bit more choosy on who is driving there vehicles which are very expensive to have off the road due to a prang and more expensive to repeat a delivery. If you have the C1 7.5t licence use that as a driver.
If you want to be a class 1 driver then you will need to do your Class C before completing your C+E and you will also need to do Driver CPC training too now. You’ll be looking at a £2-3000 at least before you start to earn assuming you can get an agency to take you on without HGV experience.

I work for a transport company. New applicants and agency drivers must have at least 2 years experience. Mainly for insurance purposes but also because we operate high spec tractor units and trailers which cost about £85k new + the value of the load.

As already mentioned above you start on Class C first which is for 4, 6 or 8 wheelers i.e rigids. C+E allows a trailer to be towed i.e semi or drawbar

There are many types of shift work e.g. Mon-Fri, Tue-Sun, nights etc. and basic wage is increased substantially by overtime, which is the norm. Sleeper cabs are common now but many drivers use their overnight expenses to bolster their income.

All the big companies track their vehicles so be prepared for the traffic planners to be chasing you if you’re slighly behind schedule.

I can’t get temporary work in anything white collary or adminy for a lack of a pair of tits.

I’d respectfully suggest that your attitude may be bigger stumbling block than your lack of breasts.

We’re recruiting at the moment, if you’re anywhere near Burnley or (I think) Fareham.

And I assume you have already discounted a boob job ??

Tree surgery / groundsman
Get your CS 30 & 31 tickets and then look towards aerial rescue, and you could subby for forestry / tree surgery companies. You Ca’n do 30 & 31 for less than a grand and then you should be employable.

Or, again if you are reasonably handy, what about renewables installation, bit of plumbing & leccy training and away you go.

Good luck.