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I steer trains for a living and it’s done me well for the last 31 years and I’m not a train driver. The rail industry is vast and varied and also has need for hgv qualified personnel, if you can find anyone in your area that works for Network Rail have word and ask if there are any vacancies that they might know off. Once you get a foot in the door you have much better opportunities for movement within the company. Main thing is getting a foot in the door. Good luck.
Get your ipaf ticket. Driving, operating and delivering access kit.
Shunting and delivering / collecting trucks? All unladen.
Low stress, they don’t expect you to hitchhike anymore.
Move to Bristol and be a sign maker, can’t find one for love nor money! Could also involve a bit of truck shunting and outdoor work.
What do you do then Peajay? That’s a good shout DT.. moving new trucks around.. not moving to Bristol. I’m happy in my little bubble up here in Dundee.
One driver we see lots is a driver trainer. Teaches truckers to get the best out of the tech onboard to get the best mpg possible. He also does lots of the new deliveries and hand overs. Customers usually quite pleased to see him with their new pride and joy.
Which bit of forestry were you thinking of?
Working at the hand felling and extracting end can be brutal on the body, but rewarding physically and mentally, not financially.
Forest management roles will be asking for degree type applicants, all about surveying, mapping, planning, grants, permissions, compliance, marketing.
Pays better, but doing my best to avoid it at the moment.
Timber industry is busy. Most sawmills are after drivers as are their subbies. Cranes on board for the lifting.
Arb is also after drivers with licences for bigger vehicles as they aren't getting away with overloaded transits anymore and are getting into bigger kit like 12" chippers and diggers with jaws and shears.
I was thinking the felling side of forestry. Got a link to the Arb website?
@ the DTs, that sounds like a great idea, we used to have somebody who came into my previous employer who did that kind of thing. Checked all the main truck manufacturers but nothing listed on the websites.
There's an arb forum I used to frequent, arbtalk.
All manual chainsaw work is hard on your body,you know you've earnt your wage after a shift. SRUC used to so chainsaw courses.
What about forest machinery? Harvesting and forwarding, there may be long shifts and a lot of sitting down, when things go wrong you need to be part fitter. Timber haulage, hgv with a timber crane.
I’d be very interested in working a forwarder for sure, the HGV side of it not so much. Those guys seem to be under constant pressure to get to the next job.
Signaller we do the steering, drivers just make them stop and go 😎
It may not be of any help to you, but the haulage industry is absolutely gagging for decent, reliable drivers. Because of the shortage drivers can earn some real good money - IF you can stick it out!
However, we all know money isn't everything..
To be honest I have been sticking it out for the last few years and I think I’m done with it. It now effects my mental health so I think it’s time to move on. I have applied for a job with Ride on Scotland repairing and building the boris type bikes. Will see what comes back. Also applied for 2 pest control jobs 🤞🏻
Rather than lorry driving what about coaches. Need a psv but driving 50 oaps down the m4 to Weston super mud, helping them in and out the coach. Loading suitcase / luggage securely etc
Then dump them off, some will stick around and chauffeur them to Cheddar George, some will return to base.
Ok, so its still driving but way more relaxed
Shunting and delivering / collecting trucks? All unladen.
Low stress, they don’t expect you to hitchhike anymore.
Where are these jobs, something I would be interested in. I've applied for positions with BCA doing car transporter tramping but they've gone silent after the interview, any other companies to look at?
Interested to hear more from Maccruiskeen and where I can get more info on that.
I'll PM you some possible ideas for contacts and links to a few of the agencies that are trying to draw in skilled labour
Can you PM me them too please mate?
Can you PM me them too please mate?
Done... assuming PMs work
Pm worked. Thanks mate.
Arb as in arboriculture/tree surgery. Arbtalk as mentioned has an employment page.
There are a couple of forestry and arb' pages/groups on FB that have a few ads.
Look for groundies, it's the entry level and good groundies get trained generally if they are useful and stay. Your driving licence makes you an attractive groundie.
Fluffer.
Pig semen inseminater.
Forensic astrologist.
saggarmaker's bottom knocker.
Wheeltapper
Analytical scientist
Shunter
Spider wrangler
Chicken sexer
Have you read my CV saccades? I have experience in all those areas?? 😆
Yeah I reckon it’s the hauling the hose which weight 40lbs + up and over walls, and sometimes up to 60m, plus it a bit of an un-natural movement to be making all the time. Anyway, I’ll see what happens this week and go from there. Next does of diazepam has kicked in so I’m a bit oot ma box..
Not a HGV driver but I have some experience of long periods driving then doing short bouts of heavy/awkward handling with gas cylinders up to 400kg. It's very hard on the body and way worse than if you were doing it all day, not warmed up, there won't be time and sat on your arse the rest of the time.
Where are these jobs, something I would be interested in. I’ve applied for positions with BCA doing car transporter tramping but they’ve gone silent after the interview, any other companies to look at?
I was thinking about this last night, and there’s several options I can think of, two of them I’ve done/am doing. One is a logistics driver or ‘plater’, the blokes who travel around picking up and delivering cars from various sources - businesses, private individuals, etc, usually fleet vehicles, then dropping them off wherever they need to be, which could be somewhere like I work, we repair and refurbish ex-fleet vehicles before they get sold on to the open market. I was an agency logistics driver for BCA for two years until they stopped using agencies, and as a result of knowing people at one of the drop-off places, got a job straight away as a yard logistics driver, moving vehicles around the various parts of the site, fetching them for platers and transporters, etc. Now I do all the pre-despatch checks before vehicles go off site, with the occasional jolly like today, I had to take a car over to Bristol to have a windscreen replaced and sensors recalibrated, while dropping off a Mini charging cable at a BMW/Mini dealership in Bath, which also meant sitting in the MaccyD next door for a couple of hours reading a book…
Thing is, Smart Fleet Solutions, who I work for, and who has a site up in Livingstone, are now part of Cazoo, who are dramatically expanding their transporter fleet, a mix of multi-car double-deck trucks, but also single car trucks for delivering sold cars direct to the customer, which I reckon could be something that might suit you.
Cazoo are taking on a lot of staff, we’re going 24-hour working, with some staff opting for Continental 5/5/4 shifts, others like me are sticking with our original shift or shift pattern, but an hour longer each day.
No idea how far away Livingston is from you, I’m fifteen miles from Westbury, where I work, but if you’re not too far, it might be worth checking out SFS, or Cazoo, they’re developing large distribution centres as well, so there might be something in that area that’s reasonably easy to get to.
I have to say, SFS have been incredibly helpful to me over the last three months, and allow a lot of slack for anyone going through personal issues, which I’m so very thankful for, and from what I’ve seen so far, Cazoo look to be very similar in their attitude.
Worth a look.
Livingston is about 1.5 hours away from me but I’ll definitely check it out. Thanks mate.
I was goi g to say NHS Patient Transport, but I dont think the money will be enough
I'm Cardiff based right now so Westbury is a bit far for a daily commute, Bristol is most likely my sensible limit as I don't really want to be adding on a 2-3hr round commute on top of a 10-11 hour day!
Will keep an eye on both SFS and Cazoo though, nothing going at the Cardiff showroom right now though.