Hey there as the title suggests I am 18 years old and looking to become an HGV driver. I’m still currently in school but looking to do my training while I’m in school and hopefully by the time I leave I will have a full class 1 and be ready to look for potential jobs. Ive loved cars and vehicles since a young age and I have spent on a long time on trucking simulators with a steering wheel and I’m hoping I can make it a reality.
I’ve already gotten my medical and sent off my provisional but before I dump 2.5k on class 1 training is it actually possible to get hired at 18 years old. Would it be worth going through an apprenticeship route or will I be fine with getting the license on my own and getting employed after?
You are being unrealistic if you think a computer game will help you drive a car, lorry or white van to give you any useful experience, you cant press ctr, alt,delete and unkill yourself.
have you got a full car licence, any driving experience or road knowledge? map, nav system etc
have a look at a young driver scheme, visit a local haulier, talk the talk and get them to pay for it.
£2.5k is about the norm for your first test.
But age is no bar, apart from maybe an excessive insurance
premium
Well if your a confident person and you live in the Norfolk/Suffolk Border area.
Then you might find that these prices are a little bit more better on the pocket.
Wheel Nut:
You are being unrealistic if you think a computer game will help you drive a car, lorry or white van to give you any useful experience.
I have to disagree with this, I was playing Truck Simulators before I was 17 to get into driving. When it came to actually driving a car in real life, it gave me a lot of experience of how a vehicle works, turning circles, reversing, etc. It was definitely one of the main reasons I went from no driving experience to getting my car licence in under 10 hours, with my only tuition being from a driving instructor.
Wheel Nut:
You are being unrealistic if you think a computer game will help you drive a car, lorry or white van to give you any useful experience, you cant press ctr, alt,delete and unkill yourself.
have you got a full car licence, any driving experience or road knowledge? map, nav system etc
have a look at a young driver scheme, visit a local haulier, talk the talk and get them to pay for it.
£2.5k is about the norm for your first test.
But age is no bar, apart from maybe an excessive insurance
premium
For me having a simulator and being able to understand how cars react in different situations made it much easier for me to pass my driving license and yes I do have one and I do have a car. I’ve driven all over the UK dropping family and friends off at airports at 2 am, going on road trips and I feel fairly confident. I think the sim also helped me out a lot with reversing, obviously it is not going to be like driving a real lorry but it definitely helps. My main question is will people hire me at 18.
lizard:
Well if your a confident person and you live in the Norfolk/Suffolk Border area.
Then you might find that these prices are a little bit more better on the pocket.01
Wheel Nut:
You are being unrealistic if you think a computer game will help you drive a car, lorry or white van to give you any useful experience, you cant press ctr, alt,delete and unkill yourself.
Perhaps off topic, but when I was a nipper I had a ride-on pedal tractor with a trailer. Used to love riding it around the garden, reversing it into the garage, filling it with muck etc.
I did my CE at 18 and I firmly believe that helped, I’d never used/reversed any ‘real’ trailers before but I had no issue with the exercise - I firmly believe it is thanks to the above.
In answer to your question OP; go for it. We run a driver training school and more often than not the younger drivers absorb things far quicker than the seniors!
Edited to add: 20 hours direct to CE sounds quite tough if you’ve no experience reversing or driving anything large. For the newbies, we are running 6hrs to conquer the 3A (reverse, uncouple/recouple) followed by 21hrs on-the-road training + test. Total around 28hrs. Still early days and still testing the waters like most schools, but for the moment it seems about right.
I am an employer in a different sector but thought I’d offer my perspective as am employer and hope it helps.
When candidates are young/don’t have experience, I look at their potential. I see if they can demonstrate the values I am looking for and if they are a good match for the business.
I agree that going to visit a local haulier or two is a good start. Have you identified any firms you would like to work for and why?
I know putting yourself forward is daunting but that’s what you need to do, you need to stand out. You need to make the fact that you are relatively young not matter.
I can’t tell you how many applications I’ve had from people who say “I’m punctual, hardworking and honest”. That’s my and any employer’s absolute minimum expectations of an employee. In other words it doesn’t make you stand out and it doesn’t tell an employer what is special about you.
So, be brave and ask for a meeting with the transport manager or one of the transport team (find out their name first if you can). People are busy but if you ask nicely and genuinely for help, most people will be willing to provide it. It really is true that if you don’t ask, you don’t get, and there is no harm in asking.
Let’s just say that your age is a barrier and you get told to come back when you are 25. If you do other driving work in the meantime, or other industry related work, it will demonstrate commitment and determination and will help you into the job that you really want.
A lot has been said on this forum about having the right attitude. Do you believe that you are being unrealistic at 18? Yes, you might be unusually young, but if you believe in yourself, stand out from the crowd, do your research, match yourself to the right company and have maturity beyond your years, I can’t see why you wouldn’t be successful.
Good luck.
My son left school at 16 and did an apprenticeship with the local highways department. He decided that being a labourer / rake hand was pretty lowly and decided that he would do his class 2 so that he could hopefully drive a gang lorry and gritters in the winter. He saved his money and booked his test.
He had done medical and theory and was waiting on actual training to start but due to lockdowns that kept getting out back, in Spetember 2020 things went south on the highways job and he needed to find another job, he jumped in his car and went door knocking aged 18.
He stopped at a local plant & tool hire company who were impressed with his motivation and offered him a job, initially in the yard as a yard hard but also driving a 3.5t van. They said they had a 7.5t that needed a driver and he could have then when he passed his test.
First time pass March 2021 aged 19 and he then moved up as promised. In the summer they gave him a decent payrise so he put that towards doing his class 1 which he also passed first time.
Sometime in the summer they had a reshuffle and then put him on their 32t plant lorry.
He did all that off his own hard work and merit, although I am in the same industry and known to the depot where he works and I suggested he call there but they did not know who he was until after they had given him a start.
The job was not advertised but he found it anyway, they just looked at the opportunity that had walked through the door.
A young lad who had initiative and had worked hard enough to save the money for the licence which he was in the process of getting rather than just talking about.
Wheel Nut:
You are being unrealistic if you think a computer game will help you drive a car, lorry or white van to give you any useful experience, you cant press ctr, alt,delete and unkill yourself.
Driving a realistic simulator I would say definitely helps, they are used in Flying training extensively in order to learn to cope with any possible emergency and I see no reason why you cannot get ahead using a driving simulator like ETS2. Whilst you cant unkill yourself in the real world , better its done in a simulator whilst you are learning !
As someone whose former job included development of simulators for the military, I totally disagree that they are useless. That’s all I can say.
Good luck with the job hunt! If a company blows you off, their loss! Too much emphasis is put on age/experience and the fact you even bothered to show up looking for work counting for little shows that they have no clue what a good worker looks like. The lazy don’t get off their backside to actively look!
Before Christmas I visited a few companies that looked interesting to work for. One was quite rude and couldn’t understand why I wanted to change career. Uhh… because I want to! They basically weren’t interested even though they knew I was just waiting for my practical training. I just moved on to the next! I have a couple of opportunities to pursue once I have my licence!
My feeling is that having a job offer in principle from a local firm or something would be advisable before outlaying. Of course your age will come into it whether employers admit it or not. It may cost more to insure you as it is no secret that drivers of your age have very expensive car insurance.
My feeling is that agencies would be trying to get you out in a van, then 7.5 tonne, then class 2 if you are doing well. I think you would be disappointed if you went in specifying class 1 only, because you need to build up experience. For some reason a new class 1 driver of a certain age is able to inspire confidence (sometimes misplaced), however more often than not these drivers can say they have driven a car for x number of years and been about a bit. You can’t really say you have more than about a year of car driving experience. That is the kind of reality, unless you know a firm where you know someone.
If you do get the licence of course it is always a useful thing to have even if you don’t use it immediately.
The other thing I would say is that at 18, the world is your oyster and you literally have a myriad of different options where being young is probably more of an advantage than a disadvantage. Once you are over a certain age entry to do apprenticeships or join the forces of course becomes more difficult. Driving often comes later in life when other options are no longer available.
Something I hear quite often from new drivers is that they are going to get their C+E and ADR licence and earn the big bucks. It isn’t really that simple for the obvious reason that desirable work is likely to go to experienced drivers and these jobs will have many quality applicants.
TruckerGuy:
As someone whose former job included development of simulators for the military, I totally disagree that they are useless. That’s all I can say.
Good luck with the job hunt! If a company blows you off, their loss! Too much emphasis is put on age/experience and the fact you even bothered to show up looking for work counting for little shows that they have no clue what a good worker looks like. The lazy don’t get off their backside to actively look!
Before Christmas I visited a few companies that looked interesting to work for. One was quite rude and couldn’t understand why I wanted to change career. Uhh… because I want to! They basically weren’t interested even though they knew I was just waiting for my practical training. I just moved on to the next! I have a couple of opportunities to pursue once I have my licence!
Now that is a significant career change ! I imagine they think you will not stick it out.
David DeHavilland:
Now that is a significant career change ! I imagine they think you will not stick it out.
I have had quite a career in computing and I doubt I’m going to better it any time soon. 20 years, and well… I want to do something different.
When I have my licence in-hand I’ll go back and talk to them, but I was certainly a little surprised. I don’t think it is possible to be “over qualified” for anything, and to question why someone wants to work outside of their specialism is a bit presumptuous.
I personally think a video game like EuroTruck Simulator gives you better reversing skills then you can achieve during training. That being said you are looking to get 5 hours reversing training before your test.
It is pretty neat game for getting to grips with reversing.
So I wouldn’t discredit it.
Should you get class 1 at 18? You can.
I wouldn’t rush it though. You are still young.
You will struggled getting a job as a van driver due to your age as most firms like people to be over 25.
That will be even more of an issue with class ones.
Also the hours are stupidly long and the job can be a boring one at times.
Then also you have the fact that automation is coming. Probably not in 10 years but for sure it will happen in your lifetime.
, better its done in a simulator whilst you are learning !