I guess this kind of thing has been done to death, so I apologise in advance.
I’m 23 and currently in the motor trade, working 60+ hours a week and earning around 25k last year. I’ve spoken to a couple of training centres, the one that stands out at the moment is Specialised HGV, who claim to be able to train you up within a few months to a class 1 driver, then get you into a job within a couple of weeks earning 33k+.
I wondered a couple of thinga:
Is this accurate? Can a newly qualified class 1 driver start earning that straight out the box?
Is £4500 a reasonable cost to train?
Has anyone on here gone through them, and what were they like?
What are the realistic chances of getting a Monday to Friday job? I was told you can get Mon-Fri, 6-3, which would be perfect.
I live in Morecambe, Lancashire, if that’s any help.
Morecombe isnt my area, maybe ask on the Professional Drivers Forum if £33k is good or bad for that area?
Also ask whether they take on new starts.
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I looked at “Specialised HGV Training” on Trust Pilot. Is that the same company, or not?? trustpilot.com/review/hgvtraining.co.uk
Some 5* reviews, some 1* reviews.
Are they actually a school, not a broker? Their job offers are
"Please keep in touch with our recruitment team (MANPOWER) for more details on the HGV driver vacancies in your local area. "
through an agency?
Can`t see any images for trucks with their name on.
Needs more research, methinks.
Average earnings for class 2 are 22-26k a year, class 1 28-35. Of course there are all sorts of variables to consider, such as experience, type of work, hours etc.
Working 6-3 would be perfect for most of us, however, as much as you can guarantee your start time, you can’t guarantee a finish time, as it’s normally until the job is done.
Realistically training can be completed in a matter of weeks, as practical can be done within a week for each of the classes. Should cost nowhere near £4500 (unless you include the cost of a few failed tests!)
I’ve had a quick look online, these guys are in your area, seem reasonably priced, but I don’t know how good they are. Might be worth giving them a ring and having an assessment drive to see what you think of them lantrain.co.uk/
O.P. suggest you check ROGs stickie "LGV Training Tips" at the top of this board, if you havent already done so.
Its a lot of money however you get your training, go and personally see any schools youre interested in, before parting with a penny, or signing anything. Take advice to narrow the field first, but check for yourself. (You may read reviews of cars, but nowt compares with a test drive of one yourself)
Legit trainers have nothing to hide, and should be happy to show off their facilities. Agents who own nothing, and take commission for no added value aren`t.
I’d suggest looking to book your medicals, theories and then training yourself. I’ve just done my class 2 and I am at £1500 all in. another £12 - 1500 for class 1 and all good.
If money is the issue, then either a 0% card or bank loan will be better than a brokers offer.
I almost caught myself out with one of these brokers who make so many claims I am sure it’s borderline false advertising
I did my class 2 and Mod4 at Lancaster training services at Heysham and have my class 1 booked with them coming up. Can’t recommend them highly enough. Great friendly helpful bunch. Book in for an assessment drive with them.
Dont go with that specialisedHGV they are a broker, legit yes. But you will end up paying double from it. They book your theory test at any random centre and practical training could be 60miles away from home every day. How do i know this? I looked into them just before i started my whole process.
Best way to do it, get the money even if you get into a lot of debt, get it passed and earn that money back. I passed class 2 and class 1 in jan/april and earnt the money back within a month and couldnt be happier.
I get 26K year on nights, ADR (hazardous stuff), 50 - 60 hours a week in Midlands.
Yes there are better paying jobs, but its the average I’ve seen or been offered round here. 33K might be doable on specialised work or some Euro tramping work, but you wont get that work without plenty of experience. Lancashire’s most likely going to be similar.
Anyone who says they can get you a job is lying. Job interview maybe, but anything more is agency work usually on a tax scam and from all posted here, it usually doesn’t appear. Agency work vanishes around November quite often.
Way more than you should be paying inc theory, medical etc.
Not heard of them but seems they are a broker. Avoid as you’re just paying someone to pay someone else to train you. If the training company have to get work through a broker, they can’t be much good at training.
Plenty of work Mon to Fri but hours, variable. Remember you can do 15 hours 3x a week and depending on the job, you could easily do that.
For more guaranteed hours (ish), I’d go to a pallet shifting company like anyone associated with Palletforce, UPN and others I forgotten the name of. Mostly 7am to roughly 5-6pm as they need the collections back for night trunking.
I have had pallet network jobs which ended up being 15 hours before now.
