Hi, I have posted on here before, I am in a sales role (vehicles) I used to earn £40k easy. I commute 2 hours per day and work 37.5 Monday to Friday. There seems to be no let up in my job and for the next 12-18 months there are very few vehicles to sell.
I am currently earning around £36k but I am paying £300 per month in diesel to get to work. I am based in Warrington.
I have the itch to do class2 but I think class 1 would be to much. I can afford to earn £30-£32k but no less. Is the achievable on class2 and especially as a new driver? I don’t want to be driving a truck going bankrupt.
I am open to graft I just fancy a change. Any advise welcome.
The cost of getting your class 1 should be no more than 2.5 grand, plus about an extra grand spare in case of any test failures, possibly even less than that if companies aren’t making you do a few days in a rigid any more before moving to an artic.
Go straight for the class 1, as you will be able to do either class 1 or 2 work, so you have more options, and as class 1 work is generally better paid, you can pretty much guarantee at least 30k a year on class 1, if not a good amount more.
Don’t bother with class 2, it would just end up being a waste of money, even though it is the cheaper option
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Col81:
Hi, I have posted on here before, I am in a sales role (vehicles) I used to earn £40k easy. I commute 2 hours per day and work 37.5 Monday to Friday. There seems to be no let up in my job and for the next 12-18 months there are very few vehicles to sell.
I am currently earning around £36k but I am paying £300 per month in diesel to get to work. I am based in Warrington.
I have the itch to do class2 but I think class 1 would be to much. I can afford to earn £30-£32k but no less. Is the achievable on class2 and especially as a new driver? I don’t want to be driving a truck going bankrupt.
I am open to graft I just fancy a change. Any advise welcome.
I’m in a sales job currently but have passed my Class 1 and can’t find HGV employment as I have no experience, have a search through Indeed and make note of the requirements for each role as well as the salaries, I paid £2500 for my license and I’m now thinking I wasted my money.
chriswvtr:
Col81:
Hi, I have posted on here before, I am in a sales role (vehicles) I used to earn £40k easy. I commute 2 hours per day and work 37.5 Monday to Friday. There seems to be no let up in my job and for the next 12-18 months there are very few vehicles to sell.
I am currently earning around £36k but I am paying £300 per month in diesel to get to work. I am based in Warrington.
I have the itch to do class2 but I think class 1 would be to much. I can afford to earn £30-£32k but no less. Is the achievable on class2 and especially as a new driver? I don’t want to be driving a truck going bankrupt.
I am open to graft I just fancy a change. Any advise welcome.I’m in a sales job currently but have passed my Class 1 and can’t find HGV employment as I have no experience, have a search through Indeed and make note of the requirements for each role as well as the salaries, I paid £2500 for my license and I’m now thinking I wasted my money.
Depending on where you are in the country it shouldn’t be too difficult to find occasional weekend work through agencies to start building experience alongside your current job, or if you want to make the jump to doing it full-time then you might need to start looking at the lower-paying end of the spectrum as these will be more likely to take on people with no experience, it might not be mega-bucks, but it’s a start and once you have some experience (even if it’s only 6 months) a lot more companies will be willing to take a look at you.
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Get ya feelers out before committing.
I had an interview sorted before taking my test. Told me to get in touch as soon as I passed.
Was a case of who ya know, I was put forward by someone I knew who already worked there.
They’ve taken on more new passes while I have been there as well.
I had to relocate for the job, no biggy for me though.
There are firms out there willing to take on new passes.
Good luck.
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Terry Cooksey:
chriswvtr:
Col81:
Hi, I have posted on here before, I am in a sales role (vehicles) I used to earn £40k easy. I commute 2 hours per day and work 37.5 Monday to Friday. There seems to be no let up in my job and for the next 12-18 months there are very few vehicles to sell.
I am currently earning around £36k but I am paying £300 per month in diesel to get to work. I am based in Warrington.
I have the itch to do class2 but I think class 1 would be to much. I can afford to earn £30-£32k but no less. Is the achievable on class2 and especially as a new driver? I don’t want to be driving a truck going bankrupt.
I am open to graft I just fancy a change. Any advise welcome.I’m in a sales job currently but have passed my Class 1 and can’t find HGV employment as I have no experience, have a search through Indeed and make note of the requirements for each role as well as the salaries, I paid £2500 for my license and I’m now thinking I wasted my money.
Depending on where you are in the country it shouldn’t be too difficult to find occasional weekend work through agencies to start building experience alongside your current job, or if you want to make the jump to doing it full-time then you might need to start looking at the lower-paying end of the spectrum as these will be more likely to take on people with no experience, it might not be mega-bucks, but it’s a start and once you have some experience (even if it’s only 6 months) a lot more companies will be willing to take a look at you.
T
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I spoke to Best Connection who said they’d get me some weekend work, they got me a day in a 3.5ton delivering to peoples houses 2 hours away from their depot, I was out 14 hours for £10 an hour and it wasn’t even any experience for HGV work, even the agencies I’ve spoken to say none of their clients want new passes, Pertemps have said they may be able to get me a permanent role if I do 2 days training/assessment with their instructor so I am doing this in July. That will be 4 months after I passed.
I applied for One Below (aka Poundworld) as they said in their advert new drivers welcome, they rang and offered me an interview and would email me with times, place etc. I heard nothing more and nobody answered when I rang until the morning of my supposed interview, finally someone answered and said the boss had changed his mind and didn’t want to take on a new pass.
No doubt the price of fuel has gone crazy recently and many commutes are probably coming under question. Sorry to say that with inflation running high, interest rates seem to now be on an upward trajectory, which may spell difficulty for many with mortgage payments in the future. Add in energy and food prices going up and things aren’t looking great.
Possible solutions to the commuting problem may be turning to a motorcycle, but similar issues to the HGV testing may come into play with a lack of testers to do practical tests.
I would say £30-£32k (or more) would be possible on class 2, doing something like Brakes, Bidvest or possibly Co-Op class 2. However, this is often early starting work and you are often handballing product, so it is a long hard day. Recycling is often taken back on the same vehicle for supermarket work now, so you are playing cage tetris all day. I don’t want to be a killjoy about it, but realising you have frozen for your first drop with about 20 cages in between you and the frozen (for other stores), isn’t a particularly enjoyable point in the day.
It will be interesting to see when the wage reviews come round this year what companies offer and whether the offers match inflation.
chriswvtr:
Terry Cooksey:
chriswvtr:
Col81:
Hi, I have posted on here before, I am in a sales role (vehicles) I used to earn £40k easy. I commute 2 hours per day and work 37.5 Monday to Friday. There seems to be no let up in my job and for the next 12-18 months there are very few vehicles to sell.
I am currently earning around £36k but I am paying £300 per month in diesel to get to work. I am based in Warrington.
I have the itch to do class2 but I think class 1 would be to much. I can afford to earn £30-£32k but no less. Is the achievable on class2 and especially as a new driver? I don’t want to be driving a truck going bankrupt.
I am open to graft I just fancy a change. Any advise welcome.I’m in a sales job currently but have passed my Class 1 and can’t find HGV employment as I have no experience, have a search through Indeed and make note of the requirements for each role as well as the salaries, I paid £2500 for my license and I’m now thinking I wasted my money.
Depending on where you are in the country it shouldn’t be too difficult to find occasional weekend work through agencies to start building experience alongside your current job, or if you want to make the jump to doing it full-time then you might need to start looking at the lower-paying end of the spectrum as these will be more likely to take on people with no experience, it might not be mega-bucks, but it’s a start and once you have some experience (even if it’s only 6 months) a lot more companies will be willing to take a look at you.
T
Sent from my SM-F711B using TapatalkI spoke to Best Connection who said they’d get me some weekend work, they got me a day in a 3.5ton delivering to peoples houses 2 hours away from their depot, I was out 14 hours for £10 an hour and it wasn’t even any experience for HGV work, even the agencies I’ve spoken to say none of their clients want new passes, Pertemps have said they may be able to get me a permanent role if I do 2 days training/assessment with their instructor so I am doing this in July. That will be 4 months after I passed.
I applied for One Below (aka Poundworld) as they said in their advert new drivers welcome, they rang and offered me an interview and would email me with times, place etc. I heard nothing more and nobody answered when I rang until the morning of my supposed interview, finally someone answered and said the boss had changed his mind and didn’t want to take on a new pass.
Oh boy, I’ve been there mate. Was a newly minted class 2 driver, wanted work couldn’t even get any agency to give me the time of day. Months passed, was almost resigned to lorry-work being a no-go.
Then this random agency contacted me with a bottom of the barrel shot at the industry.
Dirty garments work that was cab-hoping from 7.5 tonne to 5 tonne (cagework, tail-lift etc handball etc) to 3.5 ton van hand-ball. ■■■■■■ commute as well in some ways, 50 mile roundtrip and borderline slave labor, still I didn’t need a gym membership. LOL.
No class 2 experience was even given as they only had one frikking wagon that the veterans got to share. I asked wtf did they put out the advert for a class 2 driver to agencies and they said that the grandfather rights 7.5 tonne people they’d been getting were borderline useless! I lasted a while longer than they did at any rate.
It seems like for all the supposed driver shortage it’s improved slightly and so the books are getting closed again like they were pre 2020?
chriswvtr:
Col81:
Hi, I have posted on here before, I am in a sales role (vehicles) I used to earn £40k easy. I commute 2 hours per day and work 37.5 Monday to Friday. There seems to be no let up in my job and for the next 12-18 months there are very few vehicles to sell.
I am currently earning around £36k but I am paying £300 per month in diesel to get to work. I am based in Warrington.
I have the itch to do class2 but I think class 1 would be to much. I can afford to earn £30-£32k but no less. Is the achievable on class2 and especially as a new driver? I don’t want to be driving a truck going bankrupt.
I am open to graft I just fancy a change. Any advise welcome.I’m in a sales job currently but have passed my Class 1 and can’t find HGV employment as I have no experience, have a search through Indeed and make note of the requirements for each role as well as the salaries, I paid £2500 for my license and I’m now thinking I wasted my money.
You can’t be looking far or are not willing to travel. I have my class 1 and I have 0 experience yet I have been offered about 8 or 9 jobs. I am in a position to be picky though so haven’t taken any yet but there are plenty out there for new passes. Where abouts in the country are you? Asda, DHL, Stobart, WS, Moran, Maritime just to name a few national companies all take on new passes and have offered me jobs.
Noremac:
No doubt the price of fuel has gone crazy recently and many commutes are probably coming under question. Sorry to say that with inflation running high, interest rates seem to now be on an upward trajectory, which may spell difficulty for many with mortgage payments in the future. Add in energy and food prices going up and things aren’t looking great.Possible solutions to the commuting problem may be turning to a motorcycle, but similar issues to the HGV testing may come into play with a lack of testers to do practical tests.
I would say £30-£32k (or more) would be possible on class 2, doing something like Brakes, Bidvest or possibly Co-Op class 2. However, this is often early starting work and you are often handballing product, so it is a long hard day. Recycling is often taken back on the same vehicle for supermarket work now, so you are playing cage tetris all day. I don’t want to be a killjoy about it, but realising you have frozen for your first drop with about 20 cages in between you and the frozen (for other stores), isn’t a particularly enjoyable point in the day.
It will be interesting to see when the wage reviews come round this year what companies offer and whether the offers match inflation.
Sheesh!!! Dont tell him to go to Brakes he will never want to drive a lorry again, there is a reason why they are paying 36k and have a very high turnover of drivers. 
30k on class2 is possible in the north west but you might struggle to get taken on as a new pass. Also with fuel going through the roof there just might be a few hauliers struggling and maybe going under, so there are no guarantees that the grass is going to be greener.
MeatCannon:
chriswvtr:
Col81:
Hi, I have posted on here before, I am in a sales role (vehicles) I used to earn £40k easy. I commute 2 hours per day and work 37.5 Monday to Friday. There seems to be no let up in my job and for the next 12-18 months there are very few vehicles to sell.
I am currently earning around £36k but I am paying £300 per month in diesel to get to work. I am based in Warrington.
I have the itch to do class2 but I think class 1 would be to much. I can afford to earn £30-£32k but no less. Is the achievable on class2 and especially as a new driver? I don’t want to be driving a truck going bankrupt.
I am open to graft I just fancy a change. Any advise welcome.I’m in a sales job currently but have passed my Class 1 and can’t find HGV employment as I have no experience, have a search through Indeed and make note of the requirements for each role as well as the salaries, I paid £2500 for my license and I’m now thinking I wasted my money.
You can’t be looking far or are not willing to travel. I have my class 1 and I have 0 experience yet I have been offered about 8 or 9 jobs. I am in a position to be picky though so haven’t taken any yet but there are plenty out there for new passes. Where abouts in the country are you? Asda, DHL, Stobart, WS, Moran, Maritime just to name a few national companies all take on new passes and have offered me jobs.
Where abouts are you based Meatcannon?
I’m about to start my car - class1 journey and i’m reading a lot of posts like this one with people not being able to get work after a considerable investment.
Do you have any previous experience driving class 2? or have these offers come straight from car to class 1?
Id be after weekend work to start with, hopefully with someone like the outfits you’ve mentioned, all of which have depots not to far from me.
Col81:
Hi, I have posted on here before, I am in a sales role (vehicles) I used to earn £40k easy. I commute 2 hours per day and work 37.5 Monday to Friday. There seems to be no let up in my job and for the next 12-18 months there are very few vehicles to sell.
I am currently earning around £36k but I am paying £300 per month in diesel to get to work. I am based in Warrington.
I have the itch to do class2 but I think class 1 would be to much. I can afford to earn £30-£32k but no less. Is the achievable on class2 and especially as a new driver? I don’t want to be driving a truck going bankrupt.
I am open to graft I just fancy a change. Any advise welcome.
Depends on which company. There’s a few that you can earn 34k plus and they accept new starters.
All depends on where in warrington your based and how far your willing to travel.
Brakes in Burtonwood take on new starters
Wren kitchens in Trafford Park will take on.
Bidfood in Salford take on.
All 3 jobs pay 34K upwards.
Some people will have something to say about these 3.
If you have spare cash I’d do class 2 and then move upto class 1 if the industry is right for you.
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EaGledrives:
MeatCannon:
chriswvtr:
Col81:
Hi, I have posted on here before, I am in a sales role (vehicles) I used to earn £40k easy. I commute 2 hours per day and work 37.5 Monday to Friday. There seems to be no let up in my job and for the next 12-18 months there are very few vehicles to sell.
I am currently earning around £36k but I am paying £300 per month in diesel to get to work. I am based in Warrington.
I have the itch to do class2 but I think class 1 would be to much. I can afford to earn £30-£32k but no less. Is the achievable on class2 and especially as a new driver? I don’t want to be driving a truck going bankrupt.
I am open to graft I just fancy a change. Any advise welcome.I’m in a sales job currently but have passed my Class 1 and can’t find HGV employment as I have no experience, have a search through Indeed and make note of the requirements for each role as well as the salaries, I paid £2500 for my license and I’m now thinking I wasted my money.
You can’t be looking far or are not willing to travel. I have my class 1 and I have 0 experience yet I have been offered about 8 or 9 jobs. I am in a position to be picky though so haven’t taken any yet but there are plenty out there for new passes. Where abouts in the country are you? Asda, DHL, Stobart, WS, Moran, Maritime just to name a few national companies all take on new passes and have offered me jobs.
Where abouts are you based Meatcannon?
I’m about to start my car - class1 journey and i’m reading a lot of posts like this one with people not being able to get work after a considerable investment.
Do you have any previous experience driving class 2? or have these offers come straight from car to class 1?
Id be after weekend work to start with, hopefully with someone like the outfits you’ve mentioned, all of which have depots not to far from me.
I’m in West Yorkshire I have 0 class 2 experience either just car to class 1. The average commute is around 14 miles i’ve found as where I live they only want experienced drivers.
Try Turners at Castleford.They may not be everyones cup of tea but they do take on new drivers. Containers and powder tankers run out of that yard.