not just to do with my assesment at stobarts today but im so close to saying stuff the driving career.im making myself ill trying to get the break into industry.i am constantly looking at job center sites and c.v librarys,buying job papers etc its really getting me down.with so many experienced drivers in the line beforeb they will even look at me.when i got made redundant in september there were on average 90 suitable jobs when doing a search on the job centre website,today there were 38.the country is in a really bad way and unfortunately us as drivers are feeling the brunt of it
I’ve been informed that the construction industry is worse - but not by much
were thers a will theres a way around things
Go part time driving
take a full time job and part time agency drive
take a part time job and part time agency drive
what happend at stobarts then?
■■■■■■00:
were thers a will theres a way around things
Go part time driving
take a full time job and part time agency drive
take a part time job and part time agency drive
In some parts of the UK it may not be possible to get either 
with a mortgage and 2 kids under 3 i ve had to take a job in a shop to stop me losing my house.full time work and no spare time.gives me no time to build experience etc.up to now ive spent £2500 on licences to work in a shop.great this country isnt it
ive been working for agency for 5 years now and i gave up trying to get a full time job driving due to being a newbie…now i work in the nhs doing nothing related to driving and drive part time
if i get 2 drives a week ontop of my basic within the nhs then thats me soughted
and with the law of averages i look at it like this when the time comes and i attend an interview and it will be me whom is deemed experienced and the newer divers will be were i was five or six years earlier
i feel like doing it yes, been at the agencfy driving for 3 years and im only 22, experienced everything including your not old enough to drive a puddle jumper when i had just passed my c+e
ive gave up trying to get a full time job because they always come back with your not experienced enough or insurance and the agencies aint veen being good to me right now, 2 days in the last month
Clarkyboy, clearly you’re stressed out. Take a day out from even looking for a job, forget [zb] driving for a day, dont even drive you’re own vehicle, do something totally different. Go for a nice long walk, take the mrs and the kids, depending on where you live, go to the beach, or the park, or walk the countryside. Dont even think about work for a day! The next day you’ll have a whole new perspective on the situation, you’ll have different ideas, there is absolutely nothing on the planet worth getting stressed out over! As you get older you’ll realise this, or you can go around for the rest of your life with a tree trunk on your shoulder, I know a lot of people like this, does them no good at all. Have a great day out.
Tiger.
Clarkyboy, you’re not based a million miles from me and I can appreciate your frustration at how little there is in this area. I own my own truck but its got so slack lately that I’ve started looking for other work to tide me over. I know that in this area there is bugger all.
I’m sure you’ve probably tried it already but have you been through the phone book. I looked under Couriers, Delivery and Collection Services and road haulage services particularly. Maybe some of these might have a bit of van driving or shunting.
I have no idea if any of the following are recruiting or will take someone of your experience but you could try;
Edge Transport (Wrexham)
Grand Prix Express (Mochdre)
Coopers Carriers (Kinmel Bay)
EGS (Wrexham)
RF Bellis (Wrexham)
McCarthy Haulage (Wrexham)
Sunhill Transport (Deeside)
TDS Morgan (Mostyn)
JH Willis (Wrexham)
I decided to keep ploughing on with my own truck for now, picking up the odd day here and there but some of the above were on my list - might be worth a go if you haven’t already tried. Good luck. 
Not surprised you can’t get in to a job.
The economy is rock bottom and everyone has closed doors.
Haulage firms are going bust.The big ones aren’t taking on if they can help it.
We normally have lots of agency this time of year…This year I have seen 1 or two who are agency.
hammer,many thanks for your reply,i really do appreciate it.theres nothing but support coming from the forum.i have tried all but 3 of the list you put up.i will try them tommorrow.have you tried kingspan lots of owner drivers in there
I,m currently driving a sprinter,
after gaining my class 1 (4 years ago)
I got my 2 years hgv driving experience,
but still no decent jobs.
I just make sure i stay driving,
and learning the road network,aqnd new tacho regs etc…
and hopefully when things pick up,
i,ll jump back in to 44tonners.
I,ve only got 20 years left on my mortgage ,
and 37 years left till retirement …
…
Cant wait 
Clarkyboy,
Try not to get too fed up with it all. I know its easier said than done but at least you have a job, it might not be the best in the world but it is still a job. It puts food on the table and a roof over your family’s heads so its not too bad.
When I passed my C last year (16 Nov) and got my licence back I was straight down the agencies registering and pestering companies for weekend work. I didn’t get a sniff for about a month, then got a break from one agency that were so short of drivers one of the guys out the office was going to do it, it was run for business post. After that my phone never stopped ringing. Until that day I would sit at home looking at my mobile willing it to ring but it never did. The amount of times me and the wife argued as I felt I had just wasted £1200 of our hard earned cash on getting a licence that I would never use. Then after the first run the work came flooding in.
I know work isn’t flooding in right now but try to see the woods in the trees! After a slump there is usually a bit of a boom and you will be in the ideal position to walk into a firm and get a job and be out driving the following day. Try to keep yourself busy, not by looking for jobs, but by doing things with the family because once the work starts to pile in you will feel like you hardly see them. At least you won’t have to think about doing your training and then getting the experience, all you will need is the experience, and that will come one day.
Keep smiling mate; you have always got us on here to give you grief. This slump won’t last forever; it will just feel like it.
Keep looking (try every other day instead of every day) and you will find something one day.
Good luck to you and everyone else out there searching for a job
clarkyboy:
when i got made redundant in september there were on average 90 suitable jobs when doing a search on the job centre website,today there were 38.the country is in a really bad way and unfortunately us as drivers are feeling the brunt of it
Jesus Christ. You want to live where I do then. Within a 40 mile radius of me, which encapsulates Hull and East Yorks, there’s only been 6 HGV jobs advertised in the last month.
those jobs are within 50 miles of chester in the search and most of them are agencies with no jobs at all
Gutted Mate PM’d ya
Already made that decision myself. Only work down here is tramping and I don’t want to leave the family and go out 5 nights a week. Tried that (more than once) and it doesn’t suit.
I am fortunate in that I am doing some casual driving (2 nights out at a time maximum) whilst I am retraining in another industry. (well hopefully I still do, but the car let me down today when I had to see one of the office bods about a little bump I had)
OK, like driving this other industry isn’t looking to great but the training provider also state they can get me the first job.
The way the industry is at the minute I just see driving as a way to fill the gap till I move on to other things, with maybe the odd day here and there to keep my hand in. Although I can’t see that lasting past 2014 though cos there is no way I will be able to afford to do this cpc thingy and the only way I will get it paid is to go full time…5 nights a week tramping.
It’s the same where I live, the agency’s are only giving work to experienced drivers, one agency I spoke to made it very clear that I was not going to get a job with very little experience.
The job centre web site in my area has posted 4 new driver jobs since Friday, all of which require either ADR or 2 years exp.
I’m finding it very difficult to keep looking, so I’m doing the every other day routine now.
Just trying to keep busy doing nothing, the garage is spotless!
Keep going clarkyboy!
Fastrantiger:
Clarkyboy, clearly you’re stressed out. Take a day out from even looking for a job, forget [zb] driving for a day, dont even drive you’re own vehicle, do something totally different. Go for a nice long walk, take the mrs and the kids, depending on where you live, go to the beach, or the park, or walk the countryside. Dont even think about work for a day! The next day you’ll have a whole new perspective on the situation, you’ll have different ideas, there is absolutely nothing on the planet worth getting stressed out over! As you get older you’ll realise this, or you can go around for the rest of your life with a tree trunk on your shoulder, I know a lot of people like this, does them no good at all. Have a great day out.Tiger.
This is good advice, but something you only understand with advancing years.
I remember when I got my HGV licence and my brother before me, the despair and frustration that nobody would give you are chance. Both of us knocked on doors and then wnet back again. Eventually as had been said, you are in the right place at the right time and bingo you do a resonible job and they call again. 
Take Tigers advice, chill out and realise the good things you have in life. and then think even if it takes a year to find a job, it’s only a year. Then go and knock on doors and leave them you number. Okay things are bad but they will pick up, maybe not after Christmas but one day somebody will need a driver and if they have seen you and they have your number they will ring.