Evening All!
Following on from my last post, I want to hear from you guys what it’s like having a family as a HGV driver? I’ve seen a lot of jobs which are 6am till 5:30pm which is perfect for me etc. I mean I’m only just turning 21 so have a good bit of time before I hope!
jaejames:
Evening All!
Following on from my last post, I want to hear from you guys what it’s like having a family as a HGV driver? I’ve seen a lot of jobs which are 6am till 5:30pm which is perfect for me etc. I mean I’m only just turning 21 so have a good bit of time before I hope!
Unless you’re driving bin lorries, ignore the finish time.
To answer your question - it depends!
I’d say a lot of families struggle with the long hours - with kids you may not really see them grow up.
Others thrive on it. Only you (and any potential partner) can answer.
For what it’s worth I’d say the hours cause more problems than they solve.
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Depends what sort of work you get into, and what sort of worker you are, depending on the work if you follow.
If you have a family you inevitably have two choices, in the early years at least, either one of the parents stays at home and raises the children…i know this view is verboten in the current age of lunacy and i’m likely to have screaming hordes of zealots calling for my stoning to death…or you try and juggle your lives around two parents working and sharing responsibilies.
I care not which path anyone chooses, whatever you may think both paths have their merits.
The practicalties are that there needs to be a certain income to maintain a home and raise a family these days, so either you both work a standard job or the one who has the most earning potential, and can cope with the stresses involved, does their best to earn a high enough wage to replace the missing.
To be a the sole breadwinner for a long time requires a serious work ethic, someone who can cope with 60+ hours every week without respite.
This method requires some old fashioned values which these days are derided, yes the breadwinner parent loses out on seeing so much of their children, but you can’t have your cake and eat it.
Both parents working can share the economic burdens and work more sensible hours, but there will always be school holidays and the inevitable teacher/school hours re delivering and collecting children from school, which usually means one or the other is on shifts of some sort, either earlies or lates so they can cover either delivery or collection from school, few lorry driving jobs have reliable enough hours to fit this criteria.
I could expand on this post for a dozen pages and bore everyone even more than usual, i’ll save you that agony 
jaejames:
Evening All!
Following on from my last post, I want to hear from you guys what it’s like having a family as a HGV driver? I’ve seen a lot of jobs which are 6am till 5:30pm which is perfect for me etc. I mean I’m only just turning 21 so have a good bit of time before I hope!
I’m a new driver with 6 kids at home. I was surprised at what is considered a daytime shift. Starting at 4-5am is not unusual in my area. If you add the time for a shower, breakfast and a cuppa plus commuting time it means getting up at 3am. That isn’t a daytime shift in my book. 15 and 13 hour days mean you might not be finished until 8pm then you’ve got the commute home so maybe getting in at 9pm then something to eat, fall into bed and ready to get up again at 3am.
I actually did this shift pattern for a few weeks until I decided it wasn’t for me.
Night trunking was a lot easier and straight forward but it was proper night work starting at 6:30pm finished for 6:30am I wasn’t seeing the kids at all.
I want to try 4 on 4 off tramping. It would take the pressure off trying to get home every day and allow me to do maximum hours and still give me some proper quality time with family.
I’ve also considered going down to class 2 as more of the work tends to be 7am starts with 5-6pm finish.
I’d say this is one of the good things about the job, there’s so many different ways to go and so many different types of work you’re bound to find something that fits what you like.
When I started I only had very limited time to see my young daughter and that went on for years
I missed her growing up to a large extent
Some observations to consider on a so called 17.30 finish are :
Motorway and road closures due to police investigation work following a fatal accident, or the police can still shut the road with patients with life threatening injuries and won’t open the road until the hospital confirms they will live or die .
Potentially you could be stuck there all night or even longer with no night out gear in the lorry, this is called an unplanned night out .
There is nothing worse than sleeping in your work clothes or uniform in a cab with no night heater or a broken night heater .
Then breaking down or a tyre blow out , the mechanic or tyre fitter saying he will get to you in four hours or you are in a queue of five wagons awaiting tyre changes.
Then when the driving time and working hours is expiring, you will have to be rescued by your company, with the possibility of getting home the next day when it all goes wrong.
Being delayed at the unloading or loading depot is another one to the long list of what can go wrong.
With jobs being away all day also limit you to attend doctors and dentists visits , this is why night shift drivers love their shifts , so you get some sleep then sort out car mot’s and garage repairs of which day drivers can’t do alone unless they have a partner or willing partner .
There are a whole range of HGV driving jobs out there. Some will routinely involve making the most (or worst!) of your permitted 13/15 hour days, some will be much the same as any other day job with hours (and pay) to match. A very few will give you the best of both worlds with regular “normal” hours but a reasonable pay package to go with it. General haulage will tend towards the long hours, but Own Account work often tends towards the more reasonable hours and often better pay.
I work Mon-Fri, start at 7am every day and am normally done by 3.30pm. I have only had one or two Reduced Rests in the past couple of years, and only worked longer than 12 hours on a handful of occasions in the same time period. Haven’t had to do a Night Out for over a decade (have only ever done two in the 15+ years I’ve been driving HGVs). My job is probably as boring as ■■■■ though…
Work hard all week to provide for your family + spend time with your family all weekend = success, in most cases, unless the relationship is already strained, then you are fighting a losing battle no matter what your job is.
Can be long hours on HGV but then you could be working a 3 shift system in a warehouse or stressed out at home after bad days at the office. Bills have to be paid, a roof needs to be kept over your head etc and if you are not on at least 30k for driving a class 1 you are doing something wrong.
Starting so young as you are, if you have your head screwed on right and pay extra off your mortgage, you can wipe years off it, I wish I had started at your age.
But…this job is all about having the right attitude, some say they hate it but guess what, they have been doing it 30+ years and they are still doing it, it can’t be that bad can it?
ROG:
When I started I only had very limited time to see my young daughter and that went on for years
I missed her growing up to a large extent
ROG,
That’s something I think a lot of guys need to think about.
I’m not prepared to miss my little poppet (she’s 9) growing up.
My big kids are cool, even the 12 year old. They’ve had me forever and they’re confident and secure in themselves and with their relationship with me.
My youngest? I’m not so sure. She’s not had enough time around me.
If I’m honest, I’d miss her terribly if I didn’t get to put her to bed and read her bedtime stories. I actually think I’d miss her more than she might miss me.
Yeah, Build is a big softy 
…And don’t even get me started having two teenage daughters trying to get their boyfriends in the house for “sleep overs” while I’m trucking.
Yeah, over my dead body!
Bloody kids!
jaejames:
Evening All!
Following on from my last post, I want to hear from you guys what it’s like having a family as a HGV driver? I’ve seen a lot of jobs which are 6am till 5:30pm which is perfect for me etc. I mean I’m only just turning 21 so have a good bit of time before I hope!
Here’s a bit of long term advice for you…
You’ll hit the ground running at pretty much your maximum pay. There is no progression. You won’t earn any more at 25 than you would at 35. Trucking in that sense is a dead end job.
It’s a well paid job because you work 50-70 hours a week. The hourly pay is quite low but there’s lots of hours to be worked.
My advice to a young man -
Work hard. Get those hours in. Set up an ISA. Buy shares. Buy a house. Compound interest is your friend.
If you work and spend you’ll end up working until you’re 70 and still working. I’ve seen it. My trainer was a guy beyond retirement age who couldn’t stop working.
Now take my brother, he started trucking 20 years ago. He invested in ISA’s tracking the stock market and bought his own house. He didn’t spew all his money on iPads and holidays. He had a long term plan. His plan is working out very nicely.
He self invested in tracker funds through an ISA which is tax free.
To give you an idea of realistic returns at 9.8% compounded over twenty years have a look at this link -
Save money. Don’t spew it.
He’s got a very nice life living in Spain driving in the UK for a few months every year just to top up his living expenses.
I’m a few years behind him but have other assets so I’m just looking for cash to invest for the future so I can join him.
Would I invest today? Probably not. The market seems overheated to me right now. That doesn’t mean I’ll throw my hard earned cash down the pan buying iPads or whatever. I’ll save it until I think the time is right.
shullbit:
Work hard all week to provide for your family + spend time with your family all weekend = success, in most cases, unless the relationship is already strained, then you are fighting a losing battle no matter what your job is.
Can be long hours on HGV but then you could be working a 3 shift system in a warehouse or stressed out at home after bad days at the office. Bills have to be paid, a roof needs to be kept over your head etc and if you are not on at least 30k for driving a class 1 you are doing something wrong.
Starting so young as you are, if you have your head screwed on right and pay extra off your mortgage, you can wipe years off it, I wish I had started at your age.
But…this job is all about having the right attitude, some say they hate it but guess what, they have been doing it 30+ years and they are still doing it, it can’t be that bad can it?
That just about sums it all up.
Build 5
is wrong imho about there being no progression in the industry, and its far from a dead end job if what you wanted to do was drive wagons for a living and be out and about, some of us have no interest in greasy pole climbing, we know we’d last about 5 minutes before lumping some plonker…think of those sarky mincing little twerps you find behind some transport desks and imagine having to work alongide it all week…many of us are doing exactly what we wanted to from short trousers, yes its changed but you yourself don’t have to change, thats the beauty of this industry, there’s something out there for everyone if you look hard enough.
Whilst you usually have to start at the bottom, most drivers with their heads screwed on have managed over the years to find their niche, niches are often specialised and often enough in not purely lorry chauffering roles and usually have a decent union representing the members, though not being a union member doesn’t stop the non members trousering the many benefits in doube quick time 
.
There are still jobs out there that require a bit more skill flexibility and dedication than simply vegetating behind a steering wheel (many want to do just that and good luck to them, just there’s no money in it), interesting sometimes even fulfilling jobs that pay well and don’t require you to work all hours the good Lord sends, i average a 43 hour week.
Those who come to lorry driving as an alternative after their chosen jobs went round the U bend might find it a difficult transition, and assume that those set hours and shifts can translate to their new lorry driving world, often dissapointed when they realise that passing the test didn’t translate to pro desirable driver status the next day in the eyes of the better employers, you still (usually) have to earn your way up in this job whether you start age 21 31 or 51, some get a leg up via family or mates already installed in good jobs, but for most its a bit of snakes and ladders game, some you win, some you lose and have to start again.
My husband works for Royal Mail, which we know is not the usual HGV job, but does nights because I also have a career I want to keep and we would haemorrhage money on childcare if we both worked days.
We have 4 children aged between 9 and 4 so it’s tricky, but that’s how we will have to juggle it for the next 10 years or so.
He has only been an HGV driver 18 months and I don’t know that he would have trained if he didn’t have the guarantee of a RM job at the end of it. I don’t think the hours or the money would have made it worthwhile for us.
1on4:
My husband works for Royal Mail, which we know is not the usual HGV job, but does nights because I also have a career I want to keep and we would haemorrhage money on childcare if we both worked days.We have 4 children aged between 9 and 4 so it’s tricky, but that’s how we will have to juggle it for the next 10 years or so.
He has only been an HGV driver 18 months and I don’t know that he would have trained if he didn’t have the guarantee of a RM job at the end of it. I don’t think the hours or the money would have made it worthwhile for us.
Good to see a partner (or partners cos it takes two) accepting that the world of trying to make ends meet and somehow living a life at the same time isn’t easy nor is there any cut and dried one size fits all solution.
He’s fortunate, as both of you accept and appreciate, to have such a decent job from the kick off.
He’s also fortunate to have a decent partner and it appears you support one another as well as doing all you can for your brood, but he won’t need me to tell him that, i raise my hat to you both.
Juddian:
1on4:
My husband works for Royal Mail, which we know is not the usual HGV job, but does nights because I also have a career I want to keep and we would haemorrhage money on childcare if we both worked days.We have 4 children aged between 9 and 4 so it’s tricky, but that’s how we will have to juggle it for the next 10 years or so.
He has only been an HGV driver 18 months and I don’t know that he would have trained if he didn’t have the guarantee of a RM job at the end of it. I don’t think the hours or the money would have made it worthwhile for us.
Good to see a partner (or partners cos it takes two) accepting that the world of trying to make ends meet and somehow living a life at the same time isn’t easy nor is there any cut and dried one size fits all solution.
He’s fortunate, as both of you accept and appreciate, to have such a decent job from the kick off.
He’s also fortunate to have a decent partner and it appears you support one another as well as doing all you can for your brood, but he won’t need me to tell him that, i raise my hat to you both.
No hat raises needed! We are both very aware of how fortunate he is to have the job he does, I was just trying to highlight that with a large young family, I don’t think a new career as a driver would have worked for us had he had a different employer at the end of it.
Thanks everyone! So I might be wrong but I feel like the common theme is it becomes quite hard to have a family while driving HGV’s?
jaejames:
Thanks everyone! So I might be wrong but I feel like the common theme is it becomes quite hard to have a family while driving HGV’s?
You’re spot on, it is.
You can’t have your cake and eat it as the saying goes. With HGV driving sometimes you get neither unfortunately.
I’d say either 4 on 4 off as you’ll spend over 50% of your time at home (though you’ll rarely have a full weekend free and may get roped into extra shifts ) or maybe consider skip/dusty bin driving… Though neither will offer the ‘trucker’ lifestyle tbh.
The decision is yours. You could always go tramping for a few years and get it out of your system. It’s not half as glamarous as you’d think and at least then you’ll know if you want to do it enough to compromise on family life…
Good luck with whatever you go for!
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There is plenty of jobs with regular hours, OK so the end times are slightly harder to balance but it is still available.
I started driving when my kids were young and was often able to pick them up from school or take them to clubs and events after the school yime thanks to a job that had 5am starts. I now start 0630 and typically finish 1600 at the moment, if its quiet I’ll come here earlier or could be there until 1700. It’s a rare thing for me to be after 1700.
I’ve worked with so many blokes who have missed their families growing up, I made it a point to make sure I didn’t
Oh don’t forget the weekend roster , where drivers take it in turn to work Saturday or Sunday or both then have time off in the week and another issue is the employer choosing when you take your annual holidays, or the blue eyed drivers bag all the school holiday times and no slots are available.
So here’s a opposite take on it from a tramper of 24 years. It all depends on you and your partners outlook on what you want for your family life. And a big part of that if finding someone who understands the job your doing and accepts it. Quite a lot of drivers have problems with keeping relationships due to the hours. I explained this to my wife at the start with a take it or leave it attitude, I’d had a previous partner who tried to change what I did to a 9-5 type job. Luckily she accepted it and we’ve been together just over 25 years.
Personally, I’ve always done long hours whatever industry I’ve been in (farming, railway and haulage) and for most of it I’ve ended up working away. For us that has worked, mainly because the off time has been spent a quality family time plus the financial upside has helped us do stuff we’d never have done if I’d been in a ‘normal’ hours job.
We took the decision that my wife would be a stay at home mum for the last 14 years, the reason was because the majority of her earnings would have gone in childcare anyway. Recently she has returned to work, this helped that I could leave the railway. Even though the pay was brilliant it didn’t make up for the effect it was having on my health both mental and physical.
I don’t see the attraction of day work, as to earn what we require at present, I would still be doing similar hours to what I do tramping but with the added travel time and cost and leaving the house at 5am and getting back around 6/7pm doesn’t give much family time. Plus I’d still miss most of the school stuff anyway regardless of tramping or not. I have done it in the past and we found it didn’t work for us, so I went back tramping. Where I am now it also good as there’s no pressure to work weekends if you don’t want them, I usually do 1 Saturday a month on average, have done more recently as there’s nothing to do with the family anyway so might as well earn a bit extra and pay a debt off quicker.
As you say your 21, and if I’ve read correctly, no family at present the try a bit of everything really and see what suits you. Also earn a bit and put it away in savings as that will help if you want to take a lower aid job when a family does come along.