i did a run to darlington on sunday with the agency and had a great day,i picked up my 61 plate iveco stralis at 6am hooked my trailer up and headed off up the m6,i had the radio on low, my window down ,the cruise control set and just cruised up to darlington,quick trailer swap,45 mins for a butty an a brew and set off back,i ■■■■■■ loved every minute of it, for anyone who has ever wanted to drive an artic my advice is go for it im still smiling now! you just have to play it smart iv kept my old full time job that secure and pays the bills an then i drive my truck every other weekend for a bit of fun an a bit of extra brass until i build up the all important experience and then il see whats about job done 
Fab,that’s where I wanna be!
I’m in exactly the same boat as you , kept my job and getting plenty of well needed experience. It’s great this trucking lark. Learning loads. I’m working 2/3 evenings a week, to get my experience. I’m from brum, so may see you around. Enjoy.
Good stuff - I’m thinking that’s the route I’ll have to take, trying to get a bit of work on the side and keeping my office job until the time is right to take the plunge into driving full-time!
hi guys
i did the same. Got my class c back in 1999 did a bit of Class 2 on agency while at uni, then did my class 1 in 2004 as i was offered it very cheap. Never drove arctic as went into office work and thankfully did ok and then got urge having watched Eddie Stobart Series so went on a refresher in Apr 2011 and then signed up with a dodgy agency lol…
they didn’t care about recent experience and were ready to send me straight out!!!
As long s you have 2 years’ on licence they didn’t care!
So started with some evenings with pallet track … have some right stories of messing up, but they will be too long to type!
Then started Saturdays, good money, but then 2nd child came along as just too much on top of full time office job. So haven’t been out since July now. Also had enough of the transport staff at my regular Saturday gig, they were very arrogant bunch of ppl.
Its enjoyable doing part time but s full time could be different story!
Evosuk — if you don’t mind em asking what kind of evening work do you get? I could fit that in but most say its a short run but then u can end up doing full 12 hours which means no sleep before office work! 
Hi pops hows it all going with the new baby any sleep yet lol ,
+1 to his coment about hours you have to be carefull ive been putting in a lot of hours in last few months since taking on the artics and have realised that something has to give , been worrying myself sick as didnt want to turn down too much work in case the agencies stop calling but tiredness is not a good thing when driving ,
I did have a brill job where the hours suited I was able to get plenty of sleep to cope with my job and hgv driving but the hours that you do on artics are much longer and have been finding that i cant sleep to well during the day to get enough rest also have had to travell further for artic work and adds time to working day by the weekend too shattered to enjoy home life and thats not a good balance so at the moment having some serious thinking to do regards my work and what I need to concentrate on , its a real dilemer for me as love driving the lorries but have to feed the family too so may have to do less hgv , only time will tell
good luck mate , I hope it keeps on working out for you
Hi pops, I work 5 to 2ish as an average. I only do about 2 a week. Lovely clean fridge work to big spacious rdc’s. Some new trucks aswell. Decent agency, he listens and knows what I want and can do. Pm me and I’ll give you the details. Double pay Sundays.