Hello and advice appreciated

NEW AND WANNABE DRIVERS (INTERACTIVE)
1

Hi all,

Long time lurker and reader, and thanks to all who offer their advice and opinions on here as it’s helped immensely over the last year or so of finally gaining my class 1 (from car to artic).

So I passed class 1 about 5 weeks ago and not driven an artic since, nor have driven anything bigger than a boxer van/caravan previously for leisure.

Just after some advice really on how best to go about transitioning from non-driving jobs to a driving job, please.

Life story- have worked in insurance for about 15yrs (customer service) and also run a one-man-band painting and decorating business for a bit longer, so have only done these two jobs pretty much full-time since I left university (never done anything particularly with the degree).
I’ve just managed to have paid off my mortgage and am now wanting to quit the insurance job as it’s really started to get to me that I hate it now with all the changes made recently, and it’s getting me down.
I have saved up about enough to last me a year if I didn’t manage to find a job at all.
I’ve just finished up all my painting job obligations, and been telling my customers that I’m not taking on any new work at least for the time being, as I need to concentrate on making this move into driving lorries- otherwise I’ll just keep on doing the same thing as I’ve always done (two jobs full-time that I don’t enjoy anymore, and hardly any spare time).

I realise I’m lucky to have savings to last me a year, and a mortgage paid off (I’ve grafted for it like, but houses are cheap up here!). But I’m nervous about giving up the customer service job and just quitting as it’s a regular income I’ve come to rely upon over the years, and its got me a small pension that I’d never have saved up for if I’d just been decorating for the last 15yrs. It’s not very good pay though, and no real chance of progression. Yet still it’s scary to give up after doing it for so long, even though I now hate doing it.

The insurance job is 35hrs per week on average, spread from Monday -Thursday each week.

So the question is- do I just hand my notice in to the insurance job and just go full on to searching for HGV jobs, or should I keep doing that job and just do agency one day a week or every two weeks, until I have some driving experience?
I’m thinking that I just sack the insurance job off as I have some money to fall back on for a good few months at least, but everyone I’ve asked for advice says to keep that job until you have a driving job lined up, but it’s hard to job hunt whilst doing a full-time draining job.

I’m nearing 40 now, and I live in the North East just below Teesside/Middleborough.

So I basically have zero experience relevant to driving HGVs . I’m happy to go tramping though, as I like going wild camping/surfing etc. So am used to kipping in vans and tents and stuff and being away from home, and though I have a lovely partner we don’t live together and she’s happy for me to go tramping.

Does anyone know if there’s much work around this area that would take on new passes, and if there’s any good agencies here if you think that that is the best route to go down, or any decent companies that will take on a new pass with zero experience?

Anyway… essay over! Just at a life crossroads and wondering the best way to proceed?

Cheers

2

I would do one day every two weeks via agency for a bit to see if you like it and to gain some experience
It could mean doing some C1 jobs first followed by C then CE

pass ce.png
PASSING FIREWORKS.gif

3

It seems there are a few in a similar situation as there have been a couple of threads recently.

If you are willing to make phone calls and personal visits, I expect there probably is work out there. You have paid for the licence, so it doesn’t seem like too much to ask for a company to send you out accompanied for a few days. However, a common theme has been that sometimes you are asked to undergo the days of training unpaid. It depends the way you see things, but it would be invaluable experience.

On agency you may be asked to try class 2 or 7.5 tonne to get some experience. You could probably get full-time hours doing that on agency, or enough to get by at any rate. Quite often January is a quiet time on agency.

Personally I managed to get placed doing class 1 on agency, but I had been driving for a few years doing 7.5 tonne and class 2.

You probably won’t get any of the better paid work as a new pass. Six months to a year of experience and the ability to control the vehicle going backwards changes that slightly, although you will be competing with people of more experience.

4

Ahhh thanks Rog for the fireworks - been a long time coming, and a happy chuckle every time I’ve seen them given out to all the other new passes since I’ve been lurking onboard! Thanks for the agency advice too.

Noremac- cheers mate, that sounds encouraging. And congrats on getting your job you wanted in the end :slight_smile:

And yes- I’ve been following all the recent threads in similar ish situations… most seem to be coming from fairly well paid (or seemingly so?) Professions though, whereas my insurance job is pretty much the lowest of the low (just gotta take the ■■■■■ that management give these days) whereas other people moving to trucking from other jobs seem to have well paid jobs to fall back on, hence me thinking my lowly paid job may just be worth ditching regardless and just going 100% for trucking with, who knows…

Absolutely don’t mind doing a few days unpaid training - I’d bite the hands and little fingers off to be honest for a company to give me a few days of driving around with someone accompanying me, even if it didn’t lead to a job- purely to get me back in a wagon and just getting the hang of it properly!
Not too worried about the hourly rate at the mo, I realise you just need to get some experience - especially practicing reversing, I reckon it’d be better to do it that way than just be chucked in at the deep end on potentially anything on agency with no training or assistance - yet a lot of people seem to recommend that’s the best way to learn. Tough to know what’s best really…

5

Firstly congratulations on the pass, well done!

I’m in a similar position. I passed in January and was lucky to get a driving assessment with a supermarket agency in February. I’ve since been working one Sunday per fortnight to build experience, around my full time office job.

It has been a steep learning curve, but the range of safety nets put in place by the supermarket I work for (and most of the larger firms I imagine) have been perfect for me to learn the ropes. This Sunday just gone was probably the most confident I have felt so far (I’ve done around 12 shifts now). The reversing is slowly starting to click, and a 13 hour shift seemed to fly by on Sunday, doing the job safely and comfortably.

An added bonus is that the hourly rate has gone up by over 25% since I started in February and even the weekday hourly rate that they offer is now higher than my full-time job. It started off as bonus money whilst getting a feel for the job, but now I’m currently weighing up my options to move to part-time lorry driving as my sole income.

I’d definitely recommend trying to get in with an agency to make the transition, just to take the pressure off you if anything. Rather than worrying about where the next pay cheque is coming from, you can focus on learning and developing your abilities, whilst building up experience which will set you up for a full time job if you decide to make the switch.

Let us know how you get on and if you have any questions, this is a good place to start!

Sent from my DUB-LX1 using Tapatalk

6

Hi, and congratulations!

It comes across that the insurance job is not something you value or indeed need, it’s just a bit of a security blanket. You sound like you’re willing to jump into lorry driving with both feet, so it is what I would recommend. You’ve saved up a year of backup, you don’t want to spend the next year at the rate of one day a week at your new career.
As soon as you hand in your notice, I’m sure all the stress from your current job will float away. Leaving you free time to job search in earnest. Tramping would let you search quite far afield if it’s only a weekly commute.

Just a random example from a quick search - doesn’t specify experience required.
uk.indeed.com/viewjob?from=apps … 29e075cd89

7

Don’t do tramping until you figure everything out.

8

Hi LeroyLobster

Congratulations on your pass. You sound a bit stuck. I was there for a time too, endlessly tweaking my CV but not actually allowing anyone else to read it! You are right when you say it’s difficult to job hunt while working as it’s so time consuming and tiring. You need a plan! Unless you have a firm in mind that you’d like to work for then an agency is a good place to start.

That’s what you need to do - start. Set yourself free from the insurance job to give yourself time to research and start getting yourself out there. It is daunting because once you have done that, things can move very quickly and you can be in work before you know it. Then it’s doubly daunting because you’re actually out on the road doing what you trained to do, but it feels so wrong at first, like you are majorly winging it, but that feeling goes away in time. If you want to go down the agency route, have a read of the “Agency Help” thread. There’s lots of good advice on there. Good luck with it all and let us know how you get on.

9

Cheers for the response guys and gal :slight_smile:
Sort of what I’d been thinking I need to do tbh, but guess I just wanted a few people to tell me to just go for it and just give up the day job. Seems that maybe agency for a bit first to get a bit of experience and then maybe hope to go employed once got a bit of that behind me.

Driveress - I’m definitely in your camp on the tweaking the CV etc. and not letting anyone see it! Also on the fact of it seeming that I’d just be winging it if I just suddenly got a job driving massive lorries straight away, but I guess you’ve just gotta go for it at some point and see how it goes!

Thanks to all of you for all your past posts too- I’ve followed all of your recent postings and been really pleased for you how you’ve all got on with your new jobs etc. And you driveress with your successes after a few fails, great to see you just kept bashing on until you got there in the end :slight_smile:

10

I guess you’ve just gotta go for it at some point and see how it goes!

Yep! You’ve done the hard bit though - come out of the shadows and started posting on here. It’s almost as daunting as driving an HGV :laughing: Now, with so many of us knowing what you’re up to you have to get on with it :smiley: