I passed my class 1 in January but still haven’t landed a drive, I haven’t really tried alot of places tbh as I’ve had another job, but I’ve left my other job so been looking at ADR courses and doing a HIAB course but is it worth it for a new pass, I’m fine for money for the next 12months so no rush in getting a job,just want to see if extra certification is worth getting, the end goal for me has always been a tanker driver
If you are happy driving via agency to build up experience, either additional qualification will certainly help you stand out from the other new drivers on the agency books.
If you are looking for perm work, companies will specify what qualifications they need.
I am also fairly new class 1 (September) and decided to self fund ADR as it is desired by the pallet network whom I had been working for quite a bit. This definitely helped, and I am offered more work post ADR qualification.
When i first started agency back in Sept, there was lots of class 1 work available to me. Post Xmas, it is much quieter on class 1, but class 2 opportunity is there.
I very much recommend taking class 2 work, getting known with clients, and the clients will then bump you up to class 1 when they get to trust you.
So, I my experience, ADR was worth doing. I very much doubt anyone will be remotely interested in a newbie for tankers though - at least 24 months experience general driving needed.
Martin.
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J21my_c:
I passed my class 1 in January but still haven’t landed a drive, I haven’t really tried alot of places tbh as I’ve had another job, but I’ve left my other job so been looking at ADR courses and doing a HIAB course but is it worth it for a new pass, I’m fine for money for the next 12months so no rush in getting a job,just want to see if extra certification is worth getting, the end goal for me has always been a tanker driver
Hi,
You’ve had some great advice in Martin’s post above, but I’ll add my 2p worth…
This exact question comes up fairly often on TN, and the general consensus seems to be that it depends on the need for those two qualifications in the geographic area where you live/work. Some research on the job advertising boards may give you some guidance.
I can’t speak for HIAB, I’ve neither held nor taught that qualifiction and so couldn’t even offer a suggestion.
When it comes to ADR, I got my first ADR in 1997, then used it as a driver for about five years very similar to the way described by Martin above.
I qualified to teach ADR in 2003 and have been doing the teaching (and consultancy) of dangerous goods ever since, so I’ve approx 20yrs experience of that as a self-employed freelancer.
My honest advice is that, if you decided to self-fund ADR, then avoid the time and expense of getting the tanker module, approx 1.5days, unless you have a promised tanker job to go to. Tankering is quite difficult to break into, even for an experienced driver, unless you have a good friend or know a manager in the tanker industry who might help you.
The basic ADR course I’d recommend is called Core, Packages and seven classes, which most providers do Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (3 full days) and Thursday morning for the exams. Depending on your situation with DCPC, you can get 21hrs for this
The tanker module is normally Thursday afternoon, all Friday morning, with the tanker exam around 14:00 on the Friday, followed by an early dart. 
I can give you some contacts for ADR providers (BTW I’m NOT a ADR provider) if you say roughly whereabouts you are in the country, and how far you’d be prepared to travel each day for the course. To do what I’ve suggested, you’d need four round trips to the provider.
dieseldave:
J21my_c:
I passed my class 1 in January but still haven’t landed a drive, I haven’t really tried alot of places tbh as I’ve had another job, but I’ve left my other job so been looking at ADR courses and doing a HIAB course but is it worth it for a new pass, I’m fine for money for the next 12months so no rush in getting a job,just want to see if extra certification is worth getting, the end goal for me has always been a tanker driverHi,
You’ve had some great advice in Martin’s post above, but I’ll add my 2p worth…
This exact question comes up fairly often on TN, and the general consensus seems to be that it depends on the need for those two qualifications in the geographic area where you live/work. Some research on the job advertising boards may give you some guidance.
I can’t speak for HIAB, I’ve neither held nor taught that qualifiction and so couldn’t even offer a suggestion.
When it comes to ADR, I got my first ADR in 1997, then used it as a driver for about five years very similar to the way described by Martin above.
I qualified to teach ADR in 2003 and have been doing the teaching (and consultancy) of dangerous goods ever since, so I’ve approx 20yrs experience of that as a self-employed freelancer.
My honest advice is that, if you decided to self-fund ADR, then avoid the time and expense of getting the tanker module, approx 1.5days, unless you have a promised tanker job to go to. Tankering is quite difficult to break into, even for an experienced driver, unless you have a good friend or know a manager in the tanker industry who might help you.
The basic ADR course I’d recommend is called Core, Packages and seven classes, which most providers do Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (3 full days) and Thursday morning for the exams. Depending on your situation with DCPC, you can get 21hrs for this
The tanker module is normally Thursday afternoon, all Friday morning, with the tanker exam around 14:00 on the Friday, followed by an early dart.
I can give you some contacts for ADR providers (BTW I’m NOT a ADR provider) if you say roughly whereabouts you are in the country, and how far you’d be prepared to travel each day for the course. To do what I’ve suggested, you’d need four round trips to the provider.
Thanks for you help, I’m in the dudley, I just wanna get qualified in certain areas while I have time to do the courses as I’m not working atm so I figured I’ll do what I can while I’m away from work
Just to add to what Dave has said, the Tanks module will get you another 7 hours of DCPC, so even if there’s no chance of getting work, it still helps the overall situation.
Plus, I’ve witnessed drivers on the standard (ie without tanks) course struggling to take it all in, but (counter-intuitively) by taking the extra module it helps them absorb the material from the first three days. Strange, but true, IME
Re HIAB, it’s not hard to pass the course, but to be brutally honest, without the experience of doing the work week-in, week-out, this qualification is all but useless.
I got mine because I moved internally with my then employer, from bin wagons to HIAB. Getting a HIAB job as a newbie would be challenging. No one ever asked me about the type of HIAB qualification I had, only about how much experience I had.
For ADR work, once you’ve got the qualification, most of it will be just basically doing. the job sensibly (ie good load securing) and driving carefully (foot down merchants not required), because it will most often be “packages” work which is relatively
straightforward (assuming you took the course seriously and took onboard the stuff regarding segregation and mixed loading etc).
Having done both types of work I’d say if there’s ADR work in your area, I’d recommend ADR over HIAB.
Zac_A:
… (foot down merchants not required), …
dieseldave:
My honest advice is that, if you decided to self-fund ADR, then avoid the time and expense of getting the tanker module, approx 1.5days, unless you have a promised tanker job to go to. Tankering is quite difficult to break into, even for an experienced driver, unless you have a good friend or know a manager in the tanker industry who might help you.
Well how come I just sore a class 1 ADR Tanker agency job advertised in Teeside for 12.50 - 16.00 an hour.
1 years experience preferred !
Tseal:
Well how come I just sore a class 1 ADR Tanker agency job advertised in Teeside for 12.50 - 16.00 an hour.
That could be a SORE point 
Tseal:
dieseldave:
My honest advice is that, if you decided to self-fund ADR, then avoid the time and expense of getting the tanker module, approx 1.5days, unless you have a promised tanker job to go to. Tankering is quite difficult to break into, even for an experienced driver, unless you have a good friend or know a manager in the tanker industry who might help you.Well how come I just sore a class 1 ADR Tanker agency job advertised in Teeside for 12.50 - 16.00 an hour.
1 years experience preferred !
I can’t speak for a particular company’s requirements, my comment was intended in a general sense in an attempt to save the OP some money, and is valid in most cases.
Let’s just say that the vacancy you saw is the exception, rather than the rule.