maga:
Was thinking about doing my class 1 next summer, not sure it’s worth the money now , I honestly can’t believe some of the rates posted here.
DON’T DO IT!!
I’m pretty gutted that there’s very little money in it It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do drive lorries like my grandad but I want a decent life outside of work too. I’ve never posted what I earn on here but just to put into perspective. Last month before I was laid off I was on £7.20 p/h driving class 2.
Started my new job more or less straight away driving vans. I was on a probation rate of £6.00 p/h for the first month. Passed the probation and got a 45% pay increase and given a company credit card for fuel and dinner (if further than 30miles from base or my home)
I really am gob smacked at class 1 rates, I knew people moaned but I didn’t think rates were that bad!
maga:
Was thinking about doing my class 1 next summer, not sure it’s worth the money now , I honestly can’t believe some of the rates posted here.
DON’T DO IT!!
I’m pretty gutted that there’s very little money in it It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do drive lorries like my grandad but I want a decent life outside of work too. I’ve never posted what I earn on here but just to put into perspective. Last month before I was laid off I was on £7.20 p/h driving class 2.
Started my new job more or less straight away driving vans. I was on a probation rate of £6.00 p/h for the first month. Passed the probation and got a 45% pay increase and given a company credit card for fuel and dinner (if further than 30miles from base or my home)
I really am gob smacked at class 1 rates, I knew people moaned but I didn’t think rates were that bad!
Try and approach a company like Wisemans or one of the Supermarket chains. Decent pay and a social life. I know Wisemans still do driver training in house. Good luck.
DonutUK:
We have some here who have spent hundreds, and thousands, on buying light bars, air horns etc out of their own pocket.
Madness.
I have to agree with you and ROBROY.
It seems to be the lower end of the pay scale that spend money on bling. You only need to see a few stobart trucks with peek a boos to cheer you up for the day
A few years ago i bumped into a guy in a service station who i used to work with and i showed him the truck i was driving and at that time i had a decker trailer attached to it and he said wow you must be getting at least £45 grand to be driving something that big !!
and when i told him what i was earning, he burst out laughing and told me he was getting nearly £5 grand a year more than me to drive his vending van !!
i know truck driving is underpaid but the only reason i came back to it was i coudnt get another part time job i even applied to a few jobs stacking shelves at supermarkets but to no avail !!
The reason the job is badly paid is because of it’s structure and format working against the financial entitlement and needs of the driver. The problem starts with the long hours that it involves up against the rate paid for the work.
Most jobs in other industries are paid at time up to 40hours and and time+half thereafter so lets say the haulage industry worked to the same terms…Say a driver works 67 and quarter hours ie 3x15hrs and 2x13hrs (with breaks off) at say £10 per hr,(a rate at arguably how things should be) that is £400+£408.75= £808.75, plus 4nts/out at say £25=£100 plus a meal allowance of say £10 a week. Plus fuel bonus etc etc you are getting up to a kick of the arse off a grand a week to pay a driver, put in the equation other costs such as fuel road tax insurance and the cost of truck purchase etc, the only cost that is able to be cut is …the wages, so then you get the flat rate right through, or the time+£1 after 50 hours ■■■■■■■■.
Hauliers over the years have cut each others throats on rates, to the point where the profit margin is arse tight, the competition is extremely fierce so the haulier who pays the lowest crappest wage that will enable him to put in a “good” rate for the job will get the work, the fairer employer that pays his drivers a good wage doesn’t, (a reason why there are not many Own Account operators left also ) so it doesn’t look like it will change anytime soon.
Full Time Gaffer:
Gaffer: “Hey, do that 15 hour run on saturday night will ya? - You can have some hours back out of the middle of next week…If you want it as overtime instead, it’s £6.30ph which is as much premium as I can afford, 'cos times are 'ard OK?”
Driver: “No thanks guv”
Gaffer: “You’re fired then!”
Agency:
Gaffer: “Hey, do that 15 hour run on saturday night will ya? - You can do it for £6.30ph”
Driver: Nope.
Gaffer: “Sorry, I meant £16.30ph. Slip of the tongue.”
Driver Sorry bud, I’m busy saturday.
Gaffer: “Ok, can you do it monday to friday next week then for the same pay?”
Driver: Sure thing boss.
That’s the difference a single digit makes in this world - and the ability to get someone else to throw their hand away, rather than yours.
NewLad:
I’d take a day like I have had today over that, even on £7ph. 7hrs POA (watching tv in my cab), 1hr Break, 5hrs driving and 45mins other work. (1hr unpaid break for arguments sake) £87.50 and you have actually done 5hrs 45 min WORK.
Not quite as you started work the moment you started driving ,arrived at the depot, so upto 15hrs in any 24hrs for £87.50 = £5.83 per hr ,less than the min wage!! not so good now is it?
NewLad:
I’d take a day like I have had today over that, even on £7ph. 7hrs POA (watching tv in my cab), 1hr Break, 5hrs driving and 45mins other work. (1hr unpaid break for arguments sake) £87.50 and you have actually done 5hrs 45 min WORK.
Not quite as you started work the moment you started driving ,arrived at the depot, so upto 15hrs in any 24hrs for £87.50 = £5.83 per hr ,less than the min wage!! not so good now is it?
And there you have it. Lazy basturts who are happy to sit on their arse watching Jeremy Kyle on their phone/laptop for the princely sum of £5.83ph as long as they get a 15. Sad cnts.
I think people put too high a premium on “working in January”.
Think about it - if you are accepting £7ph instead of insisting on £9.50 in this example, you are effectively losing at least £100 a week (£2.50 less x 40 hours pw assumed) for the 48 weeks of the year that are not “January”. This amounts to at least £4800. Sitting out January on even zero pay is going to cost you what? - 4 weeks @ 40 hours potential x £9.50ph of work you don’t get? - Well, that amounts to £1520.
It’s a no-brainer isn’t it? - Just take your holiday pot in January, and smile at the fact you’re not buggering about in the snow and ice whilst someone else more mathematically challenged is out there in the worst of the year’s weather getting worse than minimum wage, once the overheads are taken off as well.
Why anyone should work or be expected to work for less than the nat min wage of £6.31 phr i do not know, and any employer who is paying less than this is breaking the law, Infact i don’t think that £6.31 phr is sufficient for the responsibilities that are placed up on the driver of a LGV or PSV , or is a fair rate of pay it isn’t representitive of todays living costs or costs associated with a driver being able to drive comercially ie DCPC, Medical, Driver card ,and the costs of gaining the vocational qualification C CE D DE on your licence
Infact This job has been on it’s ■■■ too long and i wouldn’t advise anyone to become a lorry driver unless they would be happy to have the ■■■■ ripped out of them via their pay packet
maga:
Was thinking about doing my class 1 next summer, not sure it’s worth the money now , I honestly can’t believe some of the rates posted here.
DON’T DO IT!!
I’m pretty gutted that there’s very little money in it It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do drive lorries like my grandad but I want a decent life outside of work too. I’ve never posted what I earn on here but just to put into perspective. Last month before I was laid off I was on £7.20 p/h driving class 2.
Started my new job more or less straight away driving vans. I was on a probation rate of £6.00 p/h for the first month. Passed the probation and got a 45% pay increase and given a company credit card for fuel and dinner (if further than 30miles from base or my home)
I really am gob smacked at class 1 rates, I knew people moaned but I didn’t think rates were that bad!
Isn’t that under minimum wage??
It’s a damned good package you’ve got now mind…
, I honestly can’t believe some of the rates posted here.
) so it doesn’t look like it will change anytime soon.
