Hi guys , i am away to get my licence soon for class 1&2 , i am hoping to get work doing long haul or “tramping” i want to work the max amount of hours each week as i am a bit greedy , im currently in a job making 35k a year but i simply hate the job, ive always wanted to get into trucking and now i just want to go for it , the onky problem is i always see “average salary 33’000 for class 1” that is of course a decent wage but for the amount of time im prepared to be putting in i would like to think its possibe to make more than that , i stay in north wast scotland so there is plenty of transport companies around , can anyone give me the reassurance i need that it is possible to make more than the average 33000 salary ■■ Thanks in advance
Put simply, no. There are plenty of jobs paying well over £30k and nudging towards the late 30’s. But there’s more that are in the 20’s and that’s likely where you’ll start. (I’m happy to say there’s loads of exceptions - but you cant rely on that!)
But it really is impossible to guess where you’ll start and how much you’ll earn.
Truck driving is officially known as “vocational” driving. This means it’s something you really feel you want to do. Unfortunately, alongside many other vocations, it also means the wages may not be huge.
All the best, Pete 
I don’t think Scotland postscript dollar either, so you may need to move south a bit for better money.
It’s not impossible to get good money as a new pass, but it is very very unlikely.
Thanks for your replies , i understand i wont be on the top wages to start with until i have got the experience and time in , i just struggle to see how the guys working 70 hours a week staying out 5 days a week can only be earning wages in the mid 30k region, with the money received for nights away on top of the wages it must be possible to push the 40k marker. Does it pay in the long run to also do hiab traning and adr ?
im based in hull and 30-35k seems standard wages for most tramping jobs unless you find a company with better rates. the job im waiting to hear back about if i can go on their insurance can be 40k+ but its wide loads 4 nights out but will be like 63 hours 45 minutes a week to get that as they dont pay for the 3 hours 45 minutes of breaks. adr jobs seems to offer more but again depends on the companies and their rates
Scotland is a large area and depending on where you’re based you could be looking at quite a hike for a decent rate.
Would Carlisle be within commuting distance, if so you could try A W Jenkinson, not sure of the money, have spoken to a few of their drivers and been given several different replies as to what they are on, may be worth going straight to the source and asking.
Based 30 minutes from aberdeen , aberdeen itself is a large place with many oil companies , fish exporters etc this is the reason i’m hoping there will be places that i can work the maximum allowed hours each week driving long distance without having to commute too far south
Ive seen some guys claiming they’re getting 40k a year on various forums and groups , i suppose it will be commonplace in a few years that the national average will rise to 40k , just take a bit of time for the whole industry to catch up and for the drivers to stand firm and not settle for anything less than a good wage for the amount of work required and the money you need to spend to get into this industry.
Another thing i have observed is there is a serious lack of funding or incentive to get people i to the industry, every other industry there is help in the way of government grants , charity etc to help towards the cost of training , for hgv training there is no way of getting any help especially when the cost can be in excess of £4500 , quite shocking really considering there are so many companies looking for drivers constantly
Hogarth88:
Thanks for your replies , i understand i wont be on the top wages to start with until i have got the experience and time in , i just struggle to see how the guys working 70 hours a week staying out 5 days a week can only be earning wages in the mid 30k region, with the money received for nights away on top of the wages it must be possible to push the 40k marker. Does it pay in the long run to also do hiab traning and adr ?
I am retiring and finished my firm at the end of April, my lads were on between 47k - 53k for April '18 - march 31st 2019, and they weren’t out every night.
First off it depends a lot on the structure ( not getting into the long running argument about it you should count night out and meal allowances as part of your wages), for clarity, the figure quoted included everything they earned. We did a lot of stuff like paying through breaks, guaranteed a minimum of 12 hours abroad, even if you were weekended, paid 4 hours for Sat and Sunday even if you only actually worked one (UK work), they are the sort of things that add up. Our work was very unequal as well, one week you’d barely get more than a 100 miles away, next week you’d be at the bottom end of Italy.
ADR, that is what we ran but as I always say, I’d rather have the right person with no ADR and train them myself than the wrong person with a shiny new ADR.
It can never be a bad plan to gain additional qualifications. But don’t rely on the extra quals to get you a fabulously paid starting job. With luck, you could drop on lucky. At a push, the extra quals could be the deciding factor between you and a candidate without them (all other things being equal).
Whilst I am always cautious about wages and availability of work (both of which vary geographically) there is no doubt that things are getting a bit better on both fronts.
Pete
It’s like any other trade, to begin with you get the crumbs others don’t want. You get the crappy low paid jobs, probably agency and work your way up. Just telling you the way it is. If you walk into a 30k job, good luck to you. But I doubt it.
There are that many newbies coming into the industry and flip flops with experience, that I doubt it will change any time soon
I’m on 43k a year, work 6 on 2 off nightshift. 10 hour shifts. It’s not impossible to find a good paying job