Hi everybody, I would like to share my recent experiences of the job market for a newly passed HGV driver.
I gained my C licence in January this year and my C+E just last month. I did this as it is something I have wanted to do for a few years but as always never seemed to have the time or money.
I have been with my current employer for quite a long time (12 years), starting off as a warehouse op before moving into the transport office as an administrator and then as a planner. When I was working in the office I put myself through the TM CPC (this was about 5 years ago) but I have never used it.
My current role is warehouse supervisor, which I have been doing for approx 3 years.
I’m not desperate for a new job but since passing my C+E test I have applied for a few driving jobs but most places didn’t get back to me, however a chilled goods distributor offered me an interview and driving assessment and then offered me a job after. I declined as the pay was awful, just over £10/hr and I would have been expected to do max hours every week starting between midnight and 5am. It’s still good to know that places will take on new passes and if I didn’t already have a job I would have taken it as we all need to start somewhere. I was also offered an interview/assessment with a fairly local general haulage company but again I declined as the pay was awful although the hours were better.
So far, I have been disappointed in the money that is being offered after such a large outlay but on the other hand it is pleasing to see companies willing to take on new drivers and not having to go down the agency route.
Anyway to cut a long story short, after a bit of shuffling around in the transport office the transport manager role unexpectedly became vacant on a 6 month secondment so I applied as it is better paid than being in the warehouse and I was successful so I start in just over a week! Not quite what I was expecting but looking forward to the challenge and if it doesn’t work out I will be back in my old job or I can start looking for driving jobs again!
Good luck to anybody who is looking at becoming an HGV driver, there is work out there for new passes but it won’t pay well!
Congrats on your new role. Any reason you don’t seem to want agency work? I’ve just passed my HGV class 2. And have an agency job tomorrow, first HGV role, looking forward to it. 12.50 an hour but not really concerned about money yet as want to get some experience. I’m doing my class 1 in Nov if all is well! As was stopped in my tracks in March this year and all postponed due to C19.
There’s plenty of companies that only offer minimum wage for experienced Class 1 drivers, so being offered just over £10 per hour doesn’t sound excessively bad.
I would have expected that as a qualified TM-CPC holder you would have already known there’s more money in that role than as a driver. It’s a shame that, having passed your Class 2 & 1, you hadn’t gotten some driving experience under your belt before becoming a TM: it’s a massive bug bear to many drivers that the guy in charge of the drivers doesn’t have hands-on experience of the job itself.
Live.marc:
Congrats on your new role. Any reason you don’t seem to want agency work? I’ve just passed my HGV class 2. And have an agency job tomorrow, first HGV role, looking forward to it. 12.50 an hour but not really concerned about money yet as want to get some experience. I’m doing my class 1 in Nov if all is well! As was stopped in my tracks in March this year and all postponed due to C19.
Thanks! Yeah, I wouldn’t leave a permanent job for something temporary. Mortgage and 3 kids would make that a bit silly
Zac_A:
There’s plenty of companies that only offer minimum wage for experienced Class 1 drivers, so being offered just over £10 per hour doesn’t sound excessively bad.
I would have expected that as a qualified TM-CPC holder you would have already known there’s more money in that role than as a driver. It’s a shame that, having passed your Class 2 & 1, you hadn’t gotten some driving experience under your belt before becoming a TM: it’s a massive bug bear to many drivers that the guy in charge of the drivers doesn’t have hands-on experience of the job itself.
Yeah, you’re probably right it would have been nice to gain some experience first but I am planning on going out on the road every now and again.
As for money, just over £10 an hour for class 1 sounds a bit rubbish to me, just because some companies pay minimum wage doesn’t make it any better in my opinion.
