Looks like people here are a pretty friendly lot - bodes well.
I currently work in IT (doing websites, and various other bits and bats). I have worked in offices for ten years now and have had enough of it all. I don’t get on with the corporate lifestyle, especially when I have little to no respect for managers who make stupid decisions and am definitely not a ‘tie wearer’ - fortunately, I don’t have to in my current job. I am planning to train up as an LGV driver, both as a personal project (did my motorbike licence as such 3 years ago) and as a possible career change. I had my medical yesterday and about to send off for my provisional licence.
I like the sound of driving and doing something different from sitting in front of a computer monitor all day. I’m just after some advice and an insight to life ‘on the road’ and have a few questions / concerns.
I have a first class B.A. degree in Modern Languages (German, French, with subsidiary Russian) - am I ‘over-qualified’ - don’t mean that to sound big-headed, by the way, but could this count against me? I am not at all big-headed about this and actually have more respect for many tradespeople than I do for most office workers and academics. I wouldn’t even be considering this career change if I were a snob. I was hoping that maybe my language skills could be useful on European trips, but I may be wrong on that. It’d be great to actually use these skills as part of my job (I don’t at the moment).
I am married and have two young children - how do long haul drivers’ marriages and families fair in general? That might sound strange, and I have no reason to believe we couldn’t cope, but how do you guys and gals who are away for several nights fair? Are you all happy with it? Do you ever take family with you on trips (I remember a friend at school who used to go on trips with his dad, who did long haul trips)?
What can I expect to earn as a driver? My wife doesn’t work and I could not afford a big pay-cut unless she did work. I would need to be earning in the low to mid 30Ks. Is this possible or even likely?
Finally, I’m based in the Nuneaton / Coventry area. Can anyone recommend any good LGV training schools in the area?
Sorry if my questions seem dumb, but as I don’t know any LGV drivers, I was hoping you folks could help out.
My partner came out of IT into driving for the same reason and still has no regrets I know many drivers who have degrees we are not the rough necks you may imagine. 30k is a little optomistic though from experience I can take an educated guess that you will have to take a 50 per cent pay drop and your hours will go up dramatically. Long haul is much sort after and you are not perfectly positioned for that so you may have to settle for day running but you are in an ideal location for a variety of work with good hourly rates (for a wagon driver).
My advice to you is to sit it out untill you cannot take it anymore because it will mean a lot of changes to your family life and you know as well as I do that even a short time out of the IT buisiness is enough to dramatically lower your chances of returning. I can highly reccomend GATT for training on the Dodwells industrial estate, Hinkley.
It still amazes me that my partner who is highly educated ect, made the move to driving but he is much happier despite the low pay and long hours.
Good luck.
I have just made the change from IT (11 years in the job) and have a degree as well, just started working for agencies on class one. The job is much better than the office work I did before and the ever-looming risk of redundancy (which I had for about 7 of the 11 years) has vanished.
The work is great, the hours are long and the pay is average - if you need to earn over 30k then I would look for something else. I thought I needed to earn more than that as well, turns out not to be the case !!!
As for trainers I used Eastern in Yardley (just of the Coventry Road) - would recommend them, but that would be a bit of a trek for you !!! With regard to being over qualified - either you have a LGV licence or you don’t - no-one has ever asked about any other qualifications yet !!!
Hmm… Hope it didn’t come across like I think truckers are rednecks! I don’t think that, but I know that some employers discriminate against people who are academically qualified, as strange as it may sound, and not knowing the trucking business that well, I didn’t know how it is within that sector.
However, having looked round a little more, I see that there are many people like your husband (LadyTrucker679), who are well qualified and in (often good) IT positions, who decide that life isn’t all about the daily office grind and corporate-land nonsense. I have no qualms about getting out of the IT business itself. I was self-taught to a large extent anyway, and it IS possible to move into that kind of work almost by accident - I did, having been employed initially as a Language Support Manager at a software company, I accidentally drifted into web and then web application development. IT jobs require constant interest in and research into the latest software or hardware developments, which quite frankly loses its appeal after a while.
I will admit that a big pay decrease would be a big worry and would mean either my wife taking up a job (both kids are now at school, so that wouldn’t be impossible) or moving house to a cheaper property. That’s a big decision.
I’m surprised that the long-haul journeys are sought after. Is that because they pay much better, or are there a lot of loners out there?
Your location is quite favourable, as already mentioned. You are not too far from what is referred to as the ‘Golden Triangle’. Crick, Daventry, and wherever. An area designated for growth in Transport Logistics, except that the planners neglected to survey the spread of Vocational licences. Hence the rates tend to be slightly higher.
As for taking family with you. H & S often precludes that.
30+K. Unlikely. But 25+K in that area should be attainable. It’s surely a matter of ‘quality of life’ rather than ‘quantity’. Why do you presume that ALL driving involves ‘nights out’? The only ‘nights out’ that I’ve done have been unplanned, due to delays, and the last one, which didn’t happen, was someone ‘extracting the urine’, and he found the load back in the yard the following morning. Obviously, we departed company with a degree of animosity. The same day, I received a phone call from another firm offering me similar work. So much for ‘his’ threat that I wouldn’t get work in the local area again.
It’s like a lot of things. Everyone tends to spend ‘UP to their income’. Truck driving, you will find that you are spending so many hours at work that your outgoings will reduce.
You have language skills. The NEC is not far from where you live. Have you contemplated dividing your time between driving through an agency and utilising your skills at shows and presentations? With your qualifications, I’d already be signing up to the Olympics of 2012.
You are quite fortunate where you live, Nuneaton, in that you are surrounded by various Supermarket Distribution warehouses whose drivers tend to be on comparetively good salaries ( around 25k ), but may involve some shift or weekend work as part of the conditions.
Within a reasonable commuting distance from Nuneaton are :
Co.op - Coventry.
Sainsbury’s - Hams Hall ( Coleshill )
Safeway / Morrisons -Tamworth
Aldi - Atherstone
Asda - Magna Park ( Lutterworth )
Tesco - Crick
People from many different previous former jobs choose Truckdriving as a choice for a career change - enjoy reading through the forums and see for yourself. I recall one current TruckNet member used to be a Tax Inspector for the Inland Revenue !
Thanks everyone for your advice, views, and information. I very much appreciate it, and am really becoming quite positive about the whole idea.
I take your point Krankee about how we all spend up to our income. That’s certainly true. My only concern is not being able to maintain the mortgage on our current house, not so much whether or not there’s money to be made in driving. I’d rather earn less and be happier any day, but would also like to keep my young family sweet and happy in a house we all love. Hey-ho, that’s my issue anyway, and I’ll just have to work that one out for myself.
I suspected I was positioned in a pretty good area geographically. There are certainly plenty of distribution companies around, so that is good news.
Guess I’d better get my D2 and D4 in the post tomorrow and get swotting up for the theory test.
You didn’t say in your original post but I assume you work “normal” hours Monday to Friday.
Unless you are very lucky driving will/can change your whole domestic setup.
To earn good money will mean working weekends and driving around when most people are tucked up in bed.12 to 15 hour shifts are the norm in this industry.
Speak to your wife long and hard as the changes will affect her and the kids more than you. Some partners can put up with this but an awful lot can’t.
Sorry to sound so negative just trying to be abit realistic!
jtchivers:
I have a first class B.A. degree in Modern Languages (German, French, with subsidiary Russian) - am I ‘over-qualified’ - don’t mean that to sound big-headed, by the way, but could this count against me?
No problem in this game as there is strong demand for drivers.
jtchivers:
I am married and have two young children - how do long haul drivers’ marriages and families fair in general? That might sound strange, and I have no reason to believe we couldn’t cope, but how do you guys and gals who are away for several nights fair?
This could be an issue,driving CAN place a strain on the best relationships and I believe the statistics would show a higher rate of marriage break ups for truck drivers. You seem to have your head screwed on so with the support of your partner ,■■■■ it and see.
jtchivers:
Sorry if my questions seem dumb, but as I don’t know any LGV drivers, I was hoping you folks could help out.
Thanks in advance.
John
Not at all ,you’ve obviously given it some thought I hope you find happiness in whatever you decide to do in the future
You also need to know that you cannot now go straight for class 1, you have to take your rigid test first & (I believe, though I may be wrong) that there is a waiting period before you can then take your class 1. As pay on rigids is generally a lot less than artic driving you’ll have to take this into account when doing your finances.
Once you have your licence you’ll probably have to initially go through the agencies for work & you’ll find that, come mid-January, unless you have something semi-permanent, the jobs almost dry up for about 3 months until the holiday periods start again. Choose your agencies carefully as well - there are loads of them (it’s not a hard way to make money, running an agency) and they’re all competing for the same work so you have to balance out decent rates against the probability that companies will go for the agencies charging (& paying) lower rates. As has been mentioned though, you are in a good location for loads of companies & many are looking for permanent staff - some have been known to take on class 3 drivers & then train them up in-house. Just make sure you ask around for experiences of different companies before committing yourself.
Also the point about long trunks is it keeps you out of the depot (& out of the way of management) rather than having to do a run, come back, hang around, get bored, & then get given a crap job just as you were thinking that 10 hours was a long enough shift!
Final point - don’t give up on the previous experience(s) you have - I currently do agency driving and also have my own PC repair business which fits in very nicely during the slack times which occur in both industries.
From what I’ve read recently, there isn’t actually any waiting period required between taking class C and then class C + E tests, although you’re absolutely right that I would have to do the class C test first and pass that, then pass the C + E separately later. In any case, it seems to make sense to me to get some rigid experience under my belt (a suggestion my wife often makes to me! - sorry - couldn’t resist )
Don’t imagine I’ll be doing any practical lessons for a while yet, because I’ve only just sent off for my provisional licence and then I’ve got to book the theory test - just going through the DVLA LGV book and theory test book at the moment.
My plan is to do what I did in prep for my motorbike licence test 3 years ago - i.e. go through the whole theory questions, mark the ones I get wrong, and then go through all the wrong ones again until I get them all right. Worked a treat for the bike test, but in any case, based on what I’ve seen so far most questions (like in the bike test) came down to common sense and common driving courtesy. Doing my bike test 3 years ago had the very positive benefit of making me far more road aware, including always expecting the unexpected (usually from car drivers), and I’m a much better car driver for it too. I’m hoping it will help with the LGV driving.
I’m in no real desparate rush to get my licence (unless things get too much worse at work), so I’m quite relaxed about the whole thing right now, and yes, you’re right - there’s no reason for me to completely stop doing what I do now (web application development) on a freelance basis, or even language teaching.
One more question… are there many people out there who eventually buy their own cab and work independently, setting up their own haulage company and doing regular long-haul runs? The long-hauls appeal to me due to the travel and the chance to use my language skills more than I do at the moment (i.e. pretty much not at all). If all goes well and I enjoy driving, I think this is where I’d like to end up.
There is indeed no actual waiting limit between the C and C+E tests but the C MUST be on your licence in order to do the C+E test, so it depends how quick the DVLA return your licence to you (which is normally within a week).
jtchivers:
One more question… are there many people out there who eventually buy their own cab and work independently, setting up their own haulage company and doing regular long-haul runs? The long-hauls appeal to me due to the travel and the chance to use my language skills more than I do at the moment (i.e. pretty much not at all). If all goes well and I enjoy driving, I think this is where I’d like to end up.
Still… it’s early days yet…
There are, although you mention long hauls and language skills so obviously you’re talking about European work. I know nothing about this apart from what I read on this site and a few recent threads on the topic suggest that this line of work is on the decline for UK based firms / owner-drivers so you may not find this an option.
Yep there is no waiting time between class 1 and class2 as has been said above. The european thing! well I understand that a whole new world of options are opening up for you but take your time, driving an artic is a very different skill than anything you are used to which will come apparent when you get your hands on one. I drove them for a couple of years before I went over the water and I found the experience I had got by then very useful.It doesn’t matter how bright you are it takes time to understand the angles and blind spots and to have confidence in your judgement, many bays are lined up blindside and the villages and towns are a real trip so I personally wouldn’t reccomend it until you can see a space and know how to use it. The language thing is obviously an advantage but much to my embarassment (my language skills amount to hormonal fits and swearing ) your driving skills are paramount regarding success in this game. Don’t rule it out but wait until you can be given any address in England and you don’t spend the entire journey worrying about the reverse!
This is only my opinion, cue coffeeholic!
(This is a discussion we have had more than once. )
Yeah, don’t get me wrong here LadyTrucker. I don’t want to run before I can walk and appreciate everything you say. It may be several years before I even contemplate heading overseas, but if I am to really take up driving, I want to know that the European option is going to be available (if not easy to do).
Just out of interest, do many of you who do the Euro trips have a left-hand drive cab, given that most of the time you’re driving on the right (wrong) side of the road?
I’m a little late coming into this one, so forgive me if I’m covering stuff which was asked a good way back in the thread!
The question I was particularly looking to help you with was the one about being away from your family.
I’ve been “tramping” for the vast majority of the six years I’ve been driving (off sick at the moment post-surgically, but will be off down the road again in a couple of weeks). I go away on Monday and get home on a Friday, although in the past that has been Sunday-Friday.
It is vital that your partner is 100% happy with this. I suffered a family break-up a few years ago because my then partner simply couldn’t cope with my being away. We lived very rurally so I had no choice at the time, but the bottom line of it was that he simply wasn’t an independent enough person to run the house and family whilst I was at work.
I’m married now, and my husband is an industry veteran of 23 years himself (although he now works from home and looks after our son, plus my daughter when she’s not with her Dad), so he understands that my distance driving has nothing to do with whether or not I enjoy his company. He’s an incredibly independant being - as am I - and more than capable of dealing with any problems quickly and intelligently in my absence.
It’s never an easy situation to be in, but the most important bit of advice I would give to you is to promise (and mean that promise) that you will look for and take a day job if at any point she decides that the distance driving lifestyle isn’t for her. There are also some invaluable tips for both drivers and their partners on www.LOADS.org - it’s a US site, but the same problems apply wherever you are, as do the solutions.
As for the “overqualified” thing, I really wouldn’t worry about it. As has already been said, the stereotypical view of “trucker” as “stupid and uneducated” is far from true, so you will not be alone. If you’re that concerned, just don’t tell anyone what qualifications you have!
Ps. I drive UK-only now, but when I worked in France we always used right-hand drive trucks. Just thought I’d mention that as a point of interest - I think you’ll find that both configurations are used depending on the preferences of different firms.
Welcome to TruckNet,John
)
so I personally wouldn’t reccomend it until you can see a space and know how to use it. The language thing is obviously an advantage but much to my embarassment (my language skills amount to hormonal fits and swearing 