Right hook artics but our rigid was a left hook and I hated it but that was more about the fact that it was a RIGID!!! 
than any issue I may have had with the location of the steering wheel. 
Well after driving for nearly 30 yrs 
, a marrige which lasted 13 yrs 
, a relationship ( engaged ) lasting for 10 yrs 
, I have now been married to a Fantastic woman 
, who is 8 yrs younger me 
, whom I met in the USA ( while working ) & then moved & changed career ( telehandler on sites) 
gone back to Trucking 
, & found, in that the meaning of a social life is, or rather isnt talking about how many miles youve done , but going out with some brilliant people ( not in transport ) but are interested in what & where ive been lately..... :unamused:*</strong> __*Could qualify myself as experienced in this field :angry: :angry:*__ __*1st ....Are you mad :imp: , no not really, but watch out ,as there are some right DODGY firms about, crap motors, crap work, crap hours, crap money...*__ __*But also there are a lot of brillant companys who regard you as important as the director, or treat you like the [zb] on their shoes, but have top of the range trucks, or you might drive an old nail, at the end of day it doesnt really matter because at most firms the 2nd biggest enemy after the price of Derv,__
will be your fellow DriverâŚ
I have seen drivers moaning about the rate of pay one minute, & the next ( which i have seen 1st hand in a Scania Garage ) the Driver Buys a lamp bar, 4 spot lights, 2 Scania Technicians for fitting them, I only know how much the lamps 100 & Techs are, 100. per hr x 8hrs, so i rest my caseâŚ
But on the other hand you are obviously a very bright & clever bloke, who will no doubt do wellâŚ
may i make a few recomendations to the line of work which could be more use to you regarding the earnings , use of languages & the Truck driving bit.
All of these I have & in some cases still am, experienced 1st hand, so here goes⌠
Conference Trucking, Production Companies in this field, Rock & Roll Trucking, L.E.D. / Big Screen companies ( technician / driver ), Formula 1 Teams / Hospitalty / or associated freight companies, all pay very well, some require an I.T. experinced person or at the least computer experince, knowledges of Languages very useful, & the Trucking bit gets the gear there.
I have just rtn`d from a double drive for the music industry, another possible way of learning the ropes or should say routes. I waited at the Russian border for 11 trucks to clear ( 12hrs ), drove back through Latvia, into Lithuania to Vilnius, through Poland then onto Praha, fly home⌠Last sunday fly out to Buchearest, drive down through Bulgaria into Greece to Athens, then up & across to Turkey, into Istanbul then straight on a plane back to Heathrow.
took home 1020.21 for 10 days work, even if some of it was sleeplessâŚ
and 4 top hotels in various cities all paid for of course.
I hope this helps a bit, as for the woman at home that is another chapterâŚ
If it needs stars, itâs not allowed. L.
Just an idea, with the increase in Foreign workers in the UK your language skils could be useful, get yourself linguaphone course in Polish.
If as the current trend is firms are going to employ foreign drivers then they need to comunicate with them, so you âcouldâ work as a TM, better pay posibilities than a driver and if you have a licence thereâs no reason why you couldnt go on the odd excursion from the office.
If you can afford it take you tests anyway, useful to fall back on it if IT goes pearshaped.
Opps So Sorry 
jtchivers:
I have a first class B.A. degree in Modern Languages (German, French, with subsidiary Russian) - am I âover-qualifiedâ - donât mean that to sound big-headed, by the way, but could this count against me?
I came out of IT too, and I also have a degree (a First in Engineering) and Iâve not found it counts against me at all - that said as I work for an agency Iâve never done a CV so I guess most of the people I work with donât know about it.
jtchivers:
What can I expect to earn as a driver? My wife doesnât 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?
I doubt youâll see 30k but 25k is possible although youâll find to earn that youâll be doing 50ish or more hours a week compared to the 30-something I would guess you do now.
Paul
2:1 Engineering degree here too. 
My problem is Iâm under-qualified.
If youâre thinking about delaying the C+E test, then I suggest taking into account that many companies (this includes Safeway/Morrisons and Sainsburyâs, and possibly Tesco and Asda to some extent) wonât touch you until youâve got 2 yearsâ experience (Where âexperienceâ is defined as time since you got your license). So, the earlier you pass your C+E test, the earlier youâll be able to get more work.
ÂŁ30k is possible but youâll be doing trolley work which will typically be a 4 on, 4 off shift pattern, so the moneyâs not that exciting when you see that youâll be working 5 weekends in a rowâŚ
You have a private message from me too.
First stage completed. I got my class C licence on 20th February. Thanks to ATT of Hinckley (and especially Pete, my instructor) for getting me through.
Next stage is to do the class C+E course and test (hopefully in mid March, again with ATT).
I very much enjoyed my week of training, despite the stress of the test - nice to be away from an office desk and on the road!
Congratulations on the class c pass
and good luck with c+e
Well done on passing your test.
Iâve only just seen this, thread so Iâm going to add my 10p into it.
So you want to swap sitting in a seat staring at a Computer screen to sitting in a seat stareing through a windscreen? Strange
I donât think your qualifications will be a disadvantage or advantage, but when I went for my first job as a truck driver, after leaving a job as a Digital Cartographer, the boss said âAre you sure you want to take the job, I donât want you to start then realise youâve made a big mistakeâ and in the first 6 weeks I thought Iâd made the biggest mistake of my life, but as I started to get the hang of finding my way round and getting in and out of places, it got easier and I started to really enjoy it.
However you qualifications might be really useful in a European haulage office , when dealing with European customers, but itâs sitting in a office again.
The best money seems to be working for Supermarkets, but I think that if youâre bored with office work then youâd get quickly bored with this.
Also you might find they spoon feed you, everything will be planned and youâll find yourself as just another number.
Tramping or general haulage for a small haulier will pay less, almost defiently mean nights out, but youâll get a variety of loads to a variety of places. In my expereince trying to work out how to get into somewhere, how to secure an unusual load etc, gives the job a bit of a challenge.
The disadvantages besides the money would be time away from family, difficulty in planning any social life, or just getting back for a parents evening at school. You can plan to be home that night with the transport office, but it only takes a small problem loading or tipping, hold-up on the roads or mecahnical problem with the truck and your plans are out of the window.
Dave OâDonnell mentioned working for companies running exibitions, rock tours and race teams, which is what I do. Some companies need people with certain skills at eventâs who are also able to drive a truck.
Thatâs my 10p worth, now get some class C work and start on your C+E.
after leaving a job as a Digital Cartographer
Any moans about Satnav you now know where to direct them everyone!
dennisw1:
after leaving a job as a Digital Cartographer
Any moans about Satnav you now know where to direct them everyone!
Only if youâre driving down sewers and water mains in Yorkshire.
Did do some work at the beginning of GPS sat tracking, but accuracy was a problem in the early days, if we got within 10m we were doing well. System used to try and take you through buildings not round them.
Well, I passed my C+E test today at the second attempt, having failed a couple of weeks ago on the reversing exercise.
It all went well today, so Iâm now trained up and ready to go. So, from an initial idea in October last year, Iâm now qualified to drive artics! Now I suppose the learning really starts!
This thread has been really useful to me. Some good advice from people and some good ideas. Iâm going to start looking for the odd Sunday of agency work now, just to get some experience and keep my driving up to scratch.
Having considered things, Iâm not convinced now that Iâll leave the world of IT altogether, but may end up doing website stuff alongside driving.
Weâll see how things pan out.
Thanks to everyone whoâs posted to this thread.
Congratulations on the pass⌠âŚ
G
Congratulations
Well done! Feels good doesnât it?
well done mate
good luck with finding work.
Congratulations