Seamaster:
Before the course starts I will hire a cat C vehicle to have a potter around in as we no longer have an HGV driver trainer here.
Re: Truck Driving - Returner
Look closely into that before hanging your coat on it. Hiring a Cat “C” without an O-Licence isn`t always easy.
Although you may be an honest hirer, with no intention of breaking any rules, the company owning the vehicle want to protect their property and may not hire a truck out if they could stand to lose it.
Yes it sounds over the top, but there have been other threads where a driver has wanted to hire a truck privately, for legit reasons, but had trouble.
Good luck anyway.
Thanks Franglais. I will prepare to be disappointed.
I decided to put the truck hire on hold as I don’t want to cause the hirer any problems or waste my own time.
I am finding that employers are quick to ask for CVs but never seem to respond once you’ve sent them, which seems like bad manners to me. The one that did respond offered me a an office job as the driving job was casual. Office work - kryptonite to me! I have a list of people to contact by the end of the week to chase them up for an answer.
There has been a rethink on the C+E front. If I can’t find a job driving cat C there seems little point splashing the cash on C+E training especially with only 4.5 years until retirement. The train strikes aren’t helping either. It would be no good turning up a day late for driver training!
I noticed in your first post you didn`t seem too keen on nights out, but not totally against them?
Anyway, a point is that C+E artic work is often of a different character to rigid work. If you know you are going out be out for 4 nights, maybe it is worth expanding your search radius?
Commuting once a week is easier for some than commuting every day. I spent several years with a 60 mile drive to work, but it worked well for me.
A job I enjoyed, decent pay, and reasonable hours compared with many others.
I don`t know your area at all regards work, but it might be a point to consider.
It is a long way for you but I believe the forum sponsor would give you free accommodation if you train there?
Travel isn`t cheap but worth a quick look and a “back of a ■■■ packet” calculation none the less.
I can see you don`t want to throw good money after bad, if you get no better prospects afterwards.
Difficult choices.
Franglais, there are no nights out here as I live on Shetland.
The train strikes are still ongoing, and dates are changing to accommodate rememberance day. Someone with experience of the trains on the UK mainland said that the trains are often in the wrong place due to the industrial action, so the timetable can’t be relied on. I am sure that the TOC are getting as much accurate data as they can to the public.
I have contacted a couple of local companies, who happen to run artics as well as smaller trucks, to express my interest in working for them, and seeking advice about whether it is worth me paying for training in C+E as I will possibly be caught in the no experience trap that so many others have found. I have asked them how the company looks on this as well as their insurers. One of the companies has trucks sitting idle due to lack of drivers. The other has been unable to recruit a C+E driver for some time. Another company have no vacancies.
I have two interviews coming up, one is for a job where truck driving is a secondary part of the job. This sort of “job-spliting” is not unusual up here. The other job has no driving however, they do have a mixed fleet of trucks. They are another company that only have vacancies for casual drivers.
I have to admit to a growing level of despondency with some of the local trucking companies. Of the 4 that I have emailed here in Shetland, asking about current and forthcoming vacancies, including my CV, and also asking if they take on new passes at C+E, so I know whether it is worth doing the training and test(s), only 1 has responded.
The emails have been really polite and thanked them for their time reading and responding. I know what the suggestion will be, that I need to go and talk to them in person, but after the initial email and a follow up email when there was no response, I am concerned about making a nuisance of myself and scotching any chances of employment.
Seamaster:
I have to admit to a growing level of despondency with some of the local trucking companies. Of the 4 that I have emailed here in Shetland, asking about current and forthcoming vacancies, including my CV, and also asking if they take on new passes at C+E, so I know whether it is worth doing the training and test(s), only 1 has responded.
The emails have been really polite and thanked them for their time reading and responding. I know what the suggestion will be, that I need to go and talk to them in person, but after the initial email and a follow up email when there was no response, I am concerned about making a nuisance of myself and scotching any chances of employment.
If youre getting no response then yes, get to see them in person. Dont walk in their yard if they are all running around looking flustered, nor button hole them when they are locking up in the evening, but show you are a real person, keen enough to get up and do summat.
Yes, there is a risk they are going to think you`re pushy, but that is better to take than being ignored or assumed to be a quitter.
Franglais:
If youre getting no response then yes, get to see them in person. Dont walk in their yard if they are all running around looking flustered, nor button hole them when they are locking up in the evening, but show you are a real person, keen enough to get up and do summat.
Yes, there is a risk they are going to think you`re pushy, but that is better to take than being ignored or assumed to be a quitter.
I have gone from keen as mustard in September last year with getting the medical done, then my CPC card after a week of online training, a tacho card and reading all of the DVSA books and paying for online learning and testing, to abject despondency.
I have been for two interviews at truck companies here. It took me three weeks of chasing to get an answer of no out of the first company.
Now the second company are heading in the same direction. I know that I should take it as read that I haven’t got the job, but I think it is the height of rudeness when one has made the effort to get the qualifications and turn up for an interview for the potential employer to not bother responding. It won’t be a difficult conversation with me.
The third company advises you in the application process that they will not contact you if you are not to be given an interview. Does it rally take that long to make a courtesy call or email to someone who has applied but not been successful? It is not as though they have to even lick a stamp!
I had planned to do my C&E with Peter Smythe’s training outfit as I live a long way away and was impressed by the thought of free accommodation. The constant rail strikes put me off initially, but my complete failure to get even a class C job has really knocked me back.
My age will be against me. At 62 I won’t be able to keep up with the young blades, but I am old enough to be reliable.
There seems little point paying for class 1 training if I can’t get a class C job.
Seamaster:
Franglais:
If youre getting no response then yes, get to see them in person. Dont walk in their yard if they are all running around looking flustered, nor button hole them when they are locking up in the evening, but show you are a real person, keen enough to get up and do summat.
Yes, there is a risk they are going to think you`re pushy, but that is better to take than being ignored or assumed to be a quitter.
I have gone from keen as mustard in September last year with getting the medical done, then my CPC card after a week of online training, a tacho card and reading all of the DVSA books and paying for online learning and testing, to abject despondency.
I have been for two interviews at truck companies here. It took me three weeks of chasing to get an answer of no out of the first company.
Now the second company are heading in the same direction. I know that I should take it as read that I haven’t got the job, but I think it is the height of rudeness when one has made the effort to get the qualifications and turn up for an interview for the potential employer to not bother responding. It won’t be a difficult conversation with me.
The third company advises you in the application process that they will not contact you if you are not to be given an interview. Does it rally take that long to make a courtesy call or email to someone who has applied but not been successful? It is not as though they have to even lick a stamp!
I had planned to do my C&E with Peter Smythe’s training outfit as I live a long way away and was impressed by the thought of free accommodation. The constant rail strikes put me off initially, but my complete failure to get even a class C job has really knocked me back.
My age will be against me. At 62 I won’t be able to keep up with the young blades, but I am old enough to be reliable.
There seems little point paying for class 1 training if I can’t get a class C job.
Is that what politicians call a “sub-optimal outcome”? 
Doesn`t sound good, and I agree that the time to send off a short e-mail saying “Sorry, no job”, is minimal.
I have no idea about work and trucks in your own area, but can say that in other areas a Bendy licence will expand your work options.
Good luck anyway