Look into the foodservice companies, yes I know it,s hard work but there are jobs to be had and the rates are going up. I,m down in the West Country and it,s struggle to get class 2 and the agencies are all busy too.
We’ve just taken on two new passes with little experience.
Maybe I’m missing the obvious, if the OP has worked in a supermarket is it one of the big boys, I mean do they have an opportunity for a job on their delivery side, with a 10 year track record surely theres a possibility to look into.
Dave
I did to work part time in one of the big four, whilst holding down a full time job…
when I made enquirers regarding driving the management at the store just wasn’t interested in putting a word in or even making the call…when I did speak to the transport manager the bloke was a moron…" What makes you a shelf stacker think you can drive a lorry "
So if the OP hasn’t got the management / company support within the supermarket he’s pretty screwed
Newly qualified and got offered 5x jobs in a matter of weeks., I am also in mid wales where work is even tighter…
Speed Cariers in Welshpool offered me work on class 1… The money was fair as well. The transport manager also seemed a decent chap as well…
So there is work for new people, but you have got to get out there
Sunnydevon:
Look into the foodservice companies, yes I know it,s hard work but there are jobs to be had and the rates are going up. I,m down in the West Country and it,s struggle to get class 2 and the agencies are all busy too.
The rates are going up because the job’s crap and nobody wants to do it.
Carryfast:
arkin:
Have you tried telling lies about your experience? That’s what I did and got away with it. It was only after I had been driving for a while for a company through agency that they noticed the passed date on my licenceAll of which at best could result in instant dismissal and a reference to match.Or at worst it actually confirms that contradiction in the idea of some poor mugs ‘starting at the bottom’ on zb work and supposedly working their way up to where they want to get.While someone else walks into the ‘right’ jobs based on bs ‘experience’ claims.
As it is now the op has no driving job with no driving references. So the worst that could happen is he would be back to square one, only with possibly a bit of experience.
carryfast-yeti:
damien88:
Anyone and everyone…where haven’t I applied…ive rang the quarries…companies within the quarries…loosemores harlescott…google mapped road haulage services in Shropshire…applied for tons of online advertisementsdon’t just ring mate…go and knock on their door! show them you’re keen…that’s how i got a good start in transport.might cost you a few quid in fuel but it’ll be worth it in the end i’m sure
You should sign on the agency’s soon it will be summer lots of drivers will be on holiday and im sure your get lots of work, just be happy to drive anything.
i work for co-op…i rang the depot and they didnt seem that interested in what i had to say.
Carryfast:
truckman020:
Tris:
truckman020:
I have said before to people like damien88 you need to start small,a lot of us in this game started on vans and worked ourselves up the ladder to the big wagons that’s what you need to do damien88,i start off with any prospective job by telling future employers I don’t mind what I drive ,if they start you on vans then swallow it sooner or later they will need someone to cover another driver,they will say so and so has a class2/class1 give him a go,prove yourself and you are there,i started on one of my jobs driving a 7.5 tonner 2 months later I was class1 until I left a couple of years later when I movedHe doesn’t need to start small. If he’s got his class 1 he should be using it. Not working his way up. That’s just wasting time and losing money. Plus there are more class 1 vacancies than class 2.
the point is no one is giving him a chance,if there are more class1 than class2 why is he not being offered work,you say if he has his class1 he should be using it,dont you think he has tried,that was the point of his thread was it not
According to the OP he hasn’t got a 1 only a 2 so far and it is the rejections with a 2 which is understandably making him think about bothering with the 1.Which the ( correct advice ) is saying could be a counter productive outlook.
However he’s now added some more information which suggests that the idea of driving a truck is something which has only obviously occured recently after 10 years of working in a supermarket ?.
Therefore by my own arguments I’d be a hypocrite if I said that it wouldn’t be right from an employer’s point of view to not put that against him assuming other drivers are looking for work who knew they wanted to do the job much sooner in life and then did something about it as soon as possible at the earliest dates possible to get some experience.IE my argument is about employers turning down new young drivers on the bs ‘experience’ issue who’ve started out in the job early in good time knowing that’s what they wanted to do.Or for that matter when wanting/trying to upgrade from UK work to International for example.
Which at least in my case meant that I certainly wouldn’t have been working in a factory beyond 18 years of age.When I needed,at the very least,to be driving a 7.5 tonner nor still be lumbered with a class 2 after at least 10 years of my working life was over.Although admittedly it was close to it based on the understandable issue of not understanding to this day why a class 2,as it was then over 30 years ago, wasn’t considered as being relevant or good enough for distance drawbar work and/or why the age of 25 and/or the issue of so called ‘experience’ was/is considered as being such a big deal at the time or since.Having had no indications that was an issue having been driving up to 38t gross special types as a factory driver and up to 24t gross rigids on the council all from the age of 21 and under 25 as soon as I’d passed my test.
However,as I’ve said,the issues ‘might’ ‘possibly’ be a bit more complicated in the OP’s case from the point of view of employers going by the information so far.
fair point,i admit I only looked quickly at the post and was going by other posts over the last few years about new drivers not being able to get driving work and griping about it,one was a builder a few years ago who spent around £3000 then moaned he could not get class1 work anywhere,he assumed he could just jump in a hgv and drive but as we all know employers wont allow that which is the same problem with Damien88, no experience
the goverment warns of a driver shortage but do nothing about it…dont help young people get there licence…dont help get a job…just let more foreigners in…who dont understand the basic uk road laws
damien88:
…just let more foreigners in…who dont understand the basic uk road laws
Why should they, the standard of driving here is pretty poor & even the British don’t know ‘basic uk road laws’…!?
truckman020:
Carryfast:
truckman020:
Tris:
He doesn’t need to start small. If he’s got his class 1 he should be using it. Not working his way up. That’s just wasting time and losing money. Plus there are more class 1 vacancies than class 2.the point is no one is giving him a chance,if there are more class1 than class2 why is he not being offered work,you say if he has his class1 he should be using it,dont you think he has tried,that was the point of his thread was it not
According to the OP he hasn’t got a 1 only a 2 so far and it is the rejections with a 2 which is understandably making him think about bothering with the 1.Which the ( correct advice ) is saying could be a counter productive outlook.
However he’s now added some more information which suggests that the idea of driving a truck is something which has only obviously occured recently after 10 years of working in a supermarket ?.
Which at least in my case meant that I certainly wouldn’t have been working in a factory beyond 18 years of age.When I needed,at the very least,to be driving a 7.5 tonner nor still be lumbered with a class 2 after at least 10 years of my working life was over.Although admittedly it was close to it based on the understandable issue of not understanding to this day why a class 2,as it was then over 30 years ago, wasn’t considered as being relevant or good enough for distance drawbar work and/or why the age of 25 and/or the issue of so called ‘experience’ was/is considered as being such a big deal at the time or since.Having had no indications that was an issue having been driving up to 38t gross special types as a factory driver and up to 24t gross rigids on the council all from the age of 21 and under 25 as soon as I’d passed my test.
However,as I’ve said,the issues ‘might’ ‘possibly’ be a bit more complicated in the OP’s case from the point of view of employers going by the information so far.
fair point,i admit I only looked quickly at the post and was going by other posts over the last few years about new drivers not being able to get driving work and griping about it,one was a builder a few years ago who spent around £3000 then moaned he could not get class1 work anywhere,he assumed he could just jump in a hgv and drive but as we all know employers wont allow that which is the same problem with Damien88, no experience
I think there are two seperate issues in that example.
Firstly it is that ridiculous, irrational,discrminatory and possibly downright career wrecking idea,that someone can’t just be put into the type they are qualified for sooner rather than later on whatever type of job they choose.Being that by definition the first day on any type of job be it rigid/drawbar/artic/international is going to always be just that IE the first day with no possible way of having any experience prior.The only possible justification against that is at best support of the abitrary discriminatory pecking order that can wreck the progression of new starters’ careers in order to give undue protection to others.Or at worst the situation whereby someone who is naive enough to believe all the start at the bottom on the worst irrelevant type of jobs bs then gets leap frogged into the ‘right’ job by the ‘experience’ bsers masquerading as old hands.
Then secondly is the other issue of those who never had any real commitment to the job from day 1 of leaving school and obviously didn’t do everything possible to act on it at the earliest age and point possible.In which case it is wrong and also counterproductive for the future of the industry to penalise the former of those examples for their lack of experience.While it is ‘arguably’ more justifiable to mark down the latter,in favour of the former,for thinking that the job is a good and easy target for a ‘career change’ at a relatively late stage in working life.When they could/should have been out there getting their experience had they been committed to the job from day 1.
i was watching car crash britain…and a foreign lorry driver was going the wrong way up a motorway and another was reversing back up a slip road on to the motorway because he left at wrong junction…ok im not experienced but fu** me someone gave these people a job…but i cant get jack!!!..what a joke
damien88:
i was watching car crash britain…and a foreign lorry driver was going the wrong way up a motorway and another was reversing back up a slip road on to the motorway because he left at wrong junction…ok im not experienced but fu** me someone gave these people a job…but i cant get jack!!!..what a joke
Same thing happens all the time over the water. But because it happens here it’s news.
damien88:
i was watching car crash britain…and a foreign lorry driver was going the wrong way up a motorway and another was reversing back up a slip road on to the motorway because he left at wrong junction…ok im not experienced but fu** me someone gave these people a job…but i cant get jack!!!..what a joke
I can remember long ago the example of a 23 year old Yugoslav wagon and drag driver who ran off the M25 at junction 9 and hit a bridge support.Although to be fair I don’t remember any clear reasons being provided as to why.Meanwhile many Brits were lucky to get a start at all under 25 and/or arbitrarily judged as not having enough ‘experience’ and usually the worst uk type zb available if they did.The fact is this is nothing new in the industry while the continentals always seemed more enlightened and open minded in that regard.
Find a p&h depot they will take on any one through agency even though you will be lucky to get just over 20 km a day and be looking like the hulk in tho weeks it’s a start from their. I went to a haulage firm told them I’m doing p&h now I’m on pretty much full time I passed in December. You just got to be active on looking around. But try and find local even if it’s bottom price wages as you will travel far use more fuel £ and for the extra £50 you’ll just be covering costs and working an extra z2 hrs a day just getting there.
I wouldn’t say it’s a waste of money as I went for a van driving job for car parts 110 applicants put their cv in I did not get the job. Went to the haulage firm they had me in interview the same day.
Maybe it’s your area?
Dipper_Dave:
damien88:
i dont think my previous employment should be an issue…if anything it proves im a loyal hard working reliable person.Well it proves youve been employed for 10 years, the rest is down to self opinion - not always reliable but I’m being pedantic.
Anyway so if a prospective employer asks you:
“Why do you want to drive trucks ?”
How would you answer. Showing a passion for the job can help here, not as much as turning up smart and being prepared to drive smaller vehicles but a good answer to have ready, especially as its a career direction change.Possible answers include: its in me blood, I come from a generation of drivers, I always wanted to drive big trucks, I feel its an indsutry that would benefit from my hard working ethic and loyal nature and I would be a pro-active and forward thinking employee to have on board and I like to sleep in a truck away from home and shower with other men. - may help.
Boss asked me I said I heard the monie was good lol 
Digit369:
Find a p&h depot they will take on any one
There’s a reason for that.
Have you approched the ones i pm’d you■■?
Seeing as you work in co op i guess you take advantage of looking through the papers at jobs, theres 4 driving jobs in fridays county times, including the boys n boden one i told you about.
Have you tried brakes just outside montgomery? Being as you work in retail they may want you more than a normal driver.