more than a lorry driver.
Minimum artic rates £10 ph 1.5x after 8 / Saturday and double bubble Sundays.
That is the absolute minimum that should be paid, it’s the least I would work for.
Professional does not mean you are the best at what you do 
Winseer:
Dafman:
JLS Driver SOS:
Dafman:
It really should be a minimum of £10 and then £14 and above for some jobs, with overtime after 8 hours.[/quI te]I think overtime is a bit 1950’s to be honest, out of date, if you received a decent rate and none of this “no payment for breaks” malarkey, there would not be any need for overtime, tax man grabs a whole bunch of it anyway. + I cannot see how 8 hours on class1 is feasible, what can you get done in 8 hours. if you averaged 60 hours a week at say 12 quid, that’s 720 a week. when I say 60 hours I mean from the time you arrive at the depot to the time you go home, 100%, whether you are on break, driving, waiting to load/offload etc etc. you cannot say breaks should be unpaid, you are not at your place of work, you are 99% of the time in the middle of buck futt nowhere.
We all wish we got a decent wage I didn’t mean doing just 8 hours but if they want you to work more than 8 and work unsociable hours we deserve it. i use to work for Salvesens and it was just £7 45 but with overtime and night money we were on nearly 40 k. Now I get a fixed weekly wage ( not a salary ) and very rarely go over 48 hours.
Even at time and a half after 8 hours, you’d struggle to get £40k out of 60 paid hours… Unless it was £40k gross for 60 paid hours, actual 84+ hours at work of course.Everyone used to tell me that “salversons were one of the most generous payers around”. £7.45ph don’t sound like much to me. Bugger the “allowances”. Your pay should be what you get when you are on holiday as well, not just when flatting out at 60+ hours per week here and there, and then “annualised”. (analised more like!)
Not night out money, different rates for different times, Sunday was double time bank holidays treble.
A “professional driver” should earn what he’s worth.
What he’s worth will be decided by market forces just like in any other job.
If next years expected immigrant explosion occurs most of us will be worth [zb] all 
tachograph:
If next years expected immigrant explosion occurs most of us will be worth [zb] all
Could be some opportunities in truck bodyshops, victim support, crimestoppers, shop security etc
Time and a half for overtime.
rambo19:
Time and a half for overtime.
We always got paid time and a half over 40 hours,years ago. The overtime rate made the job worthwhile,especially when the HGV licences came in and the money went up.
Its all gone backwards since then. Perhaps when DCPC kicks in and there is a shortage of drivers, the money might go up.
I recently went for a class 2 job and was amazed they are paying £9 per hour regardless of start time.
So a 2am start or a through the night run pays £9 as does a 6am start
Thanks but no Thanks
thetastytrucker:
I recently went for a class 2 job and was amazed they are paying £9 per hour regardless of start time.So a 2am start or a through the night run pays £9 as does a 6am start
Thanks but no Thanks
Thats a good rate for Class 2 isnt it?
Dave the Renegade:
I think artic drivers should be on £12 hour.
6 & 8 wheeler divers on £10 hour.
Small rigid drivers on £9 hour.Unless the haulage rates improve I can’t see it happening.
Depends on the job for me, to an extent anyway.
A class 1 trunker who just goes from a to b, parks on a bay, maybe sits around for hours and goes nowhere near the load could imo justifiably be paid less than the Class 2 drivers at the same company, who have to distribute that load out to all the awkward shops etc.
trubster:
Minimum artic rates £10 ph 1.5x after 8 / Saturday and double bubble Sundays.That is the absolute minimum that should be paid, it’s the least I would work for.
After our rise we’ll be just shy of the £10 mark. The rest is exactly what I get and exactly what we should all get.
The irony of it, in one thread lorry driving is considered totally unskilled and in another thread many believe it should pay £12ph+…
I think you should be paid what your worth. I’ve always been paid a decent hourly rate and compared to alot off the figures thrown around on job advertisements I’m happy enough with mine. I don’t get overtime rate but I’m no worse off for it than a job I was offered the other day £3.50 p/h less than I’m on now. I was offered £40 a week damage bonus on that though but I’m not being funny why should any one be rewarded for not smacking the truck up all week or hitting things?. My hourly rate reflects the fact I look after my truck, I certainly wouldn’t get a pat on the back for not damaging it. Saying that if we all got a decent hourly rate maybe people would start taking a bit more pride in there work as I said to the tm who offered me a job.
The government say that the max amount you can have on benefits is £500 per week to cover everything, based on a 40 hour week that’s £12.50 per hour take home that means at least £15 before tax. If not on this amount maybe best to stay at home and put a claim in.
Monkeys. Peanuts anyone?
Remember they’ve sent one to the moon - bet none of us have been there?!!
The labour pool is too diluted now so anybody that can get from a to b without too much drama in an auto truck can do the job and that from now on means it will always be classed as ‘unskilled labour’ (apart of course for specialist haulage) and so low pay and long hours.
Sorry to burst the utopian bubble.
fredthered:
Monkeys. Peanuts anyone?Remember they’ve sent one to the moon - bet none of us have been there?!!
The labour pool is too diluted now so anybody that can get from a to b without too much drama in an auto truck can do the job and that from now on means it will always be classed as ‘unskilled labour’ (apart of course for specialist haulage) and so low pay and long hours.
Sorry to burst the utopian bubble.
Yep, been saying it for years but some here don’t get it, never will.
When you dumb the job down and make it so easy so that any clown can do it or more imortantly wants to do it, don’t be surprised when lots of clowns do it, with inevitable results.
I’m including lorries that require not an ounce of skill to drive.
■■■■ easy work, sit on fat arse looking cool in designer shades whilst steering a fully automatic vehicle that a chimp can, and in some cases does, steer up a straight motorway, opens back doors then sit on fat arse telling tales of derring do at some poxy RDC/supermarket whilst the load magically removes itself, then steer said vehicle back.
Lorry drivers wanted and got the easy life, instead of keeping it a bit specialised, vehicles needing skill and strength to drive, mucky, hard graft etc, which kept an awful lot of the steering wheel attendants out of the game, hence supply and demand economics re wages.
There are still good paying jobs, some require care and attention or skills that take a long time to learn if ever, some are filthy, some carry certain dangers.
Generally but not always the easy work doesn’t pay terribly well and there has always been an element of all flash no cash, where drivers will accept less to drive the latest tackle.
Last but not least, invariably properly unionised jobs pay best and they always will with rare exceptions.
edit…drivers can help themselves by looking after a good job if they get one, don’t take the ■■■■, don’t take sickies, do your best to make that company and job profitable and completely reliable, that keeps you in a good job as wellas giving you an exemplary work record should you need to move on.
There’s quite a few firms over here in N Ireland paying the national minimum wage for class 1 work. Asda were paying more to drive a home delivery van and some PSV work was also offering a better rate.
Who’s been clicking the first option? - I didn’t realise we had Agency Consultants on here?!
GOG47:
I won’t be very popular saying this but some drivers have got an over-inflated sense of their own importance,steering a Tesco/Morrisons/Asda etc shopping trolley from RDC to a supermarket and rolling a few cages off the back is hardly taxing,likewise,trundling from a port to a warehouse and sitting watching dvd’s for 3hrs while your container is tipped hardly merits so called “professional” status(these are just examples I am using,nothing personal by the way),you should be paid what you are worth,if the jobs arduous,the kit you are using is worth mega-bucks and needs extra skills/experience to operate or even if you just get on with the job and use your loaf to sort problems instead of phoning the office every five minutes,then obviously your worth more
Well you’ve listed the easy part of the job, but you forgot to mention the most important element.
As a driver, it’s not just pushing and pulling a few cages, or sitting around waiting for a box at the docks. It’s your ability to drive that mega-bucks truck and it’s valuable cargo, safely on our, frankly ■■■■ poor road network.
Personally I’m shocked to hear people writing they think truck drivers should earn a minimum of £10 ph. I reckon, given the responsibilities for safety, security, economy, environmental awareness and traffic awareness, we are expected to shoulder, not to mention the anti social hours and conditions, we should be on a minimum of between £18-£20 ph.
It won’t happen in my lifetime, but that’s what we’re worth!