I have been working for an agency here in Yorkshire for about 18 months now as a van driver. Recently I decided to get my class 2 licence ( in October ). I have stayed with the same agency but all they continue to offer me is van work. They said how they can’t put me forward for class 2 work as “their clients require X amount of experience”, which I don’t have.
They did offer me a recent Christmas job from Mid November until today when it ended. It was a sort of semi van driver, semi 18 tonne driver ( which I drove just 2 times as a multi manned shift ) and a semi 7.5 tonne driver which I drove maybe 3 or 4 times, the rest was in a 3.5 tonne Luton van!
Anyway now that job has ended and the agency is offering me more work, as a van driver!. I have spent £1300 on my class 2 licence which I hoped would be money well spent, but now I’m not so sure. My sort of long term plan was to keep my class 2 for 6 months or so and they do my class 1, now my thought is that I can’t even get a class 2 job so the same will apply for a class 1.
Where did you guys start off ? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Its slightly depressing me.
Its worth pointing out that I have applied with other agencies , even signed up to a couple but they too require experience
4yorks:
I have been working for an agency here in Yorkshire for about 18 months now as a van driver. Recently I decided to get my class 2 licence ( in October ). I have stayed with the same agency but all they continue to offer me is van work. They said how they can’t put me forward for class 2 work as “their clients require X amount of experience”, which I don’t have.
They did offer me a recent Christmas job from Mid November until today when it ended. It was a sort of semi van driver, semi 18 tonne driver ( which I drove just 2 times as a multi manned shift ) and a semi 7.5 tonne driver which I drove maybe 3 or 4 times, the rest was in a 3.5 tonne Luton van!
Anyway now that job has ended and the agency is offering me more work, as a van driver!. I have spent £1300 on my class 2 licence which I hoped would be money well spent, but now I’m not so sure. My sort of long term plan was to keep my class 2 for 6 months or so and they do my class 1, now my thought is that I can’t even get a class 2 job so the same will apply for a class 1.
Where did you guys start off ? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Its slightly depressing me.
Its worth pointing out that I have applied with other agencies , even signed up to a couple but they too require experience
Try not to get disheartened. I passed my Class 2 at the end of September. By the time I got my Licence and CPC card back it was November. I had spent the last 4 years working as a bus driver so thought I wouldn’t find it to hard. Think again. Come November the industry starts to wind down so at the agencies even things tighten up. I have had a few interviews in the last 10 days and started a job Monday but they did not have atruck for me. Back to Square one.
Which agency are you with ? My plan is straight after Christmas register with as many as possible the more I’m with the more chance I have of work. Things won’t really pick up til March I’m told.
SuperMultiBlue:
Find your local food service firm, go down take your licence, start the next day. It’s not rocket science.
This !!!
New passes get more interest from these companies, experienced drivers generally dont want this work
Companies like Brakes, Gist, Bidvest, P&H etc.
Apply via CV online etc, then try your turning up and asking for anyone who deals with recruitment, turn up looking smart with gear in boot just in case.
I’m not in work yet, but have not done too much looking yet due to still being in my current job, however I have an assessment with P&H tomorrow.
I wonder whether location can be a contributing factor to the amount of jobs available to you. I’m near Liverpool and in the process of obtaining class 2. I put out a test cv for a class 1 job with DHL running Dunelm and was invited for interview and assessment. I said I’d taken something else but she said they would hold my details. There are also plenty of class 2 jobs this way as I’m near the sea port. I hear people say many of the job adverts on indeed are dummy jobs but many also appear legitimate to me. I imagine you’ve already done this, but google transport/haulage companies in your area and further. I think the response to your post and to many other similar threads is the same as what has already been said by many of the lads which is, it’s about getting your name and face known and how much effort you put into achieving that is entirely down to you of course.
Just stick at it, something will come your way, good luck.
Location does seem to play a part on how hard it is to find a job. But I’d suggest that this time of year is particularly bad for zero or very low experience newbies. Sadly it’s probably not really going to improve until say March. However the harder you try and more persistent you are, the better your chances…
As already said, food service is a good place to start. As well as limping around all the agencies and pestering them a few times a week to show you’re keen.
Things do improve with experience though, as I’m getting quite a few texts from agencies looking for class 1 drivers. They say great rates, but as I’ve got work I’ve not called them back to find out what great means in their eyes! Lol
Well I’m in York so it’s a very touristy town, most jobs here are hospitality based. I think most class 2 jobs are probably 50+ miles away in places like Hull and Middlesbrough ( so port towns). Leeds is possibly another as it’s next to the M1, M621 and M62 motorway networks.
Laundry them mate, as tourists sleep in beds! But your best bet is to start a thread on the main forum asking for pointers on what doors to go knock on for class 2 work around York. I know from experience that as a newbie you don’t really know where to go knocking when you know nothing about the game…
