r/uktrucking

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I'm 38 and considering HGV driving — is it worth it for only 5 years? seriously considering getting my HGV licence and moving into trucking.

At the moment I work in back-of-house hospitality, which I honestly hate. I'm looking for a way out and considering HGV driving as a complete change of direction.

I'm a quiet, fairly solitary guy and I don't have much family left. I'm not particularly interested in a very social workplace, so the fact that driving can involve spending a lot of time alone doesn't necessarily bother me.

My question is whether it makes sense to start at 38 if realistically I only plan to do it for around 5 years, from roughly 39/40 to 44/45.

I'm also prepared to work a lot of hours — early starts, long shifts, nights, weekends and overtime if available — because my priority for those five years would be to earn a decent income and save as much as I reasonably can.

I know trucking isn't easy. I'm aware of the traffic, delivery deadlines, loading/unloading, parking, long hours, nights away and general stress. I'm not expecting an easy life.

But compared with staying in a job I genuinely hate in hospitality, I'm wondering whether HGV driving could be a better option.

For those actually working in UK trucking:

Would you say it's worth getting the licence at 38 if you only intended to do it for 5 years or so?

If someone is willing to work 50–60+ hours when available, is it realistic to make decent money and build up meaningful savings?

Would you recommend Class 2 first and then Class 1, or another route?

And honestly, if you were 38, stuck in a job you hated, fairly quiet and didn't mind working long hours, would you make the switch into HGV driving?

I'd really appreciate honest opinions, especially from people who started trucking later in life.

Then overtaken me truck said he was doing 55mph

Got an interview at Brakes. Im an older gentleman and of a generation where you were told always wear a suit to interview. I think times have changed, what should I wear bearing in mind the interview letter says to bring safety boots and will include a driving assessment? Smart combat trousers and polo shirt suffice?

How does the shifts work?

Monday to Friday?

4 on 4 off?

Thanks

I’m looking at potentially switching career to move into the HGV world. Im looking at doing a course for the class 1 which I think is the C + E?. I have done some research but would like more info from those who actually do it. I’d like to know what it looks like realistically, what the hours are like, how easy is it to find a job (do they tend to be more temporary, long term etc) what the lifestyle is like, the training, the money. Any advice or info would be appreciated!

Thank you

Hey guys just a quick one. Did a trunk to Lidl Belvedere last night with a single deck so height no issue. Most likely will be taking a double soon at 16ft 5. On the route coming from the Dartford crossing and taking the A206 there is a low bridge at 16ft 3. Just wondering if any one is local and knows the alternative to the industrial estate as I know Ocado and other companies run doubles to and from there. Thank you!

There are probably many small tips experienced drivers pick up over the years that sat-nav doesn’t really teach.

One of mine would be to look for clues in the settlement itself.

Some British place names still give clues about the landscape or history:

• -chester / -caster / -cester — often linked to Roman forts or settlements: Chester, Doncaster, Leicester.
• -ford — historically a river crossing: Oxford, Stafford, Hereford.
• -mouth — often where a river meets the sea: Exmouth, Teignmouth, Tynemouth.
• -by — common in areas of Viking settlement, particularly northern and eastern England: Derby, Whitby, Grimsby.
• -bridge — settlements that developed around crossings.
• -dale / -combe — valleys.
• -bourne / burn — streams or watercourses.

It obviously won’t tell you exactly where a place is, but it can give you another clue when building a mental picture of the country.

What small tip, pattern or bit of road knowledge would you pass on to a new driver?

bit of a rant, but of a discussion, bit of everything i suppose. and there’s a TLDR at the bottom to save your sanity reading all this shit - i just wanted to rant a bit and see anyone else’s opinions

so i’m on my course (i’ve posted here and mentioned it before), it’s a 5 day thing where you get your license at the end of it, and as i’m sure is quite common, another person is doing the same course alongside me, so we’re in the truck together and take turns practicing test routes etc.

but my god, this other guy is genuinely worrying me. i’m absolutely loving the driving part, i really enjoy it. but when im a passenger with this other guy, it’s actually really nerve racking

where do i even start? his overall awareness and control is dreadful, he’s constantly drifting around, catching kerbs and he’ll take some corners like a car, and others like he’s pulling and extended low bed. he drives ridiculously slow in fast limits, and takes forever to accelerate, his general reaction time is pretty crap, hence why he’s floating all over the place when going down dual carriageways and motorways, like he’s constantly over the rumble strip into the hard shoulder and then he’ll come back out again but then immediately drift back into it

yesterday we were heading down the motorway briefly, and traffic was stopped up ahead, and it’s almost like he just wasn’t looking out the windscreen, took him 2-3 business days to actually hit the brakes, only after the instructor called out for him to brake (plus he’s always doing about 45 when we’re on motorways and dual carriageways)

we practice the same routes both days, just getting used to them and whatnot, yet he drives on them like he’s never seen them before, constantly in the wrong lanes and doing things that the instructor has told him not to do multiple times before. i don’t wanna sound bad, but this guy has only been in the uk for 3 years or so, he speaks a bit of english, but i feel like he doesn’t understand enough english to really get what the instructor is trying to teach him. and when the instructor has to quickly tell him to correct something (which happens a lot), he kind of just goes ‘ah’ and then carries on

i don’t wanna sound big headed, but i’m pretty decent at driving this truck now, i’ll admit it’s only on a 30 foot trailer i think, but i’m used to the way it handles, i don’t hit kerbs, i can reverse it etc. so i feel like he could learn a decent enough routine by watching me drive, but most of the time when im driving he’s just on his phone (messaging people with his ringer on, very annoying), and when we were pulling back into the yard for a break and driver swap, he just decided to take a phone call from someone and started speaking arabic next to me whilst i’m trying to manoeuvre around a tight coach yard that was rammed. like come on man, i don’t make a racket when you’re driving, just do the same for me please. thankfully, i’m generally quite good at handling distractions, but it’s still annoying regardless

the instructor is extremely chill. properly nice bloke, i just sort of chat with him sometimes about cars and trucks. he butts in when the other guy is driving and does something wrong (again, happens often), but i do feel like he could be more strict, perhaps even on both of us, but he said to me to just keep doing what i’m doing because it’s pretty spot on (i’m just working on getting into the shoulder check routine, which won’t take me long)

bloke can’t work the truck properly either. it’s a renault T with an electric handbrake, and he just can’t learn how it works. to turn off the handbrake, you go foot brake, then push the button forwards. it also disengages when you accelerate, but this guy just can’t work it out, he keeps pulling it and pushing it when he doesn’t need to, so he just kinda gets stuck on the spot because he keeps fucking around with the handbrake

and the gears, obviously they’re on the right stalk as i’m sure everyone here knows, and renaults have drive and neutral on the inter twister, and reverse and crawl on the outer one (to use reverse you go drive, then twist to reverse, and to go from R to D you pull the whole stick towards you). he can’t work this out either, he keeps trying to pull it and twist it randomly and all in the wrong situations. he manages to put the fucker into manual mode which fucks things up even more, then he’ll be in neutral redlining it, then reverse, then crawl, manual, drive. it’s quite simple really

(last paragraph, i promise) - his reversing is shit, but he somehow passed that i think. and he just randomly indicates when he feels like it. he’ll be sat at the roundabout, not moving, and he’ll just indicate right for no reason, even if we’re taking the first exit for example. it’s not even common mistakes, it’s just random shit that makes no sense at all

TLDR; other candidate is a crap driver, no coordination, can’t reverse, can’t work the truck and gearbox properly, rags it around, then goes too slow, and then just doesn’t brake. we’ve had some close calls with stopped traffic because he just sort of doesn’t react to it sometimes. and he just isn’t learning from his mistakes at all. it makes me genuinely worried and tense when i’m a passenger, i genuinely hope he fails because he’ll be a danger to the road

Was doing my manual entry there, only had just changed the end of yesterdays shift to other work and the driver moved the unit. It’s kicked me off the manual entry. Will this tacho think I’ve been on other for since yesterday and not rest?

To cut a long story short.

I split my breaks today into 3 16min breaks.

The last break after 16min I ejected in my card while the tacho was still on break.

If I do a manual entry tomorrow to show 5min other work will I avoid an infringement?

I googled tonight about 3x 15min breaks and came across a post saying you cannot end a shift on break 😂