HGV Licence, Class 1 & 2

[Bailes1992]

Right at 19 I still don't really know what do to.

I spent 2 years in college after I left school and have a BTEC National Diploma in ICT, A Computia A+ and a Cisco CCNA.

I'm currentley an apprentice electrician and by Dec 2014 I should have a C&Q 2230 level 3, NVQ Level 3 in somthing or other and my AM2 along with some stupid add on like key skills and NVQ's in "Improving own learning and performance"

I am planning to go on and do a HND in Building Services Engineering, but we'll see.

I wish I haden't listened to my father who told me not to go into cars and auto electrics because thats really where my interests lie. Unfortunatley I also think at 19 and already into my 2nd year of an apprenticeship it's too late to jump ship.

My other option right now is as soon as I'm 21 get my HGV Class 1 & 2 and as soon as I finish my apprenticeship go for my driver CPC. That way when I am finally sick of climbing scaffolds and cutting unistrut I can go lorry driving.

But I'm worried weather or not it would be worth it? I love driving, weather it's my Mondeo, my Mums Panda or a 3.5t Transit. Nothing excites me more than going on a road trip.

So do you think it would be a good idea or not?

Bailes.

[Welly]

Lorry driving used to be great, the open road, the big rig etc...

Now though it's sh*t - speed cameras, tachographs, TIMED DROPS, performance targets, changes to the schedule, TRAFFIC...all designed to piss you off badly.

My Uncle drove for Ford for years, was one of there most experienced drivers until he retired in 2010 (circa £50K per year) but even he said how crap it was towards the end.

I'm from a HVAC background and that's not much cop these days - A LOT of work with little reward and heaps of pressure working to ever tightening deadlines. The only folk that do well in HVAC and Construction are the back-hand gangs (brown envelope brigade) most Construction projects are awarded off the back of a cash hand out or some other tax free gain for someone.

What about driving a Courier Van? you get to do wheel-spins, high-revs, break the law and annoy people and get paid for it

[omega]

as a hgvdriver for a long time i would try to avoid it.money isnt fantastic[unless you drop lucky]hours can be anytime,nights out is a waste of time as most times you spend more than you earn and it can be a very lonely life.the days of having a girl in every town are gone now as most trucks have a tracker in them.

[omega]

oops double post

[lozz]

Its one of them aint it?

you wont know until you look into it properly.

It wont be cheap.
and even if/you do pass be prepared to be owned by Agencys,

iknow a few hgv drivers and none are employed directly by a company, there on A hire me fire me basis on Agency work,

[puggy]

As the others have said really , unless you drop lucky that is . Agency work is shite
though can lead to full-time non agency work , driving in this country in these oppresive
days is not much fun . I will say though the last several years of my driving were done
abroad and i thoroughly enjoyed it , in fact if my health was better i would do it again
tomorrow but you do have to like your own company .
Do you know any truck drivers that you could ask to take you on a couple of trips with them ??

[Doggy]

Sam,

Not sure of your intentions, but I strongly recommend completing your apprenticeship, even if you intend doing something different asap afterwards. Really think you'll regret it if you don't. Anyway there's loads of potential opportunities to get off sites once you qualify, (electical testing, service engineering, even sales to the trade, to name a few).

[Bailes1992]

Cheers for your opinions.
I have no intention of leaving my apprenticeship.
I actually want to get my inspection and intesting and my JIB approved card before I call it a day, and if I feel up for it a HND in Building service engineering too!

[scotty73]

Anyway there's loads of potential opportunities to get off sites once you qualify, (electical testing, service engineering, even sales to the trade, to name a few).

He could even try for one of those high voltage power line tester jobs the hellicopter ride looks awesome.