I have not been a lorry driver but:
- I have towed a thirty foot caravan.
- Driven the length and breadth of the country to earn a living.
1) is no fun at all, rather watch paint dry.
2) just gives you a numb bum when you could be doing something much more salubrious.
I am always amazed at how the Aldi truck driver manages to reverse a 44 tonne 50 foot articulated through the busy car park into the cramped loading dock single handedly.
With skills like that I'm not surprised drivers are hard to find.
Unfortunately towing a caravan bares little similarities to driving an artic with a 45 ft trailer with 44 tonnes in it.
I watched (from an upstairs office window) a driver reverse a unit and trailer in a yard with an Astra van stuck to the rear bumper. No way he could see it and with the torque of the truck he never felt a thing. He of course should have checked before reversing but the van driver should have known better than to park behind a truck!
Wasn't it a while back that we learnt (from strike action) that Shell (and others too I assume) tanker drivers earnt £80kpa. Not many would argue that was underpaid!
This group are pretty unique in the industry due to the highly hazardous load they’re carrying and have always earned a premium wage. Surprised it’s that high though but it’s been 25 years since I was involved in the industry.
HGV driving jobs have always been varied and have commanded different pay grades subject to the driver requirements.
The tanker driver is highly qualified and carrying a very expensive and unforgiving load. They are also required to fill the underground tanks at the petrol stations which adds another level of danger to their day. Due to the time and safety issues they’re unlikely to be doing many drops in a shift.
These are also many companies that specialise in ‘full load” deliveries, so go from A to B as a dedicated load, these drivers could be away from home for days on end depending on where they are routed and may even be running empty between locations.
Below them tend to be the trunk drivers running full loads between depots usually of the same company and will typically but not always run at night using their full allowance of hours to get to their drop off point. These drivers typically will drop their trailer and head to bed in their cab to return home that evening.
Think of a hub and spoke set up where these guys only go from hub to hub.
Many artic drivers may also be involved in multi drop where they are stopping at multiple locations. Now you’re relying on people generally unrelated to your company and loading and unloading issues can really screw up schedules. I’d argue it takes a special kind of person to be doing this long term.
Nothing worse than being delayed and running out of driving hours which means you can’t get home for another day!
I guess bottom of the pay scale were the multidrop drivers back in my day. These guys would take the multiple smaller deliveries from the ‘hub’ mentioned earlier and deliver to the shops, factories and private homes.
These for logistic reasons tend to be vans, 7.5ton and 16 ton vehicles. Small enough to manoeuvre in towns or direct to factories etc.
Oh and it was common for drivers only to be employed by agencies back in the day with minimal benefits so the companies could keep their costs down and have the flexibility to say “I only need half the staff tomorrow, so don’t bother coming in”!
So there isn’t a one size fits all when it comes to road haulage and manufacturing has changed over the years as well where companies no longer hold stock relying in ”just in time” deliveries putting additional pressures on an already stretched industry.
Of course back in the day I got an HGV 1 license (C&E in today’s lingo) by taking three three hour lessons with a test at the end. These days you have to progress through the different levels, so sit a 16 ton rigid test first. This added time and expense to getting a full license so no surprise there’s a driver shortage.
These days I’d struggle to climb into the cab never mind load a 45 ft trailer to the roof with 45kg boxes of yarn by hand because the sender was too cheap to buy a bloody fork lift!
Even better, try rolling a trailer full of 45 gallon upright drums to the rear of a 45ft trailer! each weighing over 200kg! It wasn’t all glamour you know!
