tony_turbo

Took the plunge and had a career change. was doing shuttering joinery for near on 8 years and was sick of getting soaked to the arse everyday. decided to do hgv and have never looked back. Been doing the job for 9 month and love it, heres some pics of the companys finest,

markk

iTrader: (2)

ive had my hgv for 13 years and only use it occasionally, but it is very satifying driving something so big, and the fact that they drive so nice (most of them that have not had a hard life)

given the choice i would drive round in a tractor unit anyday than a car.
my fav's are the large scania's, the daf super space cabs, and the volvo globetrotters, one of the fastest units ive driven was a renault magnum - fookin lightening without a trailer.

congrats on the career move

Rab

Whats the wages like? I want out of this grey ships garbage

fuzzy

wouldnt that be a bit of a wage drop from a shuttering joiner?

C4llyT

Where are the proper Scanias though?!

dave cos4x4

iTrader: (5)

some nice units there.

tony_turbo

you them t cabs! big fooking pointles things unless ur on tippers or low loaders as they just put you over length by about 6ft.

tony_turbo

on a weekly rate i'm about the same wages wise, but if you break it down into an hourly rate its not the best i spose, but its got alot to do with eing happy in your job i think!

Dangerous Malcolm..

Scania's are lovely looking trucks, and you've got to hand it to the Scots for turning out really nice looking motors.


Did you know there is an official medical condition known as 'Scania back'.

fuzzy

i did shuttering for a couple of years in holland and i can understand why you werent happy in your job

Stu.H

Being happy in your job is DEFFO the main thing.

I LOVE my job, I wake up of a morning and I dont think "oh no, got work today"

Better to have a pay drop and be in a job ur more happy with IMO

Congrats



p.s. I spoke to someone who did the hgv test, bit of a bugger I'm told

tony_turbo

lots of folk hate scania seats but i think they are good. a bit of pain is handy though for keeping you awake at nights and on long runs! lol

tony_turbo

It can be a bit of a bugger but i did mine in my home town so i knew what was round every corner which was a bonus, also my instructor was a friend of dads, examiner was also fairly human aswell which i wasnt expecting!

Tangodeltasierra3

Any more info on this Scania back thing ? i had 3 week off sick with a bad back minus pay which i blame on the Scania seat too. Nice trucks mate, i thought truckers were skint ? some moneys worth in spot lights alone there.

Dangerous Malcolm..

You could ask on HERE for advice. It's been well known for years that Scania's are back breakers.

tony_turbo

He's a bit of a tart when it comes to lights n stuff. i'm all for it as its a good feeling to drive down road the road in a top truck. wouldnt do the job if i had second rate truck. the purple n pink one at top is the flyer, was a 580 but bbeen mapped an stuff an it runs 710bhp and sits at 62 on limiter all day long. its done 1.2 million kilometres so i think itl be going just shortly.

FIESTA CHRIS H

big_wig_074

[QUOTE=FIESTA CHRIS H;3578263][/QUOTE
lorries do a LOT of miles!not uncommon to do 500 km a day,5 days a week.

DanW@FastFord

iTrader: (1)

Does your boss also own a spotlight manufacturing plant?? Must cost him millions in bulbs every year!!

Gooey

I speak to alot of truck drivers working on the docks in Felixstowe. I currently drive a fork lift/top lift and they all say I should go for my HGV.
Maybe something I need to look into for the future!

ronf42

iTrader: (2)

a couple of weeks ago I tried a bit of shunting. 1st time I drove a unit and hitched it up etc.
fair enjoyed it , was shitting myself to start with when doing the reversing as i had never even towed a trailer with my car.
realised it wasnt as bad as i originaly feared, but still need hundreds more practice

markk

iTrader: (2)

i did a joba few years ago, shunting trailers from the docks at liverpool to over on the east coast, had to pick up a loaded trailer that had come in from ireland off liverpool,

got there, found my trailer and it was backed in against the edge of the dock, so behind the trailer was just deep water and a long drop.
checked the handbrake on the trailer, it was very tight - seamed to be on ok, backed up against it, and found that the shunters had not left the trailer high enough for me to get under it, it was just about on the fifth wheel runners, so it had a massive climb to get to the pin, so though right, gonna have to have a go, hit it, and the fooker moved the trailer backwards towards the water
it was a sunday so there was no one about to lift it, being loaded it wouldnt move with the winding legs either, ended up ripping the handbrake as hard as i could, then just going for it witha short run up - luckily it locked and i jumped on the brakes hard, and hit a forward gear !

if it had locked and gone backward sthen we would have all been in liverpool dock
the top and bottom of it was it was a shit trailer, parked in a shit place, not left at the correct height, i even lowered my rear suspension and was still a fair way out.

the shunting guys at the docks and a large yards dont give a fook, they are hydraulic on there pin heighs so can lift anything at any height.

beware !!!!

Dangerous Malcolm..

The trailer legs have a low gear for just those situations, unless that was bust.

markk

iTrader: (2)

they wouldnt budge at all - in any gear, and to top it off the load was fooking cow skins that where dripping blood off - nice

NATH-RSZT

I have just done my medical and my license has just come back from the dvla so gunna book my hgv tommorow. Not the heavy licence thow just the rigid one for now, If i enjoy it i'll go for the heavy one later, glad your enjoying it , hope its the same for me

morcheen

i wouldn't have put the words 'shuttering' and 'joiner' in the same sentence you done well to get out of it,always a wagon full of concrete on your shoulder waiting for you finish,and a foreman shouting his head off.shit work !!

fordrallycar

iTrader: (4)

Nice tractor units but is it dark a lot up there

orionmojo

iTrader: (1)

i'm a foden man myself not a fan of the scanias really,but i do like the volvo's

some nice trucks there though

fuzzy

and the foreman always seems to be a fucking clueless thick paddy. strange that.

CosworthGuy

How much did this cost, Im seriously looking into gaining my hgv licence and need to get this done.My local doctors want Ł90

Is that normal??

fuzzy

isnt it about Ł1800+to go for the hgv test?

Si B

iTrader: (59)

I paid Ł80 for mine at a local doctors about 5 years ago.

Si

Mark_

theres a doctor in elstree that charges Ł35, thats were i got mine done, its roughly Ł1100 to do your class2 rigid licence which you need to get 1st then the same again to take your class1 altough some companies will do you a deal if you take both tests with them. i passed my class 1 artic test a year ago in november

Stu.750

Stunning trucks mate - i did my apprentiship on scanias - currently work for a renault truck dealer basically a volvo with a badge

710bhp lol ive seen one of those 16 litre with the 580 destroy a scooby from a set of lights , left it for dead up to about 45 mph

tony_turbo

the 710 164 is evil. it like a race horse. empty or loaded it doesnt leave the limiter. can leave london and you dont need to touch gears till you come of m74 at glasgow.its a bit yee ha. got switchable straight through drag pipes aswell, go through dartford tunnel flat out with hand on horns and pipes open, priceless!

Stu.750

Love it - Not up with my scanias now but have they stopped the V8s or they still knocking them out - i know wen the 16 litre was developed from the old 14 litre thay had issuse with emmisions

tony_turbo

still producing the 16ltr v8. 500, 560, 580 and 620hp

Stu.750

they are all big stupid and you lot "drivers" are always finding new and interesting was of breaking them so weve "mechanics" got to fix them

Dangerous Malcolm..

All the truck manufacturers have to play catch-up with MAN, they've always been one step ahead with power output.

STUCOS

iTrader: (8)

You got a start with cameron,he is a good guy

cheeRS stu