Month: June 2021

HGV Drivers

At Igloo we specialise in the recruitment of professional drivers within the Transport and Logistics sector.

Igloo supply Class 1 driver roles all across the UK

Predominately Igloo supply Class 1 drivers to customers across the country and although the driving aspect of the job remains the same, albeit the vehicles may differ a bit from customer to customer, other aspects of the job can be very different though from customer to customer, please see further details below.

Class 1 drivers typically earn

Class 1 drivers can typically earn anywhere between £500 and £1000 per week and are typically engaged with Igloo either as a traditional PAYE Agency Worker, or via an umbrella company or via their own limited company.

Class 1 drivers will need to have an excellent geographical knowledge of the UK road networks and as well as holding a valid C+E category on their driving license they must have a digital tachograph card and a driver qualification card. Majority of Igloos customers require that Class 1 drivers have completed 180 days of checkable driving on UK roads within the last 2 years. Usually a maximum of 6 points for minor offences is all that is allowed for class 1 drivers to be successful in their application for roles within the industry.

Igloo supply Class 1 Transporter driver roles

Igloo supply Class 1 Car Transporter drivers, within these roles drivers are often away from home all of their working week, known in the industry as “Tramping”, there are facilities within the cab for the drivers to sleep. As a car transporter driver is responsible for the loading and unloading of a range of vehicles, usually cars and vans. Drivers often receive a bonus for amount of runs they do within the week as well as a damage bonus, these are often included to encourage the driver to complete more drops whilst ensuring they do not simply neglect the loading and unloading of the vehicles that may cause damage to them.

Igloo also supply Class 1 drivers that are expected to offload goods that are in cages, usually referred to in the industry as “Hand-balling”, these roles are more likely to be where drivers are delivering to stores rather than warehouses or distribution centres.

A lot of the time Igloo’s Class 1 drivers are only expected to either back on to a loading bay or pull back the curtains on the side of their trailers and then the team of warehouse operatives would unload or load the trailer.
Class 1 drivers must follow the tachograph laws and take breaks at the designated times, once back to Igloo’s customers depot following their shift drivers must download their tachograph data onto a computer system, this data is analysed and drivers can be reprimanded should their be any infringements showing on this data.

C+E (Class 1) ADR Driver

Typical pay for an Class 1 ADR driver is between £13.00 -£17.00

Due to the nature of this kind of work, hours will not be set, you would typically find drivers give a “start window” so they will say their start times are between the hours of 06:00hrs and 09:00hrs and the planners at the sites will schedule them for start times that fit their window. As with most transport and logistics many of the operations are 24/7.

What is ADR?

The European agreement concerning the international carriage of dangerous goods by road was created in Geneva on the 30th of September 1957 and came into force on the 29th of January 1958. ADR comes from the official French name for the agreement which is “Accord européen relatif au transport international des marchandises Dangereuses par Route”

ADR Training

From the 1st January 2007 it became mandatory for all drivers of any vehicle carrying dangerous goods to be trained by a department of transport approved training provider. The initial ADR course lasts 4 days in total including examinations however if the driver adds the tanker module this initial training will extend to 5 days.

Once the driver has successfully completed the course and the examinations, they will receive an ADR vocational training certificate (VTC), also known as an ADR licence, which is valid for 5 years and details all the ADR exam modules the driver has successfully completed. The ADR licence is recognised throughout Europe and gives the holder the authorisation to transport any dangerous substance which falls within a category listed on their licence.

Within 12 months of the expiry date listed on the ADR licence the holder may complete a shorter ADR refresher course in order to renew their licence for another 5 year period. This course may be taken anytime in the final year of validity and up to 5 weeks before the expiry date. Successful completion of the course and the exams will extend the ADR licence for an additional 5 years from the official expiry date.
One of Igloo’s clients requires drivers to be Hazard Aware, so if we have a class one driver that does not hold an ADR license then they can sit an online Dangerous Goods by Road Awareness course and pass the exam at the end, once they have done this we can use them on the contract. This client books drivers that need to transport items such as, motor oil, paints and lithium batteries, so although its not a legal requirement they need them to be aware of how to transport and handle these items safely.

ADR Drivers

The type of drivers Igloo provide will be doing deliveries to, Bristol, Huddersfield, Manchester, Derby, Lincoln, Birmingham, Tewkesbury, Dunstable, Canterbury and Slough.

A typical shift for an ADR driver working for Igloo:

• Arrive at the trailer park and complete their vehicle checks.
• The drivers are then given a load time and must drive to the depot to meet this load time.
• Once loaded they must then travel to their delivery location, which is usually vehicle dealerships, the drivers are given a delivery time window of an hour to make the delivery in.
• Drivers will be expected to do a maximum of 3 deliveries in a shift, depending on where the run is too.
• Drivers need to download their driver (Digi) cards at the start and the end of their shifts.
• Drivers must always comply with the tachograph laws.
• Typically shifts will be between 7 and 12.5 hours.