Not an HGV driver, though I do still hold my Road Haulage CPC. I grew up being driven around Kent every Summer in a Dodge 100 Commando to collect apples and other produce from various farms.
These days I work with companies around the world that employ - either directly or indirectly - tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of trucks and their drivers. Whether those companies are retailers, manufacturers, logistics companies, or in the public sector, none would survive without the services provided by the humble truck.
The industry as a whole is facing a massive shortage of drivers - not just here in the UK, but globally. In the EU alone there is estimated to be a shortage of 380,000 drivers. It is a problem that is only getting worse, with the average age of truck drivers in Europe being 47, whilst here in the UK it is 51. From the small "mom & pop" carriers and owner-operators, with perhaps just 1 or 2 trucks, to the larger carriers who have fleets numbering in the hundreds and thousands, nearly all are struggling to get hold of good drivers.
The result is that the average annual wage for HGV Class1 drivers has increased, particularly here in the UK where Brexit has also reduced the influx of foreign hauliers. It is currently somewhere around the £32k mark, though salaries of £40k and £50k are not uncommon.
The two main reasons for the shortage of drivers are the difficult working conditions, as outlined by others above, and the inability to attract youngsters into the industry. There is little to no glamour in the logistics industry generally, and youngsters simply don't see it as an attractive career. Compounding the problem, previous sources of large numbers of trained truck drivers - such as compulsory military service in Germany and other European countries - have in many cases been abolished or significantly reduced.
Whilst things have moved on since the introduction of the tacho, driving a truck is still a job that entails anti-social hours, poor working conditions and facilities (particularly for any drivers away overnight), and a general public that shows antipathy, if not downright hostility, to anyone behind the wheel of an HGV - this despite the fact that 98% of all food, agricultural products, consumer goods and industrial machinery is moved by road in the UK.
As has been said, you may find it better to look at something like a forklift ticket, as there is also a huge shortage of warehouse space in the UK, together with the personnel to run them. That is a sector, though, where automation is seeing a resurgence - reflecting both the growth in online retail as well as the need to make up for warehouse workers that simply aren't there to be recruited. Hence technology is currently replacing a significant proportion of the potential warehouse workforce, and I don't see that trend reducing any time soon. Bizarre as it might sound, one of the main areas of robotics development is in the warehouse, and the use of Autonomous Mobile Robots is rapidly growing year on year.
Whatever you choose to do, the very best of luck to you.
