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Class 1 work around Leicester splits into night trunking, tramping and day running, and they are very different lives. WSUK tells you which one a job actually is before you accept it, and pays weekly through PAYE.
Class 1 HGV jobs around Leicester are category C+E roles on artics and drawbars, split between night trunking between depots, tramping with nights away, and day running back to the same site. Rates near Leicester typically run £18.00—£24.00 an hour with night trunk to £26.00. You need C+E, a Driver CPC and a digital tachograph card. WSUK pays weekly through PAYE and it never costs you anything to apply.
Leicester is a defining city of the logistics Golden Triangle, sitting on the M1 at Junction 21 where it meets the M69, with the A46, A6, A47 and A607 fanning out across the East Midlands. Meridian Business Park beside J21 hosts distribution and 3PL operators, while Grove Park and Optimus Point at J21A, Beaumont Leys to the north, Braunstone, and the huge Fosse Park retail cluster generate constant freight. The city's long textile and clothing heritage now sits alongside food manufacturing, e-commerce fulfilment and third-party logistics, and rail-freight links add capacity. Magna Park Lutterworth lies just down the M1, and the East Midlands Gateway is a short hop north - placing Leicester in the densest concentration of national RDCs in the country, with rigid and articulated movements running around the clock.
That density drives relentless demand to fill temporary driving jobs. Retail and grocery RDCs need Class 1 (C+E) trunking drivers; 3PL, textile and food operators call for Class 2 (C) drivers; and store, fulfilment and urban deliveries suit 7.5t (C1) and multi-drop van drivers. Volumes spike around retail peaks, fashion seasons and holiday absence, when a single unfilled cab derails a shift. WSUK supplies vetted Leicester drivers for temporary cover, ongoing contracts and rapid multi-driver mobilisations, with DVLA licence and CPC verification, right-to-work checks, PAYE payroll and tacho and working-time compliance handled before the first shift, scaling crews up or down as demand moves.
The single most useful thing to know before accepting a Class 1 job is which of these three it is, because the hours, the pay and whether you sleep at home all follow from it.
Running the same route between two depots overnight, usually dropping a loaded trailer and picking up another. Predictable hours, minimal handball, and the best hourly rate in general haulage.
Out for several nights, sleeping in the cab, running wherever the planner sends you. Paid a nightly-out allowance on top of the hourly rate. Suits drivers who want hours and do not want to be home daily.
Out and back to the same depot within a shift, or yard shunting on trade plates. Fewer hours than tramping but home every night, and the usual choice for drivers with families.
From our Golden Triangle base we fill temporary driving jobs across Leicester and its estates - Meridian Business Park, Grove Park, Optimus Point and Beaumont Leys - supplying Class 1, Class 2, 7.5t and van drivers to RDCs, 3PLs and manufacturers on the M1, A46 and A6 for cover, peaks and short-notice shifts, backed by a single local point of contact.
You are limited to 9 hours driving a day, extendable to 10 twice a week, with a 45-minute break once you have driven 4.5 hours and a daily rest period afterwards. In practice a trunk shift is often 9—11 hours door to door with one long drive each way, while a multi-drop Class 1 day can be shorter driving but far busier. We plan bookings around your hours rather than against them, because an infringement is your licence, not ours.
Indicative PAYE rates as a guide — actual pay varies by shift, experience and site, with premiums for nights, weekends and bank holidays. Every rate we advertise is at or above the National Living Wage.
| Role | Indicative pay |
|---|---|
| Class 1 (C+E) Day Work | £18.00–£22.00 / hr |
| Class 1 Night Trunk | £19.00–£26.00 / hr |
| Class 1 Tramping (plus nights out) | £18.00–£23.00 / hr |
| Class 1 with ADR | £19.00–£25.00 / hr |
| Class 1 Yard Shunter | £17.00–£20.00 / hr |
Class 1 suits drivers who want the top of the general haulage rate and are clear about which kind of life they want — home nightly, or away and earning.
Class 1 drivers get booked onto "trunk" jobs that turn out to be forty drops. We describe the run properly.
From application to your first shift, with the checks and the payroll handled for you.
Tell us your licence, tickets and which shifts you can actually work.
A named consultant calls within 2 working hours to talk through what fits.
Right-to-work, references and the site induction handled before you start.
Start on shift, then paid weekly through PAYE with holiday accrued.
Where there are distribution depots nearby, yes — trunking runs overnight to clear the network before morning, so it is usually the best-paid Class 1 work available locally. We will tell you which runs out of Leicester are live and what the actual start times are.
Usually. Night trunk and day work both return to the same depot, so you sleep at home. Tramping roles with nights away exist around Leicester too, but we only put you forward for those if you have said you want them.
Class 1 is the industry name for category C+E, which allows you to drive an articulated lorry or a rigid with a drawbar trailer. It is the highest standard goods category and you must hold category C first. You also need a Driver CPC and a digital tachograph card to drive commercially.
Trunking is running between two fixed points, usually overnight, and you are home at the end of the shift. Tramping means being away for several nights, sleeping in the cab, running wherever you are planned. Tramping pays a nightly-out allowance on top and generally produces higher weekly earnings.
Day work typically £18.00—£22.00 an hour, night trunk £19.00—£26.00, and ADR work up to £25.00. Tramping is usually quoted at an hourly rate plus a nightly-out allowance. Weekends and bank holidays normally carry a further premium.
WSUK serves employers across the Golden Triangle. Explore our other locations.
Tell us whether you want trunk, tramp or day work around Leicester. We will reply within 2 working hours.