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0800 772 0727
Whatever is on your licence, there is usually work for it around Harwich & Colchester. WSUK places Class 1, Class 2, 7.5t and van drivers at depots near Harwich & Colchester — days, nights and trunking — on weekly PAYE pay with no fee to you.
Driving jobs around Harwich & Colchester run across four licence categories: van (B), 7.5 tonne (C1), Class 2 rigid (C) and Class 1 articulated (C+E). Rates near Harwich & Colchester typically run £12.71—£14.00 an hour for van work, £13.00—£15.00 for 7.5t, £16.00—£20.00 for Class 2 and £18.00—£24.00 for Class 1. Anything over 3.5t needs a Driver CPC and a digital tachograph card. WSUK pays weekly through PAYE and it never costs you anything to apply.
At the eastern end of the A120, Harwich International Port at Parkeston runs Stena Line passenger and freight ferries to the Hook of Holland and freight sailings to Rotterdam, with parking for more than 1,000 trailers and rail sidings on the Mayflower line. Nearby Bathside Bay is one of the three Freeport East tax sites, alongside Felixstowe and Gateway 14. Around 20 miles inland, Colchester sits where the A120 meets the A12, with industrial and business land spread across the Hythe, including Port Lane Industrial Estate, plus Whitehall Industrial Estate, Stanway, Severalls and Colchester Business Park near the Northern Gateway. Together the two towns combine roll-on roll-off freight and port haulage with manufacturing, warehousing and trade distribution, and the port has also served as an offshore wind installation base. Colchester station on the Great Eastern Main Line has direct trains to London Liverpool Street.
Labour demand here follows ferry and trailer volumes through Harwich, offshore wind project phases and Colchester's retail distribution calendar, with extra need around summer sailings and the pre-Christmas freight build. Sickness, holidays, contract ramp-ups and peak seasons all outpace a fixed driver roster. WSUK fills temporary driving jobs with Class 1 (C+E) drivers for trunking and container work, Class 2 (C) drivers for rigid distribution, 7.5-tonne (C1) drivers, and van and multi-drop drivers. Every driver clears DVLA licence checks, CPC verification and right-to-work before starting, and we run PAYE payroll with tacho and working-time compliance built in.
The category on your licence decides the vehicle, but the type of work decides what the day actually looks like. These are the three shapes most driving jobs take.
Point-to-point running between depots, often overnight, usually the same route each shift. Little or no handball, predictable hours, and the bulk of Class 1 agency work.
Ten to eighty drops a shift depending on the vehicle and the round. More physical, more customer contact, and the bulk of van, 7.5t and Class 2 work.
Yard shunting on trade plates, tramping away from home for several nights, and specialist work like ADR, HIAB or container haulage that carries its own premium.
WSUK supplies temporary HGV and van drivers across Harwich & Colchester and north Essex, for operators around Harwich International Port, Whitehall Industrial Estate and Colchester Business Park and drivers based in Dovercourt, Manningtree, Clacton-on-Sea and Wivenhoe. We match driver classes and shift patterns to each operator's routes, delivery windows and compliance needs.
Tell us what you hold and we will only send you work that matches it. If you are partway through upgrading — say from C to C+E — tell us that too, because a lot of operators will take a Class 2 driver now and move them onto Class 1 work when the licence lands.
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 |
|---|---|
| Van / Multi-Drop Driver | £12.71–£14.00 / hr |
| 7.5t (C1) Driver | £13.00–£15.00 / hr |
| Class 2 (C) HGV Driver | £16.00–£20.00 / hr |
| Class 1 (C+E) HGV Driver | £18.00–£24.00 / hr |
| Transport / Traffic Supervisor | £16.00–£20.00 / hr |
Driving work suits people who want the rate their licence is worth, some control over the shifts they take, and to be paid properly through PAYE rather than pushed into a scheme.
We are a logistics operator as well as an agency, so we know what the run actually is before we put you in the cab.
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.
It depends on what sits nearby. Areas with big distribution sheds generate trunking and Class 1 work, while towns with retail and wholesale depots generate more multi-drop on 7.5t and Class 2. Around Harwich & Colchester we recruit across all four categories and will tell you what is actually live.
Usually yes. Most of what we place around Harwich & Colchester is day work or night trunking that returns to the same depot, so you are home between shifts. Tramping roles that involve nights out exist too, but we only put you forward for them if you have said you want them.
Category B (a standard car licence) covers vans up to 3.5t. C1 covers 3.5—7.5t. C covers rigids over 3.5t, which the industry calls Class 2. C+E covers articulated and drawbar, which the industry calls Class 1. Anything above 3.5t driven commercially also needs a Driver CPC and a digital tachograph card.
Van and multi-drop work is typically £12.71—£14.00 an hour, 7.5t £13.00—£15.00, Class 2 £16.00—£20.00 and Class 1 £18.00—£24.00. Nights, weekends and bank holidays usually pay more, and ADR or HIAB work carries its own premium.
Yes, for any commercial driving above 3.5 tonnes. You need 35 hours of periodic training every five years to keep it valid. Since the rules split, National Driver CPC covers UK-only driving while International Driver CPC is needed if you drive commercially into Europe.
WSUK supplies temporary HGV and van drivers across the UK's major regional distribution hubs. Choose an area for local information.
Greater Manchester is the North West's main logistics hub, where the M60, M62 and M56 meet the Manchester Ship Canal, rail freight terminals at Trafford Park and Port Salford, and Manchester Airport's cargo operation.
Bristol and Severnside combine two deep-sea docks, the M4/M5 crossroads and one of the largest concentrations of big-box warehousing in the South West, from Avonmouth and Portbury to the aerospace cluster around Filton.
Stretching from London Stansted and the M11 along the A120 and A12 corridors to the ferry port at Harwich, this part of Essex and east Hertfordshire links air freight, sea freight and busy industrial estates.
Medway and north Kent line the Thames and Medway estuaries between the M25 and the Swale, combining working ports at Sheerness, Thamesport and Tilbury with M2, A2 and A249 industrial estates serving London and the South East.
The south bank of the Humber combines the UK's busiest port complex by tonnage at Grimsby and Immingham with refineries, Freeport land, food processing and steel, all tied together by the M180 and A180.
Tell us your licence category, CPC status and whether you want days or nights around Harwich & Colchester. We will reply within 2 working hours.