HGV covers everything above 3.5 tonnes — Class 2 rigids and Class 1 artics — and the sector you drive in changes the job as much as the licence does. WSUK places HGV drivers across retail, parcel, food, drinks and construction on weekly PAYE pay.
HGV jobs cover any goods vehicle over 3.5 tonnes: Class 2 (category C) rigids and Class 1 (category C+E) articulated and drawbar. Both need a Driver CPC and a digital tachograph card alongside the licence. Class 2 typically pays £16.00—£20.00 an hour and Class 1 £18.00—£24.00, with premiums for nights, weekends and specialist work such as ADR or HIAB. WSUK places HGV drivers across retail distribution, parcel, food and drink, construction and general haulage throughout the UK, paid weekly through PAYE, with no fee to you.
WSUK operates from the Midlands Golden Triangle, framed by the M1, M6, M42 and A14 and home to mega distribution parks and rail-freight interchanges including DIRFT, Magna Park, East Midlands Gateway and Prologis Park Ryton. National retailers, parcel carriers and 3PLs run round-the-clock trunking, multi-drop and store-delivery operations from these sites, with driving demand that swings sharply through the year.
That is why employers need to fill temporary driving jobs at short notice — peak retail, contract wins, sickness and holidays. WSUK supplies Class 1, Class 2 and 7.5t HGV drivers plus van and multi-drop drivers, scaling teams up and down and managing vetting, DVLA licence and CPC checks, right-to-work, PAYE payroll and tachograph and working-time compliance.
Two Class 1 jobs on the same licence can be completely different days. Where you drive matters as much as what you drive.
RDC to store, or hub to depot on the parcel networks. Highly scheduled, tight time windows, usually curtain or box trailers with cages or roll-cages.
Chilled and frozen distribution, brewery and soft drinks work. Temperature discipline, hygiene rules and often early starts, with hand-ball on some drinks rounds.
Tipper, bulk, container haulage, HIAB and ADR. More variable days, more site work, and premiums for the tickets that unlock it.
From our Golden Triangle base we fill temporary driving jobs for employers UK-wide, reaching the major logistics parks — DIRFT, Magna Park, East Midlands Gateway, Fradley Park, i54 and Brackmills — via the M1, M6, M42, M69 and A14. From one shift to an ongoing run, we match vetted, licence-checked drivers to your vehicles and routes.
The usual route is car licence, then a provisional C entitlement with a D4 medical, then the Class 2 test, then Class 1 once you have some hours. Plenty of operators will take a newly qualified Class 2 driver and put them through to Class 1 later. If you are newly passed, say so rather than hiding it — some insurers restrict new passes, and we would rather send you to the operators who do not.
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 2 (C) HGV Driver | £16.00–£20.00 / hr |
| Class 1 (C+E) HGV Driver | £18.00–£24.00 / hr |
| Class 1 Night Trunk | £19.00–£26.00 / hr |
| HGV Driver with ADR | £19.00–£25.00 / hr |
| Transport / Traffic Supervisor | £16.00–£20.00 / hr |
HGV work suits drivers who want the full value of an expensive licence, and newly qualified drivers who need someone to place them with operators that actually take new passes.
We place drivers into sectors, not just vehicles, so we can tell you whether a job is a curtain-sider trunk or forty cages into a high street.
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.
Nothing — they are two names for the same thing. LGV (Large Goods Vehicle) is the current official term used on licences and in legislation; HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) is the older term the industry still uses daily. A job advertised as HGV and one advertised as LGV want the same licence.
Class 2 work typically pays £16.00—£20.00 an hour and Class 1 £18.00—£24.00, with night trunk running to £26.00 and ADR work commanding a premium. Rates are highest at peak and in the run-up to Christmas.
Yes, though it is narrower. Some operators' insurers restrict drivers with under a year on the licence, so the trick is being sent only to the ones that do not. Tell us your pass date and we will target accordingly rather than letting you collect rejections.
Yes, for any commercial driving over 3.5 tonnes, along with a digital tachograph card. The CPC requires 35 hours of periodic training every five years. National Driver CPC covers UK-only work; International Driver CPC is needed if you drive commercially into Europe.
Night trunking and ADR work generally sit at the top, because both are harder to staff. Chilled and frozen work usually pays slightly above ambient. Retail multi-drop tends to pay less per hour but offers more regular daytime hours.
Beyond our Golden Triangle base, WSUK supplies temporary HGV and van drivers to employers at the UK's major regional logistics hubs. Choose a region, then 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.
We serve employers across the UK's Golden Triangle and beyond. Choose your area for local information.
Tell us your class, your CPC status and which sector suits you. We will match you to live HGV roles and reply within 2 working hours.