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Reach drivers are harder to find than counterbalance drivers around Burton upon Trent, and the rate reflects it. WSUK places reach drivers at sites near Burton upon Trent and tells you the aisle width and racking height before you accept, not after.
Reach truck jobs around Burton upon Trent involve putting pallets away into high racking and letting them down to replenish the pick face, working aisles too narrow for a counterbalance. Sites near Burton upon Trent want a current accredited reach certificate and normally real hours at height. WSUK places reach drivers around Burton upon Trent at £13.50—£15.50 an hour, more on nights, paid weekly through PAYE, with no fee to you.
Burton upon Trent is one of the UK's prime overnight distribution locations, sitting on the A38 midway between the M1, M6, M6 Toll and M42, close to the A50 trans-Pennine corridor. Its logistics core is the 200-acre Centrum 100 business park beside the A38, home to Boots, DHL, Clipper Logistics, Argos and the Palletforce SuperHub — a 318,000 sq ft central hub handling over 30,000 pallets a night. The Wellington Road Industrial Estate and Branston add further distribution and FMCG acreage, much of it rooted in the town's famous brewing heritage with operators such as Molson Coors and Marston's. With Lichfield, Tamworth, Derby and Cannock close by, Burton is a high-volume palletised storage and haulage hub at the north of the Golden Triangle.
Overnight pallet networks, brewing and FMCG create relentless, time-critical labour demand in Burton — trailers must be loaded, sortation hubs cleared and goods-in booked in on the clock, and any shortfall delays the whole network. WSUK supplies temporary warehouse and forklift teams — pickers, packers, loaders, goods-in/out operatives and counterbalance, reach and PPT drivers — inducted for the town's fast-paced hubs. We manage vetting, right-to-work checks, PAYE payroll and working-time compliance, so labour arrives cleared and lawful. As nightly volumes and seasonal peaks rise and fall, we flex headcount to match, giving Burton operators dependable cover without carrying permanent overhead.
Reach is a precision job more than a heavy one. Most of the difficulty is height, aisle discipline and working cleanly around pickers on foot.
Taking pallets from the goods-in marshalling area up into the racking, and bringing them back down to replenish the pick face. The bulk of most reach shifts.
Working at height in racking that commonly runs 8—12m and beyond. Placing a pallet cleanly on a top beam is the skill sites are actually paying for.
Narrow aisles mean working close to people on foot. Sites run strict segregation rules and will induct you on theirs before you drive.
WSUK covers Burton upon Trent and its estates — Centrum 100, Centrum West, Wellington Road and Branston — plus Lichfield, Tamworth, Swadlincote and Derby. From a single reach-truck driver for a night shift to a full loading and picking crew for a pallet-hub peak, we mobilise vetted temporary staff fast across the A38 and A50 catchment.
A current accredited reach certificate is the baseline. Beyond that, most sites want evidence that you have real hours on a reach rather than a ticket taken years ago and never used, because placing a pallet on a top beam is a skill that fades. Expect a short practical assessment on your first shift and a familiarisation on the site layout, aisle widths and racking heights. If your ticket has lapsed we can usually sort a refresher.
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 |
|---|---|
| Reach Truck Driver (days) | £13.50–£15.00 / hr |
| Reach Truck Driver (nights) | £14.00–£15.50 / hr |
| Reach & Counterbalance (dual) | £14.00–£16.00 / hr |
| VNA / High-Level Driver | £14.00–£16.50 / hr |
| Warehouse Team Leader | £14.50–£18.00 / hr |
Reach work suits experienced forklift drivers who are comfortable at height and want the better end of warehouse rates without moving into transport.
Reach drivers get asked to cover counterbalance work at the counterbalance rate all the time. We book you as a reach driver and pay you as one.
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 varies a lot. Modern distribution sheds near Burton upon Trent commonly run somewhere around 8—12m, while older units are lower. Because beam height changes the job considerably, we give you the actual figure for a specific site before you accept the shift.
Some. Chilled and frozen sites around Burton upon Trent run reach trucks the same way ambient sites do, but the conditions and the PPE are different and the rate usually reflects it. We always flag whether a role is ambient, chilled or frozen before you accept.
Putting pallets away into high racking and bringing them down again, in aisles too narrow for a counterbalance. The mast reaches forward over the stabilising legs, which is what lets the truck work aisles of roughly 2.7—3.2m and lift well above the height a counterbalance manages.
Typically £13.50—£15.00 an hour on days and £14.00—£15.50 on nights. Drivers who hold reach and counterbalance and can be used on both usually sit at £14.00—£16.00, and VNA work pays more again.
Yes. Forklift training is truck-specific, so a counterbalance certificate does not cover you for reach. You need an accredited reach certificate from a body such as RTITB, ITSSAR, AITT or NPORS, plus a familiarisation on the site's own trucks.
WSUK serves employers across the Golden Triangle. Explore our other locations.
Tell us your ticket and the heights you have worked around Burton upon Trent. We will reply within 2 working hours.