General haulage drivers and staff
Artic and rigid drivers for pallets and loose freight, on fixed runs, part loads and full loads. Days, nights, tramping and weekends.
The work
General haulage moves freight between depots, factories, warehouses and customers without belonging to one product or one retailer. A driver might run the same route for a manufacturer every day, collect part loads for a pallet network, or take a full trailer from one end of the country to the other.
The load decides the trailer. Curtainsiders let a forklift load from the side. Box trailers keep freight dry and secure. Flatbeds carry steel, timber and machinery that the driver has to strap down. The driver checks the vehicle, loads or supervises loading, secures the load, records hours on the tacho and delivers, with the paperwork signed at the other end.
Runs are planned around the day’s collections. A driver on a fixed route knows the customers. A driver on spot work takes the collection list from the transport office and works out the order with the planner. Drop-and-hook work, where the driver leaves one trailer and takes another, cuts the time spent waiting at a gate.
Vehicles and loads
- Articulated lorries with curtainside, box, flatbed and skeletal trailers
- Rigid lorries with curtainside, box and flatbed bodies, some with tail lifts
- Part loads for pallet networks and full loads for single customers
- Loads secured by the driver with straps, chains or sheets, to the operator’s procedure
Licences, cards and tickets
- Category C+E (Class 1) for articulated lorries and lorry-and-trailer combinations, and category C (Class 2) for rigid lorries.
- Driver CPC, which is 35 hours of periodic training every 5 years, shown on the Driver Qualification Card.
- A digital tachograph driver card for any vehicle fitted with a digital tachograph.
- ADR only when the load is dangerous goods, which most general freight is not.
- A site induction at each new collection or delivery point, arranged by the client.
Shift patterns
- Days
- Collections and deliveries in daylight hours, with a start time set by the customer, for example 6am. The driver is home each night.
- Nights
- Overnight trunking and deliveries to sites that load or receive at night. The night work limits in the working time rules apply.
- Tramping
- Out for the working week and home at the weekend. The weekly rest is planned ahead so the driver is not caught short on hours.
- Weekends
- Saturday and Sunday work for customers who load at the weekend, or cover for a driver’s rest day. Shift length and pay are agreed per booking.
Checks we run for general haulage
Licence and cards
Licence, Driver CPC and digi card are checked before the first shift. The compliance checks page shows how.
Hours awareness
Before a booking we ask what the driver has done in recent days, so that the new shift fits inside the driving time and rest rules.
Load security
We ask how the driver secures different loads. The client’s own procedure applies on site, and we pass it on before the shift.
Site rules
We pass on gate times, PPE rules, parking and reporting-in instructions from the client before the driver arrives.
The full list of checks is on the compliance checks page.
Roles in general haulage
Where we cover it
Questions about general haulage work
- What does tramping mean?
On our bookings, tramping means working away from home for the working week and going home at the weekend. The booking says where you stay and how long the run lasts.
- What is the difference between Class 1 and Class 2?
Class 1 is category C+E: a lorry over 3,500 kg with a trailer over 750 kg, which covers articulated lorries. Class 2 is category C: a rigid lorry over 3,500 kg.
- Can you supply a driver for one load?
Cover can be as short as one shift. Tell us the collection and delivery points and the start time, and we agree the terms in writing before the driver starts.
- Who secures the load?
DVSA’s guidance spreads the duty. The operator must make sure vehicles are suitable and driven by trained, competent people. The consignor must make sure the load is safe throughout the trip, especially on multi-drop deliveries. A driver who did not load the vehicle should not proceed with a load they have any doubts about. We ask drivers about load securing and pass on the client’s procedure.
Book a haulage driver
Give us the vehicle type, the licence category, the start time, the collection and delivery points and the shift length. We come back on who can cover it.