Digger driver job with no experience
- Thread starter jonhwright3
- Start date
Depends on how fussy they are. Most will want some experience as they don’t want to waste time while you learn how to do a tricky bit of excavation.
The guys who did the footing of the building next door were done in a day. If you take three days to do the same they won’t be best pleased.
On the other hand, you may be a natural at working a JCB.
The guys who did the footing of the building next door were done in a day. If you take three days to do the same they won’t be best pleased.
On the other hand, you may be a natural at working a JCB.
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I can't claim to actually know, but it would appear that your options are either to get yourself taken on as a labourer (i believe there are lots of openings in London) and get trained over time, or to take yourself along to a course like this https://srptraining.co.uk/all-courses/cpcs-london/
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That’s the best advice if you cannot afford to get certificated yourself, start as a labourer and when they see your willing to learn they will get you trained up and licenced.
Short story of how pear shaped / quickly it can all go wrong: My son was on a site (and witnessed) a lorry turns up needs pallets of supplies taken off, site manger comes out his office and then suggests to a young labourer (employed basically to sweep up the yard and keep things tidy) that he should jump on the forklift and give it a go.
Labourer crushes site manger up against lorry, site manager spends four months in hospital with crushed just about everything. H&S obviously involved the first questions asked under oath:
Did the labourer have a licence to operate forklift (no he did not) Where are the service records for the forklift / they were out of date and in fact the machine had a known fault and should have been marked up as out of service. The list could go on and on.
Company owner now being prosecuted along with site manager the later still having trouble walking.
Short story of how pear shaped / quickly it can all go wrong: My son was on a site (and witnessed) a lorry turns up needs pallets of supplies taken off, site manger comes out his office and then suggests to a young labourer (employed basically to sweep up the yard and keep things tidy) that he should jump on the forklift and give it a go.
Labourer crushes site manger up against lorry, site manager spends four months in hospital with crushed just about everything. H&S obviously involved the first questions asked under oath:
Did the labourer have a licence to operate forklift (no he did not) Where are the service records for the forklift / they were out of date and in fact the machine had a known fault and should have been marked up as out of service. The list could go on and on.
Company owner now being prosecuted along with site manager the later still having trouble walking.
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S
SEODEV#338055
It depends on how badly the site needs a digger, some (but not many) sites will employ an inexperienced digger with CPCS red card others will require CPCS blue card with experience
If the site cannot operate without a digger driver then they will most likely get anyone who can legally do the job because without a digger you can't operate many sites
Having said that most sites have relationships with recruitment agencies and for the right hourly rate a digger driver will drive 100 miles or stay near the site so you would have to get lucky
Every site is different, some are big others are small, some are busy others are quiet, some you will have a high stress job others it will be chilled, some sites will need experierience others not
Most trades on a construction site just want supplies brought or taken away as soon as possible
If you can achieve that and drive safely you won't get fired
Best advice that
You can ask on a forum but nothing beats speaking to a busy site manager directly and hearing the cold hard truth, but I would call instead of going on site without an appointment as you won't be insured and some sites won't allow you in the front door without CSCS card, hard hat, steel toe boots and hi visibility vest
Another thing to do is call recruitment agencies who specialise in construction industry
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No manager in the trades is going to ask to see GCSEs.
OP, you will not get any work whatesoever (even labouring) on a 'proper' building site without a CSCS card. Your best bet would be to find a more rural (agricultural) firm who might give you a try. Currently there is a massive shortage of digger drivers- the big sites are paying mega money and hoovering up all the operators, so there might be smaller firms willing to give you a go.
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I agree, but he was looking at other employment options for which qualifications do matter.
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