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Most C+E drivers around Kettering who cannot start next week are held up by paperwork rather than driving — a lapsed CPC, an out-of-date tacho card or a medical due. We check all of it at registration, then place you.
C+E driver jobs around Kettering are Class 1 roles on artics and drawbars. You need category C+E, a valid Driver CPC (35 hours of periodic training every five years), a digital tachograph card and a current D4 medical. Rates near Kettering typically run £18.00—£24.00 an hour, more on night trunk. WSUK checks your documents at registration, pays weekly through PAYE, and never charges you anything.
Kettering (NN16) is a prime Northamptonshire logistics location strung along the A14, with Junction 7 feeding the M1 and M6 west and the A1 and M11 east, and Junction 9 serving the town's newer parks. Kettering Venture Park sits immediately beside A14 J9, while Telford Way Industrial Estate, Kettering Business Park, Pytchley Lodge Road, Kingsthorne Industrial Park and the large-format Prologis Park Kettering carry regional distribution centres, 3PLs and manufacturers. Central-England positioning puts roughly 80% of the UK population within a four-hour drive, and the East Coast Main Line adds rail reach. Neighbouring Corby, Burton Latimer - home to food manufacturing - and Wellingborough thicken the cluster, channelling constant rigid and articulated flows through the town's estates toward national RDCs.
This distribution weight generates steady pressure to fill temporary driving jobs. Retail and grocery RDCs need Class 1 (C+E) trunking drivers; 3PL and pallet-network operators call for Class 2 (C) drivers; and store and urban deliveries suit 7.5t (C1) and multi-drop van drivers. Demand peaks around retail seasons, food-production surges and holiday absence, when a single unfilled cab stalls a loading bay. WSUK supplies vetted Kettering drivers for temporary cover, ongoing contracts and multi-driver mobilisations, with DVLA licence and CPC verification, right-to-work checks, PAYE payroll and tacho and working-time compliance handled before the first shift - and crews scaled up or down as A14 volumes move.
Before you get near a cab, an operator checks four things. Getting these straight is usually the difference between starting next week and waiting a month.
C+E on the photocard, checked against a DVLA licence check code. Points, disqualifications and any restriction codes get looked at, and some insurers cap total points.
A valid Driver Qualification Card, backed by 35 hours of periodic training every five years, plus an in-date digital tachograph driver card. Both are hard stops if they have expired.
A D4 medical is required for the licence and again at renewal, more often past 45. Operators also ask how long you have held C+E, because insurers price new passes differently.
From our Midlands base we fill temporary driving jobs across Kettering (NN16) and its estates - Telford Way, Kettering Venture Park, Kettering Business Park and Prologis Park - supplying Class 1, Class 2, 7.5t and van drivers to RDCs, 3PLs and manufacturers on the A14 corridor for cover, peaks and short-notice shifts, backed by a single local point of contact.
The route is a car licence first, then a provisional C entitlement with a D4 medical, the category C test, and then the C+E test. Since 2021 there has also been a route that lets some candidates test for C+E without holding C for long, though not every training provider or insurer treats it the same way. Keeping it is the part people lose: 35 hours of CPC every five years, a tacho card renewed every five, and a medical at renewal. Tell us your dates and we will flag anything before it stops you working.
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 |
|---|---|
| C+E Driver (days) | £18.00–£22.00 / hr |
| C+E Driver (nights) | £19.00–£26.00 / hr |
| C+E Tramping (plus nights out) | £18.00–£23.00 / hr |
| C+E with ADR | £19.00–£25.00 / hr |
| C+E Yard Shunter | £17.00–£20.00 / hr |
This page is for drivers sorting the paperwork as much as the work — new passes, returners whose CPC has lapsed, and drivers who want their documents checked before they apply.
We check your documents properly at registration, so you find out about a problem from us rather than from an operator turning you away.
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.
Most areas have several options — some GP surgeries, private driver-medical clinics and a number of national providers that run booked sessions locally. Around Kettering it is usually possible to get one within a week or two. We will tell you what drivers we place near Kettering are currently using.
Not until you have completed the 35 hours, because commercial driving over 3.5 tonnes requires a valid CPC. The hours can be done in five seven-hour blocks and providers near Kettering run them regularly, including DVSA-approved live online courses. Tell us your position and we will line work up for when you are valid.
An articulated lorry, or a rigid vehicle with a drawbar trailer — in other words a Class 1 vehicle. You must hold category C before you can hold C+E, and for commercial driving you also need a Driver CPC and a digital tachograph card.
Yes. C+E is the formal licence category; Class 1 is the industry name for the same thing. A job advertised for a C+E driver and one advertised for a Class 1 driver want identical entitlement.
You need 35 hours of approved periodic training every five years, taken in blocks of at least seven hours. National Driver CPC covers driving within the UK only; if you drive commercially into Europe you need International Driver CPC. Let your CPC lapse and you cannot drive commercially until you have completed the hours.
WSUK serves employers across the Golden Triangle. Explore our other locations.
Send us your licence, CPC and medical dates. We will tell you what needs sorting and what is live around Kettering, within 2 working hours.