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Class 1 work around Hoo & Grain splits into night trunking, tramping and day running, and they are very different lives. WSUK tells you which one a job actually is before you accept it, and pays weekly through PAYE.
Class 1 HGV jobs around Hoo & Grain are category C+E roles on artics and drawbars, split between night trunking between depots, tramping with nights away, and day running back to the same site. Rates near Hoo & Grain typically run £18.00—£24.00 an hour with night trunk to £26.00. You need C+E, a Driver CPC and a digital tachograph card. WSUK pays weekly through PAYE and it never costs you anything to apply.
The Isle of Grain, at the eastern tip of the Hoo Peninsula where the Medway meets the Thames, is one of the most heavily industrialised corners of Kent. London Thamesport, a Hutchison Ports container and bulk terminal on the site of the former BP refinery, sits beside Grain LNG, described as Europe's largest LNG regasification terminal, and a gas-fired power station. Much of the old refinery land is still undeveloped and carries outline permission for around five million square feet of logistics-related buildings, while a cement storage facility has been proposed at the port. The A228 runs west from Grain through Stoke and past Hoo St Werburgh to Strood and the M2. The freight-only Hundred of Hoo Railway joins the North Kent Line at Hoo Junction and serves an aggregates terminal on Grain, making this an energy, bulk and port corridor rather than a parcel hub.
On Grain, demand moves with shipping schedules at Thamesport, planned maintenance and shutdown work at the LNG terminal and power station, and progress on logistics and materials schemes on the former refinery land. Sickness, holidays, contract ramp-ups and peak seasons all outpace a fixed driver roster. WSUK fills temporary driving jobs with Class 1 (C+E) drivers for trunking and container work, Class 2 (C) drivers for rigid distribution, 7.5-tonne (C1) drivers, and van and multi-drop drivers. Every driver clears DVLA licence checks, CPC verification and right-to-work before starting, and we run PAYE payroll with tacho and working-time compliance built in.
The single most useful thing to know before accepting a Class 1 job is which of these three it is, because the hours, the pay and whether you sleep at home all follow from it.
Running the same route between two depots overnight, usually dropping a loaded trailer and picking up another. Predictable hours, minimal handball, and the best hourly rate in general haulage.
Out for several nights, sleeping in the cab, running wherever the planner sends you. Paid a nightly-out allowance on top of the hourly rate. Suits drivers who want hours and do not want to be home daily.
Out and back to the same depot within a shift, or yard shunting on trade plates. Fewer hours than tramping but home every night, and the usual choice for drivers with families.
WSUK supplies temporary HGV and van drivers across Hoo & Grain and the Hoo Peninsula, for operators around London Thamesport, Grain LNG and the Isle of Grain aggregates terminal and drivers based in Hoo St Werburgh, Stoke, High Halstow and Strood. We match driver classes and shift patterns to each operator's routes, delivery windows and compliance needs.
You are limited to 9 hours driving a day, extendable to 10 twice a week, with a 45-minute break once you have driven 4.5 hours and a daily rest period afterwards. In practice a trunk shift is often 9—11 hours door to door with one long drive each way, while a multi-drop Class 1 day can be shorter driving but far busier. We plan bookings around your hours rather than against them, because an infringement is your licence, not ours.
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 1 (C+E) Day Work | £18.00–£22.00 / hr |
| Class 1 Night Trunk | £19.00–£26.00 / hr |
| Class 1 Tramping (plus nights out) | £18.00–£23.00 / hr |
| Class 1 with ADR | £19.00–£25.00 / hr |
| Class 1 Yard Shunter | £17.00–£20.00 / hr |
Class 1 suits drivers who want the top of the general haulage rate and are clear about which kind of life they want — home nightly, or away and earning.
Class 1 drivers get booked onto "trunk" jobs that turn out to be forty drops. We describe the run properly.
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.
Where there are distribution depots nearby, yes — trunking runs overnight to clear the network before morning, so it is usually the best-paid Class 1 work available locally. We will tell you which runs out of Hoo & Grain are live and what the actual start times are.
Usually. Night trunk and day work both return to the same depot, so you sleep at home. Tramping roles with nights away exist around Hoo & Grain too, but we only put you forward for those if you have said you want them.
Class 1 is the industry name for category C+E, which allows you to drive an articulated lorry or a rigid with a drawbar trailer. It is the highest standard goods category and you must hold category C first. You also need a Driver CPC and a digital tachograph card to drive commercially.
Trunking is running between two fixed points, usually overnight, and you are home at the end of the shift. Tramping means being away for several nights, sleeping in the cab, running wherever you are planned. Tramping pays a nightly-out allowance on top and generally produces higher weekly earnings.
Day work typically £18.00—£22.00 an hour, night trunk £19.00—£26.00, and ADR work up to £25.00. Tramping is usually quoted at an hourly rate plus a nightly-out allowance. Weekends and bank holidays normally carry a further premium.
WSUK supplies temporary HGV and van drivers across the UK's major regional distribution hubs. Choose 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.
Tell us whether you want trunk, tramp or day work around Hoo & Grain. We will reply within 2 working hours.