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Reach truck drivers work the narrow aisles and the high racking, and there are fewer of them than there are counterbalance drivers — which is why the rate is better. WSUK places reach drivers across the Golden Triangle and the UK at £13.50—£15.50 an hour, paid weekly through PAYE.
Reach truck drivers put stock away into and pull it down from high racking, working aisles too narrow for a counterbalance. The mast reaches forward over the stabilising legs, so the truck has a much smaller footprint and can work aisles around 2.7—3.2m. Sites want a current accredited reach certificate (RTITB, ITSSAR, AITT or NPORS) and normally demonstrable hours at height. WSUK places reach drivers across the UK at £13.50—£15.50 an hour, more on nights, paid weekly through PAYE, with no fee to you.
WSUK operates from the heart of the Midlands Golden Triangle — the UK's densest concentration of warehousing, framed by the M1, M6, M42 and A14 and home to Europe's largest distribution and fulfilment parks including DIRFT, Magna Park, East Midlands Gateway, Prologis Park Ryton and Brackmills. E-commerce, parcel, retail and 3PL operators run round-the-clock picking, packing and dispatch here, with volumes that rise and fall sharply through the year.
That volatility is why employers need to fill temporary warehouse and forklift jobs at short notice — peak retail, promotions, product launches, sickness and holidays. WSUK supplies pickers, packers, loaders, goods-in/out operatives and counterbalance, reach and PPT forklift drivers, scaling teams up and down and managing vetting, right-to-work, PAYE payroll and working-time compliance, so operations stay covered without the fixed cost or admin.
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.
From our Golden Triangle base we fill temporary warehouse and forklift jobs for employers UK-wide, near the major distribution and fulfilment parks — DIRFT, Magna Park, East Midlands Gateway, Fradley Park, i54 and Brackmills — served by the M1, M6, M42, M69 and A14. From one shift-filler to a full seasonal team, we match trained, inducted staff to your site and shift pattern.
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.
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.
It varies by site. Typical UK distribution racking runs somewhere around 8—12m, and some high-bay facilities go beyond that. We will tell you the actual beam height and aisle width for a site before you accept the shift, because it materially changes the job.
It is harder. Most sites want evidence of real hours at height because precision on a top beam fades without practice. If you are newly ticketed we will usually start you on counterbalance or PPT work and move you across once you have hours behind you.
Beyond our Golden Triangle base, WSUK supplies temporary warehouse and forklift staff to employers at the UK's major regional logistics hubs. Choose a region, then 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.
We serve employers across the UK's Golden Triangle and beyond. Choose your area for local information.
Tell us your ticket, your last refresher and the heights you have worked. We will come back within 2 working hours.