Heavy Haulage Driver CV Examples & Writing Guide

A made-up driver with a realistic route into heavy haulage: curtainsider trunking, then flatbed, then step frame and low loader work moving construction plant. Every job names the trailer, the weights and the safety record.

Heavy haulage firms pay more than general haulage fleets and screen harder. Four items decide whether your application moves forward.

• Licence and qualifications, spelled out. Licence categories, Driver CPC with the DQC expiry, digital tachograph card and ADR if you hold it (packages, tanks or both). Put it in the contact block.
• Driving record. Accident-free miles, years since you last had points, and a plain statement that your licence is clean. Insurers, not just recruiters, read this line.
• Trailer and weight experience. Step frame, semi-low loader, low loader, detachable neck, and how many axles. Say the heaviest gross you have legally moved and what the freight was. "Heavy equipment" alone means nothing.
• Whether you own the paperwork. Abnormal load notifications, route surveys, movement windows, escort coordination, load security to the working load limit. A driver who can read a notified route saves the firm a fine and a reroute.

“The first thing I check is the licence and the record, and the second is what came behind the lorry. A driver who writes 'low loader, 9-axle, up to 68 tonnes gross, does his own notifications' has told me his pay grade in one line. Half the CVs I get just say 'operated commercial vehicles safely.'”

Credentials go in the contact block at the top and again in a short qualifications list. Include expiry dates: an expired DQC or tachograph card stops a hire in its tracks.

Some loads need escort vehicles, and what police forces expect from escort drivers is not the same everywhere. If you hold recognised escort vehicle training, list it with the year. If you do not, do not imply it; write that you coordinate with trained escorts instead. Notification periods, movement windows and the weights that need special authorisation also depend on the size of the load and the roads and bridges on the route, so check the requirements for every move rather than assuming the last one's rules carry over.

Three or four lines: years, licence, trailers, weights, safety record. No career objective unless you are new to heavy haulage.

The fix here is equipment, weight and consequence. A recruiter needs to picture the load behind your lorry.

Keep the skills list concrete. Every line should be something a transport planner could ask you about on the phone.

• Equipment: detachable-neck and fixed-neck low loaders, semi-low loaders, step frames, dollies, extendable and modular multi-axle trailers, steering axles, blade and beam trailers if you have run them.
• Load work: axle weight distribution and weighbridge checks, winching, ramp and deck loading of tracked machinery, blocking, packing, sheeting, chain and strap working load limit maths.
• Compliance: DVSA load security guidance, drivers' hours and working time rules, digital tachograph, daily walk-round checks and defect reporting, DVSA roadside check procedure, operator's licence rules if you are an owner-driver.
• Notifications and routing: STGO abnormal load notifications through ESDAL, route surveys, bridge and overhead clearance checks, time and bank holiday movement restrictions, escort coordination.
• Handling: reversing into tight sites, steep hills and engine braking, winter and muddy site conditions, night moves.
• Systems: tachograph analysis software, telematics and vehicle check apps, ESDAL, load photo records and electronic delivery notes.

Few firms hire heavy haulage drivers with no HGV experience at all, and insurance is usually the reason. If you are moving across, the CV needs to close the gap on purpose.

1. 1Lead with the safety record. Accident-free miles and years since you last had points matter more than trailer type when a firm is deciding whether to train you.
2. 2Pull forward anything open-deck. Flatbed, step frame, sheeting, chains, tensioners and load security are the transferable part; a curtainsider record is not.
3. 3Add machinery experience from outside haulage. If you ran an excavator, forklift or skid steer, say so. Heavy haulage drivers load their own freight.
4. 4Get the extra qualifications before you apply. ADR is a short course that widens what a firm can put you on, and if you only hold category C, book C+E early, because low loader work needs it.
5. 5Say plainly that you are looking for low loader work and that you are willing to ride along or train. Firms with a training seat need to know you will take it.
6. 6Include your CSCS card if you have one, and any IOSH or site safety training if you have worked on construction sites.

• One page, reverse chronological, plain headings. UK conventions: no photo and no date of birth.
• Put licence categories, DQC expiry and tachograph card in the contact block. Recruiters check them before they read a word of your experience.
• Haulier and driver agency systems match on plain phrases: 'C+E', 'Class 1', 'low loader', 'abnormal loads', 'STGO', 'load security', 'flatbed', 'ADR', 'Driver CPC', 'no points'. Use the words that are true for you.
• Show no unexplained gaps. Hauliers and their insurers usually check your work history and references, so account for time off with one line rather than leaving a hole.
• List the regions you cover and whether you are home daily, out during the week or on nights out. It is the second question every recruiter asks.
• In the UK the same job is advertised as heavy haulage, abnormal loads, low loader driver or plant haulage. Search all of them and use the advert's wording in your headline.

Last check: the years have to match. If your personal statement claims ten years on C+E, the dates on your jobs need to cover ten years.