HGV Driver CV Examples & Writing Guide

This example is for a driver with eight years of commercial driving, six of them on a C+E licence, who started on a Class 2 drinks dray, went tramping on chilled trunking, and now runs general haulage nights out across the UK. The name and operators are made up. Copy the layout and swap in your own licence, vehicles, miles and safety numbers.

Transport managers and driving agencies are not reading for style. They are checking whether you meet the operator's rules and whether their insurer will cover you. Four things decide that in the first 20 seconds.

• Licence category and qualifications. C1, C (Class 2) or C+E (Class 1), plus Driver CPC, a digital tachograph card and any ADR certificate. Many jobs cannot take you without a specific one, so list them in the header.
• Recent, checkable experience. Many operators and their insurers want 1 to 2 years of experience since passing your test before they put you in an artic on nights out, and they want to see it in your work history, month by month, with no unexplained gaps. They will take references, so the dates need to match what your old employers will report.
• Safety record. Blameworthy accidents, points, DVSA roadside check results and drivers' hours or tachograph infringements. A DVLA licence check and tachograph data will show these anyway, so state them honestly and give the good numbers up front ("zero blameworthy accidents in 580,000 miles").
• Vehicle and type of work. Curtainsider, box, fridge, flatbed, tipper, tanker, double-deck, container, car transporter. A flatbed job wants strapping, chaining and sheeting; a fridge job wants temperature records and supermarket RDC experience. Name what you have actually driven.

“I run a licence check on every applicant, so a CV that hides a ticket just tells me the driver is not straight with me. The ones I call first say the licence class, the endorsements and the accident count right at the top, then tell me what trailer they pulled and how long they stayed with each operator.”

Three or four lines under your name. Lead with licence category and years, name the vehicles, then give your safety numbers and extra qualifications. Use a career objective (a one-line statement of the job you want) only if you have just passed your test.

Most driver CVs list duties every driver has: "drove lorry, delivered goods, completed tachograph." The transport manager knows the job. What they want is how many miles, what loads, how safely and with which systems. Here are six rewrites.

Keep a skills list of 10 to 14 items. Put the licence and qualifications first, then vehicles, then systems and paperwork. Match the wording in the advert; if it says "fridge" say fridge, if it says "temperature-controlled" say temperature-controlled.

Driving and vehicle skills:

• Trailers and bodies you have driven: curtainsider, box, fridge, flatbed, step frame, tipper, tanker, double-deck, skeletal container chassis, car transporter, drawbar
• Gearboxes: most UK fleets now run automated gearboxes, but note any manual experience, since some operators and plant hauliers still need it
• Reversing and coupling: blind-side reversing, tight loading bays, urban yards, coupling and uncoupling trailers safely
• Load security: ratchet straps, chains, load bars, sheeting, weight distribution and axle weights
• Winter and rural driving: snow and ice on the Pennines, Highland and Welsh routes, narrow rural drops
• Tail lifts, pallet trucks and sack trucks for multi-drop and dray work

Compliance, systems and paperwork:

• Drivers' hours for most HGV work under the retained EU rules (9-hour daily driving, extendable to 10 hours twice a week, a 45-minute break after 4.5 hours, 56 hours a week, 90 hours a fortnight), the GB domestic rules where they apply, and the road transport working time rules
• Digital tachograph and telematics: manual entries, printouts, Microlise, Samsara, Webfleet
• Daily walk-round checks and defect reports
• Delivery notes, proof of delivery, CMR notes, waiting time records
• ADR transport documents, instructions in writing, orange plates and equipment

Soft skills matter here too (reliability on booked slots, calm communication with the traffic office and goods-in, patience at busy sites), but prove them in a bullet. "Dependable" means nothing; "98% on time over 1,900 loads" does.

Haulage has more required paperwork than almost any other job, and transport managers look for it by name. Here is what to list, what is required and what is a bonus.

• Licence category (required). C1 covers rigid vehicles from 3.5 to 7.5 tonnes; C (Class 2) covers rigid vehicles over 3.5 tonnes such as 18- and 26-tonne lorries and tippers; C+E (Class 1) covers articulated lorries and drawbars. Write "Category C+E, held since 2020".
• Driver CPC (required for professional driving). The initial qualification when you start, then 35 hours of periodic training every 5 years. You carry a Driver Qualification Card (DQC); give its expiry date so the reader knows you can start.
• Digital tachograph driver card (required). Issued by the DVLA and valid for 5 years. List it with the renewal or expiry year.
• DVLA medical (required). You send a D4 medical report with your first application, then again at 45, every 5 years to 65 and every year after that. You do not need to put dates on the CV, but be ready to confirm your medical is in date.
• ADR certificate (job-specific). Needed for most dangerous goods loads; say whether it covers packages, tanks or both, and give the expiry. It lasts 5 years.
• London work. Lorries over 12 tonnes need a Direct Vision Standard safety permit to enter Greater London, which the operator holds, and many construction and city contracts ask for FORS or CLOCS standards. FORS Professional courses such as Safe Urban Driving can also count towards your Driver CPC hours.
• Nice to have: an advanced driving course, forklift or truck-mounted forklift training, a lorry loader (crane) certificate, a CSCS card for construction sites, a passport and continental experience for European work, and the Transport Manager CPC if you want to move into the office.

The hard part of a first HGV job is not the CV; it is that many operators' insurers want 1 to 2 years of experience after the test, especially for artics. The way in is an operator or agency with a new-driver scheme, an apprenticeship, or a Class 2 or C1 job first. Your CV needs to show you will meet their rules and will not leave in month two.

1. 1Header: "HGV Class 1 Driver (newly qualified)" plus your licence category, Driver CPC, tachograph card and "clean licence". This answers the transport manager's first four questions.
2. 2Career objective (2 lines): the type of work you want (tramping, trunking, multi-drop, days) and that you are open to time with a trainer or an assessment drive.
3. 3Training section near the top: the training provider, whether it was funded (for example a Skills Bootcamp or an apprenticeship), hours behind the wheel, vehicles trained on and that you passed first time if you did.
4. 4Previous work, rewritten for driving: any job with early starts, attendance, physical work, equipment or deliveries. A warehouse job shows forklifts and loading trailers; a landscaping job shows towing trailers and working outdoors; a retail job shows attendance and dealing with the public.
5. 5One page, PDF, no photo. Apply to operators with new-driver schemes, driving agencies that offer assessments, and Class 2 or 7.5-tonne jobs (drinks, food service, building supplies, waste) that take newly qualified drivers.

• One page for most drivers. Two pages only if you have 15+ years across several operators and the advert asks for a full work history.
• Order: header with licence and qualifications, personal statement, licences and certificates, experience, skills, education. Certificates go high because they are the screening criteria.
• Reverse chronological with month and year on every job. Operators take references and many ask for several years of history, so any gap over a month or so should have a one-line explanation ("Jan–Apr 2021: caring for a family member").
• Include the operator type and fleet size ("national haulage operator, about 400 tractor units") if you are not naming the company. Transport managers use it to judge the kind of work you did.
• No photo, no date of birth, no National Insurance number. Town or city is enough; many operators recruit around their depots, so the location matters.
• File type: PDF, unless the application form asks for Word. Name it "Firstname-Lastname-HGV-Driver-CV.pdf". Many drivers apply from their phone; a one-page PDF displays cleanly there.
• In the US the job is truck driver, the licence is a CDL with endorsements and the document is a resume; swap your licence category and Driver CPC for those if you apply there.

Most HGV jobs are advertised on job boards and through driving agencies, and recruiters search their CV databases by keyword. Use the exact terms below where they are true for you.

• Licence terms: HGV Class 1, C+E, Class 2, Cat C, C1, 7.5 tonne, Driver CPC, DQC, digital tachograph card, ADR
• Type of work: tramping, nights out, trunking, multi-drop, days, nights, general haulage, distribution, dedicated contract, container haulage, home daily
• Vehicles: curtainsider, box, fridge, temperature-controlled, flatbed, step frame, tipper, tanker, double-deck, drawbar, automatic, manual
• Loads: drop and swap, tipped on arrival, hand ball, tail lift, pallet truck, kegs, cages
• Safety and compliance: clean licence, no points, DVSA, drivers' hours, working time, walk-round checks, FORS, CLOCS, Direct Vision Standard