Lorry drivers on £50,000-a-year and plumbers raking in £150,000

LORRY drivers and plumbers are amongst Brits working surprisingly high-paying jobs – raking in as a lot as £150,000 a yr.

Waitrose lorry drivers are being provided as much as £53,780 a yr by the grocery store chain.

Waitrose lorry drivers are being provided as much as £53,780 a yrCredit score: Alamy

Pimlico Plumbers is providing as much as £150,000 in salaries for engineersCredit score: Reuters

The provides imply drivers might be incomes greater than workers at mother or father firm John Lewis Partnership’s head workplace – together with two senior government roles being marketed at £45,000 a yr.

Waitrose provided the cost to try to deal with a shortfall of 90,000 drivers.

The shortfall has led to McDonald’s working out of milkshake provides and a few shops unable to inventory beer.

The disaster has been attributable to a mix of things, together with the Covid-19 pandemic and problems associated to Brexit.

Waitrose stated lorry driver salaries have risen by 15 per cent – or £7,000 – prior to now year-and-a-half.

James Clifford, boss of driver trainers HGTV, stated new recruits may make as much as £60,000 a yr.

He advised The Times: “Truck drivers are being handled like royalty. It is a good time to be an HGV driver. The numbers being provided are loopy.

“Abruptly the truck driver has turn into probably the most invaluable particular person within the firm.

“Firms must do no matter they’ll to maintain their drivers — healthcare, extra vacation entitlement, discounted items, journey allowances to get to work.”

In the meantime Pimlico Plumbers is providing as much as £150,000 in salaries for engineers.

The corporate stated the wage was a “practical determine” because of a rise in bookings as increasingly folks perform house enchancment work that they had placed on maintain because of the outbreak of Covid-19.

Pimlico Plumbers chief government Scott Mullins stated: “From the second lockdown restrictions started to carry and folks realised they could not spend their cash on travelling overseas, bettering or repairing their houses grew to become a precedence. The telephones have been ringing pink scorching.”

Pimlico engineers can earn £120 an hour on weekdays, with the speed climbing to £200 for late-night jobs.

Pimlico’s largest earner was making greater than £200,000 a yr earlier than the pandemic.

The plumbing firm employs round 300 employees, and stated as much as a fifth of them may earn a minimum of £150,000 in 2021.

Mr Mullins stated he was struggling to seek out workers silled sufficient to fill the roles.

He advised the Daily Mail: “If 50 skilled tradespeople walked by our door tomorrow, we might have them inducted, in uniform and in a Pimlico van instantly.

“Sadly, it isn’t so simple as that as a result of the variety of engineers is unfortunately restricted.”

Waitrose lorry drivers might be incomes greater than the common wage for secondary lecturers (£40,880), solicitors (£43,190) and designers (£42,930).

The lorry driving jobs are being provided with a “huge vary of advantages and a wholesome work-life stability” – together with a 20 per cent low cost at Waitrose and 25 per cent off at John Lewis.

Airline pilot Steve Freeman, 53, is retraining to be a lorry driver, having flown jets throughout his 12 years with the Royal Air Drive.

He stated: “With the specter of dropping my earnings and the job that I really like, together with the prospect of no different employment alternatives… I discovered myself looking for completely completely different avenues to pay the mortgage.”

Different surprisingly well-paying jobs embrace grasp sommeliers, who can earn round £120,000 per yr, skilled “snugglers” who make as much as £70 an hour giving folks hugs, and Tube drivers – a few of whom earn in extra of £100,000.

Nearly all of Tube drivers earn wages of round £60,000 to £70,000.

Skilled beer tasters could make as much as £200 an hour, whereas skilled British dental hygienists can earn as much as £43,000 per yr.