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Lorry Driver

A lorry driver, or HGV driver, transports goods over short or long distances, keeping shops, factories and businesses stocked. It suits independent, reliable people who like being on the road, don't mind time alone and can handle long hours and the responsibility of a large vehicle.

Lorry Driver

12

Transport & Logistics

AI IMPACT
AI CAN DO12%moving to57%
THE DOOR, NOWB
THE DOOR, 20 YRSD
STARTING PAYnot published
MOAT NOT YET CLASSIFIEDA real score, but the moat is not yet classified. No claim either way.
AI can do very little of this work today
Hands-on work, caring for people and dealing with the real world are among the hardest things to automate, and this job leans on them. We have not yet formally classified its moat, so we make no claim either way, but the exposure score speaks for itself.

The role

The work is planning and driving routes, loading and unloading or overseeing it, doing vehicle checks, keeping to delivery schedules and following strict rules on driving hours and breaks. Concentration, patience and good road sense matter, along with the discipline to keep paperwork and logs in order and to drive safely whatever the conditions.

Hours can be long, early or overnight, sometimes with nights away from home, and a lot of the day is spent alone behind the wheel. Pay is usually a steady wage that rises with experience and the type of licence, and there is strong demand for reliable drivers.

By law you need the right category of HGV (LGV) licence and a Driver CPC qualification, gained after passing medical, theory and practical tests, and you usually must be over a minimum age with a full car licence first. Many haulage firms help fund the training.

Daily responsibilities

  • Plan and follow delivery routes
  • Carry out safety checks on the lorry
  • Load, unload or oversee the cargo
  • Drive safely and to schedule
  • Keep to legal driving hours and breaks
  • Complete delivery paperwork and logs
  • Report faults, delays or incidents
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AI EXPOSURE = the share of a job's day-to-day tasks AI can already do today, from the same exposure engine used across this site (Anthropic labour market research, 2026, observed real-world AI usage by occupation). Higher means more exposed. It is a measurement of now, not a prediction. THE DOOR = how hard the job is to get into, grade A (easy) to E (extremely hard), from each career's published forecast (OpenAI, "The AI Jobs Transition Framework", Richmond 2026, CC BY 4.0). A card marked MOAT NOT YET CLASSIFIED has a real exposure score but no entry yet in our moat register, so we make no claim about what structurally protects it. Scorecard grades and verdicts are Careermash editorial judgment: we show forecasts as forecasts and own our conclusions. Salary and pathway figures are each career's own published profile. Careermash is a service provided by What School Ltd.

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