Sharing your salary is often seen as taboo, but one professional truck driver has decided to share the realities of his job as well as his payslip.
Ashley Hale shares the highs and lows of a life on the road for his YouTube channel, and viewers have been surprised by how much he earns as well as some of the problems he deals with.
If you're sick of working in an office on a 9-5, you might have wondered what life is like for an HGV driver.
The YouTuber and driver wants to open the conversation about what his line of work is really like.
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He says he is asked a lot of questions about his lifestyle, and hopes to educate people about the realities of this career choice, after being a truck driver and documenting the experience over the last five years.
How stressful is it being a truck driver?
Ashley says one of the most common questions he gets asked is about how 'stressful' the job is, and his answer might come as a surprise.
"People always ask how stressful the job is, stressful getting to your deliveries on time, stressful sitting in traffic, just stressful in general!” he explained. “Stress is in every job. It would be like someone who works in retail can complain that it's stressful dealing with customers. It's the job.”
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He says a lot of people say they don’t fancy sitting in traffic all day, to which Ashley says: “Sitting in traffic, it's the job, that's what we do. So you can't say that that's not what you expected because if you honestly came into this job to be an HGV driver and were not expecting to sit in traffic and have to get to deliveries on time, then I don't know what you were expecting!
“I'm not saying I've not got stressed in certain situations when I've been up against it and wanted to get to the booking slot or make it home, or when I've been stuck down a lane that I shouldn't have been down. At the time it's stressful, but once it's done with I don't let it worry me.
“It seems that the people that are commenting on these videos are taking that stress on with them and taking that stress home with them, and that's just not good."
What is the work-life balance for truck drivers like?
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Ashley said people ask how he manages to have a life and if he misses out on a lot while working away.
He explained: “If you're doing a type of job where you're away all week sleeping in the truck, then there are going to be family events that you do miss out on midweek.
"If you've got young kids there's going to be parents' evenings and school plays that you can't go to because you're halfway across the country sleeping in a layby."
The driver adds: "It’s not the same in every job. In my current job, I'm doing days, I'm home every single night.”
How much does a truck driver earn?
As for the bit people are nosiest about, Ashley doesn't mind sharing how much he earns for being an HGV driver either.
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In a previous video which went viral, Ashley loaded up one of his payslips which revealed he had earned £625 in a week for 45 hours work, which works out at roughly £13.88 an hour.
He acknowledges it's a controversial topic, and says many people have reacted to the videos he's shared saying drivers deserve more.
He said: "I saw an advert the other day for an HGV Class One driving job paying £12 to £12.50 an hour, which is not a great deal more than minimum wage.
"They were trying to make it seem like it was more per hour by adding on an allowance and performance bonuses when ultimately those things can be taken away at any time.
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"Some people think we should be on £40, £50 an hour and I think that's a little bit unrealistic.
"Yes, the job we do is very important and yes, we need to be paid for it. Yes, the skills that we have and the stresses and strains and having to sleep in a layby and all of those things make the job the job - that all means that we should be paid for our time and our services but at the end of the day the wages are the wages.
"You're either happy with them or you're not, a lot of time for a lot of people the wages that we get paid £15, £16, £17 an hour in some cases is a lot more than what they're been paid when they're working in their retail or office job."
Are you tempted to give it a go?
Jen Thomas