Haulage work for subcontractors and owner-drivers

What you need to take on haulage work

• An operator’s licence (O-licence) for goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes used for hire or reward.
• Goods in transit and public liability insurance suitable for the loads you carry.
• For vans up to 3.5 t, no O-licence is needed in Great Britain for domestic work, but international work in a van over 2.5 t needs a standard international licence.

Finding work on GigFreight

1. Open the UK load board and filter by your area and vehicle (artic, rigid, van).
2. Sort by rate or rate per kilometre.
3. Post your available vehicle on the UK vehicle board so brokers can find you.
4. With a paid plan, contact posters directly — no commission is taken on the job.

• UK load board
• UK vehicle board

What an owner driver is

An owner driver owns or leases the vehicle they drive and works for themselves, taking loads from hauliers, forwarders, freight brokers and shippers instead of earning a wage. In haulage that ranges from van owner drivers doing courier and pallet work to HGV owner drivers running an artic, rigid, tipper or fridge.

How owner drivers get work

• Regular subcontract work for a haulier or forwarder on fixed routes.
• One-off loads and return loads from a freight exchange or load board.
• Advertising a free vehicle on a vehicle board, so posters can contact you.
• Direct contracts with shippers once you have a track record on a lane.

Owner driver work by vehicle

• Vans and Lutons: courier, pallet and same-day work. Choose “Van / Sprinter” as the vehicle type.
• Curtainsiders and box trailers: palletised general haulage. Choose “Curtainsider” or “Box Trailer”.
• Tippers: aggregates and bulk. Choose “Tipper”.
• Fridge work: chilled and frozen loads. Choose “Refrigerated Trailer” or turn on “Refrigerated / Temp. controlled”.
• Low loaders: plant and machinery. Choose “Low Loader”.

What sets owner driver rates

Each load shows the rate the poster offers. Whether it pays depends on more than the headline figure: empty miles to the collection, waiting time at either end, tolls and crossings, the number of drops, and whether there is a return load from the delivery area. GigFreight does not publish average owner driver earnings.

Work by vehicle: 7.5 tonne, 18 tonne rigid, artic, low loader

The UK board filters loads by body type rather than by vehicle weight, so search by the body you run and keep loads within your payload with “Size & Weight”.

• 7.5 tonne work: pallet and part loads. Choose “Curtainsider” or “Box Trailer” as the body, set “Load type” to “Partial” or “LTL”, and use “Max pallets” to match your bed.
• 18 tonne rigid work: full and part loads that fit a rigid. Check the weight and pallet count on each load against your payload before you reply.
• Artic work: full loads on “Curtainsider”, “Box Trailer”, “Refrigerated Trailer” or “Container” — the same vehicle types UK and European loads use.
• Low loader work: plant and machinery moves. Choose “Low Loader” and read the dimensions on each load before you reply.
• Tipper work has its own page, with search steps for tippers.

• Tipper work UK
• UK load board

Haulage subcontractors

Haulage subcontractors are operators with their own vehicles who carry loads for hauliers, forwarders and freight brokers when those firms need extra capacity. When a poster wants subcontractors, the work appears as loads on the board, and you agree each job directly with the poster.

This is own-vehicle subcontract work, not driving jobs: GigFreight does not list employed driver vacancies.

To be found as well as to search, list your vehicle on the UK vehicle board with where and when it is free. Broker and shipper contact details on a load are shown only to members with a fully paid, active subscription. A trial gives access to the platform but not to load contact details. No commission per load.

• UK vehicle board

UK pricing

Frequently asked questions