The Datum Report

Occupation 8239 · Process, plant and machine operatives

Other drivers and transport operatives n.e.c.

Half of full-time other drivers and transport operatives n.e.c. in the UK earn more than £35,670 a year, and half earn less.

Job holders in this unit group monitor the activities of bus drivers, conductors and other road transport depot drivers, undertake various tasks related to water transportation, and perform other transportation tasks not elsewhere classified in minor group 823: Other drivers and transport operatives.

How people enter it

There are no formal academic entry requirements. Training is provided both Off and on-the-job. In some areas relevant vocational qualifications are available at level 2 and 3.

What the work involves

• checks that vehicles run as scheduled, monitors number of passengers travelling particular routes and makes recommendations for improvement of services
• organises relief and replacement crews as necessary, ensures compliance with regulations regarding the carrying of passengers and luggage, and submits reports of any irregularities
• checks that goods have been correctly loaded into vehicle, monitors and records information from tachograph, and arranges for servicing, refuelling, cleaning and repair of depot vehicles
• operates and maintains lighthouses and navigational lights in harbours, and assists in mooring craft
• operates and maintains locks, opens and closes moving bridges across inland waterways and docks, and measures depth of water in canals, rivers, etc. to determine possible dumping or dredging sites
• guides horses or ponies and drives horse drawn vehicles to transport goods and passengers

Also called

Bus inspector · Marshal (transport) · Operations assistant (freight handling) · Test driver (motor vehicle mfr) · Transport supervisor · Yard foreman (road transport)

What it pays

How pay has changed

Median gross annual pay for other drivers and transport operatives n.e.c., full-time employees, 2024 to 2025. Each point is that year's ASHE April snapshot as published — revisions are not backfilled into earlier years, and a year ONS withheld is a gap rather than a joined line.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Pay by region

Median gross annual pay for full-time employees, ranked, against the UK figure. 1 of 11 regions are published: ONS withholds a cell where the survey sample cannot support it, and those are shown as gaps rather than dropped — an absent region is not a region without the work in it.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Period 2025. Table

Every regional figure

ONS does not publish occupational pay below region. Cells the survey could not support are shown as withheld, with its reason — adding a region split to a specific occupation leaves roughly a tenth of cells publishable.

Common questions

Classified alongside this

Air transport operatives · Marine and waterways transport operatives · Rail transport operatives · Train and tram drivers