Nortons Hiab Services
The wagons and the cranes. Class 1 and Class 2 HIAB drivers, regional and nationwide work, plus the yard crews and the traffic office behind them.
Miles Platting, Manchester · No agencies
Careers at Nortons
A family firm where the driving team averages over fifteen years’ service. 4 jobs are open now, on the wagons, in the tyre depot and in the cabin workshop.
Why people stay
Fifteen years is the average, not the record
The average length of service across our driving team is over fifteen years. In this industry that is unusual, and it is the single most honest thing we can tell you about working here.
Nortons has been running out of Miles Platting since 2007. It is a family business: the vehicles are our own rather than hired in, the fleet is replaced to a programme rather than run into the ground, and the person who decides what you drive is on site.
The driving work is regional and nationwide — cabins, containers, steel, plant, abnormal loads and city-centre lifts — so it is varied, and the crane is a real skill rather than a button. If you want the same run every day, this is not the job.
Not everything here is a driving job. The tyre depot on Norton Street fits and repairs truck, plant and car tyres for our own fleet and for customers across the North West, and the cabin workshop strips, re-plumbs, repairs, refurbishes and repaints portable buildings until they are fit to stand on a site again. Both are on the same ground and both take people on.
15+Years, average driver service
4Vacancies open now
2007Established
0Agencies used
Now hiring
Open vacancies
All of them are based at Miles Platting in Manchester and all of them are permanent. Apply directly — no agencies.
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Class 1 Wagon & Drag HIAB Driver / Operator
An experienced Class 1 Wagon & Drag HIAB driver / operator, based in Greater Manchester, on regional and nationwide work.
Now hiring -
Class 2 Rigid HIAB Driver
An experienced Class 2 Rigid HIAB driver, based in Greater Manchester, on regional and nationwide deliveries.
Now hiring -
Commercial Truck & Plant Tyre Fitter
An experienced truck, commercial and plant tyre fitter for our own tyre depot on Norton Street, on workshop, mobile and roadside work across Manchester and the North West.
Now hiring -
Cabin Fitter / Plumber
A plumber who can fit out the inside of a portable cabin, from the kitchen and shower to the water test at the end, in our refurbishment workshop at Miles Platting.
Now hiring
Class 1 Wagon & Drag HIAB Driver
Class 2 Rigid HIAB Driver
Commercial Tyre Fitter
Cabin Fitter / Plumber
Full details, the requirements and an application form are on each job page. There is no portal and no agency in the middle — the form emails us and somebody reads it. Whichever of the three companies the job sits in, the application lands in the same office.
Roles we regularly recruit
Not open today, but worth a CV
These come up, and they rarely get as far as an advert. If one of them is what you do, send the CV now rather than watching this page.
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Cabin Painter
Preparation and painting of portable cabins in the workshop at Miles Platting. Not open at the moment, but it is the job that comes round most often.
Currently closed
One family, three companies
Same yard, same office, three trades
All three are Nortons, all three are at Miles Platting, and an application to any of them reaches the same desk.
Nortons Tyres
Our own depot on Norton Street. Truck, commercial, plant and car tyres, in the bays and out on the road, with a seven day call-out.
Nortons Portable Cabins
The refurbishment workshop. Cabins and modular units stripped, re-plumbed, refurbished and repainted, including bespoke builds to a customer’s drawing.
Nothing that fits?
Send it anyway
What is advertised above is not everything. The yard crews, the traffic office and the workshop all take people on between adverts, and those jobs rarely get as far as one.
The traffic office
Planning, routing and talking to customers. If you have moved loads for a living and want to stop driving them, this is the room where that happens.
On the ground
Slinging, banksman work and site setup. Plenty of the people driving for us now started here.
The yard and the workshop
Joinery, welding, vehicle maintenance and general fit-out, all at Miles Platting. Several of the team have been here more than ten years.
Email info.nospam@nortonshiabservices.co.uk with a CV and a line about what you do — your trade, your licence or your experience, whichever applies. It is read by a person, and it is kept.
How it works
Applying takes about ten minutes
Send the CV
Through the form on the job page, or straight to info.nospam@nortonshiabservices.co.uk. Tell us your licence, your trade and your experience — HIAB, ALLMI, CPCS, CSCS, tyre safety, whatever fits the job.
We read it
Not a portal, and not a scoring algorithm.
Come and see the yard
Meet the manager for the job you have applied for, look round the yard, the bays or the workshop, and ask what the work is really like. Drivers, bring your licence and your digi card.
What the driving job actually involves
Loading and securing it yourself, running it, and craning it off at the far end — often somewhere with no room and somebody watching. The crane work is the part that makes this different from general haulage, and it is the part we will train.
Most of our drivers and crane operators are ALLMI trained and CPCS qualified, several hold Rail Track PTS, and the cranes are worked by remote control so you stand where you can see the load.
Common questions
Working here, answered
What vacancies are open right now?
Two HIAB driving jobs, a Class 1 wagon and drag and a Class 2 rigid; a commercial truck and plant tyre fitter at our own tyre depot; and a cabin fitter and plumber in the portable cabin workshop. All of them are at Miles Platting in Manchester and all of them are permanent. If a role is listed as closed on this page it genuinely is closed, and the page is kept current rather than left advertising a job that has gone.
The tyre and cabin jobs are not driving jobs. Are they still Nortons?
Yes. The tyre depot on Norton Street and the cabin refurbishment workshop are both Nortons and both a short walk from the hiab yard. They have their own websites, at nortonstyres.co.uk and nortonscabins.co.uk, but they are the same family business, the same site and the same office. Apply through either and it reaches the same people.
Do I need a HIAB qualification already?
For the driving jobs it is preferred, not essential. For the right candidate we will provide HIAB training if you hold the HGV licence but not the crane qualification, and several of the team came in that way. The tyre and cabin roles need their own trade instead, and that one we cannot teach from scratch.
Can a Class 2 driver progress to Class 1 here?
Yes, and we will support the training. If you want to move up to the bigger vehicles, say so when you apply.
What is the pay?
Competitive rates of pay. We would rather talk about the actual number with you than publish a bracket, because it depends on your licence, your qualifications and your experience.
Are there nights out?
On the Class 1 wagon and drag role, yes, when the work needs it. On the Class 2 rigid role, occasionally. It is regional and nationwide work, not trunking, so no two weeks look the same. The tyre depot and the cabin workshop are Manchester jobs and you are home every night, although the tyre role carries an out-of-hours call-out rota.
What are the hours in the workshop and the tyre bay?
The cabin workshop runs Monday to Friday, half past seven to half past four, with overtime and Saturday work available. The tyre depot is Monday to Friday eight until six and Saturday morning eight until one, with night and emergency call-outs on top when they come in.
Do you take agency staff?
No. Every one of our adverts says no agencies and we mean it. These are permanent jobs and we are hiring people who want to stay — the average length of service across the driving team is over fifteen years, and the tyre fitters average ten to fifteen.
There is nothing suitable listed. Should I still send a CV?
Yes. Send it to us and we will keep it on file. People leave rarely here, so vacancies come up without much warning and a CV already on the desk is the one that gets called. The painter role in the cabin workshop is the clearest example: it is closed today and it is the job that comes round most often.
No agencies. Send it to us directly.
Your CV, your licence category and any HIAB qualifications.
