As to being a HGV driver.....been there and done that and still have a tee-shirt to prove it!
I took the leap and actually bought one of the things as well. I had always said I would form that special bond between Man, Machine, and the Open Highway before I would fly in the Gulf of Mexico.
We (speaking as an over the road trucker) have the same problems as you do in the UK except for the narrow roads. We have narrow roads but they seem to be in the Northeast part of the country.
I really enjoyed the trucking life and made a decent living at it until the fuel prices took their big leap back in the late '90's. It was good fun to haul construction equipment....Bulldozers, Rock Trucks, Track Hoes and mining machines.
I claimed I had a job where I transported Hoes from one Cat House to another.
I gave it up when I was offered a Day Rate contract in Nigeria which payed me what my truck grossed.....meaning there was no comparison in take home pay.
When I flew in Alaska....the Bull Cook (maid who makes your bed and cleans up the room) made one dollar a month than I did as a helicopter pilot.
The wages for helicopter pilots in the US were horribly low until the Air Log and PHI pilots unionized.....and later the union movement hit the EMS market when Air Methods pilots did the same.