From the telegraph website, fascinating info about earnings in motoring related jobs.
Who earns what? The results are nothing short of a national disgrace

“A fascinating list of the best- and worst-paid workers in Britain was published by the Office for National Statistics this week. But only here, in Telegraph Motoring, can you find a definitive table of who earns what, on average, in the travel, transport and car-related job markets.

It’s quite right and no great shock that aircraft pilots and flight engineers are top of the pay league, on a typical £61,585 per annum, more than twice the UK average. Air traffic controllers are next on £45,466 a year, followed by mechanical engineers coining £35,623.

Police officers aren’t, strictly speaking, in the car, transport or travel business but they do seem to spend an awful lot of their time pursuing drivers, so I’ve included them and can report that cops to the rank of sergeant are on £34,913 (with inspectors trousering £51,487). If you’re looking for the person who earns more than anyone else transporting people and goods on the ground, it’s a train driver on £34,211. They make more than transport and distribution managers (£33,597), ship and hovercraft officers (£30,793) and rail transport operatives (£30,436).

Compare that with garage managers and proprietors on £27,940, which is below the average wage.

And while we’re making comparisons, firefighters get £26,352, which is nearly 9k less than cops. It’s the same for paramedics (£26,336). Are we really to believe that a traffic cop at the scene of a road accident should be paid considerably more than a fireman whose duty is to cut victims from the wreckage or the paramedic who performs life-saving procedures at the roadside?

Crane drivers (£25,901), seafarers and boatmen (£24,152), auto electricians (£23,158) and dockers and stevedores (£23,036) follow. These are the guys who, among other things, drive new, foreign-built cars off the ships to the quayside.

I often see advertisements inviting people to become driving instructors and earn £30k-£40k a year. But the average wage for this type of worker is £22,728, says ONS. Still, that’s more than a vehicle assembler (£22,589), a rail travel assistant (£22,358) or a road construction operative (£21,899) makes. Still, the last makes more than a lorry driver (£21,869), a mechanic (£21,476) or a vehicle body builder/repairer (£21,446).

Ambulance staff (£21,348), vehicle spray painters (£21,194), transport and distribution clerks (£21,165) and traffic wardens (£20,573) at least creep over the 20k a year barrier.

Amazingly, bus and coach drivers don’t because, on average, they get only £19,548. Why so much less than an airline pilot or a train driver? Forklift truck drivers (£19,521), roundsmen and van salespeople (£19,031), agricultural machinery drivers (£17,865), van drivers (£17,809) and chauffeurs/taxi drivers (£17,353) are also surprisingly low-paid. That’s assuming the above ONS figures are to be believed. I always feel I pay a high price for using cabs and in view of the amount I spend on fares and tips I cannot believe that the typical British cabbie earns as little as 17k a year/£343 a week.

Road sweepers get £17,129 and that’s an appalling rate of pay for people who do such a hard, dangerous, dirty, tedious but important job.

Finally tyre, exhaust and windscreen fitters who allegedly make £15,515 a year (the second lowest wage earners after market traders and their assistants). And, unlike overpaid traffic wardens, they do a productive, positive job that the motoring public appreciates.”

http://caryzaida246.wordpress.com/2007/05/03/who-earns-what-as-drivers/