Citycat moves to Holland

Sorry if this turns into a long post.

I’ve been on Trucknet for about four years now, occasionally starting a thread or making a post, but mainly I’ve been in the background trying to gather as much information as possible in preperation for a change of direction in my life.

After much dicussion, my (Dutch) wife and I decided to make a new life for ourselves by up rooting us and our three kids from London to move to her home town in Holland, not far from Utrecht. It was a big decision for me, leaving my home city of London, but it’s been a good move for us. We live in a nice town, and the kids are picking up the Dutch language really quick in their new school.

Three years ago, I took my C and then CE, but never needed to use it as I had a good job on the railways, so my test passes just gathered dust. However, we made the move to Holland in February last year and it was time to find some employment for me as I couldn’t transfer my skills to the Dutch railways due to the lack of speaking the language. It was time to dust off those truck qualifications.

I printed off lots of copies of my CV and went to every truck company around. I’d driven coaches part time for many years but had zero truck experience to show, so I wasn’t too surprised when all the companys politely took my CV but I never heard back from any of them.

I badly needed to find some work, and in the end I had to join an Australian tour company based in London that used Dutch registered coaches, and spent last summer doing big tours of Europe with 18 to 30 something Aussies and Kiwis, which was good fun and gave me valuable Left Hand Drive experience, but took me away from the family for several weeks at a time which wasn’t so fun. Anyway, my contract ended in October and it was back to trying to find some truck work with zero experience to offer.

It’s funny how you get a job tip off sometimes. In early December, I happened to be in the local kebab shop chatting to the owner who could speak a little English. He told me about a local courier firm who’s drivers sometimes came in, and he told me that they needed some drivers. I went and found the firm tucked away on an industrial estate about ten minutes from my home. I would never have found it without the directions from the kebab owner. I saw some smart looking sprinter vans parked around the building so rang the bell of the newish looking office block attached to the yard. A pleasant guy came to the main entrance and I explained that I was English and asked if they needed any drivers. He replied in good English that they did and to come upstairs for a chat. He went and got his business partner and a cup of coffee for me and we had an interview then and there.

I wondered if they needed any delivery drivers for the vans but they said no, they were actually looking for CE drivers for their fleet of artics that they had parked elsewhere and that I didn’t realise they had. I explained I had zero experience apart from passing the test but that didn’t seem to phase them. They went away for a few minutes to discuss it and then came back to say they were happy to give me a try. I asked if they needed me to have an assessment drive, but they said no, just go out with one of the drivers for a couple of runs and see how you get on. The work they were offering was three evening shifts a week amounting to 30 hours a week which is all they could offer as the Dutch government likes to encourage more jobs for more people by restricting working hours. Job sharing if you like. Anyway, this was fine for me as my wife is the main breadwinner now (she flies), and the shifts fitted around our childcare.

So two days later, I went out with one of the drivers, and partway through the shift I was given the wheel of the truck and had to get on with it, managing to do ok with no mishaps. The boss rang to confirm that they would offer me a contract starting in January 2017. On Xmas Eve, there was a ring on the doorbell and my wife said that it was my new boss at the door. He’d brought a traditional Dutch cheese and a gift card worth 50 euros for the Dutch equivelant of Amazon. I explained that I hadn’t even started working for him yet but he stated I was part of the team now and all drivers get a cheese and a gift card. A nice initial impression of the company for me.

So, fast forward to now and I’ve just completed my ninth shift over three weeks, and what a steep learning curve it’s been for me. I start at 8pm and finish around 4am, driving a MAN TGX and CargoBull box trailer. The work consists of going to three distribution centres in Holland to load, and then going to various other rdc’s in Holland and Belgium, doing trailer swaps, and picking up other loads. It’s mostly cage work and the difference to England is that at the rdc, you give the warehouse staff a hand to unload or load the trailer. It means you get to see how the load is distributed and giving them a hand means no waiting around and you get away quicker.

As you can imagine for a newbie like me, reversing onto the bays hasn’t come easy for me, especially in a left hand drive truck, and I’m quite slow doing the trailer swaps as I’m constantly double checking I haven’t missed anything. Also, there constantly seems a problem here or there. The pin handle is hard to pull sometimes, or the legs are stiff to wind up on some of trailers, or one of the barn doors is hard to close on a rental trailer because it’s out of alignment, or I trap a finger in a ratchet etc. Oh, and heavy snow fell in Holland last week so I had to quickly cope with the truck sliding all over the place, and the wheels spinning as I tried for ages to get onto a snow covered loading bay.

The good things are, I enjoy driving the truck, the night time roads and motorways in Holland are usually quiet, all the rdc’s I visit are pleasant, the toilets are clean, and there is free coffee vending machines at every place. Also, all the warehouse staff speak some English which is a great help of course. And nearly all the drivers I meet from other companys speak some English and offer to help if they see me struggling.

One thing I notice at Dutch rdc’s is no one wears high vis vests and there seems to be no rigid health and safety rules. Everyone just gets stuck in and no one gets hurt or injured it seems. The only rule is steel toe caps must be worn.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read about my induction into the Dutch trucking industry and thanks for all the valuable info I’ve got off this site over the past four years.

Always loved going to the Netherlands.

They seem to combine the best qualities of every other country and just seem generally happier.

enjoyed the reading, thanks a lot

Sounds like it’s moving in the right direction! That was a nice gesture from the boss man a very rare thing here it seems. You can’t keep a good man down!

Good post. Thank you for taking the time to write it. Not too long at all, and a nice change from loads of the rants on here. ( ). Many years since I did any work in Holland, but I always found it a clean friendly place. Good luck in your new home.

You probably found out that nothing works in Holland with out a cup of coffee (mostly free of charge)
Driver: I have a delivery!
Receiver: there is the coffee machine, get first a cuppa.

I moved to here 20 years ago from the Netherlands, mainly for tax reasons (taxes are horrendous) and house prices.

1 tip, try to learn Dutch, even some basics will get you appriciated a lot more!
Your kids and their books are probably the best teachers.

Bedankt en de groeten.

kjw21:
Always loved going to the Netherlands.

They seem to combine the best qualities of every other country and just seem generally happier.

That’s probably due to all the cannabis they smoke

free movement of people, huh?

They seem to combine the best qualities of every other country and just seem generally happier.
[/quote]
I have to say they do seem happier here and everything is very neat and tidy, but occasionally it’s too neat. My new home town is a bit like that film The Truman Show. If you pass a stranger in the street, it’s customary to make eye contact and say good morning. And bikes rule here. They’re everywhere, along with cycle paths, and motorists have to stop if a cycle route crosses the road and a cyclist is approaching. Sometimes there are hordes of them in the morning.

It’s true though, taxes are high and you need private medical insurance.

Work wise, it’s a ten minute commute to work to pick up the truck keys and paperwork, and then another five minutes to the place where the trucks are packed. The units and trailers are all painted black so look quite smart, though it’s hard to see a black trailer at night when you’re making a tight turn.

It’s just this reversing lark I’m finding hard. I think I’m making the classic newbie mistake of putting too much steering in trying to get into the bay and constantly having to correct it. Also, how you guys do a blindside reverse I’ve no idea. I tried one and chickened out halfway through, choosing to drive out of the loading area completely and come back in again so I could do it on my side. I found it impossible to judge where the trailer was going just on the mirrors.

As I said before, drivers from other companies will be sat watching, but one of them will be out straight away to help if they see me struggling. They seem to find it a novelty that an English bloke is driving a Dutch truck.

Blind side reversing? 1st choice, do as you do, avoid it. 2nd choice, if in doubt get out the cab and look, you`ll get the picture.
Better to pay tax & insurance and have a clean safe country with good roads, than keep all your cash and be looking over your shoulder because there is no money to pay for cops, or hospitals.

citycat:
Sorry if this turns into a long post.

I’ve been on Trucknet for about four years now, occasionally starting a thread or making a post, but mainly I’ve been in the background trying to gather as much information as possible in preperation for a change of direction in my life.

After much dicussion, my (Dutch) wife and I decided to make a new life for ourselves by up rooting us and our three kids from London to move to her home town in Holland, not far from Utrecht. It was a big decision for me, leaving my home city of London, but it’s been a good move for us. We live in a nice town, and the kids are picking up the Dutch language really quick in their new school.

Three years ago, I took my C and then CE, but never needed to use it as I had a good job on the railways, so my test passes just gathered dust. However, we made the move to Holland in February last year and it was time to find some employment for me as I couldn’t transfer my skills to the Dutch railways due to the lack of speaking the language. It was time to dust off those truck qualifications.

I printed off lots of copies of my CV and went to every truck company around. I’d driven coaches part time for many years but had zero truck experience to show, so I wasn’t too surprised when all the companys politely took my CV but I never heard back from any of them.

I badly needed to find some work, and in the end I had to join an Australian tour company based in London that used Dutch registered coaches, and spent last summer doing big tours of Europe with 18 to 30 something Aussies and Kiwis, which was good fun and gave me valuable Left Hand Drive experience, but took me away from the family for several weeks at a time which wasn’t so fun. Anyway, my contract ended in October and it was back to trying to find some truck work with zero experience to offer.

It’s funny how you get a job tip off sometimes. In early December, I happened to be in the local kebab shop chatting to the owner who could speak a little English. He told me about a local courier firm who’s drivers sometimes came in, and he told me that they needed some drivers. I went and found the firm tucked away on an industrial estate about ten minutes from my home. I would never have found it without the directions from the kebab owner. I saw some smart looking sprinter vans parked around the building so rang the bell of the newish looking office block attached to the yard. A pleasant guy came to the main entrance and I explained that I was English and asked if they needed any drivers. He replied in good English that they did and to come upstairs for a chat. He went and got his business partner and a cup of coffee for me and we had an interview then and there.

I wondered if they needed any delivery drivers for the vans but they said no, they were actually looking for CE drivers for their fleet of artics that they had parked elsewhere and that I didn’t realise they had. I explained I had zero experience apart from passing the test but that didn’t seem to phase them. They went away for a few minutes to discuss it and then came back to say they were happy to give me a try. I asked if they needed me to have an assessment drive, but they said no, just go out with one of the drivers for a couple of runs and see how you get on. The work they were offering was three evening shifts a week amounting to 30 hours a week which is all they could offer as the Dutch government likes to encourage more jobs for more people by restricting working hours. Job sharing if you like. Anyway, this was fine for me as my wife is the main breadwinner now (she flies), and the shifts fitted around our childcare.

So two days later, I went out with one of the drivers, and partway through the shift I was given the wheel of the truck and had to get on with it, managing to do ok with no mishaps. The boss rang to confirm that they would offer me a contract starting in January 2017. On Xmas Eve, there was a ring on the doorbell and my wife said that it was my new boss at the door. He’d brought a traditional Dutch cheese and a gift card worth 50 euros for the Dutch equivelant of Amazon. I explained that I hadn’t even started working for him yet but he stated I was part of the team now and all drivers get a cheese and a gift card. A nice initial impression of the company for me.

So, fast forward to now and I’ve just completed my ninth shift over three weeks, and what a steep learning curve it’s been for me. I start at 8pm and finish around 4am, driving a MAN TGX and CargoBull box trailer. The work consists of going to three distribution centres in Holland to load, and then going to various other rdc’s in Holland and Belgium, doing trailer swaps, and picking up other loads. It’s mostly cage work and the difference to England is that at the rdc, you give the warehouse staff a hand to unload or load the trailer. It means you get to see how the load is distributed and giving them a hand means no waiting around and you get away quicker.

As you can imagine for a newbie like me, reversing onto the bays hasn’t come easy for me, especially in a left hand drive truck, and I’m quite slow doing the trailer swaps as I’m constantly double checking I haven’t missed anything. Also, there constantly seems a problem here or there. The pin handle is hard to pull sometimes, or the legs are stiff to wind up on some of trailers, or one of the barn doors is hard to close on a rental trailer because it’s out of alignment, or I trap a finger in a ratchet etc. Oh, and heavy snow fell in Holland last week so I had to quickly cope with the truck sliding all over the place, and the wheels spinning as I tried for ages to get onto a snow covered loading bay.

The good things are, I enjoy driving the truck, the night time roads and motorways in Holland are usually quiet, all the rdc’s I visit are pleasant, the toilets are clean, and there is free coffee vending machines at every place. Also, all the warehouse staff speak some English which is a great help of course. And nearly all the drivers I meet from other companys speak some English and offer to help if they see me struggling.

One thing I notice at Dutch rdc’s is no one wears high vis vests and there seems to be no rigid health and safety rules. Everyone just gets stuck in and no one gets hurt or injured it seems. The only rule is steel toe caps must be worn.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read about my induction into the Dutch trucking industry and thanks for all the valuable info I’ve got off this site over the past four years.

I enjoyed reading your post drive. It seems to me that you were prepared to make a go of it in another country and you didn’t despair but carried on knocking on doors. You also gave quite a good insight into the Dutch ways of working: ie 30 hours a week or job sharing.

That seems a great idea, assuming 30 hours is enough. You stated however in your case it’s ok.

A refreshing post I and I for one wish you continued success for the future.

All the best drive.

Try putting trailer brake on and reversing unit against pin harder to ease pulling pin.

What’s the wages like there?

chrisdalott:
free movement of people, huh?

Yeah. That’s one not uncontrolled millions like we have?

Good, informative, easy to read post.

And free cheese too, what’s not to like? !

Edam, I assume?

Steve-o:
Try putting trailer brake on and reversing unit against pin harder to ease pulling pin.

What’s the wages like there?

I’ll try that with the pin next time

Pay rate is 16 euros (£13.86 at today’s exchange rate) per hour, plus 2 euros per hour night time rate. I also get 20 euros per month phone expenses if I have to call them for any reason. There is an overtime rate and weekend working rate but can’t remember that off the top of my head.

The company is quite small, five artics, two rigids, seven vans, but more artics are coming this year.

I almost never see the bosses or the planner. There is usually never anyone left in the office when I pick up the keys or the paperwork, and most communication is done via texts. The bosses are very supportive though if I have to ring with any queries or problems. The good thing about a small company is I am a name to them, not a number. I think I’m probably an experiment too to see how an English driver fits in with their workforce.

Talking of problems, I was at an rdc and having problems releasing the brakes, and messages in Dutch were flashing up on the dashboard. I looked over and saw a Dutch company truck sat on a bay with the driver sat in the cab reading a book. Hoping he could assist me, I went and knocked on his cab door. When he wound his window down, I asked if he could speak English. His reply was “Aye lad, I should do. I’m from Middlesborough”.

So, it seems there’s more Brits driving for Dutch firms. Btw, the message on the dash was saying I hadn’t built up enough air after a trailer swap.

I haven’t encountered one of these driver rooms yet that I keep reading about. You either sit in your cab, or you stand around the coffee machine chatting to the warehouse staff at the reception desk as they prepare cmr’s, or you just go into the warehouse and assist the staff to unload or load the trailer. If you all get stuck in, it can take just twenty minutes to unload and then load up again, and you’re on your way.

One more thing regarding the town I live in. On every major street corner, sirens are installed on posts, and emit a ‘nuclear four minute warning’ style wail. Apparently, they are there to warn people if a major disaster or event hits the country, and that they should go to a tv or radio for news or instructions. The local council tests them on the first Monday of every month and it fair freaked me out when I first heard them . I’m used to them now.

Sounds right up my Straat ! Any jobs going ?

kjw21:
Always loved going to the Netherlands.

They seem to combine the best qualities of every other country and just seem generally happier.

That sums up Holland very well. One of my favourite countries.

switchlogic:

kjw21:
Always loved going to the Netherlands.

They seem to combine the best qualities of every other country and just seem generally happier.

That sums up Holland very well. One of my favourite countries.

I was in discussions for a short while with your old outfit Switch, HSF Logistics, to try and do Holland to UK work. However, I would’ve had to operate out of their base in Poland and get Polish wages probably, so it was too much hassle to follow up.

Thank you for your story, interesting. I’m Dutch living and driving HIAB Class 2 as a Ltd driver here in England.
What I’d like to know is how hard is it to get your UK HGV licence changed to a Dutch one?
I’m not planning to go back soon but with Brexit it might be better for me. TIA

Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

Yoni:
Thank you for your story, interesting. I’m Dutch living and driving HIAB Class 2 as a Ltd driver here in England.
What I’d like to know is how hard is it to get your UK HGV licence changed to a Dutch one?
I’m not planning to go back soon but with Brexit it might be better for me. TIA

Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

I haven’t changed my licence yet. Still driving on a British one. It didn’t seem to bother the company that I have a UK one. I’m still wondering about my DCPC which expires in 2019. I’ve done 14 hours already and don’t want to lose them. Maybe I’ll try and book three segments one after the other and go back to UK to do them, and then change my licence over once I have a new card.