I’m interested in hearing or any stories/experiences of drivers working on UK haulage and based in the UK driving for overseas based companies with overseas registered vehicles (left or right hookers).
I remember briefly chatting with a driver of an Impulse Plants Dutch-registered XF480 draw-bar rig late last year and he had a broad Southern accent . He said he worked solely on UK work, that was his “own” motor and the money was very good although it was either paid in Euros or whatever the Dutch curreny is.
Then today, another Dutch-registered wagon appeared at the place we work out of - an XF530 pulling a fridge. Again, got a brief opportunity to chat to the driver as I heard him speaking English and he was indeed English, based near Sheffield .
Is it a common thing for our overseas friends to be seeking English drivers and offering tasty amounts of moolah and top spec motors I could be interested
This is very common, check some of the flags and stickers hung inside and outside of cabs. English flag in Nobbies on French plates. A driver for a Dutch company who drops his trailer on our Ind Est and takes the unit home.
Not forgetting Eddie’s Belgium registered trucks, with mainly British drivers.
British drivers are cheaper and will work longer hours than some European countries Fuel is cheaper in mainland Europe so everybody fills up abroad.
Conversely, saw a r/h drive British plated truck, with “o” license, tax disc, unloading in Leeds with a Trukish driver, (the load had come from Turkey)
First rule of transport:- Pay as little as possible to get the job done
Anyone know of any overseas companies who go down this road Would I have to be conversant with their native tongue or do they mostly speak English
Impulse Plants and B.J van Bentum’s have some smart tackle to say the least , not forgetting BVBA Romantiek of Belgium (read Suffolk ) but think I’ll give BVBA a miss from what I’m heard about them .
Rob K:
Would I have to be conversant with their native tongue or do they mostly speak English
Unlike the English Schools when it comes to foreign languages, Most Countries now make English Lessons Compulsory.
You can go to France, Belgium, Germany etc and when your talking to them in English some will ignore you, try and speak their tongue and you’ll be surprised at the many who appreciate your attempt and reply in English.
jon boy 100:
do i sense your looking for a new job,rob
jon
One likes to keep one’s options open. I am convinced that there is a more greener shade of grass somewhere…
I don’t really have any complaints about Featherstone’s but the nature of the work pattern means that I don’t get any time to clean the wagon at the end of the week (I like a clean, looked-after wagon) and also finishing Friday and starting again Sunday evening doesn’t leave much of a weekly break. The money is alright but could do with losing the Friday if I’m starting Sunday.
Other options are 1) go back on agency - get as much time off as I want then, but usual agency problems also to deal with; not sure if I can be arsed with the hassle again. 2) Find a company in the London/SE area with top tackle, good money and does tramping : take the unit home.
its a depot of a massive italian company,they also have a depot at thurrock as well
they run day/night shifts 7 till7 with white scanias.all the tackle looks good.the night drivers trunk down to thurrock,the day drivers do deliverys and reloads to be trunked down to thurrock and on to italy
mon-fri, the money is supposed to be good to.
they had the stralis protototypes, white with seddon atki bages on a couple of years ago.managed to have a quick look inside at a french service station the italian driver was sound
i tempted to call round and see them
jon
Interesting read !! there are quite a few foreign companies with british drivers and i have found most are on either container work or tank work or tautliners out of the docks.
Van Bentum…(nl)… mostly tautliners but also road barrels
Food Trans…(nl). iso tanks
H & S…(nl) road barrels
Den Hartoch (nl) iso tanks
Nobby Dressingtable(f) tautliners
these are just a few that i know wash and park in sets in Dagenham, no doubt other drivers will add to the list…but in my opinion these firms are not worth 2 bob.they can and do flout our regulations, and pay a lot less than the drivers living and working in the country of origin…Ie dutch drivers earn a lot more than their british counter part…but you do get a shiny new truck with left hand drive…which makes them look the part…
have a nice day
A chap from Chesterfield came over talking to me at Immingham last week. He drove a lhd FH12 Globetrotter for Den Hartog. He said they paid £600 a week clear, were a good firm to work for and were looking for drivers. They had no infrastructure as such here, all work instructions and contact was via a keyboard / screen type item that looked like a giant calculator.
Keyboard - EUTELTRACS, this same use for Willi Betz drivers and i think it is very useful for tramping around the europe without back thier depot for paper work!
I used to drive a German registered MAN TGA on UK work, for a company in Munich. The money was brilliant, approximately €4,500 per month after tax - and we were being taxed at 44% !
The job was easy. Two trips from Coventry to Cowley every night carrying plastic fuel tanks for BMW’s Mini. Every fourth or fifth week was spent over the water taking empty stillages to BMW Dingolfing and returning with bonnets for the Cooper S or the full open sun-roofs.
Why did I finish such a lucrative job ? They took me off the road and made me a Manager. Hated sitting in an office all day so I left - they wouldn’t allow me to go back to my truck !
I can speak from experience about H & S. Give it a miss and from speaking to other drivers working for “dutch firms” they seem to be strangers to drivers hours regs…
tartanraider:
I can speak from experience about H & S. Give it a miss and from speaking to other drivers working for “dutch firms” they seem to be strangers to drivers hours regs…
I spoke to one of the flower guys one night in Covent Garden … he said his round trip was leave Holland in the afternoon … race thro to London for a night drop in the market …then race up to Harwich for the early morning crossing which is where they got their daily rest!!! WOW
Rob, I work for a Dutch company that also has a base here. He started out based here solely but when he flagged the fleet out, he got a small warehouse in Venlo. All our units bar three are dutch registered. There are, of course, big advantages to this. One is we never hear anything from the Speed Camera Gestapo. Two, the gendarmes bother us a lot less than if we were on GB plates. We get paid 6 nights out every week!! Note I am home tonight!! Our money is good but we work damned hard… max hours most days.
A sample … I left Selsey Sunday morning, tipped Snodland and pulled out where one of our drivers had a loaded trailer waiting for me ( a long story…don’t ask lol). I then ran down to Dover and crossed over to Calais. Ran thro to Apeldoorn (NL) that night. Tipped and reloaded that in the morning and ran over to Moerdijk (NL). another tip and reload and ran to Venlo (NL). There I tipped and reloaded yet again and then still had time to run thro to Haaren (D) halfway between Dortmund and Kassel. Tuesday morning I tipped half the load in Haaren, then ran to Moers (D) and tipped the rest. Then ran to Volkel (halfway between Nijmegen and Eindhoven) and loaded to the back doors with EGGS!!! Made it to Dover Tuesday night. Ran up to Barnsley yesterday morning and tipped the eggs and then to South Kirby to load for Swindon and Portsmouth today. Drove down this morning and tipped the lot and got to the UK yard at 430 this afternoon. So if you buy eggs in Barnsley this weekend they may be the DUTCH ones I bought back this week lolol
By the way, who would have thought eggs would be so heavy■■? I was amazed when going on the weighbridge and finding I was running at just under 43 tonnes!!! I only had 30 europallets on and am 18 ton empty.
Limey:
A chap from Chesterfield came over talking to me at Immingham last week. He drove a lhd FH12 Globetrotter for Den Hartog. He said they paid £600 a week clear, were a good firm to work for and were looking for drivers. They had no infrastructure as such here, all work instructions and contact was via a keyboard / screen type item that looked like a giant calculator.
Interesting. I see them a lot of the M62/M180. They all seem to be ISO tanks which begs the question, does one require a Haz cert . Secondly, how does one get in contact with them for job details, other than belling their overseas office which would be a daunting task . Also, the guy lives in Chesterfield but works out of Immingham - do I need to read between the lines here or am I missing something .
Who is the overseas company you are referring to on container work truckboy . Is it BVBA Romantiek per chance, or do you know something I don’t .
I would like to go back on container work although I don’t know why. The long waits certainly isn’t it but I felt like I’d found a bit of a niche doing it and met a lot of nice people in the process too.
I’ve only ever done bulk liquid container “tank” work and never proper tanks but I understand the concept okay, just have never had to connect any pipes up etc. I don’t want to do tilt work as that’s for mugs .
. He said he worked solely on UK work, that was his “own” motor and the money was very good although it was either paid in Euros or whatever the Dutch curreny is.
I could be interested 
) but think I’ll give BVBA a miss from what I’m heard about them 
.
