I’d love to get out and do some continental work but everywhere I’ve asked (and I’ve rang round a few) want you out three or four weeks at a time followed by one and a half or two days off. In what logical universe is that a reasonable expectation?
I can accept the pish money and the weeks away but I’d need some proper time off after working for a solid month or I’d be on receiving end of a divorce.
Fair play to those that do it. It does look like a great life but, for me, there would have to be some time to myself between trips to balance it out.
RB84:
Just out of interest how far do people/ companies still get nowadays? I know the middle east is not really gonna happen but what about Russia or central Asia? or Africa , well Morocco I would guess does that still happen or is it mainly just the EU states?
I now there’s people go further than us on here - but this year has seen us as far north as the arctic circle in Sweden and down to Sicily. Furthest east we get is a place right by the Polish border in Germany.
Telt:
I’d love to get out and do some continental work but everywhere I’ve asked (and I’ve rang round a few) want you out three or four weeks at a time followed by one and a half or two days off. In what logical universe is that a reasonable expectation?
I can accept the pish money and the weeks away but I’d need some proper time off after working for a solid month or I’d be on receiving end of a divorce.
Fair play to those that do it. It does look like a great life but, for me, there would have to be some time to myself between trips to balance it out.
Because we do a mix, it’s not unusual to do a week away and then a week UK, sometimes busier on the Euro, sometimes quieter. Most trip are within 5 days, with around 15% running into 8-9 days.
I think it takes a certain mindset to work that kind of work, a lot of people either want to be away all the time or home pretty much all the time.
Telt:
I’d love to get out and do some continental work
I can accept the pish money
And there lies the problem why the Euro job (working for UK firms) is totally ■■■■ ed up and no longer a viable proposition to make decent money at your job of work.
It illustrates the reason these firms advertise ■■■■ poor money… Because they know there are drivers out there who will readily accept it as if they are doing some kind of subsidised ■■■■ hobby.
So you can not blame them for paying what they do and getting away with it.
Drivers NEVER cease to amaze me.
RB84:
Just out of interest how far do people/ companies still get nowadays? I know the middle east is not really gonna happen but what about Russia or central Asia? or Africa , well Morocco I would guess does that still happen or is it mainly just the EU states?
The only British trucks going to anywhere like that nowadays will be on specialist work, rock n’ roll, exhibitions etc.
Telt:
I’d love to get out and do some continental work but everywhere I’ve asked (and I’ve rang round a few) want you out three or four weeks at a time followed by one and a half or two days off. In what logical universe is that a reasonable expectation?
Sounds like possibly the worst case of tramping work in which you’ll probably be spending more time shunting between and around Benelux,French and German industrial estates rather than return direct runs from UK to Southern Europe.You can add to that the historic culture of drivers preferring too much of a good thing rather than knowing when to say no.Thereby resulting in the issue of those doing the job moaning about having spent too long away while others are lumbered with a lifetime of boring but home every day uk work.There’s also now the issue of East Euro fleets added to the mix offering customers insane low mileage rates and drivers who again don’t know when to say no they’ve done enough send someone else out.Meaning that they’ll always get the first choice of the longest UK return type work anyway.
RB84:
Just out of interest how far do people/ companies still get nowadays? I know the middle east is not really gonna happen but what about Russia or central Asia? or Africa , well Morocco I would guess does that still happen or is it mainly just the EU states?
The only British trucks going to anywhere like that nowadays will be on specialist work, rock n’ roll, exhibitions etc.
Thanks Harry Monk and albion I thought that was probably the case. Spoke to someone driving for flybynite? and they said they still got around but that is mostly concert work so like albions work pretty specialized.
Carryfast:
From my point of view the wage would have been less of a priority to the answer to the questions is it distance work or short haul tramping around Europe.If it’s the former getting paid £8.55 per hour for running between UK and Italy beats £12 per hour on brain numbing uk retail or building materials deliveries,for example.
Last but not least define ‘european drivers’.Let me guess that means the usual elitist euro experience only bollox so start at the bottom in the industry and you’ll stay there.Unless your face fits or can bs the way into the job with having supposedly started as a ‘european driver’ from getting a licence and they’d rather buy that than give someone who wants to progress from the aforementioned type zb work.
Any job can get tedious and samey if you do it long enough, even long distance UK - Italy. Its why I have had so many jobs and have just swapped one euro job for another, I needed a change.
We’ve had this discussion before, European work isn’t hard to come by even today when a tiny fraction of companies go over the water compared to the 80’s & 90’s heyday. I wonder if your problem was you wanted to walk straight into your prefect job and turned anything that wasn’t down. My start on euro came with HSF and multi-drop work around Ireland - UK - Benelux, work you’d hate, and I worked up to the good work doing proper long distance, work you’d love. I do feel a little sorry for you as you missed what is a great experience.
Firstly that could apply to any route after you’ve done it a few times.But I found it more a case of either you like driving or you don’t and given the former I never found years of even just uk night trunking ‘tedious’ at all.As opposed to local building deliveries for example which was effectively just a labourer/crane operator job with an LGV driving licence needed to drive the truck around the houses to get the stuff to the customer.
As for 2.Maybe I was expecting a lot but that theory falls apart bearing mind that as I’ve said I was actually offered a job doing the type of work I’ve described but which was then withdrawn before the stated start date.Bearing in mind that it seems unusual for a London/Surrey based driver to be offered Northants based uk work which I was then offered instead of the Kent based International work I’d been offered previously.That really was the final straw in my case at least.With the apologetic reply,received by the manager who’d offered me the job,to my question why would I chuck in a decent trunking job much closer to home and with the protection of some seniority there just for that ?,leaving me with my own conclusions as to the reasons behind it.
On that note it does the industry no favours to not tell it like it is in that regard and the idea that progressing to international work wasn’t/isn’t mostly infested with the elitism and ‘experience’ issue,even more than getting a start on uk work,wouldn’t fit the description of telling it like it is.In this case I see no reason to not take the description ‘european drivers’ at face value in that regard.IE ‘uk drivers’ looking to progress their career not welcome ?.
RB84:
Just out of interest how far do people/ companies still get nowadays? I know the middle east is not really gonna happen but what about Russia or central Asia? or Africa , well Morocco I would guess does that still happen or is it mainly just the EU states?
The only British trucks going to anywhere like that nowadays will be on specialist work, rock n’ roll, exhibitions etc.
Thanks Harry Monk and albion I thought that was probably the case. Spoke to someone driving for flybynite? and they said they still got around but that is mostly concert work so like albions work pretty specialized.
Unlike Albion’s crews the Entertainment type carriers won’t be needing haz training. But anything surrounding entertainment etc will often mean unsociable hours. Your work will be geared towards evening and weekend time off for the punters. Depending where you start a return to say north Italy will be a legal week. Further means a weekend away. The truck will have to earn so won’t be stood while the driver catches up on family time. Drivers swapping units happens but isn’t popular. Distance work has never been “family friendly”. Thosr who combined Euro runs with happy families exist but are the exception rather than the rule.
Run out of a UK ferry port and you can find work that’ll give you most weekends home and little UK driving still.
Franglais:
Unlike Albion’s crews the Entertainment type carriers won’t be needing haz training. But anything surrounding entertainment etc will often mean unsociable hours. Your work will be geared towards evening and weekend time off for the punters. Depending where you start a return to say north Italy will be a legal week. Further means a weekend away. The truck will have to earn so won’t be stood while the driver catches up on family time. Drivers swapping units happens but isn’t popular. Distance work has never been “family friendly”. Thosr who combined Euro runs with happy families exist but are the exception rather than the rule.
Run out of a UK ferry port and you can find work that’ll give you most weekends home and little UK driving still.
Sent from my GT-S7275R using Tapatalk
Ours are still very unsociable hours - I’ve tried reasoning with DFDS on their ferry timetable, but they still insist at departing at 4 in the morning. From Immingham of all places.
Telt:
I’d love to get out and do some continental work but everywhere I’ve asked (and I’ve rang round a few) want you out three or four weeks at a time followed by one and a half or two days off. In what logical universe is that a reasonable expectation?
I can accept the pish money and the weeks away but I’d need some proper time off after working for a solid month or I’d be on receiving end of a divorce.
Fair play to those that do it. It does look like a great life but, for me, there would have to be some time to myself between trips to balance it out.
Don’t know where you’ve been looking or what kind of work at but I do 2, sometimes 3 weeks away and am home for 2-4 days.
My money is excellent(plenty on here will be unable to get out of bed for it as it works out at less than £11 a minute) as is the bonus of selling wine every time I get back for pocket money. I also drive a ‘blinged up’ top of the range truck.
Trucknet, of course, doesn’t believe that these jobs exist and according to many on here you can’t have a V8 and be paid more than 4p an hour and you’re a mug to work more than 20 minutes a day and take home less than 120k a year.
Telt:
I’d love to get out and do some continental work but everywhere I’ve asked (and I’ve rang round a few) want you out three or four weeks at a time followed by one and a half or two days off. In what logical universe is that a reasonable expectation?
I can accept the pish money and the weeks away but I’d need some proper time off after working for a solid month or I’d be on receiving end of a divorce.
Fair play to those that do it. It does look like a great life but, for me, there would have to be some time to myself between trips to balance it out.
Don’t know where you’ve been looking or what kind of work at but I do 2, sometimes 3 weeks away and am home for 2-4 days.
My money is excellent(plenty on here will be unable to get out of bed for it as it works out at less than £11 a minute) as is the bonus of selling wine every time I get back for pocket money. I also drive a ‘blinged up’ top of the range truck.
Trucknet, of course, doesn’t believe that these jobs exist and according to many on here you can’t have a V8 and be paid more than 4p an hour and you’re a mug to work more than 20 minutes a day and take home less than 120k a year.
I believe you mate because I also had ‘‘That’’ job once. and on at least 2 seperate occasions in the past.
Problem nowadays they are few and far between, I had to settle for not only secondbest but about 5th best through necessity after redundancy from it, but managed to corner my own little niche out of it after a couple of years.
Franglais:
Unlike Albion’s crews the Entertainment type carriers won’t be needing haz training. But anything surrounding entertainment etc will often mean unsociable hours. Your work will be geared towards evening and weekend time off for the punters. Depending where you start a return to say north Italy will be a legal week. Further means a weekend away. The truck will have to earn so won’t be stood while the driver catches up on family time. Drivers swapping units happens but isn’t popular. Distance work has never been “family friendly”. Thosr who combined Euro runs with happy families exist but are the exception rather than the rule.
Run out of a UK ferry port and you can find work that’ll give you most weekends home and little UK driving still.
Sent from my GT-S7275R using Tapatalk
Ours are still very unsociable hours - I’ve tried reasoning with DFDS on their ferry timetable, but they still insist at departing at 4 in the morning. From Immingham of all places. [emoji38]
Now that ia golden opportunity for someone to make snide remarks about “anytime is a goid time, to get out of Immingham”, but we’re all above that here aren’t we?
Franglais:
Now that ia golden opportunity for someone to make snide remarks about “anytime is a goid time, to get out of Immingham”, but we’re all above that here aren’t we?
albion:
I think it takes a certain mindset to work that kind of work, a lot of people either want to be away all the time or home pretty much all the time.
I’m sure that’s true but I also doubt I’m alone in wanting a balance between the two. I do 4 on 4 off at the moment which means I see plenty of my family and I’d be happy to extend the time I work but not at the price of wrecking the time I get to have at home. This type of gig just seems non-existent on Euro work from what I’ve been fed back.
An equivalent in another industry would be off shore work. Typically if they do 2 weeks on a rig they’ll be off for the same amount of time (or more) when they come off. I’ve mentioned this to non lorry driving mates and they look genuinely shocked when I explain the conditions.
I just don’t understand the mindset that wants employees to be working ALL THE TIME or never.
albion:
I think it takes a certain mindset to work that kind of work, a lot of people either want to be away all the time or home pretty much all the time.
I’m sure that’s true but I also doubt I’m alone in wanting a balance between the two. I do 4 on 4 off at the moment which means I see plenty of my family and I’d be happy to extend the time I work but not at the price of wrecking the time I get to have at home. This type of gig just seems non-existent on Euro work from what I’ve been fed back.
An equivalent in another industry would be off shore work. Typically if they do 2 weeks on a rig they’ll be off for the same amount of time (or more) when they come off. I’ve mentioned this to non lorry driving mates and they look genuinely shocked when I explain the conditions.
I just don’t understand the mindset that wants employees to be working ALL THE TIME or never.
In our case, it isn’t what we want, it’s what the customer wants.
Over the years, we’ve changed from having a varied customer base to really existing to service the requirements of our main client, with a few other customers. We are well remunerated for what we do and that gets passed onto the drivers, not so much in hourly pay, but in structure e.g. if you work the weekend and we lay you off Thursday and Friday, you get paid 8 hours for those days because we guarantee 8 hours Mon - Fri. Our paid hours are different to our worked hours. I can do that, because I charge my customer a premium for a premium specialist service. The downside is that when they say jump, the only response is, ‘how high oh customer of mine’. They deal in a product that has no discernible peaks and troughs, so sometimes we are flat out, sometimes it looks like a social club in the tea room.
Right. The ‘golden age’ has gone. It’s tied into trackers and mobile phones now. Every job and every minute is timed out and used to maximise profits.
Long gone are the days of weekends on beaches by the Med, sleepy orchards in France, T form delays on borders and clubs in Spain.
I used to do 3 weeks out but usually extended that to four because I could make a bonus for being out longer. Home for three or four days and then back out for another 3 weeks.
Right. The ‘golden age’ has gone. It’s tied into trackers and mobile phones now. Every job and every minute is timed out and used to maximise profits.
Long gone are the days of weekends on beaches by the Med, sleepy orchards in France, T form delays on borders and clubs in Spain.
I used to do 3 weeks out but usually extended that to four because I could make a bonus for being out longer. Home for three or four days and then back out for another 3 weeks.
But this is the future we’ve been working for isn’t it? Technology and more automation with better central control, means we now all work 20 hours a week on average, instead of some working 60hrs, and some being unemployed. We’re all so much better off now our successive governments of all shades have sorted it all out, just as they promised they would.
yourhavingalarf:
The ‘golden age’ has gone. It’s tied into trackers and mobile phones now. Every job and every minute is timed out and used to maximise profits.
Long gone are the days of weekends on beaches by the Med, sleepy orchards in France, T form delays on borders and clubs in Spain.
Yes, it’s sad. It was a cracking job back in the day. Getting to Milan mid-day Tuesday, putting your T-forms in and then having the rest of the day off in a bar with the lads. Had a fair few weekends on the beach too. The last time I went to Italy (and this was over 10 years ago now), the first other British truck I saw was on the climb up Mont Blanc and I didn’t see another one after that. There was a time when you could pull into any motorway service area in Italy and there would be half-a-dozen British trucks there.
