omg guys 23 years driving truck all around uk and europe no accidents in any euro country and now you tell me i got to go back to scool for 6 weeks , i dont speak french well yet and we are looking to move in to our house in the next few months and no this ■■■■ happens how long has this been a requirment of the french. but if we are working for a uk company in france do you still need a FIMO help sort this dam mess out cheers guys and good luck to you with the FIMO look slike i will have to go cutting grass instead of driving a tuck hope you dont need one for a lawn mower lol 
it all depends if it’s a sit on lawn mower or a push along. 
welcome to trucknet keithyboy.hope you got your school uniform sorted
FIMO/FCOS came in at the tail end of the '90s, but it only applies if you work for a French company. Get a job with any firm outside of France and it’s not an issue.
Incidentally, where over here are you going to be living Keith?
well its the end of another week and we have done precisely NOTHING
first task every day is the code, or highway code all done via cd rom, 40 questions try to beat pevious score etc etc.
monday and tuesday started the first theme on fimo, 2 days and got it cracked, wednesday another 4 b;olkes turn up we do our evaluation papers whilst the others play catch up which takes 2 days, so the rest of us are listening to the same lecteur again when we could be chipping on with the second theme 
it doesent help that one of the new blokes is so disruptive and rude that every 30 seconds he is arguing the toss with driss who is supposed to be teaching us the course (that is if he gets the chance to finish a sentance) is quite rightly getting the hump along with the rest of us 
el disruptive one has now got the nick name coronel con (for the non french swearing speakers among us find the dictionary and look up chatte, salope, salaud etc or to be quick it rhymes with “punt”
well as usual only a half day today as it is friday, bit of messing around with the artic teaching us how to hook the trailor up only done it a few thousand times in the past so another pointless execise for the day and a bit of reversing practise, do my reverse first time spot on jump out then proceed to get more and more bored 
well we shall have to see what next week brings.
i am sure not all fimo courses are like this so dont let it put anyone off who is thinking about doing it 
chris
thanks for your help craig we will be living around the saintes area from ruffec westwards poitou charentes region have tryed to find an english company working from that region to no avail where is good old eddy stobart when ya need him. we only have till this sunday to make up our mind we will have around 18 months backup funds to live on do you think this is enough time to get to grips the the language and to find some sort of work of any sort as we will have no mortgage to pay ,could hold out for the 18 months if push came to shove i could allways fly back to the UK and stay at my dads and do some work here to get some more money to live on any thoughts on this plan of attack thanks craig
Keith, it will depend upon how many French you socialise with as to how you progress with the language. I did a little studying of French a few years back but I’ve picked up a lot more by simply finding like minded French people to chat with - in my case I’m a keen cyclist so my language skills improve through chatting with fellow mountainbikers. I know that David down in Perigord is an expert at petanque (boules) so I’m sure he’s become a lot more fluent through playing that with the locals. I think you’ll be surprised at how quickly you learn stuff, and in my experience the French have generally been very appreciative of any effort to speak their language.
The going back to blightly to work scenario is something I think nearly all of us ex-pats here have tried, and while it’s a short term solution you’ll find it better in the long run to get a job with a local firm. When I worked with a small cowboy outfit down in Marseille I barely knew the word for gearbox, and even now can’t remember the word for fifth wheel, but I got along okay, and in general Brit drivers have a good reputation as hard workers.
If you follow Chris’s advice and get yourself along to the local employment service as soon as you’re settled in you’ll be able to get the FCOS underway. Then you’ll have the pick of driving jobs, and will also be in the French social system which means good healthcare and better rights than in the UK. Have a look at www.anpe.fr to get an idea of what jobs are available in the area you’re looking at.
Allez-y !
Craig
Craig 111:
Keith, it will depend upon how many French you socialise with as to how you progress with the language. I did a little studying of French a few years back but I’ve picked up a lot more by simply finding like minded French people to chat with - in my case I’m a keen cyclist so my language skills improve through chatting with fellow mountainbikers. I know that David down in Perigord is an expert at petanque (boules) so I’m sure he’s become a lot more fluent through playing that with the locals. I think you’ll be surprised at how quickly you learn stuff, and in my experience the French have generally been very appreciative of any effort to speak their language.The going back to blightly to work scenario is something I think nearly all of us ex-pats here have tried, and while it’s a short term solution you’ll find it better in the long run to get a job with a local firm. When I worked with a small cowboy outfit down in Marseille I barely knew the word for gearbox, and even now can’t remember the word for fifth wheel, but I got along okay, and in general Brit drivers have a good reputation as hard workers.
If you follow Chris’s advice and get yourself along to the local employment service as soon as you’re settled in you’ll be able to get the FCOS underway. Then you’ll have the pick of driving jobs, and will also be in the French social system which means good healthcare and better rights than in the UK. Have a look at www.anpe.fr to get an idea of what jobs are available in the area you’re looking at.
Allez-y !
Craig
Craig,
How kind of you to say “expert at petanque” 
. Not sure my partners will agree but you’re right about socialising to learn. It works but is better the younger you are. It was uphill for me but you pick up the words and phrases appertaining to your situation. Not always the written form though. Have only just looked up “selette”, the word for 5th wheel. Always knew the sound, from asking in the workshop, but never had to write it till now. Similarly when I had a broken wheel stud “clou de roue” didn’t work but then I pointed to it to another driver to learn it is “goujon” (pivot screw according to my dictionary).
Keith,
If you get on the road the best learning school is the routiers restaurants in the evening. Everybody sits together. Listen and join in. Craig’s right the French are not unfriendly and they do appreciate a tryer. His comment about the ANPE is right too, although I got short shrift from them being told to first get a document nobody else had heard about. Never did find out what it was, you just don’t need it. That is a salutary lesson. There is a lot of bureaucracy in France and each official has a different perception of it. If at first you don’t succeed, try a different route. Once when I was trying to register my car at the Prefecture, the clerk refused saying I need more documents from another place (in another town). I waited 5 minutes and then presented to a different clerk who stamped everything without a word.
If you do mess up the French are generally pretty easy going “c’est pas grave” with a shrug is a common response. I once drove empty from Lyon to Dijon to pick up a load that was waiting for me in Lyon! It was then of course aborted. On the Saturday I was full of apologies in the office whilst pointing out some mitigating circumstances (I had not been given the Departement number, a must in France). To my surprise everybody from the Patron down thought it was a huge joke - “c’est pas grave” .
Come, and enjoy 
.
Salut, David.
David Wrote:
If you get on the road the best learning school is the routiers restaurants in the evening. Everybody sits together. Listen and join in. Craig’s right the French are not unfriendly and they do appreciate a tryer.
As already mentioned when having a meal in a routiers restaurant in France all the drivers sit together instead of finding a table on your own and being a miserable git.
I had paid for an aperitif at the bar and also paid for une repas.
I said the pleasantries to my new found friends and went to the buffet for my first course. After ordering my main course from the waitress and starting to eat it, a french driver asked where I was from in England. He went on to say only an Englishman eats peas with the fork upside down 
It turned out that my colleagues were 2 Germans, 1 Belgian, a French speaking Belgian, a Dutchman and 2 Frenchmen.
We started talking about wierd and disgusting foods that each country serves and ways of eating them.
This is the best way to learn the customs and languages of any country.
People eating Duck and Goose Grease, frogs legs and horsemeat. Chips with salad cream, pigs liver, sheep brains and Sauerkraut.
The dutchman said that the English were strange because they eat flour and eggs with Roast Cow
Bit off topic for the Fimo thing but it shows how easy it is to converse with different nationalities. Understanding truck part names and loading procedures will come with practice.
I picked up many useful phrases while driving a chemical tanker, you need to be able to have the tank cleaned in the way you want. You need to load the correct compartments and also need to understand health and safety notices in many languages 
end of another week of fimo, i have now lost count i think it is week 4 or 5.
had a weeks driving, didnt have the magnum in the end it is in the garage with bits of it all over the floor, ended up taking the eurotech instead.
well what can i say, i think i have gone through more pampers this week than my 10 week old nephew
1st days driving and i was the last to go nice easy bit of the RN88 a few roundabouts and back to base, managed to bounce a few kerbs with the tralior but fred our instructor said not to worry about it as i was used to driving right hookers, it would all come in time.
the older 2 were the 1st to go and within the first 4 hours i had gone through about 10 nappies and 5 changes of pants!!! scared you bet ya, doesnt help i am not the best passenger in the world but i just wanted out and fast.
2nd day i was the first to go, did the usual kerb clip then settled in for the 2.5 hour drive battled through the center of le puy then out on the open road and through some very nice towns i even got the roundabouts sorted no more kerbs.
then all went pear shaped again, the coranel took over and back on with the pampers, nearly wiped out a dry stone wall, a bus and 4 trucks and that was in the first 30 mins only another 2hours to go and 1st pack of pampers finished by the time the other experianced driver took over
3 hours of tranquility and i could even sit and read my copy of trucking, nice.
then all hell broke loose again, to the sound of crunching zf 16 speed box andre took over and the rollarcoster takes off again BAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP and more pampers for the day.
we pull in to afpa’s place down in rivesalte and i think time for a beer to settle my nerves, but no chance the bar is shut and wont be open tonight BUGGER 
so with a beer at dinner i my nerves settle but not for long, fred comes up with the idea “i know lets go down the boarder with spain in the truck” as if i hadnt eaten enough holes in the seat covers for one day
so off we go with andre at the wheel again, and now he thinks he is unstopable and starts to take things faster and faster till he comes off an r/b way to fast in to some road works and wipes out a load of cones with the trailor (twin axle curtain sider practically brand new) stop, get out and remove the cones that are wedged in between the tyres and the body and strike off again. about 15 mins later fred tells andre to stop the truck, pull his card and that i am taking over and driving us back, we all sigh with releaf.
day 3 of to a not bad start, nice and sunny and warm to day is judgement day.
the coronel is 1st to drive and doesnt change the mode on the tacho and leaves it on bed not a good start. after 2.5 hours driving the assesment is over and the result not good.
then it is andre to drive, i have a couple of ■■■■, then it is time to go and still the tacho is on bed. does his 2.5 hours and the same result not good.
christophe strikes off and now the tacho is on the right mode, he does a good drive but lets him self down on a r/b when he nearly wipes out another car that he hasnt seen but he gets a good score.
my turn, start off ok, then hit montpellier center at 5pm and it is gridlock and generally a free for all. i am trying my hardest to concentrate but the others are acting like children and making a hell of a racket and my concentration is zero needless to say iam ■■■■■■ off and start the kerb bouncing again and the really stong sun isnt helping my cause either as i cant see a thing in the mirrors, pull in to the routier for dinner after my 2.5 hours driving and fred is sympathetic, the others eat drink and get merry whilst i am left to stew and feel like crap am still ■■■■■■ off and the couple sitting at the table with us notice, and we have a chat as has been said before the routiers are the most friendly places and a really great place to learn.
i need some air so slip off outside for a quiet smoke.
all very well fed and watered and the others just slightly ■■■■■■ we do the off at 22:15 and still me driving back. it is much quiter now and i drive 100% better ask my self why it couldnt have been like this earlier when it mattered oh well bed time.
day 4 and it is off back to le puy, leaving the sunny south behind and it starts to rain
stop for diesel and coffee, and fred takes me off to one side for my assessment, and asks me whats up?
i explain and he tells me not to worry as i has taken every thing in to account and has givern me a good mark, he tells me that i have been driving much better than everybody else, economically and more aware of what is going on around, he is really pleased with my progress.
i only have 45 mins driveing left to do, so take us back through le puy and back to base, total drive for the day 30 mins and 17kms.
day off on friday so back home thursday night and in my own bed bliss 
next week it is hazardus goods 3 days of it and a lot to fit in, thursday more driving and friday who knows.
see what next week brings
salut
chris
ps for those thinking of a life over here do it, if you dont you may just regret it, yes it is hard work adapting in the begining, and the red tape is a nightmare but look at this way if i can do it then so can you.
i have been over here 18 months and i wouldnt go back to the uk for anything, not to live anyway france is home.
,just another week then,other week did a tipper job(agency),first day artic job moving stone from a quarry to road builders,three trips.Jobs for next day told the same and 7.00 start got to yard office locked another driver to me job changed to 7.30 start??great I thought,half 7 office guy turns up so in my best french told him I want paying from 7.00 pulls is face,asked what truck points to a 6 legger rigid,at this point nearly told him to ■■■■ off in french but thought well Id got up and used my diesel Iill stay,should of gone back home,three trips up the side of a mountain with the “road” falling away at one side each time I went up,the views from the top of the mountain where great,the med was a lovely blue and could see the beaches for miles,got back and was thinking how to tell them nicely of course to stick the crap jobs up the when the office guy told me the job had gone too a french driver who they took on full time,couldnt understand why I was so happy when he told me froggy
blimey froggy you get through jobs faster than me
well i passed the t.m.d. (transport material dangerous) or adr basic as we know it this week.
god knows how i passed it as information was being fired at us at the rate of rapid fire either that or i was dosing off, but never the less passed it
last week of school next week, and the final exam and hopefully my passport to work the elusive fimo.
just need to stick a rocket up the chuff of tnt now and get them sorted 
salut
chris
well that will be that then, the jobs a goodun etc etc
as you may have gathered i have passed the fimo, with a score of 41/60 not bad for an englishman who 18 months ago could just get by.
got a week double driving next week, volvo fh12 460 globbie france, spain and italy and i am really looking forward to it as i have never been to italy and last time i went to spain was 26 years ago and too young to really remember it.
get that out the way then hopefully work with the same company or i will have to try to get something with nobby dentrisangles!!!
salut et bon route a tous!!!
chris
Bien joué Chris, and congratulations. Hope the new job works out for you.
Craig
Well done Chris, keep us up to date with how you get on
cheers guys
see how this week goes and hopefully get a job offer after, as this week is still part off the fimo course the easyiest way to explane it would be as work experiance
had better get off the computer now and go and sort my stuff out then have a kip as i am off down the road at 23:00
salut
chris
well done chris, youll either love or hate italy, theres seldom an inbetween. as long as you accept they drive a bit “full on colin mcrae powerslide through a welsh forest” at times you`ll be fine. let them get on with the lunacy and keep going as fast as you feel safe. rgds jon
p.s barcelona`s a bit manic too
Hi cave,bon chance,spent the last 2 weeks trying to get out of interviews,1200euro,s a mouth plus night,s out etc,just look on the anpe web ,did a few days on the angency a few weeks ago in UK (familly illness)made more than that in ten days ,take home pay.As for spain going there sat need some diesel(red wine) 
well didnt make italy, and only went about 15-20ks inside the boarder of spain, but enough to stock up on cheap smokes for me and my mum!!
to be honest the whole week was a waste of time and money (except for the cheap ■■■■ depending on your views on smoking ) i only drove for about two and a bit hours in the whole week, even though i have about 6 hours in total on my cards for the week
just sat in the passenger seat and either read or just watched the world go by
oh well as they say **it happens…
now i have to find a job, that should be fun!!!
salut
chris
ca va caveman,here,s one for you then £970 a month for 185 hours,late starts,not for me .Pity your not still pulling logs need some wood for the fire .froggy
probly a good job im not still pulling logs as he reckoned i could drive on my english licence errrrrrrr i think not, doesnt matter now thou as i now have my french licence which was very painless to get as we are talking about the french afterall my adr licence has come as well and i have got my fimo certifticate as well.
all i have to do now is find a job, have got a few address to send letters and cvs to, namely multi transports and vos at clermont ferrand.
as for logs grab the chainsaw, car and trailor and go fetch!! great excercise and nice fresh air as well, shame its diddling down here and i have all ready filled the log store up
late starts being late morning or late evening■■?
salut
chris