Does anyone know of any British companies, with British vehicles and British drivers who in this day and age, defy the odds and still opperate outside of W.Europe in places such as the Middle East, E.Europe, North Africa or even into Asia as in distant Russia and Kazakhstan etc? Do any still exist or has it all gone down the drain now?
john mann .drives to morroco, brit-european–goes poland,cezch,hungary.
shirleys transport-does poland , est-- goes where the customer wishes
to go.
brit pete:
john mann .drives to morroco, brit-european–goes poland,cezch,hungary.
shirleys transport-does poland , est-- goes where the customer wishes
to go.
Hi Pete,
I knew of John Mann but have heard that they now use alot of Spanish owner drivers and even Moroccan drivers. All the JMI trucks I’ve seen have been British and the drivers definetly didnt look like North Africans though.
Does Brit-European do Poland with British drivers though? Thats the thing I’m after, for me, a truck is only as British as the chap behind the wheel.
I know Eddies Transport from Scunthorpe do Poland (he’s Polish himself) but they have alot of Polish registered trucks now and I saw two of their wagons today at Scunthorpe pulling ex-ferry trailers so that doesn’t look great.
We sent four trucks to Russia last year with British drivers. Dave Hogg still send trucks there occasionally. Manno still use Brits on the Morocco run although not in the same numbers as they used to.
Are you after a job doing it then?
Vince
YES they do a lot of tanker work and as far as I know its still in the
hands of british drivers.also they do a lot of tilt and fridge work which
does take them that way as well, i am trying to recall more names and
there are enough english firms that go to the places you have mentioned but now days due to the risk of the cheaper bid for the job
many firms have explained to their drivers why they should keep “MUM”
about the work they do, there is a firm which does Romania with erf,s
but the name escapes me at this moement.
Eddies from Scunthorpe yes I have seen their lorrys, on the road.
Another firm is PETER BLAKES this is a tanker firm and they go any
where as well if the customer is paying.some one who goes to the east as well is PAUL BINNS yes him with the worlds best truck a FORD
TRANSCONTINENTAL; HE WAS IN Hungary last month picking up a
trailer with two SK mercs and took them back to GB:
Vince:
We sent four trucks to Russia last year with British drivers. Dave Hogg still send trucks there occasionally. Manno still use Brits on the Morocco run although not in the same numbers as they used to.Are you after a job doing it then?
Vince
In my dreams yes, but I havent even passed my test yet.
When you say John Mann doesn’t use Brits on the numbers they did, do you mean the companies business with Morocco has shrunk or that he now uses foreign drivers as well, putting the share of Brit drivers down?
robinhood_1984:
brit pete:
john mann .drives to morroco, brit-european–goes poland,cezch,hungary.
shirleys transport-does poland , est-- goes where the customer wishes
to go.All the JMI trucks I’ve seen have been British and the drivers definetly didnt look like North Africans though…
I heard the JMI drivers were on the magnificent sum of £45 a day 
plus night out money!
Dont know how true that is, could just be diesel talk but it was posted on here quite a while ago.
That maybe ok if you are young, single , just starting out and want to get some experience under your belt, but personally, if its true then its an appallingly low wage.
Cheers, bullitt.
robinhood_1984:
When you say John Mann doesn’t use Brits on the numbers they did, do you mean the companies business with Morocco has shrunk or that he now uses foreign drivers as well, putting the share of Brit drivers down?
They have lost most of their Morocco work to Davies Turner, and I believe DT use foreign labour.
I’m not 100% sure- the limit of my experience with John Mann is running trailers down to southern Spain to do changeovers with their drivers. One of our drivers used to work for them, I’ll try to get some info out of him tomorrow.
Vince
bullitt:
robinhood_1984:
brit pete:
john mann .drives to morroco, brit-european–goes poland,cezch,hungary.
shirleys transport-does poland , est-- goes where the customer wishes
to go.All the JMI trucks I’ve seen have been British and the drivers definetly didnt look like North Africans though…
I heard the JMI drivers were on the magnificent sum of £45 a day
Dont know how true that is, could just be diesel talk but it was posted on here quite a while ago.
That maybe ok if you are young, single , just starting out and want to get some experience under your belt, but personally, if its true then its an appallingly low wage.
Cheers, bullitt.
A certain company from Hull with Magnums who run to Italy pay even less than that per day, atleast thats what they offered my dad when he almost joined them last year, needless to say the only way to make a decent wage at said company was to run bent as they all did until recently.
Having said that, I’m 20 now and when passed all the necesarry BS needed to drive a truck, if JMI were to offer me a job (yeah right!) I’d take it because when it comes down to it, I’m after a way of life, not just a job. I dont know if I could live with getting up every morning to be faced with delivering to Keighly, Bolton or Sandbach but I could certainly live with a 2 to 3 week trip to Tangiers or Casablanca.
Yeah, I’ve seen quite a lot of Davies-Turner wag-drags etc with foreign drivers at the helm.
Don’t Daly Transport Services (DTS Logistics) in Milton Keynes still do Morrocan work? I was talking to one of their drivers about 2 or 3 years ago and they still ran there then, but a lot of the drivers refused to do the work due to the amount of trouble they had experienced over there.
Paul.
Yeti:
Yeah, I’ve seen quite a lot of Davies-Turner wag-drags etc with foreign drivers at the helm.Don’t Daly Transport Services (DTS Logistics) in Milton Keynes still do Morrocan work? I was talking to one of their drivers about 2 or 3 years ago and they still ran there then, but a lot of the drivers refused to do the work due to the amount of trouble they had experienced over there.
Paul.
Are all their drivers foreigners? I’ve seen their trucks but I never had the slightest idea they did Morocco.
robinhood_1984:
[A certain company from Hull with Magnums who run to Italy pay even less than that per day, atleast thats what they offered my dad when he almost joined them last year, needless to say the only way to make a decent wage at said company was to run bent as they all did until recently..
If you are referring to European Freight, they are on £70 a day.
Vince
Yeti:
Yeah, I’ve seen quite a lot of Davies-Turner wag-drags etc with foreign drivers at the helm.Don’t Daly Transport Services (DTS Logistics) in Milton Keynes still do Morrocan work? I was talking to one of their drivers about 2 or 3 years ago and they still ran there then, but a lot of the drivers refused to do the work due to the amount of trouble they had experienced over there.
Paul.
Last time I was tipping in DTS MK they only did uk work. All the stuff came in via eastern european firms or containers. That was about a year ago.
There has been quite a downturn in work from Morrocco over the last 2 years, John Mann has been running to Algeciras doing trailer changes, although the wagon and drags still go over to the mainland. Maes has taken over the Breda work and Jan De Lely are still running down there, I was with a driver on the Caen boat who worked for Lely.
Vince:
robinhood_1984:
[A certain company from Hull with Magnums who run to Italy pay even less than that per day, atleast thats what they offered my dad when he almost joined them last year, needless to say the only way to make a decent wage at said company was to run bent as they all did until recently..
If you are referring to European Freight, they are on £70 a day.
Vince
They offered my dad £40 per day, plus so many pence per km and about £3 per drop…whatever it was it was a very low wage as he’s on about £65 per day on mainly UK work and would have gone to European Freight for abit less money if it got him on proper continental again. I’m not making this up Vince, that is genuinly what they offered him. But even they have started getting Polish drivers in, they have atleast 6 now I think, though I believe they do still take English drivers on.
Wheel Nut:
There has been quite a downturn in work from Morrocco over the last 2 years, John Mann has been running to Algeciras doing trailer changes, although the wagon and drags still go over to the mainland. Maes has taken over the Breda work and Jan De Lely are still running down there, I was with a driver on the Caen boat who worked for Lely.
I read a while back that the fruit of the loom factories in Ireland (North and South) were closing down. I understand alot of the John Mann work was between those factories and Morocco? If they’ve closed down, surely that would have a massive impact on their line of work.
That’s what the drivers from European Freight told me at Habay where I was weekended a few weeks ago. Whether its true, false or half-true, I just don’t know.
They could certainly afford to buy a lot of beer over the weekend 
Vince
there is a firm which does Romania with erf,s
but the name escapes me at this moement.
It is BIANCA’s Transport (London) they do regular London - Romania - London but i never seen them, i heard that name and seen throu by mags, website so they use all Fleet of ERF truck and stepframe box trailer i think they have few small fleet.
John Mann International, i have heard rumour they use morocoian drivers but i never see them they seem too british nationally but recently grower numbers i seen spanish owner driver pull John Mann Trailer moment…
Or Try Ralph Davies, they do before Russia, near China work
Cheers Ben
Vince:
That’s what the drivers from European Freight told me at Habay where I was weekended a few weeks ago. Whether its true, false or half-true, I just don’t know.They could certainly afford to buy a lot of beer over the weekend
Vince
My dad spoke to loads of European Freight drivers before their transport manager actually contacted him (someone gave him my dads number) and most of the drivers my dad spoke to wouldn’t disclose their wage or what one said was different to what another said. Pitty it wasn’t £70 per day though, because my dad would be there now, not doing rubbish UK work with a Swiss/German run every 3 weeks.
£70 per day!!!
I personally wouldnt even consider getting out of bed for less than at LEAST £100 per day. If your dad is one of a dying breed, and is a British driver that knows his way around Europe, (of which there seems to be fewer and fewer)he will know he is worth a LOT more than £70 a day.
And i dont mean any disrespect to the UK drivers when i say that, its basically a matter of if you want to be away for 1 night or 20 nights on the trot.
Me personally, i have got no problem in being away for a month at a time, thats MY choice, not some GIT who thinks he knows whats best for me.
As for Eastern Europen Robinhood, David Croombe from Sheerness still do it, but you will have a job to speak English with their drivers as i dont think any of em speak it
Good luck to your dad in whatever he decides to do anyway 