in todays paper it comented on the amount of eastern block/non english speaking hgv drivers working for uk firms,is it because they are cheaper to hire?i dont think so uk firms have to pay the minium wage,is it because they dont mind nights away,maybe,or is it because the uk haulage industry has stopped thinking that the driver is a highly trained person responsible for thousands of pounds worth of equipment and goods,its now all down to profit and large companys,so all of us uk profesional drivers will have to get used to being on parr with tesco shelf stackers,but then again did we get above are station when times were good after all were only lorry drivers!!!
strongbowpeter:
is it because they are cheaper to hire?
Kinda answered your own question methinks.
Ken.
And don’t forget that Eastern European drivers regardless of class of licence WILL drive for min wage - Will you?
right. time for me to stick my two penneth worth in.
total myth about being cheaper. i operate trucks and have done for along time now. i have a very succseful company and continue to trade and make a profit in europe. i have offices in ipswich (head office) poznan.premsyl (sp) brno and budapest.
when the original mass exodus of labour started into europe from the ascending countrys in the eu the drivers who where left rightly so demanded wages to match thier counterparts in europe or they would do the same.as the shortage of drivers became chronic. if someone can post a photo for me i have a line up of trucks with no drivers for all to see.
in 1 weekend alone i lost 8 drivers to a well known norfolk fridge operator. 6 of those drivers are now back with me as to quote “the grass is not greener on the other side”
my polish drivers earn around €2200.00 take home a month so around the same as a uk tramper all legal and ubove board with trucks less than 3 yrs old.
in my opinion the only difference is that say 4pm friday afternoon they will take a load from london to aberdeen and not moan they have the work ethic. not all but certanly from my opinion 90% do. yes ive had bad apples but far less than when i had uk regs trucks and drivers.
and as for cheap rates well thats not quite correct. next week i have my first english subby start for me. i asked him to quote for the work i have on contract and he actually is 2pence per km cheaper than my own trucks and i have not got my sums wrong either. if he stays is another matter but its his price not mine ferry paid by me of course. so unless anyone can contradict me i think this should kill this "romanians will do it for free myth.
If am honest it’s not all down to forign driver’s at all , AGENCY’S PLAY BIG PART IN THIS .
To be fair providing the driver can comunicate as and when needed is all that matter’s in the long run , if it’s about money or not some company’s will exploit the matter that there forign and pay them low wage .
Companys are more botherd about it getting done and with little fuss as possible.
There is plenty of english out there that has poor driving standard’s not just easten european’s.
Remember many years back you could leave one job in morning and by lunch time you could have a new job not anymore.
It does get my back up when they dont put anything back into the system because am sure there is fair few claiming from the govermont .
We should have had a system like OZ and NZ where works on a point system on skills etc.
Reason there better of than us is they stick together and p*ss in the same pot as the saying goes 
English just look after number one .
Rent a few houses out to english and easten european’s and if am honest the money is there every month without fail and there kept spotless , yes had few bad one’s just as had few bad english but as a rule i prefer to rent out to easten european’s because it’s hassle free not arguing for rent etc , mainly polish to be fair , had one family ended up out of work offerd for me to take the car untill the rent arrears had been solved , to which i said no due to been long standing tenants , following month money was there along with the previos month’s .
As with everything there is good and bad side’s to everyone .
If they are employed by a firm in the UK then I would have thought
that they would be paying income tax here, as for sending money home
well that is what every one does , the wages in the new EU country’s
are rising and although still behind the west they soon will catch up
as their living costs rise then so will the wages,
I will stand by what I have said before how ever if employed to drive in only the UK then just as many of us have had to do because we work/live outside of the UK they driver should be capable of communicating in good basic English written and spoken
Unscrupulous British hauliers have used Eastern European labour as a way of dropping their wages, the influx of foreign labour coincided with the driver shortage in this country, the demand for drivers had driven up wages to a decent level, that all changed when ‘they’ came over, suddenly there were more drivers than jobs & the supply & demand balance changed in favour of the employers, some of this can be attributed to drivers undercutting each other, but mostly it’s caused by the supply & demand, so whichever way you look at it, Eastern Europeans have driven wages down, but that isn’t their fault, the fault lies with the government, they’re the ones who allowed excessive immigration, the result of which is the situation we find today. As usual they’ve made a balls up of things, instead of a controlled immigration policy where the people that come to the country actually contribute to it, they let anybody & everybody in, instead of balancing the pool of workers they flooded the market.
brados:
And don’t forget that Eastern European drivers regardless of class of licence WILL drive for min wage - Will you?
Why do you think that Willi Betz,a German firm,employs mostly Bulgarian and Russian drivers■■?
Has one of the biggest fleets in Europe.
most of the foreigners have better work ethic than alot of us…
yes they will WORK for minimum wage… alot of brits will sit on their arse and then blame everyone around them for low wages ect… its the benefit system that has caused this attitude, anyone can find themselves out of work but a limit should be placed on how long benefits can be claimed, if they still cannot find work then they should be forced to assist local councils, industry ect…
on a radio discussion a couple of weeks ago it was claimed a couple of million £s of farm produce was left to rot in the ground as farmers could not find enough folk to help harvest the crop, this inturn forced the argument that the UK need more immigrant workers?
Slicker Why get the trumpet out you are paying what should be paid infact if they will go anywhere any time you should not be greedy and pay more…by that is a new one bragging about paying a fair wage
its a total load of ■■■■■■■■ they work harder than us, yes when they 1 st come theyll work [wouldnt we if our wages were doubled,trebled], but it doesnt take them long to start moaning, listen to them every day in our canteen so i know its true,i did 15 hrs yesterday,no again today-that is to far for me,the amount that are meant to do collections and just come straight back to yard.
there alright,i get on with them alright but it really ■■■■■■ me off being told they work harder when they dont 
.
as for this about them being here , there here because when firms wanted drivers they couldnt get a british driver for love nor money, i remember loads of agency being asked if they wanted fulltime jobs, not a chance, not for those wages. so the firms had to get foreigners in, no one was bothered about it untill the bubble burst.
now the same agency drivers who didnt want the jobs are now roaring there eyes out that the poles,foreigners have taken there jobs 
there jobs 
.
as i say there not here for less wages,ours get paid the same,there not here to lower wages etc,etc,there not here because they work harder there here because drivers wouldnt take full time jobs ,fair enough, but dont roar about it when it backfires on you, its your own zb fault not johnny foreigner
dle1uk:
most of the foreigners have better work ethic than alot of us…
If that where true why are lots coming here for better ,more highly paid work?
You’ll find ‘foreigners’ are exactly like us. There’s the ones who want to work and earn some dosh and there’s the ones who come for a better scrounge. We’ve already got our own homegrown varieties of both.
Personally, i take a leaf out of anyones book who is succesful,i’m currently working on Simon Cowels work ethic. Works for him, why not me !! 
r slicker:
in my opinion the only difference is that say 4pm friday afternoon they will take a load from london to aberdeen and not moan they have the work ethic. not all but certanly from my opinion 90% do. yes ive had bad apples but far less than when i had uk regs trucks and drivers.
I think its fair to say, most if not all of them are not going home on a Friday anyway,they are here to work. On the other hand some of us live here full time. I prefer the Spanish ethic of “manyana” !!!
brados:
And don’t forget that Eastern European drivers regardless of class of licence WILL drive for min wage - Will you?
Very brave statement… Sadly not valid anymore.
1000 quids per month here (~5600 zł) or 6000 zł per month at home? What will you choose?
r slicker:
right. time for me to stick my two penneth worth in.total myth about being cheaper. i operate trucks and have done for along time now. i have a very succseful company and continue to trade and make a profit in europe. i have offices in ipswich (head office) poznan.premsyl (sp) brno and budapest.
when the original mass exodus of labour started into europe from the ascending countrys in the eu the drivers who where left rightly so demanded wages to match thier counterparts in europe or they would do the same.as the shortage of drivers became chronic. if someone can post a photo for me i have a line up of trucks with no drivers for all to see.
in 1 weekend alone i lost 8 drivers to a well known norfolk fridge operator. 6 of those drivers are now back with me as to quote “the grass is not greener on the other side”
my polish drivers earn around €2200.00 take home a month so around the same as a uk tramper all legal and ubove board with trucks less than 3 yrs old.
in my opinion the only difference is that say 4pm friday afternoon they will take a load from london to aberdeen and not moan they have the work ethic. not all but certanly from my opinion 90% do. yes ive had bad apples but far less than when i had uk regs trucks and drivers.
and as for cheap rates well thats not quite correct. next week i have my first english subby start for me. i asked him to quote for the work i have on contract and he actually is 2pence per km cheaper than my own trucks and i have not got my sums wrong either. if he stays is another matter but its his price not mine ferry paid by me of course. so unless anyone can contradict me i think this should kill this "romanians will do it for free myth.
Thank you for some mythbusting 
ady1:
its a total load of ■■■■■■■■ they work harder than us, yes when they 1 st come theyll work [wouldnt we if our wages were doubled,trebled], but it doesnt take them long to start moaning, listen to them every day in our canteen so i know its true
I owe you some cultural explanation: Moaning is a national sport of Poles and many Eastern Europeans. If you ask him “how are you” in 9 cases of 10 he will start telling you about all his problems and if everything is just perfect he’ll say “Oh, so-so, but it could be better” 
But this not realted to work. They will moan, and they will work
There is one Polish guy in Matthew Clark in Glasgow, I had some shifts there recently and every single driver mate was telling me how much is he swearing and moaning. But at the same time they say that he’s a hard worker…
i delivered to a build site in helmsley, i knew the site manager and this was his last job before retiring, when i first went their he was ■■■■■■ off, reason was he thought his company were being prats to him, 30 years service and they give me a load of polish ******* to work with ect… some of his words, after a few months i spoke to him again as he had a smile on his face, he could not praise these poles enough, he said he gives them a job to do they do it to a good standard in good time and don,t moan, when they are done they are knocking on the door for the next job, alot of brits will be given the same job go and put kettle on read paper go and have a look for the tools and equipment passing the cafe and the kettle again… stretch the job out and then sit drinking tea when the jobs done… the job was finished before time and he puts this down to the polish workforce…
i too work with some poles and yes they do moan about the job ect, but their moans are because they seem to want to get and get the job done, maybe cutting a few corners, but some of the other guys are moaning because they have work to do??
i find it that there are 1000,s of unemployed in this country who cannot for some reason find a job yet someone comes into the country does,nt know alot about the country but can still find work??
orys:
‘… 1000 quids per month here (~5600 zÅ‚) or 6000 zÅ‚ per month at home? What will you choose?..’
A Freudian slip?
It appears that the UK isn’t ‘home’ for many yet.
I am not enjoying the way that the UK is whoring itself - especially with such attitudes bathing themselves in our situation.
When will the alienation that is disenfranchising the natives subside?
Bliar, Brown, Cameron, Clegg - where is your shame in not offering me a vote on this happening?
Happy Keith:
orys:
‘… 1000 quids per month here (~5600 zÅ‚) or 6000 zÅ‚ per month at home? What will you choose?..’A Freudian slip?
No.
Simply I don’t think that annyone who lives here would fancy to work for minimum wage, so I think the only option would be the people, who come here only to work, but still have home back in Poland. Like these people who drive for G&S for example. They come here, do their 4 weeks in the lorry and fly back home for their week off. Do you know that they even have a bunkhouse in case that you finished your work today and your plane is tommorow? That could be the only type of people who would like to work for minimum wage in the past. Now, it’s no point if you can earn more back home.
If your home is here, your live costs you much more than back in Poland (although not AS much as it used to be) and therefore by working for minimum wage you are actually better off back in Poland. So to stay here you have to earn more than minimum wage to make it economically reasonable.
It appears that the UK isn’t ‘home’ for many yet.
Off course it isn’t. I live here nearly 5 years and I just start to think about Scotland as my home (and yet I still feel that WrocÅ‚aw is my hometown as well at the same time). You can see many of Brits working across the pond or somewhere in Europe and they come here to that forum, as they also have two “homes” - here and there. They leave in Spain or whatever, but they still consider themselves as citizens of the UK. This is the reason why Welshboyinspain do not use nickname Spanishguyofwelshdescentinspain
If you could earn £3500 a mounth working for say a French firm or £2000 for a uk firm were would you work? me I would go to France