Hi all, passed my cat C last month and am told I have full CPC entitlement. I am hoping to try and get work in France but have been told I might need something called :- ■■? fimo ■■?. Anybody know anything about this and do I need it?
Rich
If you do a search in the Euro section you’ll find out more, try FCOS (?) too 
I moved it to the Euro forum, more chance of getting replies in here.
Hi there,
Yes, you do need FIMO to work here in France (FCOS is the next step five years after: FIMO is the initial training, FCOS is the refresher/continuation which applies to more experienced drivers or those who already did their FIMO within the previous five years).
While you, like every other British driver who has yet to take his DCPC, has automatic DCPC entitlement until 2014, in the eyes of the French employer you can’t be legally employed as you’ve no card to prove your DCPC status, nor have you spent 35 hours in training. Here a truck driver has to undergo their 35 hours of training before they can get on the road - the French introduced FIMO/FCOS back in 1998 (if memory serves me correctly), their equivalent of the DCPC and it’s standard practise to ask for your card when you go for an interview. Obviously I’m not an expert in European legislation, and there are many guys on here much more clued-up legally than me, so I’m just telling you this from my own experience as a Brit driver working for a French firm. When I initially moved here in 1999 it was already almost impossible to get a job without FIMO and the only job I managed to score was working for a cowboy outfit in Marseille - a job which lasted less than a week as I realised that little legal requirements like a piece of paper was the least of their concerns compared to their ability to run shaky old death traps with wire showing through the tyre treads and disconnected limiters. Fast forward a decade and I decided to pay for my DCPC while back in the UK: the card comes through the door a week after the final seven hour course and I’m welcomed with open arms into the fraternité of French truck drivers. Okay, some might ask why I paid out of my own pocket for something I may technically not have yet needed, but I figured it was easier to spend a week’s pay on training and then get out to work rather than sit at home whining about it or making endless calls with no positive outcome (we tried that back in 1999 with one of the French transport federations).
Just to add a note of hope, some firms will pay for your training if they are desperate for drivers. Back in 2007 I was chatting to the transport manager of TSA in St Omer and mentioned I was thinking about going back on the road and he said no problem, we’ll give you the job and provide the training. Of course the economic climate was different then to how it is now, but if you try those firms like TSA who run almost exclusively to the UK, and for whom a Brit driver is a definite advantage, you might be lucky and get the FIMO offered in the package.
Any more questions, send me a PM, or ask David (Spardo) as he worked much longer than me over here.
~ Craig
Craig 111:
Hi there,Yes, you do need FIMO to work here in France (FCOS is the next step five years after: FIMO is the initial training, FCOS is the refresher/continuation which applies to more experienced drivers or those who already did their FIMO within the previous five years).
While you, like every other British driver who has yet to take his DCPC, has automatic DCPC entitlement until 2014, in the eyes of the French employer you can’t be legally employed as you’ve no card to prove your DCPC status, nor have you spent 35 hours in training. Here a truck driver has to undergo their 35 hours of training before they can get on the road - the French introduced FIMO/FCOS back in 1998 (if memory serves me correctly), their equivalent of the DCPC and it’s standard practise to ask for your card when you go for an interview. Obviously I’m not an expert in European legislation, and there are many guys on here much more clued-up legally than me, so I’m just telling you this from my own experience as a Brit driver working for a French firm. When I initially moved here in 1999 it was already almost impossible to get a job without FIMO and the only job I managed to score was working for a cowboy outfit in Marseille - a job which lasted less than a week as I realised that little legal requirements like a piece of paper was the least of their concerns compared to their ability to run shaky old death traps with wire showing through the tyre treads and disconnected limiters. Fast forward a decade and I decided to pay for my DCPC while back in the UK: the card comes through the door a week after the final seven hour course and I’m welcomed with open arms into the fraternité of French truck drivers. Okay, some might ask why I paid out of my own pocket for something I may technically not have yet needed, but I figured it was easier to spend a week’s pay on training and then get out to work rather than sit at home whining about it or making endless calls with no positive outcome (we tried that back in 1999 with one of the French transport federations).
Just to add a note of hope, some firms will pay for your training if they are desperate for drivers. Back in 2007 I was chatting to the transport manager of TSA in St Omer and mentioned I was thinking about going back on the road and he said no problem, we’ll give you the job and provide the training. Of course the economic climate was different then to how it is now, but if you try those firms like TSA who run almost exclusively to the UK, and for whom a Brit driver is a definite advantage, you might be lucky and get the FIMO offered in the package.
Any more questions, send me a PM, or ask David (Spardo) as he worked much longer than me over here.
~ Craig
Great Post Craig that will help to disprove that the DCPC is an ugly thing foisted on just us by Brussels
thanks to coffeeholic for moving my post to the Euro page, and thanks to craig for the helpful post. I’m living in Brittany near Carhaix but am more than happy to travel to get work. Anybody know a list of companies in France who specialise in the UK. I’m very new to France and my French is still poor. I thought I was going to have to go find work in the UK and leave my wife here in Brittany but if I can work in the UK from a french base it would be fantastic. Any ideas anyone.
Rich
richvanho:
thanks to coffeeholic for moving my post to the Euro page, and thanks to craig for the helpful post. I’m living in Brittany near Carhaix but am more than happy to travel to get work. Anybody know a list of companies in France who specialise in the UK. I’m very new to France and my French is still poor. I thought I was going to have to go find work in the UK and leave my wife here in Brittany but if I can work in the UK from a french base it would be fantastic. Any ideas anyone.
Rich
With a class C I think you might struggle to find anyone running to UK with rigids from your area. Mesguen at St Pol and TFE International in Rennes both go the UK, but you’d need C+E to get on with them. I’d suggest you get your DCPC sorted and head to the nearest employment agencies as they’re the main source of work for new drivers here (and you’ll be very fortunate to score a full-time contract - ‘CDI’ - while the euro market is under such pressure). I found that work will be pretty quiet at the start of the year but by April the agencies will be desperate for drivers. With a class C and limited experience you’ll most likely get offered work in ‘messagerie’ (multi-drop) for the likes of Calberson or Alloin, or be offered tipper work. If you can get a bit of experience in site work with tippers/mixers (what the French call TP - ‘travaux publics’) back in the UK you should get work in the same sector here no problem when the building trade gets back up to speed in Spring.
~ Craig
Wheel Nut:
Great Post Craig that will help to disprove that the DCPC is an ugly thing foisted on just us by Brussels
No Malc, it’s an even uglier thing invented by the Frogs 
~ Craig
TSA=Transportes Saint Arnould.
For the poster learning French,i taught myself,as my teacher at school was not good,too strict,i locked myself away in the school library and started with young kids books in French,and slowly worked up to reading grown up books,i tried to learn so many new words a week,and build up to more,if i was not sure of the wording,i would look it up in the dictionary,you learn very fast like that.
When sat down for a meal in the restuarants in French,they all had different accents and dialects,i could not understand what they were on about,then all of a sudden,it all gelled together,whereby interacting in the conversation,of the normal stuff,of where you loaded,where you are going,and so on,then the food order from the waitress.
When stopped by the law in France,they were so impressed i made the effort not to the typecast chimp behind the wheel,most times they would send me on my way with no “Controlle”,the same for the Douanes.
Rivanho,you can search for French driving jobs by using the machines at the job centre,just type in international,to search.
What about Guisnel next to the national road at Dol de Bretagne. I’ve seen them in the UK
richvanho:
thanks to coffeeholic for moving my post to the Euro page, and thanks to craig for the helpful post. I’m living in Brittany near Carhaix but am more than happy to travel to get work. Anybody know a list of companies in France who specialise in the UK. I’m very new to France and my French is still poor. I thought I was going to have to go find work in the UK and leave my wife here in Brittany but if I can work in the UK from a french base it would be fantastic. Any ideas anyone.
Rich
For FIMO training there is a company and their name escapes me in the Rennes direction after St Brieuc ,its the first exit (you will see Opel garage on your right and SuperU on the left,they are on the road yo Yffinac Gare about 200 meters on the right in the ZI.
Edit to add, Rosco Transports at San pol de Leon do Uk and have some UK drivers ,Laurent Pellier at Minic Morvan do uk, also Transalliance do, I saw one the other day with Transalliance Amor on the front so they must have a base somewhere in 22 ,there is also Norberet in Roscoff or on ZI Nord at St Malo, you could also try TFE in Vannes and I have seen a firm from Devon in my area frequently with green and white truck/trailers running around,they are also ■■?Amor,I think they are from Plymouth area
kerbut:
you could also try TFE in Vannes and I have seen a firm from Devon in my area frequently with green and white truck/trailers running around,they are also ■■?Amor,I think they are from Plymouth area
TFE Vannes is no longer the international depot, their fellas just do national stuff now, no UK.
Armoric is the firm with green and white trucks, the boss Marc has an A1 reputation but don’t think he’ll have anything for a class C driver, only ever seen artics in his colours.
~ Craig
richvanho:
Hi all, passed my cat C last month and am told I have full CPC entitlement
so you have done the 35 hours training then? if so there’s no need for this bit
Craig 111:
While you, like every other British driver who has yet to take his DCPC, has automatic DCPC entitlement until 2014, in the eyes of the French employer you can’t be legally employed as you’ve no card to prove your DCPC status, nor have you spent 35 hours in training. Here a truck driver has to undergo their 35 hours of training before they can get on the road - the French introduced FIMO/FCOS back in 1998
~ Craig
when my old man worked for nobbys at santes, all the english drivers there were sent on the course at the college in lille ,they did the course with a english guy who lives out there, i will ask my oldman if he still has the blokes name and number for you.