Hi all, my name is Ryan, i am from Medway in the Southeast UK, stumbled across this forum by accident while in the process of looking for continental work… looks like a good forum so decided to sign up
I have held a car licnese for 6years, manual psv license for 4 years, C1 & C for 2 years and i passed my C+E last thursday!! I am uber happy now i have the C+E as its something i have wanted from day 1, mostly for the personal achievement and my goal was to have all my licenses before my 25th birthday (next month) -and without using the military to get them… which i can happly say i achieved!!
Now tho… C+E , proper trucks job wise,i dont know where to start! im employed though an agency at the moment, have been for about a year and half, but tbh i would like something more perminant now…
Tbh, i hate multidropping (im sure im not the only one!) i dont mind night shifts and would much prefer trunking work… But the job i would love more than any is continenantal work, pref past the boundaries of europe!! But what companies deal with this sort of work?! is there people on here do this? how is the whole thing organised? ie, same route, could end up anywhere, based in UK or abroad etc etc?? and what kind of pay could one expect from this sort of work?
Hope you can help me, and i look foward to using this forum
If you want continental work, look in at Husk’s yard on the A2 or around Dover itself. Brit-European are somewhere around there, European are in Dover, there’s a fair few still doing it, have a look along Coombe Valley Road.
We haven’t got anything going at the moment alas or I would have a word with my boss.
Thanx everyone!! just gaggin to get driving them now! thats the problem with working agencies, passing the class1 test doesn’t mean ill actually be driving one anytime soon infact, the next day that i worked after passing, i was doing a 7.5tonne job :S yuck! lol im going to start nagging them tho, would like to get driving them straight asap so the ‘skill’ sinks in and becomes perminant… obv having only driven an artic for the 5 days of my training and test, if i leave it too long before getting back into one, ill find it harder to Re-adapt … but the agency said my age is the main problem due to insurances!
Think ill get the good old phonebook out at the weekend and look for some international transport companies, hand out a few cv’s
RyanRs:
Thanx everyone!! just gaggin to get driving them now! thats the problem with working agencies, passing the class1 test doesn’t mean ill actually be driving one anytime soon infact, the next day that i worked after passing, i was doing a 7.5tonne job :S yuck! lol im going to start nagging them tho, would like to get driving them straight asap so the ‘skill’ sinks in and becomes perminant… obv having only driven an artic for the 5 days of my training and test, if i leave it too long before getting back into one, ill find it harder to Re-adapt … but the agency said my age is the main problem due to insurances!
Think ill get the good old phonebook out at the weekend and look for some international transport companies, hand out a few cv’s
[zb] agencies you’re just a bum that will fill a seat and earn them their parasite wages.
This time of year is crap on agency. Jan - end Mar if you Havn’t been with them for a year or so.
Work is scarce and they give it all to their fave’s first.
I was over 20 yrs experienced, containers, fridges, tankers, supermarkets etc this agency zb sends me on a job as a drivers mate in a 7.5 tonner doing home delivery’s. ZB
You can guess where I told him to stick it
(Edited for trying to beat the auto-censor. You didn’t beat me. Simon)
robB39:
[zb] agencies you’re just a bum that will fill a seat and earn them their parasite wages.
This time of year is crap on agency. Jan - end Mar if you Havn’t been with them for a year or so.
Work is scarce and they give it all to their fave’s first.
I was over 20 yrs experienced, containers, fridges, tankers, supermarkets etc this agency zb sends me on a job as a drivers mate in a 7.5 tonner doing home delivery’s. ZB
You can guess where I told him to stick it
haha! i know exactly what you mean there! had 1st hand experience just these past 2 weeks!!
i thought, Yay! passed my class1, so hopefully ill get ‘Class 1 work’! do i [zb] ! instead i get a week of Argos work in a 7.5t as a drivers mate,40 drops!! delivering washing machines, sofa beds, dinner tables etc -majority to 1st,2nd,3rd floor flats !!! i dont know how these argos people do it every day , i could barely do it for a week and im very physically fit!
Well, im 25 now and just as i thought (for a 2nd time) YAY! im gona get class1 work… im now faced with the good ole ‘Gotta have 2 years experience!!’ rubbish! JESUS!! what next!! ill probably get my 2years and they will tell me iv gotta be fluent in every language and come 1st in the london olimpics!! jeeush! Why is it so hard to get a job in this industry now! its only a lorry for christ sake! lol
has anyone had experience with coolchain? thinking about giving them a try?
(Edited the quote for a language indiscretion.
Don’t use stars or symbols or only typing part of a word in to try and beat the auto-censor, you may beat it but you won’t beat the mod’. Just type the whole word in. If it isn’t allowed, the auto-censor will edit it, even in preview. If you prefer, you can then try a different word, or leave it as [zb]. We can usually figure out what you’d like to say. Simon)
RyanRs:
has anyone had experience with coolchain? thinking about giving them a try?
give anybody a try. i would have though you would be in a good area though for the european stuff and also containers, even traction only out of the ports.
Hi Ryan …congrats and welcome to the site…coolchain is a company like my one (Solstor-Profresh-southern) who collects from farms and delivers to supermarkets, mainly Tesco…we supply all the fruit for sainsburys and also other supermarkets as we are a fruit import company based in Crayford. As the others have told you, there are many companies in/around dover, and the kent area. personally, i think, in todays climate you could earn more money in the uk than on the continent, which is why theres not many english firms doing it. as you rightly said, your age could be against you, as 25 seems to be the bare minimum, and would certainly overload the premium for international work, but dont let that put you off…keep trying, and something will happen, but you wont get it from the agency…use the phone…and dont forget truckstop news…they sometimes advertise in there…
We were going to take someone on under 25 and the insurance difference was an additional £500 on the excess to which we said OK. (We do quite a bit of double-manning and would have put him out with an experienced driver at first). If you are really wanting to get a foot in the door and the insurance comment is a stumbling block, offer if you can/want to cover the additional excess. Just a thought. You may get lucky though so keep persevering. Look smart, turn up on time and keep any paperwork presentable - you’d be surprised how far ahead of some other people that will put you.
job wise,i dont know where to start! im employed though an agency at the moment, have been for about a year and half, but tbh i would like something more perminant now…
¬-----------------Welcome to TruckNet RyanRs and congratulations on passing the C+E 
infact, the next day that i worked after passing, i was doing a 7.5tonne job :S yuck! lol im going to start nagging them tho, would like to get driving them straight asap so the ‘skill’ sinks in and becomes perminant… obv having only driven an artic for the 5 days of my training and test, if i leave it too long before getting back into one, ill find it harder to Re-adapt … but the agency said my age is the main problem due to insurances!
i dont know how these argos people do it every day , i could barely do it for a week and im very physically fit!
JESUS!! what next!! ill probably get my 2years and they will tell me iv gotta be fluent in every language and come 1st in the london olimpics!! jeeush! Why is it so hard to get a job in this industry now! its only a lorry for christ sake! lol