Manitobia companys taking on uk drivers

[bobthedog]

I can only say about the whole time I was there. In truth, very few people knew about the crap with Puffs cancer. That was something cooked up by the 2 idiots in the corner office. I doubt that they would have been there long if I had made an issue of it with the powers there. I suspect there would have been dismissals, somehow.

The withdrawing job offers has happened a few times, but only after the applicant has been granted their PR before they started working. I know of at least 2 who had their landed status before arriving in Canada and who never even got through their orientation, so you can see why the firm might be a bit canny about it.

John was quite happy to put up with the nonsense. It is quite easy to see through their silliness with practice. Remember that I left under a fairly large cloud, with Eric and I ending up toe to toe in the carpark, and I didn’t have my PR at that point. The last week there was ridiculous, and Eric was so eager to be rid of me that he didn’t even notice I had already walked out of the gate.

My point, and Johns, is that they were bloody good. John came and looked around before the nonsense started and I was already working there before that. To be fair to the firm, they had some real clowns come through the gates and they were bound to become suspicious of all of us because of that.

[newmercman]

bobthedog:
they had some real clowns come through the gates and they were bound to become suspicious of all of us because of that.

But,

Who let the clowns through the gates Could it possibly be the same people that read through their job applications and then arranged interviews with them in England, before feeding them a pack of lies and bringing them into the country under false pretences, namely that they’d be, and I’ll quote ‘doing 10-14 day trips, you’ll be spending more time in Texas than Manitoba, we’ve got so much work you’ll be begging us to get you back to the yard, you’ll have no problems doing your 10000miles in three weeks blah blah [zb]ing blah’ That’s what they told me, every word of it was a lie As I’ve said, I didn’t want special treatment, I just wanted the job that I signed up to do, even stretching the job out I couldn’t make a run to Alberta last more than 4 days, well depending on the time I spent waiting for my reload, that’s 10 days short of their promises, I never went to Texas at all, I did make the 10000mile target, but only because I did what I promised to do… WORK

They couldn’t give a toss about who they employed, they just wanted bums on seats, as long as you had a pulse you would’ve got a job, I heard that they got $10k for each person they put through the PNP, don’t know how true it is, I never bothered looking in to it as I came over on the HRSDC programme, so they earned SFA for me

Don’t you find it funny that I don’t slag off Paul Brandt Trucking, you don’t slag off Keystone, Nianiamh doesn’t slag off Flying Eagle and Dave PMSL 66 hasn’t slagged Penner International, yet we all are less than complimentary about Big Freight, could that be because the job we all have with our new companies is the same job as the one we applied for in the first place, no empty promises, no outright lies and no being treated like a second class citizen

[nianiamh]

I think they were right about spending most of our time in TEXAS, it was just that HOME DEPOT had bought them out before we came over

Looks like they`ve forgot to mention the reduction for loading/unloading/tarping/untarping, oh and the total loss of payment for border crossing

And i do remember being told in training never trust an employer who puts all payments together to achive a higher mileage rate as they`ve got something to hide
well here you go 52c per mile BS BS BS BS BS

[newmercman]

nianiamh:
I think they were right about spending most of our time in TEXAS, it was just that HOME DEPOT had bought them out before we came over

Don’t you mean HOME DEEEEEEEEEEEPO

Just ask for Tom

Earn over $5100 a month, I take more than that home each month

[dave_lol66]

I won’t complain about the first few months at BFS, I had some good trips, even got to Texas Mark but it went downhill very quickly for me. Got to the point where Chicago and back had turned into a weeks work, 6 days for 1600 miles How can you live on that
It got to the stage where I spent more time sitting at home waiting for work, calling twice a day to check then spend a day in the yard
NEVER EVER trust a company that lumps its pay together to make it look good, they are hiding something 52c per mile lmfao

And Mark you are correct once again, I have no need or reason to complain or slag off Penners because this is what I came to Canada to do

[bobthedog]

And I am not arguing any of that. Here’s the thing though… We would, none of us, have been here except for BFS. Dave says that his first few months were good, and that was how I had found things right up till about the same time, so I had a good time for a lot longer. It is bound to give me a different point of view.

Mark, it makes no difference. I came on HRSDC but had to get a nomination same as you did. HRSDC is nothhing more or less than a temporary agreement between you, the company and the government. It only stood any chance of permanance once we were nominated. To the best of my knowledge, the firm never got anything for employing us, although I am sure they got tax breaks for training, etc…

No, I have no complaints about KSW, none at all. After last years little escapade, and with Puffs health, etc., they have been beyond fantastic to me. I know that we have all moved on and are happier for it, that is completely true. But none of the firms we have moved to are hiring from overseas so we are all lucky, aren’t we? Without BFS we would not have been in this position.

I got to Texas a few times with them. I got around a lot with them, but things went bad for me there as well. I wasn’t getting the miles in the end because of their stupid planning, or lack of it, and the pettiness of some of the people there. It was a universal problem which they may well have overcome by now.

[jonnytruckfest]

Abit off topic but i read your article newmercman, in Truck and driver can’t remember which month as i have too many to remember, but it was/still is a good article to read, a bit inspiring to say the least if you’re wanting to move to canada like me ( I know i’m only 17 but still it’s a good way of inspiring someone )

But i see it like this if people agree with me, the company maybe pants, and maybe give you whatever crap they can when they can be arsed to speak to you, but if you can take the crap they give at least until you can gain your PR status then at least you can say they were good for at least a foot on the ladder and moving onto a better and more paid job where you aren’t messed about. But if you find them to be a good company and you feel you’re one of the lucky ones to be treated like a human being then stay on with them, either way i look at it as a win win situation. If you go over to work with them, You get your PR status and you get your experience on the road and if you get messed about you can move onto somewhere else, The same situation but don’t get messed about and it’s all good.

Sorry if i seem like an idiot by saying this but this is how i see it

[newmercman]

jonnytruckfest:
Abit off topic but i read your article newmercman, in Truck and driver can’t remember which month as i have too many to remember, but it was/still is a good article to read, a bit inspiring to say the least if you’re wanting to move to canada like me ( I know i’m only 17 but still it’s a good way of inspiring someone )

But i see it like this if people agree with me, the company maybe pants, and maybe give you whatever crap they can when they can be arsed to speak to you, but if you can take the crap they give at least until you can gain your PR status then at least you can say they were good for at least a foot on the ladder and moving onto a better and more paid job where you aren’t messed about. But if you find them to be a good company and you feel you’re one of the lucky ones to be treated like a human being then stay on with them, either way i look at it as a win win situation. If you go over to work with them, You get your PR status and you get your experience on the road and if you get messed about you can move onto somewhere else, The same situation but don’t get messed about and it’s all good.

Sorry if i seem like an idiot by saying this but this is how i see it

No mate, you’re not an idiot, I agree and doggy boy is right too, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for BFS, I didn’t come all the way over here to leave a job, but I had no choice in the end, a couple of people there, including one of the owners, were very good to me, but there were too many that were working against me (& a lot of other people too) I do throw my teddies around about BFS, but bear in mind that’s my opinion, that others had the same experiences mean that it isn’t just me being a knobhead, but on the other hand, there are plenty of people that have been there for years, they seem happy enough, maybe they put up with the crap, maybe they don’t get any crap, I can’t say, but I don’t regret my decision to come over via BFS, I would still do it the same way if I had my time all over again, even with all my ranting, I would still recommend them to anybody wanting to make the move

thanks for the feedback on my article, glad you enjoyed it

[fly_sheet]

I arrived in Winnipeg in October 06 I’d previously been accepted by a company in Saktwn (forgot the spelling ) to come over & work back in 04/05 but had marital problems so sacked it off. I’d visited Canada a few times as a tourist & really rated the place. Plus after managing to work on 3 continents on pay I really fancied a 4th. My first stop was Bison who where using some gang of crook lawyers to get you in once your wallet was empty, anyway I went for the interview, had a test drive in their simulator ( maddest experience ever believe me ) which I passed OK then I was supposed to go over to Siemens in the next state to see them. Anyhow I had a copy of Over The Road from a tourist visit & rang BFS on the hoof really. I arrived at BFS armed with a couple of old passports saw Eric whom I got on great with & who offered me the a job to start then & there, I declined his offer but after finding out Carl an old colleague from my North Africa days was working there I decided to stick around for a few days. I met Bob during this visit who seemed to be a genuine all round good bloke & he gave the job the thumbs up so I thought I’ll blow all my other leads out & take Eric up on his offer. I titted around the yard for a day or 3 met some other blokes who wer’ent up to much & a few who where. I did a bit of tarping & even went to a party at an OD’s house. Then I accepted the job offer & returned home via the train to Toronto. I was advised to go over on HRDC thing or whatever they called it & as a guy had dropped out at the last hurdle I got his spot did all the forms before I left. The only thing I did’nt have was my criminality search, it arrived about 6 weeks later & thats all I’m going to write about it. I faxed it to Eric who gave me a thumbs up & sent me a real ■■■■ load of forms to fill in which I did. They bent over backwards for me over this little lot and fast forward to May 07 & my flights booked my lorry is sold my trailers have gone & its party central for Coops. I arrived in Wpeg early June did everything 1st go & was on the road to Alberta within a fortnight, I was in the USA tramping within 4 weeks of landing I’ll start a new page back in a minute.

[fly_sheet]

I will be very honest & say BFS had a 2 tier workforce I was on tier 2 but in my short time with them I spent 50% of it south of the border I went from NB in the East to BC in the west & down to Kentucky in the south, I went up to some lake in the north but forget where. I never bought no traffic clerk nothing from Timmies believe me but most of what I did was similar to round tripping Prato so to speak (IE work like a dog & back by Friday) I’d been told all the bull about Texas etc but being a realist I knew it would’nt happen too quickly & yes it ■■■■■■ me off listening to team ones antics doing the Southern states whilst I was creeping round the top ones but thats life, I did some whinging up the pub etc like we all do got ■■■■■■ then took what I was given. The money was average but I was in a far better position than most, I was singleish had loads of coin & was thoroughly enjoying escaping 20 years of ownerdriverism IE no aggro, for instance the guy Derreck in the shop hey mate the seat squeaks, ■■■■ me he took it out & fixed it on the spot, same as when the truck was dirty you parked it up ■■■■■■ off home & it was washed by tea time, Yeah the sheets where rough what the ■■■■ do you expect your at the bottom of the pile I can remember taking my 4 Spansets home as a novice driver so no ■■■■ pinched em over the weekend & parking on my sheets too! FFS your the new recruits you can have all the passports references etc you want your but the new boy end of.

I was very lucky in that I new Carl & had met Bob so I had people to whine at Carl lent me his car, he’d gone on the glass by this time so was’nt back home so much. Bob amazed me at his constant helping of others who where thinking of coming over, endless information he gave to folks I just hope most of them appreciated it, I would’nt have have had the patience believe me. Yeah all in all it was a great few months. Reallity however was I was ■■■■■■■■■■ I’d bumped into an old mate from my raving days of the early nineties & she’d become something quite lovely & the day before my flight at my leaving party she rocked up to say tara Coops had the love bug So my time was spent looking at all the negatives & not the posatives next page

[fly_sheet]

Now I look back with a great fondness for my time with BFS, I’ve just returned from New York yesterday & have got to say North America is great wether it be Canada or The USA if your over there working or living fair play your lucky as ■■■■.

Anyways after a few months I decided as my work permit was only for 12 months & I was in lurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrv it was time to make some decisions in life, I arranged to meet Gill in Toronto at the end of September 07, I had 2 plane tickets 1 to Manchester & 1 back to Wpeg & after a long weekend with my new girl I hopped on the flight to Manchester. I went to see Eric before I left so he knew the craic about me being loved up, he told me to do whatever I needed to but to keep in touch.

After being over here for about 8 months I decide I could’nt stand the place any longer & after a long chat with Gill I contacted BFS & was told get your self back ASAP & bring Gill later I declined & said I wanted PR they suggested I did it whilst I was there working but I still had the criminality thing lingering in the back of my head. Anyway Eric said he’d get Gill added to my origional application & for me to sit tight in the UK. A few months went by Gill put her house up for sale etc. Then Erics job went to Geoff & he srarted dealing with things very slowly. The outcome of which was Gill & I should marry ASAP they gave us 12 weeks to tie the knot then we could get PR with no problems according to Christine/Stella & Geoff. We did & still are Then we recieved papers to apply for work permits (Gills was an open work permit) to Canada House so we did these where returned by them telling us to apply for PR as it was a formality & would be processed in a matter of weeks. After 10 weeks we recieved a letter from Manitoba Immigration stating BFS had withdrawn my job offer

[fly_sheet]

So I think if anybody should be mad with BFS its me.

The top & bottom of this which is why I posted up for kr79 to start with is if you can get a start at BFS do so, just don’t expect to be numero uno ever, get experience with them, maybe PR stay there forever for all I care Chap but just go & judge them for yourself, yeah listen to my tale of ups & downs & listen to the rest of the Guys on here but don’t listen to the trucks are’nt up to the job FFS you’ll get a Kenworth who cares what colour it is

I hope to ■■■■ I’ve not bored you all with my ramblings but I just thought I’d post my two pennath.

Hiding FFS your having a laugh are’nt ya.

Cooper

[daleyboy]

Thanks for the post fly sheet, it was interesting reading. I actually phoned them up two days ago but their not recruiting at moment.

We were going to head out at the beginning of this year but my missus decided she didn’t want to go. Now she has changed her mind and would like to go, but now nobody is hiring!!!

If anybody hears of anything let me know

Not in too much of a rush to get out there as my back is still recovering which is going to take a few months.

[dave_lol66]

So they are a second rate company with second rate equipment and lower than low employees
John, you and I will never agree that a driver should just accept all the crap because he is a new recruit, have some dignity ffs Carl would never accept it and neither did the BTD.
Top and bottom of it is they are a third world company competing with the big boys with third world equipment and judging by the rag heads working for them now third world drivers.
They are by far the best immigration company though and if I had to do it all again I would still choose them but next time not with kid gloves or rose tinted glasses.
They have been in trouble so many times with Canada Labour Board and Manitoba PNP that they are finding it difficult to get LMO’s.
They now have an awful reputation, second only to Hit & Run (H&R) I think.

[fly_sheet]

dave_lol66:
So they are a second rate company with second rate equipment and lower than low employees
John, you and I will never agree that a driver should just accept all the crap because he is a new recruit, have some dignity ffs Carl would never accept it and neither did the BTD.
Top and bottom of it is they are a third world company competing with the big boys with third world equipment and judging by the rag heads working for them now third world drivers.
They are by far the best immigration company though and if I had to do it all again I would still choose them but next time not with kid gloves or rose tinted glasses.
They have been in trouble so many times with Canada Labour Board and Manitoba PNP that they are finding it difficult to get LMO’s.
They now have an awful reputation, second only to Hit & Run (H&R) I think.

Dave dignity does’nt come into it, its like starting over again & thats at the bottom of the ladder, I appreciate your point but you probably had a wealth of experiance before arriving which makes taking the ■■■■ work far harder I know it did for me. I realised during orientation that the job was ■■■■■■ up with them when a Bulgarian was sat next to me, for me this was like history repeating itself. I carn’t knock the lorry I had & the equipment I was given was adequate for what was required of it. Carl accepted it until he got PR & he then got another ■■■■ job IIRC before starting on the fridges which suited him until recently. As for BTD I don’t know although he did copy me in on his resignation letter which made for a ■■■■ good read. I don’t doubt they’ve been in bother given their carrying on, how many LMO’s have been wasted by them including mine? But if they where taking on today I’d tell anybody to give them a go which is what this was all about to start with was’nt it? I could even apply myself I carn’t comment on Hit & Run but I have I’ve heard bad things too.

Fly sheet

[dave_lol66]

fly sheet:

dave_lol66:
So they are a second rate company with second rate equipment and lower than low employees
John, you and I will never agree that a driver should just accept all the crap because he is a new recruit, have some dignity ffs Carl would never accept it and neither did the BTD.
Top and bottom of it is they are a third world company competing with the big boys with third world equipment and judging by the rag heads working for them now third world drivers.
They are by far the best immigration company though and if I had to do it all again I would still choose them but next time not with kid gloves or rose tinted glasses.
They have been in trouble so many times with Canada Labour Board and Manitoba PNP that they are finding it difficult to get LMO’s.
They now have an awful reputation, second only to Hit & Run (H&R) I think.

Dave dignity does’nt come into it, its like starting over again & thats at the bottom of the ladder, I appreciate your point but you probably had a wealth of experiance before arriving which makes taking the [zb] work far harder I know it did for me. I realised during orientation that the job was [zb] up with them when a Bulgarian was sat next to me, for me this was like history repeating itself. I carn’t knock the lorry I had & the equipment I was given was adequate for what was required of it. Carl accepted it until he got PR & he then got another [zb] job IIRC before starting on the fridges which suited him until recently. As for BTD I don’t know although he did copy me in on his resignation letter which made for a ■■■■ good read. I don’t doubt they’ve been in bother given their carrying on, how many LMO’s have been wasted by them including mine? But if they where taking on today I’d tell anybody to give them a go which is what this was all about to start with was’nt it? I could even apply myself I carn’t comment on Hit & Run but I have I’ve heard bad things too.

Fly sheet

We will have to agree to disagree on the point above, all drivers emigrating to Canada using PNP require a minimum amount of experience and should not expect to be treated as novices or second class citizens.
Everything else you have said proves the fact that BFS are a crap company and only good for immigration which is what I have said all along

[newmercman]

You don’t start at the bottom of the ladder at BFS, you start very near the top, then after a month or so you come crashing back down again, not to the bottom of the ladder, but into a cesspit, you try to climb back on the ladder, but all the merde makes the rungs too slippery and you’re stuck there swimming in turds

As Dave says, we’re not inexperienced, well those of us on here aren’t, there are many at BFS who only done supermarket distribution or night trunks, but us lot here have been there, done it, got the t shirt and appeared in a few chapters of the book, yeah we may be in a different country, but we’re only driving lorries FFS, it ain’t rocket science, they may have to make allowances for the trolley dollies, but they should recognise an experienced driver when they see one

I had a ‘conversation’ with one of BFS’s supertruckers who called me a rookie, I asked him what he was talking about and he made a big deal about running the mountains over to BC, I PMSL, for a while, then got the hump and put the bloke firmly in his place, running the mountains in BC is a piece of ■■■■, it’s a 4 lane road FFS, compared to running Northern Greece, over Cenis, on the cobbled roads in DDR, or even over Carter Bar, running over the Rockies is easy, add snow to the mix (possible, even probable, in any of the places I mention) and the Rogers Pass becomes even easier, you can run down it at 90kmh on the jakes, try doing that on Cenis and you wouldn’t make the 1st hairpin, add to the mix the fact that we had to deal with a multitude of currencies, languages and rules, we had to deal with customs at borders etc etc etc, driving over here is a holiday, just set the cruise, sit back and enjoy the scenery

[kr79]

Just a quick update. have been reading the debate on bfs with intrest and i will try them again in the new year but i spoke to h&r but it was a no go as i have a drink driving conviction which even though it is a spent conviction in the uk it shows up on the record check and they wont employ anyone from overseas with a drink or drug conviction as it can affect entering the usa. The chap was quite helpful and said try companys that only do canada as it wont be as big a problem and once you get full citizenship it will be ok to go anywhere so back to the drawing board.

[flat_to_the_mat]

Word of warning,citizen or not ,could still be difficult to enter U.S.with a spent conviction.A 53 yr old Canadian friend of mine was refused entry for a holiday because he’d been cautioned for possessing a joint when he was 17.They are very analy retentive.

[big_jon_s_dad]

flat to the mat:
Word of warning,citizen or not ,could still be difficult to enter U.S.with a spent conviction.A 53 yr old Canadian friend of mine was refused entry for a holiday because he’d been cautioned for possessing a joint when he was 17.They are very analy retentive.

I travel between Edmonton Alberta and the UK fairly often. I am a Canadian citizen living in the UK. I have UK citizenship as well, and have passports from both countries. I have no criminal record at all, so I get no hassle from Canadian or UK border guards. Even so, I will not travel via the USA due to the reputation the US border cops have. They are renowned for having no sense of humour what-so-ever. Why risk crossing them? They have the power to seriously ■■■■ up your day!