My boss wants British drivers

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS EX-PAT BRITISH TRUCKERS (INTERACTIVE)
41

Cliff,
I don’t know what happened to Cluey. He got a new set of teeth on the NHS and now he won’t call,
they probably put them in upside down.

His drivers license ran out in march and he said he was coming over at the end of the summer to renew it, he was still trying to get the mad preacher to do the visa paper work.

he was dating a girl called Jane Cox and his last name is Clue,
I told him it was lucky he wasn’t scottish, or else he would be the
Clue Cox Clan!!! true story

I never though I would see the day when I would miss all the UK christmas songs they used to ram down your throat on Radio ONE,

I’ve just bought an album on Amazon, with all the classics, Slade, Roy Wood, Jona Luie (or is Joanna Lumly?) the Waitresses etc.,

seems “I won’t be going home for christmas” like some of us! lucky git,

your be down the pub boxing day having a right old knees up to Chas and Dave (or is it Status Quo? sound the same to me!

42

Yeah you got that right Jim, I never realised that I would miss all those Great British Christmas songs, but over here after you have heard ‘Grandma got run over by a reindeer’ on the Waffle house jukebox for 100th time, you really start to miss the good 'uns :frowning:

I reckon the best one of the lot is Slade’s ‘Merry Christmas’…I got it, I play it and my American Kids know it off by heart! :laughing:

43

Pat,
Sorry about being a bit late with this post but have only just found the site and joined.
Your thread interested me because about ten years ago, after seeing a report in “Commercial Motor”, I wrote to MS Carriers in Memphis Tennessee. I received a most enthusistic letter from the company asking me to send all my details. I did this immediately and included all my experience with American, British and European trucks going back to the sixties.
Never heard another word. Someone said that there are ageist laws in the US and indeed nowhere on the form did they ask for my date of birth, but of course my age (50 at the time) would have been obvious from my CV. Just a thought.
Too late now though. I retired a year ago and have no intention of going back to that rat race but wish your boss all success if he is serious.
Salut, David.

44

Speaking of emigrating/working in USA-just off tangent a bit-An Aussie trucking mag in the latest issue has a couple of pages story on how the driver shortage,cant get drivers etc etc and it goes on how a Dutch tourist ended up driving for a regional Victorian trucking company and the owner of the company has petitioned for the Dutchmans permanent Australian residency.Conditions are that he stays employed with the sponsoring company for 4 years etc.
The trucking owner would like more drivers from "Foreign Lands"and it will be interesting how it turns out.Can get the magazines detail,email+ site,but I think there were a few facts ommited from the story i.e. pay is so lousy that in a depressed workforce in a country town no body would work for him says something.
message edited for possible racial content mrs mix

45

When I placed the above item i was contacted by a few who do the harvest work and were thinking of staying on here on a doggy basis.

This may deter you a bit.

Today I was driving down I 87 in NY about 250 miles south of the Canadian border, I came across what was signed as a ‘TRUCK CHECK’ but noticed that all vehicles were being stopped. The INS were checking evryone out, luckily I was carrying my Green Card but if I had not been I would have been detained and deported with a 10 year minimum ban. Is it worth the risk ? if you can’t do it legaly I wouldn’t advise trying.

46

Pat,
The harvest guy’s came home last week,There are not going to risk INS as they are going back legally on harvest again in April 04.The “diesel kings” didn’t fancy your job offer about driving near N.York as every truck mag that I and they have read states on the job adverts as a “perk” NO NEW YORK!!! :laughing:

47

I have been working for this company for 18 months, the nearest I ever got to NYC is one pick up in the Bronx. which as it happens is nothing like the movies show us, I got $30 extra just for going in as is standard for entering the 5 boroughs, I have never been since because I asked not to, my company acknowledge my request and if the only load available is NYC it doesn’t go.

48

Guys ,
This is such a heart break reading this…several years ago i posted my resume on the net and i had a e-mail from a company in canada…westcan…rather large i think they are…any ways…they said that they were very interested and we even spoke on the phone. But then it all dwindled out the window. I have a son living in canada and my wife used to work in LA so she has friends there and i have friends in PA who aint to short of a few bob…next thing is i then get,a few days later, a call from a recruiter in Schnieder National saying can i find like 20 brits to come over and run team for about 9 months of the year, then have 3 off and back agin for some of the same…I started asking around and sure enough found the guys. But this all went down hill.
No one in this world has been more dis-heartened then i over all these issues…
Am i experinced…um i dont know…been driving full licence since i was 17…had a class one since i was 18…Armed Forces and driven nearly all there ever was to drive…including a little spell at wide loads etc. i remember reading that article when Cliff went out there for the first time on MC carriers and wish i had followed thru then. What makes no sense to the INS is that we all know that we would be an asset to any stateside trucking co and yet we cant get over yet the USA allow 50.000 green card places every year to people who will enter and then bum from the states…I have gone so far as to e-mail people in the white house…you got it…I NEVER got a reply…even know at 47 years of age i would sell up and go…it really is a life long dream to get there. and in the nicest way possible way I envy you guys to bits.
any personal replies to this e-mail addy…and yes it works…lol
nigel@britishintelligence.co.uk

49

Nigel@Britishintelliegnce.com, sounds fishy to me, I have too many bad things at home to be messin with that…lol.

I tried like some of you other guys to get over here on the work visa deal, or company sponsor, it (sorry to burst the bubble) just doesnt work, it takes such an incredibly long time and effort the companies usually give up.

I ended up chatting to a girl here on the web, going to visit, as I was coming to visit my cousin anyway, we hooked up, I went home, went back three or more times and we ended up filing K-1 papers(fiancee) we was gettin married.

It took 8months for the US government to grant an interview in London, but I did it on 23rd October 1998 and was on a one way KLM jumbo jet on 1st November 1998 to San Diego. Took me a further 3 years and a LOT of money on fees, going to LA, more applications, and then some more fees, and then some more application, but I finally got my Green Card.

I did get my INS issued work authorization as soon as I got off the plane in Detroit, I was hauled off to this room after getting off the plane, I thought I was gettin deported…!!! and they just said sit here took my pic, I thought I was in the deepest crap, ten years in an American jail crap…!! Then they handed me a work permit, great news, now I’m here to stay and I ain’t comin back to the UK except for a visit.

America has been good to me, my lifestyle has changed so much, it would be hard to come back and live in the UK, crap money, crap weather. I’m not ragging on back home, I love my country, and my parents still live there, but everything changes when you come here.

Good luck to you guys who wanna come out here, especially Alikat, who seems really genuine, I hope you get what you want, it would be nice to have more drivers who know how to work and not ■■■■■ all the time.

<<—Climbs down from soapbox, puts tin hat on…!!

Stuart

50

I arrived after several vaccations (one of which I met my wife on) in Feb 2000, it took 18 months of spending all my savings just to live and to pay the immigration lawyer, I then got a work permit, 6 months aftre that i got a green card, sitting sweating as I waited for my final interview I eventually was called in armed with documents, family photos etc, sat opposite this big guy who just smiled and said "Your from Northampton ? I know that town, you ain’t any terrorist, stamped my papers and away i went.

I do wish Alicat and the rest good luck but I just don’t want them to build their hopes up and be dissapointed. :frowning:

51

There are so many heartbreak stories on this subject. The world aint what it used to be. The motto of the US used to be “send me your huddled masses” or something similar. In other words they would take all they could get. That ended a long time ago. I saw the writing on the wall after my MS Carriers experience ten years ago.

Oz is the same now, as Boots will tell you, but again, things have changed. I arrived on a plane in Darwin from India in about 1967 with £5 in my pocket and a dusty bedroll. Was held up at the airport for a couple of hours, not by immigration but the vets! My bedroll was held together with a leather strap bought in Baghdad and they were terrified I was importing anthrax or somesuch. The Northern Territory is full of cattle and they wanted to keep it that way. I said “take the belt, destroy it, it’s not that important” but no they had to check it out. Got the all clear and off I went with a friendly cab driver who subbed me the fare until I got a job and digs - both achieved later the same day! But immigration? No problem, if you had a British passport you were entitled to enter, whatever your circumstances. Felt very bad years later when an Aussie mate had great difficulty re-entering Blighty after a spell in Beirut.
But now. No chance. Even my parents who had worked in Sydney for the British Government weren’t allowed to stay in retirement as long ago as the eighties without cash backing in the tens or even hundreds of thousands. And this is a man with a civil service index linked pension who would never be a burden on any state.

People will never give up trying to live somewhere else, the grass is always greener etc., but my advice is go where you’re wanted. We have great oppportunities in the EU from the north of Finland to Gib. I have never regretted the move to France, but then the whole life style, food etc. suits me down to the ground. And the friendliness is unsurpassed, how many firms in England will give you a retirement presentation after 3 years on a par with a driver with the same firm for 28? And if you did would that other driver resent it? You bet. Not here.

Banged on long enough. Best of luck to all those who want to try but I just sign myself, a happy Francophile.

Salut, David.

52

The grass isn’t greener after too long. Although I love this area, the peace and quiet, no crime, the money I earn, my new family and friends, life here has it’s down falls, expensive health insurance (no NHS here) paying for every service I took for granted back home, no pubs, just bars where most go to get drunk and fight, no social drinking, the food cannot compare to the grub back home, the candy is always peanut flavour, hersheys tastes like cooking chocolate, I do find some stuff from home, like Orange and mint kitkats made in england, marmite at $7.95 for a small jar, Kerrigold butter at $5.00 for 80z and English made double gloucester for $6.00 for 7oz. My wife has become a good english style cook although raise here, she knows I am not keen on the food so she does her best, she even got me digital Tv so I could watch BBC and the British GP while I am here.

Basically I’d love to live back in the UK but she doesn’t and I respect her wishes.

53

The grass isn’t greener on the other side, only different. I lived in a city called Greensboro in NC for 2 months last year (that’s 2002 FYI), and I know that life isn’t really that much better over there. Yes, the standard of living over there is higher for a lot of people than it would be over here.

But the TV is rubbish, and in many places the beer is awful. But the US country is amazing, and a lot (not all) of the people are wonderful and welcoming. I went there, loved some bits, hated others. But where in this world is perfect? That’s right, nowhere.

Assuming I can get over there for a longer period, and work in an “average US truck” for a bit, I’ll have a better idea of whether I really want to live there. My guess is still yes, I would. But the chance of that is low. But without a dream, what do you have to aim for?

54

I wouldn’t say that there is nowhere perfect in this world ,… The bar of THE BULL in Towcester seems that way to me :laughing:

You are obviously well prepared for whatever happens Ali, I hope you get what you want.

HAPPY NEW YEAR.

55

I detect a real homesickness in you, Pat. which should sound some warning bells for some.

Yes, I have the twinges from time to time, I was really surprised at how much I was afffected by my daughters birthday present to me of a Frith Nottinghamshire calender for 2004. Many of the photos date from the 50’s and 60’s and are of familiar places. They have a web site and I intend to order some framed but I would never want to go back to live.

Isn’t it strange how even in this global economy there are so many products that are specific to just one country or culture?
The things I miss here? Shredded Wheat, McVities Plain Chocolate Digestive, Brown Sauce, Stilton Cheese and Custard Powder. But I’m not desperate for them and can get them from time to time if I want to drive an hour or two to an English shop or by mail order. I don’t bother unless I’m passing.
On the other hand you rarely see drunks in the street here and if you do they are never aggressive. The bars are not pubs but are just as friendly especially if you are a regular and I have never seen a fight in one. If there is a loud drunk in a bar it is irritating, no more than that, and they are normally tolerated, not ejected.
I tell my French friends that the only thing the English do better is Stilton, but then we have the beautiful chevre (goat cheese) and Blue Auvergne but in truth the chocolate isn’t a patch on English either.

Peace and quiet is what we have too with no crime, we leave the house and the car unlocked, in fact I have just remembered that I have left the keys in the ignition but won’t bother to get them, and the health service is marvellous. Although when I was working my social security payments were quite high not only have I paid no tax, country area wages on the legal minimum, each year I have had a rebate of between £70 and £100 presumably to make it worth my while not to go on the dole. After only 3 years working I have a small French state pension.

No, this grass is definitely greener!

Salut, David.

56

Fascinating stuff and viewpoints! I know I’ll never leave here, my wife wouldnt go, wherever I suggested, and I have suggested a few places over the last 19 years!

Mal.

57

I am homesick it’s true, but I don’t want to live back there, I just like going back now and then. It has been two years since my last visit but we will be back there for 10 days in March and I can’t wait. Cottage booked in Buckinghamshire, my baby daughters baptism is arranged for 20th of March in Northampton and I will see my two other grown up Kid’s for a week. I think that short spell will be enough for me then i can happily return to my laid back life here.

We do have Shredded wheat, Weetabix and a store in Lake George sells HP sauce, walkers crisps, Aeros, galaxy, McVitties, Marmite, Kerrygold Butter and Double Gloucester Cheese. … Last week I found mint and orange flavoured KitKats (made in England)

We have BBC America and the nightly ITV news. :smiley:

PS;- My cupboard is well stocked with Birds Instant custard.

58

Mal:
Fascinating stuff and viewpoints! I know I’ll never leave here, my wife wouldnt go, wherever I suggested, and I have suggested a few places over the last 19 years!

Mal.

Maybe you should have made it clearer you would go as well Mal. :wink: :smiley: :wink: :laughing: :astonished:

59

Coffeeholic:

Mal:
Fascinating stuff and viewpoints! I know I’ll never leave here, my wife wouldnt go, wherever I suggested, and I have suggested a few places over the last 19 years!

Mal.

Maybe you should have made it clearer you would go as well Mal. :wink: :smiley: :wink: :laughing: :astonished:

LMAO! nice one Neil, I getcha!

Mal.

60

Pat Hasler:
We have BBC America and the nightly ITV news. :

PS;- My cupboard is well stocked with Birds Instant custard.

Pat,
We have BBCs 1 & 2, ITV 1, Chs 4 & 5 by satellite free. The other week the last 3 pulled the plug on us until we paid £23.50. My soapaholic wife was in severe withdrawal but I was in heaven. OK so I had to put up with Eastenders but for 10 glorious days I had the Simpsons, Uni Challenge, Mastermind, Question of Sport, Drama, Documentaries - heaven. Still, can’t complain, the reintroduction deal was that I can still watch the quizzes and (sometimes) the Simpsons. Incidentally this happened just before the Rugby Final but, no problem as I have a French satellite telly side by side and watched the pictures on that with the great Radio 5 Live commentary from the English sat. and telly. Talk about the best of both worlds, will certainly do that again.

If only it wasn’t for that great ocean I would be nipping in from time to time for some of that custard. I do a mean apple pie.

Salut, David.