For some time now 'er indoors and myself have been discussing upping sticks and moving to Spain.
My idea was agency work for two months in the UK then have two months off in Spain, I could lodge with family while in the UK.
Being honest with myself this arrangement would only be a temporary measure, the ideal solution would be to live and work as a driver in Spain permanently.
Anyone on here shed any light on the situation? Is this a non starter from the word go? I have a smattering of Spanish and if guys from Poland etc can come to the UK with little or no English and do the job then I’m sure I could do the same in Spain should the opportunity be there.
think your about 18yrs l8 m8 i was down there late nineties living in javea working for company from totana its been tough down there for a while now but gd anyway
stevejones:
think your about 18yrs l8 m8 i was down there late nineties living in javea working for company from totana its been tough down there for a while now but gd anyway
+1
You might want to Google Spanish unemployment figures…
There’s plenty to read on that subject.
Back in the 90s, I had two friends who liked Spain so much they stopped driving for the English firms they were on and worked for Spanish companies based around Murcia.
They both at the time, bitched about how poor the money was.
its paid by the mile plus a small basic wage thats why ita poor also slow in summer mths which is when most spanish guys take time of
Spainish unemployment rate is 20% compaired the UK 5.4%. Lot of Brits wants cargo moved from spain and back. Why not be a man with a van coming back to Britain?
There are two agency guys where I work who do just that. They do a month over here working max hours followed by a month at home in Spain. The key here is that despite living in Spain for over 20 years each (their children have grown up and gone through the Spanish school system) they still need to travel back to the UK for meaningful paid work.
I’ll add that they speak Spanish like natives and live entirely amongst the Spanish and not the expat community. So if they find it difficult I imagine that you the op will find it really difficult.
Having said that I’ve always been of the opinion that I’d rather regret something I have done rather than something I haven’t! So good luck mate, whatever you choose.
There’s a Scottish driver at Virginia who lives in Spain. Does a couple of months on then 3/4 weeks off. Like you he knows it would be easier working in Spain but unfortunately the jobs just aren’t there and those that are pay incredibly badly. He’s been working like this for at nearly a decade, he started at Virginia just before me. You can make it work but you just have to weigh up the pros and cons
a thing to consider is how will Brexit affect ideas like this?
I work in Spain as an owner driver pulling trailers (of all kinds) mainly from Malaga to northern France return. As mentioned by another poster, unemployment is Spain is 4 times that in the UK and any jobs always without exception go to the Spanish. I know of several couples who have tried to make a go of it and ended up back in the UK and broke. We have a place in Spain as well as the UK with the missus running her own buisness which pays its way ok so we do have a little back up if things go ■■■■ up with my work. Although i can speak fluent spanish im pretty sure if i was applying for a job direct employment all i would possibly get is cleaning pools or bar work. Good luck in whatever you do but be cautious as its not as easy as it was twenty years ago…
I no 1 English driver who comes over for 2 months on agency then back to Spain for 1 month, hard bit is where do you live when here if you have family so not paying rent it’s ok. As for getting a job there don’t think you stand any chance they like to give work to there own, my inlaws live in Spain and a few years ago we thought we would stay with them so father in law took me to company he knows in his village who bring veg over to Tesco to see if I could do the odd load to earn some cash and there was no chance.
Thanks for the feedback, it looks like the situation is pretty much as I anticipated, the Spanish unemployment statistics make for shocking reading, even at the height of the Thatcher de-industrialisation in this country the figures weren’t as bad as these.
It looks like the two months on, one off is the way forward if we took it any further.
you’ll also have to consider the falling pound, if you do work in England and head over to spend your money in Spain you’ve lost about 30% of your spending power already, and they are talking of it going down to parity by the end of 2017