any brits who have or who’ve had a spanish operators license, just wondering how hard/easy they are to obtain?
second question, can you run loads out of spain on a brit o’license?
Paul b if you are the holder of a international cpc and a “O”" licence with
a ““EU”” PERMIT fromthe dept of transport . the answer is yes, you can ,
if you are just in the process of getting your international cpc the instructor willbe able to put you right with answers, also from the dept of transport order the booklet that coffeeholic has all ready mentioned ,
do not try and work with out a permit as the fines are not low but very very high, when caught by the enforcement people,
well the thing is this, after many years of talking about it and our youngest daughter in her last year at school we’ve decided that next year when she’s finnished we’re off to live in spain! i’ve only got a national o’license and to be honest know absolutely nothing about european work except that corus who i work for now send a lot of steel to france and spain which i may possibly be able to get into. i could take the cpc and uprate my o’license but i asume i’d have to maintain a uk o’license to be legal which would take some doing living in spain. not going with the intention of driving trucks for the rest of my days but will certainly need to be earning something, at least for the first couple of years.
Paul b how good is your spainish, because if you are unable to converse with those whom you wish to have as customers, it will be very hard,
i would suggest that you get talking around to various firms that have work for that route from GB,also what about trying to get in as a subbie by
a company that does car-parts from GB–spain–GB, also try talking to VAS
as he lives and worksout of spain and can give you much better advice than
myself ,about spain,working and liveing conditions.
if you have any more questions post them as some one will put a answer on the site to help you.
If you are going to be working from Spain, I would assume you would need a Spanish O licence (or the local equivalent) rather than a British International O licence mate.
I would have thought that a British International O licence would only be any good to you if you where running from UK to Spain. Having a house in Spain, a Spanish registered wagon and so being based in Spain would mean you where working from Spain.
If you will be based in the UK, then a British International ‘O’ licence would be all you would need, along with the international CPC. When you get your International O licence, you automatically get the International permit to go with it. All these cost of course and especially in Spain, you also need to have Bail Bonds to cover a pretty high amount of bail. (I can’t remember how much now, I only remembered about the bonds as I was writing this). You would get all the relevant info when doing your CPC though.
Vascoingles would be your best bet for up to date info. As Brit Pete has said, but in the mean time (till he can post) we’ll do our best 
.
If you are based in Spain and expecting to get rich from Corus, forget it 
Most of the European work is controlled by P & O, Corus do export a lot of sreel to Europe, But they do not offer owner drivers thousands of tons of work.
Every man and his dog have an o licence in spain and portugal, its not a big deal.
Why not move to Latvia or Estonia where the real work is 
Simon:
you automatically get the International permit to go with it
My dad was stopped a while back near Calais during one of the now regular checks on foreign trucks to see if they actually have these permits and according to the police, or whatever department they were, a lot of the Eastern Europeans (which is who they were mainly targetting) don’t actually have an international permit and shouldn’t be there in the first place, but it seems that its only the French who are enforcing this.
Wheel Nut:
Why not move to Latvia or Estonia where the real work is
That might not be a bad idea when it comes down to it. With a modest amount of money by British standards, pending all the nonsense and processes it would take to start up, you could start an operation there and due to EU rules could then work in Western Europe with your much lower overheads and make a killing like they already do, by their home country standards at any rate.
Robinhood1984,who ever told you that is telling porky pies ,as when ever you get controlled you will be asked for the relevent documents and if you do not have all of themit will be acted on, as for eastern europeans not haveing the correct documents this wil not be a eu permit but the relevent
permit --documents for transport between their country and any others that they wish to travel, they also may be doing illegal transport inside
FRANCE which is not allowed ,as only EU partners can do cabotage and then only for 6 weeks,
robinhood1984- you are jokeing mate try reading the german newspapers or the french,infact any of the eoropean papers,these wagons are controlled and if they are found to be unfit for the road or illegal then action is taken
to just explain a little better the german police have in the county nord rhein westfalen have a group of officers whose only job is to check vehicles from all those that they considor unsafe be it FROM GREAT BRITAN;POLAND :AUSTRIA;ESTONIA; GERMANY ; ANY one they considor
not correct will be checked, please forget this myth about only the eastern vehicles are unsafe,WHY because this is untrue the western european
transport companys are just as bad,
brit pete:
Robinhood1984,who ever told you that is telling porky pies ,as when ever you get controlled you will be asked for the relevent documents and if you do not have all of themit will be acted on, as for eastern europeans not haveing the correct documents this wil not be a eu permit but the relevent
permit --documents for transport between their country and any others that they wish to travel, they also may be doing illegal transport inside
FRANCE which is not allowed ,as only EU partners can do cabotage and then only for 6 weeks,
Thats what I’m saying Pete, when they are CHECKED they are then acted upon. I’ve just asked my dad which licence/permit he’s on about as I personally dont know and he says its a “blue one” if that means anything to you or anyone else.
brit pete:
robinhood1984- you are jokeing mate try reading the german newspapers or the french,infact any of the eoropean papers,these wagons are controlled and if they are found to be unfit for the road or illegal then action is taken
to just explain a little better the german police have in the county nord rhein westfalen have a group of officers whose only job is to check vehicles from all those that they considor unsafe be it FROM GREAT BRITAN;POLAND :AUSTRIA;ESTONIA; GERMANY ; ANY one they considor
not correct will be checked, please forget this myth about only the eastern vehicles are unsafe,WHY because this is untrue the western european
transport companys are just as bad,
I’m not saying they’re unsafe. I’m talking soley about the permit/documents needed by law to engage in international work.
yes that is true but you stated that they are targeting just the easternlorrys and that only the french do this which is untrue as all EU contrys check them
ANOTHER point mate is that when comeing into EU from another country you have to do customs and here all your docs have to be in order or you do not get into the EU and no amount of bribes can get you in when you have no docs as when apprehended they can find out where the vehicle came into the EU ,and they will take action against the offending country which let a unauthorised vehicle pass into the EU;
EITHER THEY WHERE DOING ILEGAL CABOTAGE;; OR PERMITS WERE OUT OF DATE;as they have a certain length of time of validatiy,
The blue one, is an EC permit, its a Genemigung, without that permit they will not even get from Poland or Estonia into Germany.
The BAG and Zollamt are as keen as anyone else at checking documents. The polish operators who are engaged on international work do have these documents,
Companies such as BASF in the fatherland check drivers licences, ADR permits, Truck and Tank certificates before you are even allowed on site. Also a lot of companies will only load hauliers that are on an approved list.
If I get a control, I have to show the same documents as a French driver, or a German driver.
EC authorisation
Driver Licence
TUV, MOT,
Insurance
CMR
Tacho
There isn’t a conspiracy theory, its a very level playing field. although I am amazed at the amount of UK trucks showing a blue O licence in the screen
brit pete:
yes that is true but you stated that they are targeting just the easternlorrys and that only the french do this which is untrue as all EU contrys check them
ANOTHER point mate is that when comeing into EU from another country you have to do customs and here all your docs have to be in order or you do not get into the EU and no amount of bribes can get you in when you have no docs as when apprehended they can find out where the vehicle came into the EU ,and they will take action against the offending country which let a unauthorised vehicle pass into the EU;EITHER THEY WHERE DOING ILEGAL CABOTAGE;; OR PERMITS WERE OUT OF DATE;as they have a certain length of time of validatiy,
Pete, I’m talking only about E.Europeans already in the EU such as Poland, Czech Republic etc, not others who will have a carnet. I know its not just the French who enforce it, but it seems they do it more than most, definetly more than in the UK. The example I gave with regards to France was at the Belgian/French border and it took my dad 20 mins to find his EU permit, and they said that he better have one or he’ll be joinging the others enpounded in the park, all of which where Eastern European EU trucks because it seems that many of them where under the impression that once they joined, they could drive from say Poland to Belgium freely without any sort of permit, which is why it is nearly always trucks from those countries that are targetted and as such found not to have the EU permit. Another time he was in Middlesborough and they actually checked the trucks to see if they had the correct paperwork, he obviously did, but some of the Eastern Europeans there claimed not to even know what the EU permit was, let alone have one. He also gets checked a lot on the Swiss border and every time there is a check, its only E.Europeans from EU nations that are forced to park up due to not having the permit, wether or not they do it on purpose or unknowingly I wouldn’t like to say.
Robinhood1984 if the vehicle comes from one of the EU PARTNERS and the haulage company is legal ;THEN they will all have a permit why because before they came into the EU all types of burocratic documentation was issued to those firms that were legal and passed the critia set by the EU offices, so if they are operating with out any authority
they will haveno permit either if this is the case ,…but if so why is it not noticibly here in germany as we get the main load of transit traffic,…
as for swiss we allhave to have permits when loaded to pass through and other certain actions and documents as well,
Wheel Nut:
The blue one, is an EC permit, its a Genemigung, without that permit they will not even get from Poland or Estonia into Germany.The BAG and Zollamt are as keen as anyone else at checking documents. The polish operators who are engaged on international work do have these documents,
Companies such as BASF in the fatherland check drivers licences, ADR permits, Truck and Tank certificates before you are even allowed on site. Also a lot of companies will only load hauliers that are on an approved list.
If I get a control, I have to show the same documents as a French driver, or a German driver.
EC authorisation
Driver Licence
TUV, MOT,
Insurance
CMR
TachoThere isn’t a conspiracy theory, its a very level playing field. although I am amazed at the amount of UK trucks showing a blue O licence in the screen
How come the French park them up on the border for not having it then? I know the big companies, especially chemical companies check these things, like I said, my dad was at the ICI place (is it still ICI?) at Wilton/Teeside and they were checking them there and some of the Eastern Europeans didn’t have the EU permit (blue one) and as such where told to leave, but they got to Britain and could have been working for any amount of time. Plus my dad gets out of England without being checked, its only occasionally that a check takes place, its not like every time he leaves the country or loads anywhere that they check if you have an EU permit. As for Germany, my dad has just stated that he has NEVER been asked for his EU permit there, only in Belgium and France and he’s been stopped by the BAG quite a few times and all they’ve ever checked was the load of the truck and how its loaded etc and the truck condition. And in the German chemical factories he has never had to produce an EU permit either, only ADR certificates and equipment and this includes BASF in Ludwigshafen where he has been numerous times.
brit pete:
Robinhood1984 if the vehicle comes from one of the EU PARTNERS and the haulage company is legal ;THEN they will all have a permit why because before they came into the EU all types of burocratic documentation was issued to those firms that were legal and passed the critia set by the EU offices, so if they are operating with out any authority
they will haveno permit either if this is the case ,…but if so why is it not noticibly here in germany as we get the main load of transit traffic,…
as for swiss we allhave to have permits when loaded to pass through and other certain actions and documents as well,
Many of these companies probably didn’t even exist one or two years ago and even so, Germany is like a new Polish corridor with regards to transit and considering my dad has never been asked for his EU permit there during 15 years of driving British registered trucks there, its not unreasonable to suggest that the majority of Polish trucks (not just Polish by the way, any of the new EU eight) in Germany will not be asked to produce it either and as such why small numbers of them (the unlucky ones who get singled out for a check) get caught by the French and Belgians and why they get parked up by the police or whoever it is there who deals with this sort of thing. These Poles who get done for not having an EU permit get to France and Belgium somehow and its more likely by transitting Germany than it is by sprouting wings and flying there.
Lets not forget that a large number of the Eastern European companies we now see on the roads here are new set ups, I’m not talking about the likes of Pekaes, I’m takling about the small ones who entered the international market once the borders came down and its they who quite often dont have the correct documentation. Obviously the ones doing it before would know what to have and this is why you dont see Hungarocamion or Pekaes trucks being detained by the French or Belgians or being turned away from places of loading.
So… back to Spain then … 