i’m not going with the idea i’ll get rich out of running a wagon infact if all goes to plan i may never drive a truck again but i will need an income for the first two or three years so maybe that will mean taking a driving job or it may mean keeping my o’license and running a couple of wagons either into europe or uk only, i don’t know. looking at probably eighteen months time so i might well do my international cpc together with the spanish lessons that are already booked for me and the missus. i do have some other ideas that would mean doing my own light haulage but thats a long way off. i suppose that there would be no reason why i couldn’t do european on a brit o’license whilst living in spain after all they keep telling us it’s a united europe and open for fair trade and all that.
as for corus, although the majority of drivers i’ve spoke to have been owner drivers i wouldn’t have thought the rates were that clever and would imagine they use the steel as a back load but i’ll be able to find out the ins n outs of it over the next few weeks.
on a slightly different tack, have you thought of moving out to spain and “commuting”?
A bloke i used to work with at rh moved out to somewhere near alicante last year, he loves the lifestyle but struggled to find decent work, he`s now flying back to east mids airport-doing three weeks work in the uk-then flying home dirt cheap and having a week at home… in the sun…at a relaxed pace… drinking vino and eating good food!
sounds bloody tempting to me
I know Fowler Welch employ quite a few owner drivers in spain to run their fridge boxes about. Either taking them upto the Uk or trailer swapping in France.
Might be worth considering. But have no idea what the money would be like.
paul b:
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 just go to your loal transport dept in spain and ask it should be easy my old boss done it and its cheaper than uk
leehellcat:
I know Fowler Welch employ quite a few owner drivers in spain to run their fridge boxes about. Either taking them upto the Uk or trailer swapping in France.
Might be worth considering. But have no idea what the money would be like.
Paul,
Solstor and G&S have depots in Spain, worth contacting. I know exaclty what you are trying to do as Im buying there and have thought about the same thing! But will have to see what rates and costs are like. You dont even have to run back to the UK! You could look at the rest of Europe and cut out the ferry costs. As we all know rates from England to Spain are crap!
You could Run as far as belgium, put the trailer on the boat, have a wagon in the UK to collect and drop of existing one, reload Belgium/Holland/France back to Spain!
i’m sure theres plenty of ways of making it pay, we’ll be making three or four visits in the next year or so to get a bit more gened up on the ins n outs plus i have a master plan that might just take off. if so i’ll only be running my own loads to and from the uk.
Your CPC is or should be transferable within the EU
In Spain there are transport advisory lawyers who can help you with the procedures for that.
Spanish O Licences are notoriously difficult and expensive to obtain the most popular method is by buying the O Licence(s) off of an elder driver who is retiring… but if you register a minimum of 3 vehicles that are no older than 2 years of age the Spanish Transport Ministry will give you the permits providing that drivers are also to be employed (these drivers have to be Spanish residents but do not have to be of Spanish nationality)
I think the proper name for it is thread drift Robin. I’m sure Brit Pete would happily continue discussion with you on a fresh thread 
.