The impact of Eastern Europe is not just in the UK

I often read comments on here about perceived aspects of the transport industry in France. Last Sunday there was a documentary on French TV about the very subject, that I thought some amongst the TruckNet community might find interesting.

The program started with the influence of Eastern European drivers on the French employment market, emphasising that 20 000 drivers jobs had disappeared due to this influx.

They went to Calais, where almost every truck was either Slovenian, Slovakian, Hungarian, Polish, Bulgarian or Romanian. Also outside Calais there was a bit of waste ground where various Eastern European registered trucks were parked up, and spoke to a (Hungarian IIRC) driver who was clearly drunk (the driver admitted so himself) and awaiting his next job. Incidentally this bit of waste ground had no facilities, there was a gully at the back which was clearly used as a toilet, and was generally a mess. Whilst talking to another (Polish) driver and seeing how he cooked and lived etc, the Hungarian driver obviously had a call and had driven off!

Then the program focused on the fact that these guys are sent out without night out or fuel money and as it can be some time between calls for jobs (they can be away for a month), they can be in danger of running out of fuel, and inevitably revert to stealing it from fellow truckers. They showed a special unit near me that patrols the motorway rest areas at night trying to catch such thieves. The modus operandi was to pull up in their unit tight and level with the target unit then with a ready connected electric pump and hose dip the tank alongside and they could empty it in 7 minutes almost silently. They did catch a pair that had done just this.

The next part of the film was the most surprising. The went to Poland where a very large French based company had set up a hub (which the white logo was fuzzled up but their livery is all red!). Here they employed local drivers, bused them into France for 3 weeks at a time to their bases here, but were paying them only a quarter of their French based peers. They were being employed perfectly legally in Poland, but their working in those circumstances in France is of dubious legality (Ryanair has just been prosecuted in France for a fairly similar offence).

There was also a small piece about the various methods discovered by the Gendarmes where drivers were knobbling their Tachos (magnets, switches, two discs etc).

The program showed that it isn’t just the UK that is suffering, and that things are really quite strained here in France.

I’ve heard the signal isn’t very good so I’ll stick with three.

I have just read your post and would like to say that everything that you have written has come as a shock, but it doesn’t.

Sad times, for us and them.

Same story coming from Norway and Sweden. I`ve posted on here a while ago of one company using Fillipino drivers in the EEU and paying them 500 Euro pm. My sources, trailer.se and use Google translate facility. Makes for disturbing reading.

I too sat watching this with interest. Did you see the Romanian drivers who had all that fuel pumping gear hidden under the catwalk of the truck? One guy even had a 1000l tank in his trailer to store the stolen fuel.

With regards ND, interesting it was a Pole who was complaining about their treatment.

Plambert:
One guy even had a 1000l tank in his trailer to store the stolen fuel.

Which made me think that his bosses must be in on it, what if he was scheduled for a full load?

That was indeed a decent bit of television, especially seeing that it was on M6. Surprising how many other truckers saw it. Interestingly the Polish fella was filmed driving an almost new car and living in a relatively nice house too, so working for ND obviously suited him to a certain extent.

Apart from the drunk who set off as soon as he got a call for his next load I thought the clip of the guy running with two cards in his tacho was pretty telling (and actually reminded me of a certain haulier back home that I associated with in the early nineties!)

~ Craig

Having been employed by ND for over 8 years in both Belgium and France, i can confirm what was said in that programme about Polish and Romanian drivers working out of French depots at the expense of the French.
Only recently i had a letter sent to me about redundancies that were going to affect 2 depots with the loss of drivers jobs so that they can bring in eastern europeans on reduced wages.
Myself have been made redundant with ND twice already currently work out of Le Havre depot.

I’m amazed the French let Norbert get away with this, I mean Norbert is France with a capital F.

It’d be like British Airways being convicted of slavery. Welcome to Europe.

It just shows how very poor many of these Eastern Europeans really are, there’s always parasites who will feed off them.

is there any links to what youve watched

(Ryanair has just been prosecuted in France for a fairly similar offence).

Made my day that did… :smiley: :smiley:

is there any links to what youve watched

+1

Not gonna name the biggest bus operator in UK
who is going to Poland to look for drivers and offer job
to work over here. Not against that. Just seems strange to me.
.
Mario :wink:

nick172sport:
is there any links to what youve watched

There you go.

Craig 111:
That was indeed a decent bit of television, especially seeing that it was on M6. Surprising how many other truckers saw it. Interestingly the Polish fella was filmed driving an almost new car and living in a relatively nice house too, so working for ND obviously suited him to a certain extent.~ Craig

That to me was telling. He seemed to be living a comparatively comfortable life - even though he was leaving on a Sunday from Poland, being bused to Arras and away for 3 weeks. It puts food on the table and he didn’t seem to be living in a hole!

Yes, informative, interesting, stimulating and M6 don’t seem to go together!

Héraultais:
There you go.http://www.m6replay.fr/enquete-exclusive/#/enquete-exclusive/11321960-les-routiers-francais-face-a-la-concurrence-deloyale

M6 have ■■■■■■ in my general direction: Direct link doesn’t work and some player content needs a French IP address.

macplaxton:
M6 have ■■■■■■ in my general direction: Direct link doesn’t work and some player content needs a French IP address.

You will need something like expat shield, and may possibly have to copy and paste the link. However all the info is there for you to find the emission.

Plambert:
Yes, informative, interesting, stimulating and M6 don’t seem to go together!

I watch enquete exclusive and 90’ enquete all the time, the best programs on French TV.

Héraultais:
You will need something like expat shield, and may possibly have to copy and paste the link. However all the info is there for you to find the emission.

Thanks, I’m well versed with the BBC’s attempts at stopping me accessing iPlayer from the RoI :wink:

However, I think I’ve found an alternative link. It doesn’t seemed to be titled correctly. Just to confirm I’ve got the right one, is this chubby, ranty fella driving the big yank truck on in the first five minutes?

vlcsnap-2013-10-25-17h22m28s59.png by macplaxton, on Flickr
(I can’t see much out of that windscreen either… :laughing:)

Thats the fella. He drives a big yank rig in France and the second half of the program shows a French guy who now works in Canada and then the emission frankly gets a bit boring.

Thats the fella. He drives a big yank rig in France and the second half of the program shows a French guy who now works in Canada and then the emission frankly gets a bit boring.