Passed my licence in November im doing days at the moment taking circa £550 with Saturday,im leaving house sometimes at 4am and comming back 8-9pm so i was thinking about tramping how you guys finding this kind of life? What type of tramping you doing? 4 on 4 off or 5 days away and weekend at home? Whats better uk or over the water? Is it possible to earn about £700 on hand per week or its a myth cheers
In my opinion,and its only an opinion as I dont know your previous,if you only passed your test in November would it not be better to gain some more class 1 experience in UK before going thousands of miles away in Europe? Not sure re wages though,as Ive never tramped
You"ve missed the ferry mate by about 15 years by my reckoning,when the wall came down it was the beginning of the end for us british drivers on this kind of work 
If an opportunity arose to go tramping abroad then I would take it experience isn’t everything and with mobiles it is easy enough to get advice should you need it plus there is plenty on here to keep you right, as well as asking other drivers when you are parked up most Dutch and Belgian drivers speak English to a good standard so there are plenty of people to ask. Moneywise wouldn’t say your daily rate will be much more but you will probably be away for 2 weeks so overall your take home should improve. A few things I would make sure of before taking a job are who is covering any fines and make sure you are paid for the 24 you take when away. Before any holier than thou say you shouldn’t incur any fines remember on the continent that the rules are quite often differently interpreted to over here or just at the whim of the local gendarme or redcap. But for an experience I would go for it much more relaxed way of working and you will find the facilities and how you are treated much better than the UK.
europleb:
You"ve missed the ferry mate by about 15 years by my reckoning,when the wall came down it was the beginning of the end for us british drivers on this kind of work
That’s not answer for my question have you got something constructive to say or not
joker83:
europleb:
You"ve missed the ferry mate by about 15 years by my reckoning,when the wall came down it was the beginning of the end for us british drivers on this kind of workThat’s not answer for my question have you got something constructive to say or not
Well I reckon it’s constructive, …and true 
very true i’d say…
do it if you can but don’t expect big bucks
cos there never was and never will be…
all the money was made in booze and ■■■■
and that’s not worth a light now
Yes I reckon mazzer is right,the foreign coms have cut the rates to ribbons,most are double manned no uk coms can compete.Regarding other points mentioned also true,fines very easy to incur,conditions and lifestyle great.
Regards dave.
The only difference i can see apart from a change of scenery is:
Cold at night or sweating at night
joker83:
Passed my licence in November im doing days at the moment taking circa £550 with Saturday,im leaving house sometimes at 4am and comming back 8-9pm so i was thinking about tramping how you guys finding this kind of life? What type of tramping you doing? 4 on 4 off or 5 days away and weekend at home? Whats better uk or over the water? Is it possible to earn about £700 on hand per week or its a myth cheers
Either way,not real tramping is it ?
joker83:
europleb:
You"ve missed the ferry mate by about 15 years by my reckoning,when the wall came down it was the beginning of the end for us british drivers on this kind of workThat’s not answer for my question have you got something constructive to say or not
That’s exactly the answer to your question.
joker83:
europleb:
You"ve missed the ferry mate by about 15 years by my reckoning,when the wall came down it was the beginning of the end for us british drivers on this kind of workThat’s not answer for my question have you got something constructive to say or not
Go for it, if you can find the work but remember tramping is exactly what it is. You get home when you get home, as for looking abroad I think what the others are trying to say is, British company’s are being priced out of the market by cheap Eastern competition,so jobs their are at a premium. But even if you find said job the Money WILL probably not be better, and it will be a case of making it up with exes. Still I never listened all them years ago to advice. Just follow your instincts and see where it takes you mate.,.,.
Some of the companies in this area who do go abroad now ( most dont think it worth it ) away sun-thur/fri depending on ferry pay about the same
Oh well looks like i have to ring arround cos all you can say is foregins take wages down,anyway all the best for all take care have a nice day keep on trucking
joker83:
Oh well looks like i have to ring arround cos all you can say is foregins take wages down,anyway all the best for all take care have a nice day keep on trucking
You asked a question and you got told the right answer. Don’t get all ■■■■■ because its not what you want to hear. Its not a case of “foreigners taking wages down”, it is former soviet bloc eastern european hauliers who can do the job for peanuts because wages in Romania, Bulgaria etc are 1/2 to 1/3 that of British, German, French and Belgian drivers.
Its got nothing to do with racism and everything to do with what is the reality of European long distance haulage. When the EU first kicked off following the Maastricht Treaty the following countries were in it: Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, Ireland, United Kingdom, Greece, Spain and Portugal. All of them had quite decent rates of pay for truckers, paying a premium for long haul international work.
Then 11 years later 8 more countries from central and eastern europe joined; the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia and along with them came a flood of truck drivers from those countries happy to work for less than half what the drivers from the original 12 countries were and with as much right to work anywhere in the EU as anyone else. As a result it lead to massive wage deflation for British drivers wanting to do European work because a haulier could just as easy put a driver in their truck from any eastern european country no differently than employing a British one. As a result the “European haulage” premium on pay disappeared.
Thanks for long answer mate but my question is: how tramping looks is it monday morning leave come back friday night,OR what, and the other one called “roaming”?
Nights out from what i know are between £22-25.anything else can be squeezed out? and i presume services food,shower etc eats money as well,trying compare days work to tramping or week away whatever you call it,thanks again,wish you all the best
If you want proper European tramping you have to get your head round the fact that being home every weekend is a thing of the past. Depends what you want, you can be home weekend channel hopping to France/Benelux but stay much further than that and it stops being a Monday to Friday job. The money isn’t all that either, you’d get more on day work in the UK. It’s a job you want to do for the experience rather than the money. Still plenty of British drivers doing Europe but many are working for Irish (like me) or other foreign companies. It’s a great job if you have the right mindset
joker83:
https://jobsearch.direct.gov.uk/GetJob.aspx?JobID=12273456
This is not too bad
Not bad at all.
But it’s not European is it?
Craig 111:
joker83:
https://jobsearch.direct.gov.uk/GetJob.aspx?JobID=12273456
This is not too badNot bad at all.
But it’s not European is it?
I was thinking going over the water is best paid but i was wrong obviously tramping in UK may be better sorry for any misunderstanding