Who hauls far far away nowadays? ie Greece, turkey & beyond?

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
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I have been a professional driver for 10 years now, I am freelance and based in Sittingbourne, kent, I have done a bit of everything -vans, coaches, buses, class 2’s , class 1, tankers, GH, fridge bla bla, you name it, i probably done it! To be honest, @ only 29 years old i am already very VERY bored of it! Its mostly just because every job i do is in the UK and i’ve likely already been there 10 times before. Cannot count the amount of times i have been to the likes of Tamworth, Cannock, Chepstow and Nottingham :S To make things worse, roads are getting so cramped and the general skill level of drivers (cars/vans particularly) is so low its shocking! I find a myself gritting my teeth and biting my fingernails back to the bone on most long haul uk journeys. Multi drop is 10 times worse now with the likes of Norberts making drivers do up to 15 drops in zone 1~2 of London in a full sized Aritc! the thought of even going near London nowadays gives me instant depression and a serious headache!

I did however have my first taste of driving on the continent a few months back. Only driven on the continent in a car once before and having not found it much of a challenge at all, and also being competent at driving artics, when asked if i could do it (they was looking for an experienced continental driver) i fibbed a little and got myself the work. I did 5 deliveries of the household removal kind, through France north down to far south, finishing at Pau, near the Pyrenees mountains. It took 5 days in all (lost a day due to a BH), covered 1900 miles, i was the only driver teamed with a porter. It was hard work, lots of driving coupled with lots of hand ball’ing at each destination, but in all i really enjoyed it! the roads are nicer, less busy, people seemed to drive better, towns were quite interesting -particularly down south as they did not resemble anything i would see in the uk. I found these 5 days to be far less stressful and more rewarding than anything i had done in the UK in years! I was quite disappointed when i had got to the Pyrenees and had to turn back for uk as i really wanted to explore further!

Anyway, cut to the chase… What i want to know now is… What haulage companies (if any exist any more) do long distance haulage? Im talking about perhaps fridge lorries that pick up from south coast spain? or italy, or even better -whatever goes too and from further afield ie, Greece, Kazakhstan etc -hell id even drive to Thailand with a load if someone asked me too!

Does anyone know the answer? or is the reality that these sort of journeys just don’t happen any more?

Thanks for the help
Ryan

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I think most blokes go to Thailand with a load they want to deliver :slight_smile:

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raymundo:
I think most blokes go to Thailand with a load they want to deliver :slight_smile:

now that made me laugh ,very good

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The Poles, Romanians, Bulgarians, Turks do it all.

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raymundo:
I think most blokes go to Thailand with a load they want to deliver :slight_smile:

Lol i walked into that one… Just watch what your unloading in too tho!! :open_mouth:

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Not sure if you’re going to find what you’re looking for in this country. However, as a still young man, there are literally hundreds of jobs for C + CE drivers, with your experience in Germany!

And to be honest, you’re more likely to get trans-continental work from there than from here.

If you can speak even a little German, you can even search their equivalent of the Job Centre website, (Arbeitsamt) from the Job Centre website…

And many German truck operators will be happy to put conscientious Brits and Dutch drivers on, before far Eastern Europeans.

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Pulleyn from Reading still go down turkey way but apart from them cannot really think of any large companies still going that far! Most are small firms or owner drivers i would think. Saying that all the R & R mobs regulary go to far flung places like Russia-Israel-Marrocco,a while ago a R & R firm sent 2 trucks to Libya!
How about getting on the “sellers” down to the middle east still plenty going down that way!

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Go Irish. The likes of Caffery, Tierney, Maguire, Dixon, off the top of my head. And living in Kent you’re in a goof place for Irish companies doing Europe. Can’t say you’d get as far as Greece but you’d get decent regular euro work in a tidy lorry

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how does it work being UK-based but applying for jobs for an Irish firm Luke? would you ever get much opportunity for time off at home, or is it more likely that you’d be living in the truck full-time and weekended away every week etc?

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Depends who you work for and where you live. Many Britsh drivers drive Irish trucks but very few live full time in the truck like me. Kent is a good location.

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I’m near Hull, so I do see plenty of Irish firms run across the M62 from Liverpool to Hull for the ferries. Wondering if it’s worth thinking about when I get my C+E

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Ray White’s seem to go all over Europe. But you’ll only get on for them if your willing to spend all your rest and break times polishing :unamused:

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dew:
Ray White’s seem to go all over Europe. But you’ll only get on for them if your willing to spend all your rest and break times polishing :unamused:

:laughing: :laughing:

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kevchalluk:
I’m near Hull, so I do see plenty of Irish firms run across the M62 from Liverpool to Hull for the ferries. Wondering if it’s worth thinking about when I get my C+E

If I lived near Hull I would go for a Dutch or Flemish firm if I wanted to do a lot of International work.
TBH Hull’s a good spot (in a transport sense) it would be quite convenient for an International Haulier to have a driver based there.

W

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Pulleyen at Reading.

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AlexWignall:
If I lived near Hull I would go for a Dutch or Flemish firm if I wanted to do a lot of International work.
TBH Hull’s a good spot (in a transport sense) it would be quite convenient for an International Haulier to have a driver based there.

W

yeah good shout. I had considered that, but wasn’t sure about working for a non-English speaking firm as a new driver?

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Arent the days of Dutch and Belgian companies employing British drivers almost over? Years ago it was the done thing and many Brits, especially living close to the east coast ports would do so but even before I left for Canada in 2009 it seemed very rare. I tried going down the same route myself and no Dutch companies showed the slightest interest, I lived in North Lincolnshire so good for both Hull and Killingholme but got nowhere and I wasn’t inexperienced in the job at the time as I’d been doing Swiss and Germany for 3 years by that point. By 2009 it seemed like all the Dutch companies operating to and from the UK either had Dutch drivers as you’d expect, or Polish drivers who’s base themselves in the docks on either side of the North Sea at the companies convenience. The only companies still having British drivers were the likes of HSF but on UK reg trucks and maybe a few still on Visbeen and such like, but their numbers were hugely down on a few years previous. Thats how it appeared to me at any rate.

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Transam/Edwin Shirley

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Ryan, you’ve answered your own question!

Removal co’s.

Try Whites and Pickfords, they go all over. :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

Not artic though but def w & d.

There’s a firm near me that does antiques all over EU but thats C.

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@robinhood, I’m sure it’s not as easy as it was when I did it in the nineties but Hauliers from Preston to Potsdam are sick of their kit coming back wrecked and irate customers ringing up moaning about their drivers (no matter how cheap they are). It’s just that we have to have realistic expectations too (not saying you didn’t btw).

@Kev, I can’t wait to you see the look of relief on a Dutch employers face because you can speak English, never mind Dutch…

The truth is, trade is going to pick up and being a driver is getting harder and harder. Hauliers across Europe are going to need more drivers with the right plastic that just aren’t there.

They are just not going to be able to turn to the East for ‘value’ staff like they did in the last decade.

W