markgilly:
I don’t give a toss why they "sub it out " done my share over the years, nights out on end, will we get home will we not ETC ETC ETC I now work for Tesco and love it !!! good working conditions ETC ETC ETC so let some other guy/girl do it, I will drive to a store with my risk asesment drop my load collect cages and come back no fuel card no changing bulbs ETC ETC ETC !!!
As people say " BEEN THERE, SEEN IT, DONE IT, got the CD, DVD and COMPUTOR GAME !!! and not forgetting “THE TEE SHIRT” !!!
And now "DON’T NEED THE AGRO !!!
markgilly:
WANT TO DO EUROPE OR THE MIDDLE EAST RUN CAN ANYONE HELP
Make your mind up, will you? 
Well I guess the supermarkets know better than the average or elite drivers .
It all comes down to cost - subbies get it here cheaper and faster than supermarket drivers.
I didn’t mean to offend anyone with my comments regarding “average” drivers and I certainly don’t class myself as some sort of"elite"driver either .
Soldier z:
Supplier grows / makes / builds / produces the goods.
As mentioned supermarket pays a set price for them.
Supplier then has to get them to the RDC by the cheapest route possible.
He pays a set price - haulier accepts.
Haulier delivers and then is left to collect a back load to get him home.
If a supermarket decides to use it’s own vehicles to collect say from Spain, El Gringo the Orange king in Seville will only pay the same price.
Supermarkets unless they can find a way of geting their will have to stand the costs of getting to Spain.
They’re not going to lose money to bring in produce when a Spanish haulier is doing it for a quarter of the price.
Assuming that the EU is supposed to be such a great idea then it shouldn’t be a problem to run British products out to the Spanish supermarket RDC’s before collecting a uk bound load to come back with not forgetting that whoever does it will need to find a return load in whatever direction.I’d suggest that the issue is just like the agencies in that the subbies don’t want the local zb work if they can avoid it so they leave it for the more expensive in house fleets.If that wasn’t the case then surely the cost issue would also apply to both the local/uk distribution and the long haul international transport of supermarket products. 
However it’s probably now more likely going to be an East European operator than a Spanish or British one if not rail transport doing the long haul sector anyway.
beefy4605:
Well I guess the supermarkets know better than the average or elite drivers .
It all comes down to cost - subbies get it here cheaper and faster than supermarket drivers.
I didn’t mean to offend anyone with my comments regarding “average” drivers and I certainly don’t class myself as some sort of"elite"driver either .
That doesn’t explain why it’s always been that there’s usually more opportunities for new/inexperienced drivers and experienced drivers who’ve never done international work,in the employed/agency driver local uk zb work sectors like building materials deleiveries and shop/supermarket distribution than in the employed driver uk long haul international sector with most,if not all,international running fleets calling for previous international experience 
.
Carryfast:
That doesn’t explain why it’s always been that there’s usually more opportunities for new/inexperienced drivers and experienced drivers who’ve never done international work,in the employed/agency driver local uk zb work sectors like building materials deleiveries and shop/supermarket distribution than in the employed driver uk long haul international sector .
You could look at it like this - an owner needs holiday cover for his euro driver who’s on holiday . The driver who’s going on holiday is a long serving driver ,recently given a top of the range truck and a brand new trailer ( most companies do this - new trucks to the euro work and when they have a few miles on them put them on UK work where they are closer to home if something goes wrong with them ) . The truck has all the extras ( fridge , microwave, coffee maker and air con pod etc,etc. etc ) Does he ring an agency for a driver that he dosen’t know anything about stick him into it and hope for the best or put one of his UK based drivers on it for a week and give the UK work to the agency man - thereby keeping "potential " trouble closer to home and “easier” to sort out?
beefy4605:
Carryfast:
That doesn’t explain why it’s always been that there’s usually more opportunities for new/inexperienced drivers and experienced drivers who’ve never done international work,in the employed/agency driver local uk zb work sectors like building materials deleiveries and shop/supermarket distribution than in the employed driver uk long haul international sector .
You could look at it like this - an owner needs holiday cover for his euro driver who’s on holiday . The driver who’s going on holiday is a long serving driver ,recently given a top of the range truck and a brand new trailer ( most companies do this - new trucks to the euro work and when they have a few miles on them put them on UK work where they are closer to home if something goes wrong with them ) . The truck has all the extras ( fridge , microwave, coffee maker and air con pod etc,etc. etc ) Does he ring an agency for a driver that he dosen’t know anything about stick him into it and hope for the best or put one of his UK based drivers on it for a week and give the UK work to the agency man - thereby keeping "potential " trouble closer to home and “easier” to sort out?
That doesn’t seem to explain why international jobs never seem to be on offer with agencies in the case of operators who only do international work and it still doesn’t explain the requirement ‘must have international experience’ for most,if not all,international running vacancies and definitely every single one which I ever found which was advertised and unsuccessfully applied for and I think that was probably also an issue regarding the ones which I applied for by cold calling.It’s more than a coincidence that international work just doesn’t seem to be available on agencies while plenty of local zb usually is.In addition to which drivers with just uk experience are subjected to discrimination in the job market for international work v their counterparts who have international experience.
It seems strange why ‘potential trouble’ only seems to be an issue in the case of drivers going to mainland europe while it doesn’t seem to matter whatsoever when an agency driver is given the keys to a wagon up to artic level in the local/uk distribution sector or building delivery etc type work.
Carryfast you suffered because you wanted all or nothing. Most of us had to work a while at a company at UK work before they gave us a chance on European. Its nothing to with difficulty simply rewarding hard working drivers they trust. If you’d taken that job in the past I’ve no doubt that within a month or two you’d have had your first euro run and not long after that be doing it regularly. Thats exactly how it works at July current employer. Seen lots of drivers start here and be given their first Euro run a few months down the line. All good things come to those who wait.
Carryfast:
It seems strange why ‘potential trouble’ only seems to be an issue in the case of drivers going to mainland europe while it doesn’t seem to matter whatsoever when an agency driver is given the keys to a wagon up to artic level in the local/uk distribution sector or building delivery etc type work.
It’s the perception - real or imagined that it’s “easier” to sort out . There are plenty of stories out there about extortionate rates to recover units and trailers from Europe .Right or wrong - I don’t know .
I suppose it could come down to the fact that if it all went in a ditch that the owner wants to ring the wrecker driver and be able to talk to him in English and not have to worry about a language barrier ?.
beefy4605:
Carryfast:
It seems strange why ‘potential trouble’ only seems to be an issue in the case of drivers going to mainland europe while it doesn’t seem to matter whatsoever when an agency driver is given the keys to a wagon up to artic level in the local/uk distribution sector or building delivery etc type work.
It’s the perception - real or imagined that it’s “easier” to sort out . There are plenty of stories out there about extortionate rates to recover units and trailers from Europe .Right or wrong - I don’t know .
I suppose it could come down to the fact that if it all went in a ditch that the owner wants to ring the wrecker driver and be able to talk to him in English and not have to worry about a language barrier ?.
The way I saw it in my experience your original post,concerning the differences,between how uk and international work is seen,by many drivers and more importantly employers,was nearer the truth than the idea that any international operator could care less about having to sort out an international recovery job as opposed to a uk one assuming it all goes pear shaped,regardless of who’s driving it.It’s also valuable information for any new potential driver who’s entering the industry with the intention of being involved in the international sector of the industry.At least what’s left of it here.
Carryfast:
The way I saw it in my experience your original post,concerning the differences,between how uk and international work is seen,by many drivers and more importantly employers,was nearer the truth than the idea that any international operator could care less about having to sort out an international recovery job as opposed to a uk one assuming it all goes pear shaped,regardless of who’s driving it.It’s also valuable information for any new potential driver who’s entering the industry with the intention of being involved in the international sector of the industry.At least what’s left of it here.
Thats it though - everyone that has done euro work has a different experience of it. Some love it , some hate it , wifes / girlfriends / partners can’t cope with other halfs being away for long periods of time,some wifes / girlfriends / partners love the fact your not under their feet all day long .
At the end of the day it’s up to the owner of the truck who he puts in it and where he sends it . Why those owners with euro work don’t employ agency drivers will vary from one owner to the next.
How the work is seen - I had to wait and serve a bit of time before I was sent . All the people I knew that were doing euro work were driving top of the range kit , they were left to “get on with it”, it “seemed” they had more responsibility - ie sorting themselves out ,getting there and back on time , nobody ringing them every 30 minutes “Where are you now driver ?”(this was long before satellite tracking ). That leads people to believe that (right or wrong)euro work was for the “top drivers” - they could be trusted with “trip and derv money”, they could sort out all but the worst of problems , make basic repairs to the lorry and keep it moving along. I’m not saying that theres not UK based drivers that are not every bit as good - because there are .
switchlogic:
Carryfast you suffered because you wanted all or nothing. Most of us had to work a while at a company at UK work before they gave us a chance on European. Its nothing to with difficulty simply rewarding hard working drivers they trust. If you’d taken that job in the past I’ve no doubt that within a month or two you’d have had your first euro run and not long after that be doing it regularly. Thats exactly how it works at July current employer. Seen lots of drivers start here and be given their first Euro run a few months down the line. All good things come to those who wait.
Which doesn’t seem to explain what happened between when the guvnor,who was prepared to take all that history into account,it just happened to be a history with a different employer/s,and was happy to just make an offer of employment on that basis along the lines,as I said,of you’ll be running all over Europe start as soon as possible,and then the ( apologetic ) phone call later saying that offer had been withdrawn.You’ll now be working out of a different depot on just uk work.The original offer of employment being with a division of the firm which only ran international.
You can probably understand why I said no thanks I think I’ll stay where I am because luckily I hadn’t handed my notice in .At which point,if you’re right,the answer would have been along the lines the original job offer,doing the original job,at the original depot,still stands within a month or two of working on the uk job.In which case the question is wether I’d have trusted that answer.Probably no.Which just leaves the question as to why such an answer wasn’t given by the guvnor to find out wether I’d have accepted that situation or not .
Sometimes Carry you just have to take a chance and jump into the dark.
kr79:
switchlogic:
Sometimes Carry you just have to take a chance and jump into the dark.
Exactly right.
Personally I think he was one of those good old school guvnors who knew different.Which is why he didn’t want to put me in that position,of making that move,of jumping out of a decent job,in which I had loads of service time,with a firm in which seniority counted towards job security,because he knew that it would have been a stitch up in that case.Because there was never going to be any chance of getting onto the job that I’d originally been offered by him probably for years if I was lucky let alone months.It’s my bet that he’d been overruled from above on that stereotypical basis of it being seen as a bs specialist job requiring previous international experience.
Carryfast:
Because there was never going to be any chance of getting onto the job that I’d originally been offered by him probably for years if I was lucky let alone months.
If you’d wanted it enough you’d have got it. So what if you’d taken that job and trundled around the UK for a couple of years if you got what you wanted in the end? To get what you want you often have to take risks. Everybody doing euro started out in the same place, some took risks and got what they wanted some preferred job security. Nothing wrong with either just don’t blame others if you prefer the latter for not getting Euro work.
switchlogic:
Carryfast:
Because there was never going to be any chance of getting onto the job that I’d originally been offered by him probably for years if I was lucky let alone months.
If you’d wanted it enough you’d have got it. So what if you’d taken that job and trundled around the UK for a couple of years if you got what you wanted in the end? To get what you want you often have to take risks. Everybody doing euro started out in the same place, some took risks and got what they wanted some preferred job security. Nothing wrong with either just don’t blame others if you prefer the latter for not getting Euro work.
I didn’t say I didn’t want to take the risk.But what I wasn’t prepared to do was to trade security for risk just to end up doing more or less what I was already doing with the outside chance of a transfer from uk to international at some unknown point in the future that’s even if it was an outside chance rather than more like a case of no chance.It doesn’t take a genius to realise what happened in that example.The fact is beefy’s description,concerning the type of bs elitism which applies in that sector of the industry,was spot on.
Ok Carryfast if that’s what makes you feel better. You did just contradict yourself though by saying you don’t mind risk then saying you weren’t gonna take a risk. The fact still remains no one is born a European driver and we all start in the same place whatever you say.
Gentlemen.Risk and motivation to achieve, are bywords for a few in society today.You are stimulated within yourself to improve yourself mentally and physically.I believe you instill the right beliefs at home with your children and they carry that on.Basic values remain. 
Luke I agree old boy.Deepest sympathy to you and yours from a fellow Welsh boy.