Congratulations to kr79, who today has become the proud holder of a Canadian Class One 
Well done driver 
He needs that for the love machine never mind a truck 
Cheers and thanks for all the help along the way.
kr79:
Cheers and thanks for all the help along the way.
Heās on commision, Kev, sign nothing 
He clearly doesnāt afford that Charger on his miles 
Nice one Kev I was texting ya this morning for coffee intake.
We kind of twigged thats where youād dissapeared too.
Safe travels Chapā¦
Cheers John had to go over to portage. Are you around tomorrow?
Heās round every day 
Round is a very Lorry driver shape. George roper will be it soon.
Well done KR. Good going.
ChrisArbon:
Well done KR. Good going.
^ + 1
Now get a job on turnpikers/A trains jut to upset them all. 
ā ā ā ā that 1 trailer is enough. Have to see if I can find a discarded I shift Iām far to lazy for the fuller jukebox sorry gearbox 
Well done KR, hope you do really well in the future.
I would like to know just how many Brits have taken their class one in Canada as there is such a steady stream (some stay, some donāt) of them, it must have a small impact on (whatās left of) the haulage industry in the UK, which means more chance of a half decent job for me back here.
Itās a shame that the govāt donāt want to to keep these skilled people here, and itās the same in Ireland, the Canadian firm where I worked had three Irish lads from the same town come over to them!
Cheers mate looking forward to the chalenge. Firm Iām going to work for has quite a few Brits there already.
Donāt get to excited about us making a dent in the UK driver pool once the eastern block driver pool drys up I recon turkey will either gain entry to the eu or at least the people will have the right to work in the eu.
kr79:
Cheers mate looking forward to the chalenge. Firm Iām going to work for has quite a few Brits there already.
Donāt get to excited about us making a dent in the UK driver pool once the eastern block driver pool drys up I recon turkey will either gain entry to the eu or at least the people will have the right to work in the eu.
Itās not a challenge mate itās an opportunity, and Iām sure you will love it.
Donāt get me started on the Turks!
I did ask a few Canadian lads if they thought we (the Europeans) were part of the problem re driver shortages, maybe keeping the rates down, but (if they were being honest and not just wanting to avoid confrontation) they all said no, there is plenty of work for everyone, but I am just talking about Alberta.
I think the opposite is true Mick, the Europeans over here are less likely to put up with the crap that the Canadian Drivers do
They are prepared to accept a lot of things that we donāt think are right, sometimes we have to accept it, because itās the way it is here, but we aināt happy about it. This is why a lot of European Drivers move around until they find a job they like.
Take all the unpaid waiting time, the companies donāt care because it doesnāt cost them a cent, the driver will mess around with his logs to ensure that the miles still get done that day, so everyone gets what they want, the carrier gets the job done, the shipper gets the load moved, the receiver gets the load delivered and the driver gets his miles in, the driver is just too stupid to work out that he is the key to all this, the fact that he still has to get a certain number of miles in every day, to earn a living wage, encourages him to overcome the incompetence of the loaders/unloaders/dispatchers and work all the hours he has to in order to get the job done.
The true value of the truck driver will not be appreciated until everyone has to run legal with an EOBR, then half of the jobs that are being done now will not get done, the driver will not be able to lie on his log book anymore to overcome the incompetence of others.
I know there will be plenty of drivers reading this who think Iām off my nut, but thatās a very narrow minded view, you have to look at the bigger picture. At present you, as a driver, fit square pegs into round holes all the time, no matter what crap you are faced with, you have to achieve a specific number of miles in order to get a decent wage, so if your dispatcher leaves you sitting around, or you get held up for untold hours on a loading dock, or your truck is always breaking down, you still have to get those miles done. The only way to do this is by being away from home for longer than is necessary or by working 20hr days and shortening your lifespan in the process. Look around at the drivers in any truckstop in North America, youāll be hard pressed to find an unhealthier looking bunch anywhere else in the world, it isnāt just the diet of crap that they eat that makes them look like this, itās the years of making up for other peopleās incompetence that has taken the bigger toll on them.
Iām very lucky, I donāt hang around waiting for loads, if I do get held up on a dock I get paid for it, but Iām very much in the minority, jobs like mine are few and far between, all the ones that I know like this have British Drivers or Owner Drivers on them, maybe thatās what ā ā ā ā ā ā the Canadians off, weāre taking all the decent jobs and leaving the crap to them
newmercman:
I think the opposite is true Mick, the Europeans over here are less likely to put up with the crap that the Canadian Drivers doThey are prepared to accept a lot of things that we donāt think are right, sometimes we have to accept it, because itās the way it is here, but we aināt happy about it. This is why a lot of European Drivers move around until they find a job they like.
Take all the unpaid waiting time, the companies donāt care because it doesnāt cost them a cent, the driver will mess around with his logs to ensure that the miles still get done that day, so everyone gets what they want, the carrier gets the job done, the shipper gets the load moved, the receiver gets the load delivered and the driver gets his miles in, the driver is just too stupid to work out that he is the key to all this, the fact that he still has to get a certain number of miles in every day, to earn a living wage, encourages him to overcome the incompetence of the loaders/unloaders/dispatchers and work all the hours he has to in order to get the job done.
The true value of the truck driver will not be appreciated until everyone has to run legal with an EOBR, then half of the jobs that are being done now will not get done, the driver will not be able to lie on his log book anymore to overcome the incompetence of others.
I know there will be plenty of drivers reading this who think Iām off my nut, but thatās a very narrow minded view, you have to look at the bigger picture. At present you, as a driver, fit square pegs into round holes all the time, no matter what crap you are faced with, you have to achieve a specific number of miles in order to get a decent wage, so if your dispatcher leaves you sitting around, or you get held up for untold hours on a loading dock, or your truck is always breaking down, you still have to get those miles done. The only way to do this is by being away from home for longer than is necessary or by working 20hr days and shortening your lifespan in the process. Look around at the drivers in any truckstop in North America, youāll be hard pressed to find an unhealthier looking bunch anywhere else in the world, it isnāt just the diet of crap that they eat that makes them look like this, itās the years of making up for other peopleās incompetence that has taken the bigger toll on them.
Iām very lucky, I donāt hang around waiting for loads, if I do get held up on a dock I get paid for it, but Iām very much in the minority, jobs like mine are few and far between, all the ones that I know like this have British Drivers or Owner Drivers on them, maybe thatās what ā ā ā ā ā ā the Canadians off, weāre taking all the decent jobs and leaving the crap to them
I think thatās something similar to what I got crucified by the Brits not the Canadians for saying on this topic 
.
But surely itās bonkers getting rid of the advantage of the flexibility of using log books in exchange for effectively having tachos over there now too.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=84572&p=1171887&hilit=15+hour+spread#p1171858
A log book is not flexible though, it has the same clock on it as the EOBR, itās the driverās writing on the log book thatās flexible
Personally I like the flexibility, I could, hypothetically, use it to my advantage, but I donāt need it to overcome the incompetence of others to get a decent wage packet, just to overcome my own incompetence at getting out of bed
newmercman:
I think the opposite is true Mick, the Europeans over here are less likely to put up with the crap that the Canadian Drivers doThey are prepared to accept a lot of things that we donāt think are right, sometimes we have to accept it, because itās the way it is here, but we aināt happy about it. This is why a lot of European Drivers move around until they find a job they like.
Take all the unpaid waiting time, the companies donāt care because it doesnāt cost them a cent, the driver will mess around with his logs to ensure that the miles still get done that day, so everyone gets what they want, the carrier gets the job done, the shipper gets the load moved, the receiver gets the load delivered and the driver gets his miles in, the driver is just too stupid to work out that he is the key to all this, the fact that he still has to get a certain number of miles in every day, to earn a living wage, encourages him to overcome the incompetence of the loaders/unloaders/dispatchers and work all the hours he has to in order to get the job done.
The true value of the truck driver will not be appreciated until everyone has to run legal with an EOBR, then half of the jobs that are being done now will not get done, the driver will not be able to lie on his log book anymore to overcome the incompetence of others.
I know there will be plenty of drivers reading this who think Iām off my nut, but thatās a very narrow minded view, you have to look at the bigger picture. At present you, as a driver, fit square pegs into round holes all the time, no matter what crap you are faced with, you have to achieve a specific number of miles in order to get a decent wage, so if your dispatcher leaves you sitting around, or you get held up for untold hours on a loading dock, or your truck is always breaking down, you still have to get those miles done. The only way to do this is by being away from home for longer than is necessary or by working 20hr days and shortening your lifespan in the process. Look around at the drivers in any truckstop in North America, youāll be hard pressed to find an unhealthier looking bunch anywhere else in the world, it isnāt just the diet of crap that they eat that makes them look like this, itās the years of making up for other peopleās incompetence that has taken the bigger toll on them.
Iām very lucky, I donāt hang around waiting for loads, if I do get held up on a dock I get paid for it, but Iām very much in the minority, jobs like mine are few and far between, all the ones that I know like this have British Drivers or Owner Drivers on them, maybe thatās what ā ā ā ā ā ā the Canadians off, weāre taking all the decent jobs and leaving the crap to them
It all depends on the person and the company Mark. I wouldnāt stand crap from ANY company, but met plenty who said āWhat can you do?ā, telling them to speak up, man up, or leave got me blank looks, so I give up.
I have just finished a full year at the Alberta company Watt and Stewart, with EOBR and no fiddling I have covered over 128,000 miles with three weeks off last spring, layover paid when requested, hanging around in mines waiting to unload paid at $26 an hour etc which does not compare in any way whatsoever with the other company (H&R). Lots of hours, but all productive hours, not waiting in the yard all day (not resting, but in and out the office asking for the promised trailer) then throwing away the log sheet and starting it again at 7pm to drive for 13 hrs.
Too many people in Canada and Europe say āWhat can you do?ā, or āSOMEONE should do somethingā, but are unwilling to stand up and be counted themselves!
Maybe some Brits are taking the good jobsā¦ finally.
I must add that when I read yours and Dave Caldwells blogs (amongst others) I realised that there were good things to be had driving in Canada after all, you just need to find the right company.
Got to say i agree totally wi the posts above but for a lot o people that come over do the 2-3yr on long haul put up wi it
then get on to a decent firm on local work by the hr as i did. some people might not agree with what i did but i had had enough of tramping after a lifetime in uk.
As the local new emigrants from scotland/&ulster that started work wi a local firm say to me its no hardship to leave on sun/mon āthurs/frid on preplanned pick ups wi every wkend off they came for a better life not the same old crap from europe.
Personally i put up wi the newbie crap until dispatch realised i did know what i was doing then i was offered/built up a milk round (as they call it over here) and i worked sunāthursday night. and made as much if not more than the guys running south then having to sit for backloads/resets. its all down to finding a company that you can put up with and vice versa
As for log books i dont use them ,just a defect /pretrip book.
jimmy.
Well Done kev