Im pretty sure I know the answer to my question, but am looking for some advice and guidance.
I have been driving class 1 for four months now and am looking to break into European work. I’m gonna guess that I need to gain more experience before crossing the English Channel.
Does anybody know of any firms out there who are looking for drivers to work on the continent?
I have no objection to being away for a few weeks at a time, and for the right position would travel to the Home Depot.
I feel my lack of experience will hinder me at this point but wanted to try the waters and see what guidance is out there.
If you don’t mind hard graft then you should consider approaching some of the household removal companies that still “do Europe”. Its a good way of getting some experience of Euro driving, you will get all over the place and it is much more interesting and varied than driving warehouse to warehouse.
The flip side though is that you have to be prepared to work hard and you have to be able to get on with people. Sharing a cab with someone for a couple of weeks at a time can be quite challenging at times!!
Smoking, flatulence, air-con on or off, different music tastes, like a beer or tee-total, who gets the bottom bunk /top bunk, who is “The Foreman”, these can all affect how you get along after a few days!
But if you are looking for a chance to get some miles and time under your belt then its definitely worth considering.
What sort of work are you doing at present.
Rdc and home every night?
Or are you presently tramping.
If your not tramping at the moment that’s where you need to start before jumping into euro work.
Having an aptitude of sorting out basic breakdown problems to get you out the brown stuff etc is needed too. It’s not the same as point and go driving as some think.
Thank you for all the replies.
At present I am tramping on flat bed work.
I am going to take a look around and see what jobs are out there, apart from Ralph Davies and S&K who else would you guys and girls recommend?
danalex84:
Thank you for all the replies.
At present I am tramping on flat bed work.
I am going to take a look around and see what jobs are out there, apart from Ralph Davies and S&K who else would you guys and girls recommend?
What sort of things are you shifting on the flat bed work?
If you are on flats then try Smiths of Scotter. I think they still do European work as well as UK. I believe they run steel out and marble back and have a depot in Northern Italy. Could be wrong, but worth a try.
Brian Yeardley does EU in left hand drive modern trucks, adr loads and non adr, they are near Wakefield.
Broughton transport Melksham, Wiltshire, ask for Toby Ovens.
Davies international at Southampton.
Or Waberers in Hungary, they have 18 year drivers going all over and TIR countries.
Pulleyns at Reading .
Concert/music/stage firms are a good shout harry. Helping out on double manned stuff will get your foot in the door. But expect to be potentially away for months at a time.
Brian Yeardsley have lovely kit, but i think i read they want minimum 5 years euro experience for there drivers.
Stobart Biomass will potentially get you over in N/E France and Belgium.
Bluff the experience, a few white lies, get a mate to say you worked for him, I started euro with no experience, shipped me out the next day to Lisbon and Porto, got tips and advice from drivers on the ferry.
Try Stop Trans in Portugal, they do UK and EU.
Patinter in Mangualade, car parts .
Pascualle trans.
The problem would be actually finding someone who does Europe! Last time I sat at Dover waiting for a boat I counted only 2 UK trucks coming off the ferry, 15 years ago the whole boat would have been full of them.
Any European truckstop, MSA or border queue would have had 1 or 2 brit trucks. It all seems to be done by eastern european firms now, you’ve only got to look at the amount on our roads nowadays.
Sadly I don’t think the good old days will be back, even if we left the eu.
