Bridgewater college

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS EX-PAT BRITISH TRUCKERS (INTERACTIVE)
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hello all,

wondered if anyone had come across these schemes before, it appears Bridgewater college (UK) in partnership with a college in the states have jobs as drivers for, it appears anybody with a pulse! they assist with visa and airfare and even throw in a laptop and phone.

its with a carrier called Schneider, and from what I can gather its presented as an educational course which allows 2 years in the states working as a driver,
now, being the cynic that I am is their such a shortage of drivers in the states that these companies are resorting to recruitment from schemes like this? or is it that the T & C’s at these companies are that poor no locals will work for them?

what I gathered from the web site is Schneider promote themselves as a progressive company with an emphasis on health and safety, which if they intend on putting people behind the wheel with no prior driving experience and letting them lose after 5-7 weeks in house training doesn’t appear very responsible.

ive no intension of applying myself but thought if chaps on the ground in the States/Canada can shed a bit of light on this it may prevent people being taken in by such hare-brained schemes, have a look at the web site www.bridgwater.ac.uk‎

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Here’s a link direct to the course

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Don’t fall for it :exclamation:
They will soon ask for legal search fee’s to see if you qualify, after you have paid, they will then come back and say ‘NO’ sorry to spoil your dreams but no company in the US can get you a green card or visa to drive a truck and the pay they offer in that site is rubbish, you would not be able to afford anything other than live in the truck, they have a very bad reputation as a company anyhow.
If you want to waste your time and money applying feel free to do so but you will not get a driving job in the USA unless you have very close relatives who are US citizens or have the right to US citizenship anyway. Believe me, it took me 18 months living here and married to a US citizen before I even got the green card so I know how it works.

By the way the Bridgewater college is not Bridgewater England, don’t get taken in.

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:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

What Pat said :grimacing:

It seems they are going to get you an educational visa by partnering with a “community college” :laughing:
Even if they could swing that, it is still an expensive thing and that moneys gotta come from somewhere. If they’re gonna scrape it back from the money you’ll earn on Schneiders I hope you like roadkill for supper :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

Schneiders are not exactly renowned as being a prestige gig. More the take anyone, get em through a licence and off you go type. They were one of the last big fleets to move away from cabovers and used to forbid idling regardless of temperature, choosing instead to give drivers electric blankets :open_mouth: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: Real nice when it’s brass monkey weather :unamused: The work is the usual, over the road never go home junk, with plenty of unpaid sitting as you mysteriously never qualify for layover pay. Usually achieved by parking you at one of their terminals (this is a common trick of big companies over there).

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Again you’re both wrong, you can get a temporary visa to drive a lorry in the US, I know a couple of blokes (from Stoke) that were working for a firm called Freymiller out of MO, it was a temporary gig with no hope of extending the timeframe or staying after for any reason, even marriage/kids etc.

It may be that Freymiller had found a loophole in the visa the farm boys use for the harvest, I don’t know, but I met a Brit in South Beloit IL who was waiting for his mate (from Stoke and on for Freymiller) to pick him up.

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Thats temp harvest work Mark, thats the one exception, I remember Alicat doing it for a few months then getting expelled to Canada again for a short term before being sent home.
Diesel Dan (on this forum applied for this same scheme years ago, same company, same college but pulled out after the request for legal search fee’s came up.
This is supposedly Schneiders looking for perminant drivers and thats a different thing altogether, it’s is unskilled labour as far as INS rules go and doesn not warrant issuing a green card or perminent residecy work permit.
I know the routine form many who have tried, paid the fee’s and then been given the ‘Sorry, you do not qualify’ answer. I don’t want to see these guys wasting their money on a dream and get let down. If anyone wants to know just how stringent INS laws are now, My Son and Daughter back in the UK have a Dad who is a legal resident (me) and a step mother who is a US citizen, even they are not allowed to live and work here and they both have so good qualifications.

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newmercman:
Again you’re both wrong, you can get a temporary visa to drive a lorry in the US, I know a couple of blokes (from Stoke) that were working for a firm called Freymiller out of MO, it was a temporary gig with no hope of extending the timeframe or staying after for any reason, even marriage/kids etc.

It may be that Freymiller had found a loophole in the visa the farm boys use for the harvest, I don’t know, but I met a Brit in South Beloit IL who was waiting for his mate (from Stoke and on for Freymiller) to pick him up.

Never said you couldn’t, journo :wink: All that chrome has affected your eyesight :grimacing: :grimacing: :grimacing:

I know full well what can and can’t be done having, as you know, been there done it and got the T shirt :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: The old dear and I have a fairly decent knowledge base having successfully navigated the minefield and subsequently helped a few others do it. There are and always have been several ways to do it although they have moved the goalposts somewhat on one of them now :unamused: You really need the right person/contact in the US though to get the labor cert to start the process and every big company that has tried to run some sort of scheme like this has been unsuccessful (M S carriers for example). Even local connections at the INS are not applicable any more as most of the regional offices were either shut down or simply had the work load transferred to one of 2 call centres with a bunch of muppets reading screen scripts, making you just another case number. We were on good terms with our local INS office then part way through the process the Department of Hopeless Security were stuffed together with INS and we couldn’t even speak to them anymore just the call centres :imp: :imp: :imp:

There are hundreds/thousands of Brits driving in the U.S. who are there through a variety of methods. Most by familial connection of some sort however tenuous with a minority by visa. A lot of Irish too as they are issued more permits and can enter the green card lottery thing :unamused:

Even with all the boxes ticked, as in Pats case, the US immigration service is the most obnoxious, stupid, ill organised, unfair mess in the world these days. :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: It took longer for my brother in law to get sorted despite working for a major multinational company who put top notch lawyers than it took us. In fairness because he was going to a popular/busy area whereas we moved to South Park :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

Truck driver is not a recognised skills shortage and as such your Visa has to be a bit additional and creative :laughing:
There are some costs involved too and as I said, where is that gonna come from ■■? They will either spring it on you or the Pumkin pimps will pay it and you’ll end up paying for it one way or the other. You’ll also be tied to the employer as it’s not as easy to chop about like you wierdos to the north can :grimacing: So basically you’ll be the Pumpkins biaatch and I stand by my comments above as far as that goes. :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

So if this scheme works and they can do it, good luck to anyone who gets it. I wouldn’t touch it with yours though old chap :wink:

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More Schneider news ! … I read an article in one of the main trucking mags last year that said Schneiders had now abolished annual Vacation and holiday pay … What a fine company they are :laughing:

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Pat Hasler:
More Schneider news ! … I read an article in one of the main trucking mags last year that said Schneiders had now abolished annual Vacation and holiday pay … What a fine company they are :laughing:

Ahh Pat you’d look good in orange too :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

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I know a few from the Pumpkin squadron myself, none are happy, paid ■■■■ and have the worst conditions in the industry, I only know one who was ok and he had won the lottery, about $6 million and paid for his test and drives for a hobby, but he can pick and choose as they well know, he can afford to just tell them to make love eslewhere if he doesn’t like the work he is ‘asked politely’ to do :slight_smile:

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I was waiting for you to get it BBR :laughing:

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newmercman:
I was waiting for you to get it BBR :laughing:

I never disappoint :grimacing:

Despite what the wife says :blush: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

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billybigrig:
the money you’ll earn on Schneiders I hope you like roadkill for supper

Pat Hasler:
More Schneider news ! … I read an article in one of the main trucking mags last year that said Schneiders had now abolished annual Vacation and holiday pay … What a fine company they are :laughing:

Pat,it says in the ad no holiday pay or leave whilst attempting to sanitise this by saying employment laws in the states are different to the UK.

Billy, your comment about roadkill made me laugh!

the ad goes on to say double manning with the choice to stay in motels or live in a nice truck (weekends included) :grimacing:

anyhow, what has the job come to when “opportunities” like this are around :blush: :frowning:

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Sonnie, you must do what you feel is best for you my friend, all I am doing is pre-warning you of what is most likely to happen.
Realisticly… $35 - $45 K a year in the USA is terrible, I started out on a small family run company working Monday to Friday, they had the reputation of paying low rates but even then, 11 years ago I earned over $45K. Obviously the Pumpkin rates have not risen much :laughing:

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Yep, just noticed that Sonnie LOL

What is the holiday entitlement during the course?
Employment law in the USA is very different to here in the UK, hence there is no paid annual leave. However, if you wish to take some (unpaid) time off, this of course will be accommodated.

It is worded wrong ! it should say the law at this company is different !.. Every company I know here pays vacation pay and holidays except these :laughing:
I feel really sorry for the poor sods who are going to be taken in by a company that is so bad to work for that they can’t get drivers.

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Hi Guys, mark is right about the Freymiller drivers my mate was one of them.
Originally the visas were obtained by a company out of Sikeston Missouri. They were unable to extend them, and Freymiller stepped in. Freymiller can not sponser them anymore and most of those guys have either gone home or to Canada. Some such as my friend spent a small fortune on attorney fees, only to be told once the current work permit expires they must leave the country.
Freymiller didn’t help with any fees what so ever. They also had a few Kiwi’s working there, all good lads but it doesn’t count.

To be honest, getting in to Canada is the deal and delivering into the States and going back to a Country where workers do have rights.
As Pat has said many times we have no rights here, and even less in a right to work State such as Florida, they don’t even need a reason to fire you. You are only as good as yesterdays work/performance.
Mind you, there are different rules for Hispanic’s and African Americans (what ever they are).

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Since comming here I have learned that ‘Land of the free’ is more like ‘Land of the treated like ■■■■’ :laughing:

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As I’ve said in numerous other posts. Thank God the door to the US is firmly closed to British drivers. Had I being able to from the start, I’d have gone to the US over Canada but in hindsight what a much better option Canada is and that’s saying something as the job lot of a trucker in Canada is very precarious compared to the UK.

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robinhood_1984:
As I’ve said in numerous other posts. Thank God the door to the US is firmly closed to British drivers. Had I being able to from the start, I’d have gone to the US over Canada but in hindsight what a much better option Canada is and that’s saying something as the job lot of a trucker in Canada is very precarious compared to the UK.

:unamused: Only if you’re dumb enough to work for those that are desperate for drivers on bonehead boxvan OTR work. At least you’ll then have plenty of time in truckstops to bore the [zb] out of those that listen :wink:
Just like here there are plenty of decent jobs the fat dumb asses wouldn’t get or couldn’t cope with. My old boss would get a truck when he found a good driver, not the other way around. He had one of Swifts trainers come for a job once and booted him out of the drivers seat on the test drive :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:
I made good money out of him. We got paid a proper rate, plus layover, fuel bonus, tarp money, oversize bonus, a family health plan and a few other bits n bobs. He was a big family man too and wouldn’t have the drivers out all the time to the point he aimed to have them all in the yard by saturday lunch so they could be washed and polished by his teenage sons and the drivers go home if at all possible depending on where you’d been.
He had good direct work through local manufaturers and his church mates not [zb] from brokers unless we were to far away for that to be practical. Plus his wife who ran it, while he was himself driving, was a smart cookie on the planning side.
He was a diamond but to be fair not unique. There were probably 10 other companies of similar standing in a 100 mile radius.
So just like everywhere there’s a good deal to be found IF you are good at your job. :wink:
If you’re a fat bull[zb]er then you will be found in truckstops, parked on fuel islands, stinking like 5 day old garbage, crashing into things, driving a buttoned down fleet motor(Blue, white or Orange :wink: ) , babysat to the extreme and bemoaning your lot to any idiot who will listen :grimacing: :grimacing:

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^^^this^^^