Canada Offer (Sort of!)

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS EX-PAT BRITISH TRUCKERS (INTERACTIVE)
1

Hi all, and good evening!

Well I posted some time ago researching moving to Canada or the USA. Now, recently I have spoken to various people and I wondered if anyone could give me an opinion on this…

I was given the details of EDTS, who advertise in the Truck stop news I am now aware. Now I contacted them just as I did with many other people, and I wondered if anyone here has any advice/knowledge of them? I ask because they are the only ones who have really given me any information and help etc. and to me, it sounds good, but then I’m not experienced in leaving the UK for work in Canada.

Thanks in advance of course folks.

2

Stay well clear. He is the biggest rip off merchant there is in this area and will charge you an absolute fortune for doing something you can do yourself for many thousands less. Half the drivers in this area came through that crowd and most bitterly resent the expense, especially when they talk to others at the same company they end up with who came over for next to nothing in comparison. He may be the easy way, but he’s not the only way and you’ll pay many thousands of pounds for him to do minimal paperwork and low quality training that you can do yourself for a fraction of the cost.
Its much harder now for companies here in NB to get work permits but dont let that force you in to the clutches of that lot.

3

I spoke to them and it worked out about 5k a couple of years back.
You can do it yourself much cheaper.
Have you looked at where in Canada you want to go?

4

Thanks folks, appreciate the response there.

I’d like to go to New Brunswick personally, I think that’s where I’d be most happy to start out.

So, going it my own way…do I contact a particular company first before anything else? or do I need to do Work permit/Visa first?

5

Get in contact with firms there if they have lmo is pretty straight forward or they might have to apply for one.
Thing to remember any firm that needs to recruit drivers from half way round the world might not be the best job around.

6

kr79:
Get in contact with firms there if they have lmo is pretty straight forward or they might have to apply for one.
Thing to remember any firm that needs to recruit drivers from half way round the world might not be the best job around.

^^^^^^^ This

Speak to a good few and they should sort the permit out for you and provide you with your flight ticket if you can see if you can do a recce trip over

7

Let me put this in to perspective. EDTS will charge you in the region of $8000 I believe, for the privilege of some very basic training, carting you around for the various document change overs, medicals and the like and putting you in to a job after you’ve past your test. They can only put you in to a job once that company in particular where you are set to work has applied and obtained an LMO for you.

The company I work at gets a lot of British drivers through this crowd and it costs each driver a fortune. On the other hand, you could come over by yourself and go to the company directly like one chap did a while back and according to him, he paid about $500 to do the tests and such like. He used a company truck for the test and is now down the road working for us.

Can I ask why you want to come to NB in particular? Yes its a very nice place to be in, but the work here often makes it a struggle. We are often on very low pay, .32-.36 cpm is the norm and to make that pay you really need to be getting 5000km per week, not the 3000 that are often offered with hours and days of down time on the road that are entirely unpaid in most cases.

Either way, if NB is where you really want to be, going via EDTS is the last thing I’d advise unless you’ve got money to burn and can’t be bothered to do any phoning around or leg work to sort something better out.

I came here in 2009 to a company called Donnelly Farms and along with most of the other lads from England and Ireland, we paid then $4000 Canadian. As soon as we got here they refunded the flights (something that EDTS dont do as they’re not your employer), refunded us the cost of the TWP and provided us with a company truck and trailer to use at hour hearts content to learn how to drive the cursed crash box. They also provided us with free accomodation below the office which consists of 4 bedrooms, a shower room, laundry, fully equiped kitchen with a huge fridge, freezer, oven, two microwaves, sink, loads of cupboards etc that were for the use of the drivers. There was also a computer room with internet and a computer, or we could hook our own laptops to the internet. Plus there were two large couches and satellite TV. They also gave us free use of a company car and/or the workshop pick up truck. We could stay there as long as we wanted for no extra cost than the original layout of $4000, of which something in the region of $1500 was refunded to us any way. Now $2500 sounded a lot at the time, but had any of us had to do our own training when we came here, it would have been several hundred for a training company to provide us with a days hire of a truck, and whatever the test costs and if we’d had to have sorted out our own living arangements we’d have been looking at at least $550 per month to rent an apartment and a car to get us to and from work from day one which would be another couple of grand at least for something that wouldn’t drop bits two weeks after you’d bought it. So in the long run I think those of us who came over that way, lived in the accommodation and later in our trucks but made full use of the facilities at the yard saved a shed load of money.
The best of it was, two of the guys who started at the same time did actually come in through EDTS and when they found out that they paid more than double for exactly the same thing they were seriously annoyed. Plus they’d already paid out a fortune on a car, an apartment and the like before they came to work at Donnelly’s as they didn’t know thats where they were coming to, so were out of pocket again in comparison to us.
I passed my road test 9 days after arriving in Canada and was in my own truck the same day earning money. I came out with $500 in cash and I still have almost $150 of that in my travel document case. As I had absolutely no outlays upon arriving here due to all the provided facilties, and the fact that I started to earn within 2 weeks I was able to do it on next to nothing. If you go to EDTS you’ll pay through the nose from day one and believe me, driving a truck for a NB firm isn’t worth over £5000 sterling of your hard earned cash.

8

Dear Diesel-Truckin

I hope you got that ‘subliminal message’ from Robinhood… Eg. A direct phone call to the Canadian company you intend to work for is only going to cost you a couple of quid and you will get all your answers, flights and accommodation all paid for… or you can give someone Eight grand and they will charge you for stuff you could easily do yourself and would have got free anyway.

I Googled Canadian Truck Driving Jobs, got a few email addresses and phone numbers, wrote the same email to all of them and then followed up with a ‘stalking’ phone call or skype call.

The victim who eventually gave me a job paid all my flights and return flights, two weeks motel accommodation and my medical insurance, they loaned me a truck to crunch my way through my test in and let me use the company pickup to get around with.

I spent about $2250 Canadian Dollars to pay the Rocky Mountain Truck School in Cranbrook BC for my ‘Gearbox lessons’ and hire a trailer with a load of ‘concrete blocks’ on the back, my pre-trip ‘crawl around’ memory test and my weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday airbrake course).

Robin is right about the mileage and the money, there is a fine line between ‘living’ here and ‘surviving’. If you have a family, you will need to be TAKING HOME at least the bare minimum of $900 to $1100 Canadian Dollars per week… any less and you will be spending your 36 hour resets rummaging through bin’s and standing at junctions in raggy clothes holding a ‘Feed Me’ Sign.

Another thing which amazes me is that many drivers who come here on an L.M.O forget that they are temporary workers, with a temporary work permit in a temporary job… now to me ‘temporary’ means that the job isn’t going to last, and until you ‘secure’ yourself by getting PR (Permanent Residency) you could be send you back to ‘blighty’ for any reason.

It’s definitely tough at first, tough being in a new environment, away from family and friends and i have seen with my own eyes many a man (not at the company i work for) give up and go home after spending huge amounts of money to come here spend loads of cash and earn peanuts working for supposedly ‘reputable’ companies.

If you have a load of money and you just can’t wait to get rid of it, just do the opposite of what Robins telling you.

Good luck with your job hunt!

Col :grimacing:

9

Thanks Guys,

Your responses are really appreciated, and thanks for taking the time to give such detailed replies.

New Brunswick is definitely where I’d like to be, and being a single man, no family etc. I am happy to do all the (legal) hours thrown at me. I have now started e-mailing various companies and will follow up with phone calls later in the week to see where I get.

Ayr Motor Express keeps popping up, any idea’s on these guys as a company and their driver treatment etc.?

Of course I’d rather spend as little as possible for the best possible results so research is key!

10

Diesel-truckin:
Ayr Motor Express keeps popping up, any idea’s on these guys as a company and their driver treatment etc.?

Never worked there but know plenty that have. They have good equipment and good work but thats where it ends. The owner is reckoned to be the most obnoxious canute on this side of Canada and treats his drivers accordingly. Even office staff get treat like crap, shouted at, sworn at, threatened and he’s even known for throwing phones across the room at people. Many times the police have been called when a driver has taken enough of his ways and tries to go after him.
Then there is the issue of slip seating, or cab hopping as we’d know it. This company tries to run all their trucks 7 days a week and that means when you get home, even if you do have a dedicated motor, someone else will take it out for a few days so you’ll have to empty everything out less you want it being used or even potentially stolen in your absence. I know when a lot of people start there you’re in a different truck every trip as well. Its all pointless though, as like most companies in the area, 25% of their fleet is often idle with no drivers. They have 100 or so trucks and rumour has it that a few weeks back something like 11 or 12 drivers quit in one week.
The fact they have two people in the office employed solely as driver recruiters tells you everything and even their many Russians and Latvians are all eager to leave the second they have PR. If you ever come across a Russian in NB working for another company, they always started at AYR. Perhaps they really are the Maritimes version of Willi Betz.

Having said that, some people do like it there, apparently. I’ve just yet to meet one myself thats all.

Perhaps I ought to wind my neck in a bit on here when giving my opinions on certain companies but I’d hate to see someone make the move over here and suffer like many others in the past have who didn’t know what they were letting themselves in for and this company do have the very worst repuation out of all the Maritime companies, and thats saying something.

11

Thanks robinhood, actually I appreciate your opinion’s, and if not for you guys, I could end up making big mistakes and paying for it.
I for one can’t stand constant cab hopping and shifting gear around all the time! I’ve had to return to agency work but the last firm I was on for I had a dedicated unit, the only time it would be used was if the weekend night man’s unit was off the road.

So, I guess my next question (and I’m buying you guy’s a beer if I ever meet you in a truck stop!) is this…

When contacting a company (assuming this is my first move) what should I be saying/asking? and can you guys recommend a good company in NB to start with?

I apologise for the questions, you will have had them all before no doubt!

12

What you have to remember about EDTS and others is that they’re a profit making company, and while there’s nothing wrong with that, do you really want to pay an extremely high amount of money for what really comes down to an hour or two’s paperwork on their part and a day or two learning to crunch a gear box and do a manual brake adjustment. They’re definitely an easy and convenient way in, and they will find you a job but you’ll still have the addition expense of finding somewhere to live (you can rent a room in their shared house, not sure what it costs) and you’ll need to buy a car from the word go unless you want to be stranded every five minutes waiting for someone else to cart you about, so that, plus their fee’s are going to be the best part of $10,000 or more and that’s before you’ve even turned a wheel and it does take longer to get the licence now, before you could pre-book everything, now you have to pass the written test before you can book the brake adjustment, then you have to pass the brake adjustment before you can book the road test. So realistically you could be waiting a month or even longer before you pass and start work.

If you’re coming over by yourself it’ll be easier as you can live frugally until you’ve passed the test, got your truck and hit the road, then if needs be you can live in the truck to save money for as long as you feel like, so you haven’t got it all to pay at the beginning. This is what I did with Donnelly Farms and it worked very well for me, but then, they had all the facilities in the yard you could ever need, I don’t think most companies in the area have much in the way of that, my company have no driver facilities at all. I’m not suggesting you should go to Donnelly’s, if indeed they’re still even being granted LMO’s but if it were me and I had a choice between them and AYR then personally I’d be picking Donnelly’s every time. But, its not for me to tell you what to do in that regard as my views on AYR are 2nd hand and not from personal experience so I could possibly be completely wrong about them. I know I wont ever be applying there though.

13

Everything said by Robin Hood is 110percent true everywhere over here will want to run new drivers ragged but you have to put up with it for 2 years till you get your pr Ayr motors will expect you to do 3 triangles per trip. For example Moncton,Deleware,Toronto and back to Moncton X3 But when you have been here awhile things get better If you want to move over here the Maritimes is a good place to start.

14

Get on an aeroplane & go & see people, its simple really, make the effort & you will get a job its that simple. OTR magazine is chock full of jobs, last time I looked a firm in BC where advertising with LMO’s

Avoid agents of any kind they are sons of dogs who want money for nothing. Using one can confuse issues too.

15

Research is the key. House, car prices, schools, work for the Wife etc. It’s not a cheap place to live anymore. You’ll cry your eyes out the first time you go food shopping. Overall you have a better standard of living, but you need to be bringing home the bacon for that to happen.

I have a friend on Donelley Farms, he’s doing good on there, it’s all NB - East Coast - Toronto - NB stuff, but he’s not sitting waiting for miles.

The reputation of AYR has spread far and wide, it’s the only firm with worse reviews than H&R so avoid it like the plague, there’s no smoke without fire.

I’ll join the others in recommending that you avoid agents, they’re just parasites.

Oh and good luck…

16

My advice from my limited experience is simple - Don`t pay someone to do something which, with a little research, you can do yourself :wink:

17

Morning all,

Took me a while to find my thread again, but I found it!

Well after over a year of saving up some pennies I’m now doing some serious research with a view to ‘get outta here’ ASAP.

So, having read up on your responses to my initial questions I’m back up to scratch on who not to trust! My question then guys is this… At the minute, obviously as a new start, who would you recommend I give a call?

I understand it is becoming quote difficult to get out there at the minute, is that right?

I’m quite happy to do the required 2 years of nut grinding and hard graft initially and I do actually WANT to come and drive in Canada.

I await your abuse… I mean, your advice :laughing:

18

The situation with work permits and provincial nominations for residency is up in the air at the moment.

Because of that I would swerve AB as they seem to be the most difficult as things stand.

A friend has just had a friend come over with Schroeder Freight who are ten minutes south of Winnipeg, I heard that Big Freight were considering the schemes again, apart from that I don’t know much.

19

Wouldn’t bother with H&R. A mate of mine had received his ‘pack’ from them and his flight details last week then couple of days later an email telling him not to get on the flight as they don’t have any LMOs!!! I would say your best bed is just to pick up the phone and try that way.

20

I would suggest holding off for a few months in to next year to see how things pan out. All the firms here in NB are up in arms now, acting the part of the injured swan because they can’t keep the low industry standards of pay and conditions propped up with convenient foreign labour any more (poor them!). I know some firms are not being able to get new LMO’s for drivers who are already here and their current TWP is about to expire, so guys from the UK/Europe already here are on the verge of having to go back and there have been no new arrivals that I know of since this all kicked off. My last company have just cancelled an order for 4 new trucks because they can’t get foreigners to drive them now. When asked why they won’t train local Canadians, there is lots of coughing and spluttering and the usual nonsense I used to hear in England back in 2005 when I was a freshly qualified local trying to get a job shortly after the doors were opened to the Poles etc.