Decision time has come sooner!

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

Ok first of all hello all. Since the announcment that Wincanton are closing their chilled sites I am now in a position where my decision to relocate has come sooner than I had thought! You may of seen or heard the news about it…

Anyway, I have been scouring the net for information regarding my move to Canada with a view of working all over including where the work takes me. Initially i will be going by myself for a year maybe two, then the idea is that once I have settled into the work and life my partner will join me.

I have a couple of questions though…

Is there a list of companies that are actively recruiting given the economic situation?

I heard the other night on the radio the three industries affected in the downturn in Canada are Construction, Oil and IT in that order. Has transport been affected? How bad is the job losses over there.

Is it possible to come to an agreement with potential employers about spending as much time in the truck as possible, I mean 3 or 4 months working followed by a week off?

Is there a good portal to look up the driving regs out there, I realise they are on logbooks still, but what is HOS, and I have read about FAST for border crossings into the USA, can this be arranged by the employer?

All other documentation regarding medicals, criminal check etc I can sort, just need to get that interview and PNP.

Kind regards

Andrew

Oh and PS…If anyone already out in Canada can recommend a company to speak to please do PM me.

2

Now then mate,

If you Google Lyndon Lymonovski (truckers dream) blogg,and ask any question’s regarding the move to canada he will help you.He’s ex Wincanton,
and has been in canada well over a yr.

He’s working for H&R.

ps dont believe all the crap on here about H&R best getting the truth from a driver who’s there.

3

Mancunianbulldog,
A word of warning and something to think about.
Was contemplating a similiar move just before Christmas and was given the "No Probs everything OK etc etc "scenario,something made me look into it a bit more.
Worldwide Credit Crunch.
Why would a company,say trucking ,recruit-lets face it Unskilled labourers-whilst at the same time laying off their own Nationals?

4

Tiny word of warning H+R ; the company is specking new trucks with speed limiters @ 60 mph. Currently they roll @65mph. Very soon they will be specked @56mph. This is not a legal requirement this is H+R .The drivers are paid per mile.Slower trucks means less fuel & less wages. Pretty clever, eh?

5

boots:
Mancunianbulldog,
Why would a company,say trucking ,recruit-lets face it Unskilled labourers-whilst at the same time laying off their own Nationals?

This is the supposed case for every area of the Canadian labour market, a severe shortage of manpower (or so the govt wants us to believe). But the cynic in me thinks that by bringing into the country more labourers than there are jobs, the companies can reduce the wages, reduce benefits and exploit the employees more easily. Supply and demand. Seems to be happening all across the Western world and Canada is no different. The falling wages that you see across the UK for truck driving will soon find their way here when 100 people have to queue for 1 position.

[edit] sorry for hijacking the thread. Try this site for info on the Canadian HOS and trucking industry

truckstopcanada.ca/modules.p … icle&sid=9

[/edit]

6

Have a look here:
www.britishtruckersabroad.com

7

There are differences between the UK/USA and Canada, and I deliberately lump the UK and USA together. There is no regulation on the banks in the US/UK so they were able to lie their way into huge debt and needed to be bailed out by the govts.

That hasn’t happened here. The banks may well be tightening up but they are not folding like they are in the US/UK/EU because they were not able to fiddle the books.

As for a downturn, yes things are quieter than you would maybe expect, but not to the point where there are wholesale liquidations and lay offs. I have no idea if this is going to change in the future. But there is more optimism in Canada than elsewhere.

The suggestion of immigrating drivers to exploit or to force nationals to work differently is the same old horse manure as has been spouted on here a hundred times before. I have been here three years and have only been exploited if I chose to be…

8

I’m in Canada & I don’t see many signs of the credit crunch, yes there are a few companies struggling, but that’s for the usual reasons of doing work for ■■■■ rates or getting too big & out of control, this kind of stuff happens the world over, it seems to happen a lot less over here though.

The likes of H&R, Big Freight etc are not good examples to use, they are the type of company where you’re just a number & of all the firms over here they’re the only 2 that get a consistent slagging off so it can’t be that bad, there are a hell of a lot more firms that are good to work for.

It’s not a holiday by any stretch of the imagination, you can expect to be away for 10-14 days & you’ll regularly leave the yard on a Thursday or Friday so it bolloxes up your weekends with the family, 700+ mile days are common too, but it’s easy to do & you get a good night’s sleep every night, you get treated like a grown up & a human being, the truckstops are good if that’s your thing or, if you prefer to, you can park pretty much anywhere & go & have a look around whichever town/city you find yourself in & at the end of the week you get a wage that allows a much better standard of living than you can get in the UK.

There are other factors to take into account, the main one being the weather, it gets cold, really really cold -40c is not uncommon, if you’re heading south it won’t affect you that much but if you’re leaving the wife & kids at home then you need to know if they can stand 3 months of well below zero, the Summer’s are very hot too, it’s not uncommon to be in the mid 40s in July & August, oh & it rains for most of May!

Those are about the only negative points, the cost of living, houses, cars, petrol, food etc is well below what you spend in the UK, the education system is far better too, there is no ‘gang culture’ to speak of, although the hoodie is very popular :laughing: crime is not unknown, but not on the scale of the UK.

It’s worth looking into, yes there are people that come over here & don’t like it, but there are many more who stay, so if it’s your kind of thing then go for it.

9

The cold is a bit over-egged to be honest. In the prairie provinces it actually feels warmer at -20 than it does here at +5, simply because the air is so dry.
Wind chill, however, makes a big difference there. A still day at -30 is perfectly pleasant, but add anything over a slight breeze, or get your skin wet, and you notice it quick. So wrap up when pushing the snowblower around.
The best advice is to make sure you go shopping for suitable winter clothing when you get there.
I have a $40 pair of lined boots from wally world that I can’t wear at anything warmer than 10 below, as my feet drown in sweat. A pair like that, some good gloves, and a decent jacket, add some jeans and you’ll be fine in most winter conditions. Toques (a type of woolly hat) are optional :smiley:
Canada is best described as USA-Lite, a fine combination of Americana and the British way of doing things. They even have an NHS style health system (but better).

Hrm, anyone out there want to take someone on with 8 months of European artic experience and can lend the costs? waves small maple-leaf flag hopefully
:smiley:

10

There are companies, not sure if they’ll lend the cost of training though, ones I’ve spoken to won’t, but it would be cheaper to borrow the training money than pay for it yourself straight off given the current exchange rate.

While Lyndon writes an entertaining blog I’m still not entirely sure whether he makes things seem a little rosier than they are, lets face it i’m sure H&R know perfectly well his blog exists and he doesnt hide who he works for so I can’t imagine him writing anything bad about the company and unsuprisngly…he doesn’t. The only way is go and find out for yourself which is what I plan to do, even companies here one person will love the job and the guy next to him will hate it.

11

Lyndon has now wound up his blog and has resigned as a moderator on British Truckers Abroad. He has now got a job in the office of H&R and although it’s only “grape vine talk” at the moment, rumor has it that it’s working in the recruitment department.

You are right though, he didn’t write anything negative about H&R, plenty others have, and these guys are complaining they ain’t getting the miles in. Lyndon literally got his PR, bought a new car and went straight into the office virtually in the same week. Read into that what you will.

12

And didn’t a couple of us make ourselves unpopular when that was pointed out, Andy? Didn’t know about the new car though. :smiley:

13

is that true lyndon has given up driving possibly he will doing the interviews that h@r run in the uk i was considering giving them a call as unlike other companys they dont charge thousands for the privellidge to drive there trucks does anyone else know of any haulage companys in alberta who are bringing drivers in from overseas

14

The search button is your friend, companies that hire is a recurring post and when I say recurring I mean there’s probably several on each page here (and other forums) since the the birth of christ*.

*slight exaggeration, not to be taken litterally ofcourse.

15

ok how do you delete posts, stupid forum.

16

allikat:
The cold is a bit over-egged to be honest. In the prairie provinces it actually feels warmer at -20 than it does here at +5, simply because the air is so dry.
Wind chill, however, makes a big difference there. A still day at -30 is perfectly pleasant, but add anything over a slight breeze, or get your skin wet, and you notice it quick. So wrap up when pushing the snowblower around.
The best advice is to make sure you go shopping for suitable winter clothing when you get there.
I have a $40 pair of lined boots from wally world that I can’t wear at anything warmer than 10 below, as my feet drown in sweat. A pair like that, some good gloves, and a decent jacket, add some jeans and you’ll be fine in most winter conditions. Toques (a type of woolly hat) are optional :smiley:
Canada is best described as USA-Lite, a fine combination of Americana and the British way of doing things. They even have an NHS style health system (but better).

Hrm, anyone out there want to take someone on with 8 months of European artic experience and can lend the costs? waves small maple-leaf flag hopefully
:smiley:

What the [zb] are you talking about ? … You spent about 6 months or 8 at a push out there, try about 8 years of differing winter weather then give some advice :unamused:

if it needs stars it ain’t allowed :wink: colingl

17

It also needs to be pointed out that the cold here can get more extreme than you maybe saw, Alli. At real cold temps you get nosebleeds where your sinus’ freeze. You can’t over egg that really.

18

bobthedog:
And didn’t a couple of us make ourselves unpopular when that was pointed out, Andy? Didn’t know about the new car though. :smiley:

Too right Bob. Point out the truth and get hammered. Still, you can’t please all the people, all of the time, can you Bob? :wink: