doing flowers is worse that fridge work for time critical stuff,plus you will most likely need to load and unload yourself…if your lifting from the rotterdam /europart markets etc,then its quite often plenty of pickups from small units in the markets and usually a bollox to find untill your a regular.assuming your mobs legal,then no worries,with the one i worked for a few years ago,you left the hook in the morning,did your deliveries,and uplifts then back to the boat in the evening,left killinghome in the morn,then straight over to holyhed/dublin,or cairnryan for the north…on the wire all day in ireland,then back out on the night boat to do it again…if you missed the return killinghome boat,then you were expected to run down and cross calais,and drive up through the night to be on time as if you came out of killinghome in the morning…but no doubt your dutch guys may run legal.personally to me flowers was a crapload of hassle.if your on a wagon and drag,youl be dropping the drag to deliver to ■■■■■■ wee shops in the city centre with no access.you might even end up with a big bunch of keys to open the shop and leave the stuff from the tail lift.fridges and curtainsiders works best.
why not try hannon transport, an irish transport company with depots in poeldijk and aalsmeer, the latter of these depots is based near a big flower market I presume to do flower work. They where looking drivers recently so probably worth a try.
Evening All ! (Dixon of Dock green 
I’m starting to feel a little embarrassed now about all the help I’m getting.
Diesel Dog:
Yes, the flowers sounds like an acquired taste, probably not for me.
I hate channel hopping and I don’t think anyone likes too much unloading. Some is good for the health, but in measured doses 
I’ll try to keep a basic diary and take some snapshots and give a brief rundown of what the responses are. Even if I end up with egg on my face.
I’ll download the page and print it all to take along Citycat
Thanks a lot for all the help Gentlemen. Sincerely!
Verhoek also has a depot in Ostend( B) if you don’t fancy driving to Holland… As regards to Dutch, I know a few British drivers that live over here in Belgium (Yes that’s where I’m from) that don’t speak any Dutch at all & they’ve lived here years… Strangely enough they’ve all now got Belgian wives…
BTW do you have any experience driving LHD ■■
Thanks for the advise Geoffo.
Yes on LHD, more than RHD actually.
I am trying to put my route together today (Friday 20th) I’ve been away all week with a local company and just got back from sunny Scotland. If you think of any other Belgian operators before Monday I’d appreciate a post or PM…
Cheers TT
Hej TT what about van Opdorp from Sas van Gent? Q a large company of bulk silo and liquid food, blue and white. Used to clean there prior to loading at Cerestar next door. It was q a large set up and think it was about 50/50 NL and B registered and was held in high regard by their drivers at the time. Havn’t been down that way for ages so can’t think of any more, that aren’t Slovakian anyway!
Thanks SW…It’s now on the list
Leaving early tomorrow.
TT
short walk:
Hej TT what about van Opdorp from Sas van Gent? Q a large company of bulk silo and liquid food, blue and white. Used to clean there prior to loading at Cerestar next door. It was q a large set up and think it was about 50/50 NL and B registered and was held in high regard by their drivers at the time. Havn’t been down that way for ages so can’t think of any more, that aren’t Slovakian anyway!
Yes they are still held with high regard. Another company in Sas Van Gent is Gierlings that’s also worth a try. Long distance tipper work.
What about Sitra in Ieper ( Ypres) ■■
Thanks guys.
Sitting in Gatwick right now.
The car is in the garage waiting on parts so I’m flying to Amsterdam and picking up a rental car tomorrow.
Will let you know how I get on - or not 
… Cheers
Just a couple more possibles for you to try
When you go to Waddinxveen, go down the A12 motorway a bit further to the industrial estate at Bodegraven near Gouda. Two big firms there, Speksnijder and Steenbergen.
When you go to Barendrecht, also go to Etten Leur where you have Heijboer logistics. They do daily services to the UK.
Also in that area is Jan de Rijk at Rosendaal. Mostly Romanian plated units now but you never know, they might take on a Brit and the money might be half decent?
The Dutch like their lunch hours undisturbed so avoid going in any yards around midday or 1pm.
Good luck !
Evening all…
Here’s a rundown of what transpired on my jaunt.
As explained, car problems prevented the preferred route, but things went okay overall - although with no great response from the Dutch operators.
I stayed with a friend in N Amsterdam and picked up a ‘europcar’ the day after arrival.
I pre-paid for the smallest car they had, but they didn’t have one available, so they gave me a Suzuki crossover – automatic - for the same price.
It didn’t have a cigarette lighter, so my own GPS was a dead loss, as the battery is ■■■■■■ and needs a power source after a few minutes. But the Suzuki had a built in SatNav.
Great I thought!
The most useless satnav I ever saw …
Anyway, on Wednesday morning I drove down to Post Kogeko which took longer due the ■■■■■■■ on-board GPS.
I met the ‘Planner’ who was a nice guy, but said come back in 2 months and you’re more or less sure of getting hired. Just a bit quiet now!
I went to quite a few other places in that same industrial zone, with more or less the same result. I got two separate offers for approximately Jan 11th start date (no idea of significance of Jan 11th) and said I’d get back to them if still looking at that time.
Didn’t sense any feeling that they were looking for a different profile (Eastern European) just that it was too quiet at the moment. They all said they would give me a Dutch based contract, with the same terms and conditions as a locally hired guy.
No mention of Dutch language requirement.
I went to the following additional places on day one.
Visbeen - Nieuwe Tonge:
Nice enough guys who will be looking in the New Year. All nationalities working there and spoke with a friendly Spanish driver and got the rundown on Spain.
Poor but improving slowly.
Brouwers 5215MV Postcode - Nice enough guy, too quiet, try later!
Breewel 3641RR – Same
I went back to the Industrial Zone where Post Kogeko are located as they guy from the MAN dealers was looking around for me. He sent me to HZ transport (about 10 minutes away) and I had a great interview with coffee, and a promise to call me when they need a driver…Ok it’s a bit of a maybe, but I was feeling pretty down at this point from the poor results - so it was great to get a friendly attitude.
So I went into the restaurant just on the edge of the Industrial zone where I met a couple of Brit drivers running around shunting flowers during the week (lots of local work) and going back to Blighty on the weekends.
They had to get going to load again, so it was too short to get much info.
After they left, I finished my lunch and went to the bar for a cup of coffee and got a call from a French mate who knew what I was doing. After I hung up, a tubby French kid sitting near me said he knew his boss, who turned out to be his Dad, was looking for a French/English speaking driver for flowers to France and Scandinavia. He had heard me speaking English, but didn’t speak enough English to feel like getting into it.
Anyway, we talked for a while, and then called his Father who spoke to me for quite a while. He seems pretty fussy about hiring as they only have 4 units and only one driven by an employee. He asked me if I could drive up to Denmark with his son, to get an idea if I was suitable. (And free work I suppose)
But I was in Maasdijk with a hire car that I’d rented for 2 days and had to be back Friday morning at 10.00am or another days hire (at much higher rate) would have to be paid.
So in the end I drove with the son to Hengelo and caught the train back. Made it a long day but the end result is - I got a job - not exactly what I was looking for, but good enough for me!
I wish I could report that it’s a V8 Scania with all the bling …
But it’s a reddish Renault T with no bling and a plain white fridge.
Auto box, but it does have a fantastic interior, with a sort of two place coffee/computer table and a large comfy bed (I’m told, not yet slept in it)
I start Tuesday after the unit comes out of maintenance, where it’s getting an inverter and microwave installed (65,000km on the unit, the fridge trailer is a refurbished Chereau)
All up I paid £53.00 with BA from Gatwick to Amsterdam and €70.00 for the return leg with BA again (bought separately the day before the respective flights with the BA app on an iPhone)
The car cost €99.00 for 3 days: plus I paid €26.00 extra to reduce the excess to €200 from €700. I stayed with a friend in N Amsterdam, so no accommodation cost.
So around £200 all-up…
Thanks again for all the advice guys…Really appreciated!
ps: I forgot to mention that the only company who were unfriendly were Transportbedrijf van Duijn next door to HZ transport. Like all the operators they had an electric security door and they were the only ones to actually refuse to open the door for me to drop off a CV…
Congtrats on the new job, give it bit of time and you may love it if not it sounds like several firms will be looking come mid Jan so maybe you could jump ship if you are not happy. The few Dutch drivers i have met over the years always do seem extremely friendly and helpfull and i have the utmost respect for them.
Well done TT let us all know how it goes. Glad you got something!
Any update TT, on how the job is going two weeks in?
Hi CC…
I wish I could say everything is going great, but it’s an all too familiar story.
You don’t really know anything about a company until you sign on, and then the holes start appearing in the fabric.
I think they’re in financial trouble and I’m concerned about getting paid. Too far in to do anything now, except see what happens.
I’ll swing by again with an update when I know what the score is, but I have a bad feeling 
Best…TT
Sorry to hear. At least your out n about to enquire after other jobs.
If you think this guy is going ■■■■ up and you’re not going to get paid hang onto some CMR’s as a kind of insurance till he does pay you. Good luck.
i
I’m afraid sitra is no longer the firm it used to be!
It used to be a really good firm to work for many moons ago but like all foreign firms they attract english Dckheads that fcked up a good job (sorry if I upset a few guys by saying it) but hey ho .
According to couple of Belgium drivers that I know That still work there they recon that most of the drivers are Eastern Europeans and Portuguese nowadays and apparently they’ve just sold the chemical tanker side to van den Bosch.
TooTall:
Hi CC…
I wish I could say everything is going great, but it’s an all too familiar story.
You don’t really know anything about a company until you sign on, and then the holes start appearing in the fabric.
I think they’re in financial trouble and I’m concerned about getting paid. Too far in to do anything now, except see what happens.
I’ll swing by again with an update when I know what the score is, but I have a bad feelingBest…TT
Any further update from the flatlands?