As suggested by Franglais, cross posting my original question in the ex-pat forum here for any further answers.
Thanks in advance.
Hi,
In theory, ALL your cards,: licence, DCPC and Digi are valid here in France, at the moment !!, saying that,
It’s a bit of a catch 22 situation now.
In the past , employers would employ drivers of member states, lots of Brits living here worked for French companies and still do,
I would say that 99% of these drivers have changed all there cards to French ones, but now the companies are unsure of the rules.
My case, : - the company I work for, put me through the FCO (DCPC) in house, as my qualification was due for renewal.
Prior to that , my driving licence was coming up to its expiry date, I went online and changed it , here’s a link
service-public.fr/particuli … oits/F1460
company paid for my medical
Again for my Digi card, all done on line.
Here’s a link you may find useful :
chronoservices.fr/fr/carte-c … hange.html
as Franglais says, with the UK leaving the EU, employers aren’t too sure what to do or even what they can do.
You’ve got an advantage, like me you speak French, truly helpful for French administration 
Seeing as you speak the lingo, you shouldn’t find it too hard to get info online and converse with prospective employers.
pierrot 14:
Hi,
In theory, ALL your cards,: licence, DCPC and Digi are valid here in France, at the moment !!, saying that,
It’s a bit of a catch 22 situation now.In the past , employers would employ drivers of member states, lots of Brits living here worked for French companies and still do,
I would say that 99% of these drivers have changed all there cards to French ones, but now the companies are unsure of the rules.My case, : - the company I work for, put me through the FCO (DCPC) in house, as my qualification was due for renewal.
Prior to that , my driving licence was coming up to its expiry date, I went online and changed it , here’s a linkservice-public.fr/particuli … oits/F1460
company paid for my medicalAgain for my Digi card, all done on line.
Here’s a link you may find useful :
chronoservices.fr/fr/carte-c … hange.html
as Franglais says, with the UK leaving the EU, employers aren’t too sure what to do or even what they can do.
You’ve got an advantage, like me you speak French, truly helpful for French administrationSeeing as you speak the lingo, you shouldn’t find it too hard to get info online and converse with prospective employers.
Thanks Pierrot 14. A couple of those links are quite useful, though license exchange, currently, is even easier than you quoted, as UK is currently counted as in EU for this purpose judging by this link - service-public.fr/particuli … oits/F1758. Come 2021 though, anyone’s guess.
Just to clarify though, the whole purpose of this exploration was to see if it was viable to work for 2-3 months this year, before the EU transition period ends. Just an opportunity to spend some time with my folks and work at the same time. I have a wife and kids who would not be joining me for this trip - at least not the kids, with one at uni and the other working in NHS.
The point being, I am not looking to move to France permanently, at least not for the foreseeable future, so card exchanges are not really intended or wanted at present, as I would look to return to work in the UK.
I’m hoping some of the bigger agencies in the Var/Alpes-Maritimes are already familiar with the state of affaires and can put some short-term work my way, as I am only looking for CDD/interim at the moment.
Cheers!
There have been long delays in getting licences exchanged by the department in Nantes who deal with the exchange to the point where they have stopped doing them according to The Connection. And waiting on stupid Brexit.
Even people who have twice been flashed by cameras haven’t been able to get his license exchanged to gets the points taken off. I hope he paid up though, eh wandering star ?
Bien sur j’ai paye.
I’m driving for a French agency in France on British cards. A number of places before this agency rejected them tho. The guy at the agency I work for has lived abroad and speaks English so he’s more of a rule-follower than a 'making up as he goes along’er tho.
wanderingstar:
Bien sur j’ai paye.I’m driving for a French agency in France on British cards. A number of places before this agency rejected them tho. The guy at the agency I work for has lived abroad and speaks English so he’s more of a rule-follower than a 'making up as he goes along’er tho.
Hi Wanderingstar. That is good to hear that it is definitely possible. Have you had to do anything in particular? Are you on a normal CDD-type contract, and is that with the agency direct? Where abouts in France are you? Perhaps your agency has a branch near my area. I have contacted several large agencies by email (initially), and have heard diddly squat. Having said that, that is no different to here in UK! 
I will start making some calls this week, but any info you could give on steps you had to take, other than finding a helpful agent, would be much appreciated.
Cheers.
WTM,
get in touch with them by phone, explaining what job your looking for, they prefer it that way,
then you can arrange an interview date with them.
At the interview, remember to take in ID, all your cards and a CV,in French.
By the way the French format for a CV is totally different from England, they don’t need your life history.
Check out this site:-
pierrot 14:
WTM,
get in touch with them by phone, explaining what job your looking for, they prefer it that way,
then you can arrange an interview date with them.
At the interview, remember to take in ID, all your cards and a CV,in French.By the way the French format for a CV is totally different from England, they don’t need your life history.
Check out this site:-
Thanks Pierrot 14. Just wanting a bit more knowledge before I go a knockin’, hence the posts here.
Thanks for the CV link, quite similar to what I have, but good to know.
Cheers.
One of the bigger companies that way is Ducornau at Flassans sur Issole.
Couldn’t say if they are great or awful, but they are big so might be looking?
Not a big area for industry, and the vendange has already ended for the year down there.
we have a few agencies in Vire scattered about
An agency I found good here was SUPPLAY, very good in the haulage line.
ADECCO were very non responsive, loads of calls and e-mails to them, but they just seemed uncooperative.
MANPOWER , not really in the haulage line
Obviously it’s down to the staff and obviously the region you live in.
Your SUPPLAY might be cr@p whereas the local ADDECO could be right on it.
What I’ve found is that they do like the personal touch, more hands on contact, rather than electronic communication
Franglais - we have been down here over 40 years, and I don’t recall the name Ducournau! Not too far away, so I’ll definitely have a poke around their site and maybe get in touch.
Pierrot 14 - yes, agree about agencies. Wouldn’t it be nice if they were all the same… 
Used to be you had to go and visit any agency so they could see the whites of your eyes. Pfft! Now I seem to spend my life chasing them by phone, and sending chase emails, all while they skim a healthy slice from my pay packet for the work I do. Really galling at the moment, as I have been with the same agency and doing the same role since December, so they literally make money for doing sweet f.a. - just get an email once a week saying ‘same again next week.’. When I was in the corporate world, the fees they used to charge for providing staff were eye watering, and I could never work out how the hell they justified it…!
/rant
Cheers guys.
Not all Ducornau trucks are in their own colours, and they are similar colours to Jackie Perrenot. Into parcels, trunking, forestry, supermarket, waste…some new trucks some old. As I say might be good or bad, but if you’re nearby poke your nose in at Flassans depot.
.
Edit
Just down the road at Cannet is a Carrefour(?) RDC. Worth a try too? Good place to ask drivers, and note that French companies outbase drivers more than in the UK so a northern company might want southern Drivers
Sorry, I stopped following the thread. Will PM you.