Im not sure if this is right place for this post but here goes anyway.
Im interested in getting into doing European work.
Does anyone have any insight into getting a job doing it.
TIA
Firstly, Euro work aint what it was. So, thats the first dozen replies covered.
Secondly, the whole job situation ain`t what it was.
So, another dozen replies done.
Thirdly, the standard questions:
Where are you based, and are you prepared to travel for work?
Are you prepared to be away for weeks, or do you have a home life you want to keep?
Franglais has summed it up basically , the fact is that Eastern European hauliers have dominated the European market for years due being cheaper .
Not many UK firms operate to Europe now , apart from specialist sectors like motorsport , Formula one , concerts and exhibitions along with international removals for the military and private customers .
But with Covid 19 , the specialist work has gone .
It is common for an EE operator based in EE but will use a Spanish or Portuguese registration on the fleet , this is flagging out to save money on safety inspections on the vehicles , cheaper taxes and lower wages for their drivers .
Even if you did get European work , it can be channel hopping , such as short trips to longer trips where you sleep in the cab for weeks on long distance .
You will take a 24 or 45 hour weekly rest where your hours run out , so forget making it home for the wedding anniversary , reservation for a meal out or theatre or the kids birthdays and the list is endless .( Pre-Covid .)
Irish firms still run to Europe , so fire off the Cv to them , there is better food in Europe and free lorry parking .
If you’re running on nights and sleeping in the day , you won’t sleep in 45 degree heat , unless in a hotel with air-conditioning , or run the engine for air con which is illegal in some countries .
IF you’re based in the North of England, or Scotland, there are still British companies employing British drivers doing European work.
Millar Int’, based in Stirling, where I work, but we don’t need anyone at present. Curries of Dumfries no longer employ drivers for Euro work, as far as I know.
Grampian Continental, based in Aberdeen. They mainly do oil related work and with the drop in the price of oil, their workload is much reduced at the moment.
There are several companies based in the N.E. from Newcastle down to the M62. Francis, Maru (now Lemans), Surefreight, Europa, Neil and Brown are some of them.
These are the drivers I see on the Sunday night ferries out of Hull, heading for Europoort or Zeebrugge and then further afield.
We do Switzerland or South Germany on a route designed to be a 5 day round trip, catching a ferry back to the UK on Wed’ night.
Some do a tip and reload back to the UK on Mondays ferries, repeat all week. Some are away all week and home for the weekend. Some are away for a couple of weeks then a weekend home. Some are away for up to 6 weeks.
The work is there and it pays enough, if you know what you are doing, provide a good reliable service etc, etc.
It’s nothing like it was only 20 years ago.
I started Euro work in 2000 with Murfitts. At that time there was a huge number of UK companies doing Euro work. So much so it was almost worth having a strap of some sort hanging from the sun roof. I can hear your 
from here 
. It’s to hang your left arm in (in a right ■■■■■■) so you didn’t have to continually lift your hand to acknowledge the Brits heading in the opposite direction. These days you don’t see a fraction of the UK companies. Often, by the time you notice it is a Brit, they’ve gone, so there’s no point lifting a hand to acknowledge them 
Depressed yet? Don’t be.
If you want to, you can expand your horizons beyond the UK. Simon is doing it, Toby did it, I’m doing it in a limited way.
COVID 19 is currently a problem, Brexit is potentially* a problem, but problems tend to be transitory.
Think hard, apart from the Irish companies there are those on here who have started driving for French, Dutch and other companies. Fancy that?
If you’re young and without too many ties, then better to try and decide it isn’t for you, rather than not try and spend decades regretting it.
*actually it is definitely a problem, but let’s argue about that elsewhere!
Franglais:
Firstly, Euro work aint what it was. So, thats the first dozen replies covered.
Secondly, the whole job situation ain`t what it was.
So, another dozen replies done.
Thirdly, the standard questions:
Where are you based, and are you prepared to travel for work?
Are you prepared to be away for weeks, or do you have a home life you want to keep?
I am based in sheffield, I dont mind travelling to work etc not an issue.
I have no home commitments so thats really not an issue either.
Franglais:
Depressed yet? Don’t be.
If you want to, you can expand your horizons beyond the UK. Simon is doing it, Toby did it, I’m doing it in a limited way.
COVID 19 is currently a problem, Brexit is potentially* a problem, but problems tend to be transitory.
Think hard, apart from the Irish companies there are those on here who have started driving for French, Dutch and other companies. Fancy that?
If you’re young and without too many ties, then better to try and decide it isn’t for you, rather than not try and spend decades regretting it.*actually it is definitely a problem, but let’s argue about that elsewhere!
That is the thing, I want to try it, I may not like it but i feel like if i never try i will regret it, Im not getting any younger ( 33 ), Gotta give everything a try once.
If I was in the UK and starting out now with no commitments and wanted to see Europe for free then I would look towards a decent EE company or a Dutch company that has flagged out to Polish plates. Obviously everything is a bit messed up at the moment but someone like Waberer’s, one of the better payers, say you don’t want to do UK if possible and you’ll be all over Europe in no time. Make the most of the breaks and you’ll have plenty of free weekends in decent spots.
Mazzer2:
If I was in the UK and starting out now with no commitments and wanted to see Europe for free then I would look towards a decent EE company or a Dutch company that has flagged out to Polish plates. Obviously everything is a bit messed up at the moment but someone like Waberer’s, one of the better payers, say you don’t want to do UK if possible and you’ll be all over Europe in no time. Make the most of the breaks and you’ll have plenty of free weekends in decent spots.
Thank you
Some of my jobs for European work , were over 200 miles away from where I lived , of which wasn’t a problem .
For example , drive my car to the yard on Sunday morning , sleep in truck Sunday night for an early start on Monday morning .
If you don’t come home for a few weeks , sometimes I could bring the lorry home for a day off or weekend off , but the car is in the yard .
I even got the train home a few times .
I live in Poland and work for a Polish company (I’m also from Sheffield!). If you decide to give it a go my advice is don’t start to compare wages, life style etc to what you can have in the UK. Yes, I could earn more money driving in the UK but my life style over here is so much better. I compare my wage to what a Polish worker earns and I’m well above the national average. If you’ve got no ties go for it, you’ll find loads of companies in Europe who’ll take you on as a native English speaker. Good luck.
barrykam made a good point about languages not being a problem , most European hauliers will have some sort of modern technology to update their drivers on where to load and unload , ferry booking references and so on ,via a computer in the cab ,addresses don’t need to be translated .
I saw an advert in a magazine , I rang the firm in Austria , the boss said the keys are hidden behind the front wheel , the truck was abandoned in Calais , so I had to make my own way there , coach to London , foot passenger to Calais , the boss didn’t know me , it was Lindner transport , load instructions texted to me by Hungarian staff .
They insisted on filling up with cheap fuel in Luxembourg , a long detour that they never factored in to their deadline booking times .
Waberers have been mentioned , they go everywhere , such as Turkey , Scandinavia , Ukraine .
I am not sure if S&K in Barry are hiring drivers for European work or not .
languages are not a barrier, I have driven in most European countries and had very few problems, as we were always going to different countries I did not have the ability to learn all of them, (at 65 from Dorset I still struggle with English) if you get the chance go, I loved it. be careful of who you learn the basics from I was taught to ask for the showers when first transiting france to Italy and asked for the key to the shower and would she care to join me, not good on the day but a smile when ever I passed through.
Xerobeagle,
I assume you have been involved in road transport if so you should have 100%
confidence in what you know i hope on general haulage, you need to be an outgoing sort of man, easy mixer, able to look after yourself , able to knock meals together, not rely on truck stops all the time if fact rough it a bit,do not ■■■■■■■■■ men on ferries will sus you out straight away it is best to say straight away if asked that its your first trip etc, and men will respect that… maybe take the ■■■■ a bit, all mens knowledge is generally gained from someone else .
IF you are as free as you say, i would, in your position get some experience on left-hand drive trucks, where i have no idea. maybe a driving school, if you want to work for any European haulage or agency they will be left-hand drive no one has mentioned that to you, although all the info you have had on these pages is correct, not that many BRITISH haulage companies i understand use left-hand drive trucks.
TIP OF THE DAY when driving a left-hand steer truck in the UK early on in your new career HIT EVERY drain hole in the road your side and you will never clip or clobber any other vehicle coming the other way…once you get the experience with that driving in EUROPE will be different esp at junctions also junctions in the UK ,if no other vehicle comes along when you are stopped you will really have to think which way do you turn ,left or right , that is what happened [inmy opinion]when that American lady had that accident near upper Heyford. so you really have to be switched on.
I ended up buy a pure chance driving a left ■■■■■■ I WAS 36 although been driving since i was 21 ,no previous knowledge and it was a drivers pride and joy and i clobbered, crumpled, the offside step of one of the first high spec cabs D.A.F33 after about 4 hours night driving, i got over it and carried on driving left hand trucks for 12 years like many many U,K,drivers.if i could do it anyone can.
Some great advice from peggydeckboy , if unsure on anything , never be afraid to ask other drivers in the restaurant on the ferry , for example if you are delivering to Poland and see Polish trucks boarding at Calais , see what they look like , so you recognize them in the drivers lounge to ask what time the factory closes for your delivery , can you park inside the factory overnight for security and use their canteen and showers ?
Most drivers , regardless of which country they are from , would be glad to fill in the facts , such as truck bans , good places to park and so on .
A lot of UK drivers driving in Europe got by with arm and hand signals for basic communications abroad , if lost , somebody in a car would say follow me , then insist that you do not pay for the drinks and food they got for you in the cafe .
Most transport firms have their address written on the cab or trailer , so you see a fridge trailer boarding the ferry with an Almeria address , on your drop is that area , ask away .
Also to bear in mind , it can get lonely when you are parked up in a foreign motorway service area , when you are the only UK driver out of about 600 EE drivers all having their 45 hour weekly rest or waiting for reloads home .
Most of the EE drivers have satellite tv in their cab , and run their engines all day and night at half hour intervals , so bring ear plugs .
A basic medical kit is desirable for stomach upsets and diarrhea .They run their engines to power the batteries .
When I was with Murfitts, and away for long periods, What I did on Thursday/Friday night was to look at my map, spot where I was, spot where I needed to be Monday night and pick somewhere in the middle to spend the weekend.
Sometimes it was fantastic, sometimes it was a disaster, usually it was a decent weekend.
A lot were spent at regular truckstops, because we were crossing the same borders at the same points most trips. Also being loaded in the same areas, so breaks and ferries etc often meant running out of time in the same areas. Milan, Orte, Campo’, Habay, Castets, Limoge, Cabbage Patch (closed now) and so on.
I’ve also weekended in Crecy (Joan of Arce celebration weekend, OMG 
) , Salou, Madrid, Pisa (wrong Frejus 
), Taranto, Forli (the Irish bar closed at Sat’ Lunch time 
). To many to list really, these are just a few to get your mind working on the possibilities 
Simon , I did the same too , by using an atlas or map that showed a picturesque or scenic area or route , it was marked in green so I would aim to park there for truck bans and weekly rests .
It was amazing what I discovered in the next town or village , some days I would cycle all day ,about 60 miles round trip in vine yards around Bordeaux or medieval towns and châteaux’s .
If lucky you could stumble on a Fiesta in Spain or see a concert such as Mañola García , who I saw in Tarragona and Madrid .Similar to U2 for the Spanish audience .
If weekended at Freds in Coslada , I would cycle to Madrid centre or catch the bus or train while the Brits preferred to get drunk and fight the German drivers .
For Milan , train it to the centre for happy hour , where you buy a drink and get free hot or cold finger food .
Five day ban in Italy , so park by the leisure centre for a swim then take the cable car to the mountain to watch the skiers and posh hot totty .
For Portugal , all the cinema films were in English with Portuguese subtitles , sunbathe on the beach or see museums and historical sites .
I also did the same as Simon and toby,above.I have seen all sorts of interesting things and places in all sorts of countries while spending weekends away.Much better than watching our more cultured brethren getting ■■■■■■ and fighting all comers.
toby1234abc:
I am not sure if S&K in Barry are hiring drivers for European work or not .
Its never easy to get jobs in a new sector and even more difficult now, but I reckon once this pandemic runs its course the entertainment industry will be desperate to make up for a lost year, so maybe opportunities then.
muckles:
toby1234abc:
I am not sure if S&K in Barry are hiring drivers for European work or not .Its never easy to get jobs in a new sector and even more difficult now, but I reckon once this pandemic runs its course the entertainment industry will be desperate to make up for a lost year, so maybe opportunities then.
I started with them 3 weeks ago on Benelux.
Its worth getting your name down with them.