Got Employment Contract, LMO and Plane Tickets to Canada

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS EX-PAT BRITISH TRUCKERS (INTERACTIVE)
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I ride with no air in the chair, I started out sitting ‘normally’ but over time I kept dropping it a bit at a time. There’s a lot of room to stretch your legs out, so that’s quite comfy, but the main benefit is that the sun doesn’t blind you as it reflects off the hood and sitting lower also means that you can see down the road, rather than seeing a windscreen full of hood and about two feet of road :laughing:

Don’t like the long shifters though, they’re retarded, mine is at the perfect height, why you would want to reach in the bunk or touch the windscreen to get into gear is beyond me. I did see a few trucks that have gone down the opposite route with shifters at the Louisville truckshow last year, these had a tiny little gearstick, about a foot long, how they change gear in them is anybody’s guess, you must have to lean down so far that you couldn’t see anything but dashboard in front of you, bloody dangerous if you ask me :unamused:

Mind you, talking of Harleys (nasty things) it is legal to ride one with no helmet in a lot of states, yet they’ll nick you for no seatbelt in a car or truck, how does that make any sense :unamused:

Glad you’re enjoying it contractdriver, what did you reckon of the first trip? did trucking over here live up to expectations :question:

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Riddiculously low sun visors and long shifters are just twonk toys, things like that and extra long wheelbases making it hard to take corners never impress me I just laugh and think how stupid those owners are, I really love it when I see those idiots at being made to remove their stupid sunvisors by DOT :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

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Pat Hasler:
Riddiculously low sun visors and long shifters are just twonk toys, things like that and extra long wheelbases making it hard to take corners never impress me I just laugh and think how stupid those owners are, I really love it when I see those idiots at being made to remove their stupid sunvisors by DOT :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

A bit like this one I saw last week… ‘No Air in the Chair’ (You can just see the top of the drivers head :open_mouth:)… in fact it seemed like it had 'No Air Anywhere! as it scraped along the ground… massive 6 foot gearlever… No doorhandles!.. and the longest wheelbase ever…

You would have loved it Pat :laughing:

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You just have to look at the stacks to think "knob ",oh well each to their own :laughing: .

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newmercman:
Glad you’re enjoying it contractdriver, what did you reckon of the first trip? did trucking over here live up to expectations :question:

It’s, as many of you have said on here… a refreshing change and a very surreal experience. I’m spoilt for parking options, fantastic food choices… (Healthy and Full Fat!), the truck drivers i have met when loading or tipping (Canadian, American and Mexican) have been fantastic, helpful and polite… in fact i’m shocked at how polite everyone is! :open_mouth:

I’ve been so busy, i’m hardly getting the time to write anything, but i guess once i get a bit more organised and get sorted in my new truck i will be able to make time…

I’m having fun, it’s great driving somewhere new, down roads I’ve never been down before… It’s reminds me of my trucking youth!.. I’ts much easier than driving in Europe (everyone speaks English, roads are wide (even the two land ‘narrow’ ones!) and are well signposted so it’s pretty easy to find your way around.

I just got my first two weeks pay ($2160) and was about the same as i was getting in the UK (About 700 quid per week) for about the same hours… so that’s was pleasing!

I’m still using the Peterbilt 379 (Canadian Classic so it says on the dashboard), it’s got one million seven hundred Km on the clock but still goes okay with that massive Cat engine in it…

I get my ‘Brand New’ ‘Coppertop’ ‘Longnose Prostar’ tomorrow with 550 hp Motor, Bunk Heater, Sattelite Radio and loads of other ‘Gubbins’… hopefully my back and hearing will recover again after using the old Pete!

Here’s some pics of the Pete with a load of posts to support ‘Plum Trees’ which I loaded in Cranbrook, British Columbia and took to a beautiful place near Fresno, California… :sunglasses:

Proper ‘Old School’ Trucking…

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Hi CONTRACTDRIVER , iv been following your thread very nice and infomative…why the move if you was earning £700 in the uk wasnt that good wages…just asking as im thinking of a move to.

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Can’t speak for anyone else but I give it a go out here just to try something a bit different.
I’m also earning about the same but for more hours and been away but it’s been an experience.
If your coming over here to think you will be minted its not quite like that.

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i was gona come over and do the same thing just try something different,but i was hoping to send some money home as wife and kidds will stay in UK…thats if their is enough money to be made…the other thing is weather…

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My wife is still in the UK and all been well will be moving out in the summer. I send money back to help with the bills and have enough left over for myself.

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hi kr79 what will your wife do,would she look for a job and what kind…im in the same dilema…

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Yes that’s why she hasn’t come yet she is finishing her teacher training exams. Eventually she will probably do this but she can’t until we get permant residency as its a job working with minors.
So she will probably just look for something to keep her going until then.

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i had a chat with my i wife as she asked to email you,she works for BSI in chiswick london,customer service for the last 15 years i am thniking she would not find a job in canada in her proffesion…i might have to have a long think about the situation…

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I’d think she would find something maybe not exactly the same but there’s loads of blokes here who’s other halfs are working.

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cooks:
Hi CONTRACTDRIVER , iv been following your thread very nice and infomative…why the move if you was earning £700 in the UK wasnt that good wages…just asking as im thinking of a move to.

I wanted to move to Canada and exactly as KR79 says… and try something different… I’m married and my wife and daughter are still in the UK and thought i would try it alone so i could suss the job out and make sure that it’s where i would like my family to live and the the trucking job is really the job that i want to do before i fully commit myself and my family to living here.

If you’re not a truck driver, It’s actually very difficult to get a work permit ‘quickly’ for Canada, I have a friend who is a Doctor and his wife is a Head Chef, they are quite well off and really want to move to Canada, especially British Columbia… and they just can’t get a work visa, they have been rejected and have re-applied for Canada again!.. they couldn’t believe that i got a 2 year LMO work permit in 10 days, and i didn’t even have to go to a embassy, i was sent the LMO forms by email, which i printed and showed it immigration in Calgary when i got off the plane… Calgary immigration gave me a 2 year work permit and visa!.. it honestly was that simple!

Because most of us are paid over here by the mile your wages vary dramatically from day to day, you have to look at your income more on a monthly basis to get a balance of your earnings.

My dispatcher tells me to load Nisku, Alberta to Odessa, Texas (my current trip) they email me a job card with the miles they say it takes to get there(Jobcard says 1935 miles) if i drive 2200 miles they will still only pay me for 1935 miles… so it’s ‘trip money’ really.

I get 43c per mile… so i will earn $832 for the 4 day outward trip… my return trip will be about the same paid distance back to Edmonton, but i need to take my 34 hour reset somewhere in between also! (I’m taking it right now in a Walmart carpark in Odessa, TX because it’s warm and sunny! :sunglasses: ) so i guess its gonna take me about 10 days to earn $1664.

I came to live and work in Canada because i wanted to come to Canada, and my wife wants to come to Canada also, it’s a refreshing change form the UK, but i think the general day to day things cost more, but the lifestyle is just so much nicer, cleaner and best of all safer… thats all!

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I’m the same contractdriver I have had a few friends knocked back from coming to Canada over the years, We as Drivers are very privaledged to basically jump the queue of lord knows how long to get here so quickly.

It is a cleaner/safer life but as You say, nowadays the cost of living is that of The UK basically but thats in Canada as OTR drivers spending most weeks in The US I find it far cheaper to keep Myself in a better than UK standard down there.

I’m pleased Your enjoying Yourself & long may it continue.

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A few photos of my first ever ‘Brand New Truck’…


My ‘Brand New’ International Prostar ‘Longnose’


First Wash!.. NO alloy brightener needed!


Loves Truckstop… wet patches on the ground are from melting ice dripping from under the trailer


Trailer front axle ‘slid forward’ for the US


6.30am this morning in the warm Californian sun… and not a cloud in the sky :sunglasses:

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Nice pics! Can you explain to me how the sliding front axle on the flat bed works and what the requirement differences are between Canada and the US that require a spread axle in the US etc. Having only ever done reefers and dry vans I’ve never come across this before.

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robinhood_1984:
Nice pics! Can you explain to me how the sliding front axle on the flat bed works and what the requirement differences are between Canada and the US that require a spread axle in the US etc. Having only ever done reefers and dry vans I’ve never come across this before.

With the Axles together
Legal U.S. weight per axle is: STEER 12,000 lbs DRIVES 34,000 lbs TRAILER 34,000 lbs = Total no more than 80,000lbs

With the Axle ‘Spread’ open
Legal U.S. weight per axle is: STEER (up to) 12,000 lbs DRIVES (up to) 34,000 lbs TRAILER (max)40,000 lbs= Total no more than 80,000lbs

It just allows a bit more if you have extra heavy stuff like those Nodding Donkey Gearboxes for instance which are a big heavy lump but need to put longer light stuff in between and means you can move the heavy stuff further back to make more room.

Not allowed to ‘open’ the axles in Canada though, they class it as two single axles and will do you for overloaded axles! (although i see some yanks in Canada with ‘fixed’ axles, possibly different rules if they enter Canada… but i know i cant open it)

It’s easy to slide, loaded or empty… just turn one little tap, drive backward to open or forward to close (relevant brakes automatically apply), turn tap again to lock pins… none of this pulling giant sardine can keys or pulling big levers. :grimacing:

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contractdriver:

robinhood_1984:
Nice pics! Can you explain to me how the sliding front axle on the flat bed works and what the requirement differences are between Canada and the US that require a spread axle in the US etc. Having only ever done reefers and dry vans I’ve never come across this before.

With the Axles together
Legal U.S. weight per axle is: STEER 12,000 lbs DRIVES 34,000 lbs TRAILER 34,000 lbs = Total no more than 80,000lbs

With the Axle ‘Spread’ open
Legal U.S. weight per axle is: STEER (up to) 12,000 lbs DRIVES (up to) 34,000 lbs TRAILER (max)40,000 lbs= Total no more than 80,000lbs

It just allows a bit more if you have extra heavy stuff like those Nodding Donkey Gearboxes for instance which are a big heavy lump but need to put longer light stuff in between and means you can move the heavy stuff further back to make more room.

Not allowed to ‘open’ the axles in Canada though, they class it as two single axles and will do you for overloaded axles! (although i see some yanks in Canada with ‘fixed’ axles, possibly different rules if they enter Canada… but i know i cant open it)

It’s easy to slide, loaded or empty… just turn one little tap, drive backward to open or forward to close (relevant brakes automatically apply), turn tap again to lock pins… none of this pulling giant sardine can keys or pulling big levers. :grimacing:

We met a US driver in Shelby MT who had come through the scale at Coutes AB to get back into the US with his axles spread, they were either fixed or he couldn’t close them and he was fined for the overweight as if it was a single axle trailer to the sum of $3,500, he said he wouldn’t pay it and wouldn’t go back to Canada again!

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That must be a western Canada thing because you see quite a few spread axles in eastern Canada, usually on US trucks. I remember when I first came to Canada about 4 years ago someone at my company mentioning those spread axles and saying that its Alberta that doesn’t like them, which is why very few Canadian firms have them as it limits the scope of their operations but I didn’t know you could slide them like that so I’ve learnt something now. Does the rear axle always stay where it is or can that be moved too?