chilistrucker:
cheers.
think often this a regular problem, people look at something at face value, or don’t do enough research before making the jump.
the grass isn’t always greener. i can see by the diaries, that you lot can, and i guess want to if payed by mileage, do big mileages most days. don’t think i’ve ever beaten 830km’s on a 10, and that was an overnighter in spain, grossing about 17 tonne.
800km’s in canada/usa looks like 2/3s of a days work, and i’d imagine it takes some getting used to day in day out.
people often get blinded by the lure of a decent truck, and work thats abit different from the norm, amazing how many drop by the wayside when often a different realisation dawns upon them and they realise they’ve got to work for their money.
i have to admit it does look appealing out there, but with everything, pros and cons. the diaries do give a good insight to life out there, keep them up. just don’t tell us about the snow and chains to much 
The vast majority of people I know personally in New Brunswick who came over from the UK and Ireland did pretty much no research at all and suffered the consequences. Some of them thought they were going to live like kings in Canada and completely overstretched themselves financially when they got here because they believed the companies when they told them what they’d be earning. Driver recruitment here is an industry in itself, some companies have 3 or 4 people who’s sole purpose it is to recruit new drivers as there are constantly so many leaving. One company I worked at only runs about 100 or less of its own motors, yet employed 3 people in the office at the time to recruit drivers or bring foreign drivers over! They all come out with the same spiel about wages and home time and how great the company is but you soon learn to see through it and spot the BS. But those who came here with no research found themselves in a big hole and most cant get out of it now, many have spent their entire savings on getting here and havent even got the money now to ship their furniture back to England, let alone buy a house/get a mortgage. I know a few guys who are practically living paycheck to paycheck and as they havent applied for and gained residence, their wives cant work, so they have no money and they’re all fast approaching the four year limit. New Brunswick has already started cracking down on people who have been here for the four years and not applied for residence and it was only on the news a month or so ago that a British family were being sent back home.
The milleage pay thing is all well and good when you get good miles all the time but as a driver you are not in control of that. My first year and a half was on fridges and that was all waiting to hurry and then hurrying to wait. I used to re-write log books daily, sometimes more depending on circumstances and that wasn’t me being greedy wanting to earn more, that was what had t be done to make the normal wage I would of had, had there of being no unpaid waiting time. 15-24 hours on the go is quite common in that game. In my current job on box vans its much different but even then it sometimes goes wrong and you as the driver pay the price in the pocket, or choose to run bent. Just yeterday I sat in a factory getting loaded for 7 hours, on no pay at all and then exceeded my time to get to a point I needed to be at so that today I could be at my destination at a certain time. I ran bent, I wont pretend I didn’t and that its all rosey here, it happens, and thats why they’re in the process of forcing electronic log books on to us all, but that wont cure the problem, just the symptom. Either way it was all for nothing because apparently there is a discrepancy with my customs paperwork and the shipper doesn’t work weekends so I’m now stuck on the US side until monday, on no pay while office wallahs on hourly pay or saleries do on monday, what they should have done on Friday. Now dont get me wrong, this is a very rare occurance in this job I’m doing now, its the first time in 4 months anything has gone wrong at all, but it was a very regular occurance on fridge work and in NB thats what the majority of jobs are for foreign drivers and the shock to British people coming from tachos and everything by the book, all wrapped up in cotton wool etc, to the reality of North America is often too much and I’d never of done it with a family in tow. I came here soley for the adventure as there was none to be had in the UK/Europe and now that I’m looking to settle down in the future with my Canadian girlfriend, I’ll be looking for a different job once I’ve seen all the things here I want to see. I’ll either be doing a local day job on hourly pay, which will mean having to move to another part of Canada or I’ll move back to England and be on garunteed money for a days work.
The distances in a day isn’t that big a deal. Because we can drive when we want and dont have to clock watch and worry about taking breaks when we dont want to take them and things like that, its easy to crack on. Plus we’re driving along at 65mph all day as well. When I first came here and heared drivers talking of 1200km in a day I was worried I’d never be able to live up to what was required from me, in reality its easily done and because of the lack of regulations you’re not stressing about going 1 minute over your time and such like, you may do a longer day here than in the UK and even 1300km in one shift, but you feel less stressed out and fatigued for it. What gets you is what I explained further up, going over your time to make up for delays. A classic example of what happens on fridge work is that you are sat on a bay all day getting loaded, then at 4:59pm you’ll suddenly be done and sent on your way. Your company take that 8 or 10 hours of inactivity to be a legal break and expect (demand) you then do a full 13 hour drive to be 1200km away for 8am the next morning. You either do it and earn an average wage or you refuse and earn nothing and then get all the crap work for being a naughty boy and refusing to obey their orders. I’m in a job I really do enjoy now and today’s ferk up was a one off but I’d never go back to fridge work, especially eastern seaboard fridge work and I’d categorically advise anyone from the UK to stay well clear of any company in the Canadian Maritimes offering this work.
Thats my doom and gloom for the day. But people have to be told about the down sides and not just see the photos that wet the appetite and make it look so glamorous and enviable.
Best of etc.
) 
that their isn’t much tarping. Most of the trailers are ‘pre loaded’ in Canada and just need binders (I learnt that this means chaining and ‘Warwicks’ or straps in Canadian!), (so hopefully just a changeover) and if there is any tarping they use safety harnesses whenever possible. (looks a bit like a giant trapeze platform!..lol).