Evening ladies and gents.
Seriously thinking of applying for some euro work, how hard is the transition from uk to euro. How did you find border crossings and getting tolls etc is is daunting or does it come fairly easily? Cheers
Border crossings don’t exist in Euroland and you don’t even need a big wallet with lots of different currencies
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
uk work is generally complete dross compared to euro work for road conditions,free decent parking and attitudes from the public and delivery/collection places.
couple that with a degree of flexibility to travelling times ( except those on trip dosh) and the option for wall to wall available roadside companions plus the option of bringing back cigs and booze to add an easy £500 to every trip for wages even for a modest amount ( though not if you spend it on the roadside companions and baghouses),and you will wonder why you didnt do it sooner.
you will kack your pants to start with,but motorways are a doddle and the norm is for factories and ind estates to be built adjacent to them for easy access.
once you think its a breeze,then you will come to be first in the queue for a left turn at a staggered crossroads then the aforementioned kakking procedure will apply again for a while as theres nobody to follow.
overall itl be slightly challenging and an achievement once you have done a few trips.
the language isnt an issue,just keep saying " i only speak english you cretinous little surrender monkey" and sooner or later someone will apppear that does to assist you,though nearly everyone speaks it anyway except for some of the low level minions.
keep your cards spotless by hook or by crook otherwise heavy fines or bribes will ensue…crack on drive. 
Apologies for being blunt and burst your bubble , the novelty soon wears out when you are stuck in the middle of nowhere on your 24 or 45 hours weekly rest periods .
This will happen when you are needed in the UK for a funeral or family commitment , or your wife or Mrs has booked a concert or theatre tickets .
For your 45 off , you must be in a hotel and provide a receipt when stopped in a control or risk a heavy fine to be paid at the roadside .
A small problem in the UK with a tachograph offense will be different in Europe ,the French Gendarmerie or Spanish commercial vehicle enforcement will take 20,0000 Euros from you .
The Basque and Catalina area are renowned for huge fines .
Basque area is North East area of Spain and Catalan is the Barcelona area .
As Diesel dog said, 100% legal for tacho .
With Winter looming , if your night heater packs up , expect to freeze in the cab or if driving at night in the summer, no sleep in the day when its noisy and hot at 45 degrees .
toby1234abc:
With Winter looming , if your night heater packs up , expect to freeze in the cab or if driving at night in the summer, no sleep in the day when its noisy and hot at 45 degrees .
Neither situation rings true if your truck has a working engine.
toby1234abc:
Apologies for being blunt and burst your bubble , the novelty soon wears out when you are stuck in the middle of nowhere on your 24 or 45 hours weekly rest periods .
This will happen when you are needed in the UK for a funeral or family commitment , or your wife or Mrs has booked a concert or theatre tickets .For your 45 off , you must be in a hotel and provide a receipt when stopped in a control or risk a heavy fine to be paid at the roadside .
A small problem in the UK with a tachograph offense will be different in Europe ,the French Gendarmerie or Spanish commercial vehicle enforcement will take 20,0000 Euros from you .
The Basque and Catalina area are renowned for huge fines .
Basque area is North East area of Spain and Catalan is the Barcelona area .As Diesel dog said, 100% legal for tacho .
With Winter looming , if your night heater packs up , expect to freeze in the cab or if driving at night in the summer, no sleep in the day when its noisy and hot at 45 degrees .
Hasn’t the Maire’s daughter got air-conditioning or central-heating in her apartment?
I did ask the Mayors daughter for a meal out but she canceled due to reading all of Carryfasts posts .
toby1234abc:
I did ask the Mayors daughter for a meal out but she canceled due to reading all of Carryfasts posts .
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
id reckon shes still reading them!!!
dieseldog999:
toby1234abc:
I did ask the Mayors daughter for a meal out but she canceled due to reading all of Carryfasts posts .^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
id reckon shes still reading them!!!
Aye, she’s going to be busy for quite some time I expect.
Currency is the Euro, easy enough to work with, don’t bother comparing prices, the price is the price. Some things cost a bit more, some things cost a bit less, unless you’re in Switzerland, then everything costs a good bit more and the price is in Swiss Francs. Try to avoid an overnight stop in Switzerland, it’ll be expensive.
Languages, most people speak some English. Be prepared to apply some lateral thinking though. They might know a different word for something you would give an entirely different name to. Most Europeans learn American English, at school and off the TV. So using a strange word for something isn’t that surprising when you think about it.
Learning a bit of each language of the countries you visit will pay dividends though. The change of attitude to a Brit driver attempting Italian, in Italy, or whatever, is surprising. All you need is the appropriate greeting, please and thanks, I’ve come to deliver or load. Having a rough idea what’s good to eat on a menu is also useful (unless you’re big mac and fries, that’s universal).
I had a load to be delivered all over North Italy. I did about half the drops and had to drop the rest in Turin at a groupage house. Apparently I wasn’t expected.
Anyway some poor lass got dicked to deal with the bloody Brit driver. I heard her asking “what’s the English for magazine?” so I called over and said it’s warehouse. She came over to me at the counter and apologised for her poor English, explaining she’d been learning German instead. I replied in bad German that this wasn’t a problem, I’d been speaking bad German for years. So she took me to the warehouse and told the head man to tip me as soon as they could (I got this from my electronic translator, later on). I was in and out within the hour. Would she have told them that IF I didn’t speak bad German or even poorer Italian? I doubt it. More likely, get round to this guy whenever you feel like it. That’s the sort of change of attitude you’ll get.
I can speak slightly better German now, some French, a little Italian and Spanish and a few phrases in Dutch and Greek. I’m nowhere near fluent in any of them, but can get by in most.
Work. Since the borders Eastwards have opened, the attitude to drivers has changed somewhat, and not for the better. It used to be standard practice at most places for drivers to park overnight on the premises (except in Italy) and be offered the use of the on site toilets and showers. That’s gone, for the most part. Possibly more due to Euro work becoming much less a closed shop than it was, which coincidentally happened at around the same time. But driving a truck is driving a truck. Tolls for the most part are paid through a variety of electronic boxes. Navigation is done with a sat-nav. Anyone can do it these days. There are pitfalls for those who expect it to be exactly the same as UK. You’ll learn them as you go, keep your wits about you and your ears open. Don’t be scared to ask a question, the only stupid question is the one you didn’t ask but should have. Having said that, a lot is common sense, use your loaf as well.
Simon:
dieseldog999:
toby1234abc:
I did ask the Mayors daughter for a meal out but she canceled due to reading all of Carryfasts posts .^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
id reckon shes still reading them!!!
Aye, she’s going to be busy for quite some time I expect.Currency is the Euro, easy enough to work with, don’t bother comparing prices, the price is the price. Some things cost a bit more, some things cost a bit less, unless you’re in Switzerland, then everything costs a good bit more and the price is in Swiss Francs. Try to avoid an overnight stop in Switzerland, it’ll be expensive.
Languages, most people speak some English. Be prepared to apply some lateral thinking though. They might know a different word for something you would give an entirely different name to. Most Europeans learn American English, at school and off the TV. So using a strange word for something isn’t that surprising when you think about it.
Learning a bit of each language of the countries you visit will pay dividends though. The change of attitude to a Brit driver attempting Italian, in Italy, or whatever, is surprising. All you need is the appropriate greeting, please and thanks, I’ve come to deliver or load. Having a rough idea what’s good to eat on a menu is also useful (unless you’re big mac and fries, that’s universal).
I had a load to be delivered all over North Italy. I did about half the drops and had to drop the rest in Turin at a groupage house. Apparently I wasn’t expected.
Anyway some poor lass got dicked to deal with the bloody Brit driver. I heard her asking “what’s the English for magazine?” so I called over and said it’s warehouse. She came over to me at the counter and apologised for her poor English, explaining she’d been learning German instead. I replied in bad German that this wasn’t a problem, I’d been speaking bad German for years. So she took me to the warehouse and told the head man to tip me as soon as they could (I got this from my electronic translator, later on). I was in and out within the hour. Would she have told them that IF I didn’t speak bad German or even poorer Italian? I doubt it. More likely, get round to this guy whenever you feel like it. That’s the sort of change of attitude you’ll get.
I can speak slightly better German now, some French, a little Italian and Spanish and a few phrases in Dutch and Greek. I’m nowhere near fluent in any of them, but can get by in most.Work. Since the borders Eastwards have opened, the attitude to drivers has changed somewhat, and not for the better. It used to be standard practice at most places for drivers to park overnight on the premises (except in Italy) and be offered the use of the on site toilets and showers. That’s gone, for the most part. Possibly more due to Euro work becoming much less a closed shop than it was, which coincidentally happened at around the same time. But driving a truck is driving a truck. Tolls for the most part are paid through a variety of electronic boxes. Navigation is done with a sat-nav. Anyone can do it these days. There are pitfalls for those who expect it to be exactly the same as UK. You’ll learn them as you go, keep your wits about you and your ears open. Don’t be scared to ask a question, the only stupid question is the one you didn’t ask but should have. Having said that, a lot is common sense, use your loaf as well.
Well put Simon.