I worked for many years in Northampton, mostly for the Judith Hearn agency and as such drove for a huge number of customers all over Northamptonshire… you will recognise a few…
I then headed over to Australia in 1999. my first job was with a demolition company driving an “OVER AXLE TIPPER”… do we even have these bizarre things in the UK?
I now work for an airfreight haulage company based in Sydney. You cannot get permanent residence in Australia from Truck Driving. I married an Aussie Girl, but if you are under 30 you can get a 2 year working Holiday Visa, and converting your license is really easy. If any of you are interested in truck driving in Australia, please PM me, I am happy to point you in the right direction.
stoney2143:
Hi pal im just wondering at 34 what are my options to move to Australia as an hgv driver ? if any
I believe, at the moment, options are limited (i.e. none, unless you count marriage). Although the Australian trucking industry still makes noises about driver shortages I think it is still off the list for visa purposes.
I had to jump through all sorts of hoops to get here… I was doing long haul at the time of my application and was often away from my postal address for quite some time so even just getting back to them sometimes took up to 3 or 4 weeks. In all it took the best part of 2 years to get everything sorted out and then to get a space… There is a limit to how many people are taken every year and it’s not many, only a few thousand… once they are gone you have to wait until the next allocation…
As for just transferring your license across. New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania will require you to sit a test… If you already have class 1 then you can go straight for HC ( heavy combination ) if not then you have to work your way up MR ( medium Ridged ) HR ( heavy ridged ) then HC Then on to MC (multi combination, B Doubles and road trains ) You are required to spend the minimum of 1 year at each category before applying for the next step up… Each test costs about $1800 that usually includes the written part as well…
Don’t think you can come down here and get straight on to road trains, those days have gone… you usually need at least 2 years provable experience before someone will take you on… a decent rig here can cost $600,000 if you think they’ll let a novice driver out in one of those, then think again…
However it’s always worth a punt there’s always some one that’ll take a chance. Have a word with the Australian Embassy and find out from them… one thing I do know is that they are always moving the goal posts about. I spoke to a guy that came down a few years ago and it only took him a few months to get things sorted out… And as Truckwit mentioned you can always get a 1 or 2 year working visa and have a look about to see if it’s something you fancy… Remember to get a working visa and not tourist visa… what ever you do don’t chance that one, if your caught working here on the wrong visa you won’t get back…
Here’s some of mine…over the years…
And more recently these…
Come on… where else would you see a TIR plate on the front of log hauling KW■■?
Cause I took it of my old tilt…
I also have my old Saudi transit plate that goes from time to time…and set of Uzun Arac plates that “fell of” a Turkish truck
Jelliot:
Cause I took it of my old tilt…
I also have my old Syrian transit plate that goes from time to time…and set of Uzun Arac plates that fell of a Turkish truck
Jeff…
lol why not. I’ve seen Russians and Poles over here put TIR plates on their trucks for old times sake.
Yeah there’s quite a few Chicago domiciled trucks running TIR plates, the drivers all wear the shiny four stripe tracksuits for the full on Willi Betz experience
