My name is Stuart and I’ve been working in Canada now since August '08, I still keep in contact with a lot of my old workmates from back home and they’re always asking about what it’s like to work and live over here, and up until last month I still received ‘Truck & Driver’ magazine and was always reading stories of guys that have come out here and guys that want to come out here. So if anyone has any questions they would like to ask about my job and living out here feel free to ask, I can’t really comment on other companies or other parts of Canada but I’ve worked for my company long enough to tell you about what it’s like and what to expect if you choose to work over here!
There must be thousands of us who wish we were in your shoes! Myself included but I’ve already seen that experience is a stumbling block for me, Though I’ll give it some serious thought in a year or two.
Can you explain, simply, the process from start to finish for us please?
Is there much ill feeling about brit drivers over there like there is for foreign drivers over here?
is it really as good a move as you’d hoped and why / why not?
Are driver’s hours etc difficult to pick up? I assume they’re different being non-eu…
Well it all started in the autumn of 07, I came back from a holiday and there was a flyer through my letterbox advertising a trade fair near me, it said emmigrate to Canada/USA/New Zealand/Australia, I’d always liked the idea of driving in the Canada or the States so I went down! When I got there I basically got talking to a firm of lawyers that specialised in immigration and they told me I could get a job fairly easily in Canada so we got the ball rolling!
To cut a long story short they set me me up with 10 interviews with different companies, 4 on the east coast and 6 in Alberta, I flew to Canada in April 08 for 2 weeks and had my interviews, I was offered a job by all the companies and it was just a case then of choosing the one I wanted to go to, I picked a company in New Brunswick, on the east coast because they basically did work across the whole of Canada and the US, there trucks were well looked after and there were a nice small company, I didn’t want to work for a big company ( bad experiences in the UK! ).
The lawyers then went to work sorting all the papaerwork, it cost a fair amount of money but I didn’t pay the majority of it until I’d got job offer in writing.
I landed on the 4th August 08 to start my new job, I had to take a driving test and do all the theory test and brake adjustment tests,I passed them all by the 20th, it took them I while to sort me out with a truck but I finally did my first proper trip on the 12th Sept, down to North Carolina and then to Georgia for my reload back home!
The company I work for has about 20 company drivers and 25 owner operators and most of them can’t do enough to help the new guys, they’re happy to help when you need it and really are a great bunch of guys!!
The difference over here is we have to be paid the same as the Canadian guys not like our Polish friends back in the UK, but British guys seem to get a good reception where ever we are whether that be in Canada or the US!
I wish I’d made this move 5 yrs old but hindsight is always 20/20, it was tough for me when I first came out, I lost a girlfriend and had to get my house rented, so I’m still sorting out my finances, but as for the job itself I absolutely love it, I’ve travelled coast to coast in Canada and 43 out of the lower 48 US states!
The driving hours are fairly straight forward 11hrs driving, 14 hrs spread and 10 hrs off and 70hrs in 7 days total, there are variations you can do but with everything still being written log books you can be a little creative!!!
I hope that’s answered your questions for now, feel free to keep asking I’ll try and answer them but I can only speak from my experiences and I am a little biased because I love it here!!
If I can work out how to post pictures on here, I’ll put some up but don’t hold your breath I’m not good with computers!!
Sounds like there’s not much more to it than I already knew about, Unfortunately I’m not in a position to finance any of it and haven’t even got my class 1 yet (after xmas though ) So, for me, it’s more an idea for the future but I must admit I envy you more than a little bit
Hi,
I lived in Ontario for a while. I`m a class 2 driver here in Blighty.
They said they would only give me a car licence back for exchange of my class 2 licence.
I was then told I had to take a test which costs $8,200.
I gave it up and came home in a bad mood.
Will be going back cos Wife is Canadian and kids are citizens.
Got any advice for me. Can I get a straight truck job out there. Preferably not Ontario.
You can do a straight swap in a few provinces for your UK Car Licence. Your HGV licence wont transfer over at all. You can do the air brake endorsement to enable you to drive single rear axle trucks with air brakes (Class 5Q in Alberta, and is actually what i do atm, with a Class 1 run every other saturday) You can even drive what we over here would call a 5 tonne truck(capacity not weight), that doesnt have airbrakes. Do you have your UK Class 1? as it only cost me $2000 to convert my UK to CDN licence. About 10 hours training, and i took 3 road tests, as i didnt have a car, and had no driving experience whatsoever other than the in truck training lol.
Morning, Sharky,
I work in new brunswick and the only license you can get is a car one, you have to take all your theory tests, brake test and driving tests to get a truck license here. I was pretty lucky it didn’t really cost me anything because my company paid for my test and I was able to do some shutting with the yard man after I’d passed the theory side of things! So I did about a week of driving around St Stephen moving trailers etc and got help with the pre-trip from one of the other drivers and that got me through the test! I don’t know about other provinces but the theory side of things you’ll do yourself, I can’t remember exactly what it cost me but it wasn’t a lot, and when it comes to the driving test they’re more interested in the pre-trip ( which you can teach yourself ) than the driving, my test lasted about 20mins and as long as you get most of the gear changes right and you don’t run up the pavement there’s no problem passing that!
If you’re looking at the Maritimes as an area to live, I suggest you come across for couple of weeks and do some asking around, if you have a few years driving experience even if it’s only a straight truck there maybe be companies over here that would take you on and help you with your training etc! There are jobs over here at the moment but you just have to look for them, I’m not sure if you’ll be able to get class 2 work but there are jobs here for sure!
I hope that’s helped a bit and if you have anymore questions I’ll be happy to try and answer them!
im new to all this but have been wanting to come to canada for a few years now so have sorted medical and got my provisional for class2 and class1 so have back to back courses booked but want to move to canada asap i have a job over here once i have passed as a class1 driver lucky i know but would like to know how much experience i will need before i can start the ball rolling sooner rather than later hopefully fingers crossed i have a wife and baby who want to come too any helpwould be great thankyou
Afternoon danj,
The companies I had interviews with all wanted a couple of years experience driving before they would take you on over here, you’ve been lucky to land a job in the uk with no experience, so make the most of it and try and stick with them. Companies over here don’t like to see you changing jobs every 6 months!!! Use those 2 years wisely, do your research, we’ve got a guy from the uk who works for us and the reason he came to New Brunswick is because he’d been to Florida on holiday liked it there so he came to work up here!!! Try and work out where you want to go to in Canada, if you can, try and come over and have a look round! If you’re looking at particular companies do your research again don’t just go on what the web site tells you, try and get in contact with some of there drivers particularly if they already have British drivers working for them!
I used immigration lawyers to do all my paperwork and it’s very expensive it cost me about 6 grand! There are companies that you can go to direct and save yourself a lot of money, but again do your research they tend to be big companies and they don’t have the best reputations out here!
It took me about 9 months from start to finish to get out here but I was single with no family so it may take you a bit longer!
I’m don’t know what kind of work you’ll be doing over there but don’t expect to get day work or even monday to friday work, you’ll have to get a few miles under your belt before you can get the right work!
But most of all do your research, there’s plenty of guys on here that have made the move and they pretty much work in every part of Canada so you’ve no excuse!
Anymore questions don’t hesitate to ask and good luck with your tests! Stu
thankyou stu all i know is it will be 5 days a week stopping out and not bothered if its weekends or not never had jobs where you get weekends off but thankyou for your advice and will get my 2 years then go from their think we will come over next year have a week skiing and a week looking round as the wife is a canadian qualified ski instructor so will use the 2 years well with refrence too doing research. thanks again mate
thankyou stu all i know is it will be 5 days a week stopping out and not bothered if its weekends or not never had jobs where you get weekends off but thankyou for your advice
You could be underestimating there. I am out 11 to 14 days usually and sometimes as much as 21 days.
thankyou stu all i know is it will be 5 days a week stopping out and not bothered if its weekends or not never had jobs where you get weekends off but thankyou for your advice
You could be underestimating there. I am out 11 to 14 days usually and sometimes as much as 21 days.
I think he was talking about his job in the Uk once he has his licence
sorry was talking about job in uk from reading all the posts i understand most people are out 10 days at a time upwards but things seem to change for people once they have been their a bit but thats not a problem was in the navy before and was away upto 6 mths some times. thankyou for all your help
thankyou stu all i know is it will be 5 days a week stopping out and not bothered if its weekends or not never had jobs where you get weekends off but thankyou for your advice
You could be underestimating there. I am out 11 to 14 days usually and sometimes as much as 21 days.
Yeah but you spend more time on Facebook & TNUK than you do behind the wheel
thankyou stu all i know is it will be 5 days a week stopping out and not bothered if its weekends or not never had jobs where you get weekends off but thankyou for your advice
You could be underestimating there. I am out 11 to 14 days usually and sometimes as much as 21 days.
Yeah but you spend more time on Facebook & TNUK than you do behind the wheel
You’d never catch me on FB!!! and 32 days last trip!!!
) So, for me, it’s more an idea for the future but I must admit I envy you more than a little bit 
Try and work out where you want to go to in Canada, if you can, try and come over and have a look round! If you’re looking at particular companies do your research again don’t just go on what the web site tells you, try and get in contact with some of there drivers particularly if they already have British drivers working for them!