I take my hat off to you frans and retract my last statement and save myself further embarassment. 
BUT what about the rest of my thread re: monthly net pay and only ever seeing the inside of factories and the work being temporary till winter?
Be prepared to mother a load of whingers 
mucksavaga:
I take my hat off to you frans and retract my last statement and save myself further embarassment.
Be prepared to mother a load of whingers
tbh for the inexperienced in europe…me included its a good chance at doing some euro work.
dinosteveus1:
Do you supply ‘work’ clothes such as T-shirts, Trousers and Boots?
I wouldn’t have thought so, they don’t want you to have too many t-shirts.
caledoniandream:
We work our way and to much experience (especialy if you have all the T-shirts) can be a negative ballast to train people.
green456:
I actualy work already 17 year for van den Boschbut I attended your leaving do at frontier 3 years ago when I was TM @Pattersons
How you doing Frans?
A year ( 11 month actualy) at JM in Grangmouth learned me a lot, but I am back where I belong.
As long as EvH leaves me in peace and MTP is gone so no probs for me
Back to the old setting in Bournville, with Paul and Lee.
How are you doing Danny??
Coffeeholic:
dinosteveus1:
Do you supply ‘work’ clothes such as T-shirts, Trousers and Boots?I wouldn’t have thought so, they don’t want you to have too many t-shirts.
caledoniandream:
We work our way and to much experience (especialy if you have all the T-shirts) can be a negative ballast to train people.
I’d have thought it would look good to the VDB Customers if all their Drivers turned up in ‘Company’ attire, that matches the Vehicle Livery.
dustylfc:
i applied for vdb when it first advertised on drivingjobs website, i never heard anythink but i think i it was because of my location as i live in birkenhead, so as soon as they decide to advertise for liverpool i suppose ill just have to read these posts, i would like to no the reason for picking certain parts of uk, is it airport related because if so i live half an hour away from john lennon airport and 45 mins frm manchester, maybe the guys who work there could tell me the reason?
I don’t understand, I travelled from Felixstowe to B/ham for the interview, just under 200 miles in total. I stayed at a Caravan Park the night before so I was fresh for the interview and test drive.
Birkenhead must only be about 100 miles from B/ham.
I must be the most inexperienced Driver on here and Frans offered me a position. It could have been my attitude that went in my favour, in my head the Job was mine before the interview, cos I wanted it. I love driving and driving in Euroland is like a dream job.
What is better than driving a nice new big truck on well maintained roads (most are) in Europe?
Regards to the uniform:-
We are a non uniform company, we supply your safety gear (safety boots, high viz, hard hat, and whatever you need for ADR)
But no we don’t supply anything else (it’s not the norm on the continent)
Frans
mucksavaga:
I take my hat off to you frans and retract my last statement and save myself further embarassment.
Be prepared to mother a load of whingers
Monthly net pay is about right as a rough indication (mind you only work 3 weeks)
I have been since I am 18 on the road (my parents had their own trucks, but not for hire and reward) and I have seen a lot of the world.
Yes I seen very much factories inside, and yes as you start you do a lot of the same work to build up your experience.
It’s not very wise to send a new tanker driver to Farawayistan to find out that he actualy doesn’t have a clue yet, it’s easier to solve when they are near you!
But as you go further, and weekended away in some nice or less nice countries you can if you are prepared see a lot, I use to take public transport when I was somewhere to Big cities and so on, also i try to communicate with locals, and still have many good friends around Europe.
But…If you stay in your cab and have a chock and watch the telly you will never see anything, and have a misserable weekend.
We have been building sandcastles on the spanish coast with Greek drivers, Many a Barbeque with turkish drivers, \Ten pin bowling with 6 different nationalities, repaired a truck in Italy with Russians and Polish drivers a good Barbeque after that, use to park in La Jonquera between the Spanish drivers, always good food and good company.
Do I speak all these languages than■■?..Of course not, but if you are open to communication, and to people you can have fun and support anywhere in the world.
Respect them and they respect you.
Last point: why should Van den Bosch train people for a short period till the winter■■? Very expensive way of working.
We are for a big part of the fleet food and feet transporter, can you tell me if people don’t eat the winter so no transport is needed. I don’t think so.
To make from a driver a decent tanker driver, can take 3 month before he is up to full speed, by than is it winter and send him home?? I don’t believe so!!
tbh for the inexperienced in europe…me included its a good chance at doing some euro work.
I agree Gogzy and if you clear £2 g a month for max hours you get the best of both worlds ie experience and a wage.
Maybe I should give it a pop if I haven’t upset the gaffer too much this morning.
Gogzy, I think it could be fun on weekends if the uk drivers meet up and share food and BEER and have a bit of fun make it worthwhile to be back on the road and to look out for your fellow driver like it should be. rather than be an individual
I suppose those joining VDB have a chance to make it how they think it should be. and to be pofessional of course
All the best lads vdb will be how you make it… And don’t mess it up for following drivers
mucksavaga:
tbh for the inexperienced in europe…me included its a good chance at doing some euro work.I agree Gogzy and if you clear £2 g a month for max hours you get the best of both worlds ie experience and a wage.
Maybe I should give it a pop if I haven’t upset the gaffer too much this morning.
Gogzy, I think it could be fun on weekends if the uk drivers meet up and share food and BEER and have a bit of fun make it worthwhile to be back on the road and to look out for your fellow driver like it should be. rather than be an individual
I suppose those joining VDB have a chance to make it how they think it should be. and to be pofessional of course
All the best lads vdb will be how you make it… And don’t mess it up for following drivers
money isnt the be all and end all of driving abroad tbh, once youve been across you want to stay over as much as and you realise how crap things are here.it is alot less stressful.
but that does sound liek a good idea of the brit drivers meeting up if they are in the area or close by and being weekended together.
dinosteveus1:
What is better than driving a nice new big truck on well maintained roads (most are) in Europe?
Oh boy are you going to be disappointed if you are expecting well maintained roads. Most are as bad as those in the UK and some, particularly in parts of Germany and Belgium are worse. Dutch roads tend to be good as are the autoroutes in France are very good. Plenty of other plus points to compensate for the bad condition of the road surfaces though.
caledoniandream:
It’s not very wise to send a new tanker driver to Farawayistan to find out that he actualy doesn’t have a clue yet, it’s easier to solve when they are near you!
But as you go further, and weekended away in some nice or less nice countries you can if you are prepared see a lot, I use to take public transport when I was somewhere to Big cities and so on, also i try to communicate with locals, and still have many good friends around Europe.
But…If you stay in your cab and have a chock and watch the telly you will never see anything, and have a misserable weekend.
That’s it exactly, weekends are what you make them and I have lost count of the number of great weekends I have had by just getting away from the truck by use of public transport, taxi or just walking, sometimes with other drivers and other times by myself.
The way I look at it is I haven’t had to pay to get there so might as well take the opportunity to have a one or two day holiday.
Coffeeholic:
caledoniandream:
It’s not very wise to send a new tanker driver to Farawayistan to find out that he actualy doesn’t have a clue yet, it’s easier to solve when they are near you!
But as you go further, and weekended away in some nice or less nice countries you can if you are prepared see a lot, I use to take public transport when I was somewhere to Big cities and so on, also i try to communicate with locals, and still have many good friends around Europe.
But…If you stay in your cab and have a chock and watch the telly you will never see anything, and have a misserable weekend.That’s it exactly, weekends are what you make them and I have lost count of the number of great weekends I have had by just getting away from the truck by use of public transport, taxi or just walking, sometimes with other drivers and other times by myself.
The way I look at it is I haven’t had to pay to get there so might as well take the opportunity to have a one or two day holiday.
I had some great weekends in port francs in geneva waiting to clear the load use to get a tram from port francs to the city centre could not belive it when i go off the tram the 1st shop i saw was marks and spencers. They have a great market on sats and back at port francs there is always somebody weekended from the uk normerly removels guys like stirling or britannia . We use to go swimming in the day out door pool then nite time go to the bars around geneva great nights
So where are all the threads about Polish drivers stealing… oh wait… English drivers stealing all the Dutch jobs??
Coffeeholic:
dinosteveus1:
What is better than driving a nice new big truck on well maintained roads (most are) in Europe?Oh boy are you going to be disappointed if you are expecting well maintained roads. Most are as bad as those in the UK and some, particularly in parts of Germany and Belgium are worse. Dutch roads tend to be good as are the autoroutes in France are very good. Plenty of other plus points to compensate for the bad condition of the road surfaces though.
I spent 3 great years in Germany, was a few years ago, but I loved to travel all over, Great shopping in Eindhoven and I got a fantastic Rug from the Market. I found most roads in a better state than ours. Guess a lot can change in 10 or so years 
If anybody wants anything taking over at the end of the month, let me know. As long as it’s not illegal and you get it to me I’ll take it, I only have a Hatchback Car. Cost ya a few quid to cover the fuel.
If I were over there then I would go for this job. I subbed for H&S and spent lots of time around VDB boys and girls. You get into a manner of doing things and it becomes simpler to work out your hours and way of working as you go along. I always had a gas stove and cans of food onboard for camion stew so I was able to park almost anywhere. That meant I could see the things I wanted to see without needing to park in a truckstop or whatever. But I am an unsociable sod so my own company was often all I needed. At least I couldn’t irritate anyone else on my own.
I was always leery of parking with British drivers in a routiers though. If there was going to be a fight it was invariably a Brit that started it, or was heavily involved somehow. I had the best weekends with company from other countries. Language never really seemed to be an issue if you were prepared to have a laugh and try teaching one another the correct pronunciation of all the swear words in 8 different languages… 
Working for the Dutch is always sound. They have been worldwide traders for centuries and have the diplomacy to get things done. But you need to be straight with them at all times. If you don’t know, or are concerned about something then ask. They won’t think less of you for admitting you don’t know, and VDB have about a million years worth of experience so if it can happen, chances are it already has and they will know how to get around any problem.
One thing for all the tanker drivers. Get some good boots, waterproof boots, and a set of leggings. Washes get you wet and it is miserable having wet feet. Also, carry Mycil foot powder and USE IT REGULARLY!! Athletes foot is not nice, is common as hell on tanks and can cause other problems. I once caught cellulitis from a cracked patch of athletes foot and it nearly cost me my right leg.
You know what, I think I will leave Puff and Junior here and come back to work there. Would they pay for my flights to do 3 weeks on and a week off from here??
dinosteveus1:
If anybody wants anything taking over at the end of the month, let me know. As long as it’s not illegal and you get it to me I’ll take it, I only have a Hatchback Car. Cost ya a few quid to cover the fuel.
YOU HAVE A PM
Thanks for the very helpful post Bob.
dinosteveus1:
Coffeeholic:
dinosteveus1:
What is better than driving a nice new big truck on well maintained roads (most are) in Europe?Oh boy are you going to be disappointed if you are expecting well maintained roads. Most are as bad as those in the UK and some, particularly in parts of Germany and Belgium are worse. Dutch roads tend to be good as are the autoroutes in France are very good. Plenty of other plus points to compensate for the bad condition of the road surfaces though.
I spent 3 great years in Germany, was a few years ago, but I loved to travel all over, Great shopping in Eindhoven and I got a fantastic Rug from the Market.
Yep, German roads have deteriorated a lot in the last 10 years or so, especially those in the West of the country. The ones in the old DDR have generally improved, that’s where the money went so none left for the roads in the old West Germany.