Hi Guys
I’m a long distance trucker in the UK…I was thinking about coming to America as a trucker but I have heard some bad stories…One guy went to the USA , and was back in the UK in 4 weeks telling me it was better back in the UK…Can you Americans enlighten us Brits about the truth.
in brief m8 i run canada/usa long haul is paid by the mile . not as much paid holidays and u need to be running 3000miles a week if u have family and half decent lifestyle in uk i would stay there /everyones different gd luck whatever u decide
Thanks Steve Jones, Sadly the USA is not the land of prosperity eh…Good luck and safe driving.
same to you m8
I’d imagine it’d be more suited to single people too.
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Wayfar, I make you right stating thats its a single mans life…It’s not too bad in the UK, afteral our long distance journeys in the UK are more like local journeys in the USA.
Check out Pat Haslar’s posts. The USA is no place to fall ill.
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I live in Canada but do most of my driving in the US. I write about my trips here:
Franglais:
Check out Pat Haslar’s posts. The USA is no place to fall ill.Sent from my GT-S7275R using Tapatalk
Very true.
Micky B I fear you have the same dream that I amongst others had in my earlier days, I had seen too many truck driving movies and wanted to become a US truck driver, a huge mistake my friend 
You can’t just come here and become a truck driver, your UK LGV licence means nothing here so you need to take a test, you also need to have residency status (Green card) which is not easy to get, You need a very close relative who is a USC, mostly your wife is the best bet. You will wait up to 2 years here to get the needed document. Once you get your green card and US CDL A licence you will then need to find a job, most companies treat drivers like crap and pay by the mile, drivers can sit around in truck stops for days with no pay, the health situation is another as mentioned above. You will have to pay huge weekly premiums to an insurance company which will drop you like a stone if you are really sick. I found out I have a very rare blood cancer last November, my hospital bills so far are just under half a million dollars and rising, there is no way my company health insurance will pay this but happily due to the rarity of my cancer I am still treated and have not had to pay a cent, every single treatment I get is an experiment and a way for doctors to actually find a cure one day, I am actually a celebrity in the medical society. If I had just any serious disease that was not so rare I would be left to die and become bankrupt. I am now taking an experimental drug that virtually keeps me alive after spending the first 4 months on chemo that nearly killed me. Due to this wonder drug … Which by the way has a cost of $16k a month, I am still allowed to drive for a living and passed my DOT physical with flying colours.
I am in a way very lucky to be employed by one of the very few transport companies in this country that treats it’s employees fairly and the senior management support me. If I were employed by another I would be in trouble.
Micky B, if you still want to drive in the USA be our guest 
How would your medical situation be treated in UK Pay?
Pat not Pay. Clumsy fingers.
Shortcut:
How would your medical situation be treated in UK Pay?
It would be on the NHS, we have looked into it just in case. As I am a British citizen the drug I am now on would be free of charge. I have a good friend in the UK who has Leukemia and get’s the exact same drug on the NHS. The only problem I have if I came back is that as the drug for my particular cancer is still experimental I would have to go back to regular chemotherapy in the form of Rituxcin which is pumped into me in the form of a litre a week, it causes pain and agony for about 4 days afterwards and actually made me pee undiluted blood during that same period, the chemo would last for at least 6 months, I really could not bear the thought of going through that again, I would without doubt die.
Pat Hasler:
Shortcut:
How would your medical situation be treated in UK Pay?It would be on the NHS, we have looked into it just in case. As I am a British citizen the drug I am now on would be free of charge. I have a good friend in the UK who has Leukemia and get’s the exact same drug on the NHS. The only problem I have if I came back is that as the drug for my particular cancer is still experimental I would have to go back to regular chemotherapy in the form of Rituxcin which is pumped into me in the form of a litre a week, it causes pain and agony for about 4 days afterwards and actually made me pee undiluted blood during that same period, the chemo would last for at least 6 months, I really could not bear the thought of going through that again, I would without doubt die.
I thought if you’d been out of the UK for a certain number of years as an ex-pat you weren’t entitled to free care from the NHS?
One of the reasons I stayed registered at my parents’ address for voting and DL etc.
W.
Not so, I am always entitled to NHS care, the only thing I can’t do is vote, that is stopped after 15 years. I am still entitled to my British pension and will claim it from September 2019 
The NHS care is linked to my national insurance contributions, so long as I contributed for 30 years minimum I have full NHS cover.
Pat Hasler:
Not so, I am always entitled to NHS care, the only thing I can’t do is vote, that is stopped after 15 years. I am still entitled to my British pension and will claim it from September 2019
The NHS care is linked to my national insurance contributions, so long as I contributed for 30 years minimum I have full NHS cover.
30 years contributions in UK before you went to the states, it must have been great to have that behind you before you went, well done
nightline:
30 years contributions in UK before you went to the states, it must have been great to have that behind you before you went, well done
Thanks my friend, I am actually an old git, started work after leaving school in 1969, started at Swifts in Duston, Northampton in 1975 drove lorries in the UK from then until 2000 when I moved here. Although I am a rickety old sod I still have a beautiful wife
Looking good pat your never too old
nightline:
Looking good pat your never too old
Thank you, it’s a hard life … I just got out of the swimming pool 
Micky B:
Hi Guys
I’m a long distance trucker in the UK…I was thinking about coming to America as a trucker but I have heard some bad stories…One guy went to the USA , and was back in the UK in 4 weeks telling me it was better back in the UK…Can you Americans enlighten us Brits about the truth.
You can’t just go and drive in USA as not possible unless you’ve a green card etc.
Only way is via TWP/PNP in Canada or H2A temp work visa and drive truck for a USA Custom Cutter on the wheat/corn/soybean harvests.[emoji6]
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Big Truck:
Micky B:
Hi Guys
I’m a long distance trucker in the UK…I was thinking about coming to America as a trucker but I have heard some bad stories…One guy went to the USA , and was back in the UK in 4 weeks telling me it was better back in the UK…Can you Americans enlighten us Brits about the truth.You can’t just go and drive in USA as not possible unless you’ve a green card etc.
Only way is via TWP/PNP in Canada or H2A temp work visa and drive truck for a USA Custom Cutter on the wheat/corn/soybean harvests.[emoji6]
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As Big Truck says the best and only easy way to get to drive in US is on a H2A Visa.
These are for temporary (3 years max I think) agricultural workers.
Assuming you don’t want to go milking cows then you want to join a harvest crew out in the mid west. With your previous truck driving experience they will put you on the trucks that transport the grain from the field to the silo.
She will be probably about a 20 year old 500hp Artic with a 13 speed crash box but like most things American she will look way way better than she drives.
Even more freaking amazing is you only need a US car licence to drive her in this type of agricultural work.
Hard work, camp living, weather delays but some good experiences with modest pay & craic.
There are genuine UK recruiters for this harvest work and they usually get active around Christmas time for an April start, 6 month contract. Start googling.
There is at least one guy on here who is years over there now in this type of work (but mostly on spanners now) and I guessing he might have started out this way.
Unless you are a very bored young lad you do not want to do distance work (OTR) in the US.
If you can get the visa described by Pat Hassler above, you deserve to join NASA but there are loads and loads of driving jobs if that’s your thing.
The pay is total crap for most novices and the systems they use to calculate your pay would do your nut in.
The wagons look way better than they drive but some are very fast for sure.
The worst thing is the size of the country…the road goes on forever and many of the roads are a real bore with annoying 55mph speed limits. Being out for 6 to 12 weeks at a time is not unusual.
You are running the gauntlet of scales on every state line and then it gets worse…you arrive in California. All fines are out of your pocket and all holdups are at your expense.
However the way things are going here where the height of adventure is listening to BS in an RDC for crap money too then some will certainly enjoy across the pond.
There are some good driving jobs if you can climb up the ladder a bit.
I came back a few years ago now as Euro work here was better in my opinion at the time 
so things may well have changed in the US but whether for better or worse I cannot say.
Stevejones is a good man to follow too if you want pros and cons as he has recent experience of both ans doesn’t sugar coat it.
my 2 cents worth but don’t hesitate to give it a go and best of luck to anyone who does.
EDIT: during an oil crisis some years ago the Federal Government forced the states to reduce the limit to 55mph and afterwards some states were years slower than others to raise it again much to an OTR driver’s frustration.
As Pat points out below almost all states (California perhaps excepted) are now at least 65 mph on divided highways and some are much higher.