So how did you get to be doing the european work? Did you apply for euro work or did you join a company doing uk work then they needed you to cover euro work. How did you get your boss to trust you going over if you had no experience? I know there are some companies who take you on without euro experience, but they seem few and far between now,
Also, how did your first job over the water go, were you bricking it? any major misshaps?
I started at 21 at the company my dad was at. The boss had been promising me a job since the age of 6 and honored his word when I passed my class 1. I did about 9 months of UK only work and then pestered my way on to the European work which was Swiss and Germany. Loved it as I grew up doing it with my dad so it had felt like I’d been doing it for years before I actually had so no mishaps at all. In the end I got bored of going down the same roads and the opertunities at British companies to go further afield, or just different places in general were dismal so I moved to Canada for a new adventure. I do miss European work, but more than anything I miss what it once was, not what it now is.
I worked for a small firm, our regular work went quiet, so I was told to get a passport. I went to the PO, got one of those yearly ones for a fiver and was off to Heidelberg the same day 
I told the boss of a company I was already working for in the uk that " yes ive done Germany loads of times, i know it like the back of my hand" I just wanted to get cheap ■■■■ like the other euro drivers so I could sell them and make a nice profit lol, I made a complete fool of myself the first time I went out I went all the way to Monchengladbach without getting any tax in any country and didn’t know until the boss asked me for the receipts when I got back and i had to tell him I had lost them ( I never got them cheap ■■■■ either because I didn’t know where to buy them) lol the next time I went over I just pestered every uk driver I saw for info and to be honest the lads going abroad then would give you the shirt off their backs to help you ! doesn’t seem to be that way these day,s but not as many uk drivers out there anymore due to cheap eastern European transport but that’s another topic lol, I still prefer European to uk work but that’s my preference and probably not anything to do with the uk…
I was working for a company in Reading, got back to the yard one day and was asked, do you fancy a trip to Turin.
That was it off i went green as you can be.
I went to France as a foot passenger looking for work and knocking on doors.Ine firm TFE recommened a firm in Sholing Southampton called British International.
They asked how many trucks i had and when can i start.
The first trip was tractor solo to Newhaven.The trailer was very heavy and i struggled to get under it and took ages to wind the legs.
After tipping at Land Rover Lisbon i threw the Cmr out of the window.
Didnt know that was we got paid on.A clean and signed Cmr.
You soon learn fast.Luckily i still got paid but it took longer.
All the drivers were helpful and tell me where all the loading/unloading factories and depots were.
No mobile phones.No sat nav.Find a cafe with a fax.Calls from a coin phone box.
Go to the mountains to get shoes,textiles,granite,marble to top up the trailer wuth all night loading at a groupage warehouse.
I was doing uk work for a few local companies and as going over the water was all I wanted to do I eventually started for a company that did uk/Europe, every week I would be up& down the uk tipping and reloading trailers and always being told “drop it at pompey mate” 
:(:(
Then 1 day in 1995 I heard those words “your shipping out to Spain” 
Off I went in my Daf 95 ssc with a 45 ft flat loaded with 2part loaded 20ft containers that were going to be lifted off at my destination. …
Yep I was ■■■■■■■■ myself and after the lovely boat trip to Bilbao I arrived at my destination nr Albacete, got the boxes unloaded and headed north for my reload nr irun,
I got 2plts loaded nr irun and the rest of the load was in Nantes so a nice trip north was ahead, shame about the romanian in his ford orion that I caught and spun and proceeded to push 50yds up the motorway at the paege nr bayonne 
:-o:-o
After the phone call to the office and the romo just wanting cash (I pretended to call gendarmes and he disappeared) I didnt even know how to contact the gendarmes it was uneventful from there via nantes and home via Cherbourg…
Still doing uk/Europe but its alot easier nowadays moving classic cars around and p/t in the office…
This week im in charge of this and off to Holland
I pestered a local(ish) firm that does UK and Euro for a job as I was fed up with the UK job I had and fancied a crack on the continent after spending many a trip round Euroland with the old boy when he did international.Got a start with them,they knew I had never driven a truck abroad before but it didn’t stop them from sending me off to Holland on my jack jones a month later.Couple of the lads I worked with gave me some pointers on where to get tax and fuel,and the rest I just kind of figured out by myself.Second trip was to Koblenz then Stuttgart,again on my lonesome.Trying to suss the Toll Collect machine out at the border was interesting to say the least,but it’s hardly rocket science so didn’t take too long.Only other thing I struggled with was finding a sodding Toll Collect machine near where I tipped and reloaded,but that can still be a pain in the arse even after many a trip to Germany.I don’t use sat-nav (always found maps to be much more useful and reliable) and the only real problems I’ve ever had were a breakdown on a public holiday in Germany and the sodding French going on strike.Can’t really say I was nervous or owt when I started driving abroad as the years of being a co-pilot with the old boy had given me a rough idea of what to expect,although things had changed a lot when I started doing it myself.To anyone thinking of getting into continental driving,do it,finding a firm that will give you a start is about the hardest part,but once you get in somewhere it’s a doddle.
Got a start on a heavy haulage company that worked world wide, but as the new boy was mainly driving in a support role, this company had a small logistics division that serviced the local huge chemical works (carrying mail between offices etc), now the chemical works sent off to Germany a pump to be repaired during the annual shutdown and one of the experienced drivers set off in the pick up, 2 days later they realised that part of the pump was still sitting in their workshop…
Andy the transport manager paged me to the office about 1 0’clock and asked me, 1- did I want to go to Germany and 2- could I be in Frieburg by noon the next day going which ever way I wanted- I didn’t have a clue about wether I could make it but said yes- got handed a large ( and I do mean large) bundle of cash , the keys to an ■■■■■■ van (already loaded) and got told to get going.
I made Frieburg by 10 am next morning, tipped an met up with the other driver- We took the pickup to the airport so when the pump was fixed he could fly back in, jump in the pick up and bring the repaired pump home. and took both a leisurly drive back, stopping for that night in Calais at a very nice bar and hotel- all paid for outta the large wedge of cash
I must have done OK because the next week the Boss upgraded me to a double drive 150 tonner with torque converter and I shipped out to Holland with a 6 axle trailer for a 2 week job moving a forge on site . the older and a lot more experienced guys got the majority of Euro road work but after that first trip in a van I got more than my share. one of the more notable was 80 foot 35 tonne boiler tubes from Hengelo to Avonmouth, then run back to Holland empty to do the same again- for 5 weeks- taking your weekend breaks at Avonmouth as it took them at best 2 days to unload
Years later when I was on Murfitts in all my time there I don’t think I did more than 2-3 UK internal jobs, everything was load and ship out, then stay out, regular for me was come back after a week off, spend 3-4 weeks running Telford (Denso) to 3 or more drops around Southern Germany, collecting empty stillages as you went and back to Telford normaly around week 4 you would get a run to Holland which didn’t involve collecting empties and would end up at Schipol loading Toyota parts for Rome, once empty would zig zag up the country collecting empty beer barrels to go to our warehouse in Milan, then either tip Milan and load shoes for Leicester, or keep the barrels on to go to Birmingham- then Empty back to Whittlesey for my week off after 5- 6 weeks away
I loved every moment of both jobs, but suspect such jobs nowadays are far and few between
I rang HSF and asked for a job, said I’d done euro work when I hadn’t, a least not in a truck, but that was only puddle jumping to Belgium and Holland so three years later someone gave me the number to Virginia, he rang me up and offered me the job over the phone (very different times) and so began my dream job piloting a V8 Scania all over Europe,from Norway to Crete. And it’s still my dream job, I just have an extra 250 horses under the cab now and even though I’ve had my FH16 a year I still look at the 750 badge most days and laugh thinking ‘how the flip did that happen’
How did Bertie start out in the haulage game.?
i rang all the companies around my area and eventually one of them were desperate enough to need someone on short notice and i double manned off to the czech republic border with an old guy who had been driving abroad for a hundred years.
He gave me all the advice i needed in that four days. ( in particular the bar in stadtlhon and the multiple schnapps, thanks albert RIP)
after that it was learning as i went and the rest is history…