Any UK truckers here that moved to Canada?

Discussion in 'Canadian Truckers Forum' started by 00Gambit, Jan 18, 2020.

  1. 00Gambit

    00Gambit Bobtail Member

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    Just thought I'd ask to see if there's any Brits here who are now driving in Canada, or perhaps you may know of some who are?

    I'm a class 1 driver in the UK and have been doing it for 3 years and my dream is to drive in Canada, eventually get permanent residency and spend the rest of my life doing OTR in Canada / America.

    Just trying to get an idea on how realistic this is or if I'm shooting in the dark.
     
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  3. Doealex

    Doealex Medium Load Member

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    Harry, is that you?:):p:D
     
    Last edited: Jan 18, 2020
  4. Moon_beam

    Moon_beam Heavy Load Member

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    Why do you want to leave the UK?
    How will you adapt to sitting on the left side of a vehicle and driving on the right side of the road?
     
  5. 00Gambit

    00Gambit Bobtail Member

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    I have a number of reasons for wanting to leave the UK but the number one reason is I love driving but I hate UK roads. The scenery is depressing, the roads are very narrow with super tight turns everywhere, there's always traffic (even on the highways) and I despise roundabouts.

    I think I can adapt to the opposite driving / road position fairly quickly but before I do my MELT course I'll be spend 2 or 3 weeks driving everyday in my hire car to get experience so I get used to driving on the right. I'll certainly book some professional lessons with a driving instructor just for good measure too.
     
  6. bonder45

    bonder45 Road Train Member

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    This post may be totally irrelevant to you or might not!

    I’m Canadian but have a good friend who is Romanian who came to Canada 5 years ago on a visa from Westcan. For the 3 years he worked under Westcan he was treated like #### and under paid ( little did he know he thought it was amazing and was being treated like a god )
    After finishing up that part of his life gave him the opportunity to apply for Canadian citizenship, which he did and he received it last year.
    Now fast forward to today, he is an owner operator who wishes he never bought a truck because how depressingly slow it is in Canada.
     
  7. Moon_beam

    Moon_beam Heavy Load Member

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    You watched the Weather Channel show, "....HIGHWAY THRU HELL...." and you still want to drive in Canada????

     
  8. not4hire

    not4hire Road Train Member

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    Best driver that ever worked for me and one of the best I've ever seen was from England. He could back up a b-train on a construction site better than most guys could drive forward.

    He had been here a few years when he came to work for us, but I don't recall how long. I know he came here with H&R when they were aggressively recruiting in England. I would consider them a bottom-feeder, but a way to get one's foot in the door. I believe he drove dumps locally after that.

    He quit us at one point because we were away from home the entire time we were driving (not team, but oilfield/heavy haul and not based near home), so only home when not driving. He did come back though because he was making stupid-good money and the driving was far more interesting.

    Based on that experience, I wouldn't hesitate to look at another UK driver (if I still had trucks, which I don't). However, because we were a small company and not able to train, the concern would be sufficient mountain and off road driving experience. I expect other carriers would be similar.

    Coincidentally, the worst driver we had was also an import, from Eastern Europe... and the whiniest was from Ireland, but he grew up here. ;)
     
  9. 00Gambit

    00Gambit Bobtail Member

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    Yes I'm well aware how bad winters can be in Canada but I'd take a few weeks of snow storms over literally every working day driving on roads that are depressing, busy, narrow and having stop start traffic. Unless you've driven in the UK it's hard to understand but essentially because my country is so small, the roads are rammed from 6am to 10pm. "Long haul" in the UK, if you can even call it that, is the equivalent to local in North America. Imagine driving your class 1 local in a city like Minneapolis, Montreal or San Francisco all day everyday when all you want to do is be out on the wide open roads

    It's nice to hear someone who's done it and given us Brits a good name :D and regarding the Eastern Europeans, we have the same problem here too, they're poorly trained by their home countries.

    We don't really have mountains but we do get a fair amount of snow up north, nothing compared to north america of course but don't CDL courses involve mountain driving?
     
  10. not4hire

    not4hire Road Train Member

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    Rarely, unless they're in the mountains themselves. Some give it a bit of theoretical coverage. There are a couple of schools in BC that are located in the mountains. I believe the one in Cranbrook is well regarded.

    That's a pretty big issue here in western Canada. There are a significant number of drivers who have immigrated to the lower mainland (Fraser Valley area encompassing Vancouver and area). Typically they do not have the necessary experience, but are hired to drive between the coast and the prairies. Some do okay, most do the best they can, but their experience is lacking and in some cases borders on negligent. Some shouldn't be behind the wheel of any powered vehicle.
     
  11. Moon_beam

    Moon_beam Heavy Load Member

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    Are you currently driving an automatic transmission? The manual transmissions here are only partially synchronized so you will need to double clutch.
     
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