Truck (HGV) Drivers
 

This may or not be of help to prospective emmigrants or PR's but IMHO Canada is crying out for truck drivers. Was talking to CEO of a 50 truck concern in NB this week and he was lamenting the difficulty in getting good drivers. They actually have a bunch of guys from the Netherlands working for them. From what I gather its not just Atlantic/Maritime Canada either, the demand exists in Montreal/Toronto etc as well.

Of course its not for everyone and usually involves long hours away from home, but might be of help to someone!

AX

Re: Truck (HGV) Drivers
 

I was considering this but was put off by having to retake a test. Does anyone have any details/hints/tips that would help ?
Thanks AX

Re: Truck (HGV) Drivers
 

Hi andy&sheila,

Jamie is working still as a tanker driving in NS, enjoying the job, but not so much the hours. He has his test next week, so hopefullly then he can drive on his own with no-one at his side to drive him nuts all day. He is taking his test with a truck from work and going down to Nova Scotia Access, (where we got our car test.) To do the valuation in Truro is very expensive, so they opted for Jamie to do it himself with one of there trucks.
How are things going for you in NS? We move into our new house on Nov 1st. Will have a house warming soon after.

Re: Truck (HGV) Drivers
 

Hi Wendy, nice to hear from you again, give our best to Jamie as well.
We move into our new house tomorrow and everything is looking good so far thanks (touch wood)
I sent our passports off about 2 weeks ago so i am expecting them back any day now.
Good to hear that things are working out for you, talk to you soon.
Andy and Sheila

Re: Truck (HGV) Drivers
 

Do you have your UK HGV? Any experience?

Re: Truck (HGV) Drivers
 

Years of experience driving 7.5t (extended) but no HGV licence.
As you will probably know the maximum length for a 7.5t back is 29ft and bigger than many class 3's. i have driven HGV's for shunting work but as mentioned, i don't have a HGV licence.
I would definately like to drive HGV over here and wouldn't hesitate if it wasn't for the $4000 course.
Any ideas?
Thanks again

Re: Truck (HGV) Drivers
 

Hmm, I'd say in the great scheme of things if you really wanted to get into trucking investing $4000 in a course is worthwhile. Assuming you have it readily available. Once you have a licence then I think many companies will put you on a training programme whereas once upon a time you needed to have x years experience before you would get a look in. The organisation I deal with have full time recruitment and training staff to continual recruit and retain drivers. Their response to an industrywide shortage.

Re: Truck (HGV) Drivers
 

When my husband took his HGV licence he went to a few of the driving schools first. Some of them were very dubious so he got touch with some of the local employers and asked which ones they recruited from - a lot of the work around here is for General Motors and they prefer certain schools. This narrowed it down dramatically!!

One of the schools made him drive a truck around the yard then told him he would need to do the full course with no concessions, he basically told them where to stick it. He was going to sign on with one of the more dubious schools when he spotted another school in the same trading estate. They let him do his course as Pay as You Go as they realised he could drive but just needed to get used to the canadian truck. He didn't need many hours and they arranged his test straight away. He said the test was also easy and the examiner told him he had passed early on (as long as he didn't make any major mistakes).

The driving school recommended him for several jobs but he works for a driving agency (one of my relatives knew the boss - it definately is who you know over here). Most of the work is local for General Motors, occasionally he goes to Montreal or Sarnia but usually it is Ajax/Whitby/Oshawa. It fits in around my shifts and his boss looks after our children overnight if we are both working!!!

So his advice is ask around and see if you can just do the parts of the course you don't know and get used to the truck, it should cost a lot less than $4000. I think it cost him about $1500 for AZ/DZ all in.

Re: Truck (HGV) Drivers
 

Are they looking for young drivers only ?

Re: Truck (HGV) Drivers
 

Thanks Gail, a great post that has made me decide what to do, i now know which road to go down.
Thanks also to Wendy (i could still use some advice from Jamie) and AX.
Thanks to you all

Re: Truck (HGV) Drivers
 

So far as I know - and I met several long distance truck drivers at an ex-pat BBQ a month or so ago - you don't need to retake any test in Saskatchewan.

I think I posted on here that Prudhomme and Yanke are both recruiting truck drivers. The one guy I met worked for Prudhomme and he had only been here 10 weeks.

Re: Truck (HGV) Drivers
 

In Calgary the trucking companies are short of 20,000 drivers already like the rest of Canada it's a very easy way in IF you want to a Canadian driver living, if you call it that, in the US. They all need long haul drivers who have eligibility for a septic visa so that you can spent 12 or more days a month in US.

If you want then then fill your boots, but most people want to spend time in Canada to get citizenship after they get PR.

Homer was a driver a while and he liked it though, especially the autopilot!! :)













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Re: Truck (HGV) Drivers
 

hi there,
my hubby has just started at prudhomme's, in Regina, and after a week's orienteering ( which you have to pass ) he has to take his driving test next week, they are still recruiting, the requirements we had to get were
a clean licence
a b4 medical form
2 years experience
a police check
2 references
a driving assessment
think that was all .... hope this helps,
Pat :)

Re: Truck (HGV) Drivers
 

Whats age limit for becoming a HGV driver in Canada ?

Re: Truck (HGV) Drivers
 

depends on firm, i think 53 was the cut off age at hubby's place
:)