H & R Transport
 

This thread is dedicated to H & R Transport. Its a place where past, present and future employees can, ask questions, share stories, get "inside" info, gossip and also hopefully have a little moan too.

We all want to know what we are letting ourselves in for, a lot of the information is already on this site but it all over the place.

Why not pull up a chair and say Hi :D

Re: H & R Transport
 

Ok i'll get the ball rolling :)

We are the Lomanovskis family, the name origionates in Latvia. There are 4 of us moving to Lethbridge at the end of July.

My name is Lyndon, thats me in the avatar and i am going to be driving OTR (Over The Road) for H & R Transport based in Lethbridge, there is also my wife Janice, my son Luke (13) and our dog Gizmo who is a black Spangador (Spaniel/Labrador cross).

The reason i have introdced the whole family is because when i answer questions, it is usually in relation to our circumstancies, for example if you want to know how much it costs to ship a dog over and i tell you its about £1300 then you know its for our big black bundle of dogginess who weighs in at 27 kilos, if you have a little rat on alead then it wont cost you so much. By the way no offence to owners of liitle dogs, they are lovely, couldnt eat a whole one though !!

We hail from Swindon in Wiltshire and i presently work for Wincanton Chilled in Gloucester, I work nights and the monies pretty good, i say that because i am taking a pay drop (if you think in ££££) so we are not doing it for the money.

We have been planning this since January 2007 when i overheared 2 colleagues talking about it in the Transport Office and thought "Oooo that sounds nice", i came home, we discussed it as a family then decided to do it.

Since then i have spent countless hours trawling the 'net finding answers, made countless phone calls and sent countless emails to countless people in Canada about countless things, to be quite honest it became quite an obsession, but we think its paid off. We managed to get an interview in UK for a Canadian job which was successful and we have also completed all the paperwork for the temp workers permit and put together our immigration folder so we are set to go.

The only thing holding us back was the sale of the house, we are now ready to exchange contracts over the next couple of days and the new people want to be in here on 20th July so i wold say that is about done.

We came over to Alberta in May for a 2 week recce and got most of our new lives sorted out, these included:

Bank Accounts
Schooling
A place to live
Cell phone
Met the new Boss
Home utilities
Food shopping
Furniture shopping
Car shopping

We also visited Calgary and Edmonton as H & R also have depots there and when you join the company you do have the choice which depot you want to work from, we also took around 650 photos of just about everything.

We are no experts and i dont work for the company yet but we do have a "goldmine" of info to share.

My weblog "Trucking Life" logs how the immigration has affected our lives since the middle of Feb.

Re: H & R Transport
 

It is a great idea to have a thread dedicated to H & R Transport as I know many people have been asking about the company for the last couple of weeks.

My friend (JMMY) brother works for them and he says that they are a great company to work for. He has a great quality of life and would never consider coming back to the UK - EVER!

Well good luck with Canada and I wish you and your family well.

Karla x x x

Re: H & R Transport
 

Thanks Karla

Glad to hear he's enjoying it, i've also been following your immigration process and i sounds great, we also looked at Seafood Express, the only reason we never took it further was because , at the time we were looking at booking a number of interviews in Sashatchewan and couldnt justify hopping over to the Maritimes just for one interview, proberbly a silly reason but there you go, thats me :blink:

Then i had a phone call from Steve Whittaker rom H & R, he said that they were at a hotel in Guilford but they were just packing up ready to go back. If Jan and I could get our ass*s over there the following day he would interview us before they went. Well we went and did the interview, got the job so there was no need to even do interviews when we got over there.

This whole move has been littered with chance bits of luck (fate), the job, the house sale, the Canadian house, the origional idea, its been spooky.

Re: H & R Transport
 

But you know Lyndon - sometimes we deserve a little bit of luck ;)

This is a fab idea for the truckers - maybe the yanke and seafood guys should do the same for people going to or thinking of working there.

See you in the Bridge very soon

Gaynor
x

Re: H & R Transport
 

Thanks Gaynor

i sent you some selling karma, you'll be laughing about this in about 2 months time while you are pushing your shopping cart around Walmart on Mayor McGrath.

I hope the other company drivers and families decide to do this, form their own little communities, it saves the same old questions being asked over and over.

Re: H & R Transport
 

Most of the Yanke and Westcan stuff is covered in the "Wages for Truckers" Thread. I tried to ask about Seafood Express in another thread I started, but it seemed like hardly anyone on here works for them.

Saying that, Kerlynkeo has been a gods send as her husband works for them and they are enjoying life in PEI. Fordprefect also worked for them for 2 months (or maybe longer), but Canada just did not work out for them. I must admit their is only so much you can research on the internet, so it helps when people who have been or are working for a company help you out.

Good Luck to you all

Karla x x x

Re: H & R Transport
 

Nice plug for your thread Karla ;)

The "Wages for Truckers" thread is fantastic and i spend a lot of time on there, i think its the title that gets everyones interest, well done, great job.

After thought:

I bet they do a fantastic clam chowder on PEI

I :wub: Clam Chowder

Re: H & R Transport
 

I've mentioned your thread on the "Wages for Truckers" thread, I have even put a link as many on their ask about H&R. I just like helping other truckers and their families achieve their dream to move to Canada.

I have never had Clam Chowder - but I am sure I will, I do however like most Seafood, which will be an advantage living on PEI.

Karla x x x






.

Re: H & R Transport
 

Sorry Karla but i cant stop laughing, you plugged your thread, i plugged it by replying, you then plugged it again by explaining that you plugged my thread on your thread, i went over to have a look ( so it obviously works) and now i've plugged it in this post.

We should go into advertising.

okay this is for anyone else reading who is missing the point.

There is a thread called "Wages for Truckers", its huge and has tons of good stuff in it, you will even find a link to the H & R thread, checkitout.

EDIT:

Clam Chowder is a thick potatoey soup with clams in it, Tim Hortons do it too, its fantastic.

Re: H & R Transport
 

Your right - when do we go into business:rofl::rofl:. The trucking companies should pay us for our efforts:)

Re: H & R Transport
 

hi Lyndon
on your list of things you have done you didn't mention car insurance. Remember to bring proof of no claims on your UK insurance as some companies here will recognise it. I know car insurance is expensive in Alberta as it is here in New brunswick but we have gone with Allstate and they took our UK no claims into account and I believe they are a country wide company
but as in the UK you need to shop around for car insurance as I don't think Alberta has government insurance. Haven't heard anything bad about H & R we used to see them a lot when we lived in Sask. and we occasionally see them over here now. Just make sure they give you loads of info on hauling meat and produce in the US as the Yanks are a bit funny about certain things and the same goes for bringing that kind of thing back into Canada. For instance we found on one trip you can't pre clear fresh chicken when returning back into canada - you have to go to customs but the people we worked for didn't tell us that we found out from the customs broker.
As for clam chowder it is good here in NB so Karla you have to try it in PEI, if you don't fancy just clam go for seafood chowder that's good too!!
Good Luck June

Re: H & R Transport
 

:eek: Ha ha you just did it again :rofl:

Re: H & R Transport
 

:oI didn't realise:o

:rofl::rofl:I am still laughing:rofl::rofl:

Re: H & R Transport
 

Thanks June

thats already on the list for this week but havent looked into it yet, i havent even researched any companies yet, i will now look into that this afternoon

Lyndon