Scubachris

Hi all Myself and my wife are looking to move to Calgary next year. I am a HGV class 1 truck driver over hear in the UK and have been for the past 8 years. I have been looking at Siemens Transport and wondered if anybody works for them and could tell me if they are a good company to have a career with or could suggest other company's that are good. I am aware that I will be away from home for long periods of time and I am totaly committed to that. I would be great full of any information on working shifts i.e 5 days out and 2 off.


Also I have been reading a lot about British people coming over and finding it hard to live on the money they are earning. We are not looking to come over to make a quick buck. We are looking to move over to Canada to start a hole new life and would be grateful of all the advice and help we could get. We only have about £10000 to come over with as the cost of living in the UK is now starting to eat into our saving, and that should not be happening when you are earning £30000 a year on top of the wife's wage which is £13000.

Regards

Chris

Gremmie

The more you work the more you earn $$$$$$$$$ plenty of jobs in AB, from good to bad to down right ugly Its not the cost of living thats eating into your savings you just spend to much and we have a cost of living here too here are some links to 100's of AB companies, I suggest you call/email as many as possible with your CV, then also research all the rules and regs regarding immigration and getting your Canadain Class 1.

http://www.amta.ca/CRA/CarrierGuide/Carriers.html just click in menu the type of trucking he wants to do

http://alberta.kijiji.ca/f-truck-dri...earchFormZtrue

http://www.canadiantruckers.com/abhiring.html

http://www.fleetdirectory.com/ByLoca...da/Alberta.htm[/QUOTE]

Scubachris

Went to the Emigration show over here to get information on moving to Canada but the show was not very good.

Scubachris

Not spending to much as its all going on the basic cost of living. Gas bill for 3 months £500 and thats the summer one so no heating used. Fuel is £1.35 to £1.50 a litre and you need a car as there are no driving job in the city that pay good money, Car insurance can cost £1000 to £2000 a year depending on where you live. This is why we call it rip off Britain, all energy, food bills are going up monthly and company's are bringing wages down. The last time we went out for a drink was about 8 months ago. You just go out to work, come home and sleep then go back to work. Days off you just sit in the house as it cost to much to go anywhere for the day.

christmasoompa

I would really, really, really, suggest you read some threads in the Canada forum about the cost of living there. It's no different to the UK and you could be in for a big shock if you expect it to be cheaper.

This thread is a recent one which would be worth a read, there are plenty of others on the Canada forum. http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=731479

Welcome btw.

P.S. Your UK figures are massive? My car insurance is only £220 a year, and even our 17 year old labourer only pays £900 a year for his fully comp? We pay £90 per month for both electricity and gas, for a 4 bed detached house, so yours seems very expensive by comparison.

Scubachris

Thanks for all the links Grimmie. I wish we was spending to much it would mean I would have the good life

Scubachris

We have tried changing energy suppliers and its the same. Like I say it depends where you live in the UK on your car insurance, we live in Birmingham and the insurance company's tell us its Hi because of the high theft rate here and the compensation claims plus I do high mileage to work as the wages are not good in Birmingham for trucking.

Scubachris

Thanks for the link. Had a good read and there was plenty of information on there. A bit shocking.

Bob 313

no it's not necessarily cheaper to live out here but we've found it a better quality of life. i thought food was expensive in comparison when we first moved but it tasted better (!) and now it seems to be cheaper than the UK as things have gone up so much in price. we came out with about 10k too which went on a house deposit. expensive to go through permanent residency etc but you know sometimes you have to suck it up and see the bigger picture. short term pain for long term gain. it's like starting from scratch again and you spend ages seemingly handing out money left right and centre. if you want to come out for a better life it can work eventually but if you think it's gonna be a breeze and you'll be living the good life from the get go you need to have a serious think about things. been here over 2 years and don't ever want to go back. just do your homework and ask lots of questions. don't believe everything people tell you or everything you read on the internet. driving long haul you can be away from your family ALOT, something everyone needs to be prepared for.

flat to the mat

Reckon BOB 313 has summed it up nicely.No pain no gain to start with,but when you and your family start to settle you'll see how much nicer this Country is a whole.
If you're not shy of hard work you'll do well,but investigate further before picking Alberta,there again I don't know your immigration route,Best of luck.