HGV class 2

[Melrob]

Well Teamedup,

Glad to have amused you, intentionally or not. However I know I'm not alone in feeling as I do, and the biggest danger of sharp, unhelpful posters is that eventually people stop taking any notice of them even when they might have something useful to contribute.

Mel

[opas]

You have obviously not been looking at the forum enough as TU and Outcast have had their Spat as you call it, If you read enough of any of their postings you will find that they tell it how it is and not wrap things up in cotton wool.........Outcast after all is a Trucker not a nursemaid.

Mrs O

[Melrob]

Hi Opas

Fair enough comment, I haven't read anything like all of TU and Outcast's posts, but whether someone is a trucker or a nursemaid they surely have the ability to formulate an answer that is polite. No one is saying things or people should be whitewashed or wrapped in cotton wool, but have you, TU or Outcast or anyone else who answers threads in such an abrupt way, thought how offputting and unfriendly it comes across. I am a bus driver, and have been for 12 odd years, but I still treat people in a friendly matter.

I DO apologise if I have maligned TU and Outcast unfairly, but I felt badly for the original topic writer that they were answered in that way.

As a matter of fact many of the posts by TU and Outcast that I have read have been informative, friendly and useful, so why the bad attitude on this one.. that was all I was getting at.

Mel

[markn]

[quote]Well you have done it there. Nearly had me off my seat laughing and on so many levels.......[/quote]

I too am a silent watcher and have never posted an opinion, but TeamedUp - if this is the way you respond to what in essence your customers, you ought to hand the mantle to someone else.  It is all too easy to knock people around with words - I personally subscribe to the motto that you should never say in writing what you would not say to the persons face.  Smilies might be a good way of conveying your softer side.

[Teamedup]

Eh oh, this is a message board. Just that and I post on it as you have. This is just a board with posters. Even the forum moderators are just posters who  volunteered to be prefects.  This is not my business. Why would you imagine that. You have every right to post on here.

And I do speak to people IRL as I do on here, I admire those word smiths who  post and say things the way I would love to. Tried to doesn't come out like that for me.

 

Ok so some of you have decided that I am abrasive and nasty. I stick up for myself and I know I have to here. How many posts have I seen where people say all sorts of 'wet' things, ie my mairie says I can't have a titre de sejour. I know that that isn't right. The clerk at the Mairie or even the Prefecture wouldn't say that to me more than once. You have to learn to find things out here  and then stand your ground or people will walk all over you.  

AND don't forget I didn't have this board to run to. We did everything ourselves. I've rabbited and ferreted things out. I've rang and called in to see folks who one would imagine would be able to inform or help and they have been blind alleys and useless beyond words. I have had to use my brain and lateral thinking to work out who can help us. I had five words of french when I got here. I learnt and I KNOW how to do it all, because I have had to.

Like me or not, being too gentil won't get you far in lots of circumstances.  My french friends and aquaintances actually like me being straight. I don't gossip, if I have something to say, I say it and that doesn't put them off me. Au contraire, I get on with most people really well and am well liked.

 

Ps

 

When I use smilies they get ignored anyway. You get what you see with me.

[Will]

Lynian, you did ask, in your original question, "Does anyone know if there is much call for class 2 drivers in France in 81 area? Or would he be wasting his time and money on taking the test for class 2? Any advice/opinions would be welcome"

That reads to me as if you were equally willing to accept answers that said "No, HGV driving isn't likely to be a sensible option" as those that say "welcome to France and go for it". You got negative responses from two people, one of whom has possibly more experience of living and working in France than most of the rest of the forum members combined, and another who I believe has direct experience of HGV work here. I think both were valid responses, if a little blunt - it's up to you whether you take the advice or not, of course, but I would personally much rather know that one of the options I was considering was likely to prove a non-starter before I took the plunge.

I just want to endorse what TU says about salaries. Mrs Conq does in France what would be considered a reasonably high-powered job in England. For that she gets rewarded with the SMIC plus a very small commission on each sale achieved, and by the time she has provided the necessary presentable reliable vehicle, paid for fuel, maintenance and insurance (which costs a fortune in itself as she has to have full cover for carrying clients) and paid the social security, it doesn't leave a lot. So it's perfectly right to point this out.

I'm certainly not saying that the original questioner is not willing to fit in, pay their way, and work hard - you make it clear that you are. But it is a fact that too many people are coming to France, possibly lured by the false claims of the TV programmes, without the means to support themselves. And as EU citizens no longer have to apply for titre de sejour, many of them are able to stay, when they may not have been granted the carte de sejour previously.

To get back to the topic under discussion, my own piece of advice to you would be that having many strings to your bow doesn't really count for much in France, where people are trained for, and qualified in, one particular metier. You would do far better to pick something you do well, enjoy doing, and have proven experience in, and concentrate on building up a business doing that.

[Rushie]

Hi Lynian,

Sorry that I have not been on the net in a while, but I have just seen your subject(better late than never).

We have lived here for two years now, with our two small children aged 8 & 10. When we lived in the UK I was not a truck driver, although I had my HGV1 since 1979. Like your husband, I realised that you had to keep realistic in the fact that you would need to fit in with different employment, than the uk.

My first job was with a Dutch company, doing France, and UK work, the money was good, but I was never home, and thought that I had not moved over to France to be away all the time, also I was still not in the French system!! I then left the company and had 6 months off.

I was out with the familey one day at a local fete, and was told that a company near where we live where after a driver to do uk work. I went along the next day to see the company, and was told that I would also need my FCOS certificate, I booked onto the very next course, and now work for the said french company(right place, right time). The money is not great, but the way of life is excellent, and there is no way that I would go back to the rat race of the uk. If you need any info on the fimo/fcos email me.

Good luck,

Dave R.