Drivers in the UK have all of the same problems we do

They're also flooded with illegals crossing their border. Wonder if they have laws in place to prevent illegals from taking truck driving jobs.

 

Probably just like Illinois and California .... if your illegal you just have to go to the right place and pay a little more to get a cdl

 

I find that hard to believe. With the exception of the chunnel, there isnt much to the UK compared to America. I have been there personally and that was back when the pound was a 1.35 or so. Everything was pretty pricey with the exception of the railroad system. Puts Amtrak to shame when you can get up and be in London via Kings Cross or Liverpool for breakfast after a two hour triple digit run.

 

Yeah their mass transit is sooo soo much better than ours.

BUT that said, lived there, and there is no comparison.

The only real thing I miss is watching cricket and real fish and chippies.

 

I read the UK Roundtable, it’s a forum like this one. I especially like the threads by former UK drivers that are now trucking here in the US. The American West is like the things dreams are made of over there. Everything is better here in the US. I don’t think there’s a 50 mile stretch of NOTHING anywhere in Europe. The whole continent seems like driving in New England except with worse parking options, no thanks.

 

It's not like here, the max speed is governed at max 55, most are 52mph. There's much more traffic and almost as many idiot drivers as here and european elogs aren't like U.S. elogs. The driver has a digital card he puts into the elog, and it measures and stores everything on the card and the log itself that happens. They say it's saved for a minimum of 28 days but I've known plenty of times 6 months is on the microchip. When dot check you they just take the card , scan it and give you your fine!. Move a foot, it's logged, and the hours of service are very limiting. To most here, unbelievably limiting.
The parking is much worse, it's almost all pay to park and around 50 to 60$ equivalent a night but most drivers are home daily.
There is free movement of workers in Europe, so the job is attractive to those from less developed countries but like here without them there wouldn't be enough locals to keep things going !
The trucks are more technologically advanced, but all the same stuff is filtering in here too ( you almost never see a manual gearbox, everything has disc brakes and super single tires etc ) but I've never met an American driver in Europe and there's no shortage of them here, and that's not a surprise to me.

 

It’s been a few months since I’ve looked through the Roundtable forum but there’s actually 5 or 6 regular posters on there that have driven in the US and are currently driving in the UK. Great place to visit but as for trucking.....hell I’ve crossed Wyoming on I-80 without tapping the brake pedal once numerous times.

 

You misunderstood me, there's plenty that have driven here for a while and gone back for family or visa reasons. Quite a lot have done the harvest short term visa route too and certainly they aren't backward in coming forward to talk about it.
But I never met a bona fide American transport driver who went over there just for the experience of truck driving. I knew 2 American motorbike couriers in London years ago, and there are plenty of cycle couriers I'm told, but not on lorries. (That just slipped out.)

 

They'd just have to listen for an accent that'd be the give away. No 75 mph speed limit there its all around 90 kmph or around 55 mph. No long trips unless your travelling across to mainland Europe.