HGV licence in NZ

[Nettie]

Hello out there,
Can anyone advise us please? My partner has been trucking in the UK for years and we hope to be coming over in the next couple of months with any luck (sale of house going through as we speak...second attempt, who knows what will happen!!) Anyway, he would like to drive in NZ doing day work hopefully rather than tramping as he does now.
What we'd like to know is if his UK HGV licence is ok in NZ or will he have to retake any tests, and what is the trucking industry like over there?
Any info would be great.

Cheers,

Nettie.

[StevieD]

Kim39 is your best bet - he is our trucking correspondent in NZ. Be prepared to go back 20 years if you go driving there, none of these pampered truckers like the UK has, it is long hours. If he has been tramping though he should be allright.

I think for all intents and purposes his class 1 (if that is what he has) is fine, but better wait for kim to see this thread.

Good luck.

Steve

[Nettie]

Thanks Steve, Was hoping Kim was reading, have noticed his input along the way but can't find relevant threads (so many to trawl through!)
I'll just have to be patient.

What is it about this forum that keeps me hooked for hours?!!

[StevieD]

Nettie, just find a post by Kim, click on his name and select find all posts on the drop down list, should make it easier for you to trawl through the chaff.

[Nettie]

Have just looked through 500 posts of Kims!! (not read them all obviously but enough to become boggle eyed!)...And I have still didn't really find my answer!

Ah well, thanks for the suggestion Steve, but it looks like I'll have to wait for the man himself to look through posts!
Time for bed here in the UK I think. See you all tomorrow. (or later for those in NZ!)

[Kim39]

I'm here

Thanks for Steve's input of me being the trucking correspondent for all UK truckers on this forum. Maybe i'll look for a similar job in the NZ edition of Truck and Driver mag, or Trucking mag.

To answer your questions Nettie. Just give me a few minutes to pull a thread out of here that i posted a while ago for one or two other truckers asking questions...........i'll be back.

Ok, i'm back. Couldn't find the thread so had to go elsewhere. Anyway here it is.

1: You ask about what i said about the difference. Well straight away they work off the log book and not the Tacho for one. So needless to say the whole industry to a degree are running bent and will expect you to run bent also. Now don't get me wrong there are companys who will adhere to the rules and regs, but there's quite alot who won't. They will find it in their power to get you to do something illegal if they can. But remember. Out here you are working on your UK licence for the first 12 months, so if you get done: bang it on that licence. If for some reason or another you lose your licence you are not only out of a job, but also out of the country as that was what brought you in in the first place,ok.

2: They work on the rules of 5.5hrs driving, with 30 mins rest. You are allowed to do 11hrs driving and a 15hr shift (they will try and get an hour or two more out of you) 5-6 days a week. This can happen 52 weeks of the year. There isn't any reducing of hours or reducing your drive time. But you are only allowed legally to do 70 hrs a week, but as i say they will try for a few more hours.

3: There are a lot of MACKS, KENWORTHS, FREIGHTLINERS and Jap motors running around. Euro vehicles are prevelent, but are few and far between. I hate the yankee motors solely due to the reason of Eaton Fuller boxes. Just like the Eaton Twin Splitter back home, get it wrong and you'll crunch all day long.

The rigs that they run are either B-Trains or Something similar to a Wagon and drag. They also have what is known as dog/pup trailers and this is known as Truck and Trailer. The trailer sits about 8ft away from the truck and is a bitch to reverse. They do have semi rigs, what we are use to in the UK, but once again they are few and far between, and it seems as if its only the refrigeration companys that run them as well as a few haulage companies.

The police are hot on trucks and being overweight. Now in the UK us drivers have i'm afraid been molycoddled. This is because out here you are expected to do everything. You are a driver, a loader(on a fork lift and it doesn't matter if you don't have a licence), you tip it also once again with forks. And remember you have to know your weights on the axles. Get it wrong and they will hit you hard. Even slap a 28 day ban on you with a fine of up to $2k. Its pretty tough for us uk guys.

I could just keep going in the difference, but really you have to experience it yourself to get the true feel.

Ok, wage... average hourly earning is between $14 - 17.50, this is paid straight through. No OT rate i'm afraid. Work it on a average of 60hrs for the week.

Driving out here: as i said previously you are driving on your UK licence for the first 12 months after that you have to sit a theory test. This will cover you for car and truck.

You want day work, its there for you. I did nights in the UK for TNT and said i didn't want nights over here, but i am playing with the idea of going back onto nights, solely for the fact that it just might be possiblr to get what i know best, a Euro unit and a 40ft trailer. To be honest they can stick their B-Trains and dog trailers. Better the devil you know i say.

Ok Paul, i have tried to be as honest as i can with this info, but bear in mind i am in a part of NZ that is very rural ( Te Awamutu, waikato region) and i can't really speak for the industry in the major cities. As much as Hamilton is a city, to me its just a town really, but it is in the heart of the rural belt. Please don't let all what i have said put you off, because i have no regrets at all about coming here. The only regret i have is that i didn't start with the company that brought me here originally. The position was in Auckland, but the cost of living in relation to wage was to great and it would have only put us back on a plane home after 12 months so decisions had to be made. The bitch of it all was that the company was a refrigeration co with euro trucks and 40ft trailers. Hey but some you lose i suppose.

We have been here 3 months and are loving it. I do have a job to start with over the next few days and its on a UK class 2 licence. OK its not what i came for, but it will help me gather my thoguhts about it all and in the process drop some cash into my **** pocket. I hope i have been of some help and don't hesitate to give me a shout if you.

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Ok this was posted in March 06, and things aren't much better i'm afraid. I have been fortunate to have been employed by Fonterra since Aug, but as its only a seasonal contract i will be finished up come the end of Feb. If you can get in with these, then in a way you have it made. They pay a decent wage and the benefits are good. The only downside is its shift work.

Anymore questions then don't hesitate and i'll do my best.

Kim

[Nettie]

Thanks Kim for all that info. Tells us what we need to know. If there is anything else we will be in touch.
I was hoping to see a bit more of him but seems like I'm still going to be a truckers widow!
Thanks again.

[Kim39]

Glad i could be of assistance to you. As much as the reply comes across a bit negatively, don't be swayed by it. Each individual copes and struggles differently with each situation. As a person who was only in the UK trucking game for 5 years before moving out here, i have been brought up on the easy life of trucking. With the intervention of the WTD from Brussels made the truckers life a little easier, also by working for the likes of Morrison's(9hr shifts) and trunking on nights for TNT, i was emoployed by some very decent companys, but out here, well its a whole different ball game, and a game i really don't like to be involved with. Too be brutally honest though, you have to be on the ground to experience it all to see if its for you.

Good luck with your decisions

Kim

[StevieD]

Deffo spoilt with that lot Kim!! You should have hauled for B&R in Burscough, away on Sunday, home on Saturday, tacho? just put another one in.
Shropshire up to Scotland, drop early morning, other side of Scotland for a load of 400 handball 1 hundredweight sacks of seed potatoes, drive all the way to Cornwall then for 4 drops around various farms, (all handballing) then head up to Bristol for hopefully a load back to Liverpool! Fantastic NOT

I know what you mean about the culture shock - must be difficult if you have been a driver of recent years and not tasted the bad old days.

[StevieD]

p.s. sorry for dropping you in it truckmeister Kim