Can’t believe people are even giving this Fred OP bell end the time if day…
FreddieSwan:
Bungle666 - If I was targeted by my boss at say, 28%, paying you £7 would mean I’d have to charge a minimum of £11.47 just to meet my target. Like the large majority of professions, I have targets. If I don’t hit said targets, I’d be sacked - obviously not a desirable outcome. If I was then paying you £7 and happened to mention I was charging £11.47 - I don’t think you’d be either a) happy working for me or b) not kicking up a fuss about pay/charge rates. Of course you’d expect more. Realistically, the way to do that is by using Umbrella services (or you set up LTD), in which case it moves. Same charge at £11.47 means the rate is now able to be upped to £8.26.
- This is obviously an example and doesn’t reflect my rates, given the same information you could work it out with a calculator.
It seems by nature of the driving business as a whole, drivers quite openly discuss rates etc. Correct me if I’m wrong, but certainly not the practice in many other industries. I couldn’t tell you what the other consultants in my office earn - I have an idea, granted, but couldn’t tell you accurately. Nor that of my boss, nor my directors.
Sorry but I can’t see that by using an umbrella or LTD that you up your realistic wage. It has been discussed here many times, and it needs an uplift of more than the extra quid offered to make it worth while, especially as the same expenses claimed on umbrella can be claimed on PAYE all be it you have to wait till the end of the tax year. I’m self employed and VAT registered, but thats still not good enough for agencies, they try and fob you off that its come from HMRC about being LTD, but thats [ZB] its just a way of getting you on the umbrella scam
As for your OP, I am a part time agency driver and do it as and when to fit in round other work that I have. My 2 bug bears are being pestered after saying I’m not available, and the cancellation with no pay. On one of my other jobs, if the job is cancelled within 12 hrs of start time we get half a shift pay, and a full shift pay within 4 hrs. The best I have ever got from an agency was 2 hrs pay and that was only because they cancelled be as I walked in the gate.
Henrys cat:
FreddieSwan:
Bungle666 - If I was targeted by my boss at say, 28%, paying you £7 would mean I’d have to charge a minimum of £11.47 just to meet my target. Like the large majority of professions, I have targets. If I don’t hit said targets, I’d be sacked - obviously not a desirable outcome. If I was then paying you £7 and happened to mention I was charging £11.47 - I don’t think you’d be either a) happy working for me or b) not kicking up a fuss about pay/charge rates. Of course you’d expect more. Realistically, the way to do that is by using Umbrella services (or you set up LTD), in which case it moves. Same charge at £11.47 means the rate is now able to be upped to £8.26.
- This is obviously an example and doesn’t reflect my rates, given the same information you could work it out with a calculator.
It seems by nature of the driving business as a whole, drivers quite openly discuss rates etc. Correct me if I’m wrong, but certainly not the practice in many other industries. I couldn’t tell you what the other consultants in my office earn - I have an idea, granted, but couldn’t tell you accurately. Nor that of my boss, nor my directors.
Sorry but I can’t see that by using an umbrella or LTD that you up your realistic wage. It has been discussed here many times, and it needs an uplift of more than the extra quid offered to make it worth while, especially as the same expenses claimed on umbrella can be claimed on PAYE all be it you have to wait till the end of the tax year. I’m self employed and VAT registered, but thats still not good enough for agencies, they try and fob you off that its come from HMRC about being LTD, but thats [ZB] its just a way of getting you on the umbrella scam
As for your OP, I am a part time agency driver and do it as and when to fit in round other work that I have. My 2 bug bears are being pestered after saying I’m not available, and the cancellation with no pay. On one of my other jobs, if the job is cancelled within 12 hrs of start time we get half a shift pay, and a full shift pay within 4 hrs. The best I have ever got from an agency was 2 hrs pay and that was only because they cancelled be as I walked in the gate.
I never understood why staff as some places never seem to talk to each other across the same room? You tell one staff member that you’re not working tomorrow, so are going to sleep off tonight’s shift with them tomorrow morning, 'cos you’ve got a PTA meeting to go to in the afternoon or something, and bugger me, you get a call at 10am kicking you out of bed to ask you if you want work for a midday start? FFS I didn’t finish the night before until 6am so it’s not as if I could do it anyways! 
Hello! Didn’t Deidre inform you that I’d just finished on at 6am? Didn’t Freda tell you I was sitting out today? Don’t these people discuss with each other who’s doing what on their books, or are they too busy counting up the Umbrella kickbacks for the week on their spreadsheets, and thinking ahead to the liquid lunch ahead of them that today’s deductions might well pay for? 
Then at the PTA meeting, you’re sitting there with eyes like ■■■■■■■■■ in the snow 'cos you couldn’t get back to sleep again, and only ended up with about 2 hours worth.
Then another agency phones you at tea time offering you a plum nights job, which you have to turn down because you know it’s 15 hours worth, and you’re falling asleep NOW! 
ARRRGRGh!
Following on from where I was…
Winseer - In terms of a progressive agency - rates are already cut as slim as possible. To some extent, at least in my experience, consultants seem to be prepared to supply at a reduced margin in high volume clients knowing that they’ll make it up again in less frequent users (sickness / holiday cover). What I don’t think is seen often enough (and again, something I’m trying to do proactively on my desk) is charging clients a reasonable but not necessarily the cheapest rate in order to secure a fair pay rate for drivers whilst also obtaining the desired % margin. I explained rates a little in a previous response - so whilst undercutting and overpaying isn’t necessarily an option, I think there are much better practices to be adhered to. I’m confident in terms of my customer service and therefore justify value offered to clients at a “premium” rate, and by premium, I mean slightly more than your budget agency, yet not extortionate. Unfortunately, some TM’s will identify and agree wholeheartedly whereas others will just want the cheapest possible rate and yet demand the most experienced driver. Managing clients is something not done well enough throughout the industry, from what I can tell of my existing / previous. “Client wants, client gets” is backwards logic imo.
In terms of your ‘free market’ example - you’re right. There’s no reason you shouldn’t drop the work I offer you because someone else is offering exactly the same at 50p more. Then again, for all the advice regarding honesty - surely the best approach would be to ring me, explain you’ve been offered the same job at 50p an hour more by X agency and ask if there’s anything I can do? If you’re likely to let me down consistently, I’m very likely to make you aware that I’ve got more dependable drivers covering the work I could’ve offered you. Communication is a two-way avenue after all.
Following on, by your last post and communication inter-office, I’d always suggest asking to speak directly to the consultant that you deal with. If there are two or more specifically for Driving, and they can’t communicate between the pair of them, are you sure you want to be working for them? If you left a message with a Nursing consultant for example, as sad as it is, you’re not their responsibility so quite often a message might not get passed through. I’m not excusing that, just offering advice on how to avoid it.
Speedy Duck - quite interesting that your first approach to your missing hour would be to ‘kick off’… surely if you work frequently for your consultant, you could simply ask him/her to investigate the missing hour for you, or ask politely for an explanation as to why the additional hour is missing. If they blame the client, then let them know you haven’t got a problem speaking to the client directly - I’m sure they’ll change their tune and get it sorted. “Kicking off” will just get their backs up and you’ll find they’re adept at procrastinating when it comes to dealing with an issue with what they might consider an unreasonable driver. Mistakes happen - regularly or not is dependant on who you work for. I’m sure you’ll also find the better your relationship becomes with your consultant, the less mistakes made.
Jonny - I actually had a pretty similar situation to what you seem to be implying, but from another agency.
I have a client that uses 7 people, 5 days a week on different shifts and have been for months. One of the guys asked me last week to look into forklift work for him, not a problem. In the meantime, another agency offered him “on-going” forklift work, he let me down one day and came back literally two days later to say it had ‘fallen through’. Last week, precisely the same thing happened, different agency, different client, same issue. At that point however, my client refused to have him back. Do I blame them? Not at all. Do I blame him? Not really. Do I blame the other agencies that lied for the sake of him covering a shift? Mostly. Then again, they may also have been under the impression it was ongoing when the client has been dishonest.
I’ve had bookings for ‘a week’ just to find that Monday is their busiest day (and the job wasn’t fantastic, but a weeks work makes it worthwhile to agency drivers) and they cancelled my driver for the rest of the week. Thankfully I managed to keep him busy elsewhere, but it’s not always the agency letting you down. Clients let us down too.
Think I’ve probably covered a lot of other stuff within that. Oh, and Scanny, I might make a diagram / adaptation of that for the office. I’ll happily credit you if required!
Freddie, I’d like your take on my problem last weekend.
I was booked for Saturday and Sunday with a night out 7am start. I arrived at the client to be told I’d been cancelled the night before. It smelled like ■■■■■■■■ and according to my agent it was. I expected to be paid as a minimum 8 hours for turning up with no advanced warning of cancellation.
I got nothing!
My agents excuse was that the client is adamant they cancelled and are refusing to pay any charges. I firmly pointed out that their contract with their client is of no concern to me and I expect to get what I am due in the correct timeframe as I am employed by the agency and not the client.
I am now in limbo until next week to see if they are now seeing it my way or not.
Your views from an agency boss point of view and from a moral point of view should they differ??
You see Freddie, you sound like an agency.
Me ‘kicking off’ comprises of me replying to their email by saying there seems to be a problem with their payslip in that it appears to be an hour short. I explained by email that at the customers premises you sign in (I signed in at 20:00 hrs and signed out at 06:45 hours the following morning. During the shift I recorded 45 minutes break).
I do not need, thank you very much, you or anyone else suggesting how I speak to my correspondents.
Now to you. You started this thread by asking for a drivers perspective of agencies. Drivers have given you their opinions. One is that agencies should not advertise ‘non-existent’ jobs. You have made excuses for why agencies would do this.
How about you promoting the idea that they cease this practice?
How are you going to deal with drivers’ complaints from within your trade?
Speedy Duck:
…How are you going to deal with drivers’ complaints from within your trade?
Simple answer, the complaints will be ignored because an agency driver is purely a commodity - bought cheap and sold on at a higher rate, same as any other commodity. Because of the current glut of drivers they are a cheap commodity, as can be seen by the fact that rates have not increased, and have gone down in many instances, for a number of years now.
Anyone who thinks that agencies are there to provide work for drivers has got it the wrong way around, they are there to provide cheap labour for employers and, as such, they have little or no incentive to be on the driver’s side and to support complaints.
Coreys, unfortunately I’m not an agency boss, just a consultant, but thanks! More than happy to give my opinion all the same.
Do you remember when you were booked, and was it confirmed in writing? I know it’s annoying / tedious to confirm everyone in writing (text is fine) from a consultant’s point of view, but it is helpful to drivers for instances like this.
Unfortunately, you’re in a situation in which you can’t really do much. Either your consultant is giving you the run-around because they haven’t been doing their job particularly well, haven’t picked up a message / passed it on, or the client has messed up, and buried their head in the sand. Furthermore, if it is the latter, I doubt your consultant would do everything they could to get any sort of payment out of them and in-turn risking the relationship.
On a moral ground this certainly isn’t right but I can’t say for sure where the blame is. I know that doesn’t really help you .
Without knowing all the details and such, my best advice would be to possibly settle for less than the 8 hours. If the agency are making say £2p/h when you work, yet they have to pay out £70 or so; they need you to work practically a full week (35 hours) just to recover their costs. I’m basing that on a £2 PAYE margin and salary of £9 p/h, your circumstances may be a little different.
If the agency isn’t a huge distance away, it might be worth popping in too. Face to face is always more productive than over the phone (I think any sales rep in any industry would agree with that!) and I imagine they’ll be more empathetic if you make the point of losing ~18+ hours and a night out fee, plus travel costs.
Hope this helps.
Advertising non-existent jobs isn’t moral either 
(1) Block bookings of 40+ hours shouldn’t have to involve joining an umbrella scheme.
(2) Drivers will be advised of “rates” per job, but often the rates might alter, but not in writing. Thus, you might have done say, 3 days of £10ph earlier in the week, but on Friday you get offered a similar job at a client in the same field, but you don’t get advised that the rate is perhaps £1ph less, especially in an email. I consider this being “lied” to by ommission. Being the fussy sort of guy I am, they know damned well I’ll probably pass if I knew up front that it was a lower rate, but the thinking at the agency I’m sure will be along the lines of “Lie to him today, because we’ve only got the problem of covering this shift today.”
I avoid as many opportunities to be lied to as possible by preferring work for a flat rate per time frame regardless of the job, thus there’s no chance of going to a new client, and then getting paid anything less than what I expect. Even this however can cause problems at times when some clients try to palm off their own definition of “nights” as opposed to what common sense might tell anyone. For instance, “nights” should be a single sentence definition, not multiple clauses.
EITHER “A shift across 10pm-2am” OR “start 6pm or later” OR “work 8 hours between 6pm and 6am”.
Clients “picking and choosing the definition” per occasion as they see fit however can find yourself starting at say, 17:00 and finishing at 08:00 which is “all night long” in any sensible person’s definition, only for you to be told that “Sorry bud, you started before 6pm, so it’s day rate right through”. Clearly the other two definitions are sidestepped to use the one that brings down the rate. Well that’s not on in my book, and the client is clearly attempting to clip rates even lower than they already might be.
Another common “client” dodge is the “You get paid overtime rate after 8 hours” so of course every shift you do at that client is chopped off at exactly the 9 hour mark, thus you always do 9 hours at site for 8 hours pay which maxes the commute overhead to boot. 12-15 hour shifts won’t be forthcoming from clients “Prepared” (when they obviously have no intention) to pay “overtime after 8 hours”. Best plump for agencies/clients paying the “all the way through” rate. This will have the driver quite a bit better off with stupid O’clock late late starts on say, weekend and bank holiday nights especially. If your gonna start at 11pm sunday night and do a 15 hour shift finishing at 2pm monday, then knowing you’ll get sunday/night rate all the way through is a whole lot better than being told “Sorry bud, after 1 hour in, you’re on monday day rate” which is likely to be several degrees of crapness below sunday night rate. 
The bottom line is though, I’ve yet to find someone offering “overtime after 8 hours” AND 12-15 hour shifts on a regular basis at that yard.
The “just in time” model, originally from Japan has shown to be the main cause of the so-called “lost decade” over there already. This lost decade is very much like the decade of stagnant driver wages that we seem to be well into right now…
Just in time is going to have to be dropped when the upturn eventually comes, or there really will be a scramble for getting drivers penned down into full time jobs at company A contract rather than slow-to-act company B contract, even if at a higher hourly rate/salary.
Agencies should be ahead of the curve here, and not behind it, reacting to events in the market. Wise up, or go bust when we drivers wise up instead otherwise. 
Well I got to the bottom of the offers of said jobs. As I said the manager of the company I work his wife owns the agency I’m working for.
The offer of a job was because I wasn’t in on the Monday and the manager asked to give me something to cover that day so I’m not losing any money. But due to the location of said job (55 mile round trip ) it weren’t justifiable to do it as the day would just cover the petrol for that day but the thought was nice so I can’t be doing bad where I work 
The second job I was asked if I could use the electric pallet trucks but unfortunately having never used them I said I couldn’t but if I was offered training I would take it. I found out that the job was for another bit in the same company but a different job 
So a fail on my part, the bigger fail being when I was brought into a meeting with the manager and the other agency lads 2 of those being new starters, we were being spoken to about whether we could work the weekend (Yes I’m working tomorrow 6 until 12 
) but also that the 2 new starters are going to be working 3 days a week doing 12 hour shifts 
Lucky gets! So I missed out on a better job But I got to the bottom of it at least and we were told whatever we put in we shall get back, and that was proven today me being trained on the electric pallet trucks today…well I say trained, I was given a spare key to one being told to ‘be careful’ and ‘DONT HIT ANYTHING’ Which I didn’t but to be fair that’s the best way of training when you already know the basics!
So it seems this agency i’m with is pretty decent, and the company is doubly decent just a shame it’s took quite a few jobs to get here 
The sad thing being I’ve learnt more in my three weeks in this job than I did when I did a year on a warehouse apprenticeship. But we live and learn…So I suppose it’s 1 up to the agency this time
Cheers
Jonny
First time I had a go on one of these PPM’s without training, they had no “speed limiter” things on them, and something like this happened…
Winseer:
I never understood why staff as some places never seem to talk to each other across the same room? You tell one staff member that you’re not working tomorrow, so are going to sleep off tonight’s shift with them tomorrow morning, 'cos you’ve got a PTA meeting to go to in the afternoon or something, and bugger me, you get a call at 10am kicking you out of bed to ask you if you want work for a midday start? FFS I didn’t finish the night before until 6am so it’s not as if I could do it anyways!
Then at the PTA meeting, you’re sitting there with eyes like ■■■■■■■■■ in the snow 'cos you couldn’t get back to sleep again, and only ended up with about 2 hours worth.
Then another agency phones you at tea time offering you a plum nights job, which you have to turn down because you know it’s 15 hours worth, and you’re falling asleep NOW!ARRRGRGh!
I can answer that to an extent; though you’ll have to allow for the fact that I haven’t worked as a consultant for about twelve years, but I doubt if the basics have changed.
Most agencies have “the book” which is the day-to-day running sheet detailing who’s where, who’s available and at what times. If it’s properly maintained (and these problems usually arise when it isn’t) it should give every consultant a reasonably accurate guide as to who can cover a shift as and when they come in. It goes without saying that consultants, like the rest of us, have a home life as well, and apart from that the consultant who would normally deal with drivers might well be interviewing candidates, visiting a client or simply gone to the bog when the call comes in from a client needing a driver. So one of his colleagues takes the call, puts client on hold for a second, grabs the book, has a quick look down the list, sees “X” is available (but is oblivious to the fact that X was working nights for another agency last night) and phones him, waking him up.
You will I hope understand that it is paramount that the consultant is able to confirm the booking ASAP, and it’s also good practice to check that your driver is available before doing so. What many of you perhaps don’t realise, not having been on the other side of the desk, is that the situation changes by the minute and inevitably that will mean that even if the consultant does everything “by the book” there will be occasions when from the driver’s point of view he thinks he is being ■■■■■■ about for the fun of it.
In other words there’s only so much info you can pass along. Consultants are not psychic any more than drivers are; and whilst it’s a bloody nuisance being woken up like that it’s better in my experience than not hearing the phone ring at all.
There is a simple and cheap way to deal with this if it becomes a pain. Buy a PAYG mobile, give that number (and no other) to your agency, and switch the phone off if you want to sleep.
Winseer:
First time I had a go on one of these PPM’s without training, they had no “speed limiter” things on them, and something like this happened…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB2dvKEy6Xo
Thankfully I haven’t done anything like that just yet, although I don’t think I’ll be like the other muppet who decided it would be a good idea to try load a trailer without putting down the ramp so the pallet truck went bang and shot the pallet…I nearly shot a pallet yesterday going down the ramp a bit too quick But a little nudge against the other pallet and all was good! Had a well productive day today, had a 20 foot container emptied, wrapped and sent on it’s way within 2 and a half hours with another agency lad and was away home after my break at 9. Not gained much financially but I will have gone up in the pecking line with the manager.
Don’t say this often if ever about managers but the manager I work for is a top bloke and well if more managers were like him other companies would be a lot better to work for! Just hope to keep him to his word of putting me in a lorry when i pass my test Afterall if you put in as much as you want to get out it won’t be half bad
Cheers
Jonny
Sidevalve:
Winseer:
I never understood why staff as some places never seem to talk to each other across the same room? You tell one staff member that you’re not working tomorrow, so are going to sleep off tonight’s shift with them tomorrow morning, 'cos you’ve got a PTA meeting to go to in the afternoon or something, and bugger me, you get a call at 10am kicking you out of bed to ask you if you want work for a midday start? FFS I didn’t finish the night before until 6am so it’s not as if I could do it anyways!
Then at the PTA meeting, you’re sitting there with eyes like ■■■■■■■■■ in the snow 'cos you couldn’t get back to sleep again, and only ended up with about 2 hours worth.
Then another agency phones you at tea time offering you a plum nights job, which you have to turn down because you know it’s 15 hours worth, and you’re falling asleep NOW!ARRRGRGh!
I can answer that to an extent; though you’ll have to allow for the fact that I haven’t worked as a consultant for about twelve years, but I doubt if the basics have changed.
Most agencies have “the book” which is the day-to-day running sheet detailing who’s where, who’s available and at what times. If it’s properly maintained (and these problems usually arise when it isn’t) it should give every consultant a reasonably accurate guide as to who can cover a shift as and when they come in. It goes without saying that consultants, like the rest of us, have a home life as well, and apart from that the consultant who would normally deal with drivers might well be interviewing candidates, visiting a client or simply gone to the bog when the call comes in from a client needing a driver. So one of his colleagues takes the call, puts client on hold for a second, grabs the book, has a quick look down the list, sees “X” is available (but is oblivious to the fact that X was working nights for another agency last night) and phones him, waking him up.
All it needs is a one-per-desk computer system (most agencies already have this) with a software package that displays numbers of candidates to call, but GREYS OUT the ones that are unavailable for any reason. That way, Staff A books you, Staff B updates the system saying you’re taking a 45 hour rest after today, and want to get some sleep before today’s shift, and Staff C just coming in at lunch time doesn’t then kick candidate out of bed on nights, despite not knowing the score. The computer said no FFS, so let it say no, instead of trying to do it all on the nod all the time.
You will I hope understand that it is paramount that the consultant is able to confirm the booking ASAP, and it’s also good practice to check that your driver is available before doing so. What many of you perhaps don’t realise, not having been on the other side of the desk, is that the situation changes by the minute and inevitably that will mean that even if the consultant does everything “by the book” there will be occasions when from the driver’s point of view he thinks he is being ■■■■■■ about for the fun of it.In other words there’s only so much info you can pass along. Consultants are not psychic any more than drivers are; and whilst it’s a bloody nuisance being woken up like that it’s better in my experience than not hearing the phone ring at all.
There is a simple and cheap way to deal with this if it becomes a pain. Buy a PAYG mobile, give that number (and no other) to your agency, and switch the phone off if you want to sleep.
If I got a PAYG mobile, and switched it off, it would go to voicemail and I’d turn up at a place having been cancelled, and wouldn’t get paid because I’ve been texted/voicemailed. No thanks, I’ll stay as I am.
As for the phone “not ringing at all”, that’s why one gets registered with other agencies. I work to live not live to work. I get more hassle over one agency attempting to trump another than I do with the “phone not ringing”… With all this trumping going on, there is of course no immidiate shift when I want it, when I get cancelled at the last minute, dressed up to go. I’ve often been offered the same shift by a different agency 5 minutes after taking it on a first come first served basis, which is bloody annoying, bearing in mind the first offer can sometimes be at an lower rate, and I feel obliged not to ■■■■ anyone about by defecting for the extra £1ph or whatever…
Winseer:
All it needs is a one-per-desk computer system (most agencies already have this) with a software package that displays numbers of candidates to call, but GREYS OUT the ones that are unavailable for any reason. That way, Staff A books you, Staff B updates the system saying you’re taking a 45 hour rest after today, and want to get some sleep before today’s shift, and Staff C just coming in at lunch time doesn’t then kick candidate out of bed on nights, despite not knowing the score. The computer said no FFS, so let it say no, instead of trying to do it all on the nod all the time.If I got a PAYG mobile, and switched it off, it would go to voicemail and I’d turn up at a place having been cancelled, and wouldn’t get paid because I’ve been texted/voicemailed. No thanks, I’ll stay as I am.
As for the phone “not ringing at all”, that’s why one gets registered with other agencies. I work to live not live to work. I get more hassle over one agency attempting to trump another than I do with the “phone not ringing”… With all this trumping going on, there is of course no immidiate shift when I want it, when I get cancelled at the last minute, dressed up to go. I’ve often been offered the same shift by a different agency 5 minutes after taking it on a first come first served basis, which is bloody annoying, bearing in mind the first offer can sometimes be at an lower rate, and I feel obliged not to ■■■■ anyone about by defecting for the extra £1ph or whatever…
Point taken about the booking system… i did say times had moved on!
Have you not considered the fact that the simple reason for your last point is that the client phones half a dozen agencies (or they phone him) and orders x number of drivers to fill x shifts. First come first served applies just as equally to the client/agency relationship as it does to driver/agency. Since you’re registered with more than one, you’ll get more than one call. You can’t blame the agencies for that.
Respect to you BTW for being straight about the rate. Not all drivers are and it causes more trouble than a little.
what do I think about Agencies well I have 2 views one is long and winding and the other view is just 2 simple words!.. so Ill give you the long version
firstly I have signed up to a few agencies and all make bold promises only to fall short… no not fall short but nose dive off the Cliff when it comes to deliver on these promises, on Wednesday after doing all the paper work I had to explain the difference between a Cat C and a Cat C+E and explain the Driver CPC card that I bought with me because the gal did not have a clue on what was what… and then there is Best Connection (■■■■■■■■ I drove from Norwich to Ipswich to sign up with them after applying for a 7.5ton gig in GT Yarmouth 3 weeks later I see a 7.5ton job going in Norwich advertised by em I give em a call ask why I did not give me a go on that… and I got the usual chocolate teapot excuse “not enough experience” I’m sure the ■■■■■ a rolling on the floor laughing about a guy who came all that way for nothing!!! I don’t want to work less the 16 hours a week and fuel cost too much to go 50 miles for a 4 ■■■■■■■ hour job!
and in truth it can all be summed up with 2 simple words
HULK SMASH!
as was stated earlier, dont advertise for hgv drivers if you have no work,i personally am sick to the back teeth of agencies promising work and not delivering,i went to a well known agency and said i was looking for 6 or 7 o clock starts and about 10 or 11 hours a day,i was told yeah no problem,next thing they are offering me stupid o clock starts of 2 or 3 in the morning because i did not accept i was dropped until i decided to flex up as they put it,needless to say i did not go back to them,all i would ask is that agencies are honest with drivers,it saves a lot of time and trouble
On another thread…my woes, laughable full of s**t unpredictable come out with the most lame excuses, treat you like somat they trod in …ring u up at 6pm when youve been up all day to do a night shift. promise all week then you only get 2 days…sorry nowt on days but plenty on nights saturday and Sunday…the list is endless, plus dont recognise the qualitys and experience some people obviously have, im fortunate enough not to have had to deal with agencys many times in the yrs ive done the job…only one realy looked after my interests …like still paying me class 1 rate on jobs that are not…money was bang on every week, plus i was spoken to with respect, but i do think that agencys have buggered the transport game for all but a few, i look most days online for part time work …99 percent is parasite …agency work, there are not many fulltime jobs at all…and if there are any its because its probably a poor rate of pay and thats why its there…so there we have it…im on the scrapheap after 30 odd yrs as a driver…with a clean licence too , im off outside now to go and tend me flower bed and cut the grass…
Here’s a question from a couple of Driver Hire-supplied mates that’ve worked with me in the last 2 weeks; “Why can you not claim expenses if the rate is under £8 p/h?” (umbrella con, sorry “scheme”)
And why no matter how much/little you claim for, they always carry a bit over?