Surely the best way of getting good drivers knocking on your door is to put good pay & conditions on the table. Non of this £7.50 an hour crap. After that it’s all down to an effective interview & assessment process.
If yards and agencies don’t care about how many points one has on their licence - I’d have to say they are looking at “good” being “always does what is asked” rather than “argues the toss over being told to work something dodgy” or whatever… Even if we only concentrate on the “only include legal stuff” angle - how many of us attempt to sidestep crappy jobs - that refusal based on our own sense of seniority!
I don’t like mucking out someone else’s dirty cab whilst covering for them on holiday for example… I don’t like being given a tramper’s vehicle for overnight runs either - because the regular tramper will try and enforce some kind of “don’t touch my stuff” on it - which means essentially I’m not allowed to use the bunk, thus degrading the entire cab down to “day cab” status. Not good when I’m doing a 15 hour overnighter…
Looking on the bright side - A “yessir” attitude regarding “getting on with it” suggests that a younger driver now has a hope of being classed as “good” within their first few years of working!
ie. do everything without question, because you’re still concerned about rocking the boat at your firm!
maga:
in the bosses eyes the best driver is the cheapest!
■■■■■■■■ 
the best driver is one that doesnt damage the truck/doesnt smoke in it and burn the seat and carpet 
/ and reports an air leak on the trailer (brake chamber) the day it happens so i can get it fixed asap not leaving it until 430pm on a friday when its bank holiday weekend and the trailer is back out 1st thing tuesday
ps he doesnt work for me any more either
rob22888:
Surely the best way of getting good drivers knocking on your door is to put good pay & conditions on the table. Non of this £7.50 an hour crap. After that it’s all down to an effective interview & assessment process.
i have, still only had 2 applications
burnley-si:
rob22888:
Surely the best way of getting good drivers knocking on your door is to put good pay & conditions on the table. Non of this £7.50 an hour crap. After that it’s all down to an effective interview & assessment process.i have, still only had 2 applications
So what do you put lack of applicants down to Si ■■?
There seem to be many good firms with similar problems i.e. attracting good staff to even apply for decent jobs. Obviously it’s not solely down to money. Maybe we are heading for a driver shortage in certain areas??
One route would be to use agency and try and recruit the ones that fit the bill. Been asked twice if/why I had/'nt considered applying for one of the full time positions at a regular place but I’m happy doing part time agency. This is a company with easy work, good kit/decent rates and they seem to be struggling to find full time drivers, which I find surprising so ■■■■ knows what’s happening down the food chain.
Not been doing it long enough to consider myself a ‘good’ driver, I just get on with the job, however been doing it too long to be yes sir/no sir 3 bags full and have long since stopped taking carp from anyone TMs, planners &etc.
chicane:
This is a company with easy work, good kit/decent rates and they seem to be struggling to find full time drivers, which I find surprising so [zb] knows what’s happening down the food chain.
The place I’m at is a bit like that, treat agency drivers like royalty but the full timers always draw the short straw. The agency drivers notice this & the ones that have been coming in for a while will never take full time if offered.
burnley-si:
rob22888:
Surely the best way of getting good drivers knocking on your door is to put good pay & conditions on the table. Non of this £7.50 an hour crap. After that it’s all down to an effective interview & assessment process.i have, still only had 2 applications
I reckon a lot of drivers these days don’t actually look at adverts for jobs, probably cynical because of the amount of bluff put out there by agencies. I think most just send CVs out to well known companies they like the look of & ones they have heard decent things about through word of mouth. That’s what I do. If your only a small local firm this will probably make things difficult for you. Then you’ve got the ones who use CV libraries and wait for jobs to land on their laps. I also reckon there are newbies out there who won’t apply for good looking jobs thinking “theres no chance they’ll take me on”, so stick to the agency.