mutley:
0Well I’ve been driving this for the last two days, reckon I should have a nice take home next week
How come ya wasnt in mine? 
Agency driver was using it
Socketset:
The real problem is not newbies as you put it but the fact that Blair and brown flooded the UK with cheap labour. We are over populated and there is no work anymore in the UK except cheap minimum wage part time jobs. Wake up and smell the coffee.
Pretty accurate.
[/quote]
you are so right Socketset 
switchlogic:
Each to their own I say. After all I earn less than the other drivers at Virginia because I have the pleasure of driving a FH16 750. It wouldn’t have come with alloys had I not taken a pay cut.
Obvious troll is troll. You’ll have to try harder than that Lukus. 
kr79:
Back to the original point it could be argued agency drivers have screwed things for people who want permenant jobs.
Explain please.
switchlogic:
Each to their own I say. After all I earn less than the other drivers at Virginia because I have the pleasure of driving a FH16 750. It wouldn’t have come with alloys had I not taken a pay cut.
I realise you are joking Luke (at least I think you are 
) but the tragic thing is a lot genuinely do think that way and would be willing to accept those terms, some of which, judging by certain comments from time to time, are amongst us on here.
In the past companys would employ enough drivers to cover there work and would use agency drivers to cover holidays and seasonal rushes and suchlike.
Most agency drivers would probaly be new starters or older guys who just wanted a few days here and there but how many big firms rely on a fair chunk of agency workers to do there day to day work and i believe this is how a lot recruit permanent staff.
How many drivers especaly before the recession when there was the so called driver shortage jacked in working and went permanent agency to nick a few quid more.
That suits firms as they may pay more per hour for the driver but saves holiday pay and staff can be laid off as and when. So theres no incentive to offer better terms and conditions to staff.
Also how many drivers are working as self employed or limited company when they should be paye as there there all the time.
I know agency suits some as they cant do a regular job due to family commitments etc but theres lots who think they are beating the system but are part of the cause of the problems
kr79:
In the past companys would employ enough drivers to cover there work and would use agency drivers to cover holidays and seasonal rushes and suchlike.
Most agency drivers would probaly be new starters or older guys who just wanted a few days here and there but how many big firms rely on a fair chunk of agency workers to do there day to day work and i believe this is how a lot recruit permanent staff.
How many drivers especaly before the recession when there was the so called driver shortage jacked in working and went permanent agency to nick a few quid more.
That suits firms as they may pay more per hour for the driver but saves holiday pay and staff can be laid off as and when. So theres no incentive to offer better terms and conditions to staff.
Also how many drivers are working as self employed or limited company when they should be paye as there there all the time.
I know agency suits some as they cant do a regular job due to family commitments etc but theres lots who think they are beating the system but are part of the cause of the problems
It’s swings and roundabouts - you can’t have your cake and eat it. We’ve been over this many times in the past. The simple facts of the matter are that the employed full timers want all the agency perks (higher hourly rate, top of the pecking order etc) whilst simultaneously wanting the stability and regularity perks of a being a full time employee. It’s nigh on impossible to have both without being extremely clued up on how to ‘play’ agency politics, agency driver politics, company driver politics and client politics. Also, yet again you’re forgetting that come Jan-Mar the full timers have guaranteed work every week whereas the agency boys are most likely sat at home for those 3 months with only the odd shifts and having to live off what they made the previous year. It all balances out in the end.
I understand that over the course of the year theres probaly not a lot in it and maybe in years to come being agency and wintering in the sun may be an option for me as it is a few people i know but i think it is wrong how a lot of companys will have drivers on agency for months on end without giving them a job but thats more to do with employment law and way beyond us mere mortals.
I dont live a lavish lifestyle with a mountain of debt but i realy couldnt live by the uncertaintyof wsiting for a phone call to earn a crust but each to there own .
Rob K:
Also, yet again you’re forgetting that come Jan-Mar the full timers have guaranteed work every week whereas the agency boys are most likely sat at home for those 3 months with only the odd shifts and having to live off what they made the previous year. It all balances out in the end.
Hiya Rob, I’ve made no secret on here of my opinion on agencies, but if they suit you fair play to you.
What you say about the 3month thing is fairly common knowledge, and I have made this point before about the legality of agencies advertising false promises, you know the thing, “Drivers wanted urgently for full time contracts” promising the earth, when in real terms it is at the best exaggerated, and at the worse totally false. What if somebody was thick enough to trust them, take them on face value and leave a full time job, (…yeh I know 
,but I reckon it must have happened) only to find the job doesn’t actually deliver what they have promised, surely in legal terms this is misrepresentation so the advert is illegal, what do you reckon would the same guy with a good solicitor have a case?
What’s with the choccie buttons, is there some kind of cryptic message there somewhere 
Rob K:
switchlogic:
Each to their own I say. After all I earn less than the other drivers at Virginia because I have the pleasure of driving a FH16 750. It wouldn’t have come with alloys had I not taken a pay cut.Obvious troll is troll. You’ll have to try harder than that Lukus.
Not on trucknet you don’t. After all you didn’t try too hard with the original post and lots bit.
robroy:
switchlogic:
Each to their own I say. After all I earn less than the other drivers at Virginia because I have the pleasure of driving a FH16 750. It wouldn’t have come with alloys had I not taken a pay cut.I realise you are joking Luke (at least I think you are
i know 1 firm up here that runs top spec scanias on bulk but only pays the drivers £7 an hour, £20 n/o and 3 bottles of polish a month
Seems like the rates have not improved in the last 15 years. I was getting £7 an hour for agency work in 1999. How are you supposed to live on that?
I work afternoons, which suits my lifestyle. Don’t like mornings. I get a 20% premium after 6pm and time and half after 8 hours. I keep an eye on my average hourly rate for all hours worked and it’s currently £10.76 per hour for an average of 43 hours per week.
Not mega money but I’m happy with it. Could earn more if I wanted the overtime. I have less than a years experience too so it’s not like I had to climb a tall greasy pole to get here.
Shop around and vote with your feet. Used to get £8.50 at Stobarts. Wasn’t enough so off I went, wasn’t difficult.
robroy:
Rob K:
Also, yet again you’re forgetting that come Jan-Mar the full timers have guaranteed work every week whereas the agency boys are most likely sat at home for those 3 months with only the odd shifts and having to live off what they made the previous year. It all balances out in the end.Hiya Rob, I’ve made no secret on here of my opinion on agencies, but if they suit you fair play to you.
What you say about the 3month thing is fairly common knowledge, and I have made this point before about the legality of agencies advertising false promises, you know the thing, “Drivers wanted urgently for full time contracts” promising the earth, when in real terms it is at the best exaggerated, and at the worse totally false. What if somebody was thick enough to trust them, take them on face value and leave a full time job, (…yeh I knowWhat’s with the choccie buttons, is there some kind of cryptic message there somewhere
It quite possibly is illegal but it’s been like this for as long as I can remember and I don’t see it ever changing either. But like a lot of things in life, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is and hence why one should use caution when jumping out of a full time employed position onto agency under the illusion that you’ll be placed back in at the same company 5 days a week for twice as much money. I can tell you right now that the chances of that happening straight away are the square root of zero. You have to play a long drawn out game in order to get your name at the top of the list and the vast majority of ex full-timers haven’t got the balls to do it. The first time they don’t get 5 days in on a given week they start panicking and ring up the agency giving them a load of ear ache about false promises which simply results in their phone ringing even less and within a couple of weeks it’s “all agencies are full of ■■■■” and they’re back working where they were again for £6.50/hr because they couldn’t hack it. I see it all the time mate.
The buttons are because that is what most drivers work for these days. Other buttons are available.
Seriously though… I have never ever used agency drivers. I find if you pay very good wages it attracts the right kind of driver that looks after your kit and does the job properly and care about the truck that you give him/her. All of my drivers are 100% reliable and if I tell them on a Friday on their weekend off what their job is for a Monday I know they will turn up on time. As I have said before, Good wages attracts the good drivers, the good drivers save you thousands each year by not knocking the kit around, (and I have expensive kit) Pay peanuts get monkeys, SIMPLE !!! I have got some top blokes (& 1 very very good woman) that work for me. My job is difficult but having drivers like I have my job is made easier.
If any of my drivers would be willing to show you their wage slip it would prove this !!
WhiteWhiteWhite:
Seriously though… I have never ever used agency drivers. I find if you pay very good wages it attracts the right kind of driver that looks after your kit and does the job properly and care about the truck that you give him/her. All of my drivers are 100% reliable and if I tell them on a Friday on their weekend off what their job is for a Monday I know they will turn up on time. As I have said before, Good wages attracts the good drivers, the good drivers save you thousands each year by not knocking the kit around, (and I have expensive kit) Pay peanuts get monkeys, SIMPLE !!! I have got some top blokes (& 1 very very good woman) that work for me. My job is difficult but having drivers like I have my job is made easier.If any of my drivers would be willing to show you their wage slip it would prove this !!
This goes to prove that you can have another business model other than pile em high and sell em cheap 
More people in the industry need to adopt the same practices before the race to the bottom actually reaches the bottom 
could it be i lost my job because i did nothing to protect it other than moan on a blog?, just a thought
Saaamon:
Rob K:
I’ll tell you what the problem is : It’s not the foreigners “stealing all our jobs”, it’s actually all these stupid newbies that are flooding the market.What a load of crap! I think its probably quite refreshing for companies to take on people that can actually do the job without whinging or messing it up… The fact that not long after i started in driving, the company i was on for were handing me jobs that drivers with 10-15+ experience wernt able to do or wernt trusted to do speaks volumes…
It ■■■■■■ me off that a small minority of you so called experienced drivers try and put down those of us that havnt been doing it long, when actually your so [zb] useless at the job you cant even do a day in central london without throwing your toys out of the pram!
yeah newbies are best so there, there cheap still lving with there mom, the high cost of insurance will prove just how cheap they are lol
Ive never done agency work but from what i gather from reading posts here it tends to me mainly trunking and supermarket work on class1 so two of the easiest driving jobs around that pretty muvh any idiot can do without two much carnage.
I know the supermarket job has always been a decent gig money wise and on terms and cinditions with things like staff discount etc for employees. But the stobart tesco thing looks like screwing that in the future.
So prehaps when theres a glut of drivers around the supermarkets realise they can nail the rates down and still get the baked beans and bog rolls to the shops.
They are well known for nailing there suppliers to the floor price wise so why not driver agenceys.
As white white white says theres still plenty of firms who dobt use agency drivers and have decent regular drivers who they pay a decent wage too.
These jobs dont tend to be advertised and id imagine theres still a good few decent agency jobs round just your not going to get them by turning up down at tge agencey office waving your licence in the face if the smarmy oik behind the desk.