Put it from the guy’s perspective
He doesn’t want to harass the people, but at same time doesn’t wana let himself / them down
Sometimes you gotta rock the boat otherwise they drop you in the doo doo 
m1cks:
Do you not feel that although the company did not sound like a helpful bunch they were paying to get a driver who knew what he was doing.
A competent driver would have done the job in less time than you took and would have cost them less in hours.If you paid for a plumber to come to your house and he took 5 hours when a competent one would have taken 3 would you be happy to pay the full amount?
Maps beat sat nav hands down.
The only agency that ever questioned my geographical knowledge was Best Connection. None of the other agencies had it as part of any test/application process. Maybe they should as this proves sat navs have their pitfalls.
So you’ve never got lost? once!
.
Redrorry:
m1cks:
So you’ve never got lost? once!.
He knew there were three towns of the same name before setting off. That was the time to establish the correct destination. That was his downfall. What’s so hard to understand?
Redrorry:
m1cks:
Do you not feel that although the company did not sound like a helpful bunch they were paying to get a driver who knew what he was doing.
A competent driver would have done the job in less time than you took and would have cost them less in hours.If you paid for a plumber to come to your house and he took 5 hours when a competent one would have taken 3 would you be happy to pay the full amount?
Maps beat sat nav hands down.
The only agency that ever questioned my geographical knowledge was Best Connection. None of the other agencies had it as part of any test/application process. Maybe they should as this proves sat navs have their pitfalls.So you’ve never got lost? once!
.
Yes but not a two hour round trip out the way.
Don’t know about others but I feel a sixth sense when something doesn’t feel right which makes me stop and check.
If I did get lost because I didn’t have the right equipment/local knowledge to do the job then I’d understand them not wanting to pay me an hourly rate that covers my blunder. 20 - 30 minutes maybe, but 3 hours■■?
waynedl:
big boots:
For all those who say what did we do before sat nav & smart phones, it’s simple we got lost a lot & spent a lot of time dicking about looking for places…that’s true,driving through town centres with the window down “here mate do you know where this is?”,do’nt see that so much now.
And a stack of silver coins for phoning in when we found a working phone box that didn’t have number 1 or number 2 on the handset
Number one or two? What does that mean? 
waynedl:
big boots:
For all those who say what did we do before sat nav & smart phones, it’s simple we got lost a lot & spent a lot of time dicking about looking for places…that’s true,driving through town centres with the window down “here mate do you know where this is?”,do’nt see that so much now.
And a stack of silver coins for phoning in when we found a working phone box that didn’t have number 1 or number 2 on the handset
Number one or two? What does that mean?
Silver_Surfer:
Depends wether you want to keep working for that agency, if so chalk it up & don’t go back to that unhelpful bunch of dicks at the haulage firm.If not, threaten to small claims court them then they’ll pay you although they may grass you to vosa for the hour over so if you’ve told them that I’d keep it in my pants if I was you. Fair play for biting the bullet & getting the job done though, I am proud like that too. Many would say just dump the wagon but I just couldn’t do that. Finding places gets easier with practice. & experience. You’re better to make absolutely sure you plan your route before you leave if you’re a newbie even if you’re half an hour later leaving as you found out you can get in to a pickle!
You had a truckers atlas & sat nav. Wasn’t your fault the power socket didn’t work. Hate all this, “You’re a driver therefore you should know where every place in the flipping country is.”
For future reference get google maps app for your smart phone, this is the best move you will ever make re: trucking.
For all those who say what did we do before sat nav & smart phones, it’s simple we got lost a lot & spent a lot of time dicking about looking for places…
Thanks for all your comments guys, that’s a big help. A couple of additional points to set the record straight that I didn’t include in my post :
-I didn’t have a smart phone.
-More importantly, the paperwork I had been given, unbelievably didn’t have a contact phone number for the destination, so I couldn’t even phone them to let them know exactly where I was in their town so they could point me in the right direction!
-Re readouts, I made a printout from the digicard reader much earlier in the afternoon on my break, but when I dropped the truck back the at the end of the day, the machine failed to give me a printout, even though it was loaded with a paper roll, so I had nothing “official” to take home with me. It was after 9pm by that time, so the TM had gone home. The only bloke there to sign my time sheet off was some staff fella in the yard driving a forklift, so it may as well have had “thank you and [zb] you” written across it as far as he was concerned…
However, I made sure I made accurate notes of every movement throughout my day i.e. driving, breaks etc, so that’s unfortunately all I have to go on.
-Re. the extra hour, I didn’t take on any work after that day for a few days -not that it makes it ok of course. Also, at the point my hours were being exceeded, there were no service stations on that stretch of motorway, so it would have meant turning off and finding a layby somewhere off the beaten track, so yet more time driving to gain rest an adequate break etc. They wouldn’t have seen their truck again that night!
I gave my version of the story to the girl at the agency after the haulage company complained of the late delivery, but after she told me “there’s nothing we can do” re. my withheld pay, she then agreed to pay me the time owed to me “from her desk” ?!? so I have yet to find out if she stays true to her word…
I had absolutely no idea pay could be held back and it was only by checking my bank account that I was alerted the fact, so had to then chase it up with them to get them to explain. They certainly didn’t warn me about it.
Needless to say, you live and learn and I will do my utmost to never, ever find myself in this situation again!
This agency haven’t filled me with confidence, so I’ll probably be trying another as suggested. -Are there any good ones out there though…!?
m1cks you were obviously born with a class 1 your that good, yooooooou your good you
Spill the beans,what was the address you were given.
barebones:
This agency haven’t filled me with confidence, so I’ll probably be trying another as suggested. -Are there any good ones out there though…!?
Not too many…
Barebones - you can get a printout of that day from any digi tacho unit you use as the information is on your card. Just select >printout > driver 1 >24 hour day and then the date you did the job.
m1cks:
Barebones - you can get a printout of that day from any digi tacho unit you use as the information is on your card. Just select >printout > driver 1 >24 hour day and then the date you did the job.
Thanks, I’ll remember that. I’m still learning with the digicard readers!
Ramon123:
What a rip off !Name and shame - agency and company.
+1
smokestacks:
m1cks:
Barebones - you can get a printout of that day from any digi tacho unit you use as the information is on your card. Just select >printout > driver 1 >24 hour day and then the date you did the job.Thanks, I’ll remember that. I’m still learning with the digicard readers!
The machine wouldn’t give me a 24hour printout in that vehicle. I will try obtaining the info from the next vehicle I’m in though. Cheers.
hkloss1:
Ramon123:
What a rip off !Name and shame - agency and company.
+1
I would name the agency and company, but I would be concerned about repercussions.
Suedehead:
Spill the beans,what was the address you were given.
Staveley.
Actually, I checked again and there are 4 listed in my index!
barebones:
hkloss1:
Ramon123:
What a rip off !Name and shame - agency and company.
+1
I would name the agency and company, but I would be concerned about repercussions.
Why would you be afraid?
We need to finally end this culture of fear so well entrenched on his board.
I’ve noticed from reading these posts, every one is afraid.
You are not lying after all.
All companies pass information between themselves about you, and it is not all always an honest information, so why would you be afraid of giving an honest opinion and other drivers of cowboys operating out there?
If do not know of which ones are the dodgy operators out there , other drivers will be get stung by them again and again.
Sometimes when I read this board I have a feeling we are living in some oppressive communist regime where people are afraid of saying bad word about companies they’ve had a bad experience with.
By the way, it is nothing against you personally, Barebones, I actually can only applaud you for the having the courage to let us all know about your bad experiences with some of those operators out there, it is a more a general opinion of how this BB operates.
Everyone is afraid to say a bad word about companies that mistreat them and abuse them, name them and shame them and warn other drivers.
barebones:
Suedehead:
Spill the beans,what was the address you were given.Staveley.
Actually, I checked again and there are 4 listed in my index!
Surely the postcode gave you at least half a clue as to which one it was? One is near Kendal (postcode LA8), one near Harrogate (postcode HG5) and one near Chesterfield (postcode S43).
smartphone with google/google maps is a must and probably getting to the point of assumed kit. At least with a postcode you can have a good go then.
One of these for a couple of quid off ebay might be worth putting in the kit bag in case the sockets in the cab are dead, obviously not as good as in the cab but it gives you something. Ask on here if you’re not sure how to hook up to whichever you need out of 12v and 24v. Selection of fuses, as that’s all the sockets probably need, are an option if you feel confident enough to go poking around in the fuse box.
yeah yeah blah blah, we used to etc, for all the ones that write rubbish, just think that once in the not too distant past we used to chuck spears at dinosaurs and believe it or not even they broke sometimes oops, times move on sat nav all the way oh an a little bit of nouse