wincanton

[stanley_knife]

jc69817:
hi all i was actually told it would just be a short day as i was booked in somewhere at 05.00 next day. so in effect i lost out on the next days job because there was no sign of me finishing in time to start at 5.

Why didn’t you point this out in the first place?

The fact that you start at 0500 the next day means you can only work until 2000 on the day, or 1800 if you can’t reduce.

Your agency would/should have known this.

Did you tell Wincanton’s the situation when you went in?

If you did, sit there until your times up. If they didn’t know anything about it you should have rung the agency immediately.

Stan

[peirre]

LASHHGV:
what depot / contract was it JC?

you beat me to it, as all wincanton depots opperate on seperate contracts, and its not unusual for them to book 3+ spare drivers.

jc69817 since you admit being new to this,
the run up to Christmas is going to be much worse for agy drivers, that a normal staff driver, the long waits for trucks gets longer, but look on the bright side, sat around you could be on overtime before you leave the yard,
in that case they cant send you far, I regularly sit 4+hrs before leaving the yard, if your willing to put the hours in and earn some serious cash pre-Christmas, just bite your lip, keep your head down, and sit tight, you might even drop off the radar and be forgotten about while sat in the canteen for 8hrs :wink: and theyll probably send you home leaving you getting paid for 8hrs for doing nothing
When i started on the agy over 2 years ago, i was a little too bolshi which tended to get me into trouble, Ive learned my lession and tempered my attitude. Walking out of a job after 3-4hrs, only gets you an ear bashing from the agy, and probably dropped by em too. leaving you with an empty wallet and out of pocket for fuel food etc. **DONT take a booking if your not willing to see it out to the end of the day/8hrs**
Now i sit tight and mentally count the £££s im earning sat doing nothing, i`ve managed to drop off the radar for 8hrs and got sent home, paid for doing nothing
Just pack yourself plenty of food/drink, carry a newspaper/book/gameboy to while away the hours and wait for the money to roll in.

BUT if you want to be an agy driver, earn money, and have a home life in the pre-Christmas run up, Id tear up your licence now, because your gonna have to give up at least 1 of the 3 things above to make a go of it because you wont be able to have all 3, and you certainly wont have all 3 post Christmas, because lots of us agy drivers will be laid off, but on the plus side, well have earned enough pre-Christmas to allow us to book that exotic foreign holiday in January when we`re off

Stanley Knife:

jc69817:
hi all i was actually told it would just be a short day as i was booked in somewhere at 05.00 next day. so in effect i lost out on the next days job because there was no sign of me finishing in time to start at 5.

Why didn’t you point this out in the first place?

The fact that you start at 0500 the next day means you can only work until 2000 on the day, or 1800 if you can’t reduce.

Your agency would/should have known this.

Did you tell Wincanton’s the situation when you went in?

If you did, sit there until your times up. If they didn’t know anything about it you should have rung the agency immediately.

Stan

Stan, I doubt wincanton or in fact any Clientwould give a hoot where else he was booked in to be at 5am the following day, as they have booked him for the day, so its not their problem if hes at 5am the following day elsewhere, its down to both him and the agy to rejuggle and get him the start time moved or updated with the next Client . overlapping booking times are something you have to expect, and put up with, a good agy will move the times to help, but it certainly helps to keep the agy updated with the situation through out the day. and a friendly chat with the desk staff, would have given him an idea of what his expected run and times would be,

Thats why today i`m off, i got caught out by an overlap … faircop, but its something I have to put up with as an agy driver, swings and roundabout

[stanley_knife]

peirre:
Stan, I doubt wincanton or in fact any Clientwould give a hoot where else he was booked in to be at 5am the following day, as they have booked him for the day, so its not their problem if hes at 5am the following day elsewhere, its down to both him and the agy to rejuggle and get him the start time moved or updated with the next Client . overlapping booking times are something you have to expect, and put up with, a good agy will move the times to help, but it certainly helps to keep the agy updated with the situation through out the day. and a friendly chat with the desk staff, would have given him an idea of what his expected run and times would be,

I have to agree. In this scenario the first thing I would have done would have been to inform the desk that I was booked on another job at 0500 the next day. Puts the ball back in their court - either find me work which fits in or send me home. 8 hours minimum either way.

Stan

[peirre]

Stan, I think your slightly off the mark there, its not down to the desk to find you work that fits or send you home, they have booked a driver for that day, and would expect to use their services that day, wether that day turns out to be 15hrs long, and screws up the next days booking time isnt their problem, if an agy driver starts dictating their finish time to the client, they would probably find themselves sent home before they get started. As Ive stated before…"dont accept a booking unless your willing to see it out to the end" thats the nature of this game, its both the drivers and agys responsibility to juggle the start times for the following day (day 2), not the client whos booked the driver for (day 1)

[stanley_knife]

peirre:
…wether that day turns out to be 15hrs long, and screws up the next days booking time isn`t their problem, if an agy driver starts dictating their finish time to the client, they would probably find themselves sent home before they get started.

I think we’re looking at this from two sides of the same stick, Pierre.

I can thoroughly understand the argument any company would put forward in the same situation. My point is that in telling the desk the drivers situation the desk then has the option to refuse the driver. A phone call to the agency would then have sorted out where the driver was going to be working that day - and for how long.

Personally, I would have informed the desk of the 0500 start the next day and that in order to be legal for it I would have to be finished for 1800/2000. If this was of no use to them would they phone the agency and sort it out.

(But as the OP said he was informed by his agency that it would be a short shift. Now whether the company has told the agency that or the agency has taken it off their own back to tell the driver that unbenown to the company I know not).

Again, to go back to the original post. jc has sat there for 5 hours and it’s not loaded. Wincanton want him to do a “full run”. After sitting there for all that time I would have played Wincanton at there own game. Wait while it’s loaded, find out where it was going, decide if you could do it in the time remaining, and if you couldn’t tell them.

And if the run could be done■■? Inform the agency what was happening and that you could not do the 0500 start because you would not be finished at Wincanton until 0400 and that because you were going somewhere that night you had lost a shift through no fault of your own - and you were claiming 8 hours pay.

Stan

[peirre]

Stanley Knife:
I think we’re looking at this from two sides of the same stick, Pierre.

Agreed, As an agy driver for the last couple of years, I`ve seen most of the possible ■■■■ ups that can happen with bookings

Stanley Knife:
I can thoroughly understand the argument any company would put forward in the same situation. My point is that in telling the desk the drivers situation the desk then has the option to refuse the driver.

with the exception, of risking working for a numpty.
I still stick to my point that once a driver accepts a booking, they should see it to the end of the day

Stanley Knife:
Personally, I would have informed the desk of the 0500 start the next day and that in order to be legal for it I would have to be finished for 1800/2000. If this was of no use to them would they phone the agency and sort it out.

again dont accept a booking, Ive had the same situation compound by the fact that the following days booking was though another agy

Stanley Knife:
(But as the OP said he was informed by his agency that it would be a short shift. Now whether the company has told the agency that or the agency has taken it off their own back to tell the driver that unbenown to the company I know not).

I trust what I`m told by an agy office as much as I would a double glazing, or timeshare saleman.

Stanley Knife:
Again, to go back to the original post. jc has sat there for 5 hours and it’s not loaded. Wincanton want him to do a “full run”. After sitting there for all that time I would have played Wincanton at there own game. Wait while it’s loaded, find out where it was going, decide if you could do it in the time remaining, and if you couldn’t tell them.

if he walked off site without the agys agreement, I doubt hed get paid even if he had a signed timesheet

Stanley Knife:
And if the run could be done■■? Inform the agency what was happening and that you could not do the 0500 start because you would not be finished at Wincanton until 0400 and that because you were going somewhere that night you had lost a shift through no fault of your own - and you were claiming 8 hours pay.

I agree that if it could be done, do it as hed probably earn more in overtime payments, than what hed get for the 8hrs hed loose the next day, which is exactly what happened to me monday when i was sat for 4hrs+ at argos darlington waiting to tip 36 plasma tvs and ended up doing 14.5hrs

but as a newbe, I doubt the agy would be willing to pay him for the shift he would loose the following day, thats why I, in his position would have done the wincanton job and strung it out for the O/T. but playing that game needs a little more experience, knowing how long the run is going to take etc, because it only takes a hickup at a drop and you`d end up with an unexpected night out

to minimise the risks of overlapping bookings the agencies i work for all know I will only do start times within a certain window, i.e= 0400-0900
but if they ask me to do a late 1, i`m generally on that start time or similar all week, which is what I did at wilkos, and more recently DHL