Fed up of companys taking the mick i.e Self employed

the nodding donkey:

AndrewG:
Being self employed isnt all doom and gloom as some make out. Yes, you do pay your own Ni and income tax and no, you dont have employment rights but the upside is you dont have anyone to answer to and you can work the hours you please when you please. Ive been an O/D for many years and would never go back to working for someone else as the way i see it is all youre doing is lining someone elses pockets when you could be filling your own. I realise that being an O/D is a little different to working for an agency as self employed but…if you dont like the place its very easy to just move on somewhere else and if you want/need a holiday you just take it, theres no one to tell you otherwise.
Re paying the agencys ni and tax, how does that work? If youre self employed you just pay your own. Maybe im out of touch with how HMRC work now :confused:

But how free to pick and choose are you rally Andrew? You need to pay the bills, and wether you like it or not, in one way you’re just as buggered as us, to accept a companies rate for a job, as we are to accept a wage, because can you afford to park up if the rate is not to your liking? And you keep telling us that you are happy to do 3000 +miles a week, to earn a living, well, I do a lot less, and make a living, but crucially, if work gets quiet next week, my boss worries. If my truck breaks down, my boss worries. If I have a flat tire, my boss pays for a man to come and fix it. And if I’m not happy were I work, I can leave at start somewhere else tomorrow. …

I suppose im lucky in the fact the company i sub for dont just take on any work, theyre in a position to pick and choose rates depending. Much of their work is direct for retail customers where they take an active part in packaging/distribution and although i do the distance its the same route week in week out so i always know exactly where i am re time scales knowing ill be home every weekend. Yes, the mileage does take its toll occasionally i will admit but theres always the option for shorter groupage work which ill do to break the monotony of repetitive Malaga/Calais return runs. A little off topic but re breakdowns, if anything my truck is always over serviced, only fit gen parts and premium uncut tyres. I look after it like a baby to try to avoid downtime and the headache it can cause. Ill freely admit we do get looked after here and hoping the work continues as i love it but if it does one day go ■■■■ up ill do exactly what an employee in the same position would do…just move on…