It seems that in the last three years, a number of agencies have stopped taking phone calls, and seem to want you to either leave messages on mobile voicemail, or can’t be contacted at all, because the advertized number goes “unotainable”.
It is not my intention of returning to a world of “waiting for the phone to ring” - what with all the work about at this time of the year. Neither should I be expected with a clean licence and all my cards to do any “unpaid” assesments/inductions neither.
It is that time of year when I would have thought there would be plenty of specialist driving agencies about touting for business.
Where are they then?
I was told that Pertemps were running drivers into Royal Mail for example, but their number is unobtainable.
I don’t want to darken Manpower’s doors, as they didn’t give me any work last time I registered there.
Mainstream seem to be paying less per hour than they did 3 years ago, so would not be my first pick.
It is the £15+ ph PAYE rates I’m expressly looking for.
Does anyone know who’s putting staff into Asda Erith, whom I’ve heard are paying £17ph+ for example?
I’ve got a couple of sign-ups lined up for this week, but I want to cast a wide net here, in case the work at any single place happens to be “bitty”.
If it is a decent hourly rate, like I’m chasing - then it doesn’t matter if I only get a couple of shifts per week.
I’d rather do 2x12 hour shifts @ £16ph than 5x8 @ £11ph - with an hour per shift taken off for Meal Relief… 5 days work for only £12 a week more than what I should be able to get for two shifts… Pfft!
I don’t think I’m asking for the moon here - so where’s the dedicated driving agencies that’ll accept “walk-ins” like yours truly then?
Rates around Kent are still very poor paye nights are still around £11 to £13.00 ph weeknights, it’s at the point where several employers are paying well above the agency paye rate .
And there’s still a seemingly endless stream of eu workers thinking they are Richard Branson with their £14 ph ltd companies
pierrot 14:
Winseer, give Protem a call, I don’t know what their rates are now as it’s been a while since I worked for them.
Protem seem to be operating from the Swains neighborhood these days.
I tried them about 5 years ago, signed up etc. asking them for lates and nights.
After signing up, they offered me a saturday morning shift in London when I’d already designated that I was looking for C+E any PM starts sunday-friday i.e. lates and nights.
When I turned this particular C2 job down, I never heard from them again.
I’ll give them a call, and find out if they are now putting drivers directly into RM, or only subbing for another agency.
I have not bothered with Manpower again recently for the same reasons as Protem: “Didn’t do what it said on the tin”.
A phone call should suffice, if they’ve changed their ways in the past five years since I contacted them last.
Thanks for the info though.
I’ve already signed up with Bayside who only seem to have work some distance away, and Staffline who only seem to be offering Waitrose work.
I’m looking for agencies that put drivers into the “courier” firms, like Fedex, Yodel, and Royal Mail, bearing in mind the Christmas run-up is almost upon us.
I was getting plenty of work at these three when on agency from 2011-2014 but the pay was bog standard back then - no “premium rates for Christmas” like I’m told it is now.
The main agency I was with SMS - seems to have been absorbed into Mainstream now, and their rates seem to have gone backwards since I left agency for full time in 2015 - so I’m now reluctant at present to go back and sign up with them this time around.
I don’t think agency work is for you and I don’t see why you think you should be entitled to the best paying cream jobs the moment you sign up over people who have been at those agencies for quite a long time. Seems you have a bit of an attitude issue as well given some of your comments about what you will and won’t do and maybe your dictating from day one is the reason the phone stopped ringing. Might be the reason you were laid off as well when others weren’t. The Eastern Europeans will be getting the work you want because they’re willing to be flexible unlike you.
The market is now very much dominated by ADR Network (Now owned by Pertemps) and Driving Plus (Staffline)
Driving Plus have been acquiring other businesses galore for the last few years but ADR/Pertemps are by far the biggest now in terms of market share, ADR are now putting people into RM as well as Pertemps, they also supply Yodel.
I don’t think other than RM that these rates you think exist actually do that often, November is often very quiet in the agency world, even the first two weeks of December can be.
Conor:
I don’t think agency work is for you and I don’t see why you think you should be entitled to the best paying cream jobs the moment you sign up over people who have been at those agencies for quite a long time. Seems you have a bit of an attitude issue as well given some of your comments about what you will and won’t do and maybe your dictating from day one is the reason the phone stopped ringing. Might be the reason you were laid off as well when others weren’t. The Eastern Europeans will be getting the work you want because they’re willing to be flexible unlike you.
Are you having a laugh? - You won’t find many takers for weekend shifts at short notice, and friday night shifts full stop!
Sure, the Eastern Europeans will take whatever they can get - but the hourly rates are the hourly rates - the same for everyone be they a flexible guy with an ink-wet licence or a veteran who did do 4 years on agency already, don’t forget. In any case, any “attitude issue” is refering to my bad experiences some 4-5 years ago at this point. I have not started by re-enquiring at these particular agencies this time around simply because it didn’t seem worth it? - Is it so much to ask for Nights/Weekends C1 work only to be offered someone else’s last minute dropped shift in London, 40 miles from me, for no premium, no expenses, C2 work when I’ve specficially signed up for C1, and not even on the bloody right shift, and in the middle of my designated rest day?
“Flexible” to me doesn’t mean “Bend over and bring your own vaseline”!!
There shouldn’t be further hoops to jump through, because of some kind of unspoken pecking order that sounds rather like the old “Unionized Seniority” thing that I disliked intently whilst I was at RM.
(There over 20 years, could only get the crumbs among the decent 318’s to sign into…)
In any case, it wasn’t a case of the “phone stopped ringing” - it never really started. They offered me a crap job after wasting nearly four hours of my time signing me up, just to test my resolve and desperation?
If my attitude to Manpower in particular seems bad - it’s probably because I got a bloody parking ticket for overstaying 3 hours, meaning that Manpower are the only agency that has net COST me money to sign up with. No work AND a fine! -£60. Once bitten, twice shy I reckon this time around.
ATJT:
The market is now very much dominated by ADR Network (Now owned by Pertemps) and Driving Plus (Staffline)
Driving Plus have been acquiring other businesses galore for the last few years but ADR/Pertemps are by far the biggest now in terms of market share, ADR are now putting people into RM as well as Pertemps, they also supply Yodel.
I don’t think other than RM that these rates you think exist actually do that often, November is often very quiet in the agency world, even the first two weeks of December can be.
I’ll check out Pertemps to see if they do PAYE and have anything local. Have not found my local office as yet though. There must be one closer than the Crawley, Croydon, & Basildon the web search comes up with?
I might also be prepared to commute to Gatwick, for a 12 hour shift @ over £17 per hour, which is the rates I’ve been hearing of, even if only for Christmas…
Thanks for that in any case.
Winseer:
It seems that in the last three years, a number of agencies have stopped taking phone calls, and seem to want you to either leave messages on mobile voicemail, or can’t be contacted at all, because the advertized number goes “unotainable”.
It is not my intention of returning to a world of “waiting for the phone to ring” - what with all the work about at this time of the year. Neither should I be expected with a clean licence and all my cards to do any “unpaid” assesments/inductions neither.
It is that time of year when I would have thought there would be plenty of specialist driving agencies about touting for business.
Where are they then?
I was told that Pertemps were running drivers into Royal Mail for example, but their number is unobtainable.
I don’t want to darken Manpower’s doors, as they didn’t give me any work last time I registered there.
Mainstream seem to be paying less per hour than they did 3 years ago, so would not be my first pick.
It is the £15+ ph PAYE rates I’m expressly looking for.
Does anyone know who’s putting staff into Asda Erith, whom I’ve heard are paying £17ph+ for example?
I’ve got a couple of sign-ups lined up for this week, but I want to cast a wide net here, in case the work at any single place happens to be “bitty”.
If it is a decent hourly rate, like I’m chasing - then it doesn’t matter if I only get a couple of shifts per week.
I’d rather do 2x12 hour shifts @ £16ph than 5x8 @ £11ph - with an hour per shift taken off for Meal Relief… 5 days work for only £12 a week more than what I should be able to get for two shifts… Pfft!
I don’t think I’m asking for the moon here - so where’s the dedicated driving agencies that’ll accept “walk-ins” like yours truly then?
What area are you in?
I know Pertempts have a “task Force” for the RM. Phoned me a couple weeks back about another job and asked if I was interested. Its 7 weeks away at any depot and put up in hotels.
Number i have for Pertemps/RM task Force is 0118 9520120.
I have tried it but hope its of some use.
Gave them a call re taskforce - but was told that you actually have to spend the 7 weeks living out of a suitcase in a hotel, and are not allowed to commute more than 45 minutes away. The sites are all over 2 hours drive for me, with the nearest one being Park Royal (PRDC) which is on the far side of London from me, too far to commute, and I really don’t fancy as a family man spending 7 weeks away from home for the sake of some top dollar work that could and should be available at ALL VOCs rather than just a few Parcel Force ones. (Coventry and Warrington - seem to be the front-runners in this “Taskforce” set-up)
Meanwhile, I’ve managed to get the number of Manpower which wasn’t on the internet, but obtainable by speaking to some old workmates yesterday.
Let’s see how fast I can get the assessment thingy set up next week, hopefully with a view to being flat-out for work across Christmas, and maybe even retaining a couple of shifts a week going through january.
My priority at present is to not get ripped off (which I won’t be at RM) and get my PAYE stamp and taxes paid each week, thus continuing my “no gaps” employment record.
This coming Christmas, and of course Christmas 2019 - will likely be the most significantly different in the Agency Driver universe for some years, as a result of just less EE drivers being available now.
I don’t think the rate of attrition will accelerate after March 29th 2019, but there are already a lot of EE’s going home in droves - because of the drop in the pound - 28 months ago already!
(You can’t send it all back to the wife, and keep a little here, just to keep you in beer - when your wages buy 20% less now than what they did 3 years ago…)
pierrot 14:
Winseer, give Protem a call, I don’t know what their rates are now as it’s been a while since I worked for them.
Closed down just over a year ago .The owner died and his wife did not want it any more.Week after it shut Vince died .
Holy §hit !!!
I didn’t know this FM, sad news. Good agency to work for, good rates, good jobs, flexible and most importantly “PAYE” ::
I knew that Vince was very ill, but up to the time I left he seemed to be doing reasonably well. What happened to the boss then ?
Suppose all their clients have gone to the other agency up the road WDE.
I think I once attended Protem near Green St post office, Gillingham about five years ago. It’s now gone. The above post would explain why, of course. I didn’t know the people there personally, so I won’t comment upon the social and personal loss that would affect some of you just as the death of my old trainer “Car Aerial” Stan at Kent Metro, who passed away from Cancer whilst I was working on agency last time.
Meanwhile, I’ve put my oar in at three agencies so far - but not including the one I used to be at, simply because they don’t seem to have access to the higher rate clients any longer.
I’m booked in tonight for my 3rd shift since passing the assessment on the 25th.
Thanks again to Wingnut - for pointing me in that direction.
I’ve also got an iron in the fire now at Ashford Manpower, who seem keen to get drivers into RM at the local level for me.
The Pertemps option - hasn’t worked, because they are wanting people to work at places like Coventry, Warrington, Park Royal etc. living out of a suitcase in hotels for 7 weeks, which is hardly a way for a family man like me to spend Christmas.
Winseer:
I think I once attended Protem near Green St post office, Gillingham about five years ago. It’s now gone. The above post would explain why, of course. I didn’t know the people there personally, so I won’t comment upon the social and personal loss that would affect some of you just as the death of my old trainer “Car Aerial” Stan at Kent Metro, who passed away from Cancer whilst I was working on agency last time.
That closed some time back, it transferred to Chatham Hill, Luton, which in turn joined forces with the Dartford office and both moved to Strood, on the Swains site.
