TLP recruitment agency Maidstone

Not sure if this is allowed here but I have had a belly full of these cowboys. They are a pop up shop promising the world and delivering nothing trading off a proper agency name (drivelink).

I went to sign up with them end of November while I was there the phone went wanting a driver. I was promised the job and was told they would be in touch first thing the next day with the details. Didn’t receive a call so called at lunch time and was told the person dealing with it was out of the office but I was wanted the next day.

I explained I had a job working nights so needed a definite answer as I was moving onto days and was told again I was wanted the following day so quit the nights job. Surprise surprise no call back called them again to be told that the company had decided not to use them. I read them the riot act and was promised work for the next week.

second bash at a job with them I had an induction followed by 2 days work. to be told that I wouldn’t be paid for the induction until I had worked 20 shifts then subsequently found out I was paid a lower rate than I was told. no repayment was told well its just the two days its not worth it.

Following week I had to beg for a day off and ended up doing nearly 73 hours (not as a driver I hasten to add) week after that I arranged a shift pattern with the company I was sent to and informed the agency.

I was then told that xmas and boxing day the place was closed so agreed with the company and the angency I would work the mon/tues instead. Mon came no work agency told me I wasn’t required. since found out that they put me down as unavailable. Ended up with 1 days work over xmas week.
spoke to agency was promised that they would make me available for thurs fri and sat just gone. Had to go into the agency on tues and asked if I had any work on those days as I hadn’t been told to be informed that I had been marked down as unavailable.

Called thurs just gone to make sure I had been marked available was told yes they were just waiting to get numbers from company. Thurs afternoon I get a phone call saying im not needed at the company due to a drop in work volume would I consider working else where on Friday so I got a days pay. Friday im half way to margate and my mobile goes… its the out of hours service for the agency wanting to know why I hadn’t turned up to the original company.

Now they don’t want me back tlp are blaming me and im struggling finding work because soon as I mention that I worked for the company I was placed with they loose interest because thy know they are crying out for drivers.

Fed up beyond belief is an understatement
Coop

EDIT I have amended the agency name tlp are trading under

cooper1203:
Now they don’t want me back tlp are blaming me and im struggling finding work because soon as I mention that I worked for the company I was placed with they loose interest because thy know they are crying out for drivers.

Fed up beyond belief is an understatement
Coop

Welcome to agency lying blagging ■■■■■■■■■

First - In no way shape or form quit a paying job until you are 1000% sure they actually got you a job to go to.

Second - Never ever ever do any induction without confirming will be paid in writing even a text will do

Third - Next time you mention the company your were placed at make sure you say it was through the agency and they screwed up and now your looking yourself for work. Say you were happy and willing to graft but agency caused company to not take drivers from them anymore. Make sure they understand it wasn’t your fault.

Is also if your insisting on agency route go through terms thoroughly as each job is different don’t assume same terms. Again I’d confirm that once you set off your getting paid min a days wage regardless of if it’s cancelled.

Oh and agree rates before you commit to it. Tell them unless full details sent regards placement with rate in black and white your not moving .

Above WILL limit who takes you but at least you know it won’t be a cowboy outfit.

When I did agency before I got the job I’m in now all the above and more were clarified at the start.

Maybe I was lucky but I didn’t have a single problem with any of the agency I was with as everything was email/text so no getting out of it for them.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

im well accustomed to agency blagging. I was hopping that now I had a professional qualification it would come to an end. stupid of me I guess. plus as I said tlp are trading under a name that used to be a proper drivers agency. Looks like im going to have to fall back to the way I treated agencies when I was doing warehouse work.

Get yourself…

A phone call recording app. There’s loads of them out there and the basic package with most of them is free. I use ACR which works with no problems on my Samsung.

Most of these disputes between driver and agency are over what was alleged to have been said or not said. If you have the call on tape, you can make them look like the monkeys they really are.

Welcome to the self-regulated world of agency middlemen. All you will find in this industry is a bunch of disreputable, two faced, double crossing, money grubbing twisters that will throw you under the bus as soon as look at you.

Nice big site on the internet

tlprecruitment.co.uk/

Big cheese to attract the mice

Only thing is, like a lot of agencies, it’s a trap !!

January is certainly the time when you will be scratching your arse for work on agency. All the employed drivers have overspent on Xmas and are trying to save up for the Summer Holidays so will be doing as much overtime as possible. They will be asked when the get back from a trip if they want extra work - and that will be after the company has booked 6 or 7 agency drivers. I used to do regular shifts for Mainstream the best part of 10 years ago, so I don’t know what they are like now but I always found them fair and I always got paid. Yes I did get messed about with shifts being cancelled, usually because I wanted Fri Sat Sun Mon and their clients would overbook just in case, but that is par for the course. Also very occasionally some jobs turned out to be not quite as described - again that’s agency work for you. Things have changed since then because I can only ever recall doing one assessment, there were several inductions before getting the keys at a few clients. I was PAYE then and there was none of this charging for accidental damage nonsense that seems to be so rife these days.

‘Winseer’ is the forum member with the up to date knowledge on Maidstone and Sittingbourne area Agencies. Generally I can say that if you are prepared to take 1 am starts and can put up with the start time getting later in the week then the more amenable you are the more likely you are to get shifts. If, like it seems, you are doing this as a second job then you need to tell the agency because clients will quite likely want a written declaration of hours worked from you to ensure that they are not colluding with illegal activity because you are breaking the hours regs.

its my only job the reason why I did so many hours was its job and knock delivering furniture and we were paid from the minute we walked through the door to 10 mins after we left the debrief at the end of the shift. we might of only been out the yard for 14 hours but with all the unloading of the rubbish and brief and debrief I was pushing 15 hours a day.

cooper1203:
im well accustomed to agency blagging. I was hopping that now I had a professional qualification it would come to an end. stupid of me I guess.

That qualification isn’t worth much without experience. It is common no matter what the agency for you to not get offered much at first. Once you’ve been there a few months and demonstrated competency you get further up the list and the work becomes more plentiful. The error you made was deciding to do this at the end of November when for a lot of places work actually starts to drop off and then you get the quiet period of Jan-March following it. You’re much better off deciding to go on agency around May/June time where people start to take holidays. You’ll get more work so can do that proving your competence so come the quiet period from end November onwards you’re near the top of the list and get offered more.

“Being able to work for an agency without incident” - has become both a social skill, and workplace must these days it seems…

When looking around for agencies to sign up with - I would suggest ditching those agencies who give you the wrong answer when it comes to “What is a typical job you might be handing out here?”

If it is clearly a one-off “cover job” for someone else who’s dropped a shift, or the type of work that’ll always be a one-off, like “musical instrument removals” or “unique consignment” - then jog on, and find another agency that actually has “Bread and butter work” as their main client base.

We are going to see increasing polarity with the better agencies setting up offices within their main client’s grounds in the months and years ahead.

Who would choose to work for an agency that only has endless odd-jobs and “sudden, last-minute sick cover” on their books, regardless of what the work actually consists of anyways?
…Then there’s issues like “Handballing” and being asked to carry something that’s a bit dodgy, drive an unroadworthy vehicle, or travel light years to get to the workplace - all for a wage that somehow seems to include all allowances just to bring it up to minimum wage rate!

It should be easy to see such offending outfits from a mile off - but not necessarily so for the naive driver who’s perhaps new to the scene…

In contrast, if you DO stumble upon one of the GOOD ones - then you need to take a “Can Do” attitude about what work they have.

I didn’t have any problems getting work once I explained I was a “Friday night specialist” even though ironically I’ve done less fridays in my last year than usual… Don’t have to you see - I’m just prepared to work fridays!

I would personally avoid agencies with “initials” making up their company name, or the inclusion of the world “recruitment” come to that…

Winseer who would you recommend in the Medway/Maidstone area protem seem to of gone I did call swains and they said they don’t take on new passes and when I asked about their agency I just got no and the phone put down. firmins don’t do it either.

Im a little hacked off about all this because I spoke to an agency I have worked with before and several others before I paid out for my lessons and all said yes we will use you. I even went to the extent of keeping one of them informed as I worked for them and then when I got my licence all the excuses in the world came out.

coop

UPDATE

it has been brought to my attention that my statement that tlp are trading off driver link’s name is inaccurate the name they are using is drivelink I apologise for any confusion and will amend the previous post accordingly.

Coop

cooper1203:
Winseer who would you recommend in the Medway/Maidstone area protem seem to of gone I did call swains and they said they don’t take on new passes and when I asked about their agency I just got no and the phone put down. firmins don’t do it either.

Im a little hacked off about all this because I spoke to an agency I have worked with before and several others before I paid out for my lessons and all said yes we will use you. I even went to the extent of keeping one of them informed as I worked for them and then when I got my licence all the excuses in the world came out.

coop

I work for Staffline, whom I’d not even heard of until I suddenly got laid off by Brakes in October 2018.
Brakes - let their artic drivers go if they didn’t want to shift to early doors doing multidrop C2 work.

If you want a foot in the door somewhere - C2 might be a good angle as a “New Pass”.
As far as I know - they are ALWAYS recruiting full timer C2 drivers to do the early shifts on multidrop… Might be a good stepping stone if you’re not allergic to earlies like I am.

Staffline have offices in different places, but the one currently employing me is in the grounds of Waitrose down at Aylesford North estate.
I’m not sure if you need 2 years experience or not - but I can soon ask to find out.

Mainstream over at Sittingbourne - dish out work like Fedex & Yodel, which is easy trunking work upto places like Marston Gate (Milton Keynes) and Hatfield. Pump-truck stuff on and off the back yourself (“Self-Tip”)
No Handballing. They also do Snodland Tesco, for what it’s worth.

I worked for Firmins briefly, but the work there is rather dull, carting baled carboard across the road to DS Smith most of the time - rinse and repeat, flat 8 hour shifts. The Knauff Plasterboard work was a bit more interesting there, but you gotta learn quickly to avoid potholes in the road if you’re gonna do that job for any length of time.

To get into Royal Mail at Rochester - you have to go via Manpower in Ashford. Once again, I’m not sure what the minimum experience requirement is.

If a firm gives you an assessment and induction - chances are, if you can pass this - then you’ve blagged it OK, and don’t need to talk about your lack of experience. Just don’t crash the bloody truck though!!

Happy Hunting!

cooper1203:
Not sure if this is allowed here but I have had a belly full of these cowboys. They are a pop up shop promising the world and delivering nothing trading off a proper agency name (drivelink).

I went to sign up with them end of November while I was there the phone went wanting a driver. I was promised the job and was told they would be in touch first thing the next day with the details. Didn’t receive a call so called at lunch time and was told the person dealing with it was out of the office but I was wanted the next day.

I explained I had a job working nights so needed a definite answer as I was moving onto days and was told again I was wanted the following day so quit the nights job. Surprise surprise no call back called them again to be told that the company had decided not to use them. I read them the riot act and was promised work for the next week.

second bash at a job with them I had an induction followed by 2 days work. to be told that I wouldn’t be paid for the induction until I had worked 20 shifts then subsequently found out I was paid a lower rate than I was told. no repayment was told well its just the two days its not worth it.

Following week I had to beg for a day off and ended up doing nearly 73 hours (not as a driver I hasten to add) week after that I arranged a shift pattern with the company I was sent to and informed the agency.

I was then told that xmas and boxing day the place was closed so agreed with the company and the angency I would work the mon/tues instead. Mon came no work agency told me I wasn’t required. since found out that they put me down as unavailable. Ended up with 1 days work over xmas week.
spoke to agency was promised that they would make me available for thurs fri and sat just gone. Had to go into the agency on tues and asked if I had any work on those days as I hadn’t been told to be informed that I had been marked down as unavailable.

Called thurs just gone to make sure I had been marked available was told yes they were just waiting to get numbers from company. Thurs afternoon I get a phone call saying im not needed at the company due to a drop in work volume would I consider working else where on Friday so I got a days pay. Friday im half way to margate and my mobile goes… its the out of hours service for the agency wanting to know why I hadn’t turned up to the original company.

Now they don’t want me back tlp are blaming me and im struggling finding work because soon as I mention that I worked for the company I was placed with they loose interest because thy know they are crying out for drivers.

Fed up beyond belief is an understatement
Coop

EDIT I have amended the agency name tlp are trading under

Coop, not sure how bothered you are but the Agency are legally obliged to pay you for that induction, regardless of how many shifts you have completed.

Winseer:
To get into Royal Mail at Rochester - you have to go via Manpower in Ashford. Once again, I’m not sure what the minimum experience requirement is.

If a firm gives you an assessment and induction - chances are, if you can pass this - then you’ve blagged it OK, and don’t need to talk about your lack of experience. Just don’t crash the bloody truck though!!

Royal Mail require you to have held your licence for at least 6 months in the category of vehicle you want to drive.

They will give you a driving assessment, including reversing onto a bay.
They also give you a “First Site Visit Induction” or whatever they call it these days. Basically a brief-ish chat and a 10 question quiz you need to get right - It’s basically asking about what type of High Viz they require etc.

I don’t know about Maidstone but generally their 7.5T drivers on agency are paid as much or sometimes more than the typical Class 2 job in the area.

Royal Mail is great in the run up to Christmas but will begin to get quiet at this time of year going into April now with shorter shifts typically.

EncoreKris:
Coop, not sure how bothered you are but the Agency are legally obliged to pay you for that induction, regardless of how many shifts you have completed.

I have asked for the two day induction money along with any holiday pay I have accrued and my p45 in my last e-mail to them

Coop, not sure how bothered you are but the Agency are legally obliged to pay you for that induction, regardless of how many shifts you have completed.

That’s interesting, how long has that been the case?

ATJT:

Coop, not sure how bothered you are but the Agency are legally obliged to pay you for that induction, regardless of how many shifts you have completed.

That’s interesting, how long has that been the case?

Approx 2 years now! Usually, if the contract is long term the agency will ask this of the driver so it gives them chance to recoup the money from the client as the client won’t pay this until 20 shifts have been completed.

However, if it all goes ■■■■ up, then they’re still legally obliged to pay you, free inductions are a thing of the past.

I would be quite interested in more info as I suspect just from my previous encounters with the office staff im going to have a struggle on my hands. I just got paid £90.18 for 10 hours work (£10 per hour) yes there might well be a lunch break deducted but at that rate I wouldn’t of paid stamp or tax so why the 18 pence. As always I don’t get my pay slip until the Saturday or Monday after being paid.

coop

Hi there, on behalf of TLP Recruitment - we are sorry to hear that you have been dissatisfied with the service you have received. TLP Recruitment strive to ensure communication with all candidates and clients alike, is both comprehensive and professional at all times, so we are disappointed that you feel this has not been the case in this instance. Please be assured that we will take on board your comments and if you would like to discuss anything further you can contact our head office for further support. Best wishes and thank you for the feedback.