Harry Monk:
Rowley010:
Harry Monk:
My agency have offered me two jobs in the last month “subject to passing the assessment” and I’ve turned them both down on the basis that I’ve already been assessed by the Government and passed.“Driver assessments” are in reality simply as extended interview carried out by the company’s most brown-nosing yes-man designed to ascertain how far you are willing to bend over and take it up the back passage without lube, so you should be proud of failing yours and move on to find someone decent to work for.
I wouldn’t say that’s entirely true. I know from my own experience at my current company we’ve got a few very good trainers who aren’t like that at all and are all qualified for the role and are all good blokes who would have cut you slack and helped you for being new. Another company I went to before this one it was one bloke who was also very good. They aren’t all brown nosing yes men.
Maybe I’ve just been unlucky in the past.
My agency offered me an assessment at Hermes in Rugby. I searched on TruckNet and discovered from a previous applicant that this would take five hours, four in the classroom followed by a one hour driving test. And they wouldn’t be paying me for this, despite Hermes being privately owned by a multi-billionaire.
So I phoned the agency back and said “Errr, I won’t be doing that”. There are plenty of places which will give me the keys and the paperwork and I’m driving out of their gate 20 minutes later earning wages.
That’s the way it was back in the day Harry. Most of us older guys certainly remember turning up at a yard, handed keys, a trailer no. and unit no. and some delivery notes and away we went.
Changed days now though and not all for the better I don’t think. Of course companies want to check a driver is competent but a question I keep asking myself is…Why now? and not then?
What’s gone wrong? Why the change?
Apart from that as I have said many times and from what I can gather from people I know still in haulage etc is the assessment (problem) because that’s what it seems to be for many a driver
including the one in this thread.
It’s all about who carries out the assessment and their training (if any) because I almost guarantee the guy in this case was not qualified at all.(apart from a license) No properly trained assessor would act in that manner. Any assessor should be helpful and give some friendly advice when needed but obviously there are times when a driver is so bad they cannot be passed.