Agencies want to know too much ??

[Loggo]

Although retired I have recently been looking around a few agencies for jobs and I amazed at the amount of information they want from me. Not just my national insurance number and address but also my full bank detail, my passport details including a photo copy, photocopies of all my driving cards (tacho,licence cpc)a history history of previous work areas And a lot more it seems as though I'm giving them a kit for identity theft and bear in mind this is before any of them offer me so much as day's work.
The last one gave me a 30 question examination on drivers hours as well !
Am I just being over careful ? I quite understand a need for employers to check these at interview but ffs having given my NI number with proof that it's mine what value does my passport add ??

[TruckDriverBen]

It's good your being cautious however they do ask for all that I applied for a tesco agency got the number off a friend so his my refferal plus I know it genuine

They ask for all 3 driving cards 1 ni, passport, mobile bill and bank account number

Probably like a couple years ago it was just 3 card and ni

[stu675]

I'm not sure a National insurance number is proof of the right to work in this country, hence the passport (other solutions are available if you don't have one - remember the agency just wants to take the easiest route for them). Photocopies of everything are essential. Do you expect them to ask around the office which employee swears blind that they saw them at one point?
Bank details, well you want to get paid don't you?
Multiple choice is just ridiculous, they should just trust that you know all this stuff don't they know who you are?

and bear in mind this is before any of them offer me so much as day's work ??

There's no point registering you if they don't think they can give you a day's work and they can't start rushing round trying to get all this stuff when they phone you up at 7am saying someone's called in sick, how soon can you get there?

"I quite understand a need for employers to check these at interview" I wouldn't expect there to be any further interview once you're registered

So in a word, it all seems familiar and normal to me.

[Muddy K]

Yeah just did a week at an agency.

I sent all pictures of the stuff they wanted over via email/wattsapp.

Signed some electronic documents via email.

Hand over my cards at every site, they photocopy them and then crack on with the job. Every day agency just drop me a text can I do this place for this much £ per hour.

Once you get the initial sign up paperwork done, then it's just a quick wattsapp asking if you can go here or there (usually ok short notice/asap) or or for the next day.

[TonkaBoy]

I was just about to work for an agency, until I recieved their agents email and attached forms, in the way of a forwarded email message, and from this email I also got all the other drivers email addresses too... and this person wanted me to email all cards passport etc into them wasn't happening.

Absalute lazyness by the agent, forms sent weren't even clear, just badly scanned and thrown on as an attachment, screamed unprofessional, yet running a huge contract ??????

This was a total breach of GDPR, never told them why I had decided not to work for them, just called them after recieving the email, and said didnt wish to continue, then got attitude, but just rolled my eyes and thought avoided bad expereince, luckily believe in karma or could of passed it on and their agency would be paying out big style.. as its a self funded part of goverment, so they go for the throat on any opportunity

Noticed the same possible issue as you ,so what Ive started doing if sending in documnets and card details via emails, is I use Gmail, and it has an option to prevent forwarding and copying and destroys the email after a period of your choice say 24hrs, so I at least know details and documnetation that would easily allow identity theft are not sat on an agents laptop, that they leave on a bus or train etc.

I do other work along with HGV and I seriously think there one day could be issues ahead with the amount of stuff these recruitment agencies want today, and do wonder how they store the information, old days used to be photocopy print off and in a locked filecabinet, now expect on a server, so identity theft is a real concern, 100's of identities in one place.... identity thieves wet dream

3 driving cards /1 ni number document /, passport /, mobile bill / and bank account number easily open up another bank account, or take out a loan....
probably be able to take over your current bank account if mobile details too.... starts with a new sim request...

Know the big companies do this stuff correctly, but as seen by that agencies Agent, some agencies it appears dont care,.... and glad they dont hold any of my personal details..

[Conor]

Am I just being over careful ? I quite understand a need for employers to check these at interview but ffs having given my NI number with proof that it's mine what value does my passport add ??

Immigration law requires them to have proof that you have the right to live and work in the UK. A NI number on it's own doesn't do that. A birth certificate doesn't either as in the UK anyone can request a copy of the birth certificate for anyone else with just their name, DOB and where they were born. If you give me those details I could apply to the registrar of the county you were born in for a copy of your birth certificate which they'd provide and even post to me. Without proof they've done due diligence the fine for an employer is £10,000 per person that the Border Agency find they're employing who hasn't the right to live and work here.

If you want paying they'll need your bank details.

They have to have copies of your driving licence, tacho and CPC as proof they're doing due diligence as an employer and clients may want proof you have them. Most agencies if doing the job properly will regularly want to check your DVLA record to ensure that you've still got a valid licence, haven't been banned and haven't exceeded 6 points which will prevent them sending you to pretty much any of their clients.

They do a test on drivers hours rules and highway code as a way of weeding out the incompetent. If you don't even know the basics you shouldn't be driving a lorry. You'd be surprised at how many don't even know the basics.

They want history of previous work areas so they can best match you to the kind of work you have experience of. It's much easier as an agency driver going to somewhere you've never been before if it's work you're used to than say being sent to something you've never done that's a bit specialist such as tankers, hook loader skips, vehicle transporters, and you having to learn on the job/be shown how to do it for 30 seconds and then risking [zb] it up because you won't get any proper training. It also makes them look bad if they send someone who doesn't look like they have a clue what they're doing because it's a type of work they've never done before.

[Sidevalve]

Any reputable agency which conforms to REC (Recruitment and Employment Confederation) standards would ask for all of that. i speak from experience having been a recruitment consultant in a previous life.

When you interview a candidate, you've got about twenty minutes to half an hour to find out as much as you can about him before you put him on the books. Most candidates will have a printed CV if they're looking for full time work; people in your position tend not to do so because it's "only casual", but if you think about it, you'll be working for exactly the same clients as the full-time boys so the agency has to go through the same routine. Screw it up or get a rogue driver, you stand to lose not only your client but also your reputation.

You can't take the candidate out for a test drive, so you have to make the most of what you've got and that means a checkable work history. Usually this is easy and references you request will confirm what the candidate has told you or what's on his CV. My experience is that you look more carefully for what a CV does NOT tell you! Back in the day, I caught out more than one joker who'd been banned but kept his old (clean) paper licence and tried to blag a job on the strength of if; reference checking is your friend here.

I'm interested to note that they tested you on tachograph knowledge. We used to do it before the days of DCPC, but I'd suspected that nowadays the holding of said card would be sufficient proof. Having said that, I know of more than one driver who could do a DCPC on tachos every month and still know eff all about them!

[TruckDriverBen]

Also with the Ni they can check if u got any points

[toonsy]

Heaven forbid anyone checking that a potential employee is eligible to work in the UK (a legal requirement I believe), can drive certain vehicles, and can actually be paid.

Perish the thought

[waddy640]

I was refused an interview when I applied for a driving job with Parcel Force
because I didn't have a passport.
This was despite the fact that I had worked for the Home Office for the previous twenty eight years.

Another situation was trying to access HMRC by phone and having to prove my identity through a credit reference agency and failing every time.

[cav551]

I was refused an interview when I applied for a driving job with Parcel Force
because I didn't have a passport.
This was despite the fact that I had worked for the Home Office for the previous twenty eight years.

Another situation was trying to access HMRC by phone and having to prove my identity through a credit reference agency and failing every time.

There is no legal requirement to have a passport or photo id. Just stuck it to the banks over this. They are obliged to accept a full Birth Certificate, National Insurance number and a utility bill.

[Sidevalve]

Also with the Ni they can check if u got any points

You are correct to say that the candidate's NI number is part of the process to generate a "check number" to allow the prospective employer to view driving licence information.

However, I should clarify that having this information alone does not allow them to view that information at will afterwards.

As I mentioned above, presenting a "dodgy" driving licence used to be one of the pitfalls which caught employers out, and personally I welcome any measure which prevents it.

[Loggo]

I guess in the past I have always dealt with an employer who only wanted to take up references and perform checks when a job was offered.

[Sidevalve]

I guess in the past I have always dealt with an employer who only wanted to take up references and perform checks when a job was offered.

If it helps, you're not the only one to whom the current system has come as a surprise. Thing is, there's a lot more at stake now for companies who inadvertently hire a "wrong 'un"; mostly when children or vulnerable people are concerned of course but much of it is adopted across the board as good business practice, the more so if an employer wants to conform to ISO standards and suchlike.

And of course to obviate any risk of them getting sued.

[lolipop]

Sign of the times,perhaps you have been retired too long and are out of touch.
NI Passport Cards its all down to an Agency needing to cover all aspects of Employment Laws and Driving regs
Stay retired if your active enough you won`t have time to work

[ezydriver]

My concern would be some scumbag agency having photocopies of literally every sensitive personal document of mine. As if they'll employ the strictest data privacy protocols lol. Anybody could steal the information, and have a full identity to sell to the highest bidder on the dark web.

I picked up a load from some place in Rotherham a couple years ago (opposite the stockyard truckstop iirc). They wanted to photocopy my driving licence before I took the load. I asked about their data protection policy, and they told me "it'll be in a locked office". lol. After about half an hour of back and forth phonecalls they loaded me without the photocopy.

Every driver going on agency should just refuse. But obviously that isn't going to happen.

[Sidevalve]

My concern would be some scumbag agency having photocopies of literally every sensitive personal document of mine. As if they'll employ the strictest data privacy protocols lol. Anybody could steal the information, and have a full identity to sell to the highest bidder on the dark web.

I picked up a load from some place in Rotherham a couple years ago (opposite the stockyard truckstop iirc). They wanted to photocopy my driving licence before I took the load. I asked about their data protection policy, and they told me "it'll be in a locked office". lol. After about half an hour of back and forth phonecalls they loaded me without the photocopy.

Every driver going on agency should just refuse. But obviously that isn't going to happen.

Were you wearing your tinfoil hat when you typed that? At my previous employer, and at many other blue chip companies, it was common practice to take a copy of an agency driver's licence before they even got in a truck. Don't recall any of them objecting. why would you; unless you've got something to hide?

[ezydriver]

My concern would be some scumbag agency having photocopies of literally every sensitive personal document of mine. As if they'll employ the strictest data privacy protocols lol. Anybody could steal the information, and have a full identity to sell to the highest bidder on the dark web.

I picked up a load from some place in Rotherham a couple years ago (opposite the stockyard truckstop iirc). They wanted to photocopy my driving licence before I took the load. I asked about their data protection policy, and they told me "it'll be in a locked office". lol. After about half an hour of back and forth phonecalls they loaded me without the photocopy.

Every driver going on agency should just refuse. But obviously that isn't going to happen.

Were you wearing your tinfoil hat when you typed that? At my previous employer, and at many other blue chip companies, it was common practice to take a copy of an agency driver's licence before they even got in a truck. Don't recall any of them objecting. why would you; unless you've got something to hide?

Well click your heels together two times and say "yes'sir!".... you good boy, you.

[Andrejs]

Now employers can check stettled/presettled status in 2 minute time.Very simeral for driving licence check,just need shared code from candidate.

[yourhavingalarf]

it was common practice to take a copy of an agency driver's licence before they even got in a truck. Don't recall any of them objecting. why would you; unless you've got something to hide?

They don't object...

Because they'll be going home unpaid if they refuse.

coerce
verb [ T ]
formal
uk
/kəʊˈɜːs/ us
/koʊˈɝːs/
to persuade someone forcefully to do something that they are unwilling to do:

[Loggo]

By chance I received notice from hmrc to apply for a tax rebate today. To ensure my identity they ask 6 questions 3 of them were - my name as it appears on my passport - the date my passport expires and the number of my passport. All of these to be stored by an agency which might well have no intention of offering me a job at all !

[stu675]

By chance I received notice from hmrc to apply for a tax rebate today. To ensure my identity they ask 6 questions 3 of them were - my name as it appears on my passport - the date my passport expires and the number of my passport. All of these to be stored by an agency which might well have no intention of offering me a job at all !

I don't understand. So you're saying the agency would have no possibility of answering all 6 questions correctly, yet you don't trust them?

[Winseer]

I don't think I'd like it - if my agency asked me no questions at all, and told me to accept pay in bitcoin.

Better you have a working relationship based on you know things about them and they know enough about you to give you that better job you'd probablly otherwise get passed over for elsewhere....

I posted a CV on line just under a year back, and although 90% of the replies were from chancers trying to get me to work officially for crap pay, or offered me the sky for a dubious-sounding "behind the bike sheds" deal - I only needed just the *one* proper, and bona-fide reply to rescue me from the utter perdition that was lockdown without pay I endured the year previously, forced to take a £12ph job and all...

[Macski]

Just registered with a couple of agencies who demanded my passport, I blaired some of the numbers so if someone wanted to use it for wrongful purposes they can't

[Sidevalve]

it was common practice to take a copy of an agency driver's licence before they even got in a truck. Don't recall any of them objecting. why would you; unless you've got something to hide?

They don't object...

Because they'll be going home unpaid if they refuse.

coerce
verb [ T ]
formal
uk
/kəʊˈɜːs/ us
/koʊˈɝːs/
to persuade someone forcefully to do something that they are unwilling to do:

So, you're trusting someone with a lorry and a load, possibly only for one shift; and you're happy if that driver does some damage or has an accident without informing you, and you have no record of who he is without asking the agency?

Or you get a speeding ticket for the lorry and you're asked to provide details of who was driving, and can't? DVSA don't take kindly to that.



That's not coercion matey, it's plain common sense. The company is covering its arse, as it has every right to.

[SonOfClement]

Just registered with a couple of agencies who demanded my passport, I blaired some of the numbers so if someone wanted to use it for wrongful purposes they can't

They ask for your passport because they have to check by law if you have a right to work in the UK or face a huge fine, at any given moment they need to be able to show who is legally working for them just like any other company.

Whilst I understand you want to make sure nobody steals your ID that passport number is to check you are who you say you are, if you go to any middle to large employer they are all going to ask for a copy of your cards, NI number and a passport for an ID check

[yourhavingalarf]

The company is covering its arse, as it has every right to.

Absoulutely...

The company has every right to cover it's arse and ensure that the people it hires are who they say they are.

What you actually said was.

Don't recall any of them objecting. why would you; unless you've got something to hide?

They don't have anything to hide but, they do know if they don't produce a licence they will go home unpaid. Therefore, they are coerced into showing their ID.
I should add at this point. It's turned into this situation of driver checks because the slack-arsed take the money and run agencies didn't ensure the drivers they hired were legit in the first place. So companies ended up with non-qualified people turning up and doing shifts.

We need a better system. Worringly, facial recognition might be the what we end up with big brother.

[Franglais]

The company is covering its arse, as it has every right to.

Absoulutely...

The company has every right to cover it's arse and ensure that the people it hires are who they say they are.

What you actually said was.

Don't recall any of them objecting. why would you; unless you've got something to hide?

They don't have anything to hide but, they do know if they don't produce a licence they will go home unpaid. Therefore, they are coerced into showing their ID.
So companies ended up with non-qualified people turning up and doing shifts.

We need a better system. Worringly, facial recognition might be the what we end up with big brother.

Agencies ended up with people who were imposters. So it is reasonable for them to ask for ID.
A prospective worker is not coerced into providing ID, they can drop out and go elsewhere.
Am I coerced into not thumping an idiot by the threat of prison? Bad choice of terminology, I reckon.

I should add at this point. It's turned into this situation of driver checks because the slack-arsed take the money and run agencies didn't ensure the drivers they hired were legit in the first place.

So, they are checking now ..and you`re complaining... because they were lazy and didn`t do these checks before?

(PS you mentioned Big Brother, is this "doublethink?)

[SonOfClement]

Just thought I’d add this to the conversation in general in that I was also in the bus industry and photocopies of your licence, cpc card, passport are standard practise, in fact they’ll get you to sign a waiver allowing them check on your licence whenever they like whilst under their employment.

My new current hgv job wanted the same with copies of my licence, cpc, tacho cards, passport & NI card, also I have to have an background check for references, a criminal background check and a health assessment. So for all those that think a copy of your passport is too much I can’t wait to see your reaction when you get out into the wider world, because it either you do it or jog on.

[Sidevalve]

They don't have anything to hide but, they do know if they don't produce a licence they will go home unpaid. Therefore, they are coerced into showing their ID.
I should add at this point. It's turned into this situation of driver checks because the slack-arsed take the money and run agencies didn't ensure the drivers they hired were legit in the first place. So companies ended up with non-qualified people turning up and doing shifts.

We need a better system. Worringly, facial recognition might be the what we end up with big brother.

Nonsense. It's turned into this because people with fake ID's and fake driving licences tried to get work illegally, and agencies tightened up the system to ensure they were not caught out.

FYI I have come across this first-hand as I was both a TM and a recruitment consultant in previous lives. Hence my advice to anyone writing a CV, or indeed accepting one from a candidate, is that what it does NOT say is as important as what it does.

I once interviewed a prospective 7.5 tonne driver who brought glowing references from his previous employer; but oddly there was no mention of driving which is what he claimed to have done for them as his main job. Closer investigation revealed that he'd been banned for drink driving, had held on to his paper licence (which had no endorsements on it) and was trying to blag a job with us. Can you imagine what could have happened had I taken his licence at face value, sent him out on a job and he'd had an accident?

Thankfully it's far more difficult to pull that sort of stunt these days because unless a prospective employer is incredibly desperate or stupid, they will check a licence with DVLA at interview.