Whilst I don’t agree with the way most agencies are run there is an element of blame on some of the workforce. You have a company that requires 30 drivers. You then have the hassle of no shows, sickness and all the elements of personnel. If for a set fee you can put all that in someones hands and guarantee the labour required its got to be tempting. The employers don’t get this cheap. The person who is making the dollar is the agency. I have seen one company is paying £13 ph. The agency is paying the driver £7.75 multiply that by a 40 hour shift and then 30 drivers. Its lucrative. Lucrative leads to greed.
I would have done it but thats just me.
Many times I have been asked to do an extra shift and providing I wasn’t tired or ran the risk of going over hours I happily did them.
Looking at your times, I wouldn’t get much family time at 1.30am in the morning so an extra shift wouldn’t bother me.
i prob would have done it however it seems it may be poorly planned as they have left it till you return to base to ask, if planners rdc,s ect worked with a better system then maybe this sort of thing would only happen occasionaly?/ who am i trying to kid?
If work was left on the fence and one of our core or agency went home after 8hrs, the core would get dog runs for the foreseeable and the agency guy would never be seen again. We are not over worked much like supermarkets but once in a blue moon something happens, no shows etc and you just need to take the hit on a 13-15 hr day to keep the peace.
If it was up to me you would be having lots of time at home, as I wouldn’t use you again.
Thanks fo everyones opinions .
I have done the euro work, 2-3 weeks away left ■■■■■■ and enjoyed it. The tramping as well.
Done the 15 shifts.
But it’s the way this company asks. If I had got back before 8 hours yes I would have done another run.
Within reason.
Once before I did 7.5 hour run. Came back they wanted me do a planned 7 hour run…
How can they guarantee no traffic or unloading delays?
Yet their other RDC 1 mile from me is rarely over 9 hours.
Another place I work is guaranteed 9 hours but sometimes do 7 or 8.
And as I said before I will do longer, ie delays and hold ups.
Or if see shift is planned as 10+
And my agency agree with me. They also say how can you guarantee no delays? And they know I am not keen on that depot.
I even had to spend 5 hours waiting to unload on Thursday there 
working for a better company. My second run covered because of them.
Andy, I agree entirely!
When they tried to exploit me, I said, “No thanks, I’m tired and I’m not safe after ten hours” They still moaned.
I am thinking of changing my terms for the agency to £9-£10 per hour for the first ten hours, thereafter double time.
Wether I agree with what you did us immaterial but well done for sticking up for yourself when the dreaded ‘ill have to talk to you agency comes up’.
Most of these people know that’s all they have to say to unsettle you.
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Calling Poland, Calling Romania, Calling Bulgaria . . .
This is United Kingdom calling Poland, Romania and Bulgaria.
Come in my friends - the door is open wide.
Choose whatever job you like my friends.
Do you also like Free Doctor ? Free Dentist ? Free Education ? etc etc etc
You like ■■■■■■■■■ ? You come UK my friend.
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Ive said in plenty posts that i dont do the signing on thing and disagree with those that prefer to claim benefits then work. I also understand why guys are saying if you dont do it then its opening it to poles ect, but why should the driver roll over? personally i think 10 hours aday is enough for anyone but thats just me… but in the ops case why was it left till last minute? more then likely the office had cocked up and instead of trying to sort it in a better way they just use the first available body that comes back through the door…
andy187:
As an agency driver for the last 8 years i have never found the need to try to work over 10 hours a shift.
Tonight I have done a shift at a major supermarket, 30 miles commute, 45 minutes driving.3 stores, 2 runs 5 hours driving 270k
back to yard, diesel up, started at 15:00 finished at 00:45
Hand keys and paper work in,
TM “oh Andy can you do one more?”
Me " no thanks I done over 8 hours I’m done now"
TM “But you only done 9 hours”
Me " sorry going home as I am contracted for minimum of 8 hours"
TM " Well sorry I am going to have words with agency as 9 hours is no good as we are busy"
All fine and well for her to say that as the office staff work 8 hour shifts.
As far as I am concerned I have completed my contractual obligations of 8 hours… same as when this company brought in 6 hours minimum I would diesel up after 6 hours and go home.
So what would any one else done?
Rolled over and do another 5-7 hours?
There are so many hours in the day… and I like to spend most of them at home!
And I don’t mind doing over 9 hours working if there is traffic or unloading delays as I expect that can happen, but to be asked to work extra hours no thanks.
Had quick cuppa in canteen another driver said " don’t blame you… stand your ground!, do it once they expect you do it again"
Busy has nothing to do with it,it’s down to ££££££££,our boss told me if I do a multi + Coll he could get £700+ for it,if I go out and do a 2 nd run it £700+ £££££££, and if I can get a 3 rd run done he gets £700+££££££+£££££££,busy or not they want as many runs ,drops,collections as they can in a shift.
Why would they want to pay 3 drivers wages for 6 runs( 2 each) when they can pay 2 driver wages(3 runs each),saved a drivers wages and still got the work( 6 runs done).
Dieseldoforme:
.
.Calling Poland, Calling Romania, Calling Bulgaria . . .
This is United Kingdom calling Poland, Romania and Bulgaria.
Come in my friends - the door is open wide.
Choose whatever job you like my friends.
Do you also like Free Doctor ? Free Dentist ? Free Education ? etc etc etc
You like ■■■■■■■■■ ? You come UK my friend.
.
.
Might even get one like the driver near Goole last week backed into the building causing a lot of damage, just drove out the yard left wagon on side of road and walked away.
mac12:
Dieseldoforme:
.
.Calling Poland, Calling Romania, Calling Bulgaria . . .
This is United Kingdom calling Poland, Romania and Bulgaria.
Come in my friends - the door is open wide.
Choose whatever job you like my friends.
Do you also like Free Doctor ? Free Dentist ? Free Education ? etc etc etc
You like ■■■■■■■■■ ? You come UK my friend.
.
.Might even get one like the driver near Goole last week backed into the building causing a lot of damage, just drove out the yard left wagon on side of road and walked away.
Because as we all know only agency and or Foreigners have accidents. FFS.
andy187:
So what would any one else done?Rolled over and do another 5-7 hours?
There are so many hours in the day… and I like to spend most of them at home!
You might find you get plenty of time to spend at home now. I wouldn’t be surprised if the agency stopped ringing if I were you.
Conor:
andy187:
So what would any one else done?Rolled over and do another 5-7 hours?
There are so many hours in the day… and I like to spend most of them at home!
You might find you get plenty of time to spend at home now. I wouldn’t be surprised if the agency stopped ringing if I were you.
Being kept busy ta.
6 hours today then rest of week shunting 10am till 8pm
ah come on now andy it wouldn’t have killed you to do a full days work for jaysus sake 
midlifetrucker:
How to make friends and impress people come to mind. I am freelance and work for various companies. If they need more I do it. One day there might be a lean period. People tend to have long memories.I’d have done it.
Same here when I’m asked to work late or do stuff up the yard after work it gets remembered when were quite cause my boss always makes sure I got a days work.
This I find is where full time employment is much better. In my job I can refuse to do extra work yet I still have work as my contract has 40 hours min stated. If I need the money I do it, if I owe the boss a favour I do it.
I agree with both sides here, yes you have to sometimes help the boss so you can get that Mint flavoured Magnum you always wanted for free in return.
But on the other hand I too like my family time. It really depends on how often you have helped out ? If I feel I really can’t be assed to do anymore but I know I haven’t helped out in ages I will then do the favour anyway.
Agree with the comment above yes sir I will today as your in the poop but I don’t want it to be too often but I will help sometimes in the future. Abit like I scratch your back you scratch mine
Classic example I had no holiday left a few weeks ago, but wanted to take the missis out one day to a famous show I forgot about. Boss said no problem I will let you have it and smiled. Why ?
Because my contracted hours are 8am-5pm but for 2 weeks I did 5am-5pm to help out another branch which made my boss look good too. See he never forgot
I remember when i was doing agency work, i after working at the same rdc for a while would stretch the job out (like their full time drivers did) and would work it so i got back after staff had changed shift in the traffic office and if asked i would lie about what time i had arrived on site in order to get another run in, 8hrs a day was no good to me, i had to be getting 12hr days in to make it pay,
Some days we agency drivers could be sat around in the canteen for hours before actually jumping in a truck there was one of two staff who worked in the transport office that would give you another run without you needing to blag them, I remember at one point i worked at the same adsa rdc for 2 different agencies, not the same day mind, but one smart arris in the office wouldn’t let me drive, even though i had all my charts with me to prove that i was ok to drive that shift
Generally a very negative work ethic in this country now. No wonder the Eastern Europeans get the jobs.
Some of these 8 hrs and I’m done men should try running their own business.
Amazes me that anyone who chooses to work in road haulage expects to be able to work only a part day.
When I used to travel down & stay in digs to work at Tesco NDC Milton Keynes, if it was looking like an early finish i would ask if there was anything else.
There again I’m old school, if I turn in to work for someone I am there to assist them with their business and to get the job done. I will do what I can to help and be as efficient as possible. I am not of the mindset, minimum hours, maximum money, drag the job out.
If I was a TM at, say, Tesco, I would randomly go out with drivers to time the runs.
I would far rather do 3 x 15 hr shifts than 5 days at 9 hrs.