As above…
The jobs I see on the recruitment sites & similar for the same companies/jobs every week, makes you wonder what’s wrong with the jobs as they don’t look that bad on paper
Got a few firms agency’s like this in Hampshire , P&H,Hovis, Arrow xl Bidvest Brakes Breezemount Currys all show £9 hr guarantied x hours a day but all ■■■■■ work
Same round here, the same firms are always advertising, either they’re expanding quickly, or they can’t keep drivers?
bestbooties:
Same round here, the same firms are always advertising, either they’re expanding quickly, or they can’t keep drivers?
Most time I think it would be the latter 
Two things with agencies (particularly in this area).
The ‘good’ jobs you see them advertising seldom exist and are frequently just a ploy to draw people in to do the ‘bad’ jobs that nobody sensible would apply for. They are constantly available for a reason.
Beware of words like ‘ongoing’ or ‘long term’ as those sorts of promises are completely out of the agencies control. A lack of trucks, or orders being cancelled can literally stop a contract straight away.
Tomorrow I am going to a place that has tatty and old (albeit roadworthy) vehicles, unrealistic directors and paltry wages. I shall be earning £2.50 hour more than its regular drivers and going at a more sensible pace. Go figure ■■ 
Before retiring I drove for a well paid (£11.50 ph 4 years ago), well known High St Company, the only way you got a full time job was going via an Agency first,usually for a couple of years, they sorted the Drivers from the Drovers and when full time jobs came up, Drivers of any good where offered the jobs.
They never advertised externally
lolipop:
Before retiring I drove for a well paid (£11.50 ph 4 years ago), well known High St Company, the only way you got a full time job was going via an Agency first,usually for a couple of years, they sorted the Drivers from the Drovers and when full time jobs came up, Drivers of any good where offered the jobs.
They never advertised externally
Seems to be the same at the hub where I drive, go in on agency and prove you’re not a complete bell-end then go for a vacancy as they get posted up on the board.
chicane:
lolipop:
Before retiring I drove for a well paid (£11.50 ph 4 years ago), well known High St Company, the only way you got a full time job was going via an Agency first,usually for a couple of years, they sorted the Drivers from the Drovers and when full time jobs came up, Drivers of any good where offered the jobs.
They never advertised externallySeems to be the same at the hub where I drive, go in on agency and prove you’re not a complete bell-end then go for a vacancy as they get posted up on the board.
This seems to be the way forward for a lot of companies these days, I know the majority of drivers where I currently work got full time this way, me included.
You only see jobs advertised normally for smaller companies,the bigger ones normally have a lot of agency drivers already doing the job so it makes sense to offer them the full time position as they already know the job and what it entails rather than risking a new starter who eventually leaves because he can’t hack it.
It seems everyone knows what a “bad” job is - but who gets to define a “good” one?
I suggest that “one man’s meat is another man’s poison” here.
To me, a “good” job has to tick MANY boxes - not just the “regular hours” one. FFS there are too many people who think that working 70 hours a week is a “good thing” - especially at crappy rates!
I suggest that a good job has to be a decent hourly rate, a proper amount of hours comparable to other jobs (not to mention “legal”) and the job itself needs to be such that one is safe enough not to get killed, not stressed enough to drop dead in middle age doing it, and not treated badly by a firm that’s too big to care.
I reckon “medium” sized firms are the best bet. Small enough as not to be “too big to care”, but large enough that they’ll play the game straight, and not insist that you have to break the law all the time because “times are 'ard, and I’ll go bust and have to lay you all off if you don’t help me out here” one hears from “small company gaffers” so much these days. 
LIBERTY_GUY:
Two things with agencies .The ‘good’ jobs you see them advertising seldom exist and are frequently just a ploy to draw people in to do the ‘bad’ jobs that nobody sensible would apply for.
^This.
Winseer:
It seems everyone knows what a “bad” job is - but who gets to define a “good” one?
In my case at least it was simply something along the lines of international trunking ( as opposed to tramping ),demount drawbar work,with one of the big express carriers in the day like IPEC/TNT or DHL which would now probably translate as DPD.
No surprise you’d never see those jobs advertised or available on the agencies or now possibly,with a ( very ) few exceptions,even available in this country.
xichrisxi:
You only see jobs advertised normally for smaller companies,the bigger ones normally have a lot of agency drivers already doing the job so it makes sense to offer them the full time position as they already know the job and what it entails rather than risking a new starter who eventually leaves because he can’t hack it.
That’s right. What I can’t figure is, we regularly get a lot of the agency guys on here, telling us how it is much better to be doing work through the agency for whatever reason, than being employed, but as soon as they are offered full time work they snap the employer’s hand off.
So how does that work.
LIBERTY_GUY:
Tomorrow I am going to a place that has tatty and old (albeit roadworthy) vehicles, unrealistic directors and paltry wages. I shall be earning £2.50 hour more than its regular drivers and going at a more sensible pace. Go figure ■■
You back on agency then? What happened?
There is a well known own account firm round my way,who not only did not need to advertise, but also had a years waiting list.
It was a dead man’s shoes situation.
The wages got to the point where other local co.s caught up over the years, not only that, they also lowered the spec of their motors, making the job less attractive on both counts.
It got to the stage where drivers have left wholesale, something they never did in the past. The boss started contacting the guys on the old list, only to be told to stuff it as the situation was, and is, common knowledge.
They have recently advertised for drivers for the first time in 20 yrs or so.
isaac hunt:
LIBERTY_GUY:
Tomorrow I am going to a place that has tatty and old (albeit roadworthy) vehicles, unrealistic directors and paltry wages. I shall be earning £2.50 hour more than its regular drivers and going at a more sensible pace. Go figure ■■You back on agency then? What happened?
My regular employment have had their operators license temporarily suspended and we all on £100 week ‘retainer’, so doing agency as it getting too close to Christmas to be faffing around like that. 
lolipop:
Before retiring I drove for a well paid (£11.50 ph 4 years ago), well known High St Company, the only way you got a full time job was going via an Agency first,usually for a couple of years, they sorted the Drivers from the Drovers and when full time jobs came up, Drivers of any good where offered the jobs.
They never advertised externally
I had 20 an Hour.
But i made on the Traffik Light just less then a Meter from when it went Green till it went Red again. After complaining got the Weighbridge switched off.
Money isnt just everything. Safety gets you older
robroy:
xichrisxi:
You only see jobs advertised normally for smaller companies,the bigger ones normally have a lot of agency drivers already doing the job so it makes sense to offer them the full time position as they already know the job and what it entails rather than risking a new starter who eventually leaves because he can’t hack it.That’s right. What I can’t figure is, we regularly get a lot of the agency guys on here, telling us how it is much better to be doing work through the agency for whatever reason, than being employed, but as soon as they are offered full time work they snap the employer’s hand off.
So how does that work.
Here’s a couple of scenarios:
Scenario 1: Bod likes the idea of going on agency from the start, which is kinda necessary, bearing in mind all the negativity from one’s peers about “going agency” in the first place. Same bod does a mixture of good jobs and bad jobs on the agency over the time they are working there. The bad jobs? - Gets to do them less often as time passes… The good jobs? - Enquiries get made as to any “vacancies” coming up… Since they are working there already - it’s a piece of ■■■■ to be “on the money” as and when the perm jobs come along at least if one is working agency at the yard one actually wants a job at full time!
Scenario 2: Another bod joins a “different” agency, and gets nothing but crap from day one. Last minute call outs, 50+ miles away, barely enough hourly rate to motivate one to get out of bed… And then the lies. “They ask for you by name!” when you’ve been putting in every god-awful shift at the undesired yard for a few weeks already… It’s the agency that are asking for you by name! - They’ve found a real stand-up mug for that tough-to-fill yard and it’s piece-de-la-resistance-is-useless mindset there. Scenario 2 driver never gets to do agency work at the “other” perhaps decent yards on that agency’s books - because they are always being put into the crappy place or places. 
The only way this bod is going to get out of their rut - is to change agencies before they generally become disillusioned with agencies outright - or - doorstep/apply for jobs outside of work and the agency.
I’ve been agency for getting on 5 years now, 4 of them at the agency I’m currently with. Most of the work is “decent to ok” with only a couple of crappy yards, which I’ve long since “preferenced” out of.
If a job comes along “full time” at one of those many yards I’ve tried that I didn’t like much - then I’m not obliged to do anything about it.
On the other hand, if a job comes up that I’ve been pumping away at for so long on agency that I might as well be there full time - then I’ve got the option of “put in for it” or “not”. It’s all my choice.
I believe the agency get some kind of “finders fee” and the 13-week AWD rules apply.
Meanwhile, the “other” agencies will simply move their bod off the desired yard at the 11th week stage, and put them on something else to get around AWD. 
All in all, there are certain duties at certain yards I’d grab with both hands if it came up as a full time vacancy. Not ALL the jobs at any one yard would be applicable though.
Last year, I put in for a Fedex job that I was already doing across Christmas on agency for example. I liked this particular duty, so I put in for it when the vacancy arose. I didn’t get it though. Better luck next time for me - but it won’t be at Fedex. I’m not in the habit of asking twice for anything in my life. If I wasn’t good enough first time around - then why should I take another day off unpaid to attend an “interview” for a job I was already doing?
I’ll hold out for a “Coronation” into the job next time around methinks.
They don’t meet health and safety so they mitigate risk and or criminal prosecution by using Agency or Ltd drivers. Endemic in the industry as anyone who studies nebosh knows. Example u need a canopy or bay to tip.how many do this. So the manager is liable to prosecution under health and safety.if the driver knows. See
Winseer, I was under the impression that it didn’t matter if you were moved after 11 weeks, to another contract or job, the 11 weeks still counted if you went back under a topping up scheme, or have I picked it up wrong?.
Sapper