Applied for a job with cool solutions the other day. First line… name? Second line…AGE. I did’nt fill it in, There’s a law against it!! So undaunted I rang an agency advertising the best contract in the world. Very nice girl answered and asked for my name. I obliged. Next question, HOW OLD ARE YOU. Can’t tell you that, I exclaimed. I’ll ring back she said, She never did.
Bearing in mind us drivers are getting older and few signs of “new blood” coming to our aid, these experts in employment had better wise up. After all, I was polite, or is it a case of IF YOU WANT THE JOB.Sorry , even a lorry driver has rights (sometimes)!!!
The agency I deal with ask if you’ve held your licence for more than 2 years with 2 years of recent checkable work in the industry and if you’re aged over 25. They have to do that though because of the insurance.
I guess the alternative [to asking] is to let you come in and go through the registration/interview process (your DoB is easily identified via your driving licence) and then not give you any work . . . . . . .
I think you’ll find that because of insurance stipulation and us needing to be over 25 for so many jobs they can ask. We might even be exempt from the rule you’re thinking about and unfortunately you have to accept it
There is very little point in refusing to give your age when applying for a job. There are various ways of finding out your age via questions on application form etc. Driving Licence and digi card.
The other point is that you are unlikely to succeed in taking an employer to a tribunal for discrimination for the following reasons. An employer has no obligation to acknowledge receipt of your application, so it goes in the shredder, end of story. ACAS are not interested in persuing cases for this reason.
It is like so much legislation introduced in recent years, it looks good but is ill-thought out and has no teeth. This applies to most discrimination law, it is totally ineffective.
So am i missing the point here …what is the problem with giving your age, i for one would want to know for insurance purposes etc.
It seems that there is to much i wont do this and i wont do that in the industry today, i suppose next it will be they took a polish driver on…but then you need to think did he give his age…Weird people
marcustandy:
The agency I deal with ask if you’ve held your licence for more than 2 years with 2 years of recent checkable work in the industry and if you’re aged over 25. They have to do that though because of the insurance.
I guess the alternative [to asking] is to let you come in and go through the registration/interview process (your DoB is easily identified via your driving licence) and then not give you any work . . . . . . .
If it’s just the insurance thing of being over 25 why not just ask that question and leave it at that. And how is someone who’s been long term unemployed going to get back into the industry if they need checkable references when no one they’ve previously worked for (retired,closed down etc etc) is available to provide them.But the age issue these days is a joke wether it’s trying to get a date with a bird or trying to get a job you’re considered as past it at 35 but in driving it’s even worse because you’re also considered as too young under 25 .
marcustandy:
The agency I deal with ask if you’ve held your licence for more than 2 years with 2 years of recent checkable work in the industry and if you’re aged over 25. They have to do that though because of the insurance.
I guess the alternative [to asking] is to let you come in and go through the registration/interview process (your DoB is easily identified via your driving licence) and then not give you any work . . . . . . .
If it’s just the insurance thing of being over 25 why not just ask that question and leave it at that.
I assume you’re meaning that the ‘2 years of recent, checkable work history’ is an unreasonable question/requirement?
If that is the case then, as much as I feel for the individual in question, this kind of thing makes the question perfectly reasonable in my opinion!
marcustandy:
The agency I deal with ask if you’ve held your licence for more than 2 years with 2 years of recent checkable work in the industry and if you’re aged over 25. They have to do that though because of the insurance.
I guess the alternative [to asking] is to let you come in and go through the registration/interview process (your DoB is easily identified via your driving licence) and then not give you any work . . . . . . .
If it’s just the insurance thing of being over 25 why not just ask that question and leave it at that.
I assume you’re meaning that the ‘2 years of recent, checkable work history’ is an unreasonable question/requirement?
If that is the case then, as much as I feel for the individual in question, this kind of thing makes the question perfectly reasonable in my opinion!
No that’s got no connection to someone who can do the job and who gives the prospective employer an honest record of their work history in good faith and who’s got every right to expect that to be taken in the same good faith wether it’s checkable or not.But the ‘checkable references and work history’ idea seems to be open to all kinds of subterfuge anyway if some of the ideas given out elsewhere on here are to be believed.The general advice seems to be if you can’t get the job honestly then bs your way into it.Which of course just zb’s it all up for those honest drivers looking for a job who then find that the employers can’t see (or trust) the wood for the trees or sort the good from the bad.So they just take on a 28 year old Polish driver instead who’s ‘checkable work history’ could be even more fictional than some of those others.
Thanks waddy 640, Ihave to agree with you. A brilliant CV of your work record don’t mean a toss when your licence is on view for all to see.YES, i can see the point of insurance, and I’m sure some employers will hide behind it, but when your a young man with a young family to support , your more attractive to “human resources” than a man in lets say later years. Guess its time to roll up the duvet and put the cooker and fridge in the boot sale.
Anyone wants A2Z’s I expect there out of date as well.
skoowif:
Thanks waddy 640, Ihave to agree with you. A brilliant CV of your work record don’t mean a toss when your licence is on view for all to see.YES, i can see the point of insurance, and I’m sure some employers will hide behind it, but when your a young man with a young family to support , your more attractive to “human resources” than a man in lets say later years. Guess its time to roll up the duvet and put the cooker and fridge in the boot sale.
Anyone wants A2Z’s I expect there out of date as well.
Don’t give up yet, there is probably an employer who will be willing to take you on. I applied for over 50 jobs in just over 2 years and eventually found one. At 57 I was one of the younger ones, many of us work part-time but work is work and it pays the bills.
Good luck with your search and remember be honest with them, otherwise it will come back to haunt you.
I would sooner this discrimination law didn’t exist, at the end of the day if someone advertises a job as, say, a receptionist and has a pretty 18-year-old girl in mind to do the job, then that is what they are going to employ and no matter how many eggshells they have to tread on along the way, they are not going to employ a 51 year old ex truck driver to do it, although they would be legally obliged to waste my time and theirs in getting me to fill in the application form and interviewing me.
Harry Monk:
I would sooner this discrimination law didn’t exist, at the end of the day if someone advertises a job as, say, a receptionist and has a pretty 18-year-old girl in mind to do the job, then that is what they are going to employ and no matter how many eggshells they have to tread on along the way, they are not going to employ a 51 year old ex truck driver to do it, although they would be legally obliged to waste my time and theirs in getting me to fill in the application form and interviewing me.
If they shred your application then they can deny ever hearing from you. You cannot prove that the relevant person received your application.
Harry Monk:
I would sooner this discrimination law didn’t exist, at the end of the day if someone advertises a job as, say, a receptionist and has a pretty 18-year-old girl in mind to do the job, then that is what they are going to employ and no matter how many eggshells they have to tread on along the way, they are not going to employ a 51 year old ex truck driver to do it, although they would be legally obliged to waste my time and theirs in getting me to fill in the application form and interviewing me.
But Harry we’re not talking about a receptionist job,or any other type of job,which a good looking 18 year old girl is probably going to be looking for,unless she wants to get taken on as a young driver,in which case she’d still be in with a better chance,if she was’nt already spoken for,and if I was the prospective employer.
Harry Monk:
I would sooner this discrimination law didn’t exist, at the end of the day if someone advertises a job as, say, a receptionist and has a pretty 18-year-old girl in mind to do the job, then that is what they are going to employ and no matter how many eggshells they have to tread on along the way, they are not going to employ a 51 year old ex truck driver to do it, although they would be legally obliged to waste my time and theirs in getting me to fill in the application form and interviewing me.
But Harry we’re not talking about a receptionist job,or any other type of job,which a good looking 18 year old girl is probably going to be looking for,unless she wants to get taken on as a young driver,in which case she’d still be in with a better chance,if she was’nt already spoken for,and if I was the prospective employer.
so we now what kind of co pilot you are looking for when you start double manning the kenworth roadtrain and bring down willi betz.
And how is someone who’s been long term unemployed going to get back into the industry if they need checkable references when no one they’ve previously worked for (retired,closed down etc etc) is available to provide them.But the age issue these days is a joke wether it’s trying to get a date with a bird or trying to get a job you’re considered as past it at 35 but in driving it’s even worse because you’re also considered as too young under 25 . 
