We had an agency Driver in on Friday to cover our 18 tonner. I met him at the yard in Stockport at 06.00 to give him his keys and notes, all he had was 3 drops and 1 collection i put him onto his first drop in Wednesbury then he had 1 drop in Tamworth which I also gave him directions to and then he had 1 to do in Redditch only a couple of pallets at each and the over to Dudley for the collection 7 pallets.
He left the yard at 06.10 and arrived in Wednesbury at 09.30 apparently he left Wednesbury at 11.20 and then wasnt heard from again untill 16.00 when he arrived back in the yard still carrying the Tamworth drop but managed to do the Redditch but didnt bother with the collection in Dudley. Thats 10 hours to do 2 drops in the Midlands from Stockport amazing 
theres no wonder agencies get a bad name and before I get flamed by all you agency drivers i know they’re not all bad (I used to be one) 
Agency driver here. LOL I’m not going to flame you Dave, cos I have no reason to. That’s a terrible example of a driver, I hope you told the agency about him, what a muppet.
Allrighty
That’s terrible, I can assure you we’re not all that bad! You would think if he was struggling he would have let you know rather than just turning up back at the end of the day with only half a job done. That way you might at least have been able to sort something else out to cover what he didn’t manage…
Paul
thats a good example of a driver that lacks pride in their work and themselves.
people should take each job they’re given as a challenge.
there are too many drivers out there that don’t give a ■■■■, they feel no regret that they don’t complete a job, they lack the intelligence to carry out the simplest of tasks and often wonder why they don’t get asked back to a company and can’t get a full time driving job anywhere.
i would feel ashamed to drive back into a company having not completed a job fully.
What a plank!!! not the way to Behave and a sure way for you not to get a second chance and eventually the first chances will run dry too!! again PLANK
Bit harsh that innit johnny Perhaps he was a new driver, or maybe he got lost, maybe he didnt know what to do paperwork wise. I remember when i was on the agencies a lot of companies where completely ignorant and useless when it came to giving agency drivers a run down of the job ( not saying your useless by the way dave 
)
Take leggitts at stockport the transport office staff there are the most ignorant bunch of half witted [zb]s ive ever had the misfortune to work for and the truck was a shonky old pile of [zb] that had no fuel in it and when i dipped the oil it didnt even register on the stick when i confronted the jumped up little office nerd about this his reply was “not my problem” Now for me the regular driver of that motor should of been sacked straight away
So you see its not always the agency drivers fault 
simon
SimonRS2K:
Bit harsh that innit johnny Perhaps he was a new driver, or maybe he got lost, maybe he didnt know what to do paperwork wise. I remember when i was on the agencies a lot of companies where completely ignorant and useless when it came to giving agency drivers a run down of the job ( not saying your useless by the way dave
Yeah but this guy could have/should have phoned to explain what was going on and not just roll back up at the yard Job not complete??
Not flaming you Dave - just expressing a different point of view, but what was the traffic like on Friday with the weather conditions etc? I don’t know where abouts in Stockport you are, but I reckon from the M60 J1 to the A38 at Bromsgrove (Redditch area) would have taken 1h 45min or so in good conditions with no traffic. I hear the M6 was horrendous because of the wind etc.
As an agency driver myself, I’m pleased I wasn’t out last Friday 
.
A friend of mine works for DBC (Danish Bacon Company) and one of his regular runs is delivering to the hospitals and universities in Sheffield.
The run usually takes about six hours to get round all the drops so he is normally back in the yard by early afternoon.
When he went on holiday, an agency driver covered. The day he did the Sheffield run, he was out for almost ten hours and came back with 9 out of the 12 drops. Needless to say he wasn’t invited back for a second days work.
I think some of the comments on here are a little bit unfair - just remember we all had to learn at some stage. Maybe the guy at Dave Ks place could have phoned in and told them he was having problems, but the driver who did the DBC run in all probability didnt know the run. I dont like multi-drop work myself, so I can sympathise with anybody struggling around Sheffield with God knows how many drops. Lets give them a chance, or well have more difficulty getting people into the industry. Just to show the other side of the coin, the agency driver who took my motor out for 1 day the other week used the jetwash on it when he got back to our yard (not that it was dirty, as I try and wash it every 2 days myself) and left it with a full tank of deisel. Ive done agency work in the past, and when youre told what the job is youre expected to know everything about it and how the firm you`re doing the work for operates
Regards
Trev
i don’t think any of the comments on here are in any way unfair.
yes we all have to start somewhere, i started my class 1 with a job driving 7.5 tonners and the occasional day in a class 2 on multi drop work for parceline, i’m not talking 7 or 8 drops here, it was always 20 or 30 and sometimes even more. i’d been driving vans and 7.5 tonners since 17 anyway but had never done anywhere near that amount of deliveries.
the first days in a new area were always hard but i never took any deliveries back without calling in first and quite often it wasn’t because i couldn’t find the place but because some smart ■■■ back door geezer decided he would make me wait, the only one waiting was him and his company, i didn’t wait more than 20 minutes, i couldn’t spare the time.
by the end of the second week the job was much easier, i’d already picked up the deliveries and the roads i had to travel to get to them and between them, the shortcuts and where to avoid because of bottle necks etc.
i am not trying to tar all agency drivers because there are plenty of employed drivers that would struggle to do another type of job within the same industry they are already in.
some drivers don’t help themselves enough and what i’m trying to get to is that no matter what industry you are working in surely you must take pride in your work, in yourself and this pride should beam out to all those that you come into contact with during your work.
lets say you go to a cafe and ask for ham egg and chips, you get brought out sausage, beans and mash, the mash is lumpy and the beans are cold, would you be happy about it?
or you buy a brand new wardrobe and when it’s delivered the edges are not cut straight, poor workmanship during construction, would you keep it or expect a perfect condition replacement?
when you pay someone to do a job you expect the job to be done especially when your paying more for that employee than you pay your own employees.
the problem is that this driver will still get payed and so has not learned anything at all, he will be passed onto more companies to continue doing a shoddy job whilst the boss the transport companies employing him spend more money trying to passify unhappy clients that expected a delivery or a collection to be made.
the operator may even lose that work and have to park up or sell the truck and then you have another driver out of work.
having worked in a transport office at a couple of companies i can tell you that the failure of this driver to do the job could result in others losing theirs, it will almost certainly have cost the operator money that day and he may ask why he even bothered sending the truck out, he would have not lost as much if he’d parked it up.
well i have read this thread and find it very difficult to fully understand it seems to start agency driver who gives a toss hes a driver 1st and foremost and i use the word driver loosely because hes obviously a complete clown why do people always say it was an agency driver well as a class 1 driver for over 20 years and the last 3 years i have spent all my time as an agency driver working mainly for blue chip companys and i must point out that i take great pride in my work and how i conduct myself and i see company drivers wine and winge snivel and ■■■■■ about this and that and the way they leave there brand new vehicles then blaming agency drivers because its an easy cop out .
please dont forget that most so called AGENCY DRIVERS are company drivers working for ■■■■ money through the week and moon lighting weekends
im not here to offend anyone but come on lets get real about the AGENCY DRIVER thing
cheers a full time earning more money than you AGENCY DRIVER
ROLL ON MARCH 
We have had many Agency driver threads on here b4, And I admit I have slated some of them (used to work as a TM so used agency regulary), But I also had some very good ones, some of our runs had 70 drops on and they werent easy drops, yet we had some who could walk it.
I have also spent plenty of time working on agency and have met some agency drivers who are just taking the mick, and they blantly admit it. I have and will always do the best job I can for the company I am working for, but if they try to take the mick out of me they know about it very soon. And many have!!
This is very apt as due to being given the alpha and 2 numerics at 10 this morning it looks like I will be leaving the delightful world of logistics sales and returning to a proper job back behind the wheel (Another Agency Driver)
Sorry, Johnny, but I still have my opinion. Theres a simple solution - if a firm uses an agency driver, and theyre not satisfied with the service they get, then they should inform the agency that theyll only pay what they think the service is worth. I have been given some right sheds to drive, and subsequently refused to drive them. We have to accept that there are good and bad drivers, whether they be agency or employed. Personally, I wouldnt have paid for the guy who worked for Dave Ks firm, as he was obviously taking the mick, knowing that he gets paid whether or not he completes the job, but, as you know, the agencies will put a driver in a firm, regardless of the fact that theyre not up to the job - as far as they are concerned theyve fulfilled their obligation to their client by supplying a driver, and will still get their extortionate fee, and the only way to put it right is, as I stated above, if the driver they supply is not up to the job, then they dont get their payment
Regards
Trev
Some jobs I’ve been to on agency have been terrible, the TM’s never gave enough information to find each drop. Others have been wonderfully helpful. Funnily enough, the good TM’s usually found their drops done by the end of the day, the poor ones usually found one or two left over…
But I’m one of the better agency drivers, not one who is just in it for the paycheque (sheesh - nearly spelled that paycheck… been here 6 months and I’m starting to type like a septic…)
I knew one driver when I worked at BT, first thing he did after leaving the yard was light up a reefer, and I don’t mean that we had refrigerated trucks either…
He was agency too…
I’ll admit it, there are bad agency drivers out there, but there are also companies that give the agency bods the junkers and the worst runs, and expect miracles. That kind of treatment can make a person pretty jaded pretty quick. I’ve had that treatment, dodgy trucks that were only barely road legal, knackered curtains, impossible schedules, drops in the sticks with illegible addresses… and abuse when it wasn’t done in time. Most of those I told to go stick it where they seemed to think the sun shone… And told the agency never to send me back there…
I used to have the agencys that supplied me on a sliding scale. If the driver did 80% or more of the run then the agency got paid full rate, if he did 60% to 79% of teh drops then they got paid 75% of their fee, if he did under 59% then they got paid 40% of their fee, I soon started getting decent multi droppers. But I have to admit this only applied if Ihad booked the driver 24hrs or more in advance. It did not apply to to ad hoc bookings.
Trevor Parry:
…but the driver who did the DBC run in all probability didnt know the run. I dont like multi-drop work myself, so I can sympathise with anybody struggling around Sheffield with God knows how many drops.
Forgot to say that all the drops are within about a mile radius. To get only three drops done in a full day is, I think, a bit pathetic!
Well 
… What did you expect 
He is an agency driver, it doesn’t bother most of them what happens (Not all are like this guy mind you) If I was doing the odd day on an agency I would be the same, get as much pay as I could for as little work as I could, I don’t blame the guy
The problem with agency drivers is ( in my opinion ) ;
Some agencies do not interview the drivers properly.
A new driver who has passed his or her test on a Thursday, may go into an agency on a Friday , get a call over the week-end and find themselves out on a Monday.
Now, as the Chinese say, " Knowledge is Power ".
The more you know about the job, the better. Ask.
Whether it be moody T.M’s at 6 am in the morning, or the other drivers on the deck, Ask.
All drivers are taught daily checks, from oil to tyres to load safety, if in doubt, ASK.
Be a pain in the neck Boy’s and Girls, from the route you are taking over from the normal guy or girl, finding out from ANYONE if there is anything you are unsure about.
This always worked for me, as sometimes being an agency driver you are not flavour of the month when you turn up first thing in the morning.
It’s like the first day at school.
No mates, no friendly faces, and no-one talking to you.
Let’s face it, how can a driver do a 20 drop in a fridge on a Monday, do a 2 drop in a Curtain on a Tuesday, and a Tail lift or a flat bed on a Wednesday ?
Like people have said, we all have to start somewhere.
NO 2 PEOPLE ARE THE SAME !!
I have been in a transport office, given 1 agency driver his notes thinking " What a well turned out pleasant bloke" only for him to bring 5 out of 12 drops back.
Then, the driver who turns up late, is scruffy, and ignorant gets back to the yard wit a handfull of signed notes and an empty truck.
Answer me this question Boys and Girls, Have you ever gone out in an un-familiar truck, with an un-familiar route, and panicked ?
Whether it be 1 way streets or wrong deliveries made, I’m sure that you have all had a sweat on in the past. ( or low bridges!)
Yes, there are people who take the “Paid by the hour attitude”, but these drivers do not seem to turn up in the same place twice.
If you meet an agency driver, share your EXPIERIENCE.
I have in the past - as I was one once.
Cheers,
Niall.
When I passed my Class 2, problem was not many people wanted me due to lack of experience. So my first two days as an agency driver was with Turner Davies (Trafford Park). Very nice people, they were so desperate for a driver, they did not mind I had no experience, and I managed to do 6 drops on my first day and 7 on my second.
Day three was awful, I went to Securicor, and again they were desperate for a driver, so they gave me a wagon load for drops in Liverpool. Interesting because I had never been to Liverpool, but they were very kind and just asked me to do my best. and with the help from a more seasoned agency guy, (he lent me his Liverpool A to Z) In ten hours I did four drops and one collection. What a nightmare I had, but everyone concerned was very nice.
after all when the effluent hits the propeller, agency do come in handy.