For past few days, woke up from night shift to messages from agencies asking if interested in Hgv 1 positions. Nothing unusual in that, but I’ve not worked for these agencies for at least 4-5 years . Last worked for them when I was peed off with my work & was looking at alternatives. Maybe adds weight to the driver shortage debate anyone else had anything similar?
yes…Even up here ,in North east England ,in fact I even noticed ,the return of the pay going up after 8 hours.
I stopped driving a month ago but getting at least one a day ringing up, most i have never worked for but all offering over £10 per hour.
I got a letter from Manpower yesterday offering to pay for my DCPC even though I left them 2 years ago. Not sure why because I already had my card until 2019 when I worked for them which they would have known.
I get the odd text from 24/7 Yate (Jess) but that’s because I’m still on someone’s system… the other Mob of Willy Wonkers got the message when I started to ring them back at 2 , 3 and 4 in the morning letting them know I had just finished work and was in full time employment … they got quite cross saying “why had I rung them” .
so I said ""well you keep texting me and ringing during the day when I Don’t even work for you anymore …
It took a few weeks but the message got through 
In the past few weeks I’ve started getting texts from various agencies telling me they have loads of work and “great rates”. Some I haven’t worked for for years, including Manpower yesterday. Must be digging waay back in their files.
There was a thread a while ago about a big rise in demand for bricks. Spoke to a bloke while tipping at a Travis Perkins who said they can’t get them in fast enough.
Driver shortage or economic up turn it amounts to the same thing… they are obviously needing drivers right now. 
I’ll give some credit to Stobarts here - having applied for one of those £38k jobs a few months back, I withdrew my application when they told me it was £8.10ph on nights, that being the work I was looking for. I asked them to delete me outright from their system, as I’d not be interested in anything else that might come up in the future…
And duly… They never called me again in the year since…! 
More seriously - you won’t know there’s a proper drivers shortage until yards start headhunting in January for full timers on out-bid rates of pay!
Meanwhile, all the pay rises are going to be at agency first of course… At least until the end of september, when the Christmas rush starts… Then roll on January… THAT’S key I reckon!
I get 4-5 calls or texts from agencies every week, that started a few months ago, some I’ve not even signed up with before. That and the fact that you see more companies advertising, some I’ve never seen advertise before, would point to a shortage of drivers, at least up here in the north east.
probably more the fact that now the school’s have started fining parents for holidays in term time, now all the parents are having time off in the summer so all these extra places need coving so agency’s are used. And more people are moving to agency as better rates so more jobs that need covering.
BillyHunt:
I get 4-5 calls or texts from agencies every week, that started a few months ago, some I’ve not even signed up with before. quote]
Not signed up to but you gave them your number
Winseer:
More seriously - you won’t know there’s a proper drivers shortage until yards start headhunting in January for full timers on out-bid rates of pay!Meanwhile, all the pay rises are going to be at agency first of course… At least until the end of september, when the Christmas rush starts… Then roll on January… THAT’S key I reckon!
+1
I think it’s all a smoke screen with zb all behind it:!:
Had quite a few calls from different agencies over the last couple of weeks offering work,some I’ve not even signed up with.
Ramon123:
some I’ve not even signed up with.
Its not uncommon for staff at the agency office to leave 1 employer and move to another, after all its a small work community they work in, so they occasionally move on and take a copy the “driver address book” with them. It is one of the major factors that they can add to their CV, having a list of 100s of driver contact details to hand. So as soon as 1 of the agency bods moves on, they will inevitably contact drivers on "their list" to try and tempt them away, these calls usually die off after a couple of weeks. Im aware of 1 guy in Doncaster (who originally worked for Taskmaster & stole their “book”) moving through 4 different agencies in 8 months stealing the “book” of each agency as he moved on, this has really upset several office managers, and AFAIK hes blacklisted. This is the clown who phoned me saying Id sent a CV into iRecruit looking for work, which I hadnt. hed got my number as he stole the taskmaster “book” 
Likewise agencies will occasionally dig deep into their archives (ie: bottom of the filing cabinet) and spot call drivers out of the blue, drivers who havent been in contact with that agy for several years, this usually happens pre-Xmas, or at other points in the calendar ie: now the DCPC deadline is imminent. Im especially wary of these calls, as the tend to proclaim to suddenly being your bestmate, wanting to kiss your aris & trying to pry as much info out of you as possible, such as where have you been working, who for, etc. Before promising your the earth, and ultimately failing to deliver
Signed up with Transline in Manchester recently, they are so desperately short of Class 2 drivers for one of the K & N contracts on Traff park, they are paying me, a class 1, £20ph, yes £20ph, on Monday to do the pub deliveries, with a lad to do the hand ball into the pub. They offered me £16 initially, but I turned it down knowing there was room for negotiating.
I’ve had phone calls from agencies I last worked for a few years ago, asking me about availability. They are seriously short of HGV drivers.
Talking to a driver yesterday, who works for Dacher in Rochdale, they have three artics parked up during day because they can’t get drivers, and a severe shortage of night trunk drivers.
It looks now as though we are finally going to get paid what we’re worth, not less than what my wife earns for filling shelves at Asda, or my daughter, who is a deputy manager for Corals.
This job was put into context to me yesterday by a fellow driver who said, " this can be the only skilled job where you go out in a morning, not knowing if you’re going to fined at work ".
In contrast, when I told agencies I wasn’t interested in shop deliveries, only the steel and tipper work, I never heard from them again. 
For 10 years I been getting a letter off Topgear in the northwest on about 1st dec.
on another note I did once follow an agency person from his old employer to his own agency which he set up. In all the years on agency he’s the only man I trust.
nick2008:
BillyHunt:
I get 4-5 calls or texts from agencies every week, that started a few months ago, some I’ve not even signed up with before. quote]
Not signed up to but you gave them your number
Pierre is spot on here, I’ve not given my number to anyone other than those I’ve signed with. You do notice agency bods moving around, a bit like drivers I suppose, and they do remember you when they are on the lookout.
Is there a school of thought here that the current “scenario” is all hot air actually conjured up to get those currently sitting on the sidelines to sign up with their nearest agency… At which point, the touted “shortage” suddenly doesn’t happen, and rates remain flat going into next month…
It’s one of those paradoxes isn’t it? - If no one signs up - there will be a shortage, and higher rates for the no one that turned up.
If anyone DOES turn up, there WON’T be a shortage, and rates might go up in line with inflation, and that’s it. Not worth considering a “career change” into driving let’s say… 
If a tree falls down in the forest, and no one sees or hears it - Did it happen? Did it make a noise? Is this a crappy argument?
Well when I mentioned to a couple of people last month I was thinking about going driving I got plenty of texts and calls from various agencies when I was on holiday. Got back off holiday, phoned one of them up and and there’s all the work I want where I want to go and when I want it. Able to pick and choose what days I work with an “OK no problem” when I say no and a text asking if I want to work the following day and my availability for the next couple of weeks. Its not even the busiest time of the year for the company I’m at with the agency. They can’t get enough drivers and its a cracking spot to work for, one of the very few I’d take a job at.
In regards to wage increases, I’ve been keeping a casual eye on rates agencies are advertising and certainly around here for the agencies its gone up £1.50-£2/hr in the last four or five months.
nick2008:
BillyHunt:
I get 4-5 calls or texts from agencies every week, that started a few months ago, some I’ve not even signed up with before. quote]
Not signed up to but you gave them your number
Im getting some calls ,cos when I signed on for a while ,the nash told me to upload a CV