A few weeks ago i recall reading a thread/sticky about questions to ask at agency interviews, i’ve tried the search function to no avail. Can anyone give us some pointers on things to ask re conditions etc… as i’m going to sign up with 2 or 3 soon, thanks in advance. 
Hi again tobytyke.
If you go back 3 pages there are some usefull answers to my question posted at the end of february titled “agency questions” I think.
I personally was given a brief test on basic UK map reading and some simple tacho questions.
Confirm what rates of pay you get for days, nights, saturdays and sundays etc.
You’ll need to take both parts of your licence and some other forms of I.D. to confirm who you are.
C
Cheers Steelman, i rang a couple of agencys on Friday just for a chat and both asked if i could start that day lol…told them my plans etc and they said ring us as soon as u pass, they had bluechip contracts but not enough drivers 
tobytyke:
Cheers Steelman, i rang a couple of agencys on Friday just for a chat and both asked if i could start that day lol…told them my plans etc and they said ring us as soon as u pass, they had bluechip contracts but not enough drivers
Yeah right, thats what they all say!!!
Good Luck
JImbo
Don’t expect too much from agencies. Remember the people that run them are SALES-PERSONS AND NOTHING ELSE. It is their job to get as many drivers as possible to sign up to them and THEN to try and place them all.
Thats ■■■■■■ on my bonfire then 
Hi again
I can only speak for the agency I’m registered with but I can’t fault them so far. I work 4 on 4 off in my regular job and they offer me enough work to work all of my 4 off. I have to turn them down every week 2 or 3 times. Their clients seem really busy and there don’t seem enough agency drivers to plug the gaps at the moment. I’ve only had my licence 9 months and they tell me there would be more and better jobs when I’ve held it for 2 years. Its working really well for me at the moment and the agency are slotting me into jobs that they know I can do. On the other hand, my inexperience lets me down sometimes when you find the clients are offering jobs that their drivers don’t want to do but I’m at the bottom looking up and enjoying every experience even if its hard work sometimes.
There are quite alot of haulage companies in this area and lots of new rdc’s and warehouses being constructed, especially in Donny and if you’re prepared to get a good reputation you should be ok.
Go for it.Don’t be put off until you’ve first hand experience yourself.
C
Steelman - what companys are u driving for ? u worked at Next in Ponty ? How are u working the 4 days off ? Isn’t that breaking the WTD with your full time job too ?
Hiya
Apparently my agency provide drivers for Next, but I think they’re one of the company’s that only take 2 years+ on your licence. The company’s I’ve driven for so far are the likes of Eddie Stobart, DHL, Polypipe and Pawsons.
As far as the WTD goes, its only on certain weeks of my shirt pattern that I accumulate that many hours. On the other hand, I can’t see how they can check on it or indeed who would check on it. Opinions on that one would be appreciated.
C
Now that you have to fill in charts/logbook or whatever for other work performed on non driving days you’re providing the evidence yourself. At least in theory…the week after the new regs came in I handed a sheet to my agency, along with the week’s tachos and they asked what it was for. They have no interest in any work I’ve done that wasn’t arranged through them and the customer I drove for won’t be interested in anything I did for anyone else so chances are that once I’ve handed them in they’re lost. Of course, out on the road they count as a legal document in the same way as a chart generated my the tacho head.
steelman1828:
Hiya
Apparently my agency provide drivers for Next, but I think they’re one of the company’s that only take 2 years+ on your licence.
I drove for Next last summer (I think), which would mean that I would have had my license about 18 months.
Of course, it could vary on a depot-by-depot basis.
tobytyke:
Thats ■■■■■■ on my bonfire then
Well, yes and no.
You have to think of the practicalities of the situation.
The more drivers an agency has on their books, the less likely they are to have to turn away a potential client due to not having anyone available.
Client companies don’t want to spend ages ringing around agencies trying to find staff, so if a particular agency gets a reputation for always being able to fulfill their needs, that agency gets more business.
Having too many drivers for the positions available is not a problem, as a driver that’s not working isn’t costing them any money (unless you get a full-time contract, which is highly unlikely for a newly-qualiifed driver).
Not having enough drivers, however, is a problem, as their clients will start to go elsewhere.
The clients are the ones paying the bills; therefore they are the ones that the agency wants to keep happy. One of the ways of doing this is to get as many drivers on the books as possible.
Let’s face it, if they had said “yeah, we’ll probably be able to get you the odd day here and there, but it might be a bit difficult for a while”, would you have signed up, or gone to a different agency that said that they had “lots of work for blue-chip companies”?
IME, you should take any “promise” of work from an agency with a very large pinch of salt unless you have it in writing on company letterhead Until you’re confirmed as booked in to work at a particular company at a particular time, you ain’t got nuffink 
Thanks Tony1968,
I mentioned this to the agency today and as far as they were concerned their clients weren’t interested in any work I’d done on other days as you stated above. Its very rare that it could happen anyway with my shift pattern. He told me that POA doesn’t count as “working time”. Could I not state that half of my time at work on nightshift in my regular job was spent idle and doing nothing but available as in POA.
It seems totally unmanagable to me and as its the only way I can get experience and be able to pay the mortgage until I qualify for the better jobs it seems to be a chicken and egg situation.
C
If you’re doing work, that’s work not POA but I wasn’t really thinking about it from a WTD perspective, only for the daily and weekly rest required under drivers hours. On any days you drive you must take a daily rest and on any weeks you drive you must have a weekly rest. Even if your main job is just to sit down and be there in case something happens so is 100% POA that may not be work…but it still isn’t rest!
With a 4 on 4 off pattern you should still be able to get plenty of driving days, though.
steelman1828:
As far as the WTD goes, its only on certain weeks of my shirt pattern that I accumulate that many hours. On the other hand, I can’t see how they can check on it or indeed who would check on it.
The WTD is virtually unenforceable so I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Stick to the tacho rules and you should be okay. POA and breaks do not count toward the 48 hour weekly average and how can anybody check if that period of POA you booked last week, last month or six months ago met the requirements to be POA? They can’t which makes the whole thing a waste of time and unenforceable.