James the cat:
I’m trying to work out how I became included in the “anti agency saddo” club. I’ve only made one comment to my memory re agency which was actually a joke comment. Can be one of 2 reasons. Mmm, allow me to expand my thoughts:-
1/ I’ve taken issue with the agency high priest, Conor. It maybe like Scientology. Insult their high priest, be threatened with alien abduction.
2/ I was included in the “anti agency saddo” club because of my comment on the “it came off in my hand” thread, in which I actually was joking, playing on the slating of agency drivers on here.
Now I’ve been included in this club I might get to like it now I’ve been vilified.
ok,i stand corrected and apologise,as the others pointed out I did bite,but having said that contraflow does seem to have a proper obsession with agency drivers,i bet he goes to bed at night thinking of new things he can say about them
Thankyou anyway but no need to apologise. I was quite enjoying it
Dipper_Dave:
Sure we have the cream of the crop agency folk on this forum who delusionally believe they can cut the mustard full time but untill they get a proper job to me they are just pretenders living phone to mouth
14 years and no proper job your driving must be hilarious,
Plugster:
most are on agency because they cant hold a regular job, and cant afford 23p for a bar of soap
See you folks. Been nice knowing you or at least some of you unlike the ■■■■■ above. You two and contraflow can enjoy giving yourselves a reach around without me…
Dipper_Dave:
Sure we have the cream of the crop agency folk on this forum who delusionally believe they can cut the mustard full time but untill they get a proper job to me they are just pretenders living phone to mouth
14 years and no proper job your driving must be hilarious,
Plugster:
most are on agency because they cant hold a regular job, and cant afford 23p for a bar of soap
See you folks. Been nice knowing you or at least some of you unlike the [zb] above. You two and contraflow can enjoy giving yourselves a reach around without me…
There are lots of serious topics on here which provoke heated debate as people have widely differing views. Is " agency driver bating " not under the heading " general ■■■■ taking and banter " ? and as such not really something to take your ball home over ?
Flouncing off is a dangerous thing Conor, personally if I flounced off then my dignity would never let me return. Far better IMO just to stop coming to the site and if you ever change your mind you can simply slip right back in.
If you do go it would actually be a shame as you do know some valuable and relevant stuff. Ok, your “slightly abrasive” posting style does lead to some name calling and ■■■■ taking but hey, if we were all signing from the same hymnsheet it would make for a tedious place.
Conor:
See you folks. Been nice knowing you or at least some of you unlike the [zb] above. You two and contraflow can enjoy giving yourselves a reach around without me…
Sorry lads got ■■■■■■ to fast last night and was incapable of posting, barely remember posting anything really from 1pm onwards.
Anyway I think of this thread as a group of lads round a table giving each other a light ribbing (not tribbing). Its all just harmless fun, unfortunately an oversensitive member of the group has started crying for no apparent reason (prolly to much lambrini). So chin up Conor me old mate its just banter-at any given time a regular driver can be agency and vicea versa.
Dipper_Dave:
Sure we have the cream of the crop agency folk on this forum who delusionally believe they can cut the mustard full time but untill they get a proper job to me they are just pretenders living phone to mouth
14 years and no proper job your driving must be hilarious,
Plugster:
most are on agency because they cant hold a regular job, and cant afford 23p for a bar of soap
See you folks. Been nice knowing you or at least some of you unlike the [zb] above. You two and contraflow can enjoy giving yourselves a reach around without me…
We promise to make sure the exhaust is not blowing a bit and the no smoking sticker is in the cab when you come back next time.
I was an agency driver for 7 years not because I couldn’t get a full time job but because I didn’t want the hours and restrictions a full time job has. I currently work for Network Rail on a full time contract of 35 hours per week on more money than most drivers get for 70 hours, I know my start and finish times months ahead something drivers can only dream of. When this contract ends which I hope won’t be soon it will be agency driving again but never full time unless haulage companies come out of the dark ages and improve conditions for drivers which I don’t will ever happen.
mac12:
but neveer full time unless haulage companies come out of the dark ages and improve conditions for drivers which I don’t will ever happen.
Course they wont. The lure of frilly pelmets, fairy lights and chrome is blinding the full timers into thinking they owe the boss an will accept his pittance.
Good post mac. Even as a newbie (class 1 gained last August 1st) i CHOOSE the agency route presently for exactly the same reasons. If i took the full time job on open offer to me, i would simply be signing up to nigh on max out week on week - who wants to do that? Saying NO to the punishing hours would not bathe me in glory to them, so when i get a few days off here and there it`s a case of happy days - no feathers ruffled and i get to enjoy some much needed R&R. In other words, a nice balance for me.
Conor - Dont give up the ghost mate - i know some of the more inflammatory comments can be a tad irritating, but stupid is as stupid does n all that. Most of its tongue in cheek anyway - just a bit of harmless angling to catch the more unwary on here, and dupe them into jettisoning their toys! I dont mess with other guys cabs/settings, wipe nasal residue all over the place, fail to turn up on time, cause damage every time i venture out of the yard, gum their jazz mags together, eat their hobnobs, or anything else so popularly claimed, therefore i just grin it all away and keep coming back for more! (I am guilty however, of sometimes failing to take my hi-vis vest off when driving - cardinal sin i know, but to err is to be human after all).
I guess i`ve learned to love this place - warts and all.
Inflammatory comments. Mmm. To be fair, Conor was good at those. The time I took umbrage was when he exploded because some took a different view calling people zb this zb that. You stick your head above the trench, expect a few rounds to fly past your ears. I don’t want the guy to leave as he spiced the site up. If he got off his soapbox a bit and could make his point without getting angry we’d stop ribbing him
I did agency when I first qualified for my class 1, did full time on a couple of different contracts for another year after that and left, voluntarily, to go back to agency for the variety to be honest.
I have since gone Ltd Co since the beginning of April and so far it is looking very promising.
There are muppetts in both employment types, you just have to do what suits your situation. I make no judgements on how you are employed.
mac12:
I was an agency driver for 7 years not because I couldn’t get a full time job but because I didn’t want the hours and restrictions a full time job has. I currently work for Network Rail on a full time contract of 35 hours per week on more money than most drivers get for 70 hours, I know my start and finish times months ahead something drivers can only dream of. When this contract ends which I hope won’t be soon it will be agency driving again but never full time unless haulage companies come out of the dark ages and improve conditions for drivers which I don’t will ever happen.
^^^^^ a dream contract indeed. I live in hope I might one day get there myself.
I don’t want a 35 hour week “full time” pay salary for actually working 70 hours to get it.
I’ll go back to full time when I can get £500 a week for 35 hours - as inflation-adjusted pay for this industry SHOULD be by now, if it were not for the austerity/racing to the bottom/get the elecorate to pay for the suits bonuses system we now live in.
I can blame the Conservatives for making all the bad things happening in this industry, and Labour for not only failing to stop it - but instead encourage it further with immigration to “be friendly to business” - Blair’s great breakthrough to get the middle Englander vote.
Now employers just take the ■■■■, and blame it all on the immigrants being there for doing it. There’s a “going rate” when it’s falling, but strangely it doesn’t apply when market forces dictate that rates should be “rising” - unless you’re a “critical asset” such as a suit can be but a blue collar cannot.
I’m out of full time until the toffs are out of office, and proper market forces comes back into play. You offer me top dollar to do a naff job - I’m there. The way it should be. If it were not naff, then you can give it to some minimum wage red shirts to do and not me - which I’m quite happy with. I’ll take a week off, already paid for by my earnings at double minimum wage for the previous week.
It’s better to earn £250 a week (£500 over a fortnight) on a 3-on-11-off pattern than £500 a week for a 6-5 - especially if commuting rather than tramping.
Going full time was the only way I could get regular money. I think it was because of my age (24) and lack of experience (less than a year) meant I was not getting the oddles of work I was promised on agency. Maybe in 5 years time, I’ll go back on agency and be snowed under with all the work.
Radar19:
Going full time was the only way I could get regular money. I think it was because of my age (24) and lack of experience (less than a year) meant I was not getting the oddles of work I was promised on agency. Maybe in 5 years time, I’ll go back on agency and be snowed under with all the work.
Posts like this that show its the oppersit of what the “full timers” are slagging agency off for. The decent, clean, employable drivers on agency treat it as a full time job but on decent pay. Booked out for week plus at a time in advance getting paid what a full time tramper gets fot max hours but for only doing 45-50 hours and home every night. Free to move on if the jobs crap and time off when ever needed or wanted. Thoose who cant get solid work end up taking full time work were ever offered on any pay offered as their stuck and forced to by bills etc. and at a guess where the bitterness comes from.
I think you are mixing up gratefulness with bitterness mate. For example; 6.30 am. I arrive in the Beavermobile and greet fellow superior full timers. 6.38 am. 52 plate mondeo comes into the carpark. Man with limp hobbles over to us. Hair full of grease and clutching a Lidl carrier bag.
Its not a good look! I know you choose to look and drive crap,and its your choice at the end of the day,but don’t talk to full-timers unless invited to do so.
Thats a good point, why is it the agency folk on great money drive crap motors and look like worzel gummages (prolly showing my age now) poor relation.
Perhaps they pick up a decent weekly wage twice a year when the proper drivers are on holiday and have delusions of grandeur.
