Hi lads im moving to the uk in the next few weeks but am a bit confused on this agency work?
Can you explain this and is this best avoided and work directly for a company.
I am a experienced adr tanker driver and hoping to do this in the uk when I get there.
Thanks, brian
pump:
Hi lads im moving to the uk in the next few weeks but am a bit confused on this agency work?Can you explain this and is this best avoided and work directly for a company.
I am a experienced adr tanker driver and hoping to do this in the uk when I get there.
Thanks, brian
Agencies promise the earth, all they give is unreliability and the type of companies that use agencies treat drivers with complete indifference as they can get drivers anywhere at anytime.
If you have any self respect, get a proper job.
At least you’ll know your working tomorrow and not sat at home waiting for a last minute phone call.
Assuming you have a UK-recognised licence and some sort of checkable employment history then the majority of agencys are looking for experienced drivers at the moment. The main thing you’ll need to sort out is how you are paid, as most of them are pushing some form of self-employed ‘umbrella’ scheme which you’ll find lots of posts about on this site.
If you are intending to drive full-time then Ltd Co. is the best way to go. If you are only doing a day or so a week then this may not be economic so PAYE (if you can find an agency doing it) is your next bet.
As mentioned, if you can get a permanent position then that is definitely a better option, but there may not be many companies hiring direct at the moment, depending on where you are going to be in the UK.
As you have experience plus ADR you will find proper work. Avoid agencys like the plague, without exception they are lieing parasites.
I would get onto the agency anyway just to get into the swing of things whilst looking for a job. Also you never know if your going into a place quite regularly they might ask if you want to go full time with them.
Ok thanks lads.
Im a irish driver with 6years adr tanker driving so everything works in the uk. Was thinking of making a jump to the UK or Canada even for a few years Ireland has gone down the toilet.
Was thinking this agency work is a load of crap so thought I better ask, wont be doing that ■■■■ so.
The three agencies I have worked for in the past have been really good. However, the companies I drove for through two of agencies varied from brilliant, to me wanting to walk out of a transport office and telling them to poke it. It’s just part of agency work 
The agencies give me a start when I would have otherwise have struggled to get through the door, being only 23 years old. It did help that I was happy to drive for any one and never turned work down. I was even lucky enough to get two weeks of European work through one agency 
This give me a small look into Euro work and got me hooked.
If you haven’t got a full time job to come back to then get onto a good agency until something permanent shows up, good luck 
begs the question the …
who are the good agencies and who to avoid?
pump:
begs the question the …who are the good agency and who to avoid?
Plenty of threads about this
Depends where you are. Some agencies are brill at getting you ADR work, but lousy at anything else. And vice-versa!
Around here, agencies are crying out for rigid drivers especially food deliveries and HIAB stuff. Nobbies are looking for full-time ADR drivers, but I reckon they’ll keep on looking, as they are not offering any extra pay for having this qualification under your belt compared to non-adr work available most places. 
Check the pay slips,they all have a bad habit of under payment,they rely on you not to check,so if you have a few hundred drivers on the books,they can make a small fortune,when you ring to get it sorted,it is all the excuses under the sun,they have it down to a fine art.
How does all that sit with a full HMRC audit? 
Eg. Your payslip shows a payment of £100 gross, net hours 20, and take home pay £65?
Sure, no one gives a hoot if you’ve had emergency tax deducted and all, but what about the £5 per hour, which is surely illegal?
There are dodgy agencies but there are also dodgy hauliers… all employers have their dark sides.
I worked for agencies for many years, on both sides of the desk; also hired agency staff as a manager. You’ll read on here stuff from people who think agencies are the pits; the other side of the coin is that some of the drivers I’ve hired from agencies have not been worth paying in washers. I’ve also had top dollar from both sides.
If you’ve no experience of agencies, you must be prepared to accept that you’ll get messed around a bit when you first start, unless you hit lucky. Contrary to what some would have you believe, agencies do not do this for the hell of it; they get messed around by their customers too and have to change things to suit. Once you get settled though it’s a lot easier, as it is in any job. Flexibility and a positive pro-active attitude are the keys to success.
I concur. I went through 9 agencys in the past year, with only getting work from 3 of them.
The other six just wanted to get me onto the books for the “cannon fodder” work that I’d already ruled myself out of, but obviously they hadn’t listened. Since I was the only one wasting their time, I guess that was motive enough for me only to be offered an assignment off the “cannon fodder” shelf, in my case monday-friday 6am starts at below £10ph rates. (I was signing up for nights, weekends, & £10ph plus - so it was spud-I-don’-t-like!)
After being fooled around by one agency who gave me regular work, but always on a last-minute basis, I ended up with Sms Mainstream who basically do what it says on the tin. I’ve only been cancelled a couple of times in the past entire year, and I usually get plenty of notice and work on the days and hours that I want it.
If you’re lucky, you’ll end up with the same firm run the same way in your area! - It rocks for me, but I’m not looking for 40+ hours & ADR every week, so it might all be down to “one man’s meat” in the end.