Got told(by one of their own drivers)that a national agency with 3 letters at the beginning and network after are now not only forcing the drivers to use their umbrella scheme which takes %5 of all earning but they now charge the driver £10 a shift to if they are given work 
8 hour shift is £10 as is a 15 hour shift but as he says he has no choice but to comply he lets them bend him over and carry on 
Anyone else heard this or was he pulling my leg? I mean seriously who the ■■■■ pays an agency to go to work? 
Vote with your feet , they already take a good cut greedy piggys
OllieNotts:
I mean seriously who the [zb] pays an agency to go to work?
Idiots.
HTH
OllieNotts:
Got told(by one of their own drivers)that a national agency with 3 letters at the beginning and network after are now not only forcing the drivers to use their umbrella scheme which takes %5 of all earning but they now charge the driver £10 a shift to if they are given work
Anyone else heard this or was he pulling my leg? I mean seriously who the [zb] pays an agency to go to work?
I assume you mean ADR.
If the above is true and people are stupid enough to pay it then really why should the agency stop charging, after all it does rely on peoples stupidity.
Ben9:
OllieNotts:
Got told(by one of their own drivers)that a national agency with 3 letters at the beginning and network after are now not only forcing the drivers to use their umbrella scheme which takes %5 of all earning but they now charge the driver £10 a shift to if they are given work
Anyone else heard this or was he pulling my leg? I mean seriously who the [zb] pays an agency to go to work?I assume you mean ADR.
If the above is true and people are stupid enough to pay it then really why should the agency stop charging, after all it does rely on peoples stupidity.
Says he has the choice to pay it and work to get wages or not work and get no wages.
Are you seriously saying it is OK for these guys to charge a booking fee just because it gets them a wage at the end of the week? I know the guy shouldnt work for them and neither will I but it is not ■■■■■■■ right whatever way you look at it. The problem is some poor sap will jump in to his shoes should he decide to walk away. And if they get away with this, who is to say all agency’s wont start charging a small fee for getting us a shift? 
I completely agree with you about it all, there is no way on earth I would pay it and nor should anyone else.
The other side of the coin though if people do pay they will keep charging.
Look at the price of Cinema tickets (for example), the reason they are so pricey is because people are willing to pay the prices, if nobody paid and the cinema was empty the prices would drop.
This has got to be a wind-up surely? I registered last year at Harlow! Went to Iceland Enfield,passed assessment and was there for 8 hours doing all the guff! ADR refused to pay me for this after saying they would pay me if successful! Obviously I stayed at Stobbies!! 
They always where stealing money that is why my co-operation with them end up after 2 months, and it was me who f* them in the end.
It seems like they are run by the same bloke that runs Ryanair.
Not working for them that is the solution - they pay rubbish anyway.
We are the fuel to their engines - without us they can do nothing
Just spoken to a mate who gets work from them and he says it ■■■■■■■■, first he’s heard of it. He’s going to check it out and get back to me.
Coffeeholic:
Just spoken to a mate who gets work from them and he says it ■■■■■■■■, first he’s heard of it. He’s going to check it out and get back to me.
This came from a driver based at alfreton I have no idea if/how things are different between different offices but I did say I wonder if he was pulling my leg. Did seem sincere who would make that up?
I find it hard to believe this is true, capable people would be leaving in droves and they’d be left with just the no-hopers
Having said that it’s possible that an agency is screwing the driver you talked to, I was talking to a driver once who reckoned his agency was stopping over £40 a week out of his wages and every time he asked about it their reply was “well it’s complicated”
Like your bloke he was frightened of losing the work altogether so just accepted it
There really are some desperate or stupid people around and some agencies have no qualms about taking advantage
5% of earnings on top of tax seems a lot to, although he made out it was the company paying his wages deducting the £10 a shift as an “admin fee” or something like that. Suppose it would clear AD of any wrong doing should he complain?
ADR also insisted you use there own managing agents for wage payments! Very dodgy and protectionist! Where’s the drivers option to go outside the group controlled by the holding company?
I considered signing up with them in the Midlands last year but they had a line in their contract that stipulated that I would have up to £250 deducted from ANY damage done to their vehicles whilst I was in charge of them. I queried this and asked if they were sending me to companies without insurance and they said as I was a new driver it was in their best interests to have that clause in.
I could work all week, then they could take the money off me for something they claim I had done but by now would have no recompense to go back and prove it wasn’t my fault.
Needless to say, I didn’t work for that agency. I haven’t had any collisions in the last year with the truck but a couple of minor problems with the hiab, but that was later in the year when things were stressed to [zb] anyway for other reasons.
When work picks up again I shall probably stay away from agencies that insist I use umbrella schemes until it reaches the stage when I have no choice.
OllieNotts:
5% of earnings on top of tax seems a lot to, although he made out it was the company paying his wages deducting the £10 a shift as an “admin fee” or something like that. Suppose it would clear AD of any wrong doing should he complain?
The 5% of earnings sounds like a voluntary deduction some mad people choose to make up for holiday pay. The £10 admin fee sounds like utter ■■■■■■■■.,
I was talking to an A.D.R driver I know, and he is charged £25 per week for his deductions to be calculated.
What a rip off! you can do it yourself for nothing.
.
Perhaps they’re only doing it to the new recruits?
“Time’s are 'ard son, you need to pay pit owner t’go doon mill” and all that…
Filled out their forms last year, turned up at a Morrisons assessment (Sittingbourne), and the damned assessor didn’t turn up!
No apologies, nowt. Tried to book me in again the following week (meaning I wound’t be able to pick up any work with a wednesday in it!) and this is all unpaid. Awkward hesitation when I asked if they do PAYE - He said yes, but I realise there’s this thing “pseudo PAYE” where they pay you umbrella wages, and claw back the tax which they might not then hand onto HMRC at the right time for you to get all the rebates you might be due… I imagine there might have been problems for me at the DSS had I signed up with them last november as well.
I’m steering well clear now - I was only chasing the £13ph sunday work anyways. What’s to say they’d only ever be offering me midweeks on a £9ph rate, which there’s some 12 hour contract for me to sign up to?
Collared one of our ADR drivers. First he’s heard of it.
Whether its true or not, one things for certain that agencies are ■■■■■■■ up this job, luckily I work direct for my firm and I hope I’m never in a position to work for an agency. Something needs to be done to close this loophole where employers are side stepping their obligation to their workers.