Almost UNBELIEVABLE agency story! - Opinions please!

[gaz]

Afternoon all.

My mate Edd is around 26 and left the army early and has been pottering for a bit doing odd jobs… He phoned me about 2 months ago and asked me for advice getting started driving. I gave him the chat about experience and insurance and agency etc etc.

…Fast forward to last week and the phone goes again… “Can you give me some advice on gears mate, how do they work■■?”

I laughed off his question and said “All in good time mate” i said and jokingly added “IF your lucky it’ll be an I-Shift or similar”

“Yeah he says, next week i’m starting on the agency with Stobarts out of Warrington”.

Now at this point i was a little bemused, by his own admission he’d not touched an artic since the day he passed his test in the army. I was 99% sure Stobarts would not send him down the road in an artic… OR WOULD THEY■■?

In the cinema tonight i get a text off Edd… “Driving didn’t go too well”…

Turns out the events went like this…

04.00 Arrive Mersy Intermodal Terminal @ Widnes (O’connors to me)
04.10 Given the keys to a MANUAL Scania R series
04.11 Given notes for a tail lift Job, 2 drops North West.
04.12 Told “Off you Go!”
04.13 Explain to security man that he wasn’t sure what the hell he was doing and was expecting a tuition!!!
04.14 Told to go!!!
…
04.30 Works out how to start the truck and finds his trailer, manages to hitch it up somehow (GOD KNOWS HOW) and is ready to roll.
04.50 By his own admission he’s bricking it and isn’t sure going out on the road is the best idea but decides he can handle the situation.
05.00 Exits yard and negiotiates the series of roundabouts to proceed out of their yard and back over the runcorn bridge, clipping “Every [zb] CURB ON THE WAY!”
05.13 Crosses Runcorn bridge but find the truck unable to exceed 40kph… “And thats revving it flat out” (Stuck in low box!)
05.14 Realises that Runcorn bridge is tight and he has no idea how to drive the vehicle he has been given, decides to head for the yard.
05.15 Comes off on the first exit over the bridge, VERY NARROW with cones… “HIT SOMETHING?!”
05.20 Arrives back at O’connors, stops at the gate, hands them the keys and walks!

Now i find this whole episode utterly unbelieveable, but i know its true!

Questions:

Why did his Agency let him go to the Job?
Do agencys even check their drivers at all?
Do Stobarts, or any other outfit, ask for anything of their agency other than a Class 1?
Why do more people not get killed on our roads?!

My mate was a bit foolish to attempt to go, by his own admission he would never have reversed the thing! BUT he wanted the cash and thought he could handle it. HOWEVER he had the sense to call it a day when he realised that he was out of his depth. How many don’t?

I for once am truly gob smacked!.. and Angry… And ashamed etc etc

Using stars and other dodges does NOT make that word become acceptable.
If the auto censor gets it, that’s your clue that a word isn’t allowed. dd.

[dogmatix]

Hahahah thats awesome!

My company gave me 2 weeks out with another driver before sending me out on my own which was brilliant.

[chris_89]

LOL! I feel sorry for the guy to be honest. Probably should’ve invested in a couple hours with an LGV training school for a whizz round in an artic. Probably would’ve done him the world of good!

Did he bend the wagon then or what?

[gaz]

He clipped the wing mirror but no damage!

God only knows how he didn’t bend it!!!

[rog]

chris_89:
Probably should’ve invested in a couple hours with an LGV training school for a whizz round in an artic.

You got there before me
I don’t see how the agency could be blamed as the decision to ‘try it’ was soley that of the driver

Explain to security man that he wasn’t sure what the hell he was doing and was expecting a tuition!!!

If he had said that to the agency then perhaps they might have thought twice or at least arranged an assessment with the company first ■■

[dazaster]

did he get paid for 8hours

[turn_an_burn]

had a mate who did a simaler thing got out of army hadnt touched one since the day off his test (bout 9yr before) signed on with a agency rocked up to a job got his unit found his trailer asked someone how to hitch up, got kicked off site lol

[gaz]

ROG:

chris_89:
Probably should’ve invested in a couple hours with an LGV training school for a whizz round in an artic.

You got there before me
I don’t see how the agency could be blamed as the decision to ‘try it’ was soley that of the driver

I kind of agree BUT sureley the agency MUST ask 1 simple question… “CAN YOU DRIVE A TRUCK?”

I almost want a situation like this come to a head and letthe court decide which of the three idiotic parties are to blame!

[chewyboy]

i thought with stobarts you have to do a driving assesment wether its working direct for them or agency

[tallyman]

I’ve been in Stobarts at Crick a few times over the past couple of years and have never done an assessment with them. I think it’s possibly because my agency have sent me in on behalf of another agency - ie they’re desperate. Certainly never had any sort of induction on their systems and probably screwed up the paperwork every time.

Basically we all know that agencies are LIARS!!! so ESL phone up for an experienced driver & they agency LIE!!!

Whose fault would you say it is? The driver for taking on the job; the agency for LYING!!!; or ESL for accepting what the agency tells them, simply because they’re desperate to get the run done?

Answer is they are all at fault & if the brown stuff hits the fan they will all blame the others. Happens every day during busy periods like now.

[mike-c]

Used to see this type of thing a lot.

[scarab]

I think one of the things any agency driver has to be prepared for is whatever the hell gets thrown at you!
Telling the agency you can drive C&E when you don’t feel comfortable doing so isn’t ideal.

Perhaps your mate should have got a few hours with a driving school first, only £100 or so would have done it.

But he did totally the right thing by handing the keys back and hope he feels a bit more confident next time he goes out.

Alex

[animal]

he singed up and asked for drivin then then agency would have know how much experience he had or had he been economical with the truth

[gaz]

I fully accept he should have told them more, BUT THEY SHOULD HAVE ASKED TOO!!!

I think his way of thinking was that he’s a great driver, he has a Mitsubishi Evo X FR-340, reckons he can drive.

I should imagine this weeks experience has humbled him somewhat!!!

He actually asked me if i could take him out for a few days to give him a bit of experience.

Unfortunatley our lot do not allow passengers at all, but i’m gonna try hook him up with a local company on a few local runs, just so he get a feel for a 44 tonner.

[grayham]

I guess this guy had his licence more than two years and being over 25, perhaps the agency just took it he had the experience and didn’t question it?

[kenny1975]

used to be really common when agencies were really busy befor the credit crunch, didnt give a damm just needed bodies, i signed up with an agency explained just past me class 1, they said we will get you trunking work and work which is easy to gently get you into driving them.

what a lot of crap phone call at 5am “good news managed to get you a class 1 shift, go in straight away”, was multi drop and loads of reversing, managed just but was a nightmare of a day.

cause of the credit crunch most agency getting a lot more picky, wanting proven references from other agencies and from past employers (and actually checking never seemed to before) but things seem to be really picking up here at the moment anyways and agencies and companies desperate.

worked with so many companies the last few weeks supposed to do assessments and inductions before your allowed to work for them, they get desperate and that goes out the window. worked for sainsburys years ago supposed to do driving assessment and induction before being allowed to work there. worked there 6months before i did the driving assessment and even then was so busy was a quick 10min drive tagged onto the end of a shift.

When i signed up with the agency for Sainburys was an interview at 4.30pm on a Friday afternoon, before i left the office had me booked in for three night shifts the Fri, Sat and Sun night, not a chance they had time to even look at my references never mind call them up.

Current agency i am with are a lot more strict, wanted references they could check, wanted a list of employers i’d worked with through agencies they could check with, they checked with the DVLA had a licence and no points and they typically wont send you into their big clients till you have kinda proved yourself.

[turn_an_burn]

i got my licence in the army too an went a few yr with out touching a class 1, i applied for a job “entitled class 2 driver wanted the applicant will be put through there class 1” i thought bonus as i already have my class 1 will save them a fortune got the job drove class 2 for 2 days had a assessment an sent out with a 15" 6 tautliner i ■■■■ my self, did 2 drops fine got to the third coulnt get it on the bay for love nor money luckely some driver talked me on.

[ady1]

Chewyboy:
i thought with stobarts you have to do a driving assesment wether its working direct for them or agency

was only on about this subject last week with agency lad, said he got 2 hrs at n.d[salvos] but agency at our depot get none, just tossed the keys and told to get on with it .
but in saying that a little common sense goes along way, the reason we were on about training was he was dragged over to pumps by 1st time agency lad who couldnt get diesel card in slot on reader for love nor money, been trying for 5 mins and it wouldnt fit ,he went over and it went in 1 st time ,what was the problem .
well drivers for whatever reason keep loosing, mislaying,taking home master card,so company has a attached it too spare front number plate[ yes you know what comming].the new agency driver for reasons beyond belief was trying to get the number plate into diesel card slot .
in his defence hed only just passed his test,so apparently had never dieseled up.so thats the problem, you could spend all night with a new driver, companys arnt going to do that, its down to agencys to give them easy jobs, and forwarn company they have a new driver comming in

[orys]

I’ve got better than that.

I was send to do the job to another-well-known-company-and-very-big-and-very-international-as-well.

Came to the gate, reported, was given the keys and told “You are picking trailer XYZ123”…

What? Trailer?

Walked arround, haven’t seen any trailers up to 750kgs, but hoped that it will be wagon and drag and I can negotiate with them to leave the trailer off, but it turned to be a tractor unit.

Came back, explained situation to security guy, he called the TM who asked me to come to the phone and said why you don’t want to take the van out? I explained that I have only class 2 license and that it’s propably agency’s mistake, and told him that he needs to call the agency up to ask them to send a proper driver for this job, but guess what he said…

“Come on, we need this trunk to be on the road ASAP”.

I offered him, that if he wants, I can drive down with a tractor unit only, then swap the tractors and bring up the other driver’s tractor if they wish, but then he calmed down and realised that asking class 2 driver to do a trunk with changeover might not be the best idea…

[orys]

ady1:

Chewyboy:
i thought with stobarts you have to do a driving assesment wether its working direct for them or agency

was only on about this subject last week with agency lad, said he got 2 hrs at n.d[salvos] but agency at our depot get none, just tossed the keys and told to get on with it .

That was over all the time I worked for well-known-supermarket-network.

Then after 50+ shifts made for them, never any problems, I was told I need the assesment… Unpaid