Am I to blame for this?

[tallow]

Hi all

Here’s a long story… Some friendly advice at the end would be appreciated!

I did a job for a (not my usual) agency recently which took longer than expected. In fact it was a disaster and I’ve been left short changed.
The agency called me up on the weekend and asked me to do a job for their client the following Monday handing me the keys there and then.

The plan was I had to pick up a 7.5 tonner at 0500AM at their clients site in Eastbourne and drop goods in Oxford, Cheltenham, Bristol, Bath, Taunton and Exeter staying one night.

When I picked the vehicle up I noticed there were 3 more stops added to the list. Hereford, Worcester and Cribbs Causeway near Bristol. I was promised (by the agency) maps for each store location. Hard to believe but they weren’t in the cab.

After the usual vehicle checks and ensuring I had a full tank of diesel I was on my way. When I got to the M40 I noticed the fuel gauge on Reserve?! and quickly pulled in to the nearest service station to fill up. When I went to pay, the cashier would not accept the fuel card as it wasn’t on their store list. I then phoned the client for telephonic payment on another card. It only needed £40.00 worth of fuel which indicated to me that the gauge was faulty. It was, as the indicator bounced between F and R intermittently thereafter.

At each town I arrived, I was guided in very conveniently by store managers and regular drivers who knew the areas so I had no problem time wise as the stores were mostly in the town centres anyway.
By 6 PM I had been as far as Worcester and was parked up on the M5 ready for Bath first thing in the morning.

After that delivery I looked for a filling station to top up but still couldn’t find any. I couldn’t find any service station booklet in the cab either just rubbish. I explained all this to the client manager who then decided I had enough fuel to get to Exeter as the tank held over a hundred quids worth. He also asked me to ‘hurry up’! as he had 2 branches in Bristol, Taunton and Exeter to cover and he wanted the vehicle back in Eastbourne that same night.

I completed Exeter by 4.30 PM and had 4.5 hours of a 15 hour day left. Enough to get the vehicle back to Eastbourne? I told the manager I had no idea how much fuel was in the tank and needed to locate a garage - one which accepted his fuel card… The easiest was to use a Tesco’s BP in the town centre and phone payment through as before but he said this was inconvenient as they wouldn’t accept the card either and time was running out.
I was instructed to go on to Honiton en route back to Eastbourne and fill up at a known station which his regulars used.

On this advice I proceeded running out of fuel about 2 miles before reaching Honiton… The man went beserk as I nearly did when I realised I had to spend another night out. I waited 2-3 hours for assistance.

The next day this agency (naturally taking their client’s side of course) had a go at me for “embarrasing them and putting their client out?” They weren’t the least interested in my explanation and informed me that their client wasn’t going to pay them for a “time wasted service?” This agency consequently decided to only pay me for 2 days and one night, short changing me for the rest of it? I’m still waiting for the 1st night’s allowance and had to haggle for the “class 1 rate” they promised me…

As you can imagine I’m well ■■■■■■ off about this as I don’t think I’m entirely responsible. I was just following orders but I’ve been accused of not being organised - not having my own maps and directions? Typical response and defence of a costly ■■■■ up by the client by not allowing me to fill up at Tesco’s in Exeter as suggested. They knew the gauge was faulty and could have phoned through payment. Worse, there was nobody on hand to administer the assignment from the start. I had to ‘trust’ the word of the agent. Never again!

Fortunately the only defect on the vehicle other than the fuel gauge was the wiper rubbers which were worn but in any case would have failed an MOT.

I’m now establishing whether or not this agency WAS paid by the client.
My time sheets are signed for 3 days so this agency is duty bound to pay me aren’t they or can they refuse on the grounds of “client dissatisfaction?” I’m working through a limited company which probably complicates my case…

Bloody nightmare or what?

[kitkat]

Why 2 of the same reports

Duplicate removed to the scrapheap in the sky. K

[rob_k]

Yes, very… erm, annoying.

Unfortunately this is the down side with some agencies. I’ve had this kind of thing happen to me before and to be honest, I find that all the hassle involved in trying to recoup ten, twenty, thirty quid or however much it is, just isn’t worth it.

I would ensure that the agency and client involved were named and shamed in general conversation though.

Can’t really offer any advice other than don’t work for them again but you’ll know that much already.

[johnny]

visit, call or email your local citizens advice bureau.
did you keep a copy of the signed timesheet?
if you did then that will help you with any action you take.
you may have to go to industrial tribunal over this but i think you will be entitled to payment for every hour worked irrelevant of the reasons for how long you worked.
you may want to give the agency the opportunity to pay you in full before you take things further.
call them up and tell them you have spoken to or contacted c.a.b. and you are considering taking them to a tribunal if they don’t make payment in full.

[convoy]

I don’t know who you should talk to get your money
but I think you are entitled to it as you did the work.
I did a job for one agency once and did not get paid
but did not pursue it as it would not have been worth it.
I am with an agency now that pays a lot better and the
jobs are better and I am happy which is the main thing.

I hope you get your money and I think you should stay
clear of there agency if they are going to be like that.

[johnny]

of course you could actually go one further and tell them you will make a call to vosa and report the operator for drivers hours offences, speeding into and out of the depot, poor maintenance etc and they might want to ask the operator if he can afford to have vosa drop by and do a check.
i would not suggest that you actually do that though, just threaten it, it usually works a treat, you may want to threaten to call the operator yourself and tell them that is what your going to do if the agency doesn’t pay you.

[qhunter]

mmm. The first thing to say is that in my opinion this mess isn’t your fault. It sounds like too much was expected from you from the outset. Fuel agency cards can be a nightmare and at the very least you should have had a guide to help you out. In the absence of such a guide for them not to let you get fuel as and when you could is ridiculous. It sounds like the clients manager is watching pennies but not watching pounds… where have we heard that before.

If you have 3 days signed for then you are due 3 days pay. If the client and the agency have since fallen out over the events then that is between the two of them and not you. You are due 3 days pay plus the night out allowances.

The fact that he told you to carry on rather than allow you to fuel the vehicle which subsequently ran out of fuel is entirely down to the clients manager. You were communicating with him and letting him make the decisions - the correct thing to do. That he made the wrong decision regarding fuel is down to him and not you and it sounds like he is now trying to blame you as a method of recourse for him incurring the costs of recovery/repair.

It sounds like the agency aren’t being as supportive as they should be.

As a 15yr agency man I would suggest the following as the course of action.

1: Tell the agency that you have a timesheet signed for 3 days work and that they are legally bound to pay you for the hours contained within as well as the night out allowance

2: Offer to supply the agency as much information as they require to show that you acted in accordance with the clients instructions.

3: Make sure that the agency knows that the job brief (delivery maps, fuel site maps etc) wasn’t provided as promised.

4: After this has got sorted out you go find a proper agency who understands the difficulties agency men can encounter with tranpsort operations being run by managers happy to “spoil the ship for a ha’peth of tar”

[lucy, I hope you’re proud of me. I am sick of hearing about agency drivers being stitched up like this and to get through the post without bloody swearing took some effort]… oh yeah, DOH!

[Lucy]

Suitably impressed, Qhunter…

[smcaul]

Main point to remember is that you are employed to work for the AGENCY, who they sub you out to is not your concern (as far as the money side of things go) You need to remind them of this, Next point is basically tell them you are going to the small claims court, if you have a signed time sheet they do not have a leg to stand on. It is well worth doing as you can claim your court costs back, and all the hearing is is you in a room with a judge and them, nice and cosy!!! I have recently taken Royal Mail to the small claims court and won, they had lawyers and all I had is me, so it is easy to do. Just dont let them get away with it. The other way of doing it is to stand outside their office and give a leaflet to everyone who goes in detailing what happend, but that might just be my vindictive side showing now

[hitch]

i am puzzled as to why you were at Worcester at 1800 hours which order did you do the drops in

[tramper]

You could of course get a proper job, and cut out the parasitic agencies full stop!

[david5l]

By you saying that you ARE A LIMITED COMPANY it sounds like you are self employed. If you wern’t you could take them to an employment tribunal for unauthorised withdrawal of wages.

Your best bet is to follow Qhunters advice above, small claims is easy and can be filed online here

Or accept another job from them then take the clients truck and park outside the agencies office untill they pay up

[truckyboy]

Sounds like it wasnt your fault…but you have been short changed…what i would do now is eat humble pie…bide your time…then wait until another job comes along from the same agency…collect the keys …then park it up the road…and go home…dont forget to put the keys in the post (second class stamp) and teach them not to short change anyone again…no extra payment but great satisfaction

[tallow]

Thank you ALL for such great support and excellent replies. Very grateful and many thanks to Rikki and Lucy for an excellent website

Hitch, what I meant was I’d completed a run from Eastbourne to Worcester and had got down as far as the M5 services not far from Bath. I’d completed almost 13 hours spending the night there, leaving for Bath at 6am the following morning.

Re the agency they’re not my usual and NO I won’t be using them again. For the record they’re called DFL (Driving Force Logistics) Uckfield and the client was Ryder Trucks? I’ve written to their head office to find out whether or not they did pay the agency. I’ll take it from there.

[david5l]

and back to your original question;

Yes of course it was your fault

your an agency driver arnt you

[tallow]

Yeah Right !!!

[hitch]

i gather that but how many drops in what order to arrive at your night out spot… tallow
check your pm

[tallow]

There was no order. I just started in Oxford, worked my way up to Hereford Worcester and then headed south to Bath. It was a long day hence pulling up on M5 south for a shower and a kip.

[hitch]

what i am trying to ascertain (am i to blame friendly advice etc) is how long it took to get between the drops and did it take long to get tipped, because to do only 4 drops (Oxford Cheltenham Hereford Worcester) on day 1 seems at first glance inefficeint given that you started at 5 ish and could have been in Oxford before 9…basically it works out at an hour between drops and an hour at each place

rsvp

[tallow]

Hitch
You’re right it does look inefficient but the fuel stop alone on the M40 took almost 1/2 an hour waiting for the client to call back and sort out the payment. Got lost in Oxford, another 20 minute delay and traffic generally was slow and heavy. Took ages to get to Hereford but I was done by 4-4.30PM.

Had to unload and reload the truck at each depot on my own and do the paperwork. + take 45 minute break. In some instances I collected more stuff than I dropped off. Sorry I forgot to mention that. Parking in some places was a pain and I had to use a pallet truck crossing roads and walkways to get the stuff to the shops. Cribbs Causeway full of red tape and security everywhere. Had to wait for a goods lift for 3 loads. Not a nice job at all. Should have had a mate with me.

Took 1 and 1/2 - 2 hours to get to M5/M4 services from Hereford. Only half hour away from Bath which would have been closed by then.