.
Joey,
Have a read through this thread over on the newbies forum :
trucknetuk.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=18964
There’s a phone number on there you could try. An agency and £8.25 per hour,apparently. 
You should have no problems, mate, being an experienced driver. Kevin had only just passed his rigid test and got a start with them and they sent him for an interview the same day as he passed the artic test …Imagine that !! 
Don’t forget to mention this to them when you phone - they’re bound to know who you mean, it was only a couple of weeks ago - and if you wouldn’t mind, give us all some feedback on here as to what they said. 
Good Luck with your Jobsearch - here’s a couple of names for you : Gregorys, Parsons, Vallance …(and Bryans, - TN member Semtex works for them. )
Deesider:
Don’t forget to mention this to them when you phone - they’re bound to know who you mean, it was only a couple of weeks ago - and if you wouldn’t mind, give us all some feedback on here as to what they said.
Good Luck with your Jobsearch - here’s a couple of names for you : Gregorys, Parsons, Vallance …(and Bryans, - TN member Semtex works for them.
watches this thread with interest 
hehe
That goes with the old chestnut “we have to take a break off you by law”!!
joeyd:
Just moved down to devon and started work on a couple of agencies. Theres plenty of work around but i wanted to get a look at a few firms first.Goes into an agency and registers for class 1 work, and gets told it’s £7.50ph (not brilliant but seems to be the going rate down here)
Gets my pay chit and finds that they paid me £7.00ph
…i gets on the blower straight away to find out whats going on.
According to them my pay is correct as they had taken 50p ph off my rate to use as holiday pay, and they had to do it as it was eu law. Now after getting them to repeat it just so i hadnt heard wrong i gives them hell and pointed out that it may be law to give me holiday etc but it dont come out of my hourly effin rate.
End result is that i told them i am now on holiday and want every penny of holiday pay they owe me.
Dont know if they do that anywhere else but it is the first time i have come across it.
Rest assured i wont be working for those (zb) again
Joey
language editmm
WTRTR say holiday pay is an entitlement and the most favourable calculation (for the agency) is that you get an average week’s worth of days paid as 8 hrs at standard rate (ie no overtime taken into account).
Even if they work it out on that basis then 50p deducted from £7.50 makes no sense. Who said this? Someone at a management or proprietor level? Or the YTS kid?
I despair at the way that some agencies act. I’d be inclined to go and sit in their office and wait for them to correct their error.
I would go to C.A.B as what they have done is illegal, they are only allowed to deduct tax and national insurance.
Great are agencies aren’t they 
They advertise jobs that aren’t there. 75% of the jobs advertised on the jobcentre sites are for agencies offering great money, when you ring them up all they say is that position has been filled but come and see us anyway. It is a con they charge companies a fortune for your labour then take the bigger cut for you doing the work.
You sign up for them and they hammer you with work for the first month or two then all of a sudden zilch, because they’ve got a few more drivers to hammer with work. They have to keep their books full with drivers to keep their customers happy when a season demands it they can try their upmost to fill the demands.
Don’t get me wrong I have been on an agencies books, when I first passed my test, it was a good way of getting some experience. That was till I got wise to them.
Agencies are the pits and I personally avoid them like the plague, if more people kept away from agencies the big haulage companies would have to take on more drivers themselves and would have to be responsible for giving newly qualified drivers experience and better training in operating these new complicated vehicles.
Near where I live there is a RDC for one of the big supermarkets, I won’t say which one but every little clue helps. Yes they do have a large workforce but with the demands of Supermarket deliveries they have about half a dozen agencies falling over each other to fill the gaps with holidays, sickness and seasonal fluctuations.
If you want better jobs and better conditions keep away from agencies they are the super market’s puppets
The following is perfectly true, (not an urban myth )
Agency: what was that break on your card for on the return leg
Me: Had to stop for a pony
Agency: Seems like a long time for a toilet break
Me: Silence
Agency: Its proberbly better to try and fit that sort of thing in on your 45min break, the client doesnt like to see unexpected gaps in the tacho
Me: And my missus does’nt like to see unexpected brown stains in me crackers
.
joeyd:
According to them my pay is correct as they had taken 50p ph off my rate to use as holiday pay, and they had to do it as it was eu law.
It is illegal for them to make any deductions without your permission with the exception of tax, national insurance and any court order.
I think what they’re getting at is the fact that “rolling up”, where your holiday pay is paid with your wages as part of your hourly rate, is now illegal. HOWEVER if they advertise £7.50/hr, that is the rate of pay EXCLUDING holiday pay.
I’d go find another agency and make it perfectly clear why you’re dumping them. Also write them a lovely letter demanding the outstanding money they’ve STOLEN from you as well as holiday pay.
Just had a word with “Drivers” and he is right…£8.25ph . Pay varies depending what job you’re on but thats the rate for one particular company 
(and they dont take holiday pay out of it )
Gonna carry on with my other agency as they have regular work but have registered with Drivers in case my work dries up. Dont want to leave regular work for what could just be odd days.
Joey
Thanks Joey
joeyd:
Just had a word with “Drivers” and he is right…£8.25ph . Pay varies depending what job you’re on but thats the rate for one particular company
Why do agencies do that? Why tell you what their best rate is when they may know that the likelihood of you doing that job are thin? We have a couple of jobs that pay well over the local average - but they use three drivers between them and each of them has had to have a lot of days of training to be able to do the job.
joeyd:
Gonna carry on with my other agency as they have regular work but have registered with Drivers in case my work dries up. Dont want to leave regular work for what could just be odd days.Joey
Very sensible
Deesider:
Good Luck with your Jobsearch - here’s a couple of names for you : Gregorys, Parsons, Vallance …(and Bryans, - TN member Semtex works for them.
I’d avoid Bryans if I was you, just finished with them!!
Maintanance - dubious,
WTD - never saw any evidence. (15 hour night shift )
back to the old drawing board
Semtex:
I’d avoid Bryans if I was you, just finished with them!!
Bummer 
Semtex:
WTD - never saw any evidence. (15 hour night shift
Perfectly legit - the 10h is optional. Technically you’re supposed to sign an opt out if you want to work more than 10h on a night shift but I know loads of people who do and none of them have signed anything…
Paul
Semtex:
Deesider:
Good Luck with your Jobsearch - here’s a couple of names for you : Gregorys, Parsons, Vallance …(and Bryans, - TN member Semtex works for them.
I’d avoid Bryans if I was you, just finished with them!!
Maintanance - dubious,
WTD - never saw any evidence. (15 hour night shiftback to the old drawing board
Oh dear Semtex, another one bites the dust. 
I find on General your experience is fairly typical…
Max hours +
WTD ? wasat
Maintenance ? as you say dubious
Night out? Yep, all of ‘em
Unfortunately, I find, day don’t pay, and you still do 15’s
Night are ok if you can put up with it.
So what does that leave ?
Might try tipping…
If I can find anyone to give me a go
.
not had any experience with them myself but you could try contacting Bones.
Last I heard he was driving for them in Yorkshire so might be able to give you some idea
Wouldn’t it be worth taking one of the jobs above as a stopgap and to get you in the loop? As we all know, the best work is found by word of mouth in this game, and experience tells me that nowhere is that more true than in the West Country (I lived in Dorset for a few years).
You won’t get to hear the grapevine unless you’re out and about in a job…and it’s always easier to get a job from a job. Plus you’re earning whilst you bide your time.
That’s what I’d do, anyway, for what it’s worth.
.