Would be interested to hear from any one who has recently gained their license who lives in Edinburgh or Lothians.
Im starting my training in a couple of weeks but still slightly concerned about getting my first start.
Spoke to an agency in Livingston who said theyd give me a start as soon as I get my license which sounds promising.
Would like to hear of anyone in the same position as myself and how and if you got work after passing.
Cheers for any help. 
hey, i live 40 miles south of edinburgh, i start my training on the 4th of may.
Whats the name of the agency you are using, do they have a website.
Cheers
If it’s NAS Recruitment Services in Livingston then they seem to be a good outfit. I signed up with them last week though I don’t start my training till May myself.
Scanny77 is the man to speak to.
I’m in Kinross but I’m more than happy to work around the Livingston area if it’s for a decent agency.
the agency is NAS. Spoke to andy Beattie who seemed genuine in helping me.
The website is www.nasscotland.com
All going well i will be contacting them soon !
Good luck to you King Monkey 80 and Brownie 71- Lets hope we all succeed !
Never heard anything bad said about NAS - I spoke to them when I moved up and they seemed to be able to get me work with less than two years experience. Didn’t use them in the end as I managed to get full time work elsewhere…
Scanny certainly sings their praises !!!
G
Good to hear that. Ill hopefully find out for myself assuming I pass.
I was leaving Tescos in Edinburgh today just as they were recieving a delivery (an Eddie Stobbart cab which Surprised me) and I couldnt believe the manouvre that the guy did. Just watching him made me think that ive got a lot to learn but I suppose we all have to start somewhere.
I start my c cat next Monday and all going well will do my c+e straight after.
I hate the job im doing just now which hopefully will give me the incentive to gain my license.
Did you find it fairly easy to gain work or did you have to knock on a lot of doors?
Best of luck for the training Talllegs. Who are you training with?
talllegs:
I was leaving Tescos in Edinburgh today just as they were recieving a delivery (an Eddie Stobbart cab which Surprised me)
No surprise really as Stobarts have got the Tesco’s contract now…Just go find your nearest tesco rdc uhhh livingston i think 
and see how many stob bods you see then…
Im doing my c cat with GTG in Edinburgh but if all goes well will use CTTS in Bathgate for c+e.
Im using GTG as I can get 200 quid towards my fees from ILA Scotland if I use them.
Did you find it fairly easy to gain work or did you have to knock on a lot of doors?
I started in Birmingham before I moved up here, used a couple of agencies which kept me going. Up here I tried Tesco first via Monarch (need a years experience) and did 4 months there before getting work direct at Bookers.
Didn’t really knock on many doors at all … … …
G
Thanks for info.
Ive heard that Tesco are a pretty good company to be involved with ie the pay is pretty good.
I dont think theres much work based in Edinburgh but Livingstone or through your way isnt too far a jaunt up the Motorway.
Lets hope I pass 
i have been with NAS for almost a year now. the pay is good and they always keep me working. one of my mates had his licence under a year and he got work through them on artics. as long as you let them know that you need experience, they will only give you easy shifts and if you have any problems on the job, call them and let them know. they look after the drivers and they know each one individually. they even call me Scanny when they are talking to me 
talllegs:
Im doing my c cat with GTG in Edinburgh but if all goes well will use CTTS in Bathgate for c+e.
Im using GTG as I can get 200 quid towards my fees from ILA Scotland if I use them.
NAS can get you a discount with CTTS. i dont know the details but the guys in the office will give you all the info you need.
talllegs:
Ive heard that Tesco are a pretty good company to be involved with ie the pay is pretty good.
pay isnt everything. how confident will you be on artics? they bought over one stop shop so they have all those little shops to deliver to all over the place
the dont treat agency staff very well either. i have always refused to work for them but i did do one week. 3 shifts, £180 flat rate for each one but it wasnt all that it seemed.
my instructions were that i was taking an artic to dumfries for a shop delivery then down to daventry where i would either be given a lift or a train back to base. on arrival at daventry i was told that they would take the trailer but not the unit. the unit was to go to middlewich. i didnt even know where that was 
anyway, i found the place with 5 minutes left of SHIFT time (15 hours) and i was then told that they were not expecting the unit or going to get me back. i called the agency (im short tempered so it wasnt a polite conversation ) and they sorted me out although it took 7 hours to get me back to my car from there.
the final shift was the worst. they changed my start time so i got there early to be told that there was no trunk due for 6 hours. 10 minutes later they sent me out with a driver telling me that it was my lift. on speaking to the driver, he was told to dump me at crewe train station 
obviously i told him to go without me and went loopy at the office guys and agency. 3 hours later they got me a trunk but he stopped at hamilton for a 45. i got a taxi from there and got the fare refunded via the agency.
i heard that on that same night one of our drivers had to hitch from an MSA where one of them dumped him
NAS pulled the drivers off the rest of these shifts (3 weeks worth) after all this. they wont tolerate clients treating drivers like this
i havent been back to tesco since and they know its not worth asking me.
asda is different though. 12 hour shift. 1 trailer load in edinburgh to 1 shop. back to base, another trailer split between that same shop and one on the other side of edinburgh. back to base, home. i spent most of that saturday in the drivers rest room
Really appreciate all your info Scanny.
You are right - money isnt everything and im lucky to be going into this career with a bit of cash in the bank so id rather do something that is enjoyable.
Thanks also for info on possible discount at CTTS through NAS.
The guy (Andy Beattie) I spoke to thoroughly recomended them.
All going well with my C cat I will get in touch with NAS and ask about any discount they can help me with with my C+E.
Will post a notice to let you know how my training goes.
Thanks again for all your help/info.
the dont treat agency staff very well either
That is not actually right - from what I gathered from the NAS job was that the whole thing was badly organised from start to finish. But it isn’t what you would normally be doing with Tesco anyway.
I was in Tesco for 4 months through the agency, and I know guys that have been there for years and travel a heck of a distance to get there. Always treated me pretty much as they treated their own drivers, never had any hassle off the traffic staff …
I was on nights so only did a couple of the small stores - they were generally no problem, although some of the big ones can be quite tight. Some are ridiculously so - but you always get some places like that with most jobs…
G
so they only look after us when they need us. as soon as we are finished driving their wagon they wash their hands of us. sorry mate but i wont touch anyone who leaves a driver by the side of the road or at a train station with no money for a train (as far as they knew)
I can’t say I blame you Richie, if my experience was the same as yours then I would probably not touch them with a bargepole and they agency would have got a major earbashing as well. In fact I don’t think I would have been back after the first shift. Needless to say my experience was a heck of a lot better, my only complaint being the number of reduced rests I was given - 90% of which were down to the agency messing around with start times (Monarch allocate them, not Tesco !!)…
Not saying that they were the best place I worked through an agency - that goes hands down to TNT Atherstone, but they certainly were not the worst.
G
Just to let you know that I passed my C cat on Friday.
I thought Id driven almost perfectly but ended up with a few minors but as my instructor (Frank at GTG) said, a pass is a pass.
Next its the bendy training for me.
nice one. congratulations