I’m considering going on the agency as I’ve heard that the hourly pay is good. Can anyone let me know if the earnings are good? I would appreciate some advice
I’ve only ever done agency once and that was a few years ago, the job I took on (Class 1) led to being offered a full time position with the company (not the agency). The pay at the time was good. I didn’t take the job as I was offered a job elsewhere, I might have just been lucky, I registered with 2 agency’s. The first offered transit van work (which I told them what to do with it) and the second was as above. Not sure about agency work nowadays but reading this forum it seems as though there’s not a lot of work. Best of luck.
no,get a full time job you know you got a wage on a friday,and if you want more coin work the agency on a weekend to pay your holidays car tax whatever. agencies will lie to you,mess you about with start times you will put some proper miles on your car,and if you do nights you may well face the phone call at 3pm saying they dont need you so think about the affect that will have on your home life,its alright if you had a pension after 20 odd years somewhere and you want some pin money,or you dont need to work and my missus has a good job all the usual crap you hear,if you want to work afternoons mornings and nights all in the same week and run round with your phone strapped to your ear ,listening to lies,the agency is for you,
stobart ,irlams reed boardell,n.r evans gregorys,innovate,o,conners,faber prest,carters,will give new starters a job im sure there are plenty of others. get your experience of them and go look for something else if its not for you.good luck.
p.s some people prefer agency and get 52 full weeks a year,but in the real world its more true to say its a 8 month season,if your lucky.
Depends what kind of work you want!
I’m looking forward to a flexible year this year, with an agency if you don’t want to work that day then just tell them, they’ll probably ring up begging you to work but its nice to be wanted.
If you are only on the books of ONE agency then yes, you probably will get 3 or 4 days a week at slow times, but get yourself signed up with two or three and it will be VERY rare that you don’t get offered a 6 day week.
However, if you need to know you’ll have a minimum of whatever pounds a week in the bank then you might find less worry as an employed driver, but that doesn’t mean you wont earn that with an agency, you might earn £70 less this week and £200 more next week, its just the way it goes.
Alex
Beaker1976:
I’m considering going on the agency as I’ve heard that the hourly pay is good. Can anyone let me know if the earnings are good? I would appreciate some advice
The hourly rate is good but there’s lots of quiet times with no/little work such as:
Jan-March
End Sept - November.
You’ll average about the same as a fulltime job, but do fewer hours.
All agencies lie through their back teeth to get your bum on a seat so don’t believe what they say. “Can you do me a favour” is a favourite too. They also do their very best to get out of their statutory obligations such as paying sick pay.
thanks folks. I’m still not sure, I’ve had my licence since '05 doing employed work but I need more take home. Food for thought, thanks for the help
Agencys are pretty much dead at the moment, i’m on the herts/essex border and registered with 3 agencies and so far this year i’ve had 1 day of work! 
Luckily i have something else to fall back on 
Agency work is fine if you want to flexible, to pick and choose, I did it for 3 years part time, mixed in with another non-driving job and its fine. But you need to be in a financial position where a bad couple of months, never mind a bad week, doesn’t stop you putting bread on the table.
From your post Breaker1976, I don’t think this is you; so if you need more money, find a better paying employed job. Easier said than done I know.
thanks for the advice, I think i might stay with what i’ve got
Beaker1976:
thanks folks. I’m still not sure, I’ve had my licence since '05 doing employed work but I need more take home. Food for thought, thanks for the help
Don’t do agency work then.
There are good agencies, bad agencies, and all shades in between.
The bottom line is that they exist to supply labour (drivers or other workers) to companies that they have supply contracts with. We, the workers, have to look after our own interests and beware of being taken for a ride and/or lied to.
My golden rule is never to keep just to one agency however good they are. Have a main one that supplies you with most of your work, but always keep in touch with at least one, maybe two back-up agencies that you can ring if you find yourself short of a day’s work via your main supplier.
I have worked for or registered with 5 different agencies since being made redundant in 2005. On a scale of 1 to 10 awarded for last minute shift changes, lack of holiday or sick pay, promises kept or broken, and most importantly, pay rates and regularity or not of actual work offered, I would rate the five agencies I have worked for as follows:
Agency A…(1) Poor hourly rate. No Holiday pay. Never again.
Agency B…(3) Lack of work. Still reserve back-up.
Agency C…(2) Lies and misleading promises. Never again.
Agency D…(7) Always ringing for favours of extra shifts. High average weekly mileage. Still my back-up.
Agency E…(9) My main employer. Can’t really fault them.
I’m lucky in that I only need 3 or 4 days a week as I paid off all debts with the redundancy money, so agency work suits me. Not sure I would recommend it if you need a full wage going into the bank every Friday without fail. It all depends if you live in an area that has a regular need for agency drivers and you have a good list of agencies to try out. In my opinion it is unwise to keep all eggs in one basket.
My Cousin loves agency work, he’s been with em for a good 4 or 5 years and swears by it, always kept in work and on a good hourly rate,
He keeps telling me to join him there but I prefer the comfort of knowing I am working next week/month etc.
Chris DB’s post sums it up pretty well.
As a former consultant I would never advise or encourage anyone to quit a permanent job to go on agency. Any consultant who does is being totally unprofessional.
Most “permanent” agency drivers in my experience tend to be mature guys whose kids have flown the nest and have few outstanding debts; they also need to have a very flexible approach to what they do, because as other posters have rightly said there are quiet periods, and it’s not unknown for a Class 1 man with ADR and HIAB etc to end up driving a Transit for a week in those circumstances.
You also have to take the crap with the cream when you first start, every job you turn down limits your usefulness (and earning potential) with the agency. For all that agencies have a bad name on here in general, there’s another side to it, they need their staff to be reliable too, you as the temp are their front-line salesman.
One other bit of advice if you ignore my first point and go for it; by all means use more than one agency,but do avoid the cardinal sin of dropping out of one job at the last minute to do another for an extra quid an hour. You might get away with it once but if you get a name for that sort of thing don’t expect regular work. The consultant who originally booked you will have been left with a lot of explaining to do to his client and will look elsewhere next time he wants a reliable man.
I made a reasonable living from agency work for many years, but the downside is that I don’t have much of a pension pot when I retire.
Thanks folks! That’s the beauty of this forum, any question gets answered by real people with real experience. I thank you all for taking the time to help me, I will now retire to consider my position, I think I already know the answer though. Thanks once again
as you have a job register with agency and do the odd day at the weekend if you can
gnasty gnome:
Chris DB’s post sums it up pretty well.
I Agree with that, as someone whos been doing F/T agy for the last few years, it sums it up
gnasty gnome:
Most “permanent” agency drivers in my experience tend to be mature guys whose kids have flown the nest and have few outstanding debts
Again I agree with that, Im not married and in my 40s, have no kids, no morgage, or major debts to worry about. If I work 2/3 days a week my household bills are covered, food is on the table. and I`ll have change to pay for beer and petrol. If I work more than 2/3 days a week then the extra goes into the bank for rainy days
qnasty gnome:
they also need to have a very flexible approach to what they do, because as other posters have rightly said there are quiet periods, and it’s not unknown for a Class 1 man with ADR and HIAB etc to end up driving a Transit for a week in those circumstances.
one job was taking brand new mercedes C220s from the Sheffield dealer to a Heathrow VIP limo Co and walking/catching the bus home. another was picking trade plates from Scania Sheffield, down to morrisons Yate in a people carrier and picking up tractor units that theyd de-leased and take em back to Sheffield
gnasty gnome:
You also have to take the crap with the cream when you first start, every job you turn down limits your usefulness (and earning potential) with the agency.
If you only want to do day work M-F then youll severely limit the possibilities, unsociable hours (nights, weekends) are not unusual, 8/10 times youll be given the absolute crappiest truck in the yard to drive, where even the yard shunter looks a better prospect
gnasty gnome:
do avoid the cardinal sin of dropping out of one job at the last minute to do another for an extra quid an hour. You might get away with it once but if you get a name for that sort of thing don’t expect regular work. The consultant who originally booked you will have been left with a lot of explaining to do to his client and will look elsewhere next time he wants a reliable man.
ALLWAYS try and be loyal to your primary agency, after a while when times are quiet like now, they might look after you and keep you going.
IF you drop out of 1 job for the extra quid, dont be suprised if you find a P45 on your doorstep from the agency you let down, with a note attached say "Dont call us and well not call you" .......very soon However theres always a way of making up the couple quid :wink: But dont string a job out too much for the sake of £5-£10, as some of the people in the transport office just might have a clue how long the run/trunk takes to do, that they send you on. you should turn up and expect to work a max 15hr shift, turning up at a clients and telling them you must be finished by a certain time as you have a booking / start time for the next day, doesnt look good, its not the clients responsibility to ensure youve had enough daily rest so you can start the next day. They have booked you for that day, and they will expect you to finish the job, but a quiet word with the desk clerk will give you an idea if you will be back in time. But dont make demands. Once you accept a booking for a job DONT change you mind, if you find that you dont have enough 9hr rest or 10hr ext available tell the agency BEFORE you take the booking, theyll generally try to work something out with you, to keep you working, if they don`t get you out there neither of you will make money.
Completing paperwork and check sheets accurately helps, its one thing that pops up in newsletters to me from the agency. If in doubt ask the clerks what is required, and they should try to help
gnasty gnome:
One other bit of advice if you ignore my first point and go for it; by all means use more than one agency.
Always keep the agencies on speed dial in case your primary agency lets you down, Ideally have the out of hours mobile number for all the agencies your registered with, and if you find yourself let down, or a booking cancelled at 8-9pm when the office is closed, send a txt telling the other agencies that your available is useful
gnasty gnome:
I made a reasonable living from agency work for many years.
when the going is good, the rewards and the flexability mean I can enjoy a reasonable lifestyle, and could at a drop of the hat, have a weekend off or head off on holiday when I feel like it. I had 6 holidays abroad last year, inc Florida, egypt, portugal and spain. How many full time employers would allow you that flexability?
gnasty gnome:
the downside is that I don’t have much of a pension pot when I retire.
Live now die later
Also Ive learned the hard way that when someone asks me which agencies I work for, are they any good, and would I recomend em. Now Ill point them in the opposite direction, as I`ve found myself on occasion left on the sidelines, when the person who asked me, ends up taking work from me
Agency work is only really good for making money around the last 3 to 4 months of the year (Sept, Oct, Nov & Dec) when suppliers & supermarkets are stocking up for Christmas & the New Year, and the first 3 to 4 months (Jan, Feb, Mar, April are usually very quiet). and the middle bit is pot luck!!
Blatent advertising?
or just spam off a newbie?
Lets just hope you asked the site owners for permission to post links to your companys website
Apologies if my post upset you
Looks ok to me, lots of useful information available 
well done.
Tiger.