I’ve heard that they are desperate for drivers and my son, fairly newly qualified, is thinking about applying direct (I gather the transport is handled by DHL & they will consider you as long as you get through the driving part of their assessment cleanly). Can’t find anything on the boards about them (though the search system won’t let me look for ‘B&Q’ because it’s too short), so anyone on here worked for them & give any idea of what they are like?
Thanks for reply, no it wasn’t the vacancies I was looking for - I know they are looking for drivers and are willing to accept direct contact, and I’ve been told the hours/pay & suchlike, just wanted any first-hand experience of any major issues with the company. I know they use on-board front-facing cameras, have live telematics, are very hot on H&S & suchlike but just wanted to know about what it’s like actually working for them.
I do agency work for them, mostly night trunking but ive done shops as well…
i had to have an induction and driving assessment before being allowed to do any shifts though ( lasted about 3 hours )
its easy work and seems a great place to work as i have not heard one driver moan about their job and they go out their way to help you out if you are not sure of something 
That’s the sort of thing I wanted to know, so thanks for that. He was told about the long assessment (I think there was mention of the ‘magic roundabout’ in Swindon!) but even though he’s a fairly new Class 1 driver (4-5 months) he’s actually pretty competent from what I’ve seen so that’s hopefully not too much of a problem. The kit looks pretty decent as well, so the absence of ‘moaning drivers’ looks like a plus.
The driving assessment lasted about 30-45 min and the classroom part about 2 hours…
ive never heard of the magic roundabout in Swindon ( the furthest south i go is Preston Brook )…but Heywood is a blindside if you have a decker, so that will be fun and games in the snow ! 
No, it will be down in Swindon - only been open a few years so hopefully not too many ‘old-timers’ who are usually the main culprits for causing friction. The ‘magic’ roundabout is five mini roundabouts on a larger one so it can catch the unwary out: Magic Roundabout (Swindon) - Wikipedia. Site itself looks fine - large & level, just off the A419 next to the Honda plant. At least the double deckers don’t seem to have back doors so it won’t be blind-siding onto a narrow gap between docks.
As you said the Kit is decent, their own units in the depot i work from are Volvo’s and Scanias but they hire in Renaults, Mercs and Ivecos as well ( being an agency driver i had driven all those types of units before so i was familiar with them before doing any shifts )
and you are asked to wash the units after every shift and they are all well kept and clean inside
The deckers dont have back doors and most of them dont have external straps either ( they use wheels that are tightened by a wire )
they have internal straps and netting and if you do a shop all you need to do is open the curtains etc and go to the agreed " safe place " and wait 
All sounds good. Having driven past it looks like all the units are recent Volvos and Mercs. I’ll pass on the info - think he will give them a call just to see what they say. Thanks again.
decent vehicles,easy work, basically just pulling the curtains backwards and forwards so they can load/unload,the only problem I had was trying to get out in the morning,you have to put your vehicle on the weighbridge and wait for a ticket[good because it covers you]but then you have to get through security,that could take up to 30 to 45 min if there is a queue of lorries waiting to get out,all in all though not a bad job,i just had issues with the wxxk agency I worked for [ ADR]Swindon
From what i gather ADR got the boot from there (they don’t even have an office in Swindon any longer )
I work there on nights. Think they use Staffline as main agency! May have a few full time vacancies as bit of a depot restructure going on currently.
Check dhl website not B&Q website for driving jobs
Will do. I’m guessing as it’s a salaried job that it’s annualised hours - is it based on the WTD 17 week period or do they have their own system? What do they regard as ‘nights’ by the way - didn’t think it was a 24/7 operation there.
Yes it’s salaried for average 48 over 17 weeks(which you will work) Monday - Friday and nights is anything from 16:30 - 03:59 start time. Store deliveries on days - basically open your curtains and nights is containers or trunking