Back on the agency, what an eye opener!!
I told my last full time employer to go forth and multiply just before Christmas as they took the urine for my can do will do attitude.
Funds getting low so need to get some money so I can go on holiday, so I decided to go back on the agency. I had to attend a drivers assessment this week with a rather large company. Paperwork done, assessment papers done, walk round checks done and got pulled by the assessor as the legs were not fully up by a complete turn as it was getting stiff to turn the handle and I didnāt want to snap off the bolt. I was told VOSA Ā£60 a turn of the handle. What a W & the thing on the front of ship that they drop into the sea to stop it moving.
Getās into the unit ready for the drive and Iām told to drive as I would do normally. To break the ice I stated to the assessor I canāt do that as Iām a little bit embarrassed by his presence as I normally drive with a DVD player showing a ā ā ā ā movie, with my pants around my ankles, smoking a joint and swigging a bottle of buckfast. He was not happy. At the end of the assessment drive, a total of 1 hour, he pulls me for crossing my hands when driving. I drove most of the way with one hand. The joy of being an agency driver. I had passed the assessment so I kneeled down and kissed his feet, I was so pleased to be in the presence of a driving god. I wish I had his knowledge and driving skills.
ā ā ā ā ā ā ā
What can one say? I notice that quite a few have read this post but no replies!!
When the guy in the passenger seat( assessor), has the power to say yes or no as to wether you earn a crust or not, you have to do whatās necessary , is it that difficult to act like a Proffesional for 1 hour?
As you will no doubt agree, there are a lot of driving Gods out there who love to have a pop at anyone who does so much as cuts a corner!
Best to do it right mate, if youāre back on agency, youāll find yourself doing a few assessments, thatās the way it is now Iām afraid .
Hey Dogsbody, where was the assessment,I assume by the reference to an anchor it was Keune and Nagel, was it waitrose,? and were you actually told it was a fine for each turn of the handle by the assessor, if so, he is an ā ā ā ā ā ā ā , I have had seven assessment drives over two weeks, for these type of people and it pi$$es me off having to do them, all Agencies should be shut down and made (rhymes with ducking) illegal getting guys to do assessments for free, parasites.
Sapper
If there werenāt so many drivers with ālearning difficultiesā, we wouldnāt have to do assessments. Thatās my two pence.
Hey Sapper, Iāve got absolutely no idea where the assessment was as I wasnāt the OP!!
If you read it again, he makes no mention of K&N, Iām guessing heās trying do describe how he felt about the assessor without the mods stepping in?
Couple of years ago, I registered with ADR Network @ Crick, they wanted me to do a 7 hour assessment at Some fridge outfit FOC( I declined!)
I think making sweeping statements regarding agencies is a bit silly( theyāve obviously Pāeed you off in the past?)
IMHO all you have to do is know your worth, if they want you to work for nowt, just politely decline!!
The only reason I mentioned K& N was because he says something about the thing at the front of the ship that they drop in the sea, so I thought it was a veiled reference to K & N whoās trademark is the Anchor.
Sapper
sapper:
Hey Dogsbody, where was the assessment,I assume by the reference to an anchor it was Keune and Nagel, was it waitrose,? and were you actually told it was a fine for each turn of the handle by the assessor, if so, he is an ā ā ā ā ā ā ā , I have had seven assessment drives over two weeks, for these type of people and it pi$$es me off having to do them, all Agencies should be shut down and made (rhymes with ducking) illegal getting guys to do assessments for free, parasites.Sapper
I have NEVER done an assessment free of charge and Iāve been doing agency for decades. If the customer wonāt pay the customer can go ā ā ā ā themselves, although itās usually the agency trying it on.
Dogsbody:
Hey Sapper, Iāve got absolutely no idea where the assessment was as I wasnāt the OP!!
If you read it again, he makes no mention of K&N, Iām guessing heās trying do describe how he felt about the assessor without the mods stepping in?
Couple of years ago, I registered with ADR Network @ Crick, they wanted me to do a 7 hour assessment at Some fridge outfit FOC( I declined!)
I think making sweeping statements regarding agencies is a bit silly( theyāve obviously Pāeed you off in the past?)
IMHO all you have to do is know your worth, if they want you to work for nowt, just politely decline!!
Yes not happy with the assessor.
Iām not going to slag off the agencies or company as I have put my self in this position. Just not happy with some of the assessors you come across, some are spot on others are the thing on the front of ships spelt with a W in front of it lol.
I dunno about ālearning difficultiesā.
If the assessor ādoesnāt like the look of youā or youāve āgot the wrong accentā or āhave a funny walkā,
then surely the opportunity is always there for them to put you around so many 90 degree left hand bends that you eventually kerb it the moment you meet a car coming out of the same road on your side of the road. 
DHL on the other hand, donāt seem to give a toss if you kerb it, because they just want more umbrella fodder on their books on single digit hourly rates. 
i wanted agency work with asda before christmas till i found out it was a 7hr unpaid assessment. i told um shuv it the cheeky ā ā ā ā ā 
ended up workin mostly for dingle dangle which was only a 1hr assessment again unpaid
Sounds like a transline,assesment I did one to go in asda redhouse donny about four years ago,had to use a Argos tractor & tr at castleford,& the assessor was one of our eastern European friends,wincanton contract at Asda redhouse not a bad job no shop deliverys just trunking to Asda rdcs,been doing it about a month when the t**ser in charge says everyone has to go on another 7 hour unpaid induction cos some agency drivers were not doing the paperwork correctly so told em to stuff itā
Iām sick of new punters that need an assessment done. Itās invariably unpaid, and often well over the length of a normal driving test of any sort.
Add the unclaimable commute expense on top, and youāve gotta ask yourself āwhy bother with this chickenshit outfit at all?ā
If a 20+ year clean licence means nowt, then Iāll keep it for some other firm that wants to take me on as a professional, rather than āthe boyā yet again.
Iāll keep my powder dry for a decent firm that asks for assessments ONLY after insisting upon āonly clean licence holdersā as well. Iāve not come into contact with one yet, so I shanāt be holding my breath at all hereā¦
If a firm doesnāt want clean licence holders, but insists upon doing assessments with new drivers, then what they are really doing is trying to establish if an endorsed driver is capable of driving like a clean oneā¦ Maybe they are, maybe theyāre not, but all the risk and expense is poured onto the worker instead of the company, because whatever happens under the current insurance regimes, the firm cannot lose whoever they employ.
FFS if agencies stopped lining up ā9 points OKā types for the jobs, we wouldnāt be in this mess right?
I yearn for the day that insurance companies work out they are being fiddled large by firms employing high risk drivers, and refuse to insure them further.
THEN weāll see how keen employers are to book in the ā9 points OKā crowd just to save a couple of quid an hour, just to have them stack another motor every week on a no-longer-claimable-on-the-insurance basis.
Any firm that considers themselves āA cut above the restā needs to earn that image with itās own workforce donāt you think?
āExclusiveā (read āexpensiveā) prices only seems to apply to the consumers of said firms, whilst their own staff are on unremarkable wages, no worker-efficient/family-friendly shifts, and get to use kit ill-equipped for a 24 hour operation, let alone a 24/7 one.
"Hi guy, Well done on passing your āassessmentā what with your endorsement-ridden licence and all.
Hereās your keys and paperwork.
Youāre on 01:00 to 07:30 sunday to friday this coming week, starting just late enough to be knackered before you start, finishing just in time for the morning rush hour, and a nice 6 lots of commuting to do per week as well.
Donāt forget thatāll mean SIX one hour deductions for breaks, and a ācompetetiveā hourly rate of ā¦wait for itā¦ NINE pounds per hour to reflect the effect this job will have upon your home life.
You wonāt be able to take your breaks, let alone get any crafty shuteye in your cab, because we only use day cabs that are over ten years old here.
You can use your own paper tachos, and we donāt pay for shifts when you hand in tatty and/or smudged ones.
Weāre a cut above the rest you see, and consider ourselves to be among the most efficient hauliers in the business, not that our shareholders benefit, because our dividend is well below market par for the sector. As we have no debts however, our ācutā above the rest bankers think weāre Godās gift to trade and industry at this firm, and we never get auditedā¦ You might have wondered why there are a lot of staff milling around that seem to dart into the shadows every time an unknown suit face appears in the car parkā¦"
Total gross pay for your six NIGHT week: Ā£297.
Alternatively, you could go elsewhere that is happy to book you in letting your licence speak for itself, gross the same pay for two shifts, and only have to pay for 2 commutes instead of 6 per week insteadā¦ 
I find its an insult to meā¦i wouldnt be applying for the job if i couldnt do itā¦just jumped up jobsworth who like there authority tripā¦it did happen to me a few yrs back i told the so called foreman driver assesor to go and fā¦himselfā¦id forgoten more than he would ever teach me or pull me for ā¦the TM said where you going ? i never answered just got in the car and called at another firm who took me on there and thenā¦without the power tripperā¦ 
they think there self importance is a virtue yeh rite !
sapper:
The only reason I mentioned K& N was because he says something about the thing at the front of the ship that they drop in the sea, so I thought it was a veiled reference to K & N whoās trademark is the Anchor.Sapper
w + anchor = the assessor.
its some agency called h+g that are doing the 7hr unpaid assessments for the privilege of driving for asda at skem wigan and warrington apparently its something asda insist on. i wanted the work but couldnt bring myself to do it i dont mind taking a lorry round the block but 7hr is taking the ā ā ā ā . mind you ive worked fulltime for sainsbury and somerfield and they do same thing so not just asda ,what ā ā ā ā ā ā ā winds me up is when your fulltime employee they pay you full rate for any assessment but when your agency its ā ā ā ā him he can do it for ā ā ā ā all if he wants the honour of driving for us
Assessments should be paid. Your card is in and you are burning up driving and working time hours that could be used elsewhere. Mind you a lot of the drivers the agency send us fail the Highway Code test and donāt even make it into the truck. We had some guys turn up who worked four on four off in a warehouse and wanted to do four days driving on their day off. Scariest thing is the woman at the agency didnt see what was wrong with that.
shytalk:
I find its an insult to meā¦i wouldnt be applying for the job if i couldnt do itā¦just jumped up jobsworth who like there authority tripā¦it did happen to me a few yrs back i told the so called foreman driver assesor to go and fā¦himselfā¦id forgoten more than he would ever teach me or pull me for ā¦the TM said where you going ? i never answered just got in the car and called at another firm who took me on there and thenā¦without the power tripperā¦
At the place I work,some people from another company,who had recently paid off drivers,came for assesment. One of these experienced drivers flounced out of his assesment as wellābecause he was asked to do a walk round checkāand when he replied it wasnāt his job,the night shunters did that. He seemed astounded that he would actually have to check his truck over before he took it out,and flounced off in the huff with a shout of āā ā ā ā thatā.
You see,not everybody knows if you have been a good driver for 20 years or just a lucky driver. So wind your neck in a bit and demonstrate your ability and suitability. With your attitude you probably did the company a favour by not deining to drive for themāor saving them the trouble of telling you to get the ā ā ā ā oot their yard.
So skippy you know it all as wellā¦i do know how to do a walk round my old mateā¦but i dont whant a snotty nosed patronising currant telling me how to do my job after 30 yrs thanksā¦so its upto me you see take it or leave itā¦ill leave it, and i dont need luck either as you put itā¦go and play at truck driving but put your dummy in firstā¦ 
shytalk:
So skippy you know it all as wellā¦i do know how to do a walk round my old mateā¦but i dont whant a snotty nosed patronising currant telling me how to do my job after 30 yrs thanksā¦so its upto me you see take it or leave itā¦ill leave it, and i dont need luck either as you put itā¦go and play at truck driving but put your dummy in firstā¦
Look numbnuts,every job you go for nowadays you need to prove your abilities. I am not advocating doing a full shift like some of the posts here are describing,but I am saying at least show these companyās that you are capable of doing the job. As to the attitude part well itās nice when people prove my point for me. Truck driving these days is slightly different to it was 30 years ago. This country has moved on. There is no need to be the angry trucker anymore.
OK numbnutsā¦lolā¦i dont have to prove to anyone my ability to drive a truck and do my daily checks and i know the drivers hours and regsā¦numbnutsā¦and 30 yrs ago it was for drivers only not frickin ā ā ā ā ā ā like you in your drive its self ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā¦you would be good at being an assessor your full off it patronising womans peiceā¦dont teach your mother to ā ā ā ā eggs ā¦numbnutsā¦