Even though I love my job it’s hard to get enthusiastic about going back down the road after the Xmas/New Year holiday and not seeing my wife and 3 small children till the end of the week. The feeling of helplesness when my wife is suffering the frustration of trying to get the kids to bed on her own while I’m miles away and unable to help.
ALL FOR £400 A WEEK.
There is a small amount of satisfaction in driving top tackle but it gets smaller as the years go by and I find myself increasingly interested in the comments/threads posted by members on this site about agencies and the alledged huge pay on offer.
I would be very interested to hear from anyone who could give me honest and impartial advice based on experience of them. I have seen adverts offering sometimes into the teens of £’s per hour.
Is this realistic or is just [zb] to generate interest?
More importantly could I reliably earn £400 every week without doing 65+ hours a week?
If so, which are the best agencies?
Even though I live in North Yorkshire which doesn’t command particularly high wages or suffer acutely from the driver shortage I have been driving artics since I have been old enough to hold a licence (I’m mid 30’s now).
I’d appreciate any views on this topic.
Hi there ,i can only speak for myself on agencie,s but from my experiences with them yes you can earn the money ,i was offered a number down in swindon from aug 2 dec @ 12,ph+ free accomadation
but dont belive all you here n read, the have to atract the drivers somehow, myself im struggling to get any work so im off now for a job.
not sure how far away you are from wakefield but just for eg, asda drivers earn 27,000 py for a five day week,home every night…i no what your saying with the nights out,its each to there own,me i just prefer being home…agencies offer no securities cheers jb
i have been working for an agency since march then the week b4 xmas nothing.i have had 2 days work since then.excellent money while working then zilch.
agency work will not really pick up until feb/march as everyone is staying at work to pay off xmas.
You need to see what the basic rate in your area is like and then check the overtime rate. To earn top money on agency work, you will still have to put in 60 hours a week though.
Down here the basic rate is around £8ph, o/t £12ph. so a basic 40 hrs is only £320 + 20hrs @ £12 would give you a top-line of £560, less stoppages-£420 approx.
The downside with agencies though is that you could be changing firms everyday, different vehicles so have to carry maps and other bits and bobs with you each day.
I agree with what the other say I’ve been on agency and earned better money, but I’ve also had nothing since Christmas and can’t really get along with waiting for the phone calls and not having the same truck from one day to the next. If you’ve ever put all your gear from you cab into your car you’ll know how much you really carry, but on agencies you can only really carry the basics.
Milky, its completely the wrong time of year to be trying to get into agency work I’m afraid. As you know, transport goes quiet for most of January and February. If you get in with a good agency after this time has gone and stay with them you would have enough “seniority” by next christmas to be kept in work over the quiet period.
When you start talking to the agencies enquire about the rates they are paying. Some agencies pay different rates for each job. Obviously you want to work for a firm who will pay you the same rate whatever job you work on.
I worked purely agency, for the same firm for 7 years and I knew I was much better off than I would ever be working “in-house”
If you’re prepared to work wierd jobs, then you still have a chance with agency, even now.
I’m on agency work, I only joined the agency at the beginning of December. I’m working nights trunking for the Royal Mail, in fact, I’m off to work in half an hour.
You just need to be willing to do the odd jobs, and the unpleasant ones most people don’t want. (Like nights and waste collection)
MBK dont belive these people who say it all dies down after xmas there are plenty of industries out there who need work all year round, I have been doing some since August (ish) and still am and still will be.
In fact the company i was doing it for asked me if i could do this week but i cant £8 for 8 then £12 for after that not bad for this area.
The best thing you can do is phone a few of them or look on the jobcentre website .
I’m on the agency, have been for a number of years. About this time of year, post xmas/new year, I always think I need to go and join a regular job, then I throw a piece of buttered toast up in the air and it always lands butter side up with a big A on it, I know which side of my toast is buttered, its the agency side.
OK, it’s a different cab each week, gear in, gear out, but when you get treated like a human being, by fellow human beings, and I’ve had a wage rise each year for the past 3 years without asking for it, all they ask is loyalty, what they give is loyalty, which is more than a lot of regular employers will give, then you can see why I’m on the agency.
Also, I would get bored doing the same thing day in, day out, variety is the spice of life you know.
And another thing, how many of you in regular jobs have the goalposts moved for you, usually behind your back, I don’t, I tell the agency where I want the goalposts, and they only move them if I am happy with the move.
ps, I work for Driver Hire Grimsby, and they work for me.
Well I’ve got a situation going on at the moment where I’m jobless and technically speaking, houseless.
I knew the jobless part of it was coming sooner or later so I’m not too surprised there. The gaffer has been on about packing up on containers for ages and he reckons he’s happy with the 5 drivers he’s got going across the water each week. When I spoke to him on Saturday night in the middle of emptying the furniture from my let house he made up some bull about some new fuel cards haven’t arrived and I’d have to take Monday off. Spoke to him this afternoon and you’ve guessed it, the alleged fuel cards still haven’t arrived. I put him on the spot and basically told him to tell me what he was trying to tell me and reading between the lines it was basically there isn’t a job there anymore but he didn’t have the guts to say it out right. At least I don’t have to drive the Twingo anymore yipeeeeeeee
Then you’re faced with trying to sort out some other work and having done the agency for the past few years over Crimbo I know that you’re very hard pushed to find anything.
I phoned up all the big players in the W Yorks area (agencies and larger haulage co.'s) and there’s zip. Drivertemps have got about 25 class 1 drivers sitting about, DriverHire about 10 (they pay [zb] anyway), 1st Class Drivers have about 15. Even Viamasters who my mate has just started with today aren’t looking for anymore class 1’s at the moment (turns out they got their payrise today and it’s not a bad one) but they’re looking for a couple of class 2’s so as I can’t find work anywhere else and am currently £900 out of pocket already for not working the two weeks over Crimbo plus another £450 coming up for this week not working too I need to be taking whatever I can find. Yeah okay the money won’t be that exciting and the wagon will steer the wrong way when reversing but at least it’s a source of income and it’s my foot already in the door for when a class 1 job comes along. Beggars can’t be choosers is what my Old Dear would say. It’s just a good think I’ve got a sensible wedge already in the kitty.
The geezer in Ripon that’s after work, if you call 0113 2720777 and speak to Richard or Lionel NEXT WEEK, you’ll have a good little number with Royal Mail RDC at Whitwood on agency if you’re after work. It’s about the most laid-back and easy work you could ever do. I can’t work for them because I’ve got a PI claim currently against them.
I’m on Agency and have been since the niddle of November. My agency told me at the beginning that it would slow down from Xmas through to Easter, but that he had a few contracts that were consistently after drivers 365 days a year. These are obviously not always the best paying contracts, but they seem ok to me. The one I am on at the minute is Carters doing the night trunk from Alconbury to Felixstowe or Tilbury. 2 Shunts a night or if I’ve been really naughty a live tip as far afield as Daventry or Grantham…
The rate for this with my agency is £9 an hour for the first 10 hours with 10 hours guaranteed minimum, and then £11.25 an hour after that.
Realistically you can get in 55 hours a week, and for that you earn just over £500 before tax. So a bring home of about £350.
Now I know that some of the other agencies pay a bit more for the same job, but carters always spread there wok across as many agencies as possible, there are at least 10 supplying drivers for the site at alconbury.
Me, I don’t mind not having the same truck every day. I still travel light as I don’t have that many maps, but I don’t want to do permanent nights. I can have days with my agency, but that contract is driving a shed, and working for the one of the most disorganised companies I have ever seen. So I am swapping next week to a full time job. The money is a bit less than I am on, and it involves nights out, but I gwet my own unit, and the boss is a really good bloke.
So if anyone in the cambridge/huntingdon area wants an agency job then call Gary Addison at Quality People. 01223 246602. He should be able to sort you out with work for the next few months.
No, a local company that handles the palletways accounts for peterborough, kingslynn, huntingdon, and corby.
I only did 2 weeks on there, but everywhere I went I either passed or queued with another of there trucks.
leehellcat:
but that contract is driving a shed, and working for the one of the most disorganised companies I have ever seen.
Wouldn,t be Securicor (DHL) or Christian Salvesen would it?.
DHL/SECURICOR are in the process of changing the fleet to M.A.N diesel, i know some off the trl’s are a bit tatty but they are getting changed now,but even before that we had a mixed fleet volvo,scania,renault,and daf never thought they where sheds, except the iveco’s that express used.
jonnybravo:
Hi there ,i can only speak for myself on agencie,s but from my experiences with them yes you can earn the money ,i was offered a number down in swindon from aug 2 dec @ 12,ph+ free accomadation
but dont belive all you here n read, the have to atract the drivers somehow, myself im struggling to get any work so im off now for a job.
not sure how far away you are from wakefield but just for eg, asda drivers earn 27,000 py for a five day week,home every night…i no what your saying with the nights out,its each to there own,me i just prefer being home…agencies offer no securities cheers jb
hi jonnybravo
i work for asda wakefield £7.30 per hour days doing 50-55 hours per week.jobs a doddle,you`ll see us all doing 50 in the inside,taking it easy!
£20,000 is nearer the mark after overtime!
money is not everything.happy driving !
jon boy 100:
hi jonnybravo
i work for asda wakefield £7.30 per hour days doing 50-55 hours per week.jobs a doddle,you`ll see us all doing 50 in the inside,taking it easy!
£20,000 is nearer the mark after overtime!
money is not everything.happy driving !
Asda at Didcot, right next door to Tesco, were advertising at £27000 p.a. last August so perhaps that’s a reflection of the local competition for drivers. Similar situation in South Wales, Magor, but don’t know what the rate is there.
cheers jb
