after weeks of no work, as mentioned by me t’other week (and mucho appreciated masses of PM’s with ideas, numbers, names and so on! sorry to those I didn’t get back to !!!)… things took a turn from that extreme to the other the past few days.
I registered with extra agencies 25 miles or so away and some about 150 miles off. also applied for jobs with a large dairy firm and with the royal mail.
well, 1 agency got me inducted with a firm moving cars for minimum wage (long long days too so keeps just enough dosh coming in) on whatever days I choose to, so I can nominate say 2 days to guarantee an income and leave the remaining days to chance for something to come in on the big stuff… committed days need to be stuck to as they plan you in the day or week before and it needs to be stuck to in order not to jeopardise future work.
royal mail are taking me on assessment at crick on wednesday, so that’s a fair bit of my week taken on guaranteeing income and speculating on the future.
and lo-and-behold, I got 14 calls today, almost begging me at times to do work for them - and in most instances it was a full week or nowt - they really needed me in.
and so I’ve now had to be turning work away! it’s just madness.
still, 3 of them I couldn’t have done after straining my shoulders badly doing a drop on wednesday (pulling 1.5tn pallets of powdered milk uphill from their loading-places in the trailer, to the tail for forklift removal) so that don’t feel so bad! lol.
fingers crossed I’ll be in this much demand the week after next, and the week after, etc.
and even bigger fingers crossed I hear back from the dairy pronto and get in with them cos it’s the one I REALLY want!
i have turned work down this week too. i get calls to work on days that i am working and naff all for the days that i am free
as of monday, i will only accept work from one agency. i dont want to confuse things and end up tripping up. i havent received new time sheets yet from anyone
I’m still amazed that the agencies don’t offer an online form for drivers to simply fill in the hours worked, and where - and do it that way.
a company will soon tell them if a driver aint turned up…
few places I go to through best connection even bother checking timesheets if they bother to sign them - and many don’t even sign owt, just pay up it seems. all I do is text in my hours for the previous week before 12 noon on a monday morning and job’s a goon un. dosh in the bank come friday. doesn’t even matter if it was an 8 hour guaranteed minimum day - even happens for 15hr days. any communications to confirm hours are done by the agency to the client if required.
some demand sheets in though which is a pain in the bum - unless they’ll take a fax. some demand originals and some even taken in by hand. that always weighs in my mind when taking work from one over another.
that isnt a bad idea actually. i am sticking with best connection now but i have my own time sheets printed up for my own record. it would be easy enough to scan them and send them that way. then again, i still need to hand my tachos in so it doesnt make much difference
I am glad your having more luck with agencies than i am…I was working for a dutch company running potatoes in to walkers at leicester.(employed},loading mainly east anglia or northern france if your lucky…The job itself was easy…you just get to the farm,sometimes up to your eye balls in (zb) some one who could not comprehend simple english would back you on to an elevator ready for loading,1 hour later 1 loaded fridge or box van ready to go back to walkers.easy !!
So after my first week of working out axle weighers on fridge trailers and box vans and driving down unclassified roads to get to a farm that no one has ever heard of i thought great…This is better than going in to some rdc standing at the traffic desk like iv’e just landed on the planet,even if i have to dodge tractors and kamakzi car drivers that can’t reverse in a straight line…
At the end of each week i would bob tail to the local bp garage to wash the unit off then make my way home for my 3 days off leaving a nice clean truck for my return.
However, when i have had the need to fill in a gap,i like your self go to agencies
do a full shift and leave the truck as i found it…ready for the next driver.So after a few weeks of being out all week long i didn’t mind washing the truck down knowing it would left the same by the agency driver when i was on my rest days,until one fatefull sunday…Arrived back at the truck loaded my gear in through the passenger door,parked the car jumped in the driver seat only to get covered in 5th wheel grease…The air was blue!!! it was all over the seat on the steering wheel every where but where it should be…I was covered and i hadn’t even started the engine…It was after my boss said clean it!! its your problem i thought nope back too plan B
Here i am looking through the web sites and seeing the same old ads in the press and thinking There is no driver shortage…just a shortage of good work,where u can atleast get some respect or am i expecting to much after 7 years? Foned all the agencies in milton keynes and northampton…"oh yeah we got lots of work " a day here a day there…why advertise if you dont have work?? AAAHHH some one beem me up before i go Mental!!!
as a side point - I found 5th wheel grease never ever comes out of anything, no matter how good or powerful the detergent.
on monday I jetwashed the back garden’s paving slab to get rid of the algae and lichen making it like a slimy ice-rink. it even cut through weed stems, and got everything lovely.
right, thinks I !!
clothes already heading for the bon so what’s to lose?
t-shirt placed over a garden chair, material a bit stretched and weighed down on one side with a few smooth and jetwashed garden rocks.
a nice direct squirt with the jetwash on not-quite-full pressure gets most of it loosened, stop it, rub in washing liquid by hand to the area then use the gentle spray, with a go on the nasty dangerous pressure setting for any stubborn bits. then into the washer when done to make it regain its shape.
luvvly jubbly!
beware if it’s thin material though - it can cut clean through the material if the pressure is high enough (put a chicken-breat on the floor and on mid-to-high pressure you can slice it clean in half and the immediate surface of the cut will be cooked using cold water - so imagine the damage it can do to you, and clothing material! - NEVER do it to the clothes with someone wearing them! you can and will cut their flesh open).
el gordo 78:
few places I go to through best connection even bother checking timesheets if they bother to sign them - and many don’t even sign owt, just pay up it seems. all I do is text in my hours for the previous week before 12 noon on a monday morning and job’s a goon un. dosh in the bank come friday. doesn’t even matter if it was an 8 hour guaranteed minimum day - even happens for 15hr days. any communications to confirm hours are done by the agency to the client if required.
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Are you with Best Connection at Scunthorpe? Thats who I used to be with when I was van driving, though I found it went TOTALLY down hill since Nigel left, it went downhill for me anyway because he made an effort to get me on particular jobs due to my age, where as the others dont really give a ■■■■. Emma the receptionist is helpful though, she just used to phone me on either monday or tuesday for my previous weeks hours, I never bothered with a time sheet, I just gave them over the phone and that was it, never had any bother with it.
Emma is a star. Looks after her fellas, makes sure they get paid. I always keep on her sweet side
Nidge got me going locally with driving work. when he went I have to admit I never noticed, the work was still coming in at the time and I just communicated by text so nowt changed.
Sarah looks after me now. had a rocky patch when I walked from a job when left little option, but that got ironed out eventually (after some ■■■■■■ and blinding) and work’s not been too bad since, except for the occasional dry spot and the recent drout (sp).
have to admit it all seems to go smoother when angela is sorting things out for whatever reason and communications are more professional in content but hey ho, if the work comes in I’m happy.
if you’re after van work, try horizon logistics in Doncaster. they have a fair bit iirc and cover our area.
Driver Hire are the worst agency for just giving you one day here and there, never had a full weeks work from them with same company. I hate the way agencies phone you up at 5am too, i now switch mobile off during the night. Also i think it should be illegal to advertise a job that dosent exist. I registerd with Cryefs in Manchester as they advertised a night trunking job on class 2, long term contracts etc which i jumped at the chance as not much depot to depot work on class 2, but then he phones me up at 5.30 asking if i could do 2 days work for brakes brothers delivering up to 20 drops to pubs ect. I declined
royal mail are taking me on assessment at crick on wednesday
Royal mail was best job i ever did with the agencies, was so easy it was laughable
el gordo 78:
Emma is a star. Looks after her fellas, makes sure they get paid. I always keep on her sweet side
Nidge got me going locally with driving work. when he went I have to admit I never noticed, the work was still coming in at the time and I just communicated by text so nowt changed.
Sarah looks after me now. had a rocky patch when I walked from a job when left little option, but that got ironed out eventually (after some ■■■■■■ and blinding) and work’s not been too bad since, except for the occasional dry spot and the recent drout (sp).
have to admit it all seems to go smoother when angela is sorting things out for whatever reason and communications are more professional in content but hey ho, if the work comes in I’m happy.
if you’re after van work, try horizon logistics in Doncaster. they have a fair bit iirc and cover our area.
I’m not going to bother with vans anymore, I’m 21 in just over two weeks and as you know, will soon be ATTEMPTING class C and C+E as soon as possible and probably end up at the company my dad works for doing either containers or ex ferry freight. Not a too bad job, all good trucks, mostly Megaspace Actros’s etc.
Jaycool007:
Driver Hire are the worst agency for just giving you one day here and there, never had a full weeks work from them with same company. I hate the way agencies phone you up at 5am too, i now switch mobile off during the night. Also i think it should be illegal to advertise a job that dosent exist. I registerd with Cryefs in Manchester as they advertised a night trunking job on class 2, long term contracts etc which i jumped at the chance as not much depot to depot work on class 2, but then he phones me up at 5.30 asking if i could do 2 days work for brakes brothers delivering up to 20 drops to pubs ect. I declined
royal mail are taking me on assessment at crick on wednesday
Royal mail was best job i ever did with the agencies, was so easy it was laughable
this is why i have ditched them. best connection pay me £1 p/h more and keep me with jobs that i like. driver hire have taken me off jobs that i enjoyed and the client wanted me back in. last week they booked me in for 2 weeks with a client and called them to say that i wasnt available for the second week just as well the job was cancelled for week 2 anyway. not that driver hire bothered to tell me. last i heard, i was meant to be in this week too. just as well i had work from best connection anyway
In Manchester Best connection seem to have the best hourly rates going. I signed up with them once, they didnt have class 2 work at the time but they put me on vans for a few weeks with lyreco and paid me class 2 rates at £7.50 ph which was nice of em
I got finish from my job just before Easter , I have registered with 3 local agencies and so far I haven’t had anything off any of them, there is nothing being advertised on the permanent job front either, I’ve got a decent bit of class 1 experience now and I can’t believe how hard it is to get a job, some driver shortage .
Jaycool007:
In Manchester Best connection seem to have the best hourly rates going. I signed up with them once, they didnt have class 2 work at the time but they put me on vans for a few weeks with lyreco and paid me class 2 rates at £7.50 ph which was nice of em
Jaycool if you sign up for best connection in bolton they pay £8.15 per hour and time and half after 8 mate speak to darren tell him you want the salvasens work
scanny77:
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this is why i have ditched them. best connection pay me £1 p/h more and keep me with jobs that i like. driver hire have taken me off jobs that i enjoyed and the client wanted me back in. last week they booked me in for 2 weeks with a client and called them to say that i wasnt available for the second week just as well the job was cancelled for week 2 anyway. not that driver hire bothered to tell me. last i heard, i was meant to be in this week too. just as well i had work from best connection anyway
Strange how it can vary so much from office to office. THe Driver Hire office in Hull couldn’t be any more different. I’ve even turned down the chance for a wage increase to stay with them.
And I’ve been doing agency work for over half the 13 years I’ve been driving so believe me when I say I know a good one. Mind you, alot of it depends on the staff there.
Simon yeah Manchester branch is same, some of there class 2 contracts pay same rate as class 1 £8-9 per hour , i will phone them up about salvasens though. Cheers!
Conor:
Strange how it can vary so much from office to office. THe Driver Hire office in Hull couldn’t be any more different. I’ve even turned down the chance for a wage increase to stay with them.
I’d say the simple explanation for this is because they are a franchise. They might all have the same ‘logo’ etc but when it boils down to it, they are all individual offices/companies run by a variation of individuals.
, I have registered with 3 local agencies and so far I haven’t had anything off any of them, there is nothing being advertised on the permanent job front either, I’ve got a decent bit of class 1 experience now and I can’t believe how hard it is to get a job, some driver shortage 
.