I know this topic has been debated on here before but I’l like to get some fresh perspective, particularly from new drivers who are doing agency work i.e driving different vehicles for different firms on a daily basis.
The scenario being, you arrive at the yard on an agency job first time early morning. You’re allocated a vehicle and start your daily checks and find a couple of faults e.g brake light out, reverse warning sound not working. You record the faults but there’s no one around to fix them and you don’t have spare bulbs. What do you do?
Clearly you’re risking points and a fine if you take the vehicle out but what are people doing generally
When I was working on the agency I always tried to get a contact number of someone that is on call if it was an early start and the keys would be with security or on the header tank.
Or if there is no-one around and you need to defect a vehicle or even VOR it, ring the agency. They should have some way of getting in touch with the company supervisor/transport manager. Even if you just let them know, they might just tell you where the spares are and have a go at changing the blown bulb or to take another vehicle. Always report the defects, if you don’t as an agency driver you will always get the blame, report any damage as well.
I usually inform the person that I’ve been told to report to, if he does nothing then its a phone call to the agency. If the fault can’t be fixed I don’t take the lorry out of the yard.
