Went to a couple of my local-ish driver hire offices today to sign up
Office 1
Very professional, offered me a cuppa , actually seemed keen and spent alot of time chatting to me…quite impressed, promised me some decent work next week and thinks she’ll be able to get me some Class 1 once (or possibly if ) i’ve passed that…
Office 2
a) tried to get me to sign a WTD opt-out (as Class 2 driver) - I said 'oh obviously no point in me signing that (it even says on page “not for drivers”!), but she was adamant i needed to, something about needing it to cover payment for POA hours? I said I thought POA wasn’t included in WTD time, just driving/OW?! She wasn’t for taking my application form without me signing it, so i did but put ‘n/a for driving’ beside it.
b) Their exam is a bit out of date - pre the 2007 changes about how many days tachos drivers need to keep, and how long you have before agy needs them…
Not very impressive, and so much for ‘if you have any problems/queries about WTD/driving time phone us, we’re here to help’ - not sure i’d be trusting the second office to give out advice…
The exam is out of date, yet they still believe they can mark you on it?
So a bloke who answers that a 45 minute break can be taken in 3 x 15 minutes or 20 & 25minute segments gets a job, while the bloke who answers correctly doesn’t.
The agency doesnt hold the operator licence, their customer does, the company that operates the lorry.
I think at least a driver agency should have to employ someone with a clue, or at least a CPC in road transport by law.
a) tried to get me to sign a WTD opt-out (as Class 2 driver) - I said 'oh obviously no point in me signing that (it even says on page “not for drivers”!), but she was adamant i needed to, something about needing it to cover payment for POA hours? I said I thought POA wasn’t included in WTD time, just driving/OW?! She wasn’t for taking my application form without me signing it, so i did but put ‘n/a for driving’ beside it.
You need to sign the opt-out if you want to be able to work more than 10 hours on a night, a night time worker being defined as anyone whose duty period falls between 00:00 and 04:00 so if you started at 03:30 and hadn’t opted out, you’d only be able to work 10 hours.
[quote="ConorYou need to sign the opt-out if you want to be able to work more than 10 hours on a night, a night time worker being defined as anyone whose duty period falls between 00:00 and 04:00 so if you started at 03:30 and hadn’t opted out, you’d only be able to work 10 hours.[/quote]
Is it the same opt-out? The one I was reading was about working more than 48hrs…?
Talulah:
[quote="ConorYou need to sign the opt-out if you want to be able to work more than 10 hours on a night, a night time worker being defined as anyone whose duty period falls between 00:00 and 04:00 so if you started at 03:30 and hadn’t opted out, you’d only be able to work 10 hours.
Is it the same opt-out? The one I was reading was about working more than 48hrs…?
[/quote]
sharky the shredder: You little tinker you…Hope Talulah you`ll be going to office No. 1 then
I’ll be avoiding that second office if I possibly can, they didn’t really make drivers signing up feel even remotely wanted…she took my paperwork, didnt go through it with me, and said they’d give me a call in a few days and write to me.
The other office were great, phoned me back about two hours later to say that they’d checked my refs, which were fine, and they’d talk to me next week (as not available now til Wed) and was sure she could get me something…she also told me she didn’t think it was worth putting me down for 7.5t also since they had plenty of Class 2…i’m not the most naive person in the world but thought this sounded fairly encouraging…■■!
Talulah:
[
The other office were great, phoned me back about two hours later to say that they’d checked my refs, which were fine, and they’d talk to me next week (as not available now til Wed) and was sure she could get me something…she also told me she didn’t think it was worth putting me down for 7.5t also since they had plenty of Class 2…i’m not the most naive person in the world but thought this sounded fairly encouraging…■■!
From your ‘induction’ thread…
ROG:
Talulah:
ROG:
ADHOC means when they want you - maybe one day this week perhaps none next week - maybe all week the next week etc etc…
Its ok, i’m a committment-phobe and quite like the idea of plenty of temp agency driving, can feel like I’m still self-employed!
You are ASSUMING that there will be plenty of temp agency work and you know what someone said on a Stephen Seagal film (Under Seige 2) - “ASSUMPTION IS THE MOTHER OF ALL [ZB] UPS” - Ok, they did not say ZB but the other word is not allowed on here
Remember that agencies are run by salespeople and their job is to find their clients drivers when their clients want them - the agencies priority is not to find you work but to keep you on their books in case one of their clients want you
jonah65:
I’m still waiting for driver hire (stoke branch) to even bother applying for my references which were over 3 weeks ago.
Luckily got fixed up swiftly with a proper agency on far better pay so not in any particular rush.
Whats the betting I never hear from them
Never mind, thanks for the gloves anyway although the hi vis vest they gave me is no use as its logo’d.
Yep i was pretty excited I wasn’t being chased out of the office and that they actually bothered to get my reference the same day, and let me know they’d done that…an improvement on what i’d been expecting!
Conor:
You need to sign the opt-out if you want to be able to work more than 10 hours on a night, a night time worker being defined as anyone whose duty period falls between 00:00 and 04:00 so if you started at 03:30 and hadn’t opted out, you’d only be able to work 10 hours.
The ‘opt-out’ relates to a ‘workplace agreement’ which, in one of the early drafts defined it as complying with Section ‘summat’ of the Employment Act some year. I didn’t actually capture a copy of that version.
However, an Agency is not a workplace and, therefore by definition, cannot/should not, be an avenue through which an ‘opt-out’ applies.
It is an anomaly that was not properly thought through when the legislation was drafted.
Talulah:
Went to a couple of my local-ish driver hire offices today to sign up
Office 1
Very professional, offered me a cuppa , actually seemed keen and spent alot of time chatting to me…quite impressed, promised me some decent work next week and thinks she’ll be able to get me some Class 1 once (or possibly if ) i’ve passed that…
Office 2
a) tried to get me to sign a WTD opt-out (as Class 2 driver) - I said 'oh obviously no point in me signing that (it even says on page “not for drivers”!), but she was adamant i needed to, something about needing it to cover payment for POA hours? I said I thought POA wasn’t included in WTD time, just driving/OW?! She wasn’t for taking my application form without me signing it, so i did but put ‘n/a for driving’ beside it.
b) Their exam is a bit out of date - pre the 2007 changes about how many days tachos drivers need to keep, and how long you have before agy needs them…
Not very impressive, and so much for ‘if you have any problems/queries about WTD/driving time phone us, we’re here to help’ - not sure i’d be trusting the second office to give out advice…
No they’re both crap mate, office 1 just bs’d you and you were gullible enough to believe them
just when a bloke starts to see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel some miserable arse on here pi es on their bonfire, well i say good luck to u mate , i hope they get you a bit of work and things go well , u other victor melldrews ,get stuffed
ganges boy:
just when a bloke starts to see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel some miserable arse on here pi es on their bonfire, well i say good luck to u mate , i hope they get you a bit of work and things go well , u other victor melldrews ,get stuffed
So you want to work for an agency who don’t know what the rules are? The bad agencies dont have a licence to lose & they can always get someone gullible to work for them by promising the earth. They are the ones who don’t want to know when you are up to your neck in mud.
, actually seemed keen and spent alot of time chatting to me…quite impressed, promised me some decent work next week and thinks she’ll be able to get me some Class 1 once (or possibly if 
) i’ve passed that… 
I said I thought POA wasn’t included in WTD time, just driving/OW?! 
She wasn’t for taking my application form without me signing it, so i did but put ‘n/a for driving’ beside it.
