I’ve had a lucky start in pro driving having picked up a couple of shifts yesterday and today. I finished my previous job on Friday and was wondering when I might get that first call. Checked in with the agency on Friday afternoon and nothing on the books.
Got up Monday morning and printed a pile of CVs off ready to do the rounds and at 9:45 the phone goes and asks if I would be willing to take a job from Worcester. Only one answer of course and I duly went to the client and picked up a nice little Scania rigid for a trip to Kent with 16 pallets. Left at 11:30, got down there by 4 pm (late due to a couple of wrong turns). Tipped, had a break and made it back by 9:30pm.
Today was a multidrop delivery out of Kidderminster delivering to companies from Stafford back down through the Black Country. Out at 8:30 and back by 6:30pm. Missed the last two drops as the companies shut before I got through the traffic.
I’ll spare all the details but I was struck that although the test passes for the C and C+E are massive milestones that’s really all they are for me. I learned more the past two days than I have in a long time. And I feel a great sense of accomplishment too. The driving tests indicate I can drive an unladen lorry well enough to merit a licence but the past two days taught me loads about truck driving as a career. I feel like I’m earning the job title of trucker now. As an agency worker I realise that until I get a few regular jobs then every day is like the first day at work.
Learning points? Well:
if you don’t know, ask. Everyone has been really helpful and friendly (so far)
pay attention to your times and if you are worried about missing a deilivery then call in (I rang several of the customers with ETAs or to ask directions and checked in with the despatcher when I knew I wouldn’t make all the drops)
I bought a cheap sat nav to get me around the drops as NO map book would do the job (HTF did they do multidrops before sat nav and mobiles?!?!)
take your time: navigating and driving around busy streets takes a while to master (first you get good, then you get fast)
I’ll not bore you with any more but it’s nice to make a start and get some mile behind me. I’m totally shattered now but looking forward to tomorrow now that I know a little more of what to expect.
Well done on getting some work mate. Agency work tends to be last minute runs to cover sickness or holidays. And as you have found out the training is only a foundation to build on. Loaded lorries in rush hour traffic avoiding school run mums while trying to navigate to your next drop on time can be quite daunting. But a few days of multidrop and it will soon be second nature to you. Keep up the good work
Hey Lazlo
Good stuff mate lol another thing with agents work alway carry a camera and any marks on the truck before the trip take a photo then no one can blame you (it does happen ) … i missed the agency work that much I have gone back to it mate ,.lol didnt like the tarmac very much although the money was good and moving stone was ok … pmsl but over 3 ton of that black stuff stuck in my truck was enough for me and my back im afraid
Thanks dar76 and Yambol. Good point re: camera Roy. Will use the one in my mobile if I need. I’ve got another day with the same place as Tuesday and feel much more prepared for it. Sorry to hear you dropped the tipper work but I know just how you feel - my Tuesday job and the one today involve some handball and I really felt it yesterday!
Hey Laz, A very big thanks for posting this as it gives hope to all us potential newcomers out there that it really is possible to get that first job. R
Would you mind PMing me a copy of it or a rough template similar to yours? I understand you just passed your test and shortly I’ll be faced with the task of writing a cv too, with no experience.
Hi LR18-8! Been handballing carpets for much of this week. Yesterday was a 14 hour day. The novelty is beginning to wear off but a) I’m making money which I need to do and b) I don’t need a gym membership!! Being 50+ and having driven a desk for the past 25 years it’s just what a middle age guy like me needs! At this rate I’ll be losing weight as a trucker, not putting it on!
Sam I’ll try sort something out for you during the weekend. As a desk driver my CV is dominated by experience completely un-related to trucking so I’ve had to re-jig it to suit TMs rather than other audiences.
KittyKat:
Well done on getting your first few days of work. Do the agency let you loose in the truck right away or does someone go out with you?
Hey KK
normally when you do agency work you are filling in for someone on leave, sickness etc and are more than likely just handed a job sheet and keys to lorry and told there you go , thats the nature of agency unfortunatly but when you do this work its a god learning curve if sometimes rather severe !! had my fair share of omg moments but its a good feeling when you get back and have done the job although I have been close to tears sometimes (yes I know soppy girly!!!) but wouldnt have changed a thing (honest )
LOL Jennie
Ha i know what you mean (close to tears ) I had my first taste of Spar multy drop last week was late out of depot . route should have left at 6 am i got a call at 7 am so didnt get out till 9am school run time all the loading bays are inexesable and if you do get on a bay then some will park in front of you so have to wait to get on to your next drop … what should have been a 9 hr day ended up 12 hrs and ended up taking twice as many empy cages back as the full ones I took out ( think their own driver knew he was off that day and just left em ) in the end i phoned in and said im only bringing back the same cages as I took out from now on ( manager said ok mate ) but like you say i dont think i would change a thing … and can laugh once its done and all over with . …
Hey Lazlo
Hows it goin mate lol hand ball eh Tell me about it UHHHHH my arms are killing me up to now though only been Three jobs i have told the agents i wont do again and one of them was because of the condition of the truck … pmsl the other two were Slave labour mate ha very little driving and 6 hrs handballing … I am glad I got my HIAB licence mate as I now have a couple of days with Jewsons and theres not much i cant lift of with the grab the heaviest thing i lifted yesterday was a fire door lol the only hard part was Trying to operate a Hiab with glasses on in the rain pmsl could do with wipers fitted to my Glasses aswell as the truck … Yep mate use that phone camera as one day you will be glad you did as yesterday when i went out the manager said if this customer is not on site just leave the stuff out side so i did and took a photo of the timber unloaded in front garden behind a wall … lol when i got back manager said did you drop that timber at the right house as he cant find it ha ha look i said on this picture
( the timer with the house in the back ground ) proof id like to say in black and white but even better its in colour eh so i sent the pic by text to the customer lol ha ( Oh Oh thanks was the reply ) … … and I never delite any pics untill a week has passed … just in case . and I always take a print out of the tacho …at the end of a shift .
Happy Truckin laz
Regards Roy
Hi there folks! I’ve been offline for a while and missed the recent posts. Sorry about that!
Thanks all for the kind words above. I’m kinda surprised I’ve had as much work as I have - by tomorrow I’ll have worked 7 of the last 10 work days (Mon-Fri). I haven’t had any weekends or nights yet but here’s hopin’!
Dave - Welcome! I’m registered with Wright Staff Recruitment and Pertemps, both are in Worcester. The work I’ve had so far has come through Wright Staff as I only registered with Pertemps yesterday.
Jennie is spot on KK - you are often straight in at the deep end as an agency worker but for me, getting the first couple of shifts out of the way has improved both my confidence that I actually can do the job right and the confidence of the company I’ve driven for that the agency is supplying staff of a reasonable quality.
Howdy Yambol!! Spar multi-drop sounds pretty challenging! Getting a late call and being behind time from the start sounds familiar! The normal start for me is 6am with a view to being on the road before 7 but sometimes you get delayed. The shortest day so far has been about 9.5 hours but most have been 12-14 hours. If you’re busy the hours do fly by but boy am I knackered at the end of the shift! Most of my work so far has been multidrop delivery of carpets to retailers and warehouses. Sometimes there’s a forklift to unload but more often than not it’s a case of shoving the carpet out the back of the box onto a set of wheels and getting it into the shop. The vast majority of the people I deliver to have been brilliant - really helpful and friendly. The company I’m doing this work for is also really good - the warehouse and office staff are helpful and the other drivers willing to help out and answer daft questions. So far so good. I’m enjoying the work and have even lost weight since I started (who needs a gym membership then!).
My approach to agency working is that I’m acting as an ambassador at two levels - one is in representing the agency to the client I’m being placed with and second, to the end customer of the client who doesn’t actually care what agency I’m with - they just want their good delivered undamaged and on time. If I can meet these expectations safely and efficiently then it’s job done and done well enough to earn me a further engagement. My aim is to build up a portfolio of companies that I regularly drive for who will ask for me by name when they need someone. I’ve offered the agencies as much flexibility as I can to take whatever work they will provide on the basis that each mile behind me brings me closer to a steady class 1 job.
I’ve also been making the rounds of transport companies in the area to ask about any driver vacancies. This has been a revelation to me. I’m used to responding to job adverts and bunging in an application but it seems that many firms don’t seem to advertise but rather rely on someone walking through the door. Jennie has said before that it’s important to be in the right place at the right time and that’s absolutely right. And as Yambol says you have to be honest and up front about being new to driving. In the companies where I had a chat with someone I said that I wasn’t the most experienced driver they might consider but I was mature, hard working and very willing to learn things the way THEY do them. We’ll see if that cuts any ice with them but there you go.
Sorry this post has turned into War and Peace but I’m pretty glad to have had a chance to start earning my stripes as a trucker!!
i missed the agency work that much I have gone back to it mate ,.lol didnt like the tarmac very much although the money was good and moving stone was ok … pmsl but over 3 ton of that black stuff stuck in my truck was enough for me and my back im afraid 
)
will park in front of you so have to wait to get on to your next drop … what should have been a 9 hr day ended up 12 hrs and ended up taking twice as many empy cages back as the full ones I took out ( think their own driver knew he was off that day and just left em ) in the end i phoned in and said im only bringing back the same cages as I took out from now on ( manager said ok mate ) but like you say i dont think i would change a thing … and can laugh once its done and all over with . …
my arms are killing me up to now though only been Three jobs i have told the agents i wont do again and one of them was because of the condition of the truck … pmsl the other two were Slave labour mate ha very little driving and 6 hrs handballing … I am glad I got my HIAB licence mate as I now have a couple of days with Jewsons and theres not much i cant lift of with the grab the heaviest thing i lifted yesterday was a fire door lol the only hard part was Trying to operate a Hiab with glasses on in the rain pmsl could do with wipers fitted to my Glasses aswell as the truck 
… … and I never delite any pics untill a week has passed … just in case . and I always take a print out of the tacho …at the end of a shift .