Conor:
I find this hilarious. People bleat on about how crap agency drivers are then when they give it a go they come on here whining and ■■■■■■■■ how hard it is, how they couldn’t figure out how to do the paperwork, how to use a fridge etc etc and how they want to throw in the towel on the first day.
Company drivers - one trick ponies.
stinger:
So if your thinking about agency’s lads read between the lines.
Indeed. Its for drivers with a wide range of skills and an ability to think on their feet and work things out on their own.
[zb] you [zb], I’m ■■■■■■■■ about the fact I was lied to, and I still went out done the job to the best I could 15 out of 17 drops so yeah I did think on my feet, Iv never been on fridges or tail gates before and no other driver was around to ask except the bloke who worked in the office, who pressed every button on the dash board and when I asked which button he pressed he just said all of them, it’s [zb] like you, who drag this industry down
Blimey what a surprise.Driver tells agency no multi drop zb only bulk or trunking.Agency then pulls a stitch up by ‘saying’ the job is a bulk run then job turn into a multi drop run on arrival.
You know its time to walk away when the zb’s did as they did in my case by firstly telling you its a class 1 trunking job then when you get there its an umpteen drop job with a 7.5 tonner.That ended up in a big row between me and the guvnor there and he got 8 drops done out of who knows how many but well over 30 and forget about the collections.With half the load being left at base by ‘mistake’.
Then I was given one of the few if any decent bulk jobs ( no more than two or three drops a day ) got on great with the guvnor and was asked to stay on it long term.Guess what no surprise the agency phoned me and said they’ve taken me off it and yet more multi drop or building deliveries zb.
Agencies are all the same with books mostly full of zb work that no one wants and the ( very ) few if any half decent jobs they do have are reserved for their chosen few drivers.There’s no point losing your temper about it it is what it is and any driver with any sense won’t get involved with them.
As for the idea that makes anyone a whingeing ‘company driver’ there aren’t many owner drivers who don’t prefer long haul full load work and in most cases that’s why they accept all the risk of being an owner driver.
I don’t know what you’re looking for coming on here with your tale of woe but if it’s sympathy then, as you’re finding out, you came to the wrong place. Probably because something similar has happened to all on here that have dealt with agencies. When you start with agency, not all but some, then you can expect to have the odd hiccup. It’s their job to get bums on seats end of, they did their job by getting you to turn up.
In my case I was sent to fowler welch cool chain,when in Gateshead, for a run that had 5 drops, after being shown where to fill up, the paperwork & where to park on return, I was casually informed I would finish around Manchester where I could night out! Then I’d have a couple of collections on my return. Thing was nobody at the agency mentioned night out so I had nothing with me, yes I read that thread but this was years ago. I just said sorry mate & got in the car. Agency never said a thing.
FYI, there isn’t a transport job out there that doesn’t have the odd hiccup, boring shift or complete balls up where you are left frustrated occasionally.
stinger:
So I’m hoping to a start a new job next month (cvit driver) and since I’m getting bored I decided to jump on the agency until I get cleared to work for this company. So I tell them I don’t wanna do multi drop from the word go, I’ve already done that has a winter fuel driver, I just want something cheers easy for a couple of weeks, anyway I get a call yesterday "we have a curtain sider class 2 job it’s only about 3 drops they say. So I’m like yeah I’ll do that, ok be at the depot at 0530 this morning, I tip up looking for a ridge curtain sider, couldn’t see one so I ask, I was given the keys and paper work for a “refrigerated wagon” ok so I just went with it, looked at the paper and there was over 20 delivery notes! 17 drops in total cuss a couple were at the same place, I closed the box I was given with the paper work and was going to hand it back and tell them I think they have the wrong driver, but then I walked back to the wagon and thought I should just give it a go. No one showed me how to fill the paper work out, no one showed me how to use the tail lift or the refrigerator unit , or even gave me a time sheet, so I rang one of there regular drivers and he said your ment to go out with a driver to show you around some of the drops, these drops were to butchers in villages, and I had to handle cash which also I wasn’t told about, anyway I brought back 2 drops after Iv already been out on the road nearly 12 hours and done 15 drops, and the prick back at the agency depot starts to have a go at me! Telling me I should be lucky it’s usually 25 drops… [zb] [zb] I was raging. And started to see red mist. So if your thinking about agency’s lads read between the lines.
Think you did ok with that pal,I certainly struggled on my first multi drop run and that was only about 13 drops.
I also wouldn’t have been happy with that situation but like you I wouldn’t like any one to think I was a failure either and would have done exact same thing and just got on with it.
of course the joy of being on agency is that you can tell them that you won’t go back in there. I’ve done that to a few and generally most places I used to go to as an agency driver used to ask for me back.
two that come straight to mind were the old Co-op depot at Chandlers Ford and DBS at Thatcham. I did one day for both and point blank refused to go back.
At the Co-Op I was given the wrong start time by my agency, walked in 2 hours late, had a bunch of keys thrown at me (they hit me in the chest and landed on the floor) along with the paperwork and told ‘it’s in the yard loaded. you’re late, don’t bother doing a walkaround just go and drive’. The motor I was given was a complete wreck of a scania 26tonner with a range change (which at that point I had never driven).
Rather than go back into the office I just got on with it, completed the drops and parked on a bay as directed at the end of the day. Walked back into the office to witness a warehouse monkey crying to the TM about ‘that [zb]-ing agency [zb]’ who hadn’t taken the cages off. so I took the cages off, went back into the office and got my timesheet signed. The TM then started to have a go at me about not writing down the seal number on the door at each drop, and that I hadn’t completed the drops in order.
I politely explained that I couldn’t give a flying fornication, that it’s not my fault his staff couldn’t route and that his morning superviosr actually needed to like working in the morning in order to treat people properly. I then told the dodgy agency I was working for that I wouldn’t be available for any further work full stop.
DBS at Thatcham gave me 15 drops in split chilled/frozen motor along the south coast. when I opened the freezer compartment, I had to climb up the side of a pallet to get to the goods for the first drop because it was stacked floor to ceiling. The back door was knackered and I had to fight to close it all day long. I worked as hard as I could all day, got to 12 hours and still had 7 drops to do, I was in Romsey at the point. I just phoned teh agency and told them I was running back to depot since I was running out of hours and had no chance of getting the work done. Here I was lucky - the consultant managing me did everything she could to help her drivers and you always knew she wouldn’t feed you bull about a job so she was shocked when I told her what had happened. I got back to depot where the office body actually apologised to me, signed my paperwork and told me to leave the motor to be unloaded.My agency told me they would never ask me to work there again.
In my experience - any driving job, including agency, is what you make of it. Being on agency work you can’t have expectations - you are there to fill in for someone who does the job regularly. And it isn’t fair - you are being compared to that person constantly. If they can do it on their run then you should be able to do it (we’ll gloss over the fact that Dave has been doing it for years, knows all his drops personally and usually gets a cup of tea made for him at several of them, knows the rat runs, knows the roads to avoid at certain times of the day on his route etc etc etc)
So you can decide to have an attitude about it and loudly demand this, that and the other. Or you can just give it your best shot. with practice, you become the kind of agency driver people ask for by name, or try to keep hold of by offering employment. I know which method works and it’s the one that keeps the work rolling in.
just never forget that you are there to fill in for someone and you can be walking into a situation where people are already stressed because of a no show so the last thing they need to hear is ‘I’m not doing that’
DeeBee:
of course the joy of being on agency is that you can tell them that you won’t go back in there. I’ve done that to a few and generally most places I used to go to as an agency driver used to ask for me back.
two that come straight to mind were the old Co-op depot at Chandlers Ford and DBS at Thatcham. I did one day for both and point blank refused to go back.
At the Co-Op I was given the wrong start time by my agency, walked in 2 hours late, had a bunch of keys thrown at me (they hit me in the chest and landed on the floor) along with the paperwork and told ‘it’s in the yard loaded. you’re late, don’t bother doing a walkaround just go and drive’. The motor I was given was a complete wreck of a scania 26tonner with a range change (which at that point I had never driven).
Rather than go back into the office I just got on with it, completed the drops and parked on a bay as directed at the end of the day. Walked back into the office to witness a warehouse monkey crying to the TM about ‘that [zb]-ing agency [zb]’ who hadn’t taken the cages off. so I took the cages off, went back into the office and got my timesheet signed. The TM then started to have a go at me about not writing down the seal number on the door at each drop, and that I hadn’t completed the drops in order.
I politely explained that I couldn’t give a flying fornication, that it’s not my fault his staff couldn’t route and that his morning superviosr actually needed to like working in the morning in order to treat people properly. I then told the dodgy agency I was working for that I wouldn’t be available for any further work full stop.
DBS at Thatcham gave me 15 drops in split chilled/frozen motor along the south coast. when I opened the freezer compartment, I had to climb up the side of a pallet to get to the goods for the first drop because it was stacked floor to ceiling. The back door was knackered and I had to fight to close it all day long. I worked as hard as I could all day, got to 12 hours and still had 7 drops to do, I was in Romsey at the point. I just phoned teh agency and told them I was running back to depot since I was running out of hours and had no chance of getting the work done. Here I was lucky - the consultant managing me did everything she could to help her drivers and you always knew she wouldn’t feed you bull about a job so she was shocked when I told her what had happened. I got back to depot where the office body actually apologised to me, signed my paperwork and told me to leave the motor to be unloaded.My agency told me they would never ask me to work there again.
In my experience - any driving job, including agency, is what you make of it. Being on agency work you can’t have expectations - you are there to fill in for someone who does the job regularly. And it isn’t fair - you are being compared to that person constantly. If they can do it on their run then you should be able to do it (we’ll gloss over the fact that Dave has been doing it for years, knows all his drops personally and usually gets a cup of tea made for him at several of them, knows the rat runs, knows the roads to avoid at certain times of the day on his route etc etc etc)
So you can decide to have an attitude about it and loudly demand this, that and the other. Or you can just give it your best shot. with practice, you become the kind of agency driver people ask for by name, or try to keep hold of by offering employment. I know which method works and it’s the one that keeps the work rolling in.
just never forget that you are there to fill in for someone and you can be walking into a situation where people are already stressed because of a no show so the last thing they need to hear is ‘I’m not doing that’
Yep you ht the nail on the head there I know what you mean, always compared to the regular driver who has done it for years
DeeBee:
just never forget that you are there to fill in for someone and you can be walking into a situation where people are already stressed because of a no show so the last thing they need to hear is ‘I’m not doing that’
In which case all the more reason for the job to be described properly.So that when someone tells the agency no multi drop type zb and the agency signs them up under that condition then the right person gets sent to do the right job.
DeeBee:
just never forget that you are there to fill in for someone and you can be walking into a situation where people are already stressed because of a no show so the last thing they need to hear is ‘I’m not doing that’
Depends on whether you’re covering for the lunatic that doesn’t put the card/ tacho in before loaded and ready to go and pulls it the second they’re inside the depot, rushes around, works through the breaks and every time another call is added manages to absorb it and still finishes before everyone else or the more savvy driver that makes sure that any change to a nice plodding working day results in late deliveries and a late finish. Its very clear that at every firm I’ve worked for, whether employed or agency that some drivers get treated very differently to others.
whilst I know some agencies will talk general ■■■■ and lie through their teeth, you can still only give what info is passed to you. I always try to either see the job (as a driver) or get as much info as I can however this sometimes still isn’t enough.
DeeBee:
of course the joy of being on agency is that you can tell them that you won’t go back in there. I’ve done that to a few and generally most places I used to go to as an agency driver used to ask for me back.
two that come straight to mind were the old Co-op depot at Chandlers Ford and DBS at Thatcham. I did one day for both and point blank refused to go back.
At the Co-Op I was given the wrong start time by my agency, walked in 2 hours late, had a bunch of keys thrown at me (they hit me in the chest and landed on the floor) along with the paperwork and told ‘it’s in the yard loaded. you’re late, don’t bother doing a walkaround just go and drive’. The motor I was given was a complete wreck of a scania 26tonner with a range change (which at that point I had never driven).
Rather than go back into the office I just got on with it, completed the drops and parked on a bay as directed at the end of the day. Walked back into the office to witness a warehouse monkey crying to the TM about ‘that [zb]-ing agency [zb]’ who hadn’t taken the cages off. so I took the cages off, went back into the office and got my timesheet signed. The TM then started to have a go at me about not writing down the seal number on the door at each drop, and that I hadn’t completed the drops in order.
I politely explained that I couldn’t give a flying fornication, that it’s not my fault his staff couldn’t route and that his morning superviosr actually needed to like working in the morning in order to treat people properly. I then told the dodgy agency I was working for that I wouldn’t be available for any further work full stop.
DBS at Thatcham gave me 15 drops in split chilled/frozen motor along the south coast. when I opened the freezer compartment, I had to climb up the side of a pallet to get to the goods for the first drop because it was stacked floor to ceiling. The back door was knackered and I had to fight to close it all day long. I worked as hard as I could all day, got to 12 hours and still had 7 drops to do, I was in Romsey at the point. I just phoned teh agency and told them I was running back to depot since I was running out of hours and had no chance of getting the work done. Here I was lucky - the consultant managing me did everything she could to help her drivers and you always knew she wouldn’t feed you bull about a job so she was shocked when I told her what had happened. I got back to depot where the office body actually apologised to me, signed my paperwork and told me to leave the motor to be unloaded.My agency told me they would never ask me to work there again.
In my experience - any driving job, including agency, is what you make of it. Being on agency work you can’t have expectations - you are there to fill in for someone who does the job regularly. And it isn’t fair - you are being compared to that person constantly. If they can do it on their run then you should be able to do it (we’ll gloss over the fact that Dave has been doing it for years, knows all his drops personally and usually gets a cup of tea made for him at several of them, knows the rat runs, knows the roads to avoid at certain times of the day on his route etc etc etc)
So you can decide to have an attitude about it and loudly demand this, that and the other. Or you can just give it your best shot. with practice, you become the kind of agency driver people ask for by name, or try to keep hold of by offering employment. I know which method works and it’s the one that keeps the work rolling in.
just never forget that you are there to fill in for someone and you can be walking into a situation where people are already stressed because of a no show so the last thing they need to hear is ‘I’m not doing that’
I’d have walked back out after the ■■■■ had thrown the keys at me,after I’d thrown the keys back at the ■■■■ plus a load of verbals.Don’t let ANYBODY treat you like a ■■■■■■■■■■■■■ mate,nobody at all,especially some ■■■■ sat in an office.
‘…You’ve trotted out this ego-massaging garbage before…’
‘…Haven’t you got any more tricks, Conor…?’
My ‘one trick’ is to take home the wedge - seeing as I’ve a different split/run five days from seven a week with a steady turn-over of combinations and a consistent bracket of start/finish time.
Happy Pony - tar me if you like, but that doesn’t make you right
I just get sick of the way everyone slags off agency drivers on this site where as the OPs post proves, most of those doing the slagging off wouldn’t last a week doing agency work because they have quite a restricted narrow range of abilities and outside of what they’re used to doing are a bit crap.
Conor:
I just get sick of the way everyone slags off agency drivers on this site where as the OPs post proves, most of those doing the slagging off wouldn’t last a week doing agency work because they have quite a restricted narrow range of abilities and outside of what they’re used to doing are a bit crap.
This is very true. I have specific skill set. I had another slightly different skill set in a different HGV job. Get me doing something else, and boy I would be clueless…
Just like your average agency driver.
I mean I don’t even know where to store the murdered prostitutes if you gave me a different wagon.
F-reds:
I mean I don’t even know where to store the murdered prostitutes if you gave me a different wagon.
That’s where the agency driver excels, give em 5-10 minutes and they`ll have sussed out where to stash em.
Then along with where the regular driver has hidden the pile of ■■■■ mag, and filled a couple of carrier bags full of rubbish and tat that the regular guy deems essential, so the agy guy can see out of the windscreen etc and they`re out on their way
dieseldog999:
…rule 1 for agency…do what you agree to do and do not do what they try and con you into doing…quote…(( I closed the box I was given with the paper work and was going to hand it back and tell them I think they have the wrong driver, but then I walked back to the wagon and thought I should just give it a go…)) you should have just told them that you never signed on to do multidrop,walked away,and cut your losses for the time and fuel…they are only trying it on to see if your a fanny because you are new…your fault for giving it a go and getting grief. always stand firm with agencies and although its best to be obliging,then its best to not be led into a situation different to previously agreed. your only a bum sitting on a vacant seat to them and will just be lied to and manipulated accordingly.if its a fill in job,or if your bone idle then they are a means to an end,otherwise,just the bottom of the barrel for a employer/driver occupation.
The thing with me is, when it comes to working I try to make of best a [zb] situation, Iv already told them I won’t be doing that again and I think they knew I was annoyed (they probably couldt give a crap if they upset me anyway) but in hind sight I do wish I did walk away from it now, but if I did I would of felt like I failed but I’m glad to of done it to realise how [zb] it was than to not do it and not realise. If you get my drift?
thought you done bloody well to do 15 drops out of 17,not easy in an 18 tonner,i would have pointed out that I done that ■■■■ a favour by trying instead of going home,thats all you can do
Conor:
where as the OPs post proves, most of those wouldn’t last a week doing agency work because they have quite a restricted narrow range of abilities and outside of what they’re used to doing are a bit crap.
As I read it the OP’s issue is ( rightly ) that of how agencies lie about the job type and allocation of jobs.To maintain the status quo of an industry based on filling the type jobs which most drivers don’t ‘want’ to do as opposed to ‘can’t’ do and/or allocating the very few,if any,decent jobs they do get to a chosen favoured few.
While it is more likely to be the type of driver,who is happy with typical agency type work,who is more likely to not have the ability and just stare blankly,let alone tying the thing in knots before even leaving the yard,if/when thrown the keys to an A frame demount drawbar outfit and told to get on with it.
While no one is saying that local multi drop isn’t more suited to the essential skill set of local knowledge expected of the average postal delivery worker than large goods vehicle driver.
Thanks buddy, multi drop is stressful when you have to delivery to busy city centres and tight villages and towns, fair play to full time drivers who do it
