Hi! new here!

[simon]

robB39:
[zb] agencies you’re just a bum that will fill a seat and earn them their parasite wages.
This time of year is crap on agency. Jan - end Mar if you Havn’t been with them for a year or so.
Work is scarce and they give it all to their fave’s first.

I was over 20 yrs experienced, containers, fridges, tankers, supermarkets etc this agency zb sends me on a job as a drivers mate in a 7.5 tonner doing home delivery’s. ZB

You can guess where I told him to stick it

Agencies have clients, with whom they place labour, for a price.

As an LGV C+E driver, you go onto their books as an LGV C+E driver at a suitable minimum rate. You then refuse to work at anything below that rate.

You are signed with an agency, presumably to earn money, so that there is food on the table etc.
The attitude that “I am an LGV C+E driver and I’m not lowering myself to anything else” isn’t going to put you in a great position, when work is thin on the ground. However, the attitude that “I am an LGV C+E driver and I won’t work for less than that rate”, is a different kettle of fish.

All agencies have contracts that some drivers like and others don’t. They also have contracts that no-one likes.
Who do you think they put onto the contracts no-one likes? The newly signed up ones, of course.
If you put your head down and get on with it, and point out that you ain’t keen on it, you’ll serve your time and get moved on.
If you jump up n down, stamp your feet, have a temper tantrum and flat refuse to do it, guess who gets little work and most of that is disliked ? You, because your too snotty, so you might as well get the crap cos you’ll be snotty whatever you get.

[simon]

RyanRs:
haha! i know exactly what you mean there! had 1st hand experience just these past 2 weeks!!

i thought, Yay! passed my class1, so hopefully ill get ‘Class 1 work’! do i [zb] ! instead i get a week of Argos work in a 7.5t as a drivers mate,40 drops!! delivering washing machines, sofa beds, dinner tables etc -majority to 1st,2nd,3rd floor flats !!! i dont know how these argos people do it every day , i could barely do it for a week and im very physically fit!

Obviously not as fit as you thought

RyanRs:
Well, im 25 now and just as i thought (for a 2nd time) YAY! im gona get class1 work… im now faced with the good ole ‘Gotta have 2 years experience!!’ rubbish! JESUS!! what next!! ill probably get my 2years and they will tell me iv gotta be fluent in every language and come 1st in the london olimpics!! jeeush! Why is it so hard to get a job in this industry now! its only a lorry for christ sake! lol

Unfortunately, everyone has to start at the bottom, with agencies in particular.
Agency drivers don’t have a good reputation with a lot of small companies and many of the big ones too.
You may well wonder, WHY?

It’s very simple. Why do drivers sign up with agencies?
There are several answers to that.

1. Because they want a part time job.
2. Because they have just passed their test and can’t find anything else.
3. Because they like the variety offered by agency work.
4. Because they have just lost their job due to redundancy or something else similar, through no fault of their own. So Agency work keeps some money coming in until they find something they want.
5. Because they have been fired by most of the local decent companies, due to their poor work record (or similar).
   There are a few examples.

Put yourself in an agencies shoes.
Joe Bloggs turns up to sign on. He sails through the questionaires.
Which of the above camps does Joe really fit into.
1,3 or 4 ? Maybe. Joe claims to be an experienced driver.

They send Joe out on several of their crap jobs, to see how he does.
The clients report that Joe does a good job, gets on with people reasonably well. Brings the paperwork back properly completed, the wagon isn’t getting damaged, no complaints from the regular driver who’s regular wagon he is driving. Joe moves up the work sheet from a possible 5 to a possible 3 or 4.
He has mentioned that he hates working for client A, but likes client C. Joe then gets pencilled in as a steady for client C.

OR

They send Joe out on several of their crap jobs, to see how he does.
At the first assignment Joe has a tantrum and flat refuses to go. At the second assignment Joe does 1 day and refuses to go back because he’s an experienced LGV C+E driver, and these people want him to drive a 7.5 tonner . At the 3rd assignment Joe has a good day on day one, but damages the wagon on day two. Joe is now labelled as a definite 5. He only gets asked to do a job if they can’t find anyone else.

Does this seem a reasonable premise on the way an agency might work?

The company I work for uses agency drivers as little as possible.
We have a small group of known and trusted casual drivers to cover what’s usually needed.
We have a small fleet of 6 new, big cab wagons, which we drivers live in during the week. We’ve also got 2 UK only wagons, slightly older but still good, clean, big cabs which their drivers live in. The casual / agency drivers only ever drive them for a day job.
In the past, an agency driver removed items from the cab. Another drove into a post and removed the drivers side steps. Another took the side boards out of a trailer and left them in the weeds, after loading. “He couldn’t be bothered putting the useless things back in, after loading”, was his reply when asked about them. Another had a sleep on a drivers bedding, nothing wrong with that, except he left his boots and freshly greased glow-in-the-dark vest on while he did it.(These are only a few examples from THIS year).
None of these agency drivers has been allowed to return for another try.
Are you surprised?
OK, accidents happen, however the damage from that post was only reported by the regular driver, on Sunday morning as he was leaving for Europe.
Another agency driver put a two week old wagon in a ditch. Repairs cost over £1,000.
Perhaps you can figure it out. Which group would these drivers fit into, in your opinion?

I did agency work for 5 n a half years, so I know what it’s like.
Hopefully I wasn’t ever considered a group 5 driver, although I had my moments.

[euromat]

hello mate congratulations on passing, sadly there are fewer british trucks heading over the water these days but lke others have said try the ones named. if you are still struggling, our company have a lot of double manning which (in the summer) is sorted out by an agent, they fly you out you double man the truck go to a hotel, sleep, and fly home, some stints are 2 or 3 days some can be 3 weks its a way of getting some euro experience if your struggling, its very seasonal, only in the summer when its very busy, i will pm you his number if you want