LIBERTY_GUY:
Trouble is, there is an abundance of distribution companies out there, that think it is perfectly acceptable to ring an agency for a driver at 3am of a morning because one of their drivers has phoned in sick and likewise agencies that think it is perfectly acceptable to ring someone at 3.10am of a morning to offer a solitary days work.
Isn’t that supposed to be one of the main ideas of an agency, to provide temporary cover for companies when their drivers go off sick? That is all part and parcel of working for an agency and if you don’t like it and aren’t prepared to accept it then don’t work for agencies. The one thing that will be guaranteed is that when its quiet it’ll be the people who were willing to go out for a single day at short notice who will be offered whatever there is first before people like you.
Maybe that’s why people like you and big boots are sat at home waiting for the phone to ring…
And before you start bleating on about the golden boys getting the best work, the reason they do is because when they started they were prepared to go out to do those solitary days when they got a phone call at 3am.
LIBERTY_GUY:
Trouble is, there is an abundance of distribution companies out there, that think it is perfectly acceptable to ring an agency for a driver at 3am of a morning because one of their drivers has phoned in sick and likewise agencies that think it is perfectly acceptable to ring someone at 3.10am of a morning to offer a solitary days work.
Isn’t that supposed to be one of the main ideas of an agency, to provide temporary cover for companies when their drivers go off sick? That is all part and parcel of working for an agency and if you don’t like it and aren’t prepared to accept it then don’t work for agencies. The one thing that will be guaranteed is that when its quiet it’ll be the people who were willing to go out for a single day at short notice who will be offered whatever there is first before people like you.
Maybe that’s why people like you and big boots are sat at home waiting for the phone to ring…
And before you start bleating on about the golden boys getting the best work, the reason they do is because when they started they were prepared to go out to do those solitary days when they got a phone call at 3am.
Is someone wants to be spend their life as a complete numpty and delude themselves that they are are held in any sort of esteem by covering odd days for agencies, then I truly feel sorry for them. Kissing butts for oddments of work like that will just leave you with empty pockets and sore knees…
I haven’t done driving work through agencies for years now, nor would I want to. The consultants are just glorified con merchants and only a fool would listen to the verbal diarrhea that spews out of them.
As above ,put simply be a ■■■■■ go with every agency that there is.If they ask for an enormous favour and drive 50 miles to a job tell them O.K. but give me a full weeks pay next week .There is no loyalty in this game anymore.
LIBERTY_GUY:
Is someone wants to be spend their life as a complete numpty and delude themselves that they are are held in any sort of esteem by covering odd days for agencies, then I truly feel sorry for them. Kissing butts for oddments of work like that will just leave you with empty pockets and sore knees…
I haven’t done driving work through agencies for years now, nor would I want to. The consultants are just glorified con merchants and only a fool would listen to the verbal diarrhea that spews out of them.
All I know is a lot of the time I got paid extra, in the quiet months after Xmas I was flat out with work and that I was usually given a few places to choose from and could go to whichever I wanted. Quite a few times the companies would phone me to see if I was available the following week with the first the agency knowing about it being when they asked me if I was available and I informed them their client had already rung me direct.
But then that’s probably because I was competent instead of someone who barely passes as a steering wheel attendant like many who have problems with agencies ultimately end up to be. Given your posts where you seem completely unaware of handing in keys at RDCs and the London lorry ban maybe the reason you had problems with agencies was because quite frankly you’re a bit crap.
point 1, why register with ‘local’ mickey mouse agencies? its pretty common knowledge who has the bigger contracts etc.
I love how many on here give it large regarding agencies and how they treat you, end of the day yes there are bull ■■■■■■■■ out there why stay with them, i have drivers who have followed me from 1 agency to the next when i have moved. I even got a xmas card off a few
its all about choices if you want to be a company man great go for it stay at abc haulage for your whole life and feel great, if like me you get bored of the same noobs who are at 90% of companies i have worked at (you know the ones, this jobs takes this long that run is impossible, i get 1st choice on all new trucks as my driving style is rated at 100% by a computer). then agency works better more choice, flexibility and you not stuck at some firm you dislike because your worried about the horrible agency bloke not getting you work or your wife wont let you!
Conor:
But then that’s probably because I was competent instead of someone who barely passes as a steering wheel attendant like many who have problems with agencies ultimately end up to be. Given your posts where you seem completely unaware of handing in keys at RDCs and the London lorry ban maybe the reason you had problems with agencies was because quite frankly you’re a bit crap.
You just come across as a complete bosses man and we all know how other drivers love those…
Perhaps if you had bothered to read my other posts, you’d have seen that I drove tippers and focused on industrial work such as steel and machinery including abnormal loads, so how on earth would I have any knowledge of RDC’s? Some drivers come on here to educate themselves and obtain further information, whereas others just seem to be those that seem to think they are the worlds best driver and know it all.
Winseer:
I reckon most drivers never have a “second time” they’ll be phoned at 3:10am…
I made it to 2 phone calls, the second one was a conversation about the reason for me not answering the first call at 3 AM.
The last I heard the HMRC were seeking to extradite the woman who owned the agency from America for not passing the drivers PAYE to them. Allegedly
Lucky you are not being chased for it by HMRC, since they have no chance of getting it out of someone no longer present in this country.
Non payment of taxes by rich employers is the main reason there’s no money in the coffers as it is.
Agency put one into good client job = good agency.
Agency that only has crappy client jobs = bad agency.
What’s “crappy”? - Low pay, shoddy conditions, being treated like kids, or given no information whatsoever.
Crappy firms also expect to only ever use agencies for last minute sick cover, because they’re too tight fisted to use them to cover sceduled leave.
Life is too short to be ■■■■■■ about by firms that think they can treat drivers like dirt, because they happen to be a client for a lickcock agency that has already undercut rates to the bone merely to pick up the “reluctant business” of that particular client.
The ones I especially hate are the yards that get shirty when you refuse to answer a mobile phone whilst driving.
It is NOT THE LAW that you MUST take your phone into a cab to do this job FFS!
It’s CLIENTS that make for crappy agencies and crappy agency work - research carefully which clients a prospective agency has before signing up there. It would have saved me a lot of trouble if I’d known to ask this when starting out…
I’m guessing here, but I’ve always been under the impression that certain clients must be crap because I’ve never been pointed in their direction, despite originally signing up with 9 agencies. Tkmaxx, Nobbies, Poundland, Aldi, polypipe seem to run artics but pay sub-£10ph if I’ve been pricing myself out of the market here. Would anyone care to contradict me here?
Winseer:
What’s “crappy”? - Low pay, shoddy conditions, being treated like kids, or given no information whatsoever.
The ones I especially hate are the yards that get shirty when you refuse to answer a mobile phone whilst driving.
It is NOT THE LAW that you MUST take your phone into a cab to do this job FFS!
One of the guys I was on a dcpc course a couple of weeks ago was telling me an agency sent him on a contract where they thought he was going to use his own phone to tell customers when he was arriving…
Another driver on the course told me he was called out at short notice by an agency. Whilst not 3.10am, it was still a 5.30am call. He got there at 6.30am to be met with a stroppy git in the traffic office saying he should have been there at 6am, this despite the fact the load was not ready till gone 10am.
If people want to take irregular work for outfits like that, then that is their own choice, but there are better ways of earning a living than being some agencies ‘■■■■■’.
LIBERTY_GUY:
One of the guys I was on a dcpc course a couple of weeks ago was telling me an agency sent him on a contract where they thought he was going to use his own phone to tell customers when he was arriving…
Nowt wrong with that, just claim the phone calls on your timesheet at 35p per minute or whatever your network charges for out of contract allowance calls. Its an easy way to make a few quid for what probably costs you nothing. 5 minutes on the phone to a delivery, £1.75.
All the agencies I’ve driven for, Driver Hire, Jark, Securicor Driving, Manpower and Stafforce, have all paid me for calls when I’ve put them down as an expense on my timesheet.
If you worked for say, Manpower, then if your last payslip for the tax year said “gross earnings to date £25,000” - then how much do their version of expense offsets get that year-end figure down by?
I didn’t even know they were handing expense offsets out…
I am on the Agencys because it does suit me I can work when I want too etc. but they are ALL lying ■■■■■■■■ and the way to use them like they will use you is play em by telling them what you WILL and what you
WONT do and stick to it , one of the most important is DONT do the same day call outs as if they know you will jump to it they will keep you on that list all the time , I don’t listen to the Bull of em anymore as they will tell you any load of crap , one of them really ■■■■■■ me off and I got my own back by ducking the next day , don’t know if you are allowed to name which agencies are crap on here but if so I could soon make a list of the ■■■■■ ones .
Only when one is prepared to discard, waste, and otherwise destroy something you have - do you truly gain control over it at last.
Turning down work will always improve what you are offered for this reason.
Accepting everything on first time of asking - and you’ll only ever get offered short-notice dross.
