arrived for my agency shift at 7.15 , put my digi card in at 7.45 after filling tons of paper work in, got back to yard and took my card out at 18.30, after doing debreif etc i left at 19…00 .
went to get my time sheet signed but bloke on desk said we dont sign them mate and driver next to me said thats right your paid for whats on your card so you dont even have to fill or send in time sheet as firm just inform your agency what to pay you ,which is on your card.
ive never done agency with a digi card but if it is true im loosing 7.15 to 7.45 and 18.00 to 19.00 or 1 hrs pay [ 18.00 ], seems a rip off to me but is that how its done now.
ive sent time sheet in [ cant get hold of agency 
] with start tome 7.15 and finish time 19.00 so i supose ill just have to wait and see.
Thats a rip off Ady. Your card would not be in when you are being briefed/debriefed. Ask them if you should make a manual entry on a print out for the debriefing time. To be honest though, i’d just wouldn’t go back. If i was paid by what was on my card i’d want the registration number of the truck i was getting and telling them to make sure the keys are in it, they also find their notes on the dashboard when i finished !! You couldn’t make some of these people up !!!
Having still not yet used my digi-card I might be not be understanding what I have read so far, correctly.
However, shouldn’t you be making manual entries via the digi-tacho (once you get your vehicle allocated) to show that your daily (or weekly) rest finished at (in this case) 0715hrs?
As for the hours work you did (off the card, as such) at the end of the shift, shouldn’t that be ‘added’ to the digi-card when you start your next shift?
I realise that it isn’t/wouldn’t be a straightforward way for the agency to keep tabs on your hours but if they want to utilise a system with potential difficulties, that’s up to them. Just so long as you get your due money.
Why should the digi card make any difference?
Your time starts from the time you were booked for until you are told it’s end of shift. Just put your times on the agency’s timesheet and send it in.
If the customer only wants to pay hours shown on the card and the agency back the customer, just accept you lost an hour (1.5 hours if on overtime) and find another agency or tell your agency you don’t want that customer again.
Pop Larkin:
If the customer only wants to pay hours shown on the card and the agency back the customer, just accept you lost an hour (1.5 hours if on overtime) and find another agency or tell your agency you don’t want that customer again.
. . . . . . . . . . and then ‘balance the books’ on the next shift. 
not to sure but cant you alter start times when you first insert your card,if not then you should get the agency to sort out a better way of paying you,i.e. manual recording or an accepted time alloted at start and finish time (bearing in mind you could wait an hour for a truck). either way you should be paid from when you enter the traffic office at the start of your shift till when you leave traffic office at the end of your shift.
I would try getting hold of someone from the agency just to let them know the score, if you have been supplied with a time sheet from the agency then surely that is the way your agency works hence the time sheet!
Actually, as Getz says, the digi tach prompts you if you want to make a manual entry and you can enter your start time, no need to print anything out. Same when ejecting it, its asks agin i think if you want a manulal entry and just enter your estimated finish time .
just accept you lost an hour (1.5 hours if on overtime) and find another agency or tell your agency you don’t want that customer again
sorry, just accept it… How can a driver accept working for free?? he has done that work and he is entitled to his money… no disrespects but people who say it is only 15 mins or 30 mins there are the drivers who keep the wages down…
Simple you want what you work. no driver is a freebie and no agency should back the customer!
Mike-C:
Actually, as Getz says, the digi tach prompts you if you want to make a manual entry and you can enter your start time, no need to print anything out. Same when ejecting it, its asks agin i think if you want a manulal entry and just enter your estimated finish time .
You can definitely enter your start time manaully, but I’m pretty sure you can’t enter a finish time in the future. You can only give it the real finish time once the time has actually passed (most likely your next shift when you next put the card in a tacho head).
A lot of my agency’s clients don’t sign the agency timesheet; they communicate the times directly to the agency by fax/email, but I fill in a timesheet and send it in anyway. I’ve never had a problem with them.
In terms of the finish time, you might be OK - they might automatically add on half an hour to cover end-of-shift paperwork, for example. In that case, if you go back there again, just make sure that removing the tacho card is the last thing you do before going into the office to sign off.
You can argue the first part with your agency.
In other words,if your agency told you to be there at 07.15,and you arrived on time,then that’s when your paid from.
As for your finishing time,well I would still send a time sheet into the agency,with all of the time you have worked,see if they pay it accordingly,and if not,tell them to find someone else to work for free at that customer.
Ken.
discoman:
just accept you lost an hour (1.5 hours if on overtime) and find another agency or tell your agency you don’t want that customer againsorry, just accept it… How can a driver accept working for free?? he has done that work and he is entitled to his money… no disrespects but people who say it is only 15 mins or 30 mins there are the drivers who keep the wages down…
Simple you want what you work. no driver is a freebie and no agency should back the customer!
I meant accept it as putting it down to experience and then putting either customer or agency or both on the list of who not to work for. Sometimes life is too damned short to be arguing over an hour or two. Far better to move on.
I agree totally that nobody should work for nothing. It’s only the people prepared to do that that allow crap employers to remain crap employers. But people will work for nothing, agencies do back their customer for fear of losing the work. That will always be the way, so if the work is crap, just pass it by and work elsewhere rather than get too hot under the collar about it.
the smart way says to use manual entries on your digi tacho. just the same as what you would do on a normal tacho.
if on the old system you started at 04.00 but did not jump in a truck till 08.00 then you would do a manual entry stating you started at 04.00 and then you would get paid starting at 04.00.
if the agency dont want to know after you tell them what occured then switch agencies.
Pops…speaks great words