I’ve recently been been taking on Class 1 work for an agency. I passed my test some years ago, but since then I had only driven rigids for an entertainment company, so I am effectively a newbie to artics, but wanted to get some proper experience having done a full 2 day refresher course as a precaution.
This particular day went as follows :
Report to Haulage company at 6am, drive tractor unit to first destination 35 mins away, pick up trailer, then drive to location up North to tip and wait to be re-loaded. Come back to destination I had collected trailer from, uncouple and re-couple to another loaded trailer and take back to Haulage company. Straight forward enough I thought.
Having never been to the Northern location before, I asked TM if he had, to which he helpfully replied “no”. I still had my satnav and truckers atlas though, so walked to cab.
Vehicle checks done, I started to check my route, only I noticed the cig lighter socket was faulty, so no satnav. The postcode was now useless and I had no directions for the town. But fear not I thought -I still have my old fashioned trucker’s atlas!
In retrospect I shouldn’t have moved an inch before I was happy, but time was ticking on, so I eased out of the yard.
Coupled the trailer at destination 1 and had a look at the atlas; Argh!! 3 towns in the index with the same name…! Walked back and asked the TM which one he thought it was, but he didn’t know either. Another person in the office took a look at my atlas and pointed out what he thought was the correct one…
…Fast forward to my first break, some fair distance up the M1. Felt uneasy so decided to call the Haulage Co. re my hours, who didn’t take at all kindly to my situation “Should’ve come off at J30!!!” and slammed the phone down. -Could you not have given me that snippet of advice at the crack of dawn before I left?!
That little mistake delayed me by about 2 hours after doubling back, but when I finally got to the right town, I had to spend the next hour or so trying in desperation to find the small company in a tiny trading estate that no locals knew of; running into factories, turning around in trading estates, backing up and turning around in country lanes that were leading me back out of the town etc. It was horrendous. When I finally found the destination, it was 3.30pm and they had to finish at 4 on the dot! I’ve never seen a forkie offload a truck so fast! At least they were understanding about it and agreed their estate was a bit obscure and wasn’t even sign posted.
Returned to base stressed, exhausted and disappointed, not only with myself for screwing up, but mainly with the rude, aggressive attitude of the Haulage company. A 15 hour day, 11 hours of which was driving, so exceeding my limit by an hour, I was really hacked off.
To add insult to injury and being assured not to worry by the Agency for the mistake in trying to find the location (the haulage company had already complained to the agency!), I noticed a week later that I had not been paid for my full hours and according to the Agency, the haulage company had refused to pay me more than 10 hours. 5 hours less than the hours I did. I have no idea how they worked that out. The Agency’s response; “Nothing we can do when a company says that. Our hands are tied”.
Is this justified…!!!
I fully accept I made a costly mistake, and fully understand it from their side, but I did complete the tasks, looked after their filthy truck like a new born baby and drove as safely as I could in the circumstances. Which is a lot more than can be said for the people in the haulage company’s transport dept, who (with the exception of the actual drivers, being very helpful) were the exact opposite. Rude and unhelpful, didn’t give me any concise directions or pointers, wanting only to throw muck at someone if a mistake was made, as I had already heard them earlier that morning openly slagging off some other driver like a load of moaning old ladies. I felt sorry for their wives.
Has anyone else had any experience with this situation with pay etc? I would love to know your thoughts please…
Nope. You’re entitled to all the pay for all the hours you worked.
Do a tacho printout for the day asap, explain to the agency (as that’s who your contract is with) that you expect to be paid for the full 15hrs (possibly minus breaks??) and if not paid then you’ll have no option than to put a claim in through the small claims court - which you’d win btw.
The agency can’t withold your pay unless you’ve agreed to it in advance. Look into it and write them a lovely letter reminding them of their obligations. Add a photocopy of your print out or tacho as evidence of the hours you worked. Give them a chance to put it right and if they don’t get onto acas.
It’s not like you didn’t try to get directions before you left so you’ve not been negligent you’ve just worked for some dicks who could have googled it and printed you off directions if they’d have wanted to.
Write on the printout the reasons for driving an hour over a ten hour limit.If stopped it will cost a big fine.If you signed to say they can authorise deduvtions in the small print agency contract or agreement you have givem them permission to dock pay.
If you have not signed it is illegal.
I did an agency job years ago and the delivery town had two names the same.A passing truck from the same supermarket must have rang in to ask why i was going the wrong way.No address on paperwork.
Suedehead:
Makes me wonder how we ever managed before sat navs.
streetmap.co.uk and enter the postcode! Don’t even need a mapbook…
Makes me wonder how we ever managed before the interweb.
In the “olden days” the TM would have made sure you knew where you were going,
if necessary sketching a map on the back of an envelope, instead of acting like a ■■■■.
Suedehead:
Makes me wonder how we ever managed before sat navs.
streetmap.co.uk and enter the postcode! Don’t even need a mapbook…
Makes me wonder how we ever managed before the interweb.
In the “olden days” the TM would have made sure you knew where you were going,
if necessary sketching a map on the back of an envelope, instead of acting like a ■■■■.
In the olden days,the tm would have probably had experience of driving lorries unlike todays clueless ■■■■■■
Mind you some of these newer drivers can be their own worst enemy imo.
I’m sure the fella knows what he could have done, but he did ask a question or 2 before he left, perhaps if the fella he asked hadn’t have been such a prick, he might have got the answers he needed or asked a couple more questions.
As for the money, you work for the agency, so they pay you for the hours you worked, it’s upto them to get the money from their client. Don’t listen to all that crap “our hands are tied”, it just means they don’t want to push it and ■■■■ the client off so that they end up using another agency, fact is, the agency owes you another 5 hours pay, chase them for it
You can be sure that if there is anyone working for the agency with any sense that they will be getting the full number of hours paid to themselves.
They merely need to point out to the haulage company that if they don’t have sufficient interest to ensure that a driver has been given the correct delivery address, then they deserve everything that results… which could quite easily have been: " You wouldn’t pick the driver up when he ran out of time so your vehicle is at ■■■ Service area and it’s going to cost you the £200 parking fee to get it back again." - extreme, but someone in that haulage company quite clearly knew where the goods were supposed to go (junction 30), and couldn’t be bothered.
The traffic clerk has a computer right in front of his nose, it takes 2 minutes to print out a map of the last 10 miles to the delivery address and another minute to ensure that there is a contact phone number for that address on the delivery notes or the manifest.
Telling someone to “ask so and so he’s been there before” is a waste of time, most people forget a vital roundabout or set of traffic lights in their directions and even if they are spot on in four hours time how much will be remembered exactly?
Terrible practice for the consultant not to ring you in the first place and not ask your side of the story given the client had already made a complaint. Worse still to have the hours deducted (which they’ll know about a week in advance mind) and not have the courtesy to ring you.
The agency’s hands aren’t tied at all. I’d ring your consultant and tell him / her to grow a spine. I don’t think it requires a threat in terms of small claims etc. and that should be a last resort as opposed to your first action.
In your shoes, after that phone call I’d be making my way to alternative agencies. Too many people stick with bad agencies and moan about them. Vote with your feet and you might start actually influencing people.
Remind the agency of their contract with you and tell them to pay up for the hours you worked or you’ll have no choice but to take it further, they’re obviously spineless to have sided with the haulier and not to have discussed it with you first.
You didn’t do a very good job of your days work but that’s by the by now really, what’s done is done and at the end of the day the delivery was made so the haulier got his money, likewise you should get yours.
In future sort out where you’re going first, no point bombing off up the motorway if you don’t know where you’re going, maps, google, other drivers, locals, the company you’re delivering to, they’re all there to help you.
