Well i had a job for a few weeks got a job withh an agency promised that there was plenty of work but as usall full of crap i will name this place they were called ADS based in radlett they asked for 30 drivers and now we are all back looking for jobss SO IF ANY ONE SEES THIS AGENCY recuiting dont bother going for interview so now looking for a job if anyone knows of any vacancies please let me know
Seems like another agency that is full of empty promises 
I read that it is tough getting work out there from posts like THIS and that agencies like to have lots on their books ‘just in case’ but why do they seem to make empty promises 
To my way of thinking - the job is there or it is not…
Yet another example:
Driver Hire Grimsby. When I joined I didnt have a digi card. They kept banging on about all the work I could have if I had one, and so, I spent £38 and got it
That was 3 weeks ago and apart from phoning them to say I had it, I have’nt heard anything at all.
Now bearing in mind they have guys on the books, that haven’t had work for a while, why are they advertising for numerous 7.5 ton drivers■■?
Surely they could at least phone drivers and ask if they would do it?
I’ve mentioned this before, but I have a full PCV also and they had the cheek to ask if I knew anyone that could cover a school run job for a bit!! 
ERRRRRMMMMMM…Hello !!!
I dont understand how they stay in business really. They all must get slagged off something rotten, so why do they get the drivers?
they all want sinking and get the employers to start offering perm jobs again, i rung all 4 agencies i’m with yesterday about work next week and they all said it’s quiet ashame there still advertising for more drivers. Hope you get some work i’ve had two weeks in two months
there will always advertise as there get commison if someone joins
One of them round here is running around Fradley park trying to undercut the others. With some success I may add. The smaller companies may(have) go for it but the large ones , maybe not?.
I will not reveal who they are until I get more information.
Another trick they do is make you go under some kind of umbrella company, You have no choice. Needless to say having met this shower, I ran for the door,
They checked my driving licence with a direct call to the dvla. I spoke to someone on the other end and gave my details. Not sure an agency can call the DVLA direct and ask for this info? It might not of been the DVLA for all I know.
Does Ashbourne ring a bell?
TOMLEWISWD63DW:
so now looking for a job if anyone knows of any vacancies please let me know
I think you are in Herts so THIS might be worth a call 
Drivers who have been with their respective agencies a while are getting work and lots of it. Those who have just joined will get bits’n’bobs for a while when it’s quiet.
It’s always been like this. At the one I’m currently with, I got odd days here and there for about 2 months. Currently I’m flat out at a time where I’d normally be sat at home.
steve07:
Hope you get some work i’ve had two weeks in two months
Thats all I’ve had since May.
chippy:
,They checked my driving licence with a direct call to the dvla. I spoke to someone on the other end and gave my details. Not sure an agency can call the DVLA direct and ask for this info? It might not of been the DVLA for all I know.
yes they can, see last line on this page:
delboytwo:
there will always advertise as there get commison if someone joins
Never got paid “per recruit” when I was in the business, and with the recent spate of downsizing and redundancies I very much doubt if any agency pays their consultants like that today, might as well chuck a suitcase full of fivers out of the window!
Chippy; you, as the licence holder, have to be present when a licence check is done in this way, and speak to the DVLA yourself to give permission. Agency can’t do it otherwise; that is why I stress to everyone who goes for a job to take BOTH parts of the driving licence with them; presumably you did not.
In this case the agency have acted correctly to verify your licence, what are you complaining about?
As for undercutting; that’s business, it does not happen to be illegal. The old adage of peanuts and monkeys holds true to an extent.
All you lot moaning about agency this that and t’other; read Conor’s post, especially the second paragraph;read it again and keep reading it till you get the message.Agency work is a two-way street, and for every story on here about a crap agency promising the earth and delivering nowt, I can match it with one of a driver who does the same. There are good and bad in both.
Finally, advertising; in agency work, there’s a relatively high turnover of staff; goes with the territory. Drivers are rarely as loyal to an agency as they would be to a haulier, and that’s an accepted fact of life. Given the turnover, it makes good business sense to keep recruiting in order to keep your potential staffing levels high.
In a sense it’s no different to the pemanent “sale” that’s on at Allied Carpets or whatever; its primary purpose is to remind clients and candidates that the company is still there, and kid them both that they’re busy. I admit it’s a load of ■■■■■■■■ sometimes, but I’m constantly surprised that some drivers are daft enough to believe it after all these years! 
gnasty gnome:
Finally, advertising; in agency work, there’s a relatively high turnover of staff; goes with the territory. Drivers are rarely as loyal to an agency as they would be to a haulier, and that’s an accepted fact of life.
Exactly. I’m one of those who tend to stick with one, maybe two at most at a time. The agency you sign up to usually take a little while to work that out but then once they get used to you always being available and saying yes, you end up being amongst the first that they ring when some work comes in.
I’ve been doing agency work for a very long time. In fact I reckon out of the 15 years I’ve been driving, 10 of those have been on agency. I was with one agency so long that I managed to get a mortgage with a lender who didn’t lend to agency workers because when they contacted my agency, they were told that I did that much for them that I was basically no different to a fulltime permanent employee.
I’ve changed several times, pretty much either within the first couple of months because they were rubbish or after a few years usually when the person I dealt with moved on at which point, it tends to go downhill a bit as the working relationship you have has gone. One thing I learned very early on is that the new guys get the scraps until they can prove their “abilities” - ability, availability and reliability. After about 4 months, you can pretty much guarantee you’ll get virtually fulltime work if you take anything. After 6 months you can start to get picky except from Jan-April and Oct-early Nov. After a year, they know what you like and don’t like so you tend to still end up working fulltime but get what you want. Occasionally, they’ll still ask you to do the odd ballache job but I see a week or two of that now and again as a kind of reasonable penance to pay for getting months of cherry picking.
I’m lucky TBH. I’ve got a wierd name and I’ve been doing this a long time. Because I’ve a wierd name, people remember it so I have to do a damned good job. The upshot of this is that I’ve been doing it that long I’ve been to pretty much every company that uses agency drivers and can bypass the inital 2-3 month honeymoon period with an agency because they tend to find that when they phone a client and mention that they’re sending me that the client tends to say they’ve had me before and I’m a good driver. So for me, the 2-3 month honeymoon period is shortened to a couple of weeks.
^^^^^ Agreed.
gnasty gnome & Conor
I agree with you both, Also like Conor I too have been doing agency work for the long term (for the past 4yrs) primarily with 1 agency at 1 site for the last 2 years alone, so I must be doing something right
like conor I see agency work as my main/only form of income
even though with the current ecomomic climate, it can be all or nothing, sometimes 2-3 days 1 week, then 6 days the following
I have worked the odd days for several other local agencies this years, and remain in contact with them keeping my licence checks etc up to date, but because I am getting enough work with my primary agency I rarely need to take work from the alternatives, even though last week I recieved 4 calls from the alternates offering me assignments.
Im guessing that **TOMLEWISWD63DW** has found out the hard way, likewise as do all driver who sign up for an agency. that getting your foot in the door with an agency is sometimes difficult, and the new boys/girls will always be at the bottom of the pile when it comes to offers of work. Dont be bitter, just be patient the offers of work will come
Im guessing conor, like myself has been in the same position as **TOMLEWISWD63DW** in the past when we 1st started on this agy career path. It is a long struggle to get yourself in a position with the agency where your given the choice of the good shifts, and start times at a site. Even after 4 years Im still learning. So any of the drivers wanting to sign up with an agency, this IS the best time of the year to make your mark, but be paitient, you will no doubt find doors slammed in your face , shifts cancelled at the last minute, or your shifts cancelled and given to the likes of myself or conor 
because the customer knows we`ll do the job how they want it, and when they want it doing.
At the site I`m at a memo being issued stating several new agy staff have been banned for various misdemeanors, inc
doing deliveries out of running order on the manifest, resulting in them missing booking times
being seen by senior management smoking in the cabs, and using mobile phones while driving.
Driving without a digi card in (both around the yard, and site to site locally)
breaking the strict routing policy of not driving through the nearest village.
Some new agy staff are generally being pig headed, bullish, and mouthing off at the staff & clerks in the office. its the fastest way of not being asked for again
Chippy; you, as the licence holder, have to be present when a licence check is done in this way, and speak to the DVLA yourself to give permission. Agency can’t do it otherwise; that is why I stress to everyone who goes for a job to take BOTH parts of the driving licence with them; presumably you did not.
I did have both parts
In this case the agency have acted correctly to verify your licence, what are you complaining about?
Nobody else has 
As for undercutting; that’s business, it does not happen to be illegal. The old adage of peanuts and monkeys holds true to an extent.
That’s business and that’s why drivers are being sold down the river. Would you say that paying a class 1 driver £8 per hour is a fair and reasonable wage? 
chippy:
I did have both parts
In which case, the agency is being thorough, which is by no means a bad thing; I wonder if they’ve been caught out by someone producing either a forged, or incomplete “green paper” part?
That’s by no means impossible BTW; I lost mine a few years ago, had to obtain another one, then found the original. If you’ve got a scenario where a driver’s done this, and has a serious conviction on the new one, then “tries it on” with the “clean” original, it’s easy to see how the agency could end up being highly embarassed.
Try to see it from their side; if another driver did this at your agency, and the result was a lost contract which was your bread and butter, you wouldn’t be very happy would you?
As for the rate; might seem crap to you but I’m willing to bet that there are a few on here who work for that, and less.
Just a quick one for those that haven thought of it
When at a customer ie tesco sainsbury DHL etc etc as you finish your shift ask them if they want you the following day
gnasty gnome wrote “As for the rate; might seem crap to you but I’m willing to bet that there are a few on here who work for that, and less.”
Answer the question please.
Is paying £8 per hour for a class 1 driver a fair and reasonable wage?
How much do shelf stackers get paid at the supermarket?
[/quote]
chippy:
gnasty gnome wrote “As for the rate; might seem crap to you but I’m willing to bet that there are a few on here who work for that, and less.”Answer the question please.
Is paying £8 per hour for a class 1 driver a fair and reasonable wage?
How much do shelf stackers get paid at the supermarket?
[/quote]
Aldi pay £10 an hour round this way to people on the Tills!
Exactly Scarab. Another point. Why does this agency not give drivers an alternative means of payment rather than umbrella’s? ( It had to be their nominated umbrella). PAYE for instance.