Rebelling agency worker

[suzyq]

I ve been an agency driver since 1999 . Im solvent , own my house and car and have made a good living . I m successful at what I do because I do a good job so why am I ranting ?

Over the years agency drivers have been the scum of the earth . Always there when there is a need to blame someone . Pass the buck .

Such a poor reputation that employed drivers and Employers forget the agency driver has be versatile , drive any type of vehicle competently , in any state and is very often given the worst truck on the fleet , knee deep in muck and chip papers and often without a working night heater , a must for those of us who work nights . The agency driver gets it all … and Ive seen it all .

Bearing in mind its only Tuesday , so far this week Ive been accused of refusing to download my digicard after a shift and walking out of a job …this is after the same company asked if I could "pop in " as their equipment had failed and they hadnt got all the detail off my digicard , a 46 mile round trip ! Guess what my answer was !!

This is the same company who asked me to refill in my check sheets at the end of shift to comply with the last drivers’ check sheet so their records matched !

Who didnt know about downloading off the truck digi itself with their mastercard .

When I pointed this out all went quiet , after all we agency drivers are all thick and stupid , arent we ?!!

Then , low and behold , and after Id finally lost my cool with them , an apology as they d found the “missing” info !!!

That took 6 1/2 hours to sort out … ! And had I not stood my ground then they were perfectly happy to lay the blame for their incompetence at my door .

Best of all though , this so-called blue chip company with all its excessive high demands failed to realise when asking me to refill my check list that the the trailer numbers didnt match …

Clever huh ?

[rocky_7]

I am a trade plater, and like you suzyq I am not considered to be a proper driver like some of the “REAL” drivers who have a regular job,

[darb]

There’s good agency drivers
There’s bad agency drivers
There’s good regular drivers
There’s bad regular drivers
There’s good day drivers
There’s bad day drivers
There’s good night drivers
There’s bad night drivers
There’s good part time drivers
There’s bad part time drivers
There’s good tipper drivers
There’s bad tipper drivers
There’s good trampers
There’s bad trampers
There’s good VOSA officers
There’s bad VOSA officers
There’s good car drivers
There’s bad car drivers
There’s good coach drivers
There’s bad coach drivers
There’s good policemen
There’s bad policemen
There’s good gatehouse staff
There’s bad gatehouse staff
There’s good flt drivers
There’s bad flt drivers
There’s good shunters
There’s bad shunters
There’s good planners
There’s bad planners
There’s good …

The sooner we start to judge people for who they are and not what they do/where they work etc. the better off we’ll all be

[bigvern1]

rocky 7:
I am a trade plater, and like you suzyq I am not considered to be a proper driver like some of the “REAL” drivers who have a regular job,

I too am “just” a tradeplater.

[farnboroughboy11]

Darb:
There’s good agency drivers
There’s bad agency drivers
There’s good regular drivers
There’s bad regular drivers
There’s good day drivers
There’s bad day drivers
There’s good night drivers
There’s bad night drivers
There’s good part time drivers
There’s bad part time drivers
There’s good tipper drivers
There’s bad tipper drivers
There’s good trampers
There’s bad trampers
There’s good VOSA officers
There’s bad VOSA officers
There’s good car drivers
There’s bad car drivers
There’s good coach drivers
There’s bad coach drivers
There’s good policemen
There’s bad policemen
There’s good gatehouse staff
There’s bad gatehouse staff
There’s good flt drivers
There’s bad flt drivers
There’s good shunters
There’s bad shunters
There’s good planners
There’s bad planners
There’s good …

:

^^^^^^ you must be waiting ages to get tipped

[gbpub]

Well said Darb.

[kerbdog]

They all expect you to know their way of doing things without them telling you. ‘Don’t split couple’ in Asda becomes ‘do split couple’ in Tesco. Shut your trailer doors after pulling forward from a bay in most places becomes ‘don’t shut the doors on the trailer if it’s empty’ at other places.

This week I worked for the 1st time at a RDC run by a major player. I started at 4.15am and my run was out of the yard at 5.00am (earlier start was because I hadn’t been there b4). Before I leave the yard I had to fill in the normal 6 sheets of paper that you normally would and sign if you had been there before and then a further 3 safe working systems sheets, as well as reading a 54 page safe working systems booklet. This was on top of doing my vehicle checks, hooking up trailer, doing trailer checks, weighing off and reading directions given to me that they want you to adhere to.

It’s all fine if the other 10 companies I work at have the same safe systems of work, but they don’t . They all have different ways of doing things, and all generally have their own 30 plus page way of working. Generally, there is nothing in them guides that you shouldn’t know as a truck driver. The problems are things like how you fuel up, how you fill in their running sheets (most don’t make sense) (it’s better do ask drivers who usually inform you ah we don’t bother with that bit anyway or just put such and such there or leave that bit as you don’t need to do that), defects - some want you to fill them in and hand them in b4 you leave, others want you to hand them in and the end.

Invariably you may not work in some of these places much and it’s easy to get their little preferences mixed up, the best thing I find is that if you either ask a driver as you go or observe then you don’t go far wrong.

What is the reason these companies use so many agency drivers though. Some companies have 20 plus agency workers every day. On a Sunday they are paying easily over £20 mark an hour to the agency, and you can go in there for years and it’s always the same. Surely these companies would be better making their own temporary contracts up ?

[mike-c]

suzyq:
I ve been an agency driver since 1999 . Im solvent , own my house and car and have made a good living . I m successful at what I do because I do a good job so why am I ranting ?

Over the years agency drivers have been the scum of the earth . Always there when there is a need to blame someone . Pass the buck .

Such a poor reputation that employed drivers and Employers forget the agency driver has be versatile , drive any type of vehicle competently , in any state and is very often given the worst truck on the fleet , knee deep in muck and chip papers and often without a working night heater , a must for those of us who work nights . The agency driver gets it all … and Ive seen it all .

Bearing in mind its only Tuesday , so far this week Ive been accused of refusing to download my digicard after a shift and walking out of a job …this is after the same company asked if I could "pop in " as their equipment had failed and they hadnt got all the detail off my digicard , a 46 mile round trip ! Guess what my answer was !!

This is the same company who asked me to refill in my check sheets at the end of shift to comply with the last drivers’ check sheet so their records matched !

Who didnt know about downloading off the truck digi itself with their mastercard .

When I pointed this out all went quiet , after all we agency drivers are all thick and stupid , arent we ?!!

Then , low and behold , and after Id finally lost my cool with them , an apology as they d found the “missing” info !!!

That took 6 1/2 hours to sort out … ! And had I not stood my ground then they were perfectly happy to lay the blame for their incompetence at my door .

Best of all though , this so-called blue chip company with all its excessive high demands failed to realise when asking me to refill my check list that the the trailer numbers didnt match …

Clever huh ?

So you don’t like Wincantons

[winseer]

The main thing a firm gains from booking an agency driver at high cost is the ability to drop them again at the drop of a hat.

If you keep getting booked for the same place over and over, they must really like you then.

Agencies would have us believe that “all work is last minute” which is total ■■■■■■■■.
I personally believe the only reason one gets offered such work is because you’re too far down in the pecking order at that particular agency to get offered the “Statutory Leave” shifts - something which we’re all required when Full Time to take at 20 days off a year as I understand it.

How they must hate you never to offer you that, despite not putting a foot wrong otherwise.
I believe a firm starting up as an agency will make a core of around 20 drivers (all their personal mates) who’ll get all the “pre-booked” work as I describe, and then pad out the books with another 100 drivers there to pick up the shifts that the CORE buddy drivers drop.

This would explain why someone with over 20 years experience and a clean licence can be not offered a single pre-booked shift in over a year via the offending agency, but constantly pestered at stupid O’clock for shifts that are supposed to be outside my remit with them. I, for one have had a belly full of being phoned at breakfast time to pick up a shift starting in less than an hour’s time a 90 minute drive away - with no expenses payable to boot.

I think I’ll go for a “pre booked work only” stance with the offending firm, and no doubt will expect my P45 from that agency in due course. If they can’t do what it says on the tin, then let’s just get it over and done with, and move aside for the buddies that are really the only ones picking up consistant work at said agency.

If I can’t rely on an agency to give me a reasonable amount of work per year (FFS a single pre-booked shift a week would do - I’m real easy to please!) then it’s time to move on. Does that make me a rebel too?

Let’s make that clear: A pre-booked shift is cover for someone known to be on leave at some future date - ie not today. It won’t be cancelled, because the person going on Stat Leave has to legally take that stat leave. It is unlikely to be chopped and changed around at the last minute, especially at this time of the year when such stat leave has to be all taken by March 31st! Vacant shifts are more often caused by “leave being taken by full timers” than by bods going sick - especially at the last minute. I personally believe too that the vast majority of the “last minute work” that IS offered is not full timers going sick, but core agency bods dropping a shift originally given to them!

Cancellation in these circumstances therefore would mean “we’ve taken it away from you, to give to someone else who knows us socially, but as discrimination is illegal, we can’t actually tell you that as a reason”. They’ll tell you “the client cancelled”, but on more than one occasion I’ve got into the same depot via a different agency on a slightly differing job, and found some ■■■■■■■ plugged into the initial shift that I had had cancelled… Must be the nephew of the guvnor, or something I guess…

Never has it been so bad to be a white, poorly socially connected middle aged British citizen trying to earn a crust.
I consider myself to be fairly flexible, but that doesn’t extend to me being a desperate lickcock to get work.

[muckaway]

I’ve only been with Driver Hire since January, yet I get regular work with the same companies. Currently adding another regular customer to my worked for list but work is generally quiet. I normally get 3/4 days/nights a week but with expenses it pays the bills.
The key to getting on well is to do things how the customer does it, don’t offer suggestions unless asked and keep right out of any driver/office politics.

[darb]

FarnboroughBoy11:

Darb:
There’s good agency drivers
There’s bad agency drivers
There’s good regular drivers
There’s bad regular drivers
There’s good day drivers
There’s bad day drivers
There’s good night drivers
There’s bad night drivers
There’s good part time drivers
There’s bad part time drivers
There’s good tipper drivers
There’s bad tipper drivers
There’s good trampers
There’s bad trampers
There’s good VOSA officers
There’s bad VOSA officers
There’s good car drivers
There’s bad car drivers
There’s good coach drivers
There’s bad coach drivers
There’s good policemen
There’s bad policemen
There’s good gatehouse staff
There’s bad gatehouse staff
There’s good flt drivers
There’s bad flt drivers
There’s good shunters
There’s bad shunters
There’s good planners
There’s bad planners
There’s good …

:

^^^^^^ you must be waiting ages to get tipped

I’m off work looking after our newborn and a bit bored

[foxy_stars]

i made a clear point when i signed up with the agencies i have that if they wanted me to work for them then i had to have 24hrs notice minimum. yeah i’ve seen the £$%^ state of the trucks that i’m told to use and stuff and i just write into my checksheet and at the end if it’s what i consider to be a $%^& job then i tell the firm never to ask me to come back cos the answer will be no.

the other thing i find is that i have more skills than most of their full timers cos if i’ve got more skills then i get offered more work and more choice of firms and places so i generally do a few weeks here there and everywhere and then go back to the start again and just keep the merry go round going.
as for the comment with regards getting stat hol work — that’s the bulk of my stuff and before you say it - i’m adopted and got no parents my sis drives tower crane and i’ve never met the agency people cos i did all my paperwork stuff over the fone…

if the haulage firms that we go to can’t treat us with a little bit of respect then they should expect to get treated the same - what goes around, comes around…

i’m lucky i work for myself and have been at this game long enough to know who can and can’t be trusted where work is concerned and Redline Recruitment in warrington definitely can’t be trusted, late wages, ringing me up an hour before the job and giving all manner of excuses etc…

[saaamon]

An agency driver taught me how to drive an artic (after i passed) and without him i would of been well and truely ■■■■■■!

[truckulent]

Winseer:
The main thing a firm gains from booking an agency driver at high cost is the ability to drop them again at the drop of a hat.

If you keep getting booked for the same place over and over, they must really like you then.

Agencies would have us believe that “all work is last minute” which is total ■■■■■■■■.
I personally believe the only reason one gets offered such work is because you’re too far down in the pecking order at that particular agency to get offered the “Statutory Leave” shifts - something which we’re all required when Full Time to take at 20 days off a year as I understand it.

How they must hate you never to offer you that, despite not putting a foot wrong otherwise.
I believe a firm starting up as an agency will make a core of around 20 drivers (all their personal mates) who’ll get all the “pre-booked” work as I describe, and then pad out the books with another 100 drivers there to pick up the shifts that the CORE buddy drivers drop.

This would explain why someone with over 20 years experience and a clean licence can be not offered a single pre-booked shift in over a year via the offending agency, but constantly pestered at stupid O’clock for shifts that are supposed to be outside my remit with them. I, for one have had a belly full of being phoned at breakfast time to pick up a shift starting in less than an hour’s time a 90 minute drive away - with no expenses payable to boot.

I think I’ll go for a “pre booked work only” stance with the offending firm, and no doubt will expect my P45 from that agency in due course. If they can’t do what it says on the tin, then let’s just get it over and done with, and move aside for the buddies that are really the only ones picking up consistant work at said agency.

If I can’t rely on an agency to give me a reasonable amount of work per year (FFS a single pre-booked shift a week would do - I’m real easy to please!) then it’s time to move on. Does that make me a rebel too?

Let’s make that clear: A pre-booked shift is cover for someone known to be on leave at some future date - ie not today. It won’t be cancelled, because the person going on Stat Leave has to legally take that stat leave. It is unlikely to be chopped and changed around at the last minute, especially at this time of the year when such stat leave has to be all taken by March 31st! Vacant shifts are more often caused by “leave being taken by full timers” than by bods going sick - especially at the last minute. I personally believe too that the vast majority of the “last minute work” that IS offered is not full timers going sick, but core agency bods dropping a shift originally given to them!

Cancellation in these circumstances therefore would mean “we’ve taken it away from you, to give to someone else who knows us socially, but as discrimination is illegal, we can’t actually tell you that as a reason”. They’ll tell you “the client cancelled”, but on more than one occasion I’ve got into the same depot via a different agency on a slightly differing job, and found some [zb] plugged into the initial shift that I had had cancelled… Must be the nephew of the guvnor, or something I guess…

Never has it been so bad to be a white, poorly socially connected middle aged British citizen trying to earn a crust.
I consider myself to be fairly flexible, but that doesn’t extend to me being a desperate lickcock to get work.

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^

Winseer, you’re in Kent mate and I’m in Yorkshire, but clearly all agencies are tarred with the same brush both up here and down there…

I’ve always found the ‘can you do us this or that’ at the last minute was a regular occurrence at one time, 2am, 5am even on days I’ve clearly stated I’m not available. I agree, it’s covering for another agency driver that’s let them down at the last minute far more often tha it’s covering sickness of a regular driver. Bookings for several weeks in advance are definitely much rarer from an agency although I’ve experienced plenty of work like that booked direct with the haulier.

Agencies are scum - very few (none?) are really any good and they are loyal to nothing but their own profit.

[winseer]

The inclusion of the word “Recruitment” is a dead giveaway.
There’s no recruiting going on, as no full time jobs are being filled by agency staff thus sent. “Recruitment” is something the armed forces do at their careers offices - assuming you can still find one not already closed down nowdays…
There’s only the shifts dropped by other agency bods - let alone any full timers. Agencies covering other agency’s cast-offs.

The “Redline” bit might imply how they see the agency bod on their books. A dead loss TO those books if you know what I mean…
If the firms could make their money merely moving paper around on a desk like bankers, then they would I’m sure.
Making money by performing an actual service or making something seems to be dropping into the depths of history.

[winseer]

Truckulent Wrote:
"Winseer, you’re in Kent mate and I’m in Yorkshire, but clearly all agencies are tarred with the same brush both up here and down there…

I’ve always found the ‘can you do us this or that’ at the last minute was a regular occurrence at one time, 2am, 5am even on days I’ve clearly stated I’m not available. I agree, it’s covering for another agency driver that’s let them down at the last minute far more often tha it’s covering sickness of a regular driver. Bookings for several weeks in advance are definitely much rarer from an agency although I’ve experienced plenty of work like that booked direct with the haulier.

Agencies are scum - very few (none?) are really any good and they are loyal to nothing but their own profit.
[/quote]
I have the agency I’ve designated “Main Employer” who hardly ever muck me about. I don’t advertise them though, because my status with them might be because I’m higher up the pecking order, which in turn would put my own shifts offered at risk should I encourage a load of new bods to sign up with them! My ideal working year is 2 or 3 maxed out shifts per week at double-digit hourly rates, and they respect that. They don’t constantly offer me P&H work which I understand they’ve got a lot of on their books for example, because it’s less than double digit pay. I’ve only had one week so far this year without work, which is a lot better than weeks 2-10 I spent last year waiting for the phone to ring - because I hadn’t built up a holiday pot as of yet.
Last year I had to sign on for those 9 weeks, and get called scumbag for it, despite it being the first time in over two decades I’d done this.

This year, in the event of me geting no work any particular week, I just draw down some holiday money and get by that way. Funny enough though, like Gregory Peck’s “Million Pound Note”, I find myself having to put my hand in my pocket less rather than more for being thus endowed with accrued holiday…

[pierrot_14]

Winseer, seeing where you are based, do you work for an agency beginning with “P” one office in Strood the other in Ashford ?

[winseer]

Nope. I think I know who you mean though. They have an office a few hundred yards from my front door, but chose to screw me about by booking and cancelling my first three shifts, then offering me work on minimum wage 50 miles away. Not darkened their door since. They seem to specialise in getting people on their knees in fields, whereas I’m not interested in being on my knees period!
Another wasted session signing upto that one alas… At least I didn’t spend any money getting to their office!

50726F74656D

[muckaway]

Is it an Oxfordshire thing, or do other agencies never change teir jobs boards? Champion and Paterson “Recruitment” you are guilty as charged…And G-Force Employment for that matter.

[browncow2]

Mike-C:

suzyq:
I ve been an agency driver since 1999 . Im solvent , own my house and car and have made a good living . I m successful at what I do because I do a good job so why am I ranting ?

Over the years agency drivers have been the scum of the earth . Always there when there is a need to blame someone . Pass the buck .

Such a poor reputation that employed drivers and Employers forget the agency driver has be versatile , drive any type of vehicle competently , in any state and is very often given the worst truck on the fleet , knee deep in muck and chip papers and often without a working night heater , a must for those of us who work nights . The agency driver gets it all … and Ive seen it all .

Bearing in mind its only Tuesday , so far this week Ive been accused of refusing to download my digicard after a shift and walking out of a job …this is after the same company asked if I could "pop in " as their equipment had failed and they hadnt got all the detail off my digicard , a 46 mile round trip ! Guess what my answer was !!

This is the same company who asked me to refill in my check sheets at the end of shift to comply with the last drivers’ check sheet so their records matched !

Who didnt know about downloading off the truck digi itself with their mastercard .

When I pointed this out all went quiet , after all we agency drivers are all thick and stupid , arent we ?!!

Then , low and behold , and after Id finally lost my cool with them , an apology as they d found the “missing” info !!!

That took 6 1/2 hours to sort out … ! And had I not stood my ground then they were perfectly happy to lay the blame for their incompetence at my door .

Best of all though , this so-called blue chip company with all its excessive high demands failed to realise when asking me to refill my check list that the the trailer numbers didnt match …

Clever huh ?

So you don’t like Wincantons

its not wincanton, he said it was a blue chip company.