Should I sign up with an agency for part time work?

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

I haven’t been on here for years, so apologies if it seems a bit rude only coming back to ask a question.
I’m currently working full time as a bus mechanic. The bus depot in the middle of the Worcester Road Island in Kidderminster, for those who know it.
I would like to work part time. I could live on less than I earn now and would prefer to have less money and more free time.

Truck driving seems to be the only reasonably well paid job where there’s any chance of getting part time work with my experience and qualifications.
So;

Is there a shortage or surplus of drivers at the moment ? How much work is out there ? I know there’s a shortage of bus drivers, but then who wants to drive round and round town all day for £7 an hour ?

Is it realistic to ask for part time work ? What’s the chance of getting, say, a regular Monday to Wednesday job, or would it be more like, wait at home for the phone to ring with the odd day here and there at short notice ?

What do agencies pay ? Not “opportunity to earn”, but actual hourly rates ?

If I sign up with an agency today, would I have work available tomorrow, or would I just be put on a waiting list and hear nothing for weeks ?

Any recommendations for agencies or employers around Kidderminster ?

2

Too many Steering Wheel Attendants, not enough decent jobs.

However, try the local firms and agencies. Something is bound to come up.

Hourly rates aren’t the greatest. 7.50 is a starting rate in most places

And welcome back to TNUK

3

I occasionally run into Kidderminster for the agency I’m with in Kent. I would suggest that hourly rates around there should be equal to ours around here, that is £10ph weekday shifts, more at weekends on PAYE basis.

I’m also one of the apparently few drivers who actively values free time over working all hours, so I can afford to be fussy in what I pick up. Two or Three decent length shifts (12-15 hours) does me, but there’s plenty of times I’ll find myself with nothing one week, and doing a full cover 55 hours for someone on leave the following week to average it all out.

If you want part time hours week in, week out, then you’d have to be prepared to do supermarket work - at least around here.
Redditch seems to have a few agency drivers running around on their local depot runs, but I don’t recall much about Kidderminster running in there with a 12tonner.

As to the “availability of jobs & drivers” issue, I’d answer it like this:-

There are a glut of zero hours singleton shifts around the country, and not enough agency drivers to cover them, because they are at depots spread far and wide, perhaps paying too little to be worth the while of a driver commuting in from 50+ miles away.

There are on the other hand a glut of drivers seeking 40+ hours a week employment.

Add to this, a reluctance it seems for agency drivers to find themselves ‘living and dying at the supermarket RDC’ as well, and you’ll come to the same conclusion as I did, that it’s better to keep yourself for the work that makes you a profit than chase the “Loss leader” stuff like low-pay at distance. If you start down that road, that’ll be all you’ll ever get, because the agency will see you coming.

I think If I were living in your neighbourhood, I’d take £10ph in Redditch, Worcester, and other towns west and southwest of B. Inside Brum itself, I’d expect more if beyond the centre.
Inner city work usually does pay more though, especially at short notice. If it doesn’t, find another agency. Don’t listen to those on here that think all drivers are mearly serfs to those that own all the businesses and buy over the politicians to leave them alone to their race-to-the-bottom devices! :angry: :imp:

Supermarket work I believe pays around £9.00ph base. You’ll need to do lates/nights to get the tenner there. You’ll also want a lot more if pushed onto umbrella/self-employed as well, to make up for lack of holiday pay and having to pay the extra employer NI contributions and umbrella fees etc. I’m quoting reasonable rates for PAYE work. :wink:

I assume in all this of course that you hold a C+E licence?

4

I’m also one of the apparently few drivers who actively values free time over working all hours, so I can afford to be fussy in what I pick up. Two or Three decent length shifts (12-15 hours) does me, but there’s plenty of times I’ll find myself with nothing one week, and doing a full cover 55 hours for someone on leave the following week to average it all out.

You are not alone free time wins every time!

5

I gave up a full time job about 5 years ago to go on agency because I was fed up working full time, now I work when I want never earn less than £10 per hour always get paid breaks and enjoy my life which is what I am here for. I always have enough work but when I talk to drivers who want to work all week they do struggle with the agencies.

6

MilitantGraham:
I haven’t been on here for years, so apologies if it seems a bit rude only coming back to ask a question.
I’m currently working full time as a bus mechanic. The bus depot in the middle of the Worcester Road Island in Kidderminster, for those who know it.
I would like to work part time. I could live on less than I earn now and would prefer to have less money and more free time.

How can you do that and remain legal both for weekly rest and for WTD 48hr limit?

The agency would need to be informed of the hours you do for the bus company and the bus company the hours you do for the agency for WTD compliance.

As for tacho, you’d literally only legally be able to work one day every other week driving trucks.

7

I think he might have been suggesting some kind of “crossover” where he’d be working both jobs only for a few weeks, before chucking in the full time one for being exclusively agency thereafter…

Wouldn’t you want to try out some odd days at the agency before deciding to quit your hard-to-replace full time job? :slight_smile:

8

Hiya… what are your working hour’s■■? if you are doing 20 hour’s garage work that still is attached to
your driving hour’s. so you need to do a printout of you garage work before you drive.
yes in the old days copper’s would do driving on their rest days (not legal now)to earn a few quid.
with all the techno electric age we’re in today you may find it to much trouble to work at one job
and drive on you garage rest days.look into it first.
John

9

Thanks for the replies, especially to Winseer for the PM as well.

To clear up a couple of points;
I’ve got a C+E licence, but not done any CPC training yet. Strangely, despite being a bus mechanic, I haven’t got a D licence, so I can legally only drive a bus on road test, I can’t carry passengers.
I’ve previously worked for a couple of truck dealers and transport firms as a mechanic or mechanic/relief driver, so have some experience of driving.

I currently work 40 hours per week. As Winseer says, I would like to know what to expect from agency work before I give up my full time job. I’m looking to work less hours, not two jobs at the same time.
I’m not quite at the stage where I can afford to take a gap year, but I could survive on my savings through the summer if I have to.
Two days work a week would suit me fine at the moment, then maybe four days a week in the winter to catch up again.
I’m just trying to find out if that’s a realistic ambition.

I’m not sure what “zero hours singleton shifts” means.
Do you mean zero hours notice for a single trip ?
So the agency will phone me up and say “A driver has failed to turn up, get to X RDC as soon as you can and take a load to Y”
I may be a little too far out in the sticks for that. I’m about 40 minutes from Redditch or Worcester, not much less from Bromsgrove, Droitwich or the Black Country.

10

Zero Hours Singleton Shifts is basically any irregular shift, most likely for last-minute or sick cover that as a “2-3 day only” bod like me, you’re most likely to get, along with long singleton shifts at Supermarkets which invariably also don’t count towards parity pay 13 week aggregates.

The “zero hours” aspect refers to it not counting towards any “parity pay” aggregate that one might get if you took say, a 13+ week assignment doing 40+ hours a week at some local depot, often general haulage or supermarkets for inadequate rates.

Hourly rates for first-time out cover are nearly always better than hourly rates on blocks of work is what I’m suggesting here.

You might be offered a whole week @ Sainsbury’s for £9.50ph or just a Friday night at the last minute for £10+ per hour.
Central London or the Coast might pay £13.50ph for myself, involving a commute of some 40 miles each way.
Only you know the fuel costs etc. of running a commute any distance with which to make a final decision on if it’s worth the effort or not going way out of your own neighbourhood.
Perhaps there’s some top dollar rates available in the NEC area, which is about the same distance from you? It’s just a suggestion.

“Inadequate” refers to work that’s too far out, too low paid, and no pushover when you get there either. An hour’s break deduction is invariably compulsory too.
Lower hourly rates can be made to work if it’s local enough, and the job nice enough.
Having to work 40+ hours is OK if the hourly rate doesn’t drop so far as to compound any losses you might make.
Balance balance balance…