Today I had an appointment with a well known nationwide agency just to explore my options. I am currently a Class 2 multi drop driver (job and knock) with a C+E licence. I am looking to get experience in Class 1 hence my visit.
I told them upfront that I had a reasonably paid full time class 2 with rough unsociable hours and would prefer class 1 on day shifts, but would be flexible. Obviously this would help with family life getting to work at sensible times.
I was told all the usual, they are overflowing with work, they have not got enough drivers etc. I was told if I registered today they could have me out all week and next week on class one.
Well with a few carefully aimed questions the long and short of it was that I wouldn’t be sent out on Class 1 till I had worked for them for a couple of months and built up their confidence in me to be able to drive or words to that effect…Leaving me to pick up the class 2 right down to driving doctors in cars for a much lesser rate.
I asked about the rates and I was told £9 / £10 per hour for Class 1. When I dug a bit deeper this would be the rate if I went through their umbrella company as self employed. Which meant I was already getting the extra magic 1 pound per hour to cover sick pay and holiday pay. Slightly misleading me thinks!
The umbrella scheme was apparently free! 
They invoice the agency for the work completed adding 20% on for the VAT and their fee comes out of that meaning I would only pay about 3/4% in tax after all my expenses had been taken into account such as fuel, meal and overnight pay etc.
I was also told that most of their drivers start to earn the real money after 8 hours when the OT kicks in at x 1.5. with the average shift being 12 hours.
When I asked about who I was likely to be sent out to work for he went very coy and wouldn’t tell me on the basis I could have been a spy for another agency or a mystery shopper as he referred to, which I could sort of see what he was saying…but really?
I left without signing on the line…maybe just not for me.
Thread submitted for info of new drivers looking to go the agency route and for the old and cynical! 
Correct about “mystery shoppers”; quite common in the commercial sector of the agency business (that’s office staff BTW) as a method of poaching business. When I first worked for Reed in Nottingham as a consultant, my manager sent me over to Manpower to do this. I didn’t bother telling her that the driving consultant there was a mate of mine!
OP, I really would not recommend you jacking in a full-time permanent job to go onto agency if you have a wife, kids and mortgage. Too much of a gamble; am I to assume that your current employer offers no scope for Class 1 work?
i would’nt leave a proper job for agency if you’ve got a family,too unpredictable in todays climate.they just tell you what you want to hear.
made redundant 2006
started agency,one year later ceased trading.
went with another agency,ripped my money off,never worked for again.
started another agency,lasted 2 years then ceased trading.
moved away and got a regular job and touch wood 4 years later still working
sorry to hear your woes and some good points made. Glad you are doing well.
stevo101:
sorry to hear your woes and some good points made. Glad you are doing well.
would’nt say i’m doing well,on minimum wage now and as you know yourself with a good agency you can easily double that but you know what they say about “a bird in the hand” ,better to have a job with a contract then when things are quiet you can push a brush round instead of being waiting for a phone call from an agency what aint gonna come.
So we’re constantly told there’s a driver shortage, constantly told there are too many trucks chasing too little work and now we seem to be experiencing too many agencies chasing the non-existent drivers who then can’t get them jobs driving the trucks that need drivers, of which there’s a shortage.
Moooooooo!
Usual bs then, hope you’ve learnt your lesson OP, good thing you didn’t sign your life away, if you really want to go class 1 I’d advise you go knocking on doors directly, somebody somewhere somehow will let you in without the ‘middle man’…
Couldn’t your current employer give you a class 1 chance?,
Take some agency class 1 work for weekend, obviously tell them you’ve been doing class 1 for many years. It was the only way I got on the hgv’s. Or else its a catch 22.
Only my advice mate.
Are the agencies going bust the ones that try to rip off the most - for a matter of interest?
Winseer:
Are the agencies going bust the ones that try to rip off the most - for a matter of interest?
One I used to do a lot of work for went bust here, but they were the good guys. They believed in getting decent drivers and treating them well and paying them a decent wage. Of course the flip side of that is that they had to charge the client a decent rate too. That was fine back in 2004/2005 when there genuinely was a shortage of drivers round here, but as soon as the recession hit they found that as one of the most expensive agencies (from a client’s POV) all of a sudden the work dried up and a couple of years later they were gone.
Paul
I never quite understood the mechanics of going bust. I thought this was a gradual process - losing small amounts on everything over a fairly long period of time.
Surely if you put invoices in, and you, as a company, find yourselves making a loss regardless - then one would think that a re-negotiation of rates is called for.
It isn’t just what the agency pays the driver, but also how much mark-up they can charge the client.
I suspect “bullying” by block-bookers of drivers that then demand a lower rate - or else they’ll go elsewhere.
Small firms wanting to book out a single driver in London are paying an arm and a leg - even now!
Bargaining power therefore seems to be concentrated with the “Block bookers” rather than the hard-to-fill jobs.
Why are there not more clients going bust?
“Why are there not more clients going bust”
Because a quick ring round the agencies by a major client will always result in a race to the bottom, with the result being that the driver gets told he is being paid less and needs to be more flexible with his start times and also “we can cancel your shift anytime up until an hour before your start time” 
The cpc seems to be shaking them up a bit and there may be a “driver shortage” when it kicks in. 
Unfortunately there is no scope to go to class 1 with the company as their whole fleet is class2. Cleverly written into my contract is a disclaimer syaing I wont work / drive for anyone else while I work for them! 