I have been told by several European drivers that they are leaving and getting jobs in other countries due to the various exchange rates and pay conditions. And certainly the limited experience I have had over the last couple of months there are a lot more English drivers than European ones in the companies I have worked at.
I went for an “interview” yesterday and was told that 34 people had been sent by different agencies for 7 spaces. they were offering slightly more than the magic 9 pounds an hour. for the privilege of that they expected you to do 30 - 35 drops a day and work the full 15 hours if needs be.
Is it a case of companies having it too easy for the last few years and not wanting to put their hands in their pockets because I don’t believe that the money isn’t there as someone said in a post a few back because paying one person 15 hours you can pay 2 people for 7.5 hours and split the round between them for the same price pretty much. Or is it a case that there isn’t really a driver shortage.
Trucking sideways:
Winseer:
Perhaps there will one day be a shortage of drivers prepared to work shifts over 10 hours - at which point those like myself happy to do 12-15 hours on a regular basis - will have our day at long last.
Wish I got given 12-15hour shifts every now and again. Over Christmas I was getting 6-8 hour shifts average, thankfully agency guarantee 8 hours. I would have appreciated rolling 12 hour shifts though !
Had back-to-back 15 hours this week - following a Nicholls jacknife on the M2 londonbound last night, delaying drivers on their way in leaving yours truly to pick up one of their early morning runs…
The place is bereft at the moment of those agency drivers who “want monday-friday afternoon and evening work”
There doesn’t seem to be any limit to those who can work graveyard shifts & weekends though… Suits me! 
There is no shortfall of hgv drivers in the UK .Brexit will change nothing.
However there is a shortfall of descent firms who pay a decent wage.It is the
same in Construction now,all jobs are recruiter controlled rinsing off the workers.
That needs to change and we need some kind of legitimate body to stand up for workers.
Gravy train unions have completely lost their integrity in my eyes.
Greed is the biggest problem facing manual workers in the UK ! From investors and business owners all wanting to be millionaires,just my opinion.
There is no shortage.
I’ve just gone through every hoop asked to achieve a start with a big player who up until last week had an advert up every day recruiting, yet within a week there are now,… none.
I were Given a start date the lot, to then be told yesterday their recruitment has stopped with immediate effect due to the uncertaintys within the economy/trade as a whole thanks in part to this flu thing, which is fully believable especially as their main line is boxes.
Now they don’t use agency drivers so I’m assuming it’s a case of keep the employed guys ticking and then with a few prayers things pick up again and thus I can get the dream back on track and the doors will open.
There’s definitely not a shortage as over the last week I’ve noticed an immediate halt to pretty much all recruitment within haulage around here in the south east, even the agency adds have stopped literally over night except the bs ones lol.
Only firms like Knowles are still advertising furiously so I can only assume the reasons why, even jack richards has gone quiet which is worrying as they always got the adverts out an about… which leads me to believe this is bigger than being let on.
I would say as always their ain’t no shortage, instead it’s the typical create demand scam, thus drive down wages thanks to surplus as let’s be honest our economies ain’t been in the best of shape for years, and now we have brexit, the China flu an Lord knows what else in the shadows, but there’s only so much growth before death regardless, thus I believe its a simple scam to get the wages down nice an early before the big grind kicks in again, and how best do we do that…
Please see above.
Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk
Depends on the job. Pleb work I.e fridges and containers will always be undercut. More specialised work is more protected but my no means immune to them.
For every firm that is constantly on the lookout for “fresh meat” - there must be another firm that is a bit too strict, and actually fires people before letting them quit because the job is so naff?
I seem to recall a recent thread about “Brakes” - the firm I got laid off from in 2018… From what I read, it seems that people get routinely sacked for so much as glancing at their phone on the dash whilst driving… 
Winseer:
The only reason I can see for firms being so stingy about four-day week contracts - is that 26 days holiday comes to 6.5 weeks instead of just over 5 weeks - don’t it?
No.
Statutory minimum holiday entitlement is 28 days for a full time worker, for those on a Mon-Fri pattern that would commonly be 20 days annual leave and 8 bank holidays. Works out as 5.6 weeks.
If you were on a 4 out of 7 contract you would get 22.4 days holiday which is guess what, 5.6 weeks.
The reason 4 out of 7 isn’t common is because you would have a truck stood for either a day or 3 days depending on your operation, I would have thought that obvious. At Brakes or Royal Mail where they are making money out of selling food or a postal service, that might not be an issue but it would be at the majority of places.
There is kind of a shortfall of drivers who won’t work for low wages and long hours
You can be sure they already have some 3 world country lined up to pick up the slack any guesses who that might be, Albania, Russia, Ukraine come to mind
If they only made it a half decent job with a bit of respect
Jimmy McNulty:
Winseer:
The only reason I can see for firms being so stingy about four-day week contracts - is that 26 days holiday comes to 6.5 weeks instead of just over 5 weeks - don’t it?
No.
Statutory minimum holiday entitlement is 28 days for a full time worker, for those on a Mon-Fri pattern that would commonly be 20 days annual leave and 8 bank holidays. Works out as 5.6 weeks.
If you were on a 4 out of 7 contract you would get 22.4 days holiday which is guess what, 5.6 weeks.
The reason 4 out of 7 isn’t common is because you would have a truck stood for either a day or 3 days depending on your operation, I would have thought that obvious. At Brakes or Royal Mail where they are making money out of selling food or a postal service, that might not be an issue but it would be at the majority of places.
I wasn’t aware that different working day patterns could translate into less than 26 days holiday per year.
I guess this is all a case of “Caveat Emptor” in that if anyone is daft enough to take on an open-ended contract that would rarely fall the Employee’s way rather than the firms - then we clearly do NOT have a shortage of, at least insecure drivers. 
Winseer:
Jimmy McNulty:
Winseer:
The only reason I can see for firms being so stingy about four-day week contracts - is that 26 days holiday comes to 6.5 weeks instead of just over 5 weeks - don’t it?
No.
Statutory minimum holiday entitlement is 28 days for a full time worker, for those on a Mon-Fri pattern that would commonly be 20 days annual leave and 8 bank holidays. Works out as 5.6 weeks.
If you were on a 4 out of 7 contract you would get 22.4 days holiday which is guess what, 5.6 weeks.
The reason 4 out of 7 isn’t common is because you would have a truck stood for either a day or 3 days depending on your operation, I would have thought that obvious. At Brakes or Royal Mail where they are making money out of selling food or a postal service, that might not be an issue but it would be at the majority of places.
I wasn’t aware that different working day patterns could translate into less than 26 days holiday per year.
I guess this is all a case of “Caveat Emptor” in that if anyone is daft enough to take on an open-ended contract that would rarely fall the Employee’s way rather than the firms - then we clearly do NOT have a shortage of, at least insecure drivers.
Not sure what you mean by “the insecure drivers” But as a new pass with no experience other than driving the occasional beaver tail or transit Im not able to go for the better jobs be it hours or wages that require experienced drivers with a proven history. This “forces” me to consider the lower paid or the job and knock type work. companies that will take on new passes don’t seem to grow on trees. Is the lower wage or job conditions due to the extra cost of having to take on new passes because those with experience wont touch them? or is it more along the lines of if we scream driver shortage we can get lots of people willing to work for poor money and increase our profits and bonuses for the chinless wonders . oh sorry I mean reduce the prices in the shops
cooper1203:
Winseer:
Jimmy McNulty:
Winseer:
The only reason I can see for firms being so stingy about four-day week contracts - is that 26 days holiday comes to 6.5 weeks instead of just over 5 weeks - don’t it?
No.
Statutory minimum holiday entitlement is 28 days for a full time worker, for those on a Mon-Fri pattern that would commonly be 20 days annual leave and 8 bank holidays. Works out as 5.6 weeks.
If you were on a 4 out of 7 contract you would get 22.4 days holiday which is guess what, 5.6 weeks.
The reason 4 out of 7 isn’t common is because you would have a truck stood for either a day or 3 days depending on your operation, I would have thought that obvious. At Brakes or Royal Mail where they are making money out of selling food or a postal service, that might not be an issue but it would be at the majority of places.
I wasn’t aware that different working day patterns could translate into less than 26 days holiday per year.
I guess this is all a case of “Caveat Emptor” in that if anyone is daft enough to take on an open-ended contract that would rarely fall the Employee’s way rather than the firms - then we clearly do NOT have a shortage of, at least insecure drivers.
Not sure what you mean by “the insecure drivers” But as a new pass with no experience other than driving the occasional beaver tail or transit Im not able to go for the better jobs be it hours or wages that require experienced drivers with a proven history. This “forces” me to consider the lower paid or the job and knock type work. companies that will take on new passes don’t seem to grow on trees. Is the lower wage or job conditions due to the extra cost of having to take on new passes because those with experience wont touch them? or is it more along the lines of if we scream driver shortage we can get lots of people willing to work for poor money and increase our profits and bonuses for the chinless wonders . oh sorry I mean reduce the prices in the shops
As a new pass - I wish you the best of luck of course. My understanding is that new passes cannot get onto agency books, where the most insecure work BUT also the biggest bucks happen to be at.
“Contracts” - come at a price. There has to be some downside in order to provide the employer with some compensation for their having given you these “Employee Rights” that the EU and EU supporters always seemed to bang on about us “losing if we left the EU”… From what we see of the UK “flexible work ethic” though - I would argue that it is the very weakness of Empoyee Rights in the UK already that makes us not subject to the same kinds of riots and other “Unionized” type unrest that we see in France these days, for instance…
Thus as drivers of ANY level of experience - we have two choices:
Better kit, better working conditions, better locale, better respect shown, better social order - at the price of lower wages
OR
Lesser kit (possibly) run ragged, further to travel to get there, less respect shown (who luvs an agency driver these days?) no support from any present Unions - as the price that driver pays for higher wages.
As a new pass yourself - you are shielded from picking the latter option by the “two years experience required” thing.
When I say “insecure driver” - I am not talking about folk such as yourself then:
Rather the type of driver who DOES have the pick of jobs - but decides that regular, but lower money is better than higher paid work that can dry up at any time.
Thus, I suggest that “Agency Work” is for chancers and gamblers such as myself, OR of course just drivers who don’t want to commit to “regular hours”.
The only “Mugs” in all this - are those who would work on Zero Hours Contracts for the crappy £9ph type pay we’ve been told exists out there…
Juddian:
robthedog:
ezydriver:
discoman:
Bigtruck3:
Burger boy he’d be cheaper
Yep, seen lots of that over the years, saved £hundreds on wages, cost £thousands in damage.
I know a bloke who used to load/shunt tankers at weekends, charged them a decent rate cos he did a decent job.
Along comes pietro who will do it for near enough half the cost, so they asked matey if he could price match, er No.
First weekend for pietro £45,000 in tanker damage.
Can you come back?, Nope, found something else ta let pietro do it.
, ■■■■■■ myself when he told me.
And what sort of fool thinks opening doors is all that’s involved in driver skills, Jesus wept 
Love this story! It’s so true - you’d think we spent all this time studying how to manoeuvre trucks on British Roads and some “genius” comes over with little / no experience in the industry and wham!
^^^^ We clearly need to see a lot more of this happening about our “industry” eh?