1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204 
Secret agency man
Page 24
Page 25
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
The agency driver you are sent might not be all that he appears... CIA's undercover agent goes inside to take a closer look.
images: Tom Lee "AGENCY DRIVERS? Wouldn't have them! I'd rather leave the vehicle in the yard," is something you'll hear in many haulage operations across the country.
And we all know why, don't we? They're "useless, unreliable, damage the vehicles and the load, get lost, arrive at deliveries late, make trouble with the customers, and cost a fortune".
As a freelance adviser to transport operators, our agent hears this over and over again, and sometimes there is some justification for this view.
But our agent has a secret — sometimes he, too, is an agency driver. "I wouldn't dream of giving advice unless I have personal experience of what I'm talking about. So occasionally, I make myself available to one of the bigger, more reputable agencies," he says.
"I've driven some impressive vehicles, had panics, got myself into some tight corners, but learned a lot."
After a career spent in transport management, it has been a revelation to our reporter to experience life from the drivers' side. In this article, our insider provides CM with three examples of life at the sharp end of agency driving:
Container nightmare
"I was instructed to report to a container transport company at six in the morning. I'd never done this sort of work before, so was apprehensive. They'd give me some training, wouldn't they? Wrong.
"The yard was deserted except for a driver who found an envelope with my name on it in a grubby washroom at the back of a temporary office. in it were a set of keys and a delivery note.
found the unit to which the keys belonged: I was pleased to see it was a smart, modern vehicle, parked in front of a skeleton trailer. The driver had shown me the first address on the note was where I had to go to collect an empty container, the second, the address where the container would be loaded, and the third, where the full container would be taken off. There was no map. I hitched up my trailer and did my daily checks."
"Never having worked with these sliding trailers before, 1 connected up the airline to the wrong fitting and released the wrong 'brake', so when I tried to pull away. I started to telescope the trailer instead. Luckily, a couple of other drivers helped put me it right. "Luckily, one of them noticed the container on the trailer next to mine was the one I was supposed to collect and it was all ready to hitch up to."
"Having got the right trailer, and released the right brake, I was ready for the off. A box of tacho charts was in the cab, but the fuel gauge showed less than a quarter. My 'new colleagues' searched the cab, found me a fuel card, and, after an embarrassing tour of the yard looking for the exit, I got on my way."
More than an hour had passed since our driver had first reported, and he still had to detour to get fuel from an appointed garage. Consequently, he was more than an hour late arriving in the town where the collection point was, and it was the middle of the morning rush hour. "After much crawling along, I arrived at the factory given on my notes, only to be told! was in the wrong place. I had to make my way to a subsidiary location. By the time I got there, I was a couple of hours late, and got an earful from the loading dock supervisor."
Somehow, our man muddled his way through the rest of the week, finally starting to get the hang of the job.
was fortunate the other drivers at the depot had been so helpful and had leapt in to prevent me making a fool of myself. But I remain amazed that a large operator with a fleet of high-spec late-registration units and trailers would allow a novice loose without some form of instruction. Even having someone to meet me when I arrived, to show me through the paperwork, would have been a help. "There had been no check of my licence, no information about fuelling, breakdown or accident procedure. contact numbers for the office, maps or directions. There had been no technical instruction on the sliding trailer, or techniques in handling and securing containers, let alone familiarisation with the unit itself.
Unpaid breaks
On another occasion with the same firm, our informant found himself with the keys to a new Sca ni a. with its unique "clutch but automatic" gears and the Stoneridge digital tachograph. "I had [briefly] driven one of these before, and possessed a digital tachocard, so felt quite smug. Nobody had checked with me that I would be OK to drive this particular vehicle.
"Admittedly, the people manning the portable office were traffic clerks with no technical expertise about the vehicles. but could they not have arranged for one of the old hands to come in to put me right and see me off? It's not good enough to assume that the agency will make all the necessary checks.
"And, as a final insult, the agency has told me they're going to have to deduct pay from me, because this particular company doesn't pay for breaks."
The right approach
Not every operator is like the previous one. Most offer at least a rudimentary briefing, and provide maps and E. directions, since it is in their best interests 3 for you to make it to your destination.
t Sometimes they will have someone show you over the vehicle. The best ones will also take you on a test drive. "I had one firm get me in to go with the regular driver the day before, to learn the job."
When our insider was sent to another container transporter, the difference couldn't have been more marked. "I was to come in an hour and a half before the official start time and report to the driver trainer,says CM's insider. -All the paperwork was checked and my duties were explained. We then went out to the vehicle, and went through the daily check procedure, followed by a short test drive. The sliding trailer mechanism was demonstrated, and I had a couple of goes until I was comfortable.
"When I went out, I was confident and relaxed, and a much safer driver. I'm sure the benefits to the second firm were evident in terms of fewer accidents, lower insurance premiums and less dead mileage (drivers not going around in circles looking for places)."
Our informant believes that it's the hauliers' attitude to agency drivers that has to change. "One of my own clients was adamant, when I first got involved, that they would never employ agency drivers. The company's work was specialised and involved technically complex vehicles. Due to some bad experiences in the past, they had made the decision to stand a vehicle rather than employ an agency driver."
"Working to address their concerns, we drew up a 'driver specification' of what they wanted from an agency driver. They then held a 'beauty pageant' of five local agencies, to whom they spelled out their needs. Three agencies bowed out at this point, but two declared interest, and have been supplying drivers successfully for a couple of years now. In fact, the operator has now taken on one driver as a full-time employee."
So next time you are tempted to dismiss agency drivers, remember, you get out what you put in.
Throw a driver some keys and say 'Get on with it' and you'll get a poor performance. Invest time and effort, making sure they are properly managed, and you'll reap the rewards. •