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Driver agencies are widely viewed with suspicion, but with the main holiday season about to begin, many hauliers will soon be desperate for their g services. With driver shortages on the 5, increase, will the agencies be able to cope with this demand without dropping their '2 standards? Guy Shepherd asked them...
The hourly cost of agency drivers depends on location and the type of skills required. Colin Edgerton, director of Driver Hire in Paisley. Scotland, says: "We are at the lower end and charge somewhere between 17 and 17.50. Obviously, the further south you go it tends to get a lot higher. We hear of horror stories down south of 111."
Manpower's Nick Peligno says 110 an hour is a reasonable benchmark, with premiums of up to 30% for specific skills. Adam Lane of PI. Workforce says insurance for driver negligence, which pays out up to 110,000 in the event of an accident, probably adds 5-8% to the hourly rate.
Some hauliers argue that even at the lower end of the scale, it sometimes makes more sense to leave a truck standing idle. Richard Arrowsmith, depot manager for Archbold Freightage in Leeds, says his drivers are paid 14.59 an hour, well below the cheapest available agency rate of 17.15. "My personal opinion of agencies in general is that they are leeches on society," he says. They are necessary but I will try and avoid them."
One bad employee can easily tarnish the reputation of an entire business and, with a constantly changing workforce, driver agencies come in for a fair amount of stick as a result. Bob Mitchell, owner of Mitchell's of Mansfield, recalls how one agency driver ran off after travelling more than 200 miles in one day without completing any of his four deliveries. "He ended up backing into the loading bay of a foundry and damaged some of the patterns,' says Mitchell.
Although agencies are often seen as unreliable, ironically demand for their services frequently outstrips supply, particularly over the next three months when many permanently employed drivers are on holiday.
Seasonal demand
Richard Arrow smith, depot manager for Archbold Freightage in Leeds, says: "We are more likely to use them over the summer than ever. Our experience of them has been mixed. There are some quite reputable ones but it's always in the back of your mind `will they turn up?"
As you'd expect, vetting standards are particularly rigorous where agencies employ drivers full-time. Adam Lane is manager of PL Workforce, which is based near Bristol and has around 5o full-time drivers on its books. He explains that every driver who is taken on is put through a Road Transport Industry Training Board driver assessment course within the first two weeks—and Lane denies that standards are liable to drop when demand increases. "I don't have any contracts where we must supply drivers," he adds. "It's not the end of the world if we can't," Nick Peligno, national accounts manager for the driving division of Manpower, which has around 3,000 drivers, says: "We typically spend two-and-a-half hours with drivers before offering them a contract of employment." As well as references covering at least five years of employment, the company also uses an auditing process to ensure standards are maintained. This includes checking licences every four weeks. Tachograph analysis is the responsibility of the client, but Peligno says that as the driver's employer, Manpower will take the necessary disciplinary action if there are any discrepancies.
North West Temps and Securicor Recruitment Services are initially satisfied with verbal references when checking the suitability of a recruit they want to employ immediately, but written references are supplied later. Dave Marshall, co-ordinator for Securicor's office in Hinckley, Leics, says criminal records are hard to check: "We don't do a police check but if, for example, someone comes to us and has not been working for two years, we need to know where they have been."
Jayne Haworth, owner of Warrington-based North West Temps, says drivers increasingly resent being treated as temps who are employed by the day: "A lot of them would like to feel that they are part of the company, and that they are dealing with the same peo ple all the time." She believes this is partly a reflection of the stronger bargaining position drivers find themselves in. "It is getting more cut-throat because of the shortage of drivers. You are having to offer them other benefits such as holiday pay and bank holiday pay. Our rates have gone up over the past five years by about Most agencies agree that the driver shortage has been exacerbated by the change to HGV driving tests in 5997. This means that drivers have to take a theory test and two practical tests before qualifying to drive an artic. Figures from the Driving Standards Agency show that nearly 25,000 fewer tests were taken last year than the year before. Securicor's Marshall says crane and ADR drivers are in particularly short supply. "We have a lot of requests for Hiab drivers," he reports. To a limited extent, agencies can prepare for surges in demand. Lane of PL Workforce says: "We always start a recruitment campaign about May and hope to take on an extra 10-15 drivers for the summer period," But he adds that many requests from clients still have to be turned down: "Where a lot of agencies fall down, includ ing us, is in spot hire. That's more so over the summer than any other time apart from the Christmas peak. You generally find that during the summer clients will book in advance to cover for a week or two weeks' holiday."
Colin Edgerton, director of Driver Hire in Paisley, Scotland, says: "Iflast year is anything to go by, we will have to refuse some work from somebody because we can't get experienced drivers." The business, which is part of a national franchise, has more than 50 drivers on its books but can call on more from other franchisees in the area.
Brian Lane, general manager of Driver Hire in Bournemouth and Andover, says it is particularly important to discuss with clients what their requirements are over the summer: "If we pre-plan, we can make sure they get the appropriate person through the door." Manpower's Peligno reckons that a month's notice is ideal.
"I would be happy with a week's notice," he says, "but if you reduce it below that it would be very challenging."
No guarantees
The inability of agencies to guarantee last-minute bookings is one
reason why some hauliers prefer to make their own arrangements. Another is inexperience. "A lot of these agency drivers are green as grass and straight from their test," says David Fox, managing director of David Fox Transport in Middlesbrough. "In our business, where we are carrying all shapes and sizes, you need to have a bit of basic knowledge and give the job a bit of thought."
Not everyone is so critical, however. Mitchell recalls his story of the runaway agency driver as being "a bit of a nightmare", but adds: "People seem to have this idea that they can't get a full-time job with a proper company. My own experience is that most of thern are OK."
• by Guy Sheppard.