MI Many HGV drivers find themselves working for an employment
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agency at some time. However, with so many to choose from, it is not easy to sort Out the good from the bad and the ugly. So Commercial Motor invited an HGV driver to our offices to ring some of the main London area agencies to see what they had to offer.
He rang 20 firms looking for work. Their telephone manner varied; most were helpful, some curt and some vague. Most admitted there was not a lot of HGV work available at the moment and the usual reply was: "Just come into the office and we'll be able to tell you more then."
But some were reluctant to give any information over the phone. Optel in EC1 refused to discuss anything over the phone, and Creyff s in Clerkenwell offered little more. They insist that drivers must first visit their offices — not easy if you already hold down a job.
Rates of pay varied, depending on the agency's customers, but estimates usually ranged from 24.00 to 25.00. Plan Personnel quoted 25.00 to 26.00 and Atlas 25.00 to 28.00. Class Three rates were slightly lower at 24.00 to 24.75. Most agencies paid a minimum of eight hours, Falconwood in Welling were an eiception, they paid in blocks of four hours. Overtime payments were usually time-and-a-half, except for Plan Personnel which paid time-and-a-third. Rates for unsocial hours varied at each agency.
Our driver then asked the agencies about the extras that they offered, such as holidays, uniforms and tachograph services. Paid holidays were rare. Plan Personnel paid one extra day for every 20 days worked. React in Croydon paid 21 days a year after a qualifying period of 60 working days. Overdrive and Ecco paid holidays after 65 days and 750 hours respectively. Extrastaff and Drake said they did offer paid holidays, but did not quote any figures. Drivers Bureau in Streatham said a driver might occasionally receive an extra day's pay for good service.
Only two agencies paid drivers' wages straight into their bank accounts: React and HMS. The rest either sent cheques through the post or expected drivers to go into the agency to collect them.
The majority of agencies did not supply uniforms to their drivers. However, React issued work overalls immediately; Overdrive after 65 days' service and Reed supplied some uniforms to regular drivers. Multi-staff in Enfield charged drivers a rental fee for overalls which was refundable after a fixed period of service.. One of the major problems of agency work is tachograph retention. The law requires the driver to keep relevant tacho charts that must eventually be returned to the operator. Some companies using agency drivers are therefore reluctant to let a driver disappear with his charts in case they are not returned. So our CM driver asked the agencies what steps were taken to solve this dilemma. The majority said that it was up to the driver and the operator to sort things out.
React, Extrastaff and Reed all collected the charts from the driver and returned them to their clients, helping both the operator and the driver. Multi-staff said it would do likewise if requested. Other answers were very interesting — if not a little disturbing. One agency said that charts should always be left with the operator. Another asked: ''Why does the driver have to keep the tachograph charts?" And one agency even claimed that temporary drivers did not have to use tachograph charts. Fortunately this trio (none of which are among those named here) is not typical. Such ignorance could get drivers and operators in serious trouble.
Finally, CM judged the agencies on their helpfulness over the telephone. Reed, React, Extrastaff and Atlas were all friendly and co-operative. Steve Phillips, manager of Reed in Croydon, won our vote as the most helpful, even though he could not offer much work. Despite the lack of HGV temping work on their books, many agencies did not want to recommend other employment companies. Only Reed and Overdrive did so, and they both recommended the same firm — React
So which agency came out on top? It is very difficult to decide from a telephone survey like this. The best of the bunch were React, Extrastaff, Reed (although they did not pay holidays) and Overdrive. Plan Personnel and Ecco also offered a service with extras. However, conclusions can be drawn. Many agencies insist that drivers come into their office before divulging essential information, which could be very time consuming. More worrying, however, is the fact that some less-than professional agencies have a glaring lack of knowledge when it comes to tachos. Above all, the survey proved that it is essential for anyone thinking of using an employment agency to shop around — and to look closely at the extras on offer. G by Andy Vince