AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

STOPPING THE GAP

24th August 2006, Page 52
24th August 2006
Page 52
Page 53
Page 52, 24th August 2006 — STOPPING THE GAP
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Driver agencies vary considerably not just in size but also in the service they offer. David Harris examines how hauliers can be confident in their choice of agency and efficient in their use of agency drivers.

UK hauliers face a shortage of truck drivers, but there doesn't seem to be a dearth of driver agencies. Chris Harwood, who runs an agency in Northampton, estimates there are 150 within striking distance of the town alone, although many are very small.

Harwood, operations manager at the Judith Hearn Agency (named after his mother). says standards among agencies very considerably. No wonder that, while hauliers may be able to find temporary drivers, they might find it hard to get good ones: What an agency does isn't rocket science. But even so, many people seem to get it wrong,he says.

The result, Harwood believes, is that many hauliers end up with inexperienced drivers: "The sort that, had they walked through the door for an interview, wouldn't get the job."

While that's not to say many agencies and their drivers arc below par, some have limited knowledge of tachos and hours rules, and a number of foreign agency drivers simply don't speak very good English, which can be a serious problem (see panel). According to Brian Szukala, general manager for training at the Freight Transport Association (FTA), some agency drivers are so poorly prepared that hauliers need to give them training before they can get into a truck.

He explains: "A lot of employers are investing heavily in training agency drivers, which seems crazy.You should be able to assume that if you hire someone to do a specific job, they are able to do it."

The way to avoid this, he argues, is for hauliers to ask detailed questions of any agency they use. He says: "It's not only a matter of whether they have the right licence for the job. It's also things like how much previous experience they have:whether they know how to use a digital tacho; and whether they fully understand the hours regulations."

Level of knowledge

Szukala believes most large agencies are aware of what drivers need to know. Problems with driver knowledge tend lobe with small, local set-ups, which usually do not have in house training programmes, "It's all very well a driver turning up with a digital smart card for a tacho, hut they have to know how to use it," says Szukala.

Yet the ETA training manager believes many hauliers get a very good service from the agencies they use. He explains:"Employing an agency seems to work best when a haulier has a very close relationship with a particular firm whose drivers are used regularly to manage peaks and troughs in the business. Sometimes, agencies even have a base within a haulier's organisati on, so it becomes hard to distinguish between agency and staff drivers."

On the other hand, however, Szukala admits he has come across agencies where those in charge don't fully understand the legal requirements of hauliers."11 those running the agency don't understand, it isn't particularly surprising that some of their drivers don't either," he says.

Andrew Horner, chairman of the drivers section of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), the main trade body for driver agencies, agrees that hauliers need to look carefully at the agencies they are dealing with.

Code of conduct Predictably enough, he recommends that looking for R EC membership might help hauliers and, to be fair, the REC does have a code of conduct which should guarantee minimum standards among the drivers of its member agencies.

Its 258 members range from one-man ands to the biggest operations in the country and all drivers, according to the code of 'onduct, are individually ehecked.The REC -ays it expels anyone who breaches the code, It hough the sole driver agency to have been icked out in the last couple of years met its ate not because it failed a haulier, hut because t failed its drivers by not paying them.

All observers are agreed that hauliers ieed to take care when using agency drivers. erhaps they need to use them a little less, as veil. Managing ups and downs in business s one thing, but Chris Harwood argues that ome hauliers use agencies to do much more han that:"Use of agency drivers can he a bit • xcessive. If a company has an agency driver in or a year, I don't call that managing demand call it had management." •


comments powered by Disqus