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Learn from experience
Page 50
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Four hundred and thirty miles south, in Horsham, West Sussex. we visit a driving agency that has been established for eight years. Again, this one is run by an experienced HGV driver. Interestingly enough, Stephen Patchett (below left), managing director, is an ex-agency driver. "I was a bus mechanic, a window salesman, and then an agency driver," he says.
He started driving a 7.5-tonner for an agency in 1989. Patchett went on to gain his Class 1 licence in 1993, for the express purpose of establishing a driver agency. He wanted to know the ins and outs of HGV work before setting up shop; he is also a trained drayman: "A tough job, especially when the barrels were stacked three high," he reminisces.
Horsham is a small rural town yet, even in areas like these, agency drivers are in demand. There are 25 drivers on Patchett's books. Seven of them work on a retainer basis, and are guaranteed a week's pay regardless of workload. Luckily, demand for agency drivers is strong. "When you get a good driver you don't want him to leave. There are enough people wanting to drive trucks in this area and each agency has its own clients. The Driver Shop covers West Sussex and Surrey all the way up to Croydon. I make a good living, and much of the work I get is from word of mouth."
Patchett's clients demand drivers for cars, vans, 7.5-tonners and artics. He does drive himself, although at present he is concentrating on relocating the office from his home to a commercial property in Horsham.
"There are good and bad agency drivers," he goes on. But often the shortcomings lay with the agencies themselves, he thinks. Often, they are run by people who want to make money yet have no background with HGVs. So why do the agencies' drivers get stick? "Because agencies send them on the wrong jobs," suggests Patchett. "They may send them on multi-drop work, even when they have no experience in this area. Multi-drop work can require a lot of map reading. There can be a lot of hassle on multi-drops."
He maintains that the failure of some agencies to tailor their personnel to the job can mean that agency drivers, ironically, have to be more skilled than their staff counterparts. They have to take on new tasks at the drop of a hat. Patchett reiterates the
nri point that agencies run
by experienced drivers have an advantage over others. Drivers do not have to "walk in blind" to an employer who doesn't know a thing about trucks, he says. And the agency can field customers' calls and dispatch the right driver. "Manning the desk is the most important job," says Patchett. "It's the front line, it's where the work comes in."