• While agreeing with the three main points for legislation
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suggested in the article on agency drivers (CM 24-30 Oct), I believe there needs to be a more comprehensive approach, and indeed many of these points I have suggested before, though I don't believe the law will be a panacea on this issue.
For any em ployment agency to supply driving services, there should be the following legal requirements in order for a licence to operate to be awarded: 1. Full employers' indemnity insurance.
2. Must have • I am prompted to write in response to the article by Mary Williams and the survey by Tanya Cordrey on agency drivers, both of which I find very biased. "Cowboy agencies" are the bane of the legitimate driver agency.
I feel it is unfair to imply that all agencies operate in an unsatisfactory manner. ADS, of which I am the proprietor, insists that all prospective employees undertake a driving assessment conducted by one of our RTITB-approved training managers, and complete an application form which enables us to take up references. Prospective employees are questioned on drivers hours and tacho regulations.
All our traffic supervisors have to be CPC holders.
Successful applicants are taken on for a probationary period, during which they are given instruction by a "Gold Badge" employee on the peculiarities of each of our customers and the documentation required by these customers. And the customers are invited to give an appraisal of the "new employee". After the
comprehensive business contracts binding on both parts and signed prior to trading.
3. All employees must be reference checked and validated — and only persons supplying or able to obtain a P45 can be employed.
4. All drivers must be road tested by a qualified assessor, ie ADI or equivalent standard and pass the probation the employee is given a uniform and can progress through the drivers ranks.
All our drivers have to make sure their tachograph charts are accurately completed and returned to ADS in the pre-paid envelope provided immediately after the statutory retention period of one week and one day. This means that charts for the period ending Sunday should be forwarded the following Monday week. Failure to comply with this instruction may cause delay in payment due.
All the tacho charts are sent for independent analysis. Analysis reports are sent to each customer to prove that drivers are operating legally.
Drivers are required to sign a copy of the report in case of infringements and, if necessary, appropriate disciplinary action is taken.
Procedures such as ours would eliminate the practice of some cowboy agencies that encourage drivers to work with illegal breaks. E Usherwood, Chief Executive, ADS Group, Wem, Shropshire. basic test in transport law.
5. Supervisors should be qualified, ie CPC, or have immediate access to qualified superiors or advisors.
6. Must offer full-time employment with a proper binding contract of employment to all employees.
There would also need to be specific contractual obligations such as: defined insurance cover for clients' loss, plus provision for exceptional circumstances; statement of liability relating to vehicle/driver insurance; assure appropriate return and checking of tachographs, plus reporting of transgressions with provision for forfeiture of fees if tachos are not returned within 21 days (unless mutually agreed otherwise); obligation to ensure that drivers supplied are legally capable of fulfilling task or fees are forfeit.
Enforcement of such legislation would probably be best enacted through the Licensing Authorities, even if the Department of the Environment still actually issued the employment business licence, subject to Department of Transport approval, with either department able to revoke that licence. To be effective there would have to be frequent checks on agencies/contractors where the enforcement personnel had adequate powers to fulfil their function.
Unfortunately, the attitude taken by a large number of agency drivers is often as bad, if not worse, than the attitudes of some of the drivers. Like the chicken and the egg, it's riot clear which comes first. The "oh you're an agency driver" attitude often subtly communicates itself to the driver who may well in response feel "what the heck". Sometimes a sympathetic stance will elicit a more productive reaction.
Ideally an open mind helps, plus the capacity to be flexible. Generally drivers who are full-time with agencies have to be flexible to put up with the disparate demands of the job, which can be completely different from day to day, or pretty much the same for months at a time. If the hiring company is prepared to be flexible too, then the driver can be better utilised.
If transport companies decide before the driver arrives that he'll be a clown/idiot/incompetent then it's quite likely that's what they'll end up with. Treat drivers with respect and you might get a satisfactory response, but it helps if you've been circumspect in choosing your agency/contractor — surely successful businesses learn from their mistakes, so why have cowboy agencies proliferated?
The operator who quoted "the whole system is rubbish" is quite right — but of course he too is part of the rubbish. If tighter legislation along the lines suggested was enacted then perhaps the rubbish could start to clear, on all sides. The "cowboy" agencies should start to disappear — but it would cost more to use the reputable agencies left which in turn might well start to have an effect on attitudes as standards were raised — not overnight, but eventually resulting in real quality all round.
I still work for Overdrive/ Manpower Driving services and from my experience £5 an hour or £200 a week seems a high figure for the basic wage — I would be interested to know the source of that figure. Only if there were a substantial number of former ExtraStaff drivers in the South on well over £5 an hour would the £200 be likely.
H Simpson, Contract driver, Halesowen, West Midlands.
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