Bus Driver Shortages

[Teapot42]

Mod note - Posts #121-127 were originally in this thread:

Hulley's of Baslow

This is going to be one to keep eye on with a Express bus from Manchester to Glossop then over Snakepass to Sheffeld. Starts 25th October

www.railforums.co.uk

If they are to be believed - and there is no reason not to - the September experience (assuming you mean the X1) was very much outside their control. Several drivers quit and ones that they'd hired to give them enough to run the new service decided not to join with no notice. This was the peak for the driver shortage - something made worse by the government / media focussing on lorry drivers and ignoring the fact the obvious source for more was bus drivers retraining. The worst you can accuse Hulleys of in that incident was being ambitious.

Many of the X57 changes had a similar cause, they were having to manage driver availability while finding ways to make the route pay. They could easily have just cut it after 6 months, but they kept trying to adjust things to bring in more passengers and make it more reliable. I'd imagine a big problem would be estimating journey times through the Manchester traffic. It started in a period when traffic would be low, but I know from experience how bad it can get on the M67 and in to Glossop.

As for the Dart, not an ideal bus I'd agree but again maybe necessary to help make the service pay, or at least lose less money.

 

[markymark2000]

If they are to be believed - and there is no reason not to - the September experience (assuming you mean the X1) was very much outside their control. Several drivers quit and ones that they'd hired to give them enough to run the new service decided not to join with no notice. This was the peak for the driver shortage - something made worse by the government / media focussing on lorry drivers and ignoring the fact the obvious source for more was bus drivers retraining. The worst you can accuse Hulleys of in that incident was being ambitious.

Agencies exist..... They knew before the day that they couldn't run it and you can tell by the fact promotion for the route stopped. I think only 1 or 2 posts went up (in comparison to the Snake starting, that was dismal). They just didn't tell anyone because it's easier to bury their head in the sand than to call off some or all of the changes early. Instead, "no, let's make people go out for a bus that isn't running and likely to be subject to endless delays anyway because we have linked it to a route on a 6 hour round trip with not much layover!". Passengers on the 108/109 bus lost their bus for a few days and caused chaos within the councils because of Hulleys inability to keep the public informed.

Point being, they had opportunities to ease the blow prior to the introduction date. They chose not to.

Many of the X57 changes had a similar cause, they were having to manage driver availability while finding ways to make the route pay. They could easily have just cut it after 6 months, but they kept trying to adjust things to bring in more passengers and make it more reliable. I'd imagine a big problem would be estimating journey times through the Manchester traffic. It started in a period when traffic would be low, but I know from experience how bad it can get on the M67 and in to Glossop.

If I am to believe what you are saying here, why add a significant cost to the route and increase the amount of drivers needed by extending it to the Airport and the faffing that they did there. They should have left it to build up Sheffield to Manchester via Hyde from day 1. No extensions. Perfect the 'core' with timings and whatever. Then deal with the rest later on. I am only going off what I can find online but I am certain that there are more changes which never got registered. I note around 8 changes in 13.5 months. That's just the timetables that I can find combined with the registration changes.
Also, if you want to bring in more passengers, maybe don't try and start a service in the middle of a 'do not travel outside your area' restriction. It's not rocket science.

 

[philthetube]

Agencies exist..... They knew before the day that they couldn't run it and you can tell by the fact promotion for the route stopped.

Yes agencies do exist and any agency which had not found work for PCV drivers 24 hours in advance would not keep many drivers on their books. Drivers were not available at any reasonable rate. full stop.

 

[markymark2000]

Yes agencies do exist and any agency which had not found work for PCV drivers 24 hours in advance would not keep many drivers on their books. Drivers were not available at any reasonable rate. full stop.

There are always drivers available. It's about finding them. Not too many years ago, companies in Merseyside would have drivers working for multiple companies. Doing schools for one firm then midday service at another. It may not seem like much but it helped keep buses on the road and covering a meal break gives a driver a few hours pay (given most Hulleys routes are quite long) and fills a gap for the operator. These people don't find you though very often, you find them.

 

[CBlue]

There are always drivers available. It's about finding them. Not too many years ago, companies in Merseyside would have drivers working for multiple companies. Doing schools for one firm then midday service at another. It may not seem like much but it helped keep buses on the road and covering a meal break gives a driver a few hours pay (given most Hulleys routes are quite long) and fills a gap for the operator. These people don't find you though very often, you find them.

I must be imagining this national driver shortage repeatedly being covered in the trade press - indeed a friend who works for Go-Ahead finds his firm is getting a drubbing by local hauliers offering far better pay (and no dealing with the public.) Indeed he's now handed his notice in too and gone off to drive lorries.

If even large firms like Stagecoach can't compete on wages, what chance do a company like Hulleys have?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

There are always drivers available. It's about finding them. Not too many years ago, companies in Merseyside would have drivers working for multiple companies. Doing schools for one firm then midday service at another. It may not seem like much but it helped keep buses on the road and covering a meal break gives a driver a few hours pay (given most Hulleys routes are quite long) and fills a gap for the operator. These people don't find you though very often, you find them.

You are grossly underestimating the challenge for operators in the worst stage of the driver shortage. Drivers were self isolating, some had retired (perhaps early), some had returned back to their home countries (combo of Brexit and Covid) and others had left to get the better pay of HGV work. Notwithstanding that, there was a massive backlog in processing new drivers.

Even agency drivers were as rare as hens teeth. Trying to compare with a few years ago just isn't tenable; the challenge that operators have had has been unprecedented and that even includes those veterans who can recall the problems of the mid-late 1970s.

 

[markymark2000]

I must be imagining this national driver shortage repeatedly being covered in the trade press - indeed a friend who works for Go-Ahead finds his firm is getting a drubbing by local hauliers offering far better pay (and no dealing with the public.) Indeed he's now handed his notice in too and gone off to drive lorries.

If even large firms like Stagecoach can't compete on wages, what chance do a company like Hulleys have?

There is no disputing the overall shortage, the comment was more aimed at the situation raised above in which some people still think Hulleys are the all saving grace, can do no wrong and they are wrong.

I'm not going to go through the full arguement again as it'll just get repetitive. Clearly some people think the sun shines out of Hulleys bottom and quite simply, it doesn't. Either that or they are employed by Hulleys, unsure. Facts are, they were unsure from early on, or knew full well that they couldn't run the X1. They chose not to take actions to rectify that. That is on them, entirely on them.

 

[Trnsprt4Sctlnd]

I’m gonna put a different slant on this thread.

If there is indeed a severe shortage of drivers well into the future, which clearly there will be, how do you solve the problem? Or at the least how do you adapt to that permanent change within the industry?

I’ve driven buses in Glasgow for years with several operators, worked for the main operator there too, they all leave a lot to be desired within being an employee, there is a lack of the right amount of pay verses the hours you work, treatment by management, lack of quality & care taken on there fleet you drive every day as well as the culture that the driver is always wrong.

Covid, Brexit & the HGV industry paying more wages, there all cuddly reasons but none of them matter if the Bus Transport industry doesn’t change its ways & culture found there not change its way of trying to provide a 10 minute service verses operating a 15 minute permanent service with larger vehicles.

 

[Titfield]

I’m gonna put a different slant on this thread.

If there is indeed a severe shortage of drivers well into the future, which clearly there will be, how do you solve the problem? Or at the least how do you adapt to that permanent change within the industry?

I’ve driven buses in Glasgow for years with several operators, worked for the main operator there too, they all leave a lot to be desired within being an employee, there is a lack of the right amount of pay verses the hours you work, treatment by management, lack of quality & care taken on there fleet you drive every day as well as the culture that the driver is always wrong.

Covid, Brexit & the HGV industry paying more wages, there all cuddly reasons but none of them matter if the Bus Transport industry doesn’t change its ways & culture found there not change its way of trying to provide a 10 minute service verses operating a 15 minute permanent service with larger vehicles.

Some thoughts spring to mind:

1) Amount of Pay versus hours worked. Why is this incorrect? Could it be that payroll is "run" before any changes in hours worked are communicated to payroll? If not then why are there errors?
2) Treatment by management. Please can you be more specific on this one?
3) Lack of quality and care of the fleet. Surely an engineering matter. If there are persistent uncorrected faults then this should be reported to DVSA.
4) The driver is always wrong? The increasing use of CCTV / Telematics and real time tracking all helps to establish the cause of an issue.

I think the real problem is that there are far far more attractive jobs than driving for a living and sadly paying more money doesnt really alter long term disparity of the motivating factors and hygiene factors of driving.

 

[HSTEd]

Ultimately bus systems are not really capable of economies of scale in driver use - at the end of the day every bus needs a driver to move.

This places a hard limit on what role buses can play in a future where labour shortages are likely to be more common.

 

[Titfield]

Ultimately bus systems are not really capable of economies of scale in driver use - at the end of the day every bus needs a driver to move.

This places a hard limit on what role buses can play in a future where labour shortages are likely to be more common.

Autonomous transport systems are the future for urban areas.

 

[Deerfold]

Autonomous transport systems are the future for urban areas.

What do you mean by that? There's several meanings that sentence could have.

 

[Glasgowbusguy]

What do you mean by that? There's several meanings that sentence could have.

Assuming it's driverless buses

 

[Titfield]

What do you mean by that? There's several meanings that sentence could have.

It could be driverless buses or driverless taxis. Anything that is neither self drive nor a vehicle with an onboard driver.

 

[RT4038]

Some thoughts spring to mind:

1) Amount of Pay versus hours worked. Why is this incorrect? Could it be that payroll is "run" before any changes in hours worked are communicated to payroll? If not then why are there errors?
2) Treatment by management. Please can you be more specific on this one?
3) Lack of quality and care of the fleet. Surely an engineering matter. If there are persistent uncorrected faults then this should be reported to DVSA.
4) The driver is always wrong? The increasing use of CCTV / Telematics and real time tracking all helps to establish the cause of an issue.

I think the real problem is that there are far far more attractive jobs than driving for a living and sadly paying more money doesnt really alter long term disparity of the motivating factors and hygiene factors of driving.

1) I assume this is a swipe at meal breaks are often not paid in the bus industry (like in retail, offices, factories etc), so unless drivers wish to have a lower hourly rate and the breaks paid, it can safely be taken that this means more money for the work actually produced.
2) The bus industry (at least the large operators) have a reputation of wanting to run consistent services at the times that people wish to ride them, rather than at the convenience of the driving staff, at the minimum pay bill. Sadly this means that drivers tend to be slaves to the schedules, the weekly rota, the holiday rota and the company's rules and instructions, and there is often little leeway available to accommodate individual staff desires. Obviously some managers/supervisors are better than others in managing their staff (as of course drivers are in their job) but it is a source of conflict in every bus depot to a greater or lesser degree, and always has been. This is no new phenomenon, but of course is exacerbated at time of staff shortage, as it was in the 60s and 70s.
3) Another old chestnut going back to the beginning of motor bus operations. The Engineers will of course retort 'if only the drivers took better care of them...' I guess that most of these faults will be minor, but nonetheless irritating, rather than failing to meet legal standards but probably are an issue if you are comparing being allocated your own truck in the road freight industry [not that all is sweetness and light there, as I understand].
4) Drivers are dealing with the public, and a similar cry will be heard from anywhere in the retail community. Add that bus drivers are doing their work remotely and largely unsupervised, and that dealing with the public is far from easy. However, in my long experience, there are not many occasions where public complaints have not had at least some grain of truth in them! I ride buses a fair amount in the course of my work and see plenty of good work, but also plenty of, in the mildest term I know, not so good.

Modern bus driving is not an easy job, one has to have the right temperament and not be unduly affected by the numerous conflicting demands and idiosyncrasies that abound. It has moved from being physically demanding to one more of customer interaction, but for various reasons it has been underrated for the last seventy years or so, and this seems unlikely to change soon. Current staff shortages are more likely to result in fewer bus services, rather than substantially better rewards for drivers.

 

[Trnsprt4Sctlnd]

Autonomous transport systems are the future for urban areas.

Yeah, thousands more out of work or a shortage but still employing thousands of people, what a Dilemma.

Some thoughts spring to mind:

1) Amount of Pay versus hours worked. Why is this incorrect? Could it be that payroll is "run" before any changes in hours worked are communicated to payroll? If not then why are there errors?
2) Treatment by management. Please can you be more specific on this one?
3) Lack of quality and care of the fleet. Surely an engineering matter. If there are persistent uncorrected faults then this should be reported to DVSA.
4) The driver is always wrong? The increasing use of CCTV / Telematics and real time tracking all helps to establish the cause of an issue.

I think the real problem is that there are far far more attractive jobs than driving for a living and sadly paying more money doesnt really alter long term disparity of the motivating factors and hygiene factors of driving.

1. Drivers actually at work for to many hours, I currently work for First Midland through an agency, I’m currently on a spare sheet working constant 12/12.5hr spread overs, Im not the only one doing these long 12hrs shift.

The agency are guaranteeing me 10hrs pay per shift so long as I work 5 days during the working week(Sun - Sat) irregardless of the actual shift only paying 8-9hrs if you were a direct first employee.

But the actual 12hr spreads I’ve been doing are paying around the 9-10hrs mark anyways, I’m still actually spending a further 10hrs per week approx not behind the wheel and thats before I’ve even mentioned the time taken to personally get to work & get home as well.

From an agency workers perspective I am getting a considerably better weekly pay for the work I do but the heightened pay doesn’t make up for the constant feeling of exhaustion & frustration with having to be there for 60+ hours.

This is a big contentious point in the industry why many aren’t staying with the industry for what ever reason, as a First or Stagecoach employee you’d be earning significantly less yet doing the same shifts I’m doing.

It always sticks in my mind that speaking to a particular driver in Glasgow about 6 months ago that having a Maximum 45hr “working week” and based on a £30k salary means a guaranteed & generous £460pw take home whilst maintaining a reasonable amount hours spent at work….

2. I have met many managers that in some way speak to you in a way that’s “speaking down to you” rather than to you understandingly with compassion.

3. Rumour had it that Stagecoach West Scotland was to move there 900 services coaches from Cumbernauld to Kilmarnock and one reason given from a friend I regularly speak to who works at Cumbernauld depot was because there engineering team wasn’t keeping pace with the required amount of care the fleet needs running from Cumbernauld, particularly as there double deckers on the x25 and singles on x19s are worked particularly hard, the engineering capability of First Midland is diabolical at the depot I’m currently working from.

4. Drivers aren’t usually maintaining company policy anymore on buses simply because they know it’s leading to a potential dispute or whole investigation because a drivers attempted to enforce these policies and then people have complained, it certainly something I never do now and through general chat in bothy & depot cafeterias it’s something other drivers don’t do either, First bus now monitor drivers gently going over MPH limits, something they shouldn’t be doing but it’s something that’s ultimately at the drivers discretion, the control with which is attempted to be placed onto drivers despite being called professional is another contentious point.

Hygiene factors? I’ve seen few drivers wipe down cabs in Falkirk & Livingston for months now, including in Glasgow whilst I was there.

 

[HSTEd]

Yeah, thousands more out of work or a shortage but still employing thousands of people, what a Dilemma.

We no longer live in a society with a substantial unemployment problem.

We have defacto full employment and demographic factors mean worker shortages can be expected, on average, to become more acute over time.

We are not going to have a problem finding jobs for people, we are going to have trouble finding enough people to run our society.

 

[Titfield]

1) I assume this is a swipe at meal breaks are often not paid in the bus industry (like in retail, offices, factories etc), so unless drivers wish to have a lower hourly rate and the breaks paid, it can safely be taken that this means more money for the work actually produced.

1) No not a swipe. I thought you meant your pay was wrongly calculated. I didnt realise you were referring to unpaid meal breaks.

 

[Simon75]

Is also part of the problem historical, where one depot is paid different to others ?

 

[whoosh]

Some thoughts spring to mind:

1) Amount of Pay versus hours worked. Why is this incorrect? Could it be that payroll is "run" before any changes in hours worked are communicated to payroll? If not then why are there errors?
2) Treatment by management. Please can you be more specific on this one?
3) Lack of quality and care of the fleet. Surely an engineering matter. If there are persistent uncorrected faults then this should be reported to DVSA.
4) The driver is always wrong? The increasing use of CCTV / Telematics and real time tracking all helps to establish the cause of an issue.

I think the real problem is that there are far far more attractive jobs than driving for a living and sadly paying more money doesnt really alter long term disparity of the motivating factors and hygiene factors of driving.

I expect:

1) is unpaid meal breaks. Like a long 2½ hour unpaid break means you are out of the house at work for 11 hours, but get paid 8½. Do a week of that, and it's 42½ hours pay for 55 hours. Especially if an inter-urban run with the break in another town, or two unpaid breaks equating to the same long amount of time, would mean you can't make use of that time by going home or doing your shopping or something else productive to running a home. You're "no use to the household" for 11 hours that day - which means a partner gets lumbered with it all.
If you got paid right through, you (and your partner) might think it was worthwhile.

4) 'Being under constant scrutiny' might be a better way of putting this. Extra unnecessary pressure.

 

[Eyersey468]

One of the main reasons we have had drivers leave has been pay, the hourly rate and the fact breaks are not paid, though on coaching and National Express they are paid.

 

[GusB]

One of the main reasons we have had drivers leave has been pay, the hourly rate and the fact breaks are not paid, though on coaching and National Express they are paid.

I think the main issue here is that there's disagreement on what actually constitutes a break. I don't think anyone would argue that a 1 hour lunch break should be unpaid; I worked in retail for a long time and we were paid for 15 minute tea breaks, but lunch breaks were unpaid. The legislation at the time actually said that it could be 45 minutes if there was catering on the premises.

The problem is that if a driver finishes one particular duty at, say, 1400 and doesn't actually pick up their next duty until 1600, does that actually count as a break? Are they permitted to go home during that two-hour window, or are they expected to be ready to pick up a short-notice absence or cover for a breakdown? If it's the latter situation then I'd argue that they're on duty and should be paid for their time, regardless of whether they've driven anything.

I don't drive a bus, never have done and likely never will, but I have fought employers that seek to dictate what I can and cannot do with the time that I'm not being paid for.

 

[markymark2000]

I think the main issue here is that there's disagreement on what actually constitutes a break. I don't think anyone would argue that a 1 hour lunch break should be unpaid; I worked in retail for a long time and we were paid for 15 minute tea breaks, but lunch breaks were unpaid. The legislation at the time actually said that it could be 45 minutes if there was catering on the premises.

The problem is that if a driver finishes one particular duty at, say, 1400 and doesn't actually pick up their next duty until 1600, does that actually count as a break? Are they permitted to go home during that two-hour window, or are they expected to be ready to pick up a short-notice absence or cover for a breakdown? If it's the latter situation then I'd argue that they're on duty and should be paid for their time, regardless of whether they've driven anything.

I don't drive a bus, never have done and likely never will, but I have fought employers that seek to dictate what I can and cannot do with the time that I'm not being paid for.

I can't see any half decent company doing that. All instances that I have heard of for lunch breaks is 1 hour maximum unpaid. Irrespective of the break length, 1 hour pay docked. The instances where there are issues with this stuff is if the operator asks a driver to take on some overtime, the driver agrees (not asking questions) and the overtime starts much later than your actual duty ends (or vice versa).



For me, one of the main issues is the industry has little opportunities for part time. They treat people as if 'if you're not full time, you're no use to us' and if a part time person does get taken on, they end up being asked to keep doing more and more until such point they jack in the job because they wanted part time, not full time.
The industry fails to realise that someone joining the industry part time, there is potential for them to, when they feel ready or are able to, go up to full time. And someone retiring, may want to have a few days out of the house, keep themselves busy, why not have them part time. It may not be much but if it covers some trips, why not. It's better than dropping the full duty.

A part time driver is better than no driver and the industry needs to quickly get upto that. Admittedly this wouldn't work if the operator is training someone up as the costs wouldn't balance out as they do with a full timer but anyone with a licence it could work. So much potential for recruitment if the industry accepted that not everyone lives for work, some people work to live.

 

[mb88]

For me, one of the main issues is the industry has little opportunities for part time.

Agree with you 100% on this. Although there are tentative signs that the industry is coming round to the idea of part time drivers. First in my area (Central Scotland) have been offering part time positions for a few months now. As someone looking for part time work it did catch my eye, however I was looking for 3 full shifts per week and they were only offering 5 half shifts. But yes, they need to realise that adopting the attitude of ‘5 over 7 or nothing’ is not going to get them out of this shortage and they need to be as flexible as possible to attract more people into the industry.

 

[Trnsprt4Sctlnd]

Agree with you 100% on this. Although there are tentative signs that the industry is coming round to the idea of part time drivers. First in my area (Central Scotland) have been offering part time positions for a few months now. As someone looking for part time work it did catch my eye, however I was looking for 3 full shifts per week and they were only offering 5 half shifts. But yes, they need to realise that adopting the attitude of ‘5 over 7 or nothing’ is not going to get them out of this shortage and they need to be as flexible as possible to attract more people into the industry.

What constitutes part time?

 

[Geordie driver]

I would love to return to service driving, it gets in your blood.

But all that hassle for 20k a year?

I drive HGV 2 now for a local builders merchant, days, Monday to Friday, 30k a year and we sometimes struggle to get staff.

The bus companies haver reaped what they sowed.

 

[SLC001]

The cost in terms of time to ensure all journeys are covered makes part time working an unattractive proposition for mangers who have to allocate staff. It is not so bad where there is a surplus of staff, a large pool in which to dip into but for smaller operators I guess it is management / owners who have to cover gaps.

 

[Roger1973]

The cost in terms of time to ensure all journeys are covered makes part time working an unattractive proposition for mangers who have to allocate staff. It is not so bad where there is a surplus of staff, a large pool in which to dip into but for smaller operators I guess it is management / owners who have to cover gaps.

Not quite sure I follow that.

There will be some 'cost per driver' that will be same for part time and full time drivers, but once drivers and their duties are on the rota, they pretty much allocate themselves until the next schedule change, or any duty / rest day swaps, holidays and so on, whether that's full time or part time drivers.

Some operators have some drivers who are rostered to do either less than 5 full duties a week, or 5 short duties a week (the latter can reduce unattractive split / spreadover duties if those short duties each cover one or other peak) - this can be a way of keeping experienced drivers who for whatever reason (family care commitments, approaching retirement) don't want to work all the hours there are any more.

There's a cost in allocation staff time in trying to cover overtime / rest day working when there's a staff shortage beyond the level that can be covered by the the drivers who regularly want all the overtime going (having to split a full duty in to little bits of overtime and tack those little bits on to several scheduled duties can be long winded.)

Similarly some operators offer a choice of rotas (e.g. separate early / late / split shift rotas) for drivers whose circumstances or preferences suit this, and some offer a choice of 'high earnings' rotas with regular longer duties, e.g. a 42 - 45 hour week rather than the normal 38 hour week, for those drivers who want more than standard hours but without working 6 days a week, and / or a rota with 4 long duties not 5 standard duties (although these can present difficulty getting cover in the event of holidays / sickness.)

This can present a challenge at the scheduling stage, especially if there's a very tight limit of minimum / maximum working day or week or rota average, though.

There can be some resistance from existing staff / unions to new ways of doing things in the face of staff shortages, as any form of flexibility that may attract / retain more staff can conflict with the argument of improving pay and conditions to attract / retain more staff.

The bean counting style of management tends only to see the headline figures, but having a very high turnover of staff will generate costs in recruiting, training and kitting out new drivers. And while everyone's new to a job at some point, and recognising it's a big generalisation, but experienced drivers who are not worried about their personal finances, and who are not working ludicrous duties / rotas, are going to tend to have fewer expensive accidents and generate less customer service issues that will cost time and money to sort out.

And if a lot of journeys get dropped because of staff shortage, some passengers are going to give up on using the buses, so revenue is lost, and if it's frequent and unplanned, then sooner or later the traffic commissioners can impose financial penalties.

 

[MotCO]

If you have a mix of fulltme and reduced hours staff, would it be possible (and operationally simpler) to allocate the fulltimers to one set of routes, and the reduced hours staff to another set of routes? Clearly it may not always be possible - e.g. if the reduced hours staff can only work mornings, but it may be simpler to try to piece together shifts in a discrete set of rotas.

 

[Observer]

Agree with you 100% on this. Although there are tentative signs that the industry is coming round to the idea of part time drivers. First in my area (Central Scotland) have been offering part time positions for a few months now. As someone looking for part time work it did catch my eye, however I was looking for 3 full shifts per week and they were only offering 5 half shifts. But yes, they need to realise that adopting the attitude of ‘5 over 7 or nothing’ is not going to get them out of this shortage and they need to be as flexible as possible to attract more people into the industry.

I wasn't aware they were only offering five half shifts. All I knew was that they demanded you weren't working another job whilst working for them....so what's the point of going part time with them then?

First were also offering positions for school contract shifts too, something they did years ago for a while when they had a lot of contracts. But again, that would certainly be five days as well.

No wonder they're struggling. They might have been able to scoop up a load of agency drivers but that only gets you so far before there's nobody left to go there.

Last time I passed one of their depots they had a banner offering £1000 or whatever it was to sign up for them but you seem to have to stick around for a year or two to get it?