Drivers' Mate Agency in Edinburgh
Drivers' mates and second crew for two-person deliveries, installations and heavy handball, supplied to operators in Edinburgh and Scotland as temporary cover.
Cover for Edinburgh operators
Around Edinburgh the food and drink sector sets much of the pace and it works to production runs, bottling campaigns and export bookings rather than to a level weekly volume.
The freight geography around Edinburgh runs on the M8, M9 and the A720 city bypass, plus the Port of Leith. Operators draw on Newbridge, Sighthill and the A720 corridor parks and the employers booking temporary staff here are typically seafood, salmon and chilled processors on same-day southbound runs.
Whisky and spirits move to bottling campaigns and export bookings, creating short heavy periods of bonded warehouse and haulage work.
We supply Edinburgh from a national operation. That means the pool is wider than any single town could offer: licence categories, shift patterns and site experience are matched to what you actually booked. The worker is fully checked before you are given a name.
Who we supply
Almost nothing that decides whether a mate is any good appears on a document. There is no licence and no card. Reliability, lifting capability and how somebody conducts themselves in a customer's hallway are established through references and a direct conversation about the actual work, which takes longer than checking a certificate.
A crew that has worked together before finishes earlier than the same two people meeting at the gate. They have a method for the stairs, they know who takes the weight on the turn and neither of them has to explain the plan at every drop. Continuity of pairing is worth more on this work than anything written on paper.
Shift patterns
Seasonal weekend and evening cover through the summer and the festival period, when volumes run well above the rest of the year.
Mates work the driver's shift — typically early loading with the crew away by mid-morning and evening slots on home delivery. Weekend work is common on retail installation.
A mate exists because the item cannot be handled by one person. That is a conclusion from a manual handling assessment rather than a preference, so confirming capability against the actual work means the actual item, its weight, the access and how many times a day it happens. A general assurance about lifting is not the same thing at all.
What we check
Checked before the shift, not after — These are the checks that decide whether someone is confirmed. They are run against originals or live sources, not against a photocopy in a file.
- Right to work verified from original documents.
- References taken.
- Manual handling capability confirmed against the actual work.
- Where deliveries are into private homes, a basic DBS check where the client requires one.
Pay and rates
A crew is priced as a crew. Two people are booked and confirmed together for the same start, because a run that leaves one short is not a cheaper run, it is a cancelled one. Where a client needs a basic disclosure for deliveries into private homes, that is arranged before the shift rather than after a query.
Workers on assignment for 12 weeks in the same role qualify for equal treatment on pay and basic conditions under the Agency Workers Regulations 2010. We track that week count from the first shift and tell you before it lands, rather than after.
Shifts open now
Nothing live here right now. We do not pad this board with roles that do not exist, so an empty list means an empty list — register and we will come to you when something matches.
Good to know
How quickly can you cover a drivers' mate shift in Edinburgh?
It depends entirely on notice. A booking placed the afternoon before is usually fillable; one placed at 05:00 for an 06:00 start rarely is, whatever any agency tells you. We will always give you a straight answer on the call rather than a maybe.
What do you check before a drivers' mate starts work in Edinburgh?
Right to work verified from original documents. References taken. Manual handling capability confirmed against the actual work. Where deliveries are into private homes, a basic DBS check where the client requires one. Nothing is taken on trust and nothing is checked once and forgotten — licence entitlements are re-checked every 90 days for as long as a worker is on our books.
How does invoicing work for temporary staff in Edinburgh?
Weekly, consolidated and itemised by shift. If a line is wrong you reject the timesheet with a reason before it is billed, rather than paying it and reclaiming afterwards.
Keep exploring
Other cover we supply in Edinburgh
Drivers' Mates cover elsewhere in Scotland
Tell us who you need
Give us the class, the count, the dates and the shift. We confirm what we can cover and say plainly when we cannot.