Drivers' Mate Agency in Leeds

Leeds sits on or near the M62, the road that carries most of the North's retail distribution and the operations along it run to volumes that make short-notice cover a weekly reality rather than an emergency.

The freight geography around Leeds runs on the M1, M62 and A1(M). Operators draw on the M1 junction 45 and 46 parks, Stourton and the Aire Valley and the employers booking temporary staff here are typically retail and e-commerce distribution centres serving the whole of the North.

Trans-Pennine trunking is exposed to weather on the M62 more than most routes and a bad week pushes work into overtime hours the permanent staff have already used.

Nights on the M62 trunk routes, running between the northern distribution centres and back before morning.

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 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.

Crew work runs long more often than it runs short, because the last drop is the one with the stairs. Whether an overrun is paid at plain rate or at overtime is set on the booking and the threshold that triggers it is written down, so both sides count the week the same way.

Equal treatment on pay and basic conditions applies after 12 weeks in the same role under the Agency Workers Regulations 2010. We hold the count per worker per role and raise it with you before the threshold rather than on the invoice that follows it.