Drivers' Mate Agency in Nottingham

Nottingham sits in the part of the country that works hardest between midnight and six. The air-freight and parcel networks based here move their volume overnight and the labour requirement follows it.

The freight geography around Nottingham runs on the M1, A52 and A46. Operators draw on the M1 junction 24 to 26 parks, Colwick and Blenheim and the employers booking temporary staff here are typically express parcel and air-freight network operators running overnight sortation.

The overnight express networks based at East Midlands Airport run their whole operation in a window of a few hours, so sortation, loading and shuttle work is concentrated into nights that must be fully staffed or not run at all.

Twilight picking from mid-afternoon into late evening, feeding the night despatch.

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.

Nothing is deducted from a worker's pay for finding them work, which is a requirement on employment businesses rather than a position we took. Every assignment is PAYE, holiday shows on the payslip and the rate quoted for a shift when it is booked is the rate that shift is paid at.

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.