delivery driver

driver

auto appraiser

truck driver

vehicle technician

Bca Logistics

I started working here as a transport administrator, after my first 3 months I was advised that I’ll be going into the admin office for 3 months for further training to expand my knowledge. After the 3 months were up they wanted me to go into other departments so I had a understanding of everything that goes on. So I went out into the admin office, was given very poor training, they showed me things once then expected me to know it. I was put on the rostrum on my own after 3/4 times of being partnered up with someone. I had been making mistakes and I was called into the office a few times about my mistakes but never had any serious warnings. They also never offered me any further training, the manager wasn’t approachable, often talked down to me, belittled me, timed me on how quick I should be doing things and would shout out in the office how long I had left to do a task and my supervisor would do the same. It just wasn’t fair at all, especially for someone who is training and they only ever used to do it to me. I felt so under pressure, I used dread going into work. On the Thursday I was called into the office for making some mistakes on the rostrum, I advised i’ll Try my hardest to sort it out. My manager then asked “in a few weeks how do you feel about learning live on line” and I said “i’d give it a go”. The next day I was on the rostrum in the morning, after lunch I was called into the office as i’d made a couple of mistakes on the rostrum, they then said I was a cost to the business, I make too many mistakes and that I’m being let go! I was in complete shock. Never had a verbal warning, wasn’t told the consequences, wasn’t given a written warning! It was so misleading as the day before she was talking about training me on something else! So she must of decided that morning that she wanted to sack me. It wasn’t the job I applied for, she wasn’t my actual manager and you can’t blame the person if they haven’t been trained properly. It was the most humiliating thing ever, the whole office starring at me packing up my things and doing the walk of shame.

In future I suggest the management should:
Offer training, include everyone in the office, speak to people how you’d like to be spoken to, don’t isolate people, be kind as you never know what people are going through.

The planners do not live in a realistic world and think you can travel between long distances in central London and in and out of the M25 in 20 mins between Jobs, and expect you to be there on time, then they call you “why are you late” “what is your eta”
Appalling attitude of some hub staff when you call for assistance on Jobs or any kind help
No back up or support whatsoever, Abysmal Management, false promises 
Bca need to improve dramatically how they treat their inspectors and drivers
Shambolic planning and co- coordinating of daily routes
The lack of staff in the office needs addressed  
Wrong customer telephone contact numbers, addresses etc every day
Jobs not downloaded to tablets on day of inspections, 
Email support waste of time you sit in car for 2-3 hours before contacting you for updates
Inspectors were not updated of customers Cancelled Jobs day before  
BCA itself were not people focused, benefits and rewards were derisory, they had no mission statement and no vision, too many changes at the top led to an out of touch hierarchy.
Contact centre management is atrocious, no group values and extremely poor communication, hierarchy environment in particular contact centre 
People in the call centre were mostly unprofessional and it seemed like the departments didn't communicate at all with each other effectively, and thus did not know what the inspectors or customers on the ground were referring to
Customers are never kept in the loop or emailed or contacted regarding when an inspector turns up
Call centre on hold times are waste of time up to between 1-4 hours on hold
Management were not very helpful, they just sat back and took no part in helping you with any problems.
All customers were not told about that an inspector was coming, only a driver to collect car 
Working at BCA offers no rewards, no benefits, no support, no future, no vision, and no focus whatsoever 
Unsafe work environments, lack of protective clothing or training. You may also decide to file a claim if an incident in the workplace has caused a psychological illness – such as severe and avoidable stress

I worked here in a Customer Service role and I was due to work over on another clients site.
I struggled very hard owing to the incredible rudeness and exclusion though of my direct team members based at the Birmingham site.
What a bunch of unprofessional individuals they were!
There are some decent people here; but they will advise you of who the bullies are that those bullies are being protected! How true! as when I complained I was informed like it or lump it; as I could not be transferred anywhere else!
The manager advised me that the other individuals whom I  had worked with who I got on with were actually vial and very unprofessional; which I found odd as they were really pleasant and professional with me, also odd this manager spoke like that! 
There seem to be an overall problem here with professionalism and I feel I have had a lucky escape.
Having witnessed many come and go and not many long term people which kind of highlights an issue of clear poor staff retention.
I had been in management for over 25 years and this job was a temp to perm agency job that turned out to be a complete nightmare! 
Come on Management? pull your socks up and take accountability for bad behaviours and stop allowing these nasty individuals  to carry on by defending them and refusing to deal with genuine complaints.
My recent background is recruitment and I would not recruit for this business as I would not feel confident in my candidates being treated well.
The training needs to be looked at additionally with a company this size; instead of using individuals that are not suitable to train further to the initial day and a half which I have to say was ran by a lovely lady; she seemed a character to be few and far between though. It is just a shame there are too many incompetent others in key positions.
I would not recommend working here at all.
This business feels like it is a bit of a call centre labour camp, hire and fire with just above the minimum wage.
If I could score 0 I would!

British Car Auctions have a highly unprofessional management culture that think self employed drivers are a disposable item. If you don't like it, then leave as there will be someone along in a minute to take over your job. 
This management culture is a fundamental problem as it drives a wedge between these self employed people and the management. It must also lead to a high turnover of self employed drivers. There also seems to be a deep rooted lack of trust towards the self employed drivers from the management. Management don't understand (or are not willing to understand) that everyone has to work together to get the job done. Very arrogant in their approach to the self employed drivers. There was a very strong "them and us" attitude coming from the management side. The self employed drivers were treated with no respect.
Also had difficulties trying to obtain expenses back that I had paid out to enable myself to do the job. Again the arrogant response from the management was very clear. This attitude from the management wasn't only from one individual manager, it was from many of them, and on different levels too. They weren't interested in listening to any concerns that I may have had. On occasions, they didn't even respond to my e-mails or phone calls. Absolutely disgraceful company to work for. I lost a fair amount of money for expenses due to the companies "manage procedures" that were heavily loaded to benefit the company first

These endemic management failures from within the company that can only be emanating from a senior level regarding their misguided management practices on how to treat self employed drivers
. They must make a fortune from staff having to pay for travel expenses to get to various locations, country wide, and then not have all of them paid. HMRC should be notified regards this practice. 

Disgraceful company to work for.

As the title states. You could spend 1.5 -2 hours transporting and inspecting a car. Then 2 hours plus traveling between jobs. Then stuck in Blackbushe to take a 2.5 hour train back home to London. I was told to find my way home.  You really have to be switched on and know how to work the system to suit your needs. For example make sure if youre not full time to have a final job that puts you in proximity of home. Desperate calls to drivers that live near you for a lift are futile. Youll dial 8 numbers only to be get a reply once youve reached your destination. People are busy. 

If stuck in the sticks. Some rural areas no bus for an hour no taxi available. £6.40 bus £20 train etc. You may or may not be refunded. I spent £50 of my own cash traveling to and from jobs. The coordinators arent going to tell you much. You need them to claim back money. You need to tell them what jobs you can do to suit you logistically. Its almost like you need to coordinate and plan your own day. 

You need to make friends with other drivers. My colleague had a more than close friend who plan jobs around each other. That makes a massive difference. If you're solo this job wont work well. You need to make a network of mates to help you logistically and cut time and costs of public transport. You dont need to go 3 hours. Ask for local jobs. Youre dreaming if you think youll be driving Porsches and TTs through the Cotswold or Brecon Beacons. Those are reserved for certain people. 

Youre out of the house 12 hours. You might get paid £40-£60 as self employed..If youre lucky you might squeeze £80-£100 for aborted jobs or quick jobs. ie car not there or non starter. Just because you're not heavy lifting you will be tired from lots of walking and sitting on buses and trains.

It is what it is. Im not here to cry and complain. I chose to pack it in quick as its not for me. Coordinators were nice enough. I rather sit at home and find a singular location job with the odd travel. Ill see the country at my leisure. Not because I have to. Also with Covid public transport plus driving others dirty cars is a big risk.

I worked for BCAL since 2015, and have never worked for such an inept organisation. Their communication is appalling, when a mistake is made a "written warning" is sent - no verbal discussion one mistake and you are warned.
I should have realised this when I was sent out with a faulty phone. I got a written warning for not completing my jobs, despite having completing everything on my phone!
One day having missed a drop-off due to traffic on the M1 I had to take a vehicle home - and deliver it the next day which was my day off with NO pay. I was then issued an invoice (no discussion) for more than I was paid for the job. Incidentally I was then left stranded at Long Bennington (the most inaccessible site visited) and had to make my own way home (on my day off!) No thanks for the effort made on my day off, but the invoice was cancelled within minutes of an e-mail being sent.
Yesterday was the final straw - I was supposed to drop a vehicle at BCA Nottingham when I arrived at the site I was denied access by security. I then had to make calls to find out what to do. 89 minutes on 4 calls (95% of this waiting to be answered!)meant that at 4.00pm I had no choice, as despite waiting for calls to be answered I decided to return home with the vehicle, Non-conformance instructed me to take it back, but as this was my last day I had no wish to get home at 8.30pm as normal! I had no way of getting my next vehicle collected let alone delivering it on time! Needless to say I dropped the vehicle at their offices and left the keys there. It would have cost me more than the £21.70 pay to get home from Nottingham.
This is a small example of the "goings on". It meant every day was an adventure, but the lack of support and help for drivers is appalling, which together with the lower than living wage rates paid for the hours worked, means that at some time BCAL will be taken to court by a government department. for employee abuse!

So where can i start...Some days you are expected to start at 5-6am to get the car to its drop off destination. 

Can spend hours on public transport, at a great expense to yourself - can be looking at from £5 to at least £50 - then there is the walking to get between places when you are short of cash. 

The pay is bad, can drop of a car in the morning and not get paid until you pick up the next which could be hours away. Many a day ive done over 12 hours and only got between £20-£40 for the day. You have to consider that each collection is £20, you then get paid milage when doing over 60 miles and no income between collections.

Planning is sometimes just depressing, plotting between jobs and looking how long it takes to just watch it go up in smoke once there is heavy traffic, and bear in mind you are not getting paid for the time you are sat in traffic.

Control can at times be a little unsympathetic with the drivers, telling them they have to get a car from one point to another because its a private customer and making arrangements for what time you will get there... many a time ive got to my destination to be told i was expecting you 4 hours ago... Please, im the one driving not the person on the phone.

Does say good points, so if i must.. loved the cars, some top range models that i would never be able to afford mine for an hour or two. Bliss. Then your peace ruined by control asking what time you are picking up the next car and can they have a ETA... No, i dont know if the traffic on the m6 has cleared so i can make 40 miles in 40 minutes. The expectation is a lot. 


so, would i recommend them, not really... Long days, long miles and very rarely would it be financially viable for you to do the job. More likely that you will spend many a day frustrated at the lack of work cause you are spending 10 hours of it on buses and trains for the sake of 2 hours driving,,,

At the interview they tell you many things that just are not true .. and just want you to go to training .. this is £45 per day for the training but only paid after 40 collections .. knowing that most wont stay..
at training you are rushed through as quickly as possible and they wont answer direct questions if they are about an issue but brush past this..
after 3 days training you are out on your own.. the jobs are sent after 5.30pm for the next day and you must then try to plan your routes and days work... my first day was home to first job 2 1/2 hours on bus
arrived at first job needed to call office took 55 mins to get through .. then deliver first car.. then 1 1/2 hours bus ride to collect next car to be told this was cancelled .. so 1 hour bus ride to next job .. collected. then deliver .. 45 min bus ride to next job this does not include 6 miles of walking .. 6 am start 9pm finish 
less the rent of your equipment for the week £16.50..
contacting the control office takes between 30 - 60 mins each time
to receive no help and bad attitude
total per hour £3.40 for the day ...and then you have to plan for the next day

Every driver you meet is fed up and has a host of horror stories
most of the time the routes and days work are impossible to achieve 
no support just complaints
from the office all the time
you will need a great cash flow as costs a fortune in buses trains etc

they see nothing wrong with a 2 or 3 hour bus or train trip between jobs

I read the reports and thought can it really be that bad !! must be worth a try !!
Its not !! 

less hours .. more pay .. more respect .. Elsewhere 

save your time effort 

they try to get you to give it a month before you jack it in.. 
if you last a month at least you will get your training money but im sure most don't ...

When I first joined BCA, I thought it was a great company to work for. The salary and employee benefits were shockingly bad (this never changed), the team, management and vision for team were amazing. We were on a transformation journey, and everyone had a part to play, ideas were listened too and acted upon, in fact we were encouraged to make suggestions and actively participate in the changes and growth of the team.

However, changes to the senior management structure changed everything. We were excluded from participating in the changes, our ideas were no longer sort or listened to, and the changes that did come from management were ill thought out and often didn't work. It became a place where things happened to us. Systems/processes that were brought in to solve issues for the business, end up creating more work for the team. Meaning more and more work was piled onto the team, with no additional reward.

Team moral, that was once lively with a fully engaged team who would actively support one another, dropped. No one was engaged and when projects did come up that they wanted us to be involved in, no one was interested.

As a lower-level manager in the team, it became increasingly hard to motive my direct reports, as I was also excluded from making an impact with no authority to change the outcome. My direct reports, realising this, would go above my head to senior management, excluding me, as they knew i could not change anything. This left me with a feeling of "why am I here?".

It became a toxic work environment, with some of the team out for themselves, and the favourites getting away with underperforming and being treated more favourably than others in the team.

Whilst I did initially enjoy my time at BCA and I did learn a lot, it is not an experience I wish to repeat.

Its not a bad job on the surface, travelling around and driving cars seems quite enjoyable (and it is if you like driving) but the pay makes it not worth it at all. They say you can earn £80-100 a day but that's the absolute best case scenario, on average for me it was about £50 (before tax) for 12h of work, which it doesn't take a genius to figure out is less than half of minimum wage. Its better than nothing, but basically anything else is better than this so it's not hard to see why their turnover is so high. 

The people I dealt with were good, most customers are dealerships, leasers or disability so don't tend to be unreasonable but you do get a couple unfortunately. Most people in the company were quite nice but I can see that I got fairly lucky, and if something were to go wrong I would have a very hard time getting it resolved as the hold time to call into the office are on average an hour, and this is something you have to do multiple times a day usually.

There's a lot of public transport involved and a lot of walking, which I didn't mind but it's certainly not for some people. You have to call up for expenses which they are not obligated to pay, but as long as you're reasonable with them you shouldn't have any issues, although you still have to deal with the hold times as previously mentioned.

They will also strand you sometimes, again not something I've had an awful experience with yet but it definitely pays to have someone who can give you a lift or something because you will get stranded a 2h drive from home every so often.

Overall, good job, good people, pay absolutely ruins it

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