Van Driver Agency in Ely
Van and multi-drop drivers on a standard Category B licence, for parcel, courier and last-mile work, supplied to operators in Ely and the East of England as temporary cover.
What Ely sites get from us
Around Ely a large share of the work is driven by vessel schedules and customs release rather than by retail demand, so the busy days are not the ones a rota would have predicted.
The freight geography around Ely runs on the A14, M11, A12, A11, A47 and A1(M), the Port of Felixstowe with its North, Central and South rail terminals, Harwich International and the airfreight operations at London Stansted. Operators draw on the A1(M) and A14 sites around Huntingdon, Alconbury Weald and Peterborough and the employers booking temporary staff here are typically e-commerce and retail fulfilment sites along the A1 and M11.
Poultry, brassica and root-crop processing run to hard seasonal windows, so goods-in, yard and chilled picking work appears in blocks measured in weeks.
We supply Ely 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.
Roles we fill
Multi-drop is a physical job that people underestimate because the vehicle is small. Parcel rounds, grocery totes, cages up flights of stairs and restart after restart all day. Somebody who can drive but cannot sustain the round fails halfway through it, which is the most expensive point at which to find out.
Start times on parcel work are set against the sort, not the route. A driver booked an hour before the load is ready stands in a yard being paid to wait and a driver booked an hour after it is ready leaves late and loses the first window. Setting the start against when the cages are actually built is worth more than any amount of chasing later.
Shifts and start times
Early starts in the packhouses and cold stores, typically from 04:00, with the day ending when the order is out rather than when the clock says.
Sortation and load-out start before dawn, with routes out by mid-morning. Grocery and evening delivery slots run through to late evening, including weekends.
The real cost of an unfinished round is not the driver's hours. It is the parcels that come back to the depot, get re-sorted, go out again the next day behind a promise that has already failed once and generate the calls that follow. One round short today is two rounds under pressure tomorrow, which is the argument for confirming cover the day before.
The checks we run
Cover that turns up — 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.
- Category B licence checked by DVLA share code and re-checked every 90 days, with points and disqualification history reviewed.
- Right to work verified from original documents.
- References taken.
- Where the client requires it, a basic DBS check.
Rates and payment
PAYE hourly or per route as agreed on the booking, paid weekly. Where a route is priced per drop, the drop count is agreed in writing before the shift rather than adjusted afterwards. Holiday accrues under the Working Time Regulations and every assignment is PAYE.
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.
Open shifts
We publish shifts here as they are booked. Nothing is listed that is not a real, live assignment — register your details and we will contact you when work matches your licence and your availability.
Questions, answered
How quickly can you cover a van and multi-drop driver shift in Ely?
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 van and multi-drop driver starts work in Ely?
Category B licence checked by DVLA share code and re-checked every 90 days, with points and disqualification history reviewed. Right to work verified from original documents. References taken. Where the client requires it, a basic DBS check. 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 Ely?
Everything runs through the timesheet. Hours logged, sent to you, approved or rejected with a reason, then billed once a week in a single consolidated invoice.
Related pages
Other cover we supply in Ely
Van Drivers cover elsewhere in East of England
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.