Sometime's companies need to be named and shamed

So I had a work placement at a company in Glasgow through SIG trading at “Carpet & Flooring” (Kinning Park Ind Est) which involved taking an 18 tonner to Manchester every night on a trunk to bring stuff back up to the Glasgow warehouse. First couple of nights everything was great, everyone was very helpful and even showed me a few things that I wasn’t sure of.

Around the Thursday the guy at Manchester’s attitude seemed to change for some reason, I was always very polite etc.

Anyway to cut a long story short 5 weeks down the line and last Friday they got someone in from DriverHire to follow me down in another lorry to bring up two lorry loads, we both felt we were overweight so asked the forkie to remove some things, after many phonecalls back to Glasgow, a lot of tutting and sighing we were on our merry way feeling happy that our lorries complied with the law.

Somewhere in between these 5 weeks, his staff told me that he has fallen out with many agencies and he goes through driver’s like there’s no tomorrow. So last night I again though that my lorry was overweight and I told him I’d take it a run around the industrial estate to see how it felt, and my suspicions were confirmed as a light came on on the dash and the arches were rubbing on the rear axle, so I asked him to remove some things and asked the forkie what they needed the most, to which he replied rather unhelpfully “it all”. I got very cross with his attitude at this point and told him to take off the two heaviest things then to which he did, the light extinguished and the arches no longer rubbed so off I went trundling back to Glasgow.

When I arrived back this morning I left a note on the dash to say that there was two pallets missing and this was why. When I went up to start my shift today I asked if there was any problems with what I done last night and he said yes because “I lost £3000 this morning because those two pallets were missing!” He said “Do you even know what an 18 tonner can take inside it?” I said “roughly around 10 tonnes but without looking at the plate I can’t be 100% certain” he replied “9.5, you know what was on that lorry last night when i weighed it, 9!!!” I felt like saying wow hardly the end of the ■■■■■■■ world, but anyway I composed myself and said, “well i’m sorry but i won’t take a lorry out on the road if I fail to believe it complies with law and regulations etc” he said “well in that case go home”. No problem I said and off I went.

Phoned the agency right away who were very understanding, told him what his staff said, even that the other driver refused a load and various other things, so got a phonecall from the agency a few minutes ago who said that the boss man even hung up on him and he described him as acting like a minor

I’m owed two weeks wages, around £1200 from this company (before tax) and he said he is not willing to sign off my time sheets at face value for the hours I claimed and so wants to download my digi card.

Just thought that I should name and shame this place, the gaffer is called “Tom Boswell” from Carpet and Flooring whom are part of SIG Trading Group. Stay well away if you want to keep your license and the way he goes on you won’t have it long.

You did well to stand up for your rights. You are the one that VOSA would come down hard on if it was overweight.

Oh and just remember, your employment contract is with the agency so they have to pay what is owed even if the company does not pay them.

The money is owed to you by the agency NOT the company.

Download your tacho or do printout’s to prove that you worked for them if the agency argues, 14 days before you take them to court, make sure they know this.

As for SIG, I’ve done work for them now and then, and they’ve always been great to be honest, no TM would want their trucks running over-weight, and definately not damaging the truck by running with the mud guards on the wheels - that’s bloody expensive.

If in doubt, take to a weigh bridge, get a printout, but if the suspension isn’t raising, the truck’s going nowhere no matter what weight is in it.

Some trucks have built in weighers, like certain Scania’s

dar1976:
You did well to stand up for your rights. You are the one that VOSA would come down hard on if it was overweight.

Oh and just remember, your employment contract is with the agency so they have to pay what is owed even if the company does not pay them.

Thanks Dean, I know for a fact if I have gone “oh i’ll take it and that’s one for the boys” and then I did get stopped, he’d be moaning at me for being overweight for the fine he’d of had to have paid too! no way!

Also, is my contract really with the agency, I’ve “misplaced” my T&C I got with them and don’t really want to mention that to them in case they say it’s not have a look at the t&c… as to be perfectly honest I’d rather not go up and see him again.

Wayne: I never had a proper look but I’m pretty sure that 18 tonner I was in never had one of the control pads that control the suspension. One was an 11 reg DAF LF and the other is an 05 plate Merc.

Dont know sam you seem to be a very dot the i’s and cross the T’s sort of a guy which might annoy people, anyhow why doesnt such a big company that runs close to plated weight have any method to weigh its motors individual axles?

The agency will be liable for your pay no matter what t&c they throw at you.

with regards to the agency yes your contract is with them so they will pay you but it will be on the proviso of a signed timesheet.

Thing is, it’s fair enough going a few minutes over your hours to help you & them out in my opinion but taking out a very over weight wagon affects the handling of the truck and can be dangerous, the real meaning of the word dangerous. You have a blow out when it’s as badly overloaded as you describe with the body work rubbing against the tyres and you’d know about it.

Tell the muppet if he’s netting £3k for 2 pallets of stuff he needs and can obviously afford a wagon that’s up to the job…

war1974:
with regards to the agency yes your contract is with them so they will pay you but it will be on the proviso of a signed timesheet.

I think you’ll find payment can be DELAYED if a signed timesheet is not returned.

You return a time sheet, signed or not, they argue, you provide tachograph evidence of the work you’ve done that they’ve arranged, they argue, you take them to court and add on loads of expenses for the hassle.

I’ve had 1 agency do this to me in my time, didn’t make it as far as court, will never work for them again but I got paid

merc0447:
Dont know sam you seem to be a very dot the i’s and cross the T’s sort of a guy which might annoy people, anyhow why doesnt such a big company that runs close to plated weight have any method to weigh its motors individual axles?

So because I won’t take a lorry that’s overloaded out I may annoy people? Couldn’t give a monkies, rules are rules.

Anyway, they have a weighbrig down there but they “don’t know how to use it”. I did suggest that everything should be stickered and then tallied up so they know what’s on the lorry anyway.

If you are pulled in an overweight wagon dont expect the firm to pick up the tab.Its the drivers responsibility so be careful who you deal with.I had a great gig for a short while ,easy job only they wanted pedal on the metal stuff Lord knows why.

alamcculloch:
If you are pulled in an overweight wagon dont expect the firm to pick up the tab.Its the drivers responsibility so be careful who you deal with.I had a great gig for a short while ,easy job only they wanted pedal on the metal stuff Lord knows why.

Company gets done too afaik as well as the driver.

What was the dashboard light that came on?

I’d be surprised if an 18t could be overloaded with carpet…A 40ft container full of it didn’t weigh that much.

This company is just around the corner from me, if you ever go there again and you have any issues or want an independant second opinion just ask it’s literatly round the corner.

I’m intrigued what carpet comes on pallets. Is it carpet tiles?

If its got air suspension on the rear, then a light usually appears on the dash after loading, indicating its not at its travelling ride height. Either goes out after a few seconds once the suspension pumps itself up, either automatically or on a few dafs I’ve driven, after pressing a button on the dash.

The few DAF LF’s we have, have the suspension control down the right hand side of the drivers seat, although they are 8 years old now may well have changed lol

Yes the 12 plate DAF XF I drove last week had it there too on a flexi cord.

I suspect it was rubbing cos op didn’t reset the suspension. Why couldn’t have driven to a public weighbridge before causing a scene.

What you have to consider is that maybe it wasn’t overweight.

Maybe they have been shifting this stuff for years, maybe decades. Maybe the weights are all worked out, maybe they have never once had a problem with VOSA in all the time they have been trading, but one day some teenager from the agency who passed his test five minutes ago has arrived and has told them how things are going to be from now on and this has caused them serious operational problems the following day.

I’m not saying this is the case, but if it was then you could possibly understand them taking the hump and not wanting that driver back again.