My ex employer was forcing me to do more driving than any other driver, to a point it could not be done legally, This created more problems to a point I went through the whole greivancy procedure and got no where, so i ended up leaving and taking them to employment tribunal.
My case over the driving issues was that i had lot more driving to do, in the same amount of time as anyone else, and still had to do the same amount of collections as everyone else.
an example 50 collections and 9 hours driving to do it in. Most other routes averaged 4000km per month to acheive their work, i had 50 collects in the same 9 hours but i averaged 6500kms per month. I was always the one of the first people to start work and always the last to finish and the more work they piled on the harder it was to keep within my driving hours, unitl it got a point that it was impossible.
Having taken my employer to court the employment tribunal ruled that my workload was no different to anyone elses the only defferance being that i had further to travel and therefore they found this to be acceptable. They agreed that i may have had issues regarding being unable to carry out my work safely, but wouldn’t not accept my claim on the grounds that i complained in bad faith, as I only complained in response to the way i was being treated.
so can someone help me out here to understand this. EU directive 561/2206 article 10 section 3 clearly states that my employer should ensure that my workload can be acehived safely without the need to compromise on regulations. My work load should include both the collections and the driving that i need to do in order to make those collections. The tacho rules count all my driving and working time and of which i have to obay this regualtions.
With the employment tribunal rulling it would mean that if i took on another job driving a truck and i was asked to go further than what my permitable drivings hours are in order to do a job, then this is acceptable as it is only driving time to the job and somehow shouldn’t be counted?
I am totaly gob smacked and can’t go back driving again if this is the case and i don’t think VOSA will be happy at the fact that it has proven to be acceptable for a copany to force a driver into driving contrary to regualtions.
What you should have done is to stick stictly to the law providing that safety was not compromised and then taken them to tribunal when they got rid of you for not getting the job done illegally
The only way that like for like jobs issues can be compared and resolved is usually when a Union agreement is involved or a law such as gender or racism is broken
hi thanks for that, i had no choice but to take them to tribunal because they deducted £4000 out of my wages because they decided to blame me for something i didn’t do, as punishment for not doing what they wanted and asking for my statuary entitilement as they only give 23 days holiday to all drivers.
bikerwend:
hi thanks for that, i had no choice but to take them to tribunal because they deducted £4000 out of my wages because they decided to blame me for something i didn’t do, as punishment for not doing what they wanted and asking for my statuary entitilement as they only give 23 days holiday to all drivers.
WTF. How does anyone deduct 4 grand out of a lorry drivers wage
The point at which your workload became impossible was the point where you should have been parked up in the yard, driving over. If you’re allowing people to pressure you into breaking the law you’re possibly not cut out for this game.
bikerwend:
so i ended up leaving and taking them to employment tribunal.
Eh? Always thought tribunals were brought into play after they’ve dismissed you? I have to agree with the others, stand your ground re staying legal, then take them to the tribunal if they penalise you. If you had failed collections on day X due to running out of hours, then you show a (just) legal tacho record for day X you’d then have a better case for saying it couldn’t be legally done.
My last employers’ management told me that it was up to me on the road and that I should not be bullied or forced into anything by the Traffic Managers. Likewise if they told me to ‘hurry up’ and ‘stay on time’ and the like then by me following what they wanted I was showing that I could be manipulated.
I can see what you’re saying because newbie drivers to try to please, to get the job done and to be in a position (if an agency driver) to go back there again. Letting the boss down by failing to deliver is shown as a weakness.
In the situation you describe; multidrop and collections. I was never fast enough for that sort of work. I tried but ran of steam too quickly.
325km in 9 hours is 36km an hour, which is actually quite low. What were you driving? Van? 7.5t? HGV2?
As for deductions in wages, they cannot deduct what they want, it has to be agreed by the driver/employee.
I have been driving trucks for over 21 years, i have left loads of jobs because they have tried to push me into working illegaly. Unfortunatly i suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome and things are not the way they used to be. Gone are the days where you could walk out of one job one day and start another job the next. With the current job market there is no guarantees how long you will be out of work for. I have to be very carefull because stress bring on the fatigue, being out of a job and not being able to pay the mortgage is stressfull.
I was being bullied at work no iffs and but about it, but i have learnt to not let it get to me and just to what i have too. Unfortuanlty it turned out when i refused to collect chemical waste because i wasn’t licenced too and they increased my workload and increased the bullying. The company held me responsible for an accident i didn’t cause and when all comes to all, the contracts doesn’t give a limit as to what the company can dedcut from my wages. As the truck cost over 120 grand, on enquiring if the vehicle got lost, stolen or written off, how much would they hold me liable for, it turns out the full 120 grand plus losses.
so my normal practice, when been pushed into exceeding driving time, would be to just park the truck up and go home, is not an option when there is 120 grand at stack, it is one big huge gamble. It turns out there are driver there paying back 15 grand and more for damages they have been charged for. Lack of jobs doesn’t give people much of an option.
But all is well, i wrote to the traffic commissioner while i still worked for the company to see if there is anything that can be done. It looks like following an investigation, that there are a large number of driver running bent. I am so pleased to say that EU driective 561/2006 article 10 clearly states that it is the transport company that is held liable for any driver infrindgment unless they can prove that they have taken all neccassery steps to stop such problems. Unfortuantly for them eu directive 561/2006 article 10 also states that the trsnsport compnay must download all data from driver card and VU to ensure full compliance. by ignoring the VU data, the company then become liable because they have failed to comply and monitor.
So it does look like the company will be prosecuted after all.
Just for the record, i had left a big long paper trail of run sheets with jobs missed due to insufficant driving time, but my exemployer wouldn’t sumit them to court and dispite trying to get a court order to have these documents shown, nothing was done. I didn’t think at the time of photo copying all my run sheets to show what jobs i left. I had plenty of tachos that where just in time, two week periods showing 89 minuets, which is only 1 minuete of the 90 hour max for any fortnight, but as i still had a minuet to spare this was classed as ok by the tribunal because i hadn’t gone over.
bikerwend:
Just for the record, i had left a big long paper trail of run sheets with jobs missed due to insufficant driving time, but my exemployer wouldn’t sumit them to court and dispite trying to get a court order to have these documents shown, nothing was done.
Your legal rep needs an arse kicking.
The record should/would have been easy to get under the “disclosure” rules as being within "any and all relevant documents
And if your employer had “lost” them the tribunal would have been entitled to draw a negative inference from the inability to provide such.
6500 / 4 = 1625km per week