They tried ringing his partner to tell her he was dead, someone should have gone in person that’s not something you want to hear on the phone.
hutpik:
I remember many years ago when working for a Dutch co one of our drivers had a bad accident in Italy and was taken in a critical state to Hospital.About 1 hour after being informed by the Italian police my boss was in his car on the way to Italy saying ‘‘You’ll see me when you see me,got to see the old boy is ok’’.
I assume there are still companies like that but what i read about this incident saddens me.
When I had my accident after my first operation my boss was the first person to see me in hospital. No mucking about, went to the lorry crash scene to sort that side of things out and the following morning at the first visiting time he was there.
It’s why I have ALOT of time for my boss/company so won’t be leaving anytime soon.
neil46:
peirre:
Is there any updated info on the progress of repatriating Paul?This is an update from Pamela regarding Paul.
edited quote
When I read the families response in your post I confess I found a lump in my throat & a tear in my eye.
Honked:
Hey look, we’re in a hole. Anyone got a spade?Foolish and without morals, only they keep digging.
I doubt there isn’t a ladder long enough for them to get out of that hole
I’m not picking sides, but something isn’t adding up.
Before people jump on the soap box’s I know how the family feel. I lost my father in 2009. And there’s a couple of topics on here about it.
Cost 4k from benidorm Spain.
From 10k to fly an injured person back.
And they need 10k to get Paul back from Ancona.
A petition is now available to sign on the government website to make it a legal requirement for Hauliers to have insurance to repatriate an employee, if people would like to sign it!
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/164263
It SHOULD be part of any hauliers insurance policy that any driver, anywhere, and for any reason, be repatriated under any circumstances. Please make it law that insurance companies do not have optional repatriation insurance, but is standard practice.
Recently, a heavy goods driver, Paul Stephen Stanyard, passed away in Italy of natural causes. Due to the driver being on rest/break, as required by law, the insurance company of the haulier Matthews International, refused to repatriate the driver, and Matthews International would not pay for repatriation. One can only imagine the grief that the family must be facing given the news by text message of their loved one so far away, without the additional worry of the cost of bringing him home.
philgor:
I’m not picking sides, but something isn’t adding up.Before people jump on the soap box’s I know how the family feel. I lost my father in 2009. And there’s a couple of topics on here about it.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/grieving-family-cant-bring-dead-4438874
Cost 4k from benidorm Spain.
Private European Air Ambulance Service from Italy to UK | IAS Medical
From 10k to fly an injured person back.
And they need 10k to get Paul back from Ancona.
As I understand it a friend of the family set up the page to cover the cost of Paul’s repatriation and funeral costs.
Just back of holiday, cant believe what Im reading .R.I.P. pal.
Itll be interesting to see if Matthews bother to send anyone to attended Pauls funeral .
p.s. Matthews directors don`t forget to keep VAT receipt for wreath.
Rikki-UK:
Matthews International Transport:
The company was devastated to hear of the death of our employee Paul Stanyard.The circumstances are Paul was driving to Greece via Italy, a run he had done many times. He was having his weekly break in Ancona Italy. On Sunday 31st July, we sent him emails with details of his ferry, and when he did not respond, we tried to phone him twice on the Sunday but unfortunately did not get a response.
On the Monday morning we tried again to contact him; there was no response.
We also tried on several occasions to contact his partner Pam, but we didn’t get a response.
We then contacted the Italian police to check on him, this was Monday afternoon, the Italian police reported back to us that they went to the parking place, had to break into the truck and
unfortunately found our employee Paul deceased.We again phoned his partner Pam several times to inform her, but no answer.
The next morning Pam returned our calls and told us she had been informed overnight by the British Consulate, not via a text message as our ex driver Malcolm Harper claimed.
We subsequently received an email from Pam setting out funeral arrangements, apparently Pam had been advised by the British Consulate (who didn’t speak with us) that the company would sort it out.
On Wednesday we made contact with Paul’s son Carl, who was in Mexico at the time, we Confirmed that the company did not provide life insurance for our employees other than accident injury, and Carl confirmed that Paul also had no life insurance cover.
We have offered to fly the family out to Italy. We have also offered £5000 to assist in repatriation.
We understand that the average cost of repatriation is £3,800 and we have not been supplied with any invoices or documentation setting out the cost of repatriating Paul.
We have asked that the family make contact with our Managing Director and provided them with his direct office line. We have not received a reply.
We are a family run business for 45 years and do not walk away from our responsibilities. We understand Paul has passed through natural causes. We have received threats and intimidation from members of the public which we consider unwarranted and tantamount to blackmail.
Doesn’t quite go with there email to Pamela though does it…
"Good morning Pamela,
I’ve removed the alleged email pending verification. dd.
Any chance of a link as to where that comes from mate?
I’m going to take a guess at this being the email the firm sent to Pam on Tuesday and why they were then speaking to the son on Wednesday… Not surprising really, as I’m sure Pam was in bits after reading that, they have basically just washed their hands of the matter! 
I can’t see that any carefully crafted solicitors letter is going to dig them out of that! 
Right now, everything hinges on the email now. If it came from xyz@matthewstransport.com then they have today committed corporate suicide.
Only one side is telling the truth, and Matthews have offered no proof to back up the statement. The family has proof, which needs corroboration to settle it once and for all.
I’m reserving any further judgement until the email address is published.
These people make my blood boil…“we will get Paul’s belongings to our nearest depot for you to collect”,
SERIOUSLY!!!CAN THEY NOT EVEN HAVE THE DECENCY TO TAKE THEM TO HER!!!
Or arrange a courier to deliver them,they really don’t want to be a penny out of pocket do they!
Sorry about caps.
WOW…
If that email is genuine, then they deserve to lose everything they have. I feel they have committed corporate suicide with that heartless endeavour.
like everyone else I have donated £10,absolutely disgusting the way his family have been treated,does not matter if he was on rest as Mathews stated,they had if anything a moral duty to get him home,hope they do get a load of crap come their way
Rikki-UK:
Matthews International Transport:
We subsequently received an email from Pam setting out funeral arrangements, apparently Pam had been advised by the British Consulate (who didn’t speak with us) that the company would sort it out.
This is the only paragraph in Matthews response that matters.
You wanna know why the Consulate said that■■? It’s because THAT’S WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE DONE! No ifs, no buts, no corporate jibber jabber… I guarantee you the Consulate has far more experience in dealing with deaths abroad than you do Matthews International… 
The facts of the matter are as follows:
-
Matthews International Transport had a driver die while under their duty of care.
-
Matthews International Transport then reneged on that duty of care, and failed to show one ounce of common empathy for Paul’s family.
This is not trolling, this is not blackmail, they are the facts, and they are unquestionable.
Everything else in Matthews statement is just window dressing, an attempt to polish the wettest diahorrea of turds. I could sit here and pick it apart paragraph by paragraph, but I won’t. Instead I’ll leave you with a couple of thoughts…
The Paul’s family should not have to collect his belongings from the nearest depot. Your MD’s direct line shouldn’t be made available. He should have been on the blower straight away, making positive contact rather than passive platitudes.
Now then chaps, Evil8Beezle and OVLOV JAY are spot-on.
The alleged email has been removed pending verification.
Speculation is to be avoided PLEASE.
This story brings back memories for me. My Dad was delivering to a building site and while waiting to unload had a massive heart attack. His employers could not have been more helpful, nothing was too much trouble for them. It wasn’t on the same scale, he was only 50 or so miles from home but the company had insurance, The insurance company paid out. How can a company like Matthews act like they have I will never know, Paul deserved to be treated with respect, Paul’s family deserve to be treated with more compassion and not offered money to keep quiet. RIP Paul
F-reds:
Paul’s family should not have to collect his belongings from the nearest depot.
That struck me when I read the email too. Matthews really do seem to be coming across, with everything they do to try to mitigate the situation, to be digging a deeper and deeper hole. Their attitude seems to be “he’s dead, there’'s no profit to be made from him any more, get his stuff off of our premises or we’ll throw it in a skip”.
Harry Monk:
F-reds:
Paul’s family should not have to collect his belongings from the nearest depot.That struck me when I read the email too. Matthews really do seem to be coming across, with everything they do to try to mitigate the situation, to be digging a deeper and deeper hole. Their attitude seems to be “he’s dead, there’'s no profit to be made from him any more, get his stuff off of our premises or we’ll throw it in a skip”.
I’d agree wholeheartedly, if it’s true, but first we need verification of the origin of the email and there’s the very reason for me removing it.
dieseldave:
Now then chaps, Evil8Beezle and OVLOV JAY are spot-on.The alleged email has been removed pending verification.
Speculation is to be avoided PLEASE.
Doesn’t the last bit of the email you have removed match up word for word with the first paragraph on the “extracts from email” picture appearing on page 6?
I’m only going from memory here, as I only read the bit you removed once…
dieseldave:
Harry Monk:
F-reds:
Paul’s family should not have to collect his belongings from the nearest depot.That struck me when I read the email too. Matthews really do seem to be coming across, with everything they do to try to mitigate the situation, to be digging a deeper and deeper hole. Their attitude seems to be “he’s dead, there’'s no profit to be made from him any more, get his stuff off of our premises or we’ll throw it in a skip”.
I’d agree wholeheartedly, if it’s true, but first we need verification of the origin of the email and there’s the very reason for me removing it.
It’s on page 4 of the updates on the go fund me page, placed there by the family, by the looks of it.