Pierre, you just know that image is going to be printed out and stuck by people driving for proper company’s onto the back doors of Mathews trailers at every opportunity, good, the more who know this the better.
The callous way the company have behaved here is disgraceful, they should hang their heads in shame.
OK so some office boy cocked the insurance up, so what, kick him up the arse at your leisure…BUT the driver was good enough to send out in one of your lorries, now fetch the poor sods body back so his family can grieve and give him a decent funeral.
Bloody shower you are Mathews.
I won’t give details but the way my company looked after the widow/family when one of our people died…on the way to work i might add…direct orders from the top honcho, is in another league altogether, a true family firm looks after its families.
Just donated, very easy even for an IT thick like me, was absolutely incensed reading this and hope the company are all lined up in Malcolm Harrison’s auction yard next week. One thing for sure is it wont be forgotten in a hurry! RIP driver
I am a qualified embalmer and have done repatriations in the past.
Now I am also a Lawyer and can tell you all:
The “foreign” funeral director will require costs for removal and storage by themselves (basically naming their price)
The British funeral director will require coverage of shipping in a sealed lead lined coffin, plus delivery to said funeral home. Then there is the funeral - an NAFD basic funeral (please research) should come to no more than £700.
This has not lead to £15000 in my book. In my honest estimate, this whole case should not have cost any more than £6000 - but then you must take in to account peoples greed - which is exactly why I left the industry. I have pictures and video and audio recordings of myself and a colleague being “told” to dress an 85 year old woman on a damp cold stone floor of a well known funeral directors in Sutton Coldfield. I think the press will have fun with my information.
I will donate a sum of money for Mr. Stanyard and wish his family the best with my respect.
As he was away from home on company business he must be covered by employers liability. So he must be covered some how. If he isn’t then the company is guilty of neglegence as its probably there fault if was health related the usual long hrs poor diet lack of excersie the may have contributed to this.
I probably didnt make my thoughts very clear. (mainly because they are jumbled up before being written)(and after). Id have thought that insurance is found by one of the 4 Matthews directors. So responsibility for it, and penny pinching associated with it, is also the responsibility of the Matthews family. Maybe a bit of buck passing? “Its not our fault” “its the insurers” “the computer says no” etc etc.
Just read this story and donated a tenner. Can’t believe just how disgusting a company can act. Getting their truck back but not bothering to get the now deceased driver home?
Wish their family all the best.
This whole sorry episode just beggars belief, are there any currently serving Matthews drivers on here? I certainly hope their customers become aware of this and give them the same treatment, dump them!
tomk86:
I am a qualified embalmer and have done repatriations in the past.
Now I am also a Lawyer and can tell you all:
The “foreign” funeral director will require costs for removal and storage by themselves (basically naming their price)
The British funeral director will require coverage of shipping in a sealed lead lined coffin, plus delivery to said funeral home. Then there is the funeral - an NAFD basic funeral (please research) should come to no more than £700.
This has not lead to £15000 in my book. In my honest estimate, this whole case should not have cost any more than £6000 - but then you must take in to account peoples greed - which is exactly why I left the industry. I have pictures and video and audio recordings of myself and a colleague being “told” to dress an 85 year old woman on a damp cold stone floor of a well known funeral directors in Sutton Coldfield. I think the press will have fun with my information.
I will donate a sum of money for Mr. Stanyard and wish his family the best with my respect.
They probably no longer use heavy Lead linings any more so the costs of shipping the coffin should be less today than it used to be CadSeal Repatriation Foil - Flexmort
The whole story is absolutely outrageous. When I was running my truck, I would have gone bust with the expense of bringing the driver back, but I would have done it anyway. I wouldn’t even need to think about it.
Perhaps that’s why I’m poor and the Matthews family are wealthy, but I’d sooner be skint and hold my head up high than spend the rest of my life with the reputation this family are getting.
Harry Monk:
While I agree that the behaviour of the company of the company falls far below what should be expected of them, how the hell can it cost £15,000 to recover a body from Italy to the UK?
My brother died in the Phillippines a dew years ago and it didn’t cost anything like that to bring him home.
Just a note chaps, I know emotions are running high, and on some facebook groups/pages some are offering threats to the staff and company, Please do not post such threats on here or they will be removed.
For what its worth I personally think the company has acted shamefully on the facts presented and have made a contribution to bring this driver home
Rikki-UK:
Just a note chaps, I know emotions are running high, and on some facebook groups/pages some are offering threats to the staff and company, Please do not post such threats on here or they will be removed.
For what its worth I personally think the company has acted shamefully on the facts presented and have made a contribution to bring this driver home
Yes, online threats are wrong, end of.
There would be nothing wrong in persuading the mainstream media to publish the story with the aim of causing Matthews Transport as much commercial damage as possible… I trust you will arrange for CM to cover this sorry tale?
Harry Monk:
Rikki-UK:
Just a note chaps, I know emotions are running high, and on some facebook groups/pages some are offering threats to the staff and company, Please do not post such threats on here or they will be removed.
For what its worth I personally think the company has acted shamefully on the facts presented and have made a contribution to bring this driver home
Yes, online threats are wrong, end of.
There would be nothing wrong in persuading the mainstream media to publish the story with the aim of causing Matthews Transport as much commercial damage as possible… I trust you will arrange for CM to cover this sorry tale?
ITV already covering it
itv.com/news/calendar/2016-0 … -in-italy/
itv.com/news/calendar/2016-0 … -10k-goal/
Number 3 in ITVs top stories as well.
The owners of Mathews transport have to live with this for the rest of their lives wheather it will make a difference to them only time will tell, I could not live with myself if I was this guys boss as 15K is a drop in the ocean to them.
I believe that we should treat others as we would like to be treated.
bubsy06:
ITV already covering it
itv.com/news/calendar/2016-0 … -in-italy/
itv.com/news/calendar/2016-0 … -10k-goal/
Number 3 in ITVs top stories as well.
Thanks for the link, it’s good to know that it is being covered, although Matthews weren’t actually named in the item and I feel it is important that they should be named publicly. Hopefully other outlets will pick the story up and cover it in greater depth, asking the company for comment for example.
Matthews International Transport needs to be damaged by this sorry affair. They need to be taught a lesson. Let’s go for it!
Just donated. Absolutely disgusted with Matthews. As some of you may be aware, one of our drivers had an accident earlier this year. Neil Kidby flew Lee’s wife over to Belgium to be with him when they turned life support off, organised repatriation, and put into the whip round that was organised for us all to help the family. I was honoured to help with the lorry that the family requested to be part of the funeral cortege. Now THAT is how to treat an employee, and the grieving family.
Rikki-UK:
Just a note chaps, I know emotions are running high, and on some facebook groups/pages some are offering threats to the staff and company, Please do not post such threats on here or they will be removed.
For what its worth I personally think the company has acted shamefully on the facts presented and have made a contribution to bring this driver home
Absolutely, despite the abject lack of professionalism shown by the company.
I am just exasperated that this situation could arise. It is way beyond disappointment, it is literally unbelievable. It should be a legal requirement that staff (in any industry) are insured for illness including repatriation in the event of death while working overseas. The employer should arrange it and charge it on to their staff if they feel the need, pay it themselves if they want to offer it as a (non taxable) benefit.
This is something that needs to be discused urgently. Especially following Brexit, will the EHIC be a thing of the past for Britons?
If this company have Union that this is company and Union fault.Company must provide free or in low price body transportation but Union must not just seat and listen lazy drivers and support them but as well monitoring insurance police and all working process.Including situation what will do if drivers died abroad or will very sick .But i think not to many company in UK have plan -what will do if drivers died .And not to many Union make protest pressure to company.Personaly for me i ready buy personal accident insurance and want buy income support.If get properly insurance that this can help fo me self.All insurance not very expencive.Must invest money in self ,in future,not just in food or bear .Accident incurance cost about 7 quid per month .It is less for 20 cigarette coast.
itl either be option A…head down till it blows over,or,B…by mon or tues itl be …a spokesman will give it the…there was a interdepartmental hiccup,the junior cabage has been duly chastised,garrotted,or hung by the neck till he cheered up…we are aghast that this could have happened,and we are doing everything in our power…wafflewafflewaffle,lessons have been learned etc.
apart from comments in here and f/b etc,then I don’t thnk itl cost them a penny in lost revenue.
its disgracefull and penny pinching behaviourfor a major player type company.if it was a 1 man band,or small family job,then personally id be over with the fam trying to lift it back for them even In the back of the fridge with someone to accompany them.for a major player,then it should be something like the t/m out with the fam to organise and pay for the lot…then take the insurance co to the ombudsman.the initial instigator is the cretin from the insurance office that saw the loophole and instigated it…my mate couped his trailer coming onto a roundabout a while ago,the insurance never paid out as the trailer was only damaged when it came apart from the 5th wheel then fell over…had he couped the lot and wrecked the unit as well,then they would have had to pay out,but as it separated before going fully over,then they refused…ive told my misses to disown me as soon as I peg it,and let the council either bury me or cremate me,either way itl be a surprise for me…the entire rigmarole is a ripoff just playing on peoples greif and emotions,hence il let the government do what they want with me once im done.