Donated - can’t wait to hear of the demise of the company and the insurers in the near future. This is absolutely beyond belief - words cannot explain my disgust. RIP driver.
Evil8Beezle:
muckles:
When push comes to shove businesses have to make money or it goes under and their employees are out of work, but businesses, however large, are run by people, and really it depends on the ethics of the people running it on how they conduct themselves.
And also treating your staff properly is good business practice.
Richard Branson is quoted as saying “If you look after your staff, they’ll look after your customers. It’s that simple.”Sorry pal, but I know from bitter personal experience that that’s not true…
I’ve seen first hand one of the world biggest corporate companies cover up a corporate manslaughter case through lies, corruption, intimidation and harassment. You may not believe me, and I would just say to you that you’re lucky to still live in the false security of your naivety!I don’t mean that last bit to sound patronising mate, as I wish I was still naive…
Thanks for the edit.
I’m not totally naive when it comes to what companies are capable of to save their own skin, especially once the legal teams get involved, and I’ve never doubted that the companies I’ve worked for might to drop me in the ■■■■ to save themselves, which is why I try and cover my back when anything potentially controversial comes up, by getting things confirmed in writing or keeping emails.
but I’ve also seen companies deal with things like a family tragedy in a proper and ethical manner, even if it’s cost them money to sort it out. Which is where I was coming from when I said don’t judge all haulage companies by the standards of Matthews.
muckles:
Which is where I was coming from when I said don’t judge all haulage companies by the standards of Matthews.
I wasn’t, as I think you can probably expect good treatment from a lot of smaller firms. But when they turn into faceless companies with layers of management so that employee’s and top bosses have no interaction, it’s probably far more common place. It’s a lot easier when they don’t have to see or deal with the impact of their actions…
Condolences to the drivers family. Well done to all those who have donated.
I can remember doing some work for Matthews many years ago when they subbed some flat work to the company I was working for. I met the boss who was then a young man who had just made enough to buy a Jaguar XJ6. Very friendly and talked to you like a driver to a driver. I am very surprised he hasn’t done the right thing; if he is still in charge. Matthews later ran around with “Not the only Matthews in Norfolk” on the back doors of their fridges and through that got some work hauling turkeys for Bernard Matthews.
Matt hews response to this tragedy doesn’t sound like it came from a lorryman, more from a company risk assessment worker; someone with expenditure as their primary concern. I’ve seen drivers go to prison and be written-off by their companies but when a driver dies while away at work then the company should step forward and do all that is necessary for the family.
I’d like an unbiased, factual piece in the press. If a publication leads off in a partisan way it has no credibility. I for one put it down asking myself why they had an axe to grind. I don’t need a negative article, just factual reporting to make my mind up.
Secondly, the ITV piece reported that Trevor Matthews was the source of the quote regarding Paul not being insured while on break. I have read elsewhere that someone called Trevor Matthews was/is the boss of Matthews International. If the report is factual and the quote is from a director then nobody other than the Senior Management team should be seen as responsible for this situation. This should reflect only on them, it is an insight into how the company IE: The Directors view their staff and perhaps how they can reasonably expect to be treated by the company should an extraordinary situation arise which involves them.
It appears on the face of it to be a woeful case of callous disregard for even a basic level of decency. OK, Matthews aren’t legally obliged to repatriate Mr Stanyard, but morally, in my view they unquestionably are. I take the point that £5k was offered to the family, frankly it is not enough. The offer does not make Matthews appear as anything other than an organisation trying to get away with the minimum they think they can. Rather than bearing the full cost it appears that someone has made a callous calculation that five grand may be enough to make a family whose bread winner had no life insurance take the money and not say anything. They should remember that aren’t negotiating with a multi- national over a rate increase, they are dealing with a grieving family who plainly don’t have the funds to bring home the body of their loved one. An organisation like that would certainly deserve the spotlight to be turned on them if it were the case.
I personally hope they raise £20k plus and they manage to get Paul home at a backload rate.
If Matthews genuinely are too skint to be able to afford fifteen grand to either A. Buy an insurance policy that covers the cost of repatriating their staff in the event of the worst happening. B. Get that person home if A was a commercial “gamble” then they should C. Admit to not really caring if they get their employee back or not do long as they aren’t legally liable.
In the event of A they should be closely investigated by the Office of the Traffic Commisioner.
In the event of B they should seriously be scrutinised by their employees and customers.
If you change the situation to it happening at a Msa in the UK, the lorry would not move.
It would be a crime scene with police forensics all over the cab.
In Europe, the authorities do things differently, but it seems very fast to get the truck moving again after he passed away.
Without knowing the cause of death, ask yourself this , would you drive it ?
Drivers have been killed by carbon monoxide from faulty in cab fridges .
It may seem dramatic but what if the cause was a contagious disease ?
Itv reports no movement on the tracker, why would there be on a 45 hour break ?
There is a specialist firm that covers drivers in Europe for repatriation after an accident or death, the windscreen has a large orange sticker in it but I can’t remember their name.
They fly you home on a private charter plane with nurses and doctors if injured in a crash
Funny thing is what’s the betting this all came about because of a decision a employed middle manager made? Who thought he was doing the right thing and saving the company a few bob. I’ve a feeling the owmers/directors would probably have seen the bigger picture had they been involved straight away.
Just a thought I’ve no actual experience of Matthews
switchlogic:
Funny thing is what’s the betting this all came about because of a decision a employed middle manager made? Who thought he was doing the right thing and saving the company a few bob. I’ve a feeling the owmers/directors would probably have seen the bigger picture had they been involved straight away.Just a thought I’ve no actual experience of Matthews
It’s inconceivable something this major to a small family business would not have been discussed at family level. And even if it wasn’t the directors that made the decision to treat his poor wife this shamefully the company had ample opportunity to back track and do a u turn in period following the decision. My view is that they are simply a callous lot and thought they could save a few quid.
switchlogic:
Funny thing is what’s the betting this all came about because of a decision a employed middle manager made? Who thought he was doing the right thing and saving the company a few bob. I’ve a feeling the owmers/directors would probably have seen the bigger picture had they been involved straight away.Just a thought I’ve no actual experience of Matthews
ITV quote one of the directors (Trevor Matthews) as explaining the lack of insurance cover.
You’ve been a TM (I haven’t even worked in a transport office) so in your experience, who sorted out the firms UK insurances in your previous firm? The Directors or you?
If yourself, how much guidance/requirements was handed down to yourself regarding the policies?
Also having a death of an employee at work (a thankfully rare occurrence), I’d just find it odd that the top rung of the firm wouldn’t at least want 100% consultation in any actions. If only to stop this shambles occurring in their name.
Tris:
switchlogic:
Funny thing is what’s the betting this all came about because of a decision a employed middle manager made? Who thought he was doing the right thing and saving the company a few bob. I’ve a feeling the owmers/directors would probably have seen the bigger picture had they been involved straight away.Just a thought I’ve no actual experience of Matthews
It’s inconceivable something this major to a small family business would not have been discussed at family level. And even if it wasn’t the directors that made the decision to treat his poor wife this shamefully the company had ample opportunity to back track and do a u turn in period following the decision. My view is that they are simply a callous lot and thought they could save a few quid.
Its a big company rather than a small family business, wouldn’t have been all that major until the crap hit the fan
kjw21:
switchlogic:
Funny thing is what’s the betting this all came about because of a decision a employed middle manager made? Who thought he was doing the right thing and saving the company a few bob. I’ve a feeling the owmers/directors would probably have seen the bigger picture had they been involved straight away.Just a thought I’ve no actual experience of Matthews
ITV quote one of the directors (Trevor Matthews) as explaining the lack of insurance cover.
You’ve been a TM (I haven’t even worked in a transport office) so in your experience, who sorted out the firms UK insurances in your previous firm? The Directors or you?
If yourself, how much guidance/requirements was handed down to yourself regarding the policies?
Also having a death of an employee at work (a thankfully rare occurrence), I’d just find it odd that the top rung of the firm wouldn’t at least want 100% consultation in any actions. If only to stop this shambles occurring in their name.
Accounts normally.
Virginia were seemingly very different to Matthews. Insurance or not you could always rely on them being there to help you. But then I reckon Matthews is a lot bigger than Virginia. I wouldn’t work for a company that acted this way.
switchlogic:
Tris:
switchlogic:
Funny thing is what’s the betting this all came about because of a decision a employed middle manager made? Who thought he was doing the right thing and saving the company a few bob. I’ve a feeling the owmers/directors would probably have seen the bigger picture had they been involved straight away.Just a thought I’ve no actual experience of Matthews
It’s inconceivable something this major to a small family business would not have been discussed at family level. And even if it wasn’t the directors that made the decision to treat his poor wife this shamefully the company had ample opportunity to back track and do a u turn in period following the decision. My view is that they are simply a callous lot and thought they could save a few quid.
Its a big company rather than a small family business, wouldn’t have been all that major until the crap hit the fan
At which point they could have made a swift decision to do the right thing. They haven’t. They are the lowest of the low.
I would have thought that legally irrespective of alive or deceased the company had a duty of care to an employee whilst working.
Again irrespective of being on a break or not he was abroad on business he didnt go there for his own personal reasons and as such i would expect the company to be obliged to ensure correct insurance cover as a minimum legally?
Rip poor driver.
Bad decision by company
But as Harry said?
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?
This company is really not helping itself,why even bring up the cost to them of sending another driver out almost as if they are showing how much inconvenience Paul’s death has caused them,wouldn’t surprise me if they asked Paul’s family to pay the costs…
Having just read the extracts from the emails sent by the firm - they are screwed!
They couldn’t come across any worse if they had dumped him in a ditch.
They actually have the audacity to tell a recently bereaved woman how they feel hard done too having to pay to repatriate the truck!!!
I can’t actually believe this.
If you actually tried to ■■■■ your own business up I don’t think you could do a better job.
xichrisxi:
This company is really not helping itself,why even bring up the cost to them of sending another driver out almost as if they are showing how much inconvenience Paul’s death has caused them,wouldn’t surprise me if they asked Paul’s family to pay the costs…
They are just digging a deeper hole for themselves here, it is they who are going to be remembered for all the wrong reasons not the deceased driver or his family. The true colours of this company are being shown here, while they maybe a family firm there is more than enough money in the pot to cover this, they will now forever be remembered for their disgusting treatment of the deceased and his family.
Wonder what SmithGlaxoKline make of this? wonder if they are happy to have their name associated with this incident.
Poor buggers having to send a driver out to retrieve the truck and Paul’s belongings.
Few things disgust me to the core but the innaction of this company coupled with offering 5k gag money plus a lack of understanding of what Paul’s family are going through really are sickening.
What a joke that email is. They don’t want Pauls name being remembered for the wrong reasons. What a joke, it’s their name that’ll be remembered 
muckles:
Evil8Beezle:
bubsy06:
Evil8Beezle:
Humanity doesn’t exist in most business, and certainly not in big faceless business.Thank god it still does in the trucking community and long may it continue.
Agreed, but that’s a different point…
Comradery between peers/other drivers is completely different to a firm shafting you or hanging you out to dry if it suit them to protect themselves. They will lie, manipulate and mislead anyone if it’s for “the good of the business”.Don’t judge all haulage companies by the actions of one, I know of companies who’ve got drivers back for family emergencies or who’ve sent a car to get a driver back from hospital because they’ve fallen ill halfway across the Country and they’ve not always been the small family firms, but also PLC’s.
A friend of mine had a family tragedy while working on a home delivery job, he was told to forget the deliveries and come straight home and then he was told to take off as much time as he needed the job would be waiting for him when he was ready to return.
We had one of our drivers collapse at Lecister Forest East on Thursday night/Friday morning. He was supposed to run in at 6am Friday but he never arrived. Because he has a history of missing deadlines no one took any notice till about 8:30am when he still hadn’t arrived. The office got involved and found that his truck hadn’t moved from the services so they called his phone, no answer so they called the police who went looking for him. Turns out he was found by another driver and was taken to hospital. Our shunter had remarked that he didn’t look right since the beginning of the week. Fair play to the company though for getting involved and sorting it out.