Hello fellow truckies,
Last week I got stuck on a restricted road because my truck satnav lost connection so I used google maps. Road was restricted 7.5t and recovery took 10 min to pull me out. No damages to the truck.
Now the client wants to charge my agency and agency wants to charge me £300, is that normal? I argued that it happens every day, that it’s part of the job etc… but they wouldn’t hear it. I don’t think it’s fair I should be charged for that.
Your opinions please…
This may sound harsh, but I think you should be charged because in the future it may focus your mind. No sat nav or google maps “sends” anyone anywhere, you made the decision so you should accept the consequences I’m afraid.
I’m honestly not criticising you here, we’ve all dropped clangers in the past, mostly we’re lucky and get away with it. This time you weren’t. Ask yourself why someone else should pay for your mistakes?
Are you a proper employee?
Of the agency?
Not a Ltd company or some such?
As an employee, your actions whilst at work are the responsibility of your employer.
The transport company may well have recourse to the agency they have a contract with.
Depending upon your contract of employment, I doubt that the agency your employer can sue you for consequential losses.
Damages etc to vehicles is part of a business risk. Whether or not those are caused by negligence or pure accident seem irrelevant to me.
Repairing damage to a vehicle (or recovering it) are expenses that should be part of a business model.
They might be able to dismiss for negligence etc, but I doubt they can take money from your pay unless you have very nasty (and they do exist) contract.
If that were the case, every transport company would get 3rd party insurance only, and sue the driver for every accident.
Employers have to accept that they carry risk of idiot employees. If they pay better wages, and train more experienced drivers better they get fewer (but not zero) incidents. If they pay less wages and send out inexperienced drivers they get more incidents.
It’s real world business decisions in action.
Someone has to pay.
If the truck had a fitted satnav, and this fitted satnav is the device you are supposed to use, and it failed, I’d say, the client is liable for their equipment failure.
The reason I say this is because some companies do not allow drivers to use their own satnav. So their equipment failure can put you in a compromising position.
However, you chose to continue your journey using Gmaps. The truck satnav didn’t bring you down a weight restricted road, you achieved that on your own.
Ideally you should have a truckers atlas in your bag, and you should know where you are going beforehand, eg, plan your route before setting off.
I think it’s fair that you are charged. You are a professional driver. You made an amateur mistake.
What’s your contract with the agency on costs, damage etc. if it’s not in the contract they can’t force you to pay, likewise, if it is, then you need to start saving.
That recovery if costs can be one of the negatives of agency work. Often, they include a contribution rather than all the costs - check your contract
Underlying, restricted roads have signs, unless they had all been stolen /not installed. Your lucky it was just a recovery
I’ve got to be honest and say that you never got stuck because your sat-nav lost connection, you got stuck because you relied on Google Maps to do the driving for you instead of using it as a tool to help you with your job.
Sat-navs are great, I’ve always been an advocate of using technology to aid you in your job but you should not be relying on them, a digital map cannot see road signs that’s part of your job as a professional driver.
Mate, having the attitude that it’s OK to miss road signs and get stuck on restricted roads because it’s part of the job and happens everyday will only lead to your demise as a professional HGV driver.
You are a professional driver. You made an amateur mistake
This sums it up perfectly, learn from it and move on
As for whether or not you should have to pay for the recovery, it depends on the contract you have with the agency, as has been said above they cannot take money out of your wages unless you’ve agreed to it.
i have always had an issue with companies charging agencys for damage etc. 9 times out of 10 the unit/trailer was already marked or damaged then the whole lot gets put on the agency. if they were that bothered they should of repaired it properly in the first place.
However in this case had you been an employee of the client you would more than likely been sacked or at the very least disciplinary action taken against you. Count yourself lucky the police were not called because it would of been a lot worse for you all for a momentary loss of concentration. Learn from it get a proper sat nav designed for the job if you need to.
my advice is to own your mistake and count your stars its only 300 quid and you have a job / license still
I know quite a few companies your responsible for first £200/£300 worth of damage .to the truck.
Which ok is fair enough in a way.
But your case you didn’t cause any damage so not sure.
If you wasn’t made aware of being responsible for first so much worth of damage then just refuse to pay it as you wasn’t made aware
Unless there is something in the contract, I don’t think any such demand for payment can be made.
If you reversed a tipper over a brand new BMW, would you be paying for that?
I certainly dont agree with employed drivers paying for stuff themselves
On other hand I also dont agree with… ‘‘drivers’’ blaming a sat nav for their own lack of ability and casual carelessness.
I agree with Maoster about the sat nav ‘‘sending’’, it does not, it guides, it advises.
Maybe the fact that you nonchalantly said… ‘It happens every day’', and… ‘‘It’s only part of the job’’ was the part that pi55ed him off enough to charge you for the damage…as it sure as hell would make me do the same if I was him.
Btw…It certainly AINT ‘‘just part of the job’’ , if it is you are in the WRONG job.
As Maoster says we have ALL ■■■■ ed up from time to time, including me, but attitude goes a long way in deciding how they deal with it,.and yours stinks.
Sorry that I aint as tactful as Maoster btw.
You DID ask for opinions.
Were you bogged down in a roadside gully ? 300 notes you got off lightly iv heard of towing out costing thousands .if the firm are in the habit of sending you to out of the way places id be looking for a new job because itll happen again and again
meaning that is towards new inexperience drivers? If so,every HGV driver was inexperienced. I do wonder how the pre-satnav era drivers managed to navigate without advanced warning
I was thinking that,otherwise he could have unstuck himself. I had a similar experience when doing a Morrisons daily drop,Road Lords took me down Rose Grove Lane HX6 2RJ
The only thing that takes anyone anywhere is the steering wheel. GOAL is your friend here if in the slightest bit of doubt.
seems better than satnav,I seemed to have gone past the same industrial estate twice when doing 10 drops + 3 collections. Unless TomTom truck satnav on my phone is rank
GOAL is what I prefer but in some cases,quarter of a mile walk is needed,and by then you have several cars behind and nowhere to turn
Wonder no more,.I will tell you…same as Mr Tacho.
Not rocket science,.and nothing clever.
A general road atlas to get in the vicinity.
Then a AtoZ street map for the town and city you were in, … and at the same time stopping and asking locals.
My favourite places to ask were garages/filling stations, if the attendant did not know, one of the customers did,.and would maybe even have you following them to where you were going…job done.
Not easy findung… say a back street in Berlin without doinng all that
Just normal old fashioned initiative and common sense, qualities lacking in many so called ‘drivers’ today resulting in the situation our o/p mate got himself into,.who blamed his sat nav.
In those days you thought for yourself in contrast to today when many need to be told when and where to wipe their arses.
Is this really YOU talking mate? 
A GOAL to me is something Alan Shearer scored many of…
Wtf are you on about?
