Companies charging drivers for stuff

In the handbook for a company I’ve just started with and am leaving after one week, it says if a driver fails to hand in a POD then £80 will be deducted from wages to cover the fines to the company for recovering another copy.

Also getting charged for stuff like a snapped suzie, or minor damage to the truck.

Do management not know if something called human error?

I know it’s your job to do stuff correctly, but getting wages deducted for the odd mistake. Am I out of touch or does this only happen in transport and with drivers? In any other job I’ve ever done I’ve never had wages deducted for a mistake.

In my previous job as a driver I actually did lose a POD. Why? Because I’d just been given it all signed etc, put it on my bunk, had my window open to reverse and a massive gust of wind came in and blew it away. Should I be charged for that? That company wouldn’t and didn’t, but it sounds like some companies would do!

You’re doing the right thing by walking away, what did you say their name was again ? :wink:

Sign here please…

I always ask to take the contract of employment home with me so I can read it through, strike anything I don’t agree with and then hand it back.

Some firms won’t do it, l just walk away. Most firms do but kick off at me for striking clauses out.

One firm never looked at the contract I handed back with several (disagreeable to me) points struck out.

Glad you walked, more people should do the same.

If you snap your lines then I understand getting either charged or having a disciplinary for that because the only way you can do it is by not following procedure. My last company would give you one chance with something like that and then start charging you after your chance for minor damage. Which to be fair I understand. But a POD. Ha! I’m walking…

You put the pod on the bunk :exclamation: , why don’t you get a folder and file it away as I do then you’ll not loose it and won’t get a fine , as for snapping your Suzis I never have , before I pull out I stand at side of Lorry / trailer and look , legs down , Suzis disconnected , pin pulled , all the above takes seconds , file pod , legs, Suzis , pin ,
You need to take a step back rowley , take your time , don’t stress , and make the job easy for yourself

Last few companies I have worked for have had this in the contracts. But they only take the money from a driver’s bonus payments and not regular wages. I think it is called paying for your mistakes.

dozy:
You put the pod on the bunk :exclamation: , why don’t you get a folder and file it away as I do then you’ll not loose it and won’t get a fine , as for snapping your Suzis I never have , before I pull out I stand at side of Lorry / trailer and look , legs down , Suzis disconnected , pin pulled , all the above takes seconds , file pod , legs, Suzis , pin ,
You need to take a step back rowley , take your time , don’t stress , and make the job easy for yourself

I’m not saying I’ve done those things dozy. I’m saying I know that the company give you one chance and then start charging you, which I understand. I know what your saying but also humans make mistakes. And in no other job that I’ve ever had do the company charge staff for mistakes. Is it just in transport?

As for the pod yes I do have a folder. I put in the bunk for a second to reverse out of the way then take all the time needed to file away, make phone calls, adjust sat nav etc etc.

I’m just saying there was no come back from that. With the company I’ve started with and left this week it sounds like I’d have had £80 taken from my wages if that had happened with them!

You’re doing the right thing by walking away, what did you say their name was again? :slight_smile:

Name and shame or it didn’t happen, why are you allowing others to walk into the same BS, stick up for us, the other drivers not the company with the nigh on criminal policies ffs!

you’ve only got to look at some of the donkeys driving lorries to see why this has been brought in at this particular firm, they’ve probably had their fair share of wreck it ralph drivers and got fed up of the cost.

Drivers should be held accountable for certain damages, willful or neglect. Wear and tear damage on Suzies should be the responsibility of the company. If your constantly having to replace them then that is a different matter.

dozy:
You put the pod on the bunk :exclamation: , why don’t you get a folder and file it away as I do then you’ll not loose it and won’t get a fine , as for snapping your Suzis I never have , before I pull out I stand at side of Lorry / trailer and look , legs down , Suzis disconnected , pin pulled , all the above takes seconds , file pod , legs, Suzis , pin ,
You need to take a step back rowley , take your time , don’t stress , and make the job easy for yourself

Lol. Good one Dozy.

Last firm I was at that got bought out had this policy put in place for new drivers starting after the take over and included all the drivers at the parent company, they did try to change original drivers contract to include the charging, but it didn’t happen, they didn’t seem to have to much trouble recruiting drivers with this in place, just had problems keeping them for other reasons, a few had got charged for damage and willingly paid for it, one driver left then came back for more.

The-Snowman:

dozy:
You put the pod on the bunk :exclamation: , why don’t you get a folder and file it away as I do then you’ll not loose it and won’t get a fine , as for snapping your Suzis I never have , before I pull out I stand at side of Lorry / trailer and look , legs down , Suzis disconnected , pin pulled , all the above takes seconds , file pod , legs, Suzis , pin ,
You need to take a step back rowley , take your time , don’t stress , and make the job easy for yourself

Lol. Good one Dozy.

+1 :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

dozy:
…before I pull out I stand at side of Lorry / trailer and look , legs down , Suzis disconnected , pin pulled , all the above takes seconds , file pod , legs, Suzis , pin ,
You need to take a step back rowley , take your time , don’t stress , and make the job easy for yourself

Oh my god, that is without doubt the funniest thing I have read all day… and I’ve sat through the 15 hour shift thread.

I too would walk, but before I did I would ask if these “fines” were reciprocal? I’d ask that if an office muppet sent two vehicles to the same place for one collection would they then cover the cost of this wasted journey out of their own pocket? I think what we all know the answer to that question.

Dont think it legal to dock it from your wages, it would be classed as theft.
A bonus is different though as its an extra the company arnt obliged to pay it if you havent met the conditions to pay it.
I too once.worked for a place who paid a total of £50 pw in bonuses. £40 was attendance and £10 was a accident bonus. If you damaged the truck, you lost that tenner every week untill the damage was paid for. Of course you didnt have any proof of how much it cost to put something right. Just the word of the MD.
It was also a brilliant way of keeping the hourly rate down. We earned £385 pw which was made up of min 10hrs @£6.70 phr a day plus(hopefully) the £50 in bonuses. That way if you went into OT it was based on £6.70 phr.
Thats why Im not a fan of so called bonuses. It a good way of short changing the workforce.

far as i’m aware they are not allowed to take money from your wages unless you agree.

air lines can and do fracture whilst going in a straight line or even when sat still with full air pressure, so not the drivers fault, also some of the early curtain tensioners grabbed the lines for a past time during tight manoeuvres mostly in supermarket yards deigned for day cabs, (this is tight, just follow the white line drive, look what you’ve done to my trollies, you said follow the white line lol). apart from cash handling I have not heard of employees being expected to stump up monies and I would always walk, we all make mistakes some big some small, when I ran my own trucks it was taken as a given that these expenses were part of life not to be a burden on an employee.

truckman020:
far as i’m aware they are not allowed to take money from your wages unless you agree.

Not so. I once lost a pager, and the cost was deducted from my basic pay.
Went to a solicitor, as like you, I thought they were out of order, as wages are sacrosanct.They are not; the company was within its right to deduct.
I didn’t work for them after that!