Been working for a company for the last week and on a delivery in london, I clobbered the light cluster on my blind side whilst reversing into a gate on those poxy pillars about 2 feet high on the pathway,
I phoned the company, explained the damage, and a service van was sent. When he arrived, the fitter decided that it should go to the workshop so 2 hours later I was on the road ,fixed.
Now for the bombshell, the haulier I was driving for passed liability to the agency and now I,as the driver, have been told that because I damaged the vehicle I have to foot the bill,£800.00. which they will take in weekly instalments of £100.00
Surely, agencies are required to insure their workers from damage to vehicles??
God forbid if I ever turned one over!!..Any advice would be greatly recieved.
Tell them to ■■■■ off and go and seek legal advice. That is what insurance is for. Double check you haven’t signed anything that says you’ll pay for any damages and don’t sign anything else or let them take money out of your wages.
Unless you have signed something agreeing to pay for any damage then tell those concerned to get stuffed. Drivers will be expected to have there own insurance policies soon to cover things like this.
Must remember to ask any future agencies i sign on with who pays for damage, and get it in writing.
The words F and O spring to mind, unless you were on £200.00 and hour and signed a legal declaration accepting all uninsured liability then you pay nothing.
This is tant amount to extortion, if they pursue this then go see your local CAB.
They will be covered under their own liability insurance otherwise they will be trading unlawfully.
skoowif:
Now for the bombshell, the haulier I was driving for passed liability to the agency and now I,as the driver, have been told that because I damaged the vehicle I have to foot the bill,£800.00. which they will take in weekly instalments of £100.00
Unless you have signed a contract specifically agreeing to pay for the cost of any damage- which of course you should never do- simply write back to them stating that you do not agree to pay for the cost of the damage, that they will be in breach of the Employment Rights Act 1996 if they deduct any money from your wages other than for PAYE, NI or to satisfy a court attachment order, and that if they do make illegal deductions from your wages, that you will take them to the Small Claims Court to get it back.
My first instinct is to reply as above posters have done.
As far as I understand the rules , employers cannot deduct money from your wages without your permission ( tax and NI etc excluded). so, unless you signed some kind of waiver or agreement…
Do agencies come under “employers” in this kind of thing?
I would have thought so but have little idea about agencies.
One thing though (and I have no knowledge whatsoever ) does being “ltd co” etc have a bearing on these issues?
Under the Employment Rights Act 1996, deductions may only be made from wages if they are required by law (eg. tax and National Insurance) or they have been written into your contract of employment. Special rules apply to workers in retail employment (see below). If you think that your employer has not forwarded your income tax or National Insurance contributions to the relevant authorities, you should contact your local tax office as soon as you suspect this.
Where deductions are written into your contract of employment e.g. for misconduct etc, your employer must show you the terms of the contract relating to deductions before any deductions are made or give you separate written details of any deduction before it is made.
A deduction which is not required by law can only be made if you have given written agreement in advance. If an employer fails to pay any wages owing to a worker, this may be treated as a deduction.
have worked as a recruitment consultant and the company and the agency have no chance of claiming this off you either as a ltd driver or paye tell them to sod off put which agency it is on here so others can avoid like the plague. if you have no joy go to the rec for advice they are basically the rule makers for the industry.
del949:
My first instinct is to reply as above posters have done.
One thing though (and I have no knowledge whatsoever ) does being “ltd co” etc have a bearing on these issues?
An interesting thought - I would suspect that in the absence of a written agreement then the driver would still not be liable. I too thought that agencies insures against this. Maybe a Ltd Co driver should too.
one comapny i worked for (full time) tried to make the driver pay the first £500 for any damages done. One or two paid some refused to sign the new contract and told em to stick it
Ive noticed that clauses in the contracts for damage by agency drivers are becoming more common, and sneakily written in the small print of the Ts & Cs of contracts given to new drivers by agencies that the driver is liable for the 1st £■■■s of damage. So it pays to read the details of these contracts BEFORE you sign them, and if you dont like it, either cross the relivant section out, and tell them you disagree with it before you sign up, or refuse point blank & dont sign the contract. But whatever you do … Read before you sign!
war1974:
have worked as a recruitment consultant and the company and the agency have no chance of claiming this off you either as a ltd driver or paye tell them to sod off put which agency it is on here so others can avoid like the plague. if you have no joy go to the rec for advice they are basically the rule makers for the industry.
If a driver is to be liable for damage, then either the agency, haulier or both are under or not insured. If the firms ARE fully insured, and are attempting to recover additional monies from the driver, then this is also Fraud.
Wages Theft, Fraud, Breach of Contract, and demanding money with menaces are all examples of laws that may well have been, or are about to be broken here.
I would imagine for example, that the agency are now going to confiscate outstanding wages towards this so-called bill.
This would be an example of theft, if it is done without your consent in a signed by YOU contract - ie NOT a contract signed between agency and haulier!
Claiming money from the driver when a parallel insurance claim has already gone in would be insurance fraud.
Breach of contract applies if there is nothing in the contract that says the agency can do this to you directly. The contract between agency and haulier however is a different matter, and does not apply to the driver. Attempting to make third-party contracts apply to the driver is also attempted fraud & breach of contract combined!
Contact the county court and apply for winding up petitions against both companies (warning sent via your solicitor’s letter) if a full refund of stolen wages, your legal overheads, and severance pay (since you won’t be working there again regardless!) is not made within 14 days of receipt of the recorded delivery letter.
The poor publicity may well bring the firm down in any case, as who wants to do business with a firm with outstanding debts & a winding up petition before any criminal matters are even considered?
If the agency or haulier want drivers to take on their own liabilities, then they should be paying wages that reflect that.
I’m guessing here that this isn’t the case.
Strange how adverts still persistently say “6 points ok” when applying for the work in the first place eh?
i am sure we used to offer some sort of insurance for exactly this to companies but for the life of me cant recall what it was?
basically the rates went up slightly to cover around the first 500 of any claim (normally the excess for a clients insurance) or enough to cover any small dings and dents caused!
war1974:
i am sure we used to offer some sort of insurance for exactly this to companies but for the life of me cant recall what it was?
basically the rates went up slightly to cover around the first 500 of any claim (normally the excess for a clients insurance) or enough to cover any small dings and dents caused!
We used to call it “Driver negligence” and that was exactly how it worked; can’t remember who it was done through. When you signed up the client they ticked the box if they wanted it, it put a small percentage on the charge rate. Bit like protected no claims really; it only paid out if the driver was proven to be at fault too. This was in order to stop clients blaming agency drivers for damage caused by their own drivers; more common than you might think. Unless the damage was considerable, it was common practice to negotiate with the client in the event of a claim, sometimes you could get away with offering them a free driver for a day or two.
