rob22888:
Never understood the logic of companies expecting drivers to pay for accidental damage, be it through paying an insurance excess or whatever. The lorry is a tool for doing the job. In what other profession are you expected to cough up and pay for accidentally damaging equipment? Just have a system for sacking drivers that do it too often.
Because a lot of drivers don’t give a flying s*** about other peoples property and have no respect for the tools they are using so they have to have something in place.
We have the 250 excess thing. Its only for bigger damage not stupid minor stuff.
spot on
ive have put into my drivers contracts, not for littles things as this is expected over time, they get a £250 xmas bonus and for every bump they lose £50,
put it this way one of my van drivers went through a red light hit a car and wrote off my 1yr old ■■■■■■ van this van cost me £16k + vat my insurance paid out £7995 inc vat the van had 108,000m on the clock but was mint, but he paid the £250 and i lost best part of £10k
lucky everyone was ok
pespect the tools given to you and theres no problem, if its a none fault they they pay nothing
tomany drivers just dont give a crap as its not theres so why should i bother if i hit something
del949:
TBH I remember when driving a truck was a mans’ job, maybe not the trucks and conditions of today but…
This kind of contract would simply never have seen the light of day.
Lorry drivers in the day would have said “FU2” or words to that effect.
the problem is us older drivers can drivers can drive, al lthe problems i have had is with younger drivers
If our drivers had to pay for damage to the vehicles that they caused, 2 or 3 would be out of a job by now…1 of them has at least 1 trailer wing/sprayflap off every week and another has had the n/s off a cab (complete mirror, corner deflector & bumper and step) off twice in 12 months…reversing into our yard!
chris54:
Hi,
Ive been a long time in the haulage game and ive never ever heard of anything like this,give em a wide berth,
Chris
Talking to a guy on that we’ll known tipper firm KSD a few months back.
He said he had to pay for his own damages.
Which must have meant he was always skint as I’ve never seen a clean and tidy KSD wagon yet.
dreamlands2001:
I got stung with an £100 stoppage, yes I did wrong and could have been dismissed so let them take the £100 what I carnt get round is this ‘arrangement’ was brought into the contract that nobody signed to say you agree with them stopping the money from your wages, so did they have a right to stop my £100?
No. It is against employment law to change the contract of employment without the agreement of the worker. The only way it can be done without the agreement of the worker is to make the worker redundant and to resign them under a new contract.
Not true. The employer could impose changes unilaterally. If the workers disagree with the changes then they may refuse to work under them, work under them but clearly state that they disagree and are continuing to work only under protest, resign and claim unfair dismissal or take the case to an industrial tribunal. If the workers continue under the new regime without saying anything about it, this may be construed as accepting the new contract terms.
m1cks:
They cant deduct accident damage from wages unless there is a signed agreement between the company and employee. This will probably be written into the general employment contract.
I got stung with an £100 stoppage, yes I did wrong and could have been dismissed so let them take the £100 what I carnt get round is this ‘arrangement’ was brought into the contract that nobody signed to say you agree with them stopping the money from your wages, so did they have a right to stop my £100?
legally they cannot make stoppages unless you’ve agreed to them so no they were not allowed to do this.
This is true I think , couple of years ago got a nice picture of the vehicle I was in charge of sent to me in the post from the company I worked for. This was a picture from a private parking company showing the vehicle illegally parked and therefore incurring a fine. The company I worked for were asking my permission to deduct the parking fine from my wages. After a slight chuckle I binned the letter and ignored it, never heard anything more and there were no unauthorised deductions from my wages. So I guess it’s true they cannot deduct from your wages without asking permission.
bigmiler:
There are a growing number of employers in the haulage industry trying out this scam.
A lot are asking drivers to sign a new contract that states the driver will pay any excess on the insurance policy ( usually £250 ) for damage caused by the drivers neglect.
There is a certain company who at the moment shall remain nameless that is trying to implement this rule as well as other rules that are completely in my view illegal.
The have to go to certain places ( can’t say what for or you will know the company ) but the only way in to this place is by going through a bus lane, They have told the drivers if they go through the bus lane and get a fine that the driver will have to pay it but there is no alternative route to this place they have no choice they have to go through the bus lane. ( fines have been issued in the past ).[
this is a joke, it has to be, what fool would work for someone like this, how could you do your job, more fools here than I thought lot more.
Also sometimes they have to enter a seven and half ton limit to load or unload with a moffat the drivers have been told that they will have to pay the fine if they get one for being in the seven and half ton limit.
I always thought the law said plate says 7.5 tons nothing over that weight can go in only emergency vehicles but 7.5 tons except for access then 44 tons can go in if delivering or collecting from customer if they are in the weight limit.
Also the boss gives them there taco card and tells them if you run out of time use my card now I know that is illegal and carries a prison sentence as well as loss of O Licences and company closed down.
So to sum up if the driver has an accident then the driver has to pay the first £250.00 and if going into a restriction driver has to pay fines but if they want you back it is ok to break the law seems to be double standards to me.
I always though that is why a haulage company has insurance against accidents so it gets sorted out I am sure you cannot stop the money out of a drivers wages it is illegal they can only stop tax national insurance and any court linked monies not is you have had an accident I am sure that is theft and they can be taken to court by the driver to recover the money.
I think I might need to go and see my local ministry depot and bring this to there attention but trouble is how many drivers will I be putting out of work, ( I know I know I know I )i hear you all loud and clear but I want to know can they stop money out of there wages or not.
Don’t really want to go to ministry it is no fun being unemployed and just to be clear I don’t work through ill health so it is not me but a good mate of mine, Have told him best thing he can do is look for another employer.
This is a joke, it has to be please read it, who would work for someone like that, going by how many were fooled by it a lot do, fool you for been taken in
Theres no way in this world an employer can get workers to sign za contract of that nature. Similarly, an employer cant make deductions for those purposes. That said refusal to sign will sour your relationship with your employer, and like the OP, Id reccomend finding alternative employment.