Hi All
Advice please!!!
Sonny jim just been finished at his place of work after his 3 month review…problem is the company is holding his last 30 days paper tacho`s and are making it difficult for us to get them
Am i right in thinking he needs them to be driving for another employer/agency to stay legal,if so any suggestions!!!
The main reason he was finished i think was that he was on a 48hr salaried contract covered by WTD but regularly worked 60hr weeks with no time off in lieu or overtime payments
The firm seem to be leaning on all their drivers in the same way…my lad being single without family pressures,wife,kids mortgage etc was the only one prepared to speak up[he values his licence!!]…all the others moan but will not say anything to management
Getting finished maybe a godsend really as the firm is poorly run,the vehicles are old and poorly maintained…defects go untouched…no regular maintenance…the TM seems blissfully unaware of his record keeping obligations etc etc etc
The plus side was it was a full time position and sonny jim was using it to get to the 2yr marker post[8 months to go]…never mind,his old agencies have welcomed him back…they know he`s a reliable grafter!!
The temptation to report to VOSA is massive but reports of being blackballed have been banded about…views on this also welcome…take vengeance or put it down to experience
It’s him who should be holding them for 28 days, after which time they are returned to the company for their records. When did he leave? if it’s more than 28 days then he doesn’t need them anyway, if it’s less then he was already breaking the law by not having them on him.
I would ask for the tacho records with a threat that if they are not given then it would force him to go to vosa to notify them of the fact. If he gets pulled and cannot produce them then vosa will more than likely do him. If I would actually go to vosa is another question (I wouldnt) but the threat should be enough to get them.
Cheers Gents…all their drivers have a box which goes out with them on each run and handed back in at the end of shift…they are instructed to leave tachos and paperwork in the box…thats where they are at the minute making it difficult to get…hes been told hes not allowed on the premises now[got offically finished yesterday 11th] but one of his old agencies have told him hell be back on the road before the end of the week......so no tachos no work then!!!
Well he can still work but he really does need to have his last 28 days worth of charts on him in case vosa stop him otherwise he will have some explaining to do. I would definetly phone vosa up for advice you can do it anonymously if you wish.
if vosa stop him they have no idea wether he has been working in the previous 28 days.
All he has to say is that he has just started and not been driving for a couple of months.
Don’t think that they have any way to check.
After 2-3 days when he has some records to show it shouldn’t be a problem.
If it was me I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it.
The time to worry about it was when he was routinley breaking the same law he is worried about breaking now!
Point taken Del about the right time to worry…all his tacho work is in order…they had him driving a mix of vehicles…tankers[non adr],class 2,7.5 ton and 3.5 ton…its the 3.5 ton work that took him over the WTD rules with empty promises of compensation days to bring the hours into line…best off out of it i think!!..just the wrong time of year to get finished!!!..looks like royal bank of dad is going to be back in buisness till things pick up [hopefully]
A possible solution (but may not necessarily be legal): when one of our drivers left two or three years ago he handed his tachos in and we gave him scanned copies. I don’t know whether they would have been accepted if he had been stopped, but at least it showed that nobody was totally flouting rules - it was a compromise.
xtruckerlady:
A possible solution (but may not necessarily be legal): when one of our drivers left two or three years ago he handed his tachos in and we gave him scanned copies. I don’t know whether they would have been accepted if he had been stopped…
They wouldn’t have been, they weren’t worth the paper they were, err, scanned on.
xtruckerlady:
A possible solution (but may not necessarily be legal): when one of our drivers left two or three years ago he handed his tachos in and we gave him scanned copies. I don’t know whether they would have been accepted if he had been stopped, but at least it showed that nobody was totally flouting rules - it was a compromise.
newtruckersdad:
Point taken Del about the right time to worry…all his tacho work is in order…they had him driving a mix of vehicles…tankers[non adr],class 2,7.5 ton and 3.5 ton…its the 3.5 ton work that took him over the WTD rules with empty promises of compensation days to bring the hours into line…best off out of it i think!!..just the wrong time of year to get finished!!!..looks like royal bank of dad is going to be back in buisness till things pick up [hopefully]
Chances are, the hours would’ve come back in the next couple of months when most places are quiet.
The 48hr WTD is usually based on a set number of weeks, determined by the company / staff, I think they can choose 17 or 26 weeks, and the 48hr WORK (remember, this is work time, NOT POA or breaks) must be average under 48hrs over this period.
Holidays don’t help much, because a holiday day counts as (I think) 8hrs working towards WTD.
His salaried pay means nothing though, there’s no law regarding that as far as I know, a lot of places pay set rates, ie day rates, and that’s basically what he was getting.
Personally, I’d not worry too much about the tacho’s, as others have said, he’s not worked in the last 6 weeks
It’s all very well saying tell VOSA he hasn’t worked for the past 28 days and to some extent I agree, but if it was me I’d be down there demanding the company hand over the charts.
Why the hell should he have to lie to anyone just because some idiot TM can’t do his job right ?
tachograph:
It’s all very well saying tell VOSA he hasn’t worked for the past 28 days and to some extent I agree, but if it was me I’d be down there demanding the company hand over the charts.
Why the hell should he have to lie to anyone just because some idiot TM can’t do his job right ?
He’s banned from site, would have to travel down there (cost) and probably still won’t get anywhere.
I know it’s wrong, but it’s not worth having a heart attack over, I can count on 1 hand the amount of times I’ve been pulled, including police and vosa, in 12yrs of driving for a living (notice the lack of the p word…)
newtruckersdad:
The firm seem to be leaning on all their drivers in the same way…my lad being single without family pressures,wife,kids mortgage etc was the only one prepared to speak up[he values his licence!!]…all the others moan but will not say anything to management
The fact he was working 60 hours and being paid for 48 was in no way putting his licence in jeopardy.
waynedl:
I know it’s wrong, but it’s not worth having a heart attack over, I can count on 1 hand the amount of times I’ve been pulled, including police and vosa, in 12yrs of driving for a living (notice the lack of the so-called p word…)
Why the hell should he have to lie to anyone just because some idiot TM can’t do his job right ?
you are right, he shouldn’t have to.
But it’s probably easier for him to do it this way.
it may be possible( but I doubt it) to explain the situation to the local police and ask them to accompany him in order to reclaim the charts or a phone call to the company informing them that he is going to use the law to get the charts may work.
But all in all, I know which route I would take.
(but there again neither you nor I would have handed them in)
