My last topic for this evening is causing damage to your wagon as an employed driver. Is it legal for your company to dock wages or request for you to pay for damage that YOU have caused to THEIR vehicle??
I’m sure you’ll get a more accurate answer but, to the best of my knowledge NO it’s not legal, if it’s written into your contract it’s less not legal 
Don’t know if it’s legal or not, but I worked for a company years ago that had a driver that did a lot of damage, the guy was almost unemployable, but rather than sack him they stopped £30 a week out of his wages to help cover the cost of the damage. A driver on the firm said this was illegal and had a go at the boss, who said it had been done through a solicitor, with the drivers agreement and it was all above board.
it was written in my nightfreight contract, im not 100% sure but i think it was excess they wanted you to pay,[had a thread like this a few years ago and posted it on there],no idea where to find old thread, but it was defo written in it.
Sooo…? Write the truck off with a high value load & your bill could be about the £1 million mark. Thats gonna knock a hole in the weeks wages. These petty rules won’t stand up in a court of law. These are accidents not sabotage.
Yeah fair do’s on that one Harry but i’m talking minor damage! I do alot of farm work and it can be quite easy to catch steps, mudguards and bumpers etc on rusty old implements which like to hide in the long grass and in puddles of cow dung!
Its down to the owner who sends you there - it doesn’t matter if its a srcatch or a write-off the principle is the same for an employee. For instance ,a guy working with million pound equipment in a factory makes a mistake big or small - how could he afford to pay? Its illegal.
xfmatt:
Yeah fair do’s on that one Harry but i’m talking minor damage! I do alot of farm work and it can be quite easy to catch steps, mudguards and bumpers etc on rusty old implements which like to hide in the long grass and in puddles of cow dung!
Were on farm collections everyday,if it was legal some of our drivers would be working until theyre 90 
one of our’s last week took out the front bumper-n/s step and n/s headlamp and he’s still on full money (more than 5 own fault damage incidents in 6 months and you lose the nvq rate which is £1.35 per hour)
ours now get put on disiplinarys after a accident, warnings, or retraining, dont think you pay for anything other than with your job eventually[in saying that the shunters smashed god knows how many motors and hes still got a job],if youve blue eyes and a brown nose 
,do as much damage as you like,your safe,playing golf helps alledgelly 
harry is right.
if you have a job and it’s not in your contract they cannot do it.
if on the other hand they ask you to sign a contract to pay for damage, then tell them to get [zb]
and if you do sign ,then you are the biggest fool that walked the earth.
I know if i was asked to sign a damage waiver, i’m pretty certain i’d be demanding a risk assesment for every drop/collection i was going to.
Your wages are yours,the firm cannot touch what is yours and not theirs.
greggy:
harry is right.
if you have a job and it’s not in your contract they cannot do it.
if on the other hand they ask you to sign a contract to pay for damage, then tell them to get [zb]
and if you do sign ,then you are the biggest fool that walked the earth.
this depends what your situation is, if youve loads of dosh,house paid for you can pick and choose your jobs, but if your young,kids,mortaged up to the hilt you have to take at times what going,kids,mrs,roof over heads sometimes in life have to come before principples.
assuming you actally read the contract or just sign it and file it with the rest of the rubbish,plenty do,i have in past,older,wiser,well sometimes ,also just because it says it doesnt mean your depot boss will enforce it,i bust a mirror,scratched a door and paid nothing, boss just said be more carefull,if there decent theyll know the score,ways and means to cover cost of damage
hi guys
place I used to work wrote it into everyones contract (after a lot of damage in a short time) that they could deduct the policy excess from wages at the managers discretion. ie if it was a one off no deduction but if it became a regular thing then the deductions were enforced. Personally I damaged a brand new landcruiser a Jaguar and a new merc coupe (delivering accident management hire cars) over a few weeks with no deductions but before that I was accident free for about 5 years.
alamcculloch:
Your wages are yours,the firm cannot touch what is yours and not theirs.
So how can it be legal for my employer to dock bonuses if we get caught speeding/caught overweight etc?
A well that is the get out,your wages are one thing but bonuses or dividends or anything else comes under a different heading and the legislation wont be the same.
I didn’t get any bonus for December cos the thing I drive broke down due to a valve not being replaced correctly. The tow in cost £45,000.00 and the cost of the valve and housing was £900.00, on top of this was 100 gallon of lube oil to replace and parking fees of about £250.00 per day.
The figures mentioned ARE correct.
raymundo:
I didn’t get any bonus for December cos the thing I drive broke down due to a valve not being replaced correctly. The tow in cost £45,000.00 and the cost of the valve and housing was £900.00, on top of this was 100 gallon of lube oil to replace and parking fees of about £250.00 per day.
The figures mentioned ARE correct.
How long is this aircraft carrier?
Its not an aircraft carrier but it floats though. Its a 76 metre long cargo ship called the Red Duchess and if you care to click on to the Mallaig RNLI website and search you will see a short clip of the lifeboat holding her against the wind and seas ( or else she would have ended up ashore on the rocks off Rhum) prior to being taken in tow by the ETV Anglian Prince and towed to Stornaway. One of the three tugs stationed around the UK that the present gov want to get shot of to save money.
BTW she also towed of the mud a brand new spankin nuclear sub on trials near Kyle of Lochalsh two weeks earlier due to subs crew incompetence.
