I wouldn’t turn it down out of hand, bare with me.
Attend the interview, get all the nitty gritty on the job, everything, when you know the pay for the hours worked you’ll have a better idea if its worth the risk
ie is the pay above and beyond the typical alternatives in the district, can you earn an extra £500 more than elsewhere every two or three months, so without a bump you’re £2000+ annual gross better off before stoppages, in which case the gamble is yours to take.
I’m in two minds about this lark, no i’ve never worked anywhere that charged drivers like this myself but in my previous game (car transporters) damage free bonuses were a regular feature on some companies, so if you can definately earn more on this job than anywhere else it might still be worth going for.
I also have a certain sympathy with employers who suffer expensive damage by half wits who flit from one to another leaving a trail of destruction in their wake, though there’s often reasons that they keep attracting the less competent and uncaring staff, not sure what the answer is for the average hire and reward operator when rates are at an all time low…maybe if they themselves stopped the race to the bottom in deskilling drivers this downward slide could be slowed if not halted altogether, i dunno just thinking aloud.
Biglew74:
I’ve just started a new job. We get a £500 non crash bonus, 250 of you have a crash, nothing if you have another, if you have more then you pay 250 excess. Reset after a year.
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So, if you have 3 crashes, none of which you are to blame for, you get to pay 250 squids?
Obviously it has to be your fault
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Not necessarily.
Parked up, go for a coffee, come out to find you´ve been ■■■■■■■ and half your cab is hanging off, other half on the floor. Hit and run.
You going to pay ANY amount of excess for that claim?
Biglew74:
I’ve just started a new job. We get a £500 non crash bonus, 250 of you have a crash, nothing if you have another, if you have more then you pay 250 excess. Reset after a year.
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So, if you have 3 crashes, none of which you are to blame for, you get to pay 250 squids?
Obviously it has to be your fault
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Obviously? So what happens in a 50/50?
Is it just “at fault” or “negligent”?
What happens if costs can’t be recovered even if your not “at fault”?
Very thin end of a wedge in my opinion. I refused a placement with an agency as I was liable where “costs could not be recovered” wouldn’t even matter if I wasn’t at fault.
Edit: didn’t see the post above but thats the point I was worried about
It’s starting to become common. Where I work they do it.i had a minor accident. Smacked into a parked car trying reverse navigate round a right housing estate to deliver building supplies to a school.
Work gave me a form I filled it in agreed to pay an 500 back at 10 a week.
Later hr wanted see me said 10 a week take a year to pay it back and we don’t feel it’s enough. We want stop 50 a week . As we need recover it asap and 10 weeks is right. I argued with them said price livings going up and.up have had a.pay rise for 2 years am struggling as it is.
In the end they settled for 10 a week.
Yes I’ve worked for a company that had similar in contract ( night freight ) and it was never enforced ( not that I ever had a accident ) , boss just said it was just to try and get drivers to take a bit of care .
That said it was a small place with maybe 10 drivers and boss looked after us & wed help him out
No, it’s not your truck, if you smashed something up deliberately then then sure they could ask you to pay for the damage but not when you have an accident while doing your job to the best of your ability. I doubt they would say that the truck made a good profit last month so we’re giving you some of it, though we had profit sharing at my last firm and it helps you focus on being the best you can.
I wouldn’t do it now but i probably would have when starting out if that’s the only job available as i really wanted to be a lorry driver. They’ve got you by the short hairs till you’ve got some experience.
edd1974:
It’s starting to become common. Where I work they do it.i had a minor accident. Smacked into a parked car trying reverse navigate round a right housing estate to deliver building supplies to a school.
Work gave me a form I filled it in agreed to pay an 500 back at 10 a week.
Later hr wanted see me said 10 a week take a year to pay it back and we don’t feel it’s enough. We want stop 50 a week . As we need recover it asap and 10 weeks is right. I argued with them said price livings going up and.up have had a.pay rise for 2 years am struggling as it is.
In the end they settled for 10 a week.
Something springs to mind with your story. When I was doing multi-drop years ago I used to drive a 13 tonne gross lorry for the long distance jobs and a 7.5 tonne one when doing the local jobs in London because it was more use in confined spaces.
The question is " was the one you were driving the most appropriate one for the job you were doing at that time?" Did they have a more suitable one available given the location of the delivery?
These are factors that I think should be taken into account when deciding who should take the blame and who should bear the cost.
It’s not just accidents where the driver might get a bill for the damage, he could inadvertently take out the wrong trailer and get a bill for the fuel used to rectify the situation. Also I know a firm that would bill the forkie for loading the wrong stuff . Sales office gives transport the wrong delivery address or fails to tell them the stuff needs to be delivered on a certain date or on a rigid rather than an
artic…there’s no end.
I wouldn’t even turn up for the interview or assessment, but I would ring them and explain why. They don’t pay enough money to give them £500, then the next applicant will be £750, £1000 etc, where will it end? That is why every haulage company I ever worked for had an old nail, jankers motor or a job that gave minimum hours for most heartache. You cocked up, you got jankers
edd1974:
Work gave me a form I filled it in AGREED to pay an 500 back at 10 a week.
And that is the point where you went wrong.
You should have categorically refused explaining that you obviously did not intend to hit the parked car, and although you checked your mirrors in this tight spot you hit the car BY ACCIDENT so it is unfair to expect you to pay for it.
I made the mistake of not challenging a new clause in a revised contract thinking that not signing equated to not agreeing…wrong.
If and when I am ever charged I will fight it.
Accidents are a fact of life in any walk of life, and that is what insurance co.s are for.
Cheddars:
Off for an interview in a couple of days.
If I were to get the job, I’ve been told because my experience is quite low (below a year) if I were in an accident I would have to pay a £500 excess out of my own pocket.
Does this seem right? I’m still new to this game.
If thats the way they treat new drivers they don’t deserve new drivers
Cheddars:
Off for an interview in a couple of days.
If I were to get the job, I’ve been told because my experience is quite low (below a year) if I were in an accident I would have to pay a £500 excess out of my own pocket.
Does this seem right? I’m still new to this game.
If thats the way they treat drivers they don’t deserve any drivers
To O/P…you don’t work for them, (I would imagine you don’t want to given what you have said) so why not name and shame them on here, you’ve nothing to lose and firms like that deserve bad press, AND they hate it, so go for it.
(Think I may know who they could be btw)
