If a co makes an updated empolyment contract, and one of the clauses state, that the driver will be expected to pay the first £500 of damage resulting from an accident deemed to be his fault, ie co insurance excess,… A. Is this legal,… B.Can they insist the driver signs up to this,… C. If a driver does sign this reluctantly, fearing losing his job for instance, is it legally binding if the occasion occurs where he is charged,… D.Is it legal for a co to take money out of his wage whether he signs up either reluctantly OR willingly anyway, being that other clauses state that monies will be taken if, among other reasons, paperwork is incomplete.
A week previously the same co announced potential redundancies, I don’t think for one minute that the two are connected as a threat to signing this contract
This topic was moved here by request of the OP. dd.
Yes,it is 100% ok for them to put whatever they want into your contract.
You don’t have to agree to it,but of course risking getting the sack if you don’t.
But don’t forget the best bit,it is NOT ok for them to make any deductions whatsoever from your money,if you left your job and had banged there credit card for say 2 grand,they MUST still pay you your wages whatever the reason for non payment,and I think they have 2 weeks to pay any monies owing
I am not sure of the law but in most cases, if you don’t sign the updated contract you effectively quit.
However, saying that, when a new chap took over at the agency 6 months ago they sent out a revised contract for me to sign which is still sitting next to my gas statement, undealt with…
There are a few agencies I have tried with that clause but stating the first £200 of any incident is deemed my fault and the money will be taken from my wages.
I signed up for the agency, as I didn’t know any different at the time but was still waiting for my licence to be sent back, and when that happened I just didn’t tell them…
Because, afterall, that is what vehicle insurance is for? If I had to work for a company with that clause in they’d probably regret it as I’d drive everywhere really carefully and, unfortunately, not fast enough for them… Not out of malice but not wanting to damage anything, because I can’t afford anything like that.
If you did a weeks work on artics, then had an incident, who pays your mortgage and food that week? Exactly!
So, Robroy. Have they given you the new contract and an ultimatum? What do the other drivers think? Have you spoken to them about it? Have you voiced your displeasure to your company?
IMO the only reason a company would do this is to reduce their insurance premium by getting the drivers to pay an ‘excess’ rather than foot it themselves.
There’s no way i’d sign up to anything like this.
We all try to be as careful as we can but accidents/mistakes happen because we’re all human and companies must be prepared to carry this risk.
If you’re going tp pay for your damage/mishaps,you may aswell become an OD and take the profits from the good times too.
I worked for a firm years ago that use to deduct £10 a week from your wages until it reached £300 and that would cover your excess should you have an accident. at the end of the year they would return it to you and start again in the new year.
Saratoga:
So, Robroy. Have they given you the new contract and an ultimatum? What do the other drivers think? Have you spoken to them about it? Have you voiced your displeasure to your company?
Mine has not been handed to me yet as such, as I have tried to avoid it until I find out either on here, or independently how my rights stand legally. As yet I have not voiced my displeasure, but will when the time comes. As I said the “ultmatum” came as a subtle hint in the form of redundancy threats. Some drivers have signed it for a number of reasons respectively, ie in fear they lose their jobs, which I can understand, some were stupid enough to blindly sign even though they disagree , a couple thick or spineless enough to sign anything, and a brown noser or two, however a few of the lads have a bit of sense and say they won’t sign it, or at least see how far the threats are going to be carried out, and wait to decide if it is worth losing a job over The guy in charge is fair and decent enough, but I can not see him supporting us against the co bosses if it came to it, and I suppose I can understand that, so if anybody knows the legal situation and answers to my queries can you let me know soon so I can decide on the next step.
how the [zb] does lending your employer interest free
money sound like a better
idea
I agree, but I think maybe he was being ironic.
A bonus system is a better idea.
If they must do this, why not give you a pay cut (everyone’s doing it these days anyway), and then an accident free bonus to make the wages back upto what they were before the pay cut.
Then, if you have a bump, you lose your bonus for x weeks, but that’s ok because it was a bonus, not wages.
If someone tried to pull that stroke with me, I’d report them for running an O licence without sufficient insurance!
Any part of motor insurance not covered because of any excess would normally be covered by liability insurance, which is dirt cheap even nowdays. A firm would have to be very mickey mouse indeed if they don’t have enough of THAT kind of cover! I wouldn’t want to be one of their customers, let alone working for them!
If it’s just a ruse to get people to resign, rather than a firm having to pay out redundancy, then the best approach is to go sick long term, and at least you’ve milked them for something towards your missing redundancy package.
When it comes down to it, I’m not sure that big fleet operators even USE motor insurance in the normal sense. It’s all liability insurance, which means they effectively underwrite the (RTA damages) risk themselves in-house. Anyone care to correct me if I’m wrong here?
If a firm were really worried about driver damage costs, then they only need to advertise for “clean licence only” rather than “6 points OK” like most ads are these days!
“6 points OK” says “We want minimum wage slaves, and don’t care about the knocks let alone the liabilities!”
I dont know if that is in UK legal.You may need to ask a Union guy/
Its not where i’m from.The Company has to be injured for that,but the Injurense Company could claim it back by Court,if you,we say,if you have been drunk.
Now,if a Company is injured where the first £500.- is not covered the Company has to pay it,and could claim it back from you By Court. Just not giving you not your Wages were illegal.
And,if in your Contract is said the Company can deduce that Amount from your Wages you could forward the Contract to Court.Because,as it is against Employment Law the Company can not make it Legal with writing it in your Employment Contract.
Its called " Immoral ",and the Company could lose the License to proceed operating.
A no accident bonus is the only way to go in this situation, I mean it is in effect a bond for good careful behaviour but it is the only way you can introduce anything like this without the driver getting upset and feeling hard done by. Of course it would be nice to know that this bonus was on top of the basic wage but it probably comes out of the wage they would pay anyway, this is the nice way of doing it.
All this saying you have to pay our insurance excess if you have an accident is extremely Micky Mouse in my opinion and this is coming from someone who has only ever run a few trucks adn wouldn’t dream of making drivers do this.
Bottom line is, if a driver is particulary accident prone, he gets the boot. Only way in my book something like 3 strikes and you’re out I think is fair enough, depending on how big the strikes are of course.
I think accidents happen all the time, you spend enough hours on the road it will happen to us all but to chargd fhe driver is unfair. It goes in hand with running a fleet. If he is doing it a lot sack him but dont charge him
Hi All
We are on the recieving end of one of these contracts at the minute
The firm sonny jim`` worked for until recently are witholding wages owed and trying to claim for two minor incidents,bent pub sign and a crease in corsa vans rear doors[illegally parked!!].
The contract has a clause in it about recovering costs due to employee negligence but the legal eagles reckon any deductions have to be agreed and signed for by both parties before any deductions can be made no matter what the contract says.
Its ongoing at the minute and the decsion to take to small claims court will be made within 14days unless he`s paid up this coming week.
He signed the contract in haste,it being his first full time job in transport[6 months on agency previous]…thinking the pros outweighed the cons…a lesson learnt here and one for the newbies to look out for!!!
Has anybody else had a similar experience and what was the outcome■■?
newtruckersdad:
Hi All
We are on the recieving end of one of these contracts at the minute
The firm sonny jim`` worked for until recently are witholding wages owed and trying to claim for two minor incidents,bent pub sign and a crease in corsa vans rear doors[illegally parked!!].
The contract has a clause in it about recovering costs due to employee negligence but the legal eagles reckon any deductions have to be agreed and signed for by both parties before any deductions can be made no matter what the contract says.
Its ongoing at the minute and the decsion to take to small claims court will be made within 14days unless he`s paid up this coming week.
He signed the contract in haste,it being his first full time job in transport[6 months on agency previous]…thinking the pros outweighed the cons…a lesson learnt here and one for the newbies to look out for!!!
Has anybody else had a similar experience and what was the outcome■■?
All words of wisdom appreciated!!!
Yes, had a bus company try it with me back in '02, took it to small claims court and won. No idea if it was in the contract though, signed a few things when I started but never got a copy.
I’d sort of agree that if a driver was particularly neglegent, they could take some money, but they can, they just have to go through court. But, as I said, and was agreed on by Silver_Surfer, a bonus scheme is the only way to go, and if done right, doesn’t cost them a penny more anyway.
I think it’s a cracking idea! we should extend it to all industries, for example, if a banker “accidentilly” loses the company £25 billion, he should be made to pay it back out of his bonus, if a chief executive of the company “accidentliy” causes the company to collapse, the cost should be deducted from his final salery pension, and if a secretary “accidentily” spills a cup of coffee onto her laptop, she should be hung drawn and quartered!
Don’t sign it 
