G W Topham tried this with me last year…per vehicle, they have possibly the highest ratio of drivers who’ve entered and subsequently left their employ I have ever known - I now work for someone else 
theres a simple fix too this, if you get too a delivery/collection point and you think that you could bump the motor then take pics and call the office and inform them that if any damage is done then you wont be held responsible, or if you know of any then state the ones you wont collect/deliver for/from before you sign
consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/
Get yourself over to this site, brillany advice on there.
I’m a london bus driver.
My firm have just introduced a system, if you have a crash that is your fault, you can either pay £300 or take a written warning, 2 written warnings and your out of a job 
drivers negligence liability insurance has been available for years and is not expensive for companies as an add on to their insurance, i advised a local lad who was starting an agency to get this and he was very pleased with the result when his partner in the business not a driver flat packed a double decker on a bridge.
My previous employer,a large reputable company,apparently had an insurance excess of £5k per incident …so your £500 is in effect only a token payment ( not for the driver of course ) towards the cost of a bump.
I think the charge is in place principally to encourage drivers to drive a bit more cautiously,but doesn’t help when you’ve got a muppet trucker coming towards you on a narrow country road,and you have to decide which wing mirror to sacrifice 
Baggie:
My previous employer,a large reputable company,apparently had an insurance excess of £5k per incident
I think the charge is in place principally to encourage drivers to drive a bit more cautiously,but doesn’t help when you’ve got a muppet trucker coming towards you on a narrow country road,and you have to decide which wing mirror to sacrifice
in that situation, stop, then it will be him hitting you, therefore making it his fault, claim off his insurance, and if the driver doesn’t stop, call the police, the last time i knew, failing to stop at the scene of an accident was a major offence
Best course of action if you do not agree with the changes is to not sign the new contract, but you must write to your employer and explain that you do not agree to the changes.
If you don’t do that, they will claim “implied consent” which is where you carry on working without challenging the new conditions.
You will then open the possibility, note possibility, of claiming Breach of Contract in the county court, or constructive dismissal if you’ve been there for 12 months or more.
Be warned, the ET’s look at “reasonableness”…whether the change was reasonable in the circumstances and whether the change was a fundamental or minor change.
They cannot dismiss you for refusing to sign the new contract without risking a breach claim or an unfair dismissal claim.
However, if 20 other drivers have signed it, and you are the only one that haven’t…they may well pounce on the first little slip up to get rid of you. And as long as they follow the correct procedures, an employer can sack you for just about anything.
Well my take on it is these companies are either skint cowboys …or just blatent ■■■■■■■■■■■■■ the same rung on the ladder of life as agencies,and finacial services,which is just below ■■■■■
hi all,
i own/run a small family business bodyshop.i am very well placed to comment on insurers.every! parts delivery driver that calls to us has signed/agreed to this company excess payment charge,for all insurance claims where the companies driver is involved in an incident and it’s deemed their fault.several of our customers have adopted the same policy.i cannot comment on the legality of it all.insurance claims are a complex minefield and anyone who tells you any different,is simply not being honest with you.
regards andrew.
i used to work at a ford franchise in fleetwood. we used to get the police coming in prety regular for new mirrors, new lights, and the odd dent pulling out. they paid for the work themselves, otherwise they would be behind a desk or walking.
why stop at accidents 
why not charge for diesel if your mpg drops below a certain figure,or even repairs…blow a clutch before a certain date and its down to the driver abusing it :exclamation: i can just imagine the tm "new windscreen wipers already?" "you had new ones last year" "im deducting the cost from your wages"…kerching 
Wheel Nut:
Winseer:
If someone tried to pull that stroke with me, I’d report them for running an O licence without sufficient insurance!I imagine VOSA will eventually break into a smile. The only insurance that you need to be be on the road is 3rd party, you do not even need fire or theft cover.
It takes a stupid thief to steal a burning truck.
Some of the larger companies do not even have insurance cover, they just pay a cash bond into the high court
When getting and retaining an O license, I would have thought that part of T&C’s would be to be “fully covered” for eventualities, INCLUDING ‘home ground’ ones.
Examples;
(1) Bod breaks his leg in yard. Firm only has third-party liability & third party insurance with excess on vehicles.
Guy sues, insurance doesn’t cover it, because company is found to be at fault. Company folds.
(2) You run a Porsche Showroom, and some p!key walks in with a huge bag of money, throws it at you, and gets in a porsche (which the money covers) signs the sales paperwork (if he can write!) and drives off.
Did you check his Driving credentials? Did you check his money wasn’t laundered for compliance laws? Did you check that he in fact has a fixed address? In any case, the guy hits and runs someone over on the way from the showroom. What kind of insurance do you think might fall short of covering that kind of scenario?
(3) A nutcase escapes from a local asylum, and torches all the vehicles in your yard. Because he’s considered “not responsible” for his actions under the mental health act, and of course has no insurance of his own, what insurance of yours is going to pay out for what amounts to a criminal damage case? (Check “Civil Disorder/Riot/Force Majeure” cover) 
My suggestion is a full “uncapped/unexcessed” liability insurance is what is required in all cases. Not having excesses, there will never be any need for any transport firm to “try and clip it” to save money. The firm would have to be mickey mouse to even consider it don’t you think, as Liability insurace premiums are very affordable unless one has recently made a lot of claims indeed.
Which brings me back to the question of Why do firms say ‘6 points OK’ in job ads, if the insurance liabilities in the medium term make more trouble than save you in paying £1+ an hour less for one’s staff?
There’s even a lot of ads that say “6 points OK, but NOT DD/DR/IN codes” - Even there, they are trying to whittle out perceived liabilities that they are well aware of before they start eh? 
rambo19:
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/Get yourself over to this site, brillany advice on there.
I’m a london bus driver.
My firm have just introduced a system, if you have a crash that is your fault, you can either pay £300 or take a written warning, 2 written warnings and your out of a job
I bet that’s a tough call for someone (FTO) who’s just clipped a lamp post! 
Why also will they accept certain points and infractions, but not accept a fairly experienced driver who has held their license for less than two years? Insurance is often a scam, and I am certain some employers are. The costs probably don’t go on insurance anyway, they take the money off the driver to help the profit margin!
the thing that peeves me is,they undercut each other to the point where theyre running around for ■■■■ all,then expect the driver to claw it back by doing longer hours for less pay, then,as if that wernt bad enough,they come out with this crap 
Winseer:
Wheel Nut:
Winseer:
If someone tried to pull that stroke with me, I’d report them for running an O licence without sufficient insurance!I imagine VOSA will eventually break into a smile. The only insurance that you need to be be on the road is 3rd party, you do not even need fire or theft cover.
It takes a stupid thief to steal a burning truck.
Some of the larger companies do not even have insurance cover, they just pay a cash bond into the high court
When getting and retaining an O license, I would have thought that part of T&C’s would be to be “fully covered” for eventualities, INCLUDING ‘home ground’ ones.
Examples;
(1) Bod breaks his leg in yard. Firm only has third-party liability & third party insurance with excess on vehicles.
Guy sues, insurance doesn’t cover it, because company is found to be at fault. Company folds.if it is a member of the public visiting the site, then it would fall under the Public Liability insurance, if it is an employee, then it is the employee liability insurance
(2) You run a Porsche Showroom, and some p!key walks in with a huge bag of money, throws it at you, and gets in a porsche (which the money covers) signs the sales paperwork (if he can write!) and drives off.
Did you check his Driving credentials? Did you check his money wasn’t laundered for compliance laws? Did you check that he in fact has a fixed address? In any case, the guy hits and runs someone over on the way from the showroom. What kind of insurance do you think might fall short of covering that kind of scenario?if the aforementioned ‘p!key’ walks in with a bag full of cash and buys a Porsche, writes it off, killing someone in the process, this is all down to the ‘p!key’ and will have nothing to do with the car dealer, their job is to sell cars, not to insure them for everyone, harsh, but true
(3) A nutcase escapes from a local asylum, and torches all the vehicles in your yard. Because he’s considered “not responsible” for his actions under the mental health act, and of course has no insurance of his own, what insurance of yours is going to pay out for what amounts to a criminal damage case? (Check “Civil Disorder/Riot/Force Majeure” cover)
that would be the ‘fire’ part of the insurance, as in Third Party, FIRE and theft
My suggestion is a full “uncapped/unexcessed” liability insurance is what is required in all cases. Not having excesses, there will never be any need for any transport firm to “try and clip it” to save money. The firm would have to be mickey mouse to even consider it don’t you think, as Liability insurace premiums are very affordable unless one has recently made a lot of claims indeed.
Which brings me back to the question of Why do firms say ‘6 points OK’ in job ads, if the insurance liabilities in the medium term make more trouble than save you in paying £1+ an hour less for one’s staff?some insurance companies load the premium for drivers with less than 2 years experience or more than a certain number of points, sometimes, even for 1 conviction such as a DD, other insurance companies will load the excess and not the premium
There’s even a lot of ads that say “6 points OK, but NOT DD/DR/IN codes” - Even there, they are trying to whittle out perceived liabilities that they are well aware of before they start eh?
i will say this to you again, as you obviously missed it when you have already been told at least twice previously in this thread
VOSA DON’T CARE WHAT INSURANCE YOU DO/DO NOT HAVE, THAT IS DOWN TO THE POLICE, IT HAS GOT NOTHING TO DO WITH OPERATING LICENSING
hope this helps
so what yer sayin 
commonrail:
so what yer sayin
just trying, unsuccessfully by the looks of it, to get the message across to Winseer
where is the banging head against the wall smilie when you need it 
shuttlespanker:
commonrail:
so what yer sayinjust trying, unsuccessfully by the looks of it, to get the message across to Winseer
where is the banging head against the wall smilie when you need it
Calm down Spankers, you don’t want those last 3 hairs falling out yer head now
I can only predict that a major cause of transport firms going under in the next decade will be “problems with the insurance” of some description, uncovered liabilities being the most likely sub-item as opposed to too-expensive premiums.
It’s not a far stretch of the imagination to connect a near-future “insurance crisis” occuring around the same time as the next “banking crisis”. “When the tide goes out, we find out who’s not wearing trunks” - as Warren Buffet would say. 