And if I remember correctly,TUPE rules only apply for 12 months, (Thanks Tony Blair.) after which time,they could do what they want anyway.
Good luck,and keep us posted.
Ken.
hi mille,
your best bet would be to get onto union hq and cut out any so called reps, as these days alls they seem to do is represent themselves and their close freinds!, get advice soonest off a union solicter, i think you have a case for redundacy, make sure hubby has got his information in front of him when he sees the bloke in charge, as has been said on here employers tend to think that drivers dont have the brains, or the time to find out their own legal rights, but theres plenty of free advice out there and you need to prep yourselves before seeing this boss, other advice on here to take it to the press if also worth considering, definatly a ploy by company to shirk out of paying any redundancy and if hubby continues to work for them from london base its my betting that they will make it hard for him until he quits. if this is the case he will have grounds for constructive dismissal. good luck and keep us all posted.
Hi everybody. Thanks Tagoat…I do see what you are saying. Welcome Wirralpete…and thankyou for your post.
Hubby will be ringing the union solicitor…if he is ever allowed home again!! This week has been the most incredibly bumbling week out of his entire years as a driver! Would you believe the trucks still don’t have phones in? Also the company has lost 3 major customers plus a few smaller ones as well…all through total incompetence!
Anyhow…today he was supposed to be meeting another driver mid-country to do a trailer swap. He was then supposed to be coming home for the weekend with the truck and trailer. Well…it didn’t happen!! The trailer wasn’t even in the country!! He was told to go to base in London, and he arrived there at 9pm! That was a 15 hour day done then. The trailer is now there but hubby can’t move until 6am. BUT…he isn’t coming home with it!! He has to deliver it to Leicestershire…unload and then go back down to London to pick another trailer up! Then he can come home…except it is very doubtful that he will make it because of the hours! So…straight away the job has altered in such a way as to make it non-beneficial to him. He DOESN’T work saturdays!! All grist to our mill though and goes to prove that the job has most definately altered!! Then the other dutch boss told him that he was to drive for 10 hours tomorrow…errrrrr…don’t think so!! Then he told hubby that he was to run Sunday night!!! Again…don’t think so! He has to have 36 hours off! The dutchman asked why? Cos I am a uk driver and not a dutch one was his reply! So…not only have they altered the job totally, but they also want him to run bent? MMMMMMM…have no fears, everything is being logged for future reference.
I feel a lot happier because they are making it much easier for us to prove our “case” for redundancy. I have to go and print out a few train time-tables now, and also the fares. The boss says that when his truck is in for service he will just have to catch the train home. Ok…who will be paying the approx £200 that it will cost? I know one thing for sure…it won’t be them. Even if his car was in London…which it isn’t. It is “stranded” in the old yard on the east coast right now!! Another problem for us to sort out caused by them! It would still cost him in the region of £70 in diesal to run back and forth to London…out of our pocket!
Anyhow…I will keep you all informed of this on-going saga. I think things will come to a head sometime next week because we can’t allow it to be dragged on any longer. It is pretty obvious that the “boss” is just trying to pull a fast one.
Thankyou all for your good wishes…everyone is a blessing right now.
He has to have 36 hours off! The dutchman asked why? Cos I am a uk driver and not a dutch one was his reply!
Doesnt make any difference, as far as i know Holland is in the EU so is covered by the same drivers hours as the rest!
millie:
Then the other dutch boss told him that he was to drive for 10 hours tomorrow…errrrrr…don’t think so!!
10 hours driving in one day isn’t illegal so I wouldn’t be logging that as one of your grievances, it might add much weight to your case and could be used against you.
I would notify the DOT to ask whether a change in operating centres has been given…i would certainly not walk away from the job…but hold on very tightly to the vehicle keys…at least until the wages have been paid into the bank…the rest of the answers given to you should be noted …good luck millie with your quest…and hope everything works out to your advantage…
Quinny:
And if I remember correctly,TUPE rules only apply for 12 months, (Thanks Tony Blair.) after which time,they could do what they want anyway.Good luck,and keep us posted.
Ken.
Not true mate,TUPE rules apply for the length of your contract. Although they do have a few get out clauses, eg economic reasons, operational reasons.
Although most companies feel after 12 months they can change terms and conditions, they can’t if you fight them hard enough. They have to follow the same employment rules for changing T&C as if you were an employee who hadn’t TUPE’d over. Some T&C’s can be changed legally but they need to give you ten weeks notice.
Hi everybody.
We have a result!!! Hubby spoke to the union rep again yesterday, and managed to get through to him exactly what the situation was. He finally said he would put it all in the hands of the head office, and the papers needed to start an industrial tribunal claim would be sent to us.
Hubby then posted his letter of resignation and followed it up by faxing a copy to head office in London.
A few hours later he got a phone call from the office in London. Apparantly there had been a conference between the dutch and the london office…about hubbies letter of resignation.
They asked him not to resign as he was too valuable to the company. What a shock that was!! They couldn’t apoligise enough for last saturday’s fiasco.
They have told him that he can have whatever he wants…within reason of course, and that they will put it all in writing for him.
Well…what else could he do but accept? There will follow further discussions later in the week, and the problem of his commute to and from London, when not in the truck, will be solved. They are going to work it so that the truck is based locally to us, so he won’t be using his own vehicle again.
Despite hints that the pay structure was about to change…for the worse…he has been told that this will not happen now. All this stuff will be backed up in writing which makes us much happier.
We feel as if a huge black cloud has been lifted. So, hopefully this will be an end to it all now.
I want to thank you all for your help and advice.
Top class site is this.
Many thanks to you all.
Millie.
Pleased it all worked out for you, good result. 
Good news!! 
good news ,but get as you said every thing in writeing.
if posssible talk with the union, so they could perhaps
get one of their lawyers, to read any mail the firm sends you
and then advise you, all the best