Hi all, I have a question if anyone can help / advise please? My company are looking to install in cab audio and visual recording equipment across the fleet. My question is, should this system have an on/off button that me the driver is able to use to disable when i am on my breaks/lunch? Essentially i am trying to find out if i am within my right from a privacy point of view to turn it off on my breaks and lunch to have the private conversations i need to, e.g with my family or bank? If anyone has any advice it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks all!
Hiya mate.
I see it’s your first post, if you do a search there are quite a few threads on this already which may answer all your questions.
Welcome to Trucknet btw 
I’m lead to believe that when the ignition is turned of so is the recording equipment…
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No you don’t have a right to privacy, no they don’t have an off button because if they did the driver could forget to turn them back on.
They don’t record everything, they tend to record short segments of 30-60 seconds which get overwritten unless there is an incident detected and then they usually save the last recorded 30-60 second segment plus another couple of minutes.
Unless the job is a dead mans shoes one, which you understandably want to hang onto, there is always the option of ‘‘here’s me week’s notice mate i’m not being spied on, cheerio’’, if its just a n other job paying a poor rate you could find anywhere then moving on is the only answer to this.
However now the rot has started, so many company’s paid peanuts and/or treated their staff like garbage during the recent lean years, then surprisingly 
reaped the results of what was sown, hence we end up with this spying equipment, and i dare say it will become the norm rather than the exception in due course, unless the good drivers (who don’t actually need to be spied on 
) tell 'em to poke it where the sun don’t shine, in which case it could be a self adjusting roll out if good drivers go where they are still trusted appreciated and looked after and the other stables get the sweepings up…
My present company and the one i was at before both have forward facing cameras and you just totally forget they are there after a few days and just carry on as normal, my experience at my previous job where i worked in the office at times was that they don’t have time just to sit there and watch you driving all day which is i’m sure what some people think might occur but they were only used in cases of accidents to see what happened so personally i like them because if was involved in an accident the chances are it wouldn’t be my fault.
Agreed BB, i’m more than happy with any amount of cameras they want to fit round the outside, the more the merrier, i just aint having one specifically aimed at me for every second i am in the driving seat.
Juddian:
Agreed BB, i’m more than happy with any amount of cameras they want to fit round the outside, the more the merrier, i just aint having one specifically aimed at me for every second i am in the driving seat.
I must say i wouldn’t want one facing me but the with the forward facing ones i just carry on as if it wasn’t there.
If you have private/sensitive calls to deal with, step away from the cab while you make them. Same would apply in any other workplace, surely?
Our lot are planning to put them in. Its all kicking off now, The penny pinching has started. Trucks are being put down to 52, cameras facing drivers to lower insurance, we’re now paid according to the tacho, not the time sheets anymore. They are doing this is cut down on driver overtime because they way they plan the runs you won’t be seeing anymore than 11 hours maximum. The day they bring in the cameras I’m gone, handing notice in. Its like the don’t trust us anymore.
You are doing the right thing Radar IMHO, though that’s easy for me to say having only 5 years to go i can probably avoid the in cab camera completely.
You don’t see an individual camera pointed directly at the bosses, receptionists, HR’s, admins, TM’s nor any other buggers clock over their desks, nor will you see one sitting in their company cars pointing at the interior.
The argument you have nothing to fear if you do nothing wrong is sod all to do with it, there comes a time when you have to draw a line in the sand and refuse to cross it, if thats yours good for you mate, you won’t be alone.
Radar19:
Our lot are planning to put them in. Its all kicking off now, The penny pinching has started. Trucks are being put down to 52, cameras facing drivers to lower insurance, we’re now paid according to the tacho, not the time sheets anymore. They are doing this is cut down on driver overtime because they way they plan the runs you won’t be seeing anymore than 11 hours maximum. The day they bring in the cameras I’m gone, handing notice in. Its like the don’t trust us anymore.
As for the pay by tacho rather than time sheet , you’ve only got your self and other drivers to blame for that by taking the pee and creative time inputting
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A company i worked for a few years ago had the same camera, both facing forward and rear at the driver. All the drivers found it a distraction as it has a bright led light staring at you, it’s usually green but if you set it off by harsh braking or often a speed bump and even hooking up to the trailer it turns to red. You end up spending a lot of time looking at the led light to see if it’s still green or turned red for some reason.
In the ones we have they are only recording when the ignition is on and they are only viewed by management if your involved an an incident. So it doesn’t bother me being there at all. If they want to listen to me singing along with the radio then fine by me!
…sorry, i just realised i didn’t answer your question…I was told that the recorder wasn’t legally allowed to be recording drivers whilst they work, but just saved the previous 30 seconds and the following 30 seconds after the camera had been ‘set off’ by harsh braking etc.
It was continually on even when the keys weren’t in, in case of a collision when unmanned.
It wasn’t allowed to try and tamper with the camera and the office would know if it had been turned off.
Conor:
No you don’t have a right to privacy
In fact, that is wrong, a driver is fully entitled to refuse to drive a truck which has an inward facing camera, just as a company is fully entitled to fit one. If the two parties cannot agree, then either has the right to terminate the contract. If I turned up to work tomorrow and one had been fitted to my truck overnight, I would refuse to drive it and walk out of the yard with my P45 in my hand.
The rot set in with all this crap, when some drivers not only accepted it, which was bad enough, but swallowed it hook line and sinker, and actually started repeating and regurgitating all the corporate bs and ■■■■■■■■ about these things, and how they were there for ‘‘our good’’
Have a read of some of the driver comments on past threads on this subject…unbelievable.
For every one time they act for you, there will be 10 times they drop you in the ■■■■, eg…have an innocent long noisy yawn, then hit something, you can here the Counsell for the prosecution now…
‘‘You were obviously too tired to drive driver’’
That’s what happens when you agree to outside ones when at the time you did agree to that you stipulate in the agreement no inside ones and that’s a no brainer
all thats going to happen is 1 by 1 the older drivers wil refuse,tell them to do one,and leave,eventually getting phased out altogether.the newer younger drivers will accept it as the norm,bend over and take it in shovelfulls.tachos,digicards,dcpc,no smoking,just take it or leave.10pence off a trucks insurance,and a cameras going in.
I’m all for Dash-cams to protect against cfc scams, to give evidence to protect the driver in an accident, but inward? In my opinion a bit in your face.
Maybe the bosses should concentrate on putting CCTV in the offices, to check on all the office employees that are busy Googling, E-Baying and just generally using office computer time to surf on the internet for their own affairs, instead of … answering
THE BLOODY PHONE when a driver calls.