Not so very long ago, I applied for what appeared to be a cracking job.
I may have mentioned it before, It was working in Sweden on abnormal load work, Taking 65 ton lorries up to some mine in the arctic. Right up my street i thought.
I got quite an unpleasant reply. “Sorry, but we only employ Hungarian drivers”.
If they said “Sorry, we only employ Swedish drivers”, then fare enough, That’s keeping Swedish jobs for Swedish workers.
But it got me thinking.
Could a company in the UK advertise a job, But explain in the advert that priority for employment would be given to British citizens over other EU citizens even though both applicants are of the same driving standard, and equally qualified?
I know it’s probably illegal. But how much? Slapped wrist? Loss of O’licence? Huge fine?
It could be a headline grabber on a quiet news day. Nothing wrong with free advertising.
limeyphil:
Not so very long ago, I applied for what appeared to be a cracking job.
I may have mentioned it before, It was working in Sweden on abnormal load work, Taking 65 ton lorries up to some mine in the arctic. Right up my street i thought.
I got quite an unpleasant reply. “Sorry, but we only employ Hungarian drivers”.
If they said “Sorry, we only employ Swedish drivers”, then fare enough, That’s keeping Swedish jobs for Swedish workers.
But it got me thinking.
Could a company in the UK advertise a job, But explain in the advert that priority for employment would be given to British citizens over other EU citizens even though both applicants are of the same driving standard, and equally qualified?
I know it’s probably illegal. But how much? Slapped wrist? Loss of O’licence? Huge fine?
It could be a headline grabber on a quiet news day. Nothing wrong with free advertising.
pm hutpik, he works in lapland, driving, but down the mine, think theres a new mine opening shortly
It would be illegal for me to advertise a job saying “Driver must be Hungarian”, but completely legal for me to advertise a job saying “Driver must speak fluent Hungarian”.
And that’s how a hairy-arsed truck driver spends five seconds by-passing a law that dozens of University educated people spent three years writing.
In reality, if I ever employed a driver I would say in the advert “Must be able to explain the rules of cricket” and that wouldn’t get me into any trouble, unlike saying “Eastern Europeans need not apply”.
Harry Monk:
It would be illegal for me to advertise a job saying “Driver must be Hungarian”, but completely legal for me to advertise a job saying “Driver must speak fluent Hungarian”.
And that’s how a hairy-arsed truck driver spends five seconds by-passing a law that dozens of University educated people spent three years writing.
In reality, if I ever employed a driver I would say in the advert “Must be able to explain the rules of cricket” and that wouldn’t get me into any trouble, unlike saying “Eastern Europeans need not apply”.
that wouldn’t grab any headlines.
although off topic. there was a bloke in Australia, he advertised his house for sale in the local rag, dozens of news crews were camped outside his house, they confronted him with the advert. instead of the advert saying “no Agents”, it had a misprint saying “no Asians”.
he became quite famous for a while, just a shame he he didn’t have a lorry parked outside with his name on it, i think he would have a fleet by now.
“Bad” or “Incorrect” news always spread a lot faster than “no news”.
Sells a lot more papers too, otherwise red tops wouldn’t make up any old bull crap story, get sued for 6 figure sums, and despite that still make a profit in the extra sales…
A difference could be made by advertisers who might refuse to dirty themselves putting adverts in such low-life rags, but as yet, there still seems to be people queueing up to advertise in this or that red top merely because it’s cheaper than an ad in a broadsheet.
Sometimes you see adverts worded like:
“The ideal candidate will…” speak Suomi, Magyar, Farsi & Catalan… "
You can’t possibly be from all those places, so the day will never come where asking for what you actually want becomes illegal - no matter how many (like monoglot English types) get excluded from the entire job application process at the very start.
I’m puzzled by why it would be conisdered “illegal discrimination” to ask for a driver “MUST have clean licence” or “If you have any infringements on your last 28 days tacho data, you’ll be excluded” etc.
The interviewer being honest, albeit being as blunt as possible, would mean a whole lot less time wasted for the candidate would it not?
If I’m going to be told “No”, then I’d rather it be at the start when the decision was originally made on “first impressions” or “reputation proceeding” than later on when you’ve wasted time and money travelling, getting references, etc etc.
limeyphil:
although off topic. there was a bloke in Australia, he advertised his house for sale in the local rag, dozens of news crews were camped outside his house, they confronted him with the advert. instead of the advert saying “no Agents”, it had a misprint saying “no Asians”.
Hi all.Phil.If you remember the companys name put it up and i will research it.It seems very strange to say such a thing as.
First,eastern European drivers are not seen in such a good light re driving ability especially in the winter and for a company to employ Eastern drivers driving heavy haulage seems ludicrous,especially as they must conform more or less to the same standard of wages as local drivers so unless they are quite special drivers there seems little point to employ them.
Second,they will be having to drive for long periods in winter weather and the controls for heavy haulage are quite rigorous,especially up here during the winter as accidents create a lot more problems than in the summer.
The only way it could work is if the company is registered in Hungary but that is not so popular here and for them to state they only employ Hungarians will not make them popular with the unions who have a lot of power here.Mike
