The company I work for have set out a new guideline, in which we are not allowed to have breaks in any services (not even a 15) due to supposed thefts from our lorries. Bearing in mind they are box rigids…
We can stop in the services for a ■■■■ but we must phone the office to advise them first!!
A few drivers have been called in the office for still having breaks in them recently… can an employer dictate where breaks can be taken? I think they are taking the ****.
Anyone had anything similar from their company?
Do Fing WHAT !
It’s up to you when you stop for a break , not pen pushers
Sent from my truck
Comet were one you were not supposed to stop in the services or anywhere else for that matter for breaks, they preferred if you took breaks at depots or shops.
Its always been the case when carrying high value easily sold goods, you would try and take breaks where safe to do so.
Comet… There’s a blast from the past, I’d forgotten all about that company.
I do believe that companies are entitled to have policies like this, especially if your cargo suggests that extra caution is required. But if they’re going to be difficult in this manner then I’d expect that to be reflected in decent pay and working conditions.
yt4eva:
The company I work for have set out a new guideline, in which we are not allowed to have breaks in any services (not even a 15) due to supposed thefts from our lorries. Bearing in mind they are box rigids…
We can stop in the services for a ■■■■ but we must phone the office to advise them first!!
A few drivers have been called in the office for still having breaks in them recently… can an employer dictate where breaks can be taken? I think they are taking the ****.
Anyone had anything similar from their company?
Yea right,troll on.
yt4eva:
Anyone had anything similar from their company?
Box rigids doesn’t stop someone from thieving from them. Takes seconds to break a plastic seal and lift up the rear roller doors whilst you’re wandering off to the bog and then they’re in with a load which if it’s parcels or consumer electronics is going to be a whole lot easier to nick than stuff that’s palletised. Not only that they know that because you’re from a parcel network or a retail company the chances of there being easy to shift items with some value is going to be quite high.
Commonplace thing with most of the parcel network companies and Royal Mail. You can stop but you have to phone the office to get a reference number to put on the paperwork. It was a thing when I worked at Geopost, now DPD, as a Linehaul driver nearly 20 years ago.
bobbya:
Yea right,troll on.
They’re not trolling, quite a few parcel companies require this with trunk drivers.
Hello transport,how can I help?
Hiya its Bob, can I stop for a wee wee in fleet services please?
Hi Bob, how long will it take you cos we’ll be timing you?
Uh um I was gonna grab a Maccy d’s as well as I was stopping?
A maccy d’s eh, well I’ve spoken to my line manager and they said sorry Bob no can do as the customer is waiting for that useless crap in your truck thats gonna sit in the warehouse for 2 months, so just be a good little boy and tie a knot in it and crack on…
Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk
I suppose that at the end of the day it is the right of an employer to impose any restriction they wish to provided it complies with the law, and the right of any HGV licence holder to decline to work for them.
Harry Monk:
I suppose that at the end of the day it is the right of an employer to impose any restriction they wish to provided it complies with the law, and the right of any HGV licence holder to decline to work for them.
simples 
end of thread 
Allegedly DHL Red had gangs of marauding security officers who would try and trick aviation security by putting stuff in lorries that were caught having an unauthorised ■■■■ or snooze. To my knowledge I was never caught but the idea was to keep the bank staff and plane loaders on their toes.
Mixed feelings on this…
On one hand I don’t agree with being told where and when to overnight park or stop for a break,.that is up to me and whether or not I need a quick kip,.a coffee, or a snack.
On the other you can understand it if their drivers are carrying valuable gear, in terms of security.
On the other hand (3 hands? 
) I carry valuable stuff sometimes, if I do I overnight park on secure (or secure as can be) sites, deffo not MSAs,.and if I have a break on one, I’ll park either under a light,.and/or away from others in open sight…it’s all about using yer loaf and common sense.
However…if somebody is going to pay me mega dollar per hour,.I’ll do whatever the ■■■■ they ask.
At a previous jobs years ago I remember them playing the drivers a good one.
They were unhappy with some of the drivers dragging out work so they didn’t get given the afternoon collections, instead of fitting trackers to the 30 or so trucks in the fleet had just one fitted but didn’t tell anyone which. Could be bollox, maybe they didn’t even get one fitted as I was doing 80+hour weeks on site and never saw a fitter in the yard do it, but it did get some of the drivers to crack on thinking “Maybe they picked my truck”. 
Daily rest I’ve heard plenty about where they would like your to park ( though that always falls down when you tell them your going to be parked up 2/3/4 short of where you need to be to arrive on time the next day ) , but never a 20/ 35 / 50 min break , that includes parcel deliveries , and never rang anyone to inform them of it , or get the ref code spoke of earlier
Wheel Nut:
Allegedly DHL Red had gangs of marauding security officers who would try and trick aviation security by putting stuff in lorries that were caught having an unauthorised ■■■■ or snooze. To my knowledge I was never caught but the idea was to keep the bank staff and plane loaders on their toes.
This kinda of thing happened many years ago when worked for servisair at Manchester airport.
Mainly for security reasons. Load was sealed on collection . It was classed as secured load. Already been x-rayed and ready to go into a plane.
If the seal was broke all the cargo then had to re examined and x-rayed to make sure no one had planted a bomb etc.
The aviation security spot checkers or what ever they were called was a long time ago now .used to spot veichles parked up and place some.kind of red.box inside and if found the driver got a warning.
They used be sneaky at times though . You’d be parked up where you need to be walk to office book in by time walked back the had opened up the back placed a box inside.
As your supposed keep the load secure at all times.
You can see there point really though for aviation .
Conor:
You can stop but you have to phone the office to get a reference number to put on the paperwork.
How’s that going to prevent
Conor:
Takes seconds to break a plastic seal and lift up the rear roller doors whilst you’re wandering off to the bog and then they’re in with a load which if it’s parcels or consumer electronics is going to be a whole lot easier to nick than stuff that’s palletised.
?
Our lot tired it for a short time on night trunks saying that we had to have breaks at a depot rather than on the road as we do ADR in curtainsiders.
It got quietly dropped as it was clogging up the depots many of which simply don’t have the room, meant people would need more breaks for longer runs and was really messing up the timings.
Yes they can do it, but suspect unless you’re carrying easily nicked stuff or bonded stuff they won’t keep it going too long. I assume they also don’t want you to stop in laybys?
Cant really see why they cant install better locks (not padlocks). For example Alloga have electric locks where you need a fob to open it or a forklift apparently.
Of course ultimately if you’re running out of drive time, there’s nothing they can do. Law trumps them.
Juddian:
Comet were one you were not supposed to stop in the services or anywhere else for that matter for breaks, they preferred if you took breaks at depots or shops.
Its always been the case when carrying high value easily sold goods, you would try and take breaks where safe to do so.
It depends if they are trying to cross the line from ‘prefer not’ to ‘must not under any circumstances’.
Road safety etc or what the tacho says always trumps what the guvnor says.
About 25 years ago I did some temporary agency work and one day I was asked to do one shift for a company in Thurrock, I was told I would get a phone call at 0400 and had to be prepared to leave the house straight away and drive directly to this customers address. It was about an hour away from my home and the address was a warehouse with no signs and 6 plain red 18 tonne Volvo Fl6’s parked up.
I had to follow a black Vauxhall Omega and under no circumstances stop, the truck was fully fueled to another warehouse in Southampton, I had to put the tacho on break and wait one hour by myself in a room that had a free drinks vending machine and a toilet.
I was called back to the truck and again had to follow the Omega to another warehouse in Birmingham where again I couldn’t stop and again spent one hour in a room by myself. This time after an hour I was told to make my own way back to Thurrock and I could stop if I wanted.
To this day I have no idea what I picked up but by how light the truck was after the pick up it could only of been cigarettes or medical drugs. Oh and I was paid £18 an hour with a guaranteed 15 hours which was a fortune back then, shame it was only ever one shift.
^^^^^ nowt glamorous, it was merely Jordan’s new ■■■ toys going to storage.