charge for using company van at work

[grimysparks80]

Hi all.just looking for a bit of advice. I have been with my current company for just over a year. They are asking us to sign a piece of paper authorising them to deduct £40 a month from our wages to cover any potential damage to our work vans. apparently if our vans are undamaged at the end of the year we will be paid the whole amount back. about £500 over a full year. I have no intention of signing this and was just wondering if anyone had any advice. I am not with a union and plan to call acas tomorrow. the van is only used for work and I consider myself to be at work as soon as I leave my house because I work all over wales without going to our central office. thanks in advance.

 

[Hawkmoon]

Paid the whole amount back including interest???

 

[grimysparks80]

Aye. It all sounds a bit dodgy to me. I am really enjoying this job and the moneys pretty good so I don't want to be kicking off with them. Some of the lads have already signed it so Im a bit worried I might be the only one who refuses.

 

[Hawkmoon]

Sounds like they are trying to cover insurance excess - what if the damage is not your fault?

 

[Sintra]

Traveling from home to your place of work is classed as personal use is it not.

 

[jaypp]

well, you can kiss that £500 goodbye. There is no way any van used by a tradesman will not have some damage after a year.
I bet you could source an insurance policy for minor damage cheaper than £500 for a year

 

[grimysparks80]

I haven't seen the contract yet or spoken to management about it.Id hope they will only keep it if it is my fault. but that's kind of irrelevant since Im not going to sign it. As I understand it they cant make any deductions without my written permission .If It comes to ii Ill threaten to walk as I think theyd struggle to replace me.

 

[jaypp]

Sounds like they are trying to cover insurance excess - what if the damage is not your fault?

you can definately get excess protection - insurance on insurance, robbing barstewards!

 

[grimysparks80]

Traveling from home to your place of work is classed as personal use is it not.

It is but part of my job is driving. my home office is about 3 miles away so im quite happy to park the van there and walk home if it comes to that I do several hundred miles a week and they do not service it often. it has 78000 on the clock now so is bound to have problems at some point.

 

[NickD]

I haven't seen the contract yet or spoken to management about it.Id hope they will only keep it if it is my fault. but that's kind of irrelevant since Im not going to sign it. As I understand it they cant make any deductions without my written permission .If It comes to ii Ill threaten to walk as I think theyd struggle to replace me.

As you say it is down to how much fuss you are prepared to make and how much s*** will stick to your name as a result. It's possible they're just doing it to encourage drivers to look after the vans and will only keep the money in fairly extreme cases. Or not. Ask politely what happens if you don't sign?

Confucius he say, to see how irreplaceable man is, take hands out of bucket of water and look how big is hole they leave behind.

 

[ipf]

I haven't seen the contract yet or spoken to management about it.Id hope they will only keep it if it is my fault. but that's kind of irrelevant since Im not going to sign it. As I understand it they cant make any deductions without my written permission .If It comes to ii Ill threaten to walk as I think theyd struggle to replace me.

Your last sentence says it all. Seems a bit of a strange one, though. Can't say I've heard it before.
May be as well, when they put it to you, to get the reasoning behind it and then say what you feel.

 

[NickD]

Exactly what potential damage are they talking about? They need to be clear, they can't just take your money then just arbitrarily decide to keep it. Wear and tear? Gradually operating cause? Insurance excess on accident? Hit and run? Mechanical failure? What?

 

[grimysparks80]

I just cant see them coming up with £500 each for 20 odd vans next year. they seem to be doing ok but still quibble every expense.

 

[grimysparks80]

Exactly what potential damage are they talking about? They need to be clear, they can't just take your money then just arbitrarily decide to keep it. Wear and tear? Gradually operating cause? Insurance excess on accident? Hit and run? Mechanical failure? What?

ill be asking all that when I speak to my manager about it. It seems to me once weve paid it they'll take the slightest excuse to keep it.

 

[Engineer54]

That's what i'd do, leave the van at the office and drive in my own car to and from the office. Sod walking 3 miles under UK's weather!! Never heard of anything like that before, maybe a bit different if you were accident prone, and racked up a heap of bodywork damage over the year...lol!!

 

[Andy78]

So they are trying to get the employees to foot the bill for their overheads and running costs ?
Any boss that would implement a scheme like this is entirely capable of pointing to a slight scratch at the end of the year and keeping all your money. Utter scam by the smells of it.

 

[grimysparks80]

That's what i'd do, leave the van at the office and drive in my own car to and from the office. Sod walking 3 miles under UK's weather!! Never heard of anything like that before, maybe a bit different if you were accident prone, and racked up a heap of bodywork damage over the year...lol!!

lol. Im still trying to lose the Christmas pounds from 2008. thought it might be good for me.

 

[jaypp]

lol. Im still trying to lose the Christmas pounds from 2008. thought it might be good for me.

That's what they're doing, trying to help you lose those 'pounds'!!!

 

[grimysparks80]

That's what they're doing, trying to help you lose those 'pounds'!!!

In that case they should take the 500 quid and just pay for bloody liposuction

 

[Engineer54]

lol. Im still trying to lose the Christmas pounds from 2008. thought it might be good for me.

Getting soaking wet and/or frost bitten ain't the best way to start the day!! lol!! I'd be wanting to throw the towel in for the day, before i started!! lol!!