charge for using company van at work

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grimysparks80

grimysparks80

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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.
 
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.
 
Traveling from home to your place of work is classed as personal use is it not.
 
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
 
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.
 
Sintra said:
Traveling from home to your place of work is classed as personal use is it not.
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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.
 
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grimysparks80 said:
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.
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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.
 
grimysparks80 said:
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.
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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.
 
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?
 
NickD said:
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?
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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.
 
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!!
 
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.
 
Engineer54 said:
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!!
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lol. Im still trying to lose the Christmas pounds from 2008. thought it might be good for me.
 
Maybe your just court in the cross fire I suspect with 20 van there is a fair share of the lads driving the vans like they stole them. With the uk laws you can't be seen to be singling them out so there just doing it across the lot to cover there ---. can't see a problem as long as its a good profitable company that will still be here in 12 months there not going to cause problems with all there staff not giving the money back.
 
the whole thing smells of bull poo tbh.like you say OP, once you leave your house, you're working.they are obliged to pay for the insurance. if you were using it outside of work however... even then though, I wouldn't expect them to charge.
 
I have been given the form this morning. I have been told it is a company wide policy involving some 200 company vehicles. the form says that if the van is undamaged in December the money will be returned alnog with an unspecified careful driver bonus. I have asked for timeto consider before signing and they told me I must return the form by tomorrow morning either signed or with a letter of explanation for no signature. for 200 vehicles that will be hard to imagine them finding that kind of money in December if all the vehicles are undamaged. the manager assured me that this will not include small things such as scratches, but the form is very vague about the type of damage covered.
 
Therefore write a letter of explanation that the reason for no signature is that you have not been given the details or the time to assess the implications of this requirement. The impact this would have on your personal circumstances would need to be assessed. Written guarantees of the December monetary return, the specific conditions under which it would not be returned (not paid) to the employee, specific details of the payment to be made for the loss of interest on this money being held by the company would all need to be in place.
Alternatives could also be considered, such as an agreement that the excess payable by the company (up to £500) for any repairs to your vehicle that have been proved to be caused by your negligence may be taken from your future pay would need to be considered, but further details of the insurance arrangements would be needed as excesses are often high for fleet policies.
 
I would be asking for a exact list of what they would specify as damage?
Are you the sole user of the vehicle?
What is in place to reimburse you if the company goes bust?
Why is the bonus unspecified?
 
I go with what Richard said, write letter saying you haven't had time to assess and take advice therefore feel unable to sign at present. If you're lucky with that many vehicles and drivers to assess they'll forget all about you. I once "forgot" to sign and send back a form in vaguely similar circumstances and never got chased for it.
 
grimysparks80 said:
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.
Click to expand...

tell em to XXXX off...
 
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We had a firm try this with us once,only they said we had to pay money towards personal use of the vehicle,we all lived at least 25 miles from the depot and there was around 200 of us.the depot had space for about 10 vans,so one friday we all turned up at the depot at knocking off time and caused chaos,the streets were blocked and nothing could move.We told the boss we'd all make our own way home and return on monday in our own cars,and take the vans to work before returning them each night.Now apart from the parking issue this meant a lot of lost working time getting the vans from the depot and back to it in the evening.Surprise surprise they scrapped the idea. if they insist on taking money then it should be banked somewhere separate and not with the company's cash so if it all goes peart shaped at least you get it back,but if you all show solidarity they won't implement it.
 
I have also done the same before, years ago this nutty idea came out about charging employees for taking the van home by altering our tax codes by about 2 grand a year. So we used to find our way to the yard in the morning park our cars and then load the vans, then leave site early enough to get back to the yard at night and park the vans and then go home, after a couple of weeks the amount of time lost in the day made the Boss decide to scrap the idea. A ridiculous rule this taxing for the van lark, needs scrapping ASAP, along with the Bedroom tax lol
 
I remeber when it came in for taxing taking the company vehicle home. We had a lad tight as a ducks behind, he kicked up a massive stink about it, so the boss just said "fine drop the van off at the yard when you have finished for the day/week (used to work away alot). Then on Monday make your own way to the yard to pick it up then go and pick everyone up, before heading to site. Or you can pay it, and have full use of a insured, taxed, MOTd vehicle and fuel paid for too for your own personal use" Strangely enough he changed his mind then lol
 
Some firms can be proper barstewards when it comes to wanting it their way,at one I worked for they stated categorically that all your personal tools were covered if they were stolen out of the van,we had to supply everything hand tools powertools the lot.One of the lads had a top of the range Makita pinched out of the van,at the time the 18volt range had just come out,and they replaced it with some horrible chinese thing with something like a 3 hour charge time.The bosses answer was well it drills holes and nobody made you buy a dear one,what a tool that guy was.
 
Dillb said:
I remeber when it came in for taxing taking the company vehicle home. We had a lad tight as a ducks behind, he kicked up a massive stink about it, so the boss just said "fine drop the van off at the yard when you have finished for the day/week (used to work away alot). Then on Monday make your own way to the yard to pick it up then go and pick everyone up, before heading to site. Or you can pay it, and have full use of a insured, taxed, MOTd vehicle and fuel paid for too for your own personal use" Strangely enough he changed his mind then lol
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Funny enough a company I worked for tried this with me/us when the tax law came in. I/we said fine we will not drive company vehicles and you can pay us all millage instead OR we will pick the van up a 8.00am and drop it back at the depot at 5pm (Instead of being at site for 8.am and leaving site at 5pm).....unlike in your example we "won" and the company found a way round the tax issue.
They also tried to implement a rule where if the van was damaged the driver would get the excess deducted from his wages.....same result the lads stuck together and declined to use company vehicles same as above....so as above it was in the companies interest to back down....we are talking about just using the vans for work though as we were not authorized to ever use the vans for personal use.
 
Diddy said:
Funny enough a company I worked for tried this with me/us when the tax law came in. I/we said fine we will not drive company vehicles and you can pay us all millage instead OR we will pick the van up a 8.00am and drop it back at the depot at 5pm (Instead of being at site for 8.am and leaving site at 5pm).....unlike in your example we "won" and the company found a way round the tax issue.
They also tried to implement a rule where if the van was damaged the driver would get the excess deducted from his wages.....same result the lads stuck together and declined to use company vehicles same as above....so as above it was in the companies interest to back down....we are talking about just using the vans for work though as we were not authorized to ever use the vans for personal use.
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Yes I know what you mean,a large media company,sexually inexperienced that I worked for said we couldn't use the vans for personal use as they were only insured for driving between 7.30 am and 5.30 pm we worked 8 till 5 so that gave us half hour each way traveling,fine until I pointed out that some of us worked 'till 9 when on call.they couldn't answer that one lol
 
Sounds like a right ramshackle of a company to me anyway, you cant be forced to sign it and im pretty confident you couldnt be sacked for not signing it, if it was compulsory they wouldnt get you you to sign anything they would just take it out, they need your permission and your not breaking the law by saying no

However of course they could start making your working life hell

I never see why firms start upsetting the lads, THEY always lose out, morale drops and lads start going slower, longer dinners, standing around, the man hours lost far outweighs any money they think they are saving

Hard one, but good luck with it oh and remember NOBODY is indispensable
 
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They did this to me on my last firm but the van was already falling to bits and was a lump of rust, i refused to sign anything, i did eventually sign but thats because they bought me a brand new van. To be fair i always got my money back at the end of the year no problems!!
 
All I would say is I need more overtime to cover the costs, or maybe a pay rise, as my bills are limiting me signing up, but if the time comes to pay a fee, when i crash the van etc, then ill be happy to pay, maybe £20 a month...till it payed (this is a true comment).
 
Here is the form they want us to sign. thanks for all the replies gents
10169185_10203099030972825_1217626471_n.jpg
 
Will they still take the money during time off and holidays ? I would sign it and just book an extra half hours overtime to cover it and the interest.
 
The money is stated as nett therefor costs you more than £10.
The form states that they can take more off you at the end of the year if required.
You are to keep the van clean, how much do you get paid for washing a vehicle that is not your own?
I wouldnt sign their form and wait for their response.


Back in 2007 I had a van and was working as a foreman. Right from the interview it was stated that I could use the van personally. Everything was fine from 1999 till 2007 when they put trackers in the vans inc the foreman's. Then we were given a form to sign that stated we would not use the van privately and they would be watching via the tracker and would tell the HMRC if we did, therefor changing our tax code. (benefits form p11d)
I dropped the van off at the office 60 miles away late one evening and launched the keys through the letterbox. Weeks later I Found another job and left with virtually no notice.

This sort of ---- always leaves a bad taste.

Boydy
 
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