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£69,000 dispute at
Page 6
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Knowles is settled
Ex-haulier of the year is taken to Tribunal and settles privately, paving way for future similar claims. Chris Tindall reports.
FORMER MOTOR TRANSPORT haulier of the year. Knowles Transport, has finally settled a pay dispute with three of its drivers and shelled out a total of £32,000 for unlawful deduction of earnings An Employment Tribunal had previously adjourned proceedings after making an order that the company had systematically underpaid the applicants (CM 17 July).The drivers had originally brought the case after discovering a lack of consistency in their pay packets, with the company unable to explain the variations.
Independent accountants were then given time to pore over documents supplied by Knowles Transport in an effort to establish how much was owed.
But chartered accountant Anthony Stairs told the Tribunal he was given no invoices by the company, despite being presented with 15 boxes of evidence. In addition, the samples he was provided with were riddled with errors.
"I would be happy to sit here and say that the evidence was fair. complete and accurate," Stairs said. "But the level of errors was over 35%." He added that an error rate of 20% was considered high. Stairs explained to the drivers' solicitor, Hywel Griffiths, that he was therefore forced to estimate the total amount he thought the drivers were owed, as a result of Knowles Transport hindering his work. He said that the amount was £69,000.
Chairman Christopher Ash halted the Tribunal after accusing Knowles Transport's lawyer, Peter Oldham, of attempting "trial by ambush" when he began questioning Stairs on the basis of what other accountants had told him. Ash said: "The applicants are having to make all the running and get a firm of accountants to deduce what the earnings are. That's not the way it should be."
The drivers and the Tribunal unanimously rejected the respondent's proposal for another adjournment while further independent accountants carried out a new audit. A private agreement was eventually reached that Knowles Transport would pay John Williams, Kevin Parkin and Chris Parkin £24,000 in addition to their £8,000 costs.
The judgement could now pave the way for other drivers at the firm to make similar claims.