if. I VA NI Billed for rejected lob by Rob
Page 12
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Willock II A Shropshire owner-driver is facing a £300 bill for rejecting a poorly paid job.
Edward Ball of Scott Trans was looking for a backload after dropping a cargo in Moscow. He drove to Berlin, without success, but the next morning was offered a job out of Hamburg for Ipswich-based Morrison Freight. The work involved picking up four loads for delivery around the UK, for £900.
"It wasn't a lot, but I thought it would get me home," says Ball. "But enroute to Hamburg I began to wonder whether that price included the ferry."
It didn't, so the job was only worth £600 to Ball. He then phoned his agent, Bernie McGawley at Bamtran, and called off the deal, running home empty instead.
But last week he was told his payment for the Moscow job would be £325 short because Morrison had billed Bamtran for "loss of revenue".
Ball says: "I'm the softest target, so I end up footing the bill. But I'll sue if I have to."
McGawley is sympathetic about the low rate, but adds: "What does he expect if he calls off a job at 21:00hrs the night before he's due to load? He wanted a load at short notice, I found one for him, but because things didn't go his way he went home."
McGawley says he thought Ball would still do the job, but at 11:30hrs Morrison phoned him asking where its trailer was.
It couldn't place the load for three days and eventually had to run one of its own vehicles half-full to the UK to meet its delivery schedule.
Michael Behrendt of Morrison says: "Bamtran agreed to the contract. It's common practice that if you don't meet the contract, you'll be charged. It wasn't easy for us to find another trailer and we incurred costs."