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Page 67
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SIR
:OWBOY CONCERN 1 The article in News Headnes (CM 24-30 August) highghted the serious concern uite rightly expressed by the EA over the legal position of rho would be responsible hould an operator, using an gency HGV driver in good dth, find that driver to be ver his hours.
While agreeing that many gencies do make stringent hecks, there is growing conem that operators are unable ) check if a driver has worked r driven prior to being enaged on any given day.
How does one know, for exrnple, on requesting a driver ) attend a company to cover urgent need, how far down le line the agency has moniwed the driver it assigns? Even the reputable agencies umot stop a driver working ir someone else. I have town instances of drivers on le books of two or more commies. How do they know that this driver has not already worked an 8-10 hour shift for one agency on days, and unwittingly send him to another firm on nights? Cynics will say the agencies do try and it is up to firms employing agency staff to keep checks even if you insist on tachos and records being checked, as we do for our permanent workforce.
Who can stop those cowboys who are clearly only interested in earning money and owe allegiance to no-one — not even the agency whose books they are on? Anyone who is not concerned as an operator should be. I can reveal an incident where an agency was employing one of my drivers who had been on sick leave. How did they, or how could they have possibly known he was 'sick'? The simple fact is that if the driver doesn't declare it, things like this occur. We were lucky.
By chance, during the period that driver was employed by the agency, we wanted a driver. A phone-call to my assistant confirmed a driver was being sent. Imagine his surprise when the name given to him was that of the same person we wanted to replace.
We have started a system locally where each contractor/ agency driver signs a declaration that he has not or will not exceed his hours by working for us, has his driving licence inspected and photocopied and signs our books to note Post Office procedures. This, we think, works well, and in law we believe we now have done all that any responsible operator can do.
The RHA is to be commended for its interest and effort. Agencies should be liable and responsible.
R T M Edwards,
Transport Manager, Royal Mail Parcels, Birmingham.