Driver wins back fees
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• West Yorkshire driver David Mellor has won part of a claim against his former employer, Stansfield Transport, for unlawful deductions from his wages.
Mellor claimed that £262.45 had been unlawfully deducted, comprising £233.10 for course fees and £29.35 for diesel, contrary to the 1986 Wages Act. However, a Leeds Industrial Tribunal only ordered the company to repay him £100.
Tribunal chairman John Morrish said that the figures on a wage slip produced were printed but Mellor had maintained there was an inked deduction for course fees, It was clear that a deduction had been made Mellor's agreement over some excess holiday pay but the Tribunal was not prepared to accept that any inked adjustment was relating to the recovery of course fees.
Accordingly, said Morrish, any claim Mellor over the unlawful deduction of course fees must relate to a note made in ink at the foot of the wage slip for the following week, which showed a £100 deduction for the remainder of the course fees.
The course was held in in May and June 1993. It was evident from Mellor's contract that the company was entitled to deduct course fees if he left within 12 months of the course. In fact Mellor stayed with the company for 15 months after the course ended so he was entitled to the £100 shown as a deduction for course fees on the last wage slip.
The Tribunal was not satisfied that Mellor received the diesel fuel. Even if he did. the company was not obliged to to reimburse him in the absence of documentary evidence.